"The book of Hebrews has much to say about the Lord Jesus Christ as our great high priest, buy only in John 17 do we have a sample of that mediating intercessory ministry. This is the only example in Scripture of what He has been doing in heaven incessantly since His ascension... The cross was accomplished in hours, the resurrection in days, but several thousand years have already passed in the course of Jesus' intercessory work. We read in Hebrews 7:25, 'He always lives to make intercession for them.' For 2,000 years, Jesus has been praying us into heaven against the force of sin that assails us." -- John MacArthur, The Lord's Greatest Prayer, Part 2 in The John MacArthur Handbook of Effective Biblical Leadership
Jesus lived roughly 33 years and spent around 3 of those in public ministry. He spent hours on the cross and days in grave and weeks in His resurrected state among men. Every day prior to His incarnation, He existed in perfect, eternal divinity as the second member of the Trinity and every day since His ascension, He has been seated at the right hand of the Father in perfect, eternal divinity making intercession for those His Father has given to Him: those elected before the foundation of the world and enrolled in the Lamb's Book of Life before life on earth began.
Jesus has been mediating and interceding on behalf of His people for millennia. At this very moment, He is there and He is praying for those who are His right here and right now, and He will continue to do so until the time He stands up in order to descend and visit His earth again in person.
Hebrews 9:28
Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
No comments:
Post a Comment