We have many images of Jesus Christ. We think of him as he is portrayed to us in the New Testament Gospels: Jesus was born; Jesus taught and healed; Jesus died on the cross for our sins; Jesus was resurrected; Jesus ascended into heaven. The Gospel stories present the Jesus we know and love; and the Jesus Christ who is our Savior and Lord.
But Jesus’ work is not finished. The New Testament also shows us that Jesus Christ continues to be active on our behalf—every minute of every day, with every breath we take. What Christ does for us now is “just what we need” for our lives!
The apostle Paul put it clearly for us: “Who is to condemn?” Paul asked. He answered: “It is Christ who died, or rather, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us” (Rom. 8:34). This work of Jesus Christ now—in heaven—for Gods “elect” as God’s people (Rom. 8:33), is also emphasized in the book of Hebrews. Here we read that Jesus Christ “is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25).
Imagine this!
As priests in Israel offered sacrifices and interceded with God—prayed to God—to forgive the peoples’ sins, now in Jesus Christ, we have “a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of people” (Heb. 2:17). Now in Jesus Christ, we have a holy high priest who “knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21) and who is “merciful and faithful” and has offered himself as “a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of people.”
Jesus Christ, who gave himself as the perfect and holy sacrifice for our sins is now the One who “always lives” at “the right hand of God” to intercede for us when we—as Christians—are in need of continuing forgiveness for our sins, as Paul and the book of Hebrews tell us.
In his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus Christ gave us just what we needed: to know how God wants us to live, to die for our sins so we can receive a new relationship of love and trust with God, and to give us by his resurrection the promise of eternal life—living forever in the presence of God and the saints in heaven. All this is just what we need!
But there’s more!
Now, the ascended Jesus Christ who is at “the right hand of God,” continues to work for us. Christ intercedes with God on behalf of God’s people who—even now as Christians—stand in need of having their sins forgiven. All who believe in Jesus Christ have Christ as their Advocate, their Intercessor. Jesus Christ represents us before God. By his perfect sacrifice of himself on our behalf our continuing sins can be forgiven by God who now looks on us, through Jesus Christ. The Puritan Thomas Watson (1620-1686) wrote: “The High Priest went into the Sanctuary with the Names only of the Twelve Tribes upon his Breast; so Christ goes into Heaven only with the Names of the Elect upon his Breast. Christ interceeds for the weakest Believers, John 17.20. and for all the sins of Believers.”[1] Jesus Christ intercedes for “the weakest believers”—and that means us. Christ’s intercession is just what we need!
Christ’s Intercession
Thomas Watson provided an extensive discussion of Christ’s Intercession and what Christ does as he intercedes for Christian believers.[2]
1) Christ’s Merits. Jesus Christ presents the merits of his death to God the Father and “in the virtue of that price paid, pleads for mercy” (104).
2) Christ Answers Accusations. When believers sin and can face rightly-deserved divine justice, “Christ shews his own wounds, and by virtue of his bloody sufferings, he answers all the demands and challenges of the Law, and counter-works Satan’s accusations.”
3) Christ Calls for Acquittance. Christ advocates for the sinner (1 John 2:1). Christ himself satisfies the divine law that sin be punished and says, in effect: “In justice give me a discharge for these distressed Creatures. ’Tis equal that the Law being satisfied, the sinner should be acquitted. And upon Christ’s plea, God sets his hand to the sinner’s pardon.”
The fullness of Jesus Christ’s work of redemption and salvation continues to bring what is now-needed for believers who sin: ongoing forgiveness, mercy, and pardon. Nothing other than the ongoing intercession of Jesus Christ can meet our continuing needs for the fullness of God’s loving forgiveness—always…
The Fruits of Christ’s Intercession
Watson lists the “fruits” of Christ’s intercession—what results from what Jesus Christ does by interceding on behalf of Christian believers who sin.
1) Justification. In justification, our guilt is canceled and second: Christ’s righteousness is imputed or attributed to us. God looks on us as sinners, through the righteousness of Christ who died for us. So we are reckoned righteous in God’s sight. It is “God who justifies” and through Christ’s death and resurrection, in Christ we become “the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). In Christ’s intercession (Rom. 8:33,34), said Watson: Christ says: “Lord,…these are the persons I have died for, look upon them as if they had not sinned, and repute them righteous” (105).
