Christ Our Intercessor

Hebrews 7:24-26
            But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;

            What does it mean that Christ ever lives to make intercession for you and I? To intercede means to intervene to mediate to arbitrate or to make negotiation for. The picture I get of this is Christ sitting at the right hand of the throne of heavenly father pleading our case as to how we've now been born again, and are no longer deserving of judgment, simply because of the blood that he shed on Calvary's cross.. In the book of Revelation we have a picture of Satan, the adversary of your soul as being called the accuser of the brethren. There is an adversary who wants to heap condemnation, guilt, shame, hopelessness, and blame upon our every mistake, sin or shortcoming.

            Our text in Romans chapter 8 verse 34 starts out by asking, "Who is he who condemns?" But didn't goes on to say that Christ died and furthermore he's risen from the dead, and he is at the right hand of God, making intercession for you and I he is our great mediator and high priest. He is our advocate Scripture says there is no condemnation to those who believe in him and live for him. Sometimes we fall into the trap of condemning or looking down on people for their sins or their failures or their shortcomings. How easy it can be to forget about our own disobedience or failures. Yet as we allow the character and the nature of Christ to be developed into our own characters, we hopefully grow into a place where we understand that we should not even be condemning ourselves only striving to improve. Yet the only way that we can improve is to deepen and strengthen our relationship with Christ, for it is the Holy Spirit that gives life to our mortal bodies.

Romans 8:34
Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

            So there's an enemy of our soul Satan, or there are the words of others or possibly at times even our own thoughts can bring condemnation or accusation or even words of self defeat. But the Scriptures challenge us to speak life to our self and others and warns that blessing and cursing should not proceed from the same mouth. I pray that my mouth never becomes a tool for the adversary to tear down myself or another human being. Let us all take on the nature of Christ, the eternal intercessor who prays on behalf of all humanity, that we not fall into the condemnation of hell, or the wrath of God or the words of self defeat but that we can know his life and know it more abundantly.

             Christ is interceding for those that don't know him and the power of his salvation and he's asking us to intercede in prayer for the souls of men and women that have not yet been born again pleading that judgment would be spared and delayed not pronounced upon them. To pray that they would know the joy of God's forgiveness that can only be found through the blood of Jesus Christ and the power of his resurrection. God help us all to speak words of love, life and hope. God help us all to lift one another in prayer that those who are living in darkness could experience the joy and the blessing of your marvelous light. Thank you Jesus for interceding on my behalf Amen!

Boldly to the Throne of Grace
Hebrews 4:14-16
            Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, (“be touched by the feeling of our infirmity”- KJV) but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

            Remember the book of Hebrews was written to Jewish believers. The office of high priest was a very special calling in position for any Jew to hold. It was also an office that comes with high responsibility. The writer of this book places Jesus as being the great high priest setting him above any high priest that ever existed. The role of the high priest of the temple was to take the blood of the sacrifice before the mercy seat and make atonement for all of God's people on atonement day once a year. The Mercy seat was behind the veil of the temple in the most holy place, also known as the holy of holies. The high priest was the only one that could enter in and if he himself was not properly atoned for and cleansed though ritual and sacrifice would die in the presence of God.

            The good news of the New Testament is that Jesus Christ our great high priest was in all points tempted just as we are, even though he was God in the flesh. The human side of Christ allowed himself to live through poverty, shame, ridicule, beating, scorching, mockery, servitude and humility, yet He knew no sin. He used his relationship with his heavenly Father to show us that through relationship with our heavenly Father, in Christ's name, we could be empowered to heal the sick and bring deliverance to those that are captive to their sin or in bondage to mental or physical disorders. Yet Christ never tapped into his own actual deity for the purpose of overcoming temptation.

            The idea here that will benefit anyone who gets a hold of and understands it, is that God became a man and allowed himself to feel what we as humans feel on this earth. And now Christ sits on the right hand of the throne of his father and the Scripture says he lives to make intercession for you and I! (Hebrews 7:25) This means that when we pray Christ hears our prayers and submits them to the heavenly father. He is at the mercy seat on our behalf. And the Scripture says that he sympathizes with our infirmity as well as releases mercy and grace on our behalf to forgive us and empower us to overcome the circumstances that we may face in this life.

            In yesterday's post, I discussed to some degree the meaning of grace God's divine power to help us and empower us equipping us to do his will. Many times when we think of the throne of God, it’s not uncommon to picture God's judgment his wrath even the outpouring of his indignation upon us frail humanity. After all, this is the throne that the creator of heaven, earth, and the entire universe sits upon ruling and reigning in righteousness and majesty. Yet the writer of the book of Hebrews doesn't describe God's throne in such a way at all. In fact, he says, let us come boldly before God's throne of grace. Again, that word means undeserved and earned or unmerited favor God's power to equip us to do his will! How awesome is that? Yes, God is able and at some point the Scripture says God will judge should rule and reign with majesty dominion and authority pouring out his justice upon all injustice that is ever occurred on the face of the earth. But first he gives us access to divine grace and mercy to find forgiveness and deliverance and salvation in order to spare us from that day of wrath and indignation.

            But I believe his throne of grace and mercy signifies even more than that. Because I believe it's mercy and grace to forgive us and empower us to live a guilt and shame free and victorious life even while working on earth to bring healing to our hearts so that we can bring healing to the lives of others to bring hope to our homes, our families, even into our marriages so that his hope can be seen to a world that desperately needs the salvation of God. And the awesome part of this is that the Scripture says we can come boldly to this throne and we can obtain this grace and this mercy. Any time we need him, our God is there. That means he's here right now for me and for you. What is it that we can touch his throne with today? Is it forgiveness that we need to find? Is it his ever present help that we need to access? Yes, even if all you need is for God to wrap his giant arms of love around and hold you, the Scripture says you can come boldly before his throne and you can find grace and mercy in your time of need. In Jesus name!

Will We Do Greater Things Than Jesus?
    In John 14:12 Jesus Says "He who believes in Me the works that i do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do because I go to My Father." This is troubling to me. Not because Jesus said it but because I believe that Jesus meant it! For today? Yes, absolutely. 
    What troubles me is that I believe Jesus wants us to be in a whole different and ecxeedingly better dimension af existence than what I see as the "commonly accepted" or "norm" of today. I mean when was the last time any of us saw a healing or miracle performed in Jesus' name at the local market or park? Let's one up it. How about at church or in the local hospital? Hey, I'm not trying to cast shame or condemnation here, just simply want to see God's people live in a closer relationship to the power and faith that I read of in the scriptures. 
    So. I want to ask those of you who follow this blog to help me contend for a greater element of revival in the broken world we see around us. For instance, can we double. triple or quadruple the amount of people who attend our local prater meetings at church? How about the amount of prayer meetings we have, could double, or quadruple them? Could we start up a worldwide prayer meeting on the forum in this website? 
    How can we build up our own individual faiith? I'm just asking questions for now, but I'm asking myself and God as I ask my readers to join together in a quest to restore today's Church back into the church that existed in the Book of Acts.