Intercession Of Christ
Charles Buck Theological Dictionary [1]
His interposing for sinners by virtue of the satisfaction he made to divine justice.
1. As to the fact itself, it is evident, from many places of Scripture, that Christ pleads with God in favour of his people, Romans 8:34 . Hebrews 7:25 . 1 John 2:1 .
2. As to the manner of it: the appearance of the high-priest among the Jews, in the presence of God, on the day of atonement, when he offered before him the blood of the sin- offering, is at large referred to by St. Paul, as illustrating the intercession of Christ, Hebrews 9:11; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 9:22; Hebrews 9:26 . Feb. 10: 19, 21. Christ appears before God with his own body; but whether he intercedes vocally or not cannot be known: though it is most probable, I think, that he does not: however, it is certain that he does not intercede in like manner as when on earth, with prostration of body, cries and tears, which would be quite inconsistent with his state of exaltation and glory; nor as supplicating an angry judge, for peace is made by the blood of the cross; nor as litigating a point in a court of judicature; but his intercession is carried on by showing himself as having done, as their surety, all that law and justice could require, by representing his blood and sacrifice as the ground of his people's acceptance with the Father, Revelation 5:6 . John 17:24 .
3. The end of Christ's intercession is not to remind the Divine Being of any thing which he would otherwise forget, nor to persuade him to any thing which he is not disposed to do; but it may serve to illustrate the holiness and majesty of the Father, and the wisdom and grace of the Son; not to say that it may have other unknown uses with respect to the inhabitants of the invisible world. He is represented, also, as offering up the prayers and praises of his people, which become acceptable to God through him, Revelation 8:3-4 . Hebrews 13:15 . 1 Peter 2:5 . He there pleads for the conversion of his unconverted ones; and for the consolation, preservation, and glorification of his people, John 17:1-26 : 1 John 2:1-2 .
4. Of the properties of Christ's intercession we may observe,
1. That it is authoritative. He intercedes not without right, John 17:24 . Psalms 2:8 .
2. Wise: he understands the nature of his work, and the wants of his people, John 2:25 .
3. Righteous: for it is founded upon justice and truth, 1 John 3:5 . Hebrews 7:26 .
4. Compassionate, Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 5:8; Is. 63: 9.
5. He is the sole advocate, 1 Timothy 2:5 .
6. It is perpetual, Hebrews 7:25 .
7. Efficacious, 1 John 2:1-2 .
8. The use we should make of Christ's intercession is this:
1. We may learn the wonderful love of God to man, Romans 5:1-21
2. The durability and safety of the church, Luke 22:31-32 . Is. 17: 24.
3. The ground we have for comfort, Hebrews 9:24 . Romans 8:34 .
4. It should excite us to offer up prayers to God as they are acceptable through him, Revelation 8:3-4 .
See Charnock's Works, vol. 2: p. 1109; Flavel's Works, vol. 1: p. 72; Doddridge's Lec. vol. 2: p. 294, 8vo. edit. Brown's Nat. and Rev. Rel. p. 348; Berry Street Lec. No. 18; Ridgley's Body of Div. ques. 55.
Easton's Bible Dictionary [2]
When on earth he made intercession for his people ( Luke 23:34; John 17:20; Hebrews 5:7 ); but now he exercises this function of his priesthood in heaven, where he is said to appear in the presence of God for us ( Hebrews 9:12,24 ).
His advocacy with the Father for his people rests on the basis of his own all-perfect sacrifice. Thus he pleads for and obtains the fulfilment of all the promises of the everlasting covenant ( 1 John 2:1; John 17:24; Hebrews 7:25 ). He can be "touched with the feeling of our infirmities," and is both a merciful and a faithful high priest ( Hebrews 2:17,18; 4:15,16 ). This intercession is an essential part of his mediatorial work. Through him we have "access" to the Father ( John 14:6; Ephesians 2:18; 3:12 ). "The communion of his people with the Father will ever be sustained through him as mediatorial Priest" ( Psalm 110:4; Revelation 7:17 ).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [3]
The general conception of our Lord's mediatorial office is specially summed up in His intercession in which He appears in His high-priestly office, and also as interceding with the Father on behalf of that humanity whose cause He had espoused.
1. Christ's Intercession Viewed in Its Priestly Aspect
The function of priesthood as developed under Judaism involved the position of mediation between man and God. The priest represented man, and on man's behalf approached God; thus he offered sacrifice, interceded and gave to the offerer whom he represented the benediction and expression of the Divine acceptance. (For the various forms of these offerings, see special articles.) As in sacrifice, so in the work of Christ, we find the proprietary rights of the offerer in the sacrifice. For man, Christ as one with man, and yet in His own personal right, offers Himself (see Romans 5; and compare Galatians 4:5 with Hebrews 2:11 ). There was also the transfer of guilt and its conditions, typically by laying the hand on the head of the animal, which then bore the sins of the offerer and was presented to God by the priest. The acknowledgment of sin and the surrender to God is completely fulfilled in Christ's offering of Himself, and His death (compare Leviticus 3:2 , Leviticus 3:8 , Leviticus 3:13; Leviticus 16:21; with Isaiah 53:6; 2 Corinthians 5:21 ). our Lord's intercessory quality in the sacrifice of Himself is not only indicated by the imputation of guilt to Him as representing the sinner, but also in the victory of His life over death, which is then given to man in God's acceptance of His representative and substitute.