2) Anointing with the Holy Spirit. This is God’s “work of Sanctification in the heart, whereby the Spirit makes us partake of the Divine Nature (2 Pet. 1:4).” The Spirit of God touches a person and the person receives a new, holy nature—becoming a new person in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). These persons receive the benefits of Christ’s continuing intercession in heaven as they are anointed and filled with God’s Spirit. The Spirit, as Watson would later write also brings comfort to believers: “A drop of this heavenly comfort, is enough to sweeten a sea of worldly sorrow.” The Holy Spirit is an “earnest” or “down payment” or “pledge” of eternal life to come (2 Cor. 1:22).
3) Purification of our Works and Prayers. As Christians, we do good works as we are filled with God’s Spirit and are led to serve God in Jesus Christ. But, as Watson noted, “our best services, as they come from us, are mixed with Corruption.” We do not always do good things from good motives (Isa. 64:6). But Christ “purifies and sweetens these services, mixing the sweet odors of his intercession with them, and now God accepts and crowns them.” God receives our service—and our prayers—through the merits of Christ who presents them as intercessions on our behalf. How important is this! Watson asks: “What would become of our duties without a High Priest? Christ’s intercession does to our Prayers, as the fan to the chaff, it winnows it from the corn; so Christ winnows out the chaff which is intermixed with our prayers.”
4) We come to God’s throne of grace with boldness. Hebrews 4:16 says: “Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” This is possible, according to Watson, because “we have a great High Priest that is passed into the Heavens.” “Let us go,” he wrote: “Come boldly to the Throne of Grace, we have a Friend at Court that speaks a good word for us, and is following our Cause in Heaven, therefore let this animate and encourage us in Prayer.” Do we think this is “too much boldness?” “What?” If we were sinners coming for pardon solely on our own, we would be denied. Nor can we come “in our own name in prayer”—this would be “presumption.” But, Watson proclaims: “Christ intercedes for us in the force and efficacy of his blood.” Now, “to be afraid to come to God in prayer, is a dishonor to Christ’s intercession.”
5) Perseverance in Grace. It is not by our own power or abilities that we can continue in the faith in Jesus Christ which God has given to us by the Holy Spirit. Left to ourselves, our faith would flicker and we would fall away from the gift of salvation God has given us. But, Jesus prayed for his disciples: “Protect them in your name that you have given me,” (John 17:11). So Watson notes: “It is not our prayer, or watchfulness, or grace that keeps us, but it is God’s care and maintenance by which he holds us that we do not fall away” (106). How does God preserve us in faith? From Christ’s intercession, answered Watson: “Father, keep them.” Watson recalled Jesus had prayed for Peter, that his faith would not fail (Luke 22:32). Thus “the saints persevere in believing, because Christ perseveres in praying.”
6) Forgiveness at the Day of Judgment. Jesus Christ will judge the world (John 5:22). Put simply, Watson wrote: “Those that Christ has so prayed for, he will Absolve [forgive] when he sits upon the bench of Judgment. Will Christ condemn those he prays for? Believers are his Spouse, will he condemn his Spouse?” Our ultimate security in the Day of Judgment is the merits of Jesus Christ and his continuing intercession on our behalf. Jesus Christ who died and was raised from the dead for those anointed by the Holy Spirit continues to intercede for them with God—now and forever!
Uses and Duties of Christ’s Intercession
Christ’s intercession for us and the fruits of his intercession have very important and practical implications for our Christian lives—every day!
Uses. Thomas Watson explored some of these “uses” of a theological understanding of Christ’s intercession. Among his significant comments are these:
1) Christ’s intercession shows the constancy of Christ’s love for us. Christ did not only die for us, but he intercedes for us in heaven. Wrote Watson: “When Christ is done dying, he is not done loving; he is now at work in heaven for the saints; he carries their names on his breast, and will never cease praying till that prayer is granted”: “Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am” (John 17:24).
2) Christ’s intercession shows why “the prayers of the saints are so powerful with God.” For “prayer, as it comes from the saints, is but weak and languid; but when the arrow of a saint’s prayer is put into the bow of Christ’s Intercession, now it pierces the Throne of Grace.”
