Truth Unites - Christ's Intercession: A Neglected Doctrine

Episode Date: December 13, 2021

Christ's intercession is one of the most nourishing and simultaneously  most neglected doctrines in Christian theology. In this video I give an  overview of what it means and then recount three practical uses of the  doctrine. The thumbnail picture is from "Christ in the Garden of  Gethsemane" by Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi.    The article referenced in the video:  https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/the-voice-of-his-blood-christs-intercession-in-the-thought-of-stephen-charn/ Truth Unites is a mixture of apologetics and theology, with an irenic focus. Gavin Ortlund (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) serves as senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Ojai. SUPPORT: Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/truthunites One time donation: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/truthunites FOLLOW: Twitter: https://twitter.com/gavinortlund Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TruthUnitesPage/ Website: https://gavinortlund.com/

One of the most consoling and comforting truths of the gospel is Christ's intercession for us. But I also think this is one of the most neglected and misunderstood doctrines. A lot of Christians, I have the feeling, don't really have a clear conception of this. Usually we've heard of some, you know, we see it in Christ's earthly ministry in John 17. He's interceding for all believers. In Luke 22, he prays for Peter. We see it in Romans 834 and Hebrew 725, these references to Christ making intercession for us from heaven. First John 2.1 says if we sin, we have an advocate with the father.

So there's some sense we usually have from these passages, but what I've felt is a lot of Christians, it feels a little bit murky. For one thing, we tend to focus so much upon Jesus' death on the cross. Sometimes we neglect the broader sort of narrative arc of his saving work, his birth, his sinless life on our behalf, his burial, his resurrection, his reservoir, direction, and then his ascension and ascended work, which would include his intercession force, and then, of course, his second coming. And even when we do talk about Christ's intercession, I think a lot of Christians struggle to know what it means. Is it like, is he literally praying for us, like vocally talking to God the Father through his resurrected

vocal cords in his body? And if he is, and that's one of the disputed questions on this, but if he is, how does he pray for everybody at once? A lot of Christians have wondered about that. So I want to do a brief primer in this video on Christ's intercession. I'm going to be drawing from what I regard as one of the best, perhaps the most helpful and succinct and insightful treatment of this doctrine in all of church history, and that is of Stephen Charnock, the great Puritan theologian. I've written an article on this, details about that in the video description.

So what you're getting in this video is just a condensed overview of that article, and we'll just cover two things. First, what is Christ's intercession? And secondly, what is its practical use for us? So first, what is Christ's intercession? The way that I found helpful to put this drawing from Charonach is it's the application of his atonement. So let me tease that out a little bit. This way of putting it, that Christ's intercession is the application of his atonement, helps us steer clear of two different errors. One error on the one side is separating Christ's atoning death and his intercessory work, because these two things are both priestly. So, atonement and intercession are what priests do all throughout the Old Testament.

You see this, for example, in Isaiah 53, Atonement and Intercession go together in that chapter. Many other passages, the Day of Atonement ritual in Leviticus 16, we'll talk about in a second, that has both sacrifice or atonement. it also has then a presentation of the sacrifice. And so the important thing here is to see that intercession and atonement go together. We can't completely separate them. On the other hand, there's been a huge movement in the scholarship recently. William Milligan, 19th century Scottish Presbyterian theologian, made a case for this,

and then lots of contemporary scholars argue for this in different ways, to kind of really press them together. and from my vantage point overwork the relationship between atonement and intercession, such that, in one way or another, Jesus' heavenly intercession either just is atonement or it's the completion of atonement so that really there needs to be the heavenly intercession in order for his death upon the cross to be complete. And people draw this from Leviticus 16, because in Leviticus 16, the Day of Atonement ritual, you have the high priest who sacrifices the goat and bull, and then it doesn't end there. He goes into the Holy of Holies, and he sprinkles the blood

