Identity: Interceded-For (Part 2)

Last week we looked at God's story of being Interceded-For, and Jesus our Intercessor. Please read that here if you haven't, and skip this weeks. That is more important than the practical outworkings below. The more we know him, the more we will just live our faith. 

~ The Gospel Story ~

We, red-handed with guilt, stained with crimson, were distant from God. Our “iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face fro you so that he does not hear” (Isa. 59:2; cf. Ps. 66:18; Prov. 1:28). The Old Testament sacrificial system made it clear that God could not hear prayer apart from mediation, atonement.

Yet our Lord Jesus in Gethsemane—he the one who could come to God unblemished. But God said no to him, no, no other way—so that we could receive a yes in him. We know our prayers are heard, for we are united with him. We pray in his name, with his credentials, in union with him. His voice, our voice; our voice, his voice. The Father loves us with the same love as he loves Jesus, his perfect Son. So we never need be afraid of a deaf ear in heaven. Our High Priest descended through the dark snow clouds, and bore us up through them. We are now white as snow, able to come in his presence.

~ Stepping In: Us Today ~

We The-Heard, now dressed in the snow white robes of our High Priest himself, fit to come before the throne. We The-Interceded-For. What does it mean to don these white robes on every day and live it out?

We see the heart of God who himself is interceding, and we join our voices to his. Intercession becomes a joy, a partnership rather than a duty or coming before a reluctant God. We know Jesus is actively interceding, and we can do what he is doing now with him!

We also have a boldness to come before him in his name. We know we are heard. This doesn’t always mean the answer is yes, but it means the Lord has heard and in his wisdom is responding. As Isaiah promises to the Israelites in exile, wondering why God didn’t save them, wondering when he would end the exile, “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear” (Isa. 59:1). We know we are clothed with Christ and made holy. The angels may not look on him, but we can come before his throne. The angelic voices cry even now as you read, “Holy, holy, holy” with voices like mighty waters, but yet he hears our faint prayers for we are as close as his Son.

When we know Christ himself is interceding for us moment by moment, it impedes sinning. I think Christ’s prayer for Peter is often re-echoed on our behalf, that our faith would not fail (Lk. 22:32). How precious our faith is to him, how committed to our perseverance he is! (1 Pet. 1:7; Phil. 1:6; Jude 24) When we are in the throes of temptation, to know Christ himself is offering us his strength, praying for us, right there as our High Priest. To know that even our faintest gasp, “Lord, I really want to do this. I don’t even want to not want to do it. But help me to want to not want!” is heard and given grace-support.

We know that our faithfulness will waiver, as we are finite beings. We are distracted, still fight sin. We too often do make provision for the flesh and are too friendly with the world, the enemy of God (Rom. 13:14; Jas. 4:4). But the measure of our faithfulness is not dependent on our track record, but on the very faithfulness of Christ. We are covered by his faithfulness. And in a very real way, as we are united with him in one Spirit, one breath, one strength, his faithfulness grows into us. His mediating presence as the perfect Son, his intercession, will carry us.

To be The-Heard fosters intimacy. We feel close to him, knowing he actively sees us and interceding very much for what we are going through moment by moment. Like the disciples caught in the storm while Jesus was on the mountaintop praying—perhaps he was praying for them. He saw them, he see us. He was on high; he is still on high in prayer. Can you hear feel Jesus bearing you before the throne, his heart your request, your requests in his name on his heart?

Oh take courage! Persevere! You are the Heard. Noticed. Seen. Listened-To. You have the eye of your Father, the crafter of unique snowflakes, who will not let one fall to the ground without his care. Take heart! Jesus has parted the snow clouds, parted heaven, and come. You have heaven’s ear.

*Which of these do you live out well? Which is the Spirit nudging you to grow in?

*What other ways does being the Interceded-For impact your day-to-day life?