We know Christ is interceding for us and that the Holy Spirit is praying in us (Gal. 4:6; Rom. 8:26). This is a firm assurance on which we can depend. As Watson put it: “We need not climb up into the Firmament to see if the Sun be there, we may see the Beauty of it upon the Earth: so we need not go up into Heaven to see if Christ be there interceding for us; let us look into our Hearts, if they are quickened and inflamed in Prayer, and we can cry, Abba Father, by this interceding of the Spirit within us, we may know Christ is interceding above for us” (107). Our assurance of Christ’s intercession is grounded in God’s promises in Scripture. When we look at ourselves—and if we find the spirit of prayer, the passionate desire to pray to God in seeking forgiveness and all else—we find God’s Spirit—and we know Christ is “interceding above for us.” The promise is fulfilled as we experience God’s Spirit in our lives, leading us to pray—and assuring us that Christ is also interceding for us.
We experience this by faith. In faith, believers “rest on Christ, as the stones in the building rest upon the cornerstone. Faith throws itself into Christ’s Arms; it says, Christ is my Priest, his blood is my sacrifice, his divine nature is my altar, and here I rest.”
Duties. Our experience of the intercession of Christ for us leads us to several duties as believers, said Watson.
1) Stand for Christ. Watson wrote that “if Christ appears for us in heaven, then we must appear for him upon earth: Christ is not ashamed to carry our names on his breast, and shall we be ashamed of his truth? Does he plead our cause, and shall we not stand up in his cause? What a mighty argument is this to stand up for the honor of Christ in times of apostacy; Christ is interceding for us. Does he present our names in heaven, and shall not we profess his name on earth?
2) Give your all to Christ. For Watson: “If Christ lays out all his interest for us at the throne of grace, we must lay out all our interest for him: Phil. 1.20. That Christ may be magnified. Trade your talents for Christ’s glory, there’s no person but who has some talent to trade…; Oh trade for Christ’s Glory! Spend and be spent for him. Let your head study for Christ, your hands work for Christ, your tongue speak for him: If Christ be an Advocate for us in heaven, we must be factors for him on Earth; every one in his and her sphere must act vigorously for Christ.”
Our Sovereign Comfort
The intercession of Jesus Christ brings comfort to believers. Watson concludes by considering true feelings that may arise for believers as they consider their own Christian lives in relation to the intercession of Christ.
“Christ is at work for you in heaven, he makes intercession for you,” wrote Watson (108). To the doubts that can arise in our hearts, Watson responds to those who think their sins are so great that Christ cannot forgive: “Christ will pray for them who have sinned against their high priest. Did not he pray for them that crucified him, ‘Father, forgive them?’ (Luke 23:34).
To those who say: “I am unworthy; what am I, that Christ should intercede for me?”—Watson answers: “The work of Christ’s intercession is a work of free grace; Christ’s praying for us is from his pitying of us. Christ looks not at our worthiness, but our wants.”
For those fearing because they are “followed with sad temptations,” Christ will not intercede, Watson encouraged: “But though Satan tempts, Christ prays, and Satan shall be vanquished: Though you may lose a single battle, yet not the victory. Christ prays that your faith does not fail. Therefore, Christian say: ‘Why are you cast down, O my soul?’ Christ intercedes, it is humans who sin, it is God [in Christ] who prays. The Greek word for Advocate, signifies Comforter. This is a sovereign comfort, Christ makes intercession.”
We can know with assurance: Christ’s Intercession is our Sovereign Comfort!
[1] Thomas Watson, A Body of Practical Divinity consisting of above one hundred seventy six sermons on the lesser catechism composed by the reverend assembly of divines at Westminster: with a supplement of some sermons on several texts of Scripture (London, 1692), 103. In what follows, below, Watson’s language is modernized at points.
[2] See Watson’s, A Body of Practical Divinity (1692), “Christ’s Intercession” at https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A65285.0001.001/1:35?ALLSELECTED=1;c=eebo;c=eebo2;cite1=watson;cite1restrict=author;g=eebogroup;rgn=div1;singlegenre=All;sort=occur;subview=detail;type=simple;view=fulltext;xc=1;q1=throws+itself#hl1.
Donald K. McKim is a retired minister of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. He has served as a pastor, seminary Academic Dean and Professor of Theology, and editor for Westminster John Knox Press. Among his latest books are Following in the Way of Jesus: Theological Thoughts for Daily Living (Cascade Books) and Reformed Theology From A to Z (Rowman & Littlefield).