upon the mercy seat and burns incense. And so the relationship between type and antitepe here, Jesus fulfills all of this. And so the entrance into the Holy Seetube, place and the sprinkling of the blood, that corresponds to Christ's intercession. And I think it's verse 16 of Leviticus 16. It says, thus you shall make atonement following the sprinkling of the blood. And so people are saying, look, the whole thing is the atonement, right? I think it's actually more helpful to follow the way Charnock and others that have given really helpful treatments of this. I draw attention to a little bit in the article. Herman Bavink is one. John Murray is another, the reformed theologian, is kind of a little bit more nuanced and actually not far from that, but they will speak of it,

and Charnock especially, as the completion, or excuse me, not the completion, as the application of Christ's atoning death. So Christ's intercession is the application, or sometimes he'll even call it the continuation. He'll say things like Christ's atoning death lives in his intercession. So there is this inseparable relationship. They stand together as Christ's priestly ministry on our behalf. But it's not that like the atonement work that Jesus did while dying on the cross on Calvary is like 50% of the atonement and then the other 50% now is added on to it now that Christ is interceding in heaven or even 99% and then 1%. It's 100% completed on the cross and now Jesus speaks or applies that atoning work to us. So Charnauch uses several

metaphors for this. He talks about the way providence relates to creation as the way intercession relates to atonement. So just as God providentially sustaining and ruling the universe doesn't sort of add on to creation. That's not really how their relationship works. It's a sustaining and continuation of it. So also with Christ's intercession. He uses so many different metaphors. He calls Christ's atonement a bill and his intercession, the answer. of the bill. He calls Christ's atonement the acceptance of a legal verdict and Christ's intercession, the negotiation of that legal verdict. Sometimes when I'm talking fast in videos, I say the wrong thing. I hope I'm getting all the words right here. Atonement intercession. Okay. He calls Christ's

atoning death the payment and Christ's intercession the plea on the basis of that payment. He talks about, oh gosh, I have so many more. You can read the article, but hopefully you're getting a sense, I don't want to go to in the weeds here, but hopefully you're getting a sense here. There's this sort of transaction that is complete, and then there's this extension and continuation on it, and it has dynamic life in his intercession. My favorite language is when he calls it the voice of Christ's blood. Christ's intercession is the voice of his blood, his blood crying out on behalf. This is why what Jesus is interceding for is the same as what he died for. That's very important to connect those two. So by the way, one of the reasons we should be

careful in speculating too much about the details, there is this discussion of his Christ's intercession vocal or signal. Is it him speaking or is it some other kind of activity of Christ that's not vocal? And I think the wisest approach is just to be cautious a little bit with this because it's taking place in heaven, which is a realm that we have no access to. But I conceptualize. it at least. I'm not dogmatic about this as vocal, simply because I think that's appropriate to the language of scripture, and I think that that is the best way to understand it that we can have. But this language of the voice of his blood helps us to see. It's not just sort of Jesus just praying for us in any way. It's tightly correlated to what he died for. That's what he's praying

for, for the completion of the aims and intended outcome of his death. So you see in Charles, Wesley's hymn, arise my soul arise. I love this little verse, which really is drawing attention to Christ's intercession. Five bleeding wounds he bears received on Calvary. They pour effectual prayers. They strongly plead for me. Forgive him. Oh, forgive they cry. Forgive him. Oh, forgive they cry. Nor let that ransomed sinner die. Let me give a couple just quick samples here from Charonach, things that are so helpful where he's drawing attention to the connection between atonement and intercession. He calls intercession a commemoration of the sacrifice, which Christ offered on earth for our expiation. That means atonement.

And the whole power of intercession with the prevalence of it is holy upon this foundation. He speaks by his blood and his blood speaks by his merit. So this is where Tarnock is trying to emphasize that Christ's intercession is always connected to his atoning death. It's never sort of free-floating out on its own. And the thing he keeps laboring that I find so helpful is he's saying, if Christ's death was effective, so also his intercession will be effective. So here's one other quote. His intercession must be as powerful as his satisfaction.

