THE HEAVENLY
MINISTRY OF CHRIST
Chapter 7
THE HEAVENLY PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST
WEEK 3 – MONDAY
Bible Reading: Exod. 28:6–10, 21; Rom. 8:34; Heb. 1:5; 2:6–9, 10; 3:1; 4:8, 14–16; 7:25, 27–28; 8:1; 10:21
Read and pray: “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come forward to God through Him, since He lives always to intercede for them” (Heb. 7:25)
INTERCEDING FOR US IN OUR NEEDS
How much we need Him!
“Of Thee, Lord, I have need,
Yes, I always need”
(Hymns, no. 186)¹
Without doubt, we need Him at every hour. Hour after hour, we do not know for sure what we will face. We may say hallelujah or amen in the meeting, but when we return home our joy may disappear, and instead of hallelujah and amen, there may be only silence and a “long face.”
A problem arises, or we may catch a cold and become ill. Whatever the problem may be, Christ is there taking care of our case. He sustains us when we are sad or sick. His intercession for us never ceases.
His capacity to care for us is unlimited, because He is the almighty God. His priesthood is a ministry of intercession in the heavens, in the Holy of Holies, before God on our behalf.
Many times we are not conscious of His intercession; however, at times we can perceive that He cares for us in this way. Perhaps you find yourself in the midst of an argument with your wife when, suddenly, words fail you.
Why do those words full of anger suddenly stop coming out of your mouth? Did you ever have such an experience before you were saved? In my own case, I used to become angry in a way that could last all day, even through the night.
Since I was saved, however, I have never again been able to become completely furious. The longest my anger has lasted, as far as I can remember since then, has been only a few minutes. And what about you? How long can you stay angry? Not very long, because Christ is there, interceding for you at the throne of God, and His intercession is heard.
Sometimes problems strike us and we become anxious. Before we were saved, these anxieties were endless. Now, when anxiety begins to arise, we soon sense a consolation that brings us relief, as if saying to us, “Why don’t you pray? You do not need to worry.”
Christ begins to intercede for us, and this is the effect that His intercession produces in us. Then we respond to Him, “Thank You, Lord, for bearing my anxieties. All my cares are in Your hands.”
Just a few words, and the anxiety is gone. We can enjoy Him! This is the priestly intercession of Christ for us. It is unceasing.
In Romans 8:34 Paul asks, “Who shall condemn them? Christ Jesus is the One who died; rather, who was also raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.” There is no one who can condemn us. Christ certainly will not; He died for us, was raised, and now is in the heavens interceding for us.
His heavenly ministry is to take care of us. We have all had many experiences of the care of our faithful High Priest toward us. We have been reminded, comforted, strengthened, and even guided by Him many times.
If we had time, we could give testimony after testimony of how help came to us not so much outwardly, but from within us. Help also comes to us from the heavens. There is something within us and something from above that strengthens us, sustains us, comforts us, and enlightens us.
Without this support of the intercession of our High Priest, we would long ago have been defeated. We have been preserved not by ourselves, but by our High Priest. Our High Priest is highly qualified for this office.
The book of Hebrews presents His qualifications to us. He is the Son of God (1:5), the Son of Man (2:6–9), the Author of our salvation (2:10), the Apostle sent by God to us (3:1), and the true Joshua who leads us into rest (4:8).
It is this One, fully qualified, who now takes care of us in every detail. His intercession is precious to the Father. God, on His throne, considers the priesthood of His Son as a precious treasure. We need to have the same regard.
He prays for you day and night. You may have been away from the Lord and from the church life. You turned a deaf ear to everyone who tried to help you. Yet one day, perhaps while you were far away on the top of a mountain, you began to think, “Why not return to the church?”
You were completely alone, far from the influence of others, and yet you heard this inward counsel. How can this be explained? It is surely the result of the priesthood of Christ. His intercession touched you while you were away and brought you back.
We really do not need so much outward help. We have a Helper in the heavenly places! Our help comes from the heavens to our spirit. Eventually, it comes from within us. We have this tremendous High Priest!
“Having therefore a great High Priest, Jesus, the Son of God…let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace” (Heb. 4:14–16). After presenting us with a picture of our High Priest caring for our weaknesses, the writer of Hebrews exhorts us to come forward to the throne of grace.
It is by coming forward in this confident way that we have reciprocity with His heavenly intercession. Where is the throne of grace? We must answer that it is both in the heavens and in our spirit. If it were only in the heavens, how could we come forward to it? As our experience testifies, the throne is also in our spirit.
By way of illustration, let us suppose that we are anxious for some reason. Being anxious is a characteristic of intelligent people. Only fools are completely carefree, no matter what happens to them. If we are awakened, reasoning people, many things make us anxious.
When we are single, our thoughts turn to personal concerns. After we marry, there are two of us to care about. Instead of thinking only of ourselves, we focus on our spouse: “What about the conversation we had last night? What about our future? What if one of us becomes ill?”
We need to find a way out to face all the disturbing thoughts and difficult situations that assail us. Thanks be to God that our spirit is connected to the Holy of Holies! When we turn from the mind to the spirit, we enter the Holy of Holies. Once there, it is difficult to tell whether we are in heaven or on earth.
The Holy of Holies has two ends: one in the heavens and the other in our spirit. There, in the Holy of Holies, is the throne of grace. What do we do at the throne of grace? We pray, we worship, and we seek the One who is on the throne. We praise Him and thank Him.
From that throne flows the river of life. If we remain there for a few moments, we will sense that something flows from the throne of grace to us, in us, and out from us. We will experience eternal life as the supply of grace. We will receive mercy and find “grace for timely help” (Heb. 4:16).
By coming forward to the throne of grace, we have reciprocity with the heavenly priesthood of Christ. Whenever we turn to the spirit and come forward in this way to the throne of grace, we have reciprocity with His heavenly intercession. His intercession and our prayer constitute a two-way traffic between heaven and earth.
When the high priest entered the Holy of Holies, he bore on his shoulders the names of the twelve tribes (Exod. 28:6–10). These names were also written on the breastplate (v. 21). Today our High Priest bears us all before God in the heavenly Holy of Holies.
He stands before God in order to bring us there and also to bring our needs to Him. In that Holy Place all our problems are solved. He is serving us at the throne of grace. Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help!
The throne of grace is the only place where our problems can be solved. By coming forward to it, we have reciprocity with His intercession. This communication continues throughout the day. Although none of this can be seen with physical eyes, our spirit perceives what is taking place in the Holy of Holies on our behalf. Come forward to the throne of grace!
This office of High Priest is the greatest part of the heavenly ministry of Christ. We meet with Him hour after hour, enjoying Him, experiencing Him, and touching Him. As He intercedes for us, we come forward with confidence to the throne to receive mercy and find grace.
Mercy and grace are always available to us, but we need to receive them and find them by exercising our spirit, coming forward to the throne and touching our High Priest, