Intercession: Standing in the Gap

Intercession is biblical word that is sometimes used today. We understand the word to basically mean, the act of interceding between two or more parties. If a person attacks another person and you jump in and try to talk down the aggressor, you would be interceding on behalf of the victim. When we look at this word in the New Testament, there are eight usages in Greek between the noun and verbs. Three times the words are used for prayers to God (1 Timothy 2:1; 4:5; Romans 11:2). Once the verb is used of a human request to a political leader (Acts 25:24). Twice these words are used of the Holy Spirit praying for us (Romans 8:26-27), and twice they are used for Jesus representing us before the Father (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25).

We most often use the word intercession to refer to prayers we pray for other people and use the word interchangeable with words like prayer and petition. This is true biblically. When we pray for other people, we are interceding for them asking God to bless them and take care of their needs. All Christians are intercessors and should engage in intercessory prayer for other people; this is a Christian’s duty. The Apostle Paul, speaking to all of us, requested that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people (1 Timothy 2:1). We must pray all kinds of prayers for one another as a regular habit (Ephesians 6:18).

As encouraging as it is to know believers pray for one another, it is even more encouraging to know that the Holy Spirit prays for us (Romans 8:26-27). There are times we do not know what to pray for since we are short sighted and have limited mental energy, the Holy Spirit steps in and intercedes for us according to the will of God. He knows what we desire to say, but cannot say it, so He intercedes on our behalf to bring those prayers to God.

It gets tricky when we talk about Jesus interceding for us. We tend to immediately think Jesus is either taking our prayers to the Father or that He is praying for us to the Father. While the Holy Spirit has a unique ministry in this regards, Jesus’ intercessory ministry is different. It is easy to miss this and think Jesus is simply praying for us in heaven, because the same words are used. But when referring to Jesus role as intercessor, the Bible is using that word in a broader sense. Romans 8:34 tells us, 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. Hebrews 7:25 states something very similar, He always lives to make intercession for them. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the second member of the Holy Trinity, has direct access to the Father. Jesus’ substitutionary atonement bridged the gap between our sins and access to the Father. If not for His sinless life, death, resurrection and ascension, we would still have the wrath of God hovering over us (John 3:36). Although Christ’s perfect work secured our salvation, His ministry and care for us continues. Christ’s intercession is tied to His role as Advocate and Mediator. Jesus presence in heaven is enough to representing us before the Father, countering the attacks of Satan who is relentlessly accusing us (Revelation 12:10). These attacks are dead on arrival of course, because Christ is there and redemption is accomplished.

When we think about Christ ever living to make intercession for us, we have to keep in mind that He has intervened on our behalf through His life, death and resurrection. The perfect work He accomplished for us remains eternally acceptable to the Father because Christ lives in the presence of the Father eternally. It is not that the Father needs to be reminded of what Christ did, as if He could forget, rather it is the eternal reality that the plan of redemption has been accomplished once for all and now the merits of that accomplishment are secured, because the Son has returned to heaven and sat down at the Father’s right in glory. The Holy Spirit inspired the authors of Scripture to tell us this so we understand that Christ’s work will never lose its efficacy and that our salvation is totally secured in the hand of a faithful and loving God.