His death may as soon want its virtue as his intercession, its efficacy. If his blood be incorruptible as being precious in the eyes of God, His intercessions are undeniable as having an equal value in God's account. There is a necessary connection between the perfection of the one and the prevalence of the other. His merit must be deficient before his intercession can be successless. And his blood without, and his blood will not want a voice while his death retains a satisfactory sufficiency.

I know that there's a lot of old-fashioned language in these Puritan quotes like, successless and prevalencey. I actually love the noun prevalence to describe the benefits and merits of Christ's saving work on our behalf. Think of the adjective

prevalent. If something is prevalent, it's common or forceful or predominant. So think prevalencey of Christ's death. Awesome image, awesome word for it. These Puritans are really helpful even where they'll kind of stretch our category. a little bit with unfamiliar language. It's so edifying. So what he's saying is, if Christ's death

counted, his prayers will count as well. Now, we could go on a long time about what Christ's intercession is. I cover a lot more in the article. There's so much to Charnox's account. He talks a lot about the divine and human natures of Christ. Why is, do we need a God man who's interceding for us? Really interesting. How do the divine and human natures contribute? Lots of other things. But in this video, I just want to kind of keep it focused and practical and talk about what difference does Christ's intercession make in our lives. And if you want more on these or on the things I haven't covered about what Christ's intercession is, you can read the article. But let me just mention three differences it makes going kind of into pastoral mode here first. Because again, I do believe this doctrine is so nourishing and helpful and edifying to understand and to live in light of.

The first thing is Christ's intercession shows us Christ's compassion. It's inherent in the very nature of intercession that there needs be compassion for the people that you're interceding for. Charnock puts this in the article like this. If he be not tender in misery, he is not faithful to God in the exercise of his office. I think about this so much. you know, at times the atoning death of Christ can feel more distant and impersonal like this event that just happened. And our status as forgiven in light of the cross can feel kind of formal and static. And Christ's intercession, if you are meditating upon it, remembering it and so forth,

it sort of channels what Christ did for us on the cross to us in more dynamic and personal. terms. It's like the love that Jesus showed us when he died on the cross is the same love he feels for you every nanosecond of his resurrected life. He has no regret. Now it's not like he died for you then, but now as you're 15 years into your Christian life and you're still struggling with certain things, he's kind of running out of patience. Christ's intercession channels his compassion to us with the constancy of his resurrected life. Think about this. Every time we sin, we have an advocate with the Father. That's 1 John 2.1. That's the verse that Johnoc's whole treatment is an exposition of. You know, the Puritans will take one little verse and do this massive theological treatise on one little verse. Well, that's the verse. So think about that. Jesus is your advocate. How do you feel about an advocate? Have you ever had a friend who kept secrets for you? They were there for you. They came through for you. You have this sense of loyalty and shared history. You have this sense of like, wow, they were really there for me. All of those feelings are what we should feel toward Christ.

He is your advocate. I remember one time I had to make a request at our previous church to the elder board and I had one elder who I knew was an advocate for me for this particular request. He was saying, no, yeah, let's be in favor of this. And I remember what it meant to me to think of someone being there advocating for me. Think about what it's like Christ. Okay, so Christ has accomplished the greatest victory in the history of the universe, bigger than any Super Bowl, bigger than any political election, bigger than winning the lottery by wide margin. He has been advanced to the highest position in the universe, the name above every other name. He's above the angels.

What is he doing? He's praying for us. He's interceding for us. You are on his mind. He's not forgotten about you. you. Continually, he's interceding for us. It's such a powerful reminder of the compassion of Christ in John Murray's treatment. He says, if you understand Christ's intercession, he calls Christ's intercession omnipotent compassion. And he says, if we understand it, we shall be humbled to the point

of being speechless in a true sense exasperated. The second benefit of Christ's intercession is it helps us experience continual forgiveness, and it helps us understand how we experience continual forgiveness in the gospel. Another way to put that is it helps us freshly appropriate the cross. You know, we understand that Jesus died so that we would be forgiven, but sometimes we don't think through the dynamics of how that happens. Christ's intercession is the point of contact between what Jesus accomplished for us on Calvary, the saving benefits of his atoning work, and our real-time needs.