In the Epistle to the Hebrews, the intercessory character of our Lord's high-priestly office is transferred to the heavenly condition and work of Christ, where the relation of Christ's work to man's condition is regarded as being still continued in the heavenly place (see Hebrews 9:11-28 ). This entrance into heaven is once for all, and in the person of the high priest the way is open to the very presence of God. From one point of view ( Hebrews 10:12 ) the priestly service of the Lord was concluded and gathered up into His kingly office ( Hebrews 10:13 , Hebrews 10:14-18 ). But from another point of view, we ourselves are bidden to enter into the Holiest Place; as if in union with Christ we too become a kingly priesthood ( Hebrews 10:19-22; and compare 1 Peter 2:9 ).
It must not be forgotten, however, that this right of entrance into the most Holy Place is one that depends entirely upon our vital union with Christ, He appears in heaven for us and we with Him, and in this sense He fulfills the second duty of His high-priestly office as intercessor, with the added conception drawn from the legal advocacy of the Roman court. The term translated "Advocate" in 1 John 2:2 is παράκλητος , paráklētos , which in John 14:16 is translated "Comforter." The word is of familiar use in Greek for the legal advocate or patronus who appeared on behalf of his client. Thus, in the double sense of priestly and legal representative, our Lord is our intercessor in Heaven.
Of the modes in which Christ carries out His intercessory office, we can have no knowledge except so far as we may fairly deduce them from the phraseology and suggested ideas of Scripture. As high priest, it may surely be right for us to aid our weak faith by assuring ourselves that our Lord pleads for us, while at the same time we must be careful not to deprave our thought concerning the glorified Lord by the metaphors and analogies of earthly relationship.
The intercessory work of Christ may thus be represented: He represents man before God in His perfect nature, His exalted office and His completed work. The Scripture word for this is ( Hebrews 9:24 ) "to appear before the face of God for us." There is also an active intercession. This is the office of our Lord as advocate or paraklētos ̌ . That this conveys some relation to the aid which one who has broken the law receives from an advocate cannot be overlooked, and we find Christ's intercession in this aspect brought into connection with the texts which refer to justification and its allied ideas (see Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1 ).
2. Christ's Intercessory Work from the Standpoint of Prayer
In Prayers Of Jesus (which see), the intercessory character of many of our Lord's prayers, and especially that of John 17 , is considered. And it has been impossible for Christian thought to divest itself of the idea that the heavenly intercession of Christ is of the order of prayer. It is impossible for us to know; and even if Christ now prays to the Father, it can be in no way analogous to earthly prayers. The thought of some portion of Christendom distinctly combined prayer in the heavenly work of the Lord. There is danger in extreme views. Scriptural expressions must not be driven too far, and, on the other hand, they must not be emptied of all their contents. Modern Protestant teaching has, in its protest against a merely physical conception of our Lord's state and occupation in heaven, almost sublimed reality from His intercessory work. In Lutheran teaching the intercession of our Lord was said to be "vocal," "verbal" and "oral." It has been well remarked that such forms of prayer require flesh and blood, and naturally the teachers of the Reformed churches, for the most part, have contented themselves (as for example Hodge, Syst. Theol ., II, 593) with the declaration that "the intercession of Christ includes: (1) His appearing before God in our behalf, as the sacrifice for our sins, as our high priest, on the ground of whose work we receive the remission of our sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and all needed good; (2) defense against the sentence of the law and the charges of Satan, who is the great accuser; (3) His offering Himself as our surety, not only that the demands of justice shall be shown to be satisfied, but that His people shall be obedient and faithful; (4) The oblation of the persons of the redeemed, sanctifying their prayers, and all their services, rendering them acceptable to God, through the savor of his own merits."
Even this expression of the elements which constitute the intercession of the Lord, cautious and spiritual as it is in its application to Christian thought and worship, must be carefully guarded from a too complete and materialistic use. Without this care, worship and devout thought may become degraded and fall into the mechanical forms by which our Lord's position of intercessor has been reduced to very little more than an imaginative and spectacular process which goes on in some heavenly place. It must not be forgotten that the metaphorical and symbolic origin of the ideas which constitute Christ's intercession is always in danger of dominating and materializing the spiritual reality of His intercessional office.