So it's kind of the mediating link between what Jesus did on Good Friday and what we struggle with on Tuesday morning or on Wednesday afternoon or whenever. That moment of crisis, Christ's intercession is sort of the delivery point for what Christ's accomplished for us and where we actually need it. So the doctrine of Christ's intercession gives us a vantage point by which we can see how our sins actually get forgiven. Christ doesn't merely sort of cover our sins in some generic way as a whole, leaving the details to work out on their own. Like there's a sort of blanket statement of forgiven status and then it sort of trickles down, but he's not really paying attention to how all the details work out. it meets particular sins at particular times just like Peter in Luke 22 you know Jesus says

hey I know you're about to betray me but I've prayed for you that your faith may not fail and it's one of the most convicting poignant vulnerable thoughts to consider Christ prays for each of us for our particular sins gosh here's how Tarnock puts it this quote will change your life it has mind. It is upon every sin he doth discharge this office and by his interposition procures our pardon thousands of times, we could say millions of times maybe, and preserves us from coming short of the full fruits of reconciliation at first obtained by him. You hear what he's saying? He's saying, every time we sin, against every sin, Jesus is praying for us saying, Father, forgive them for the sake of my blood. Remember my death on their behalf. Thirdly, third benefit of Christ's intercession is

that it cements our assurance of salvation. Sometimes we wonder, you know, am I going to make it? The Christian life, our process of sanctification and growth has some detours. It has some setbacks. We have some seasons of backsliding. We have some delays along the way. Our process of growth into holiness is not always efficient and speedy. And sometimes we can wonder, you know, am I going to make it? The doctrine of Christ's intercession, teaches us that Christ has a greater commitment to our salvation than we do. He has a greater concern for our welfare. He has a greater pity for us in our distress.

He is a greater zeal for our growth and progress. He is a greater acquaintance with our needs. He understands our dreams and longings and pains even better than we do. Tarnach says, Our pity to ourselves cannot enter into comparison with his pity for us. So, you know, our faith is kind of ebbing and flowing. You know, on Tuesday we might be more spiritually alert than on Wednesday. You know, it's not constant.

But Christ's intercession for us is constant. It's as constant as his resurrected life. That's the end of his resurrected life. He's not just been exalted above the angels just for himself. He's been exalted unto a saving office on our behalf. And he's executing that constantly. on our behalf. Many times we realize, if it were up to me, I'd wander off the path.

But Jesus' prayers for us are the reason we know we're not going to wander off. This is where we find assurance for our salvation. So, you know, think of it like this. The work that Christ has done in me thus far, that isn't actually my assurance in and of itself. It's that he's done that and I know he's going to keep working. Here's how William Symington put it. A helpful phrase here. He's another 19th century Scottish Presbyterian.

He said, Believers' security springs not from anything naturally indestructible in the principle of the new life of which they are possessed, nor from any want of criminality in the sins they commit, nor from anything less dangerous in the circumstances in which they are placed, but wholly from the intercession of Christ. Let me read this final charnot quote about the, comfort that Christ's intercession gives. And just think about it like this. Your name is, it's not just that your name is like technically in the heavenly documents written down somewhere. It's that

God is fully attending to you and to your salvation in the course of life even amidst our sins and failures. And we have this unquestionable support and foundation that we can look to in the intercession of Christ. Here's how Tarnock puts it. what could comfort itself wish more for her children had she been our mother than to have so great a person, our perpetual advocate at the right hand of God. His death is not such a ground of assurance as this, because that is past. But when we consider how the merit of his death lives continually in his intercession, all the weights of doubts and despondency lose their heaviness, heaviness, faith, finds in it an unquestionable support. So whatever you're going through in your life today,

whatever you're facing, however overwhelming or dark it may feel, remember this. If your faith is in Christ, if you belong to Jesus, whatever you are facing today, Christ is praying for you in the midst of it. Robert Murray McShane said, if I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. he is praying for me. And if we've put our trust in Christ, he's praying for you and me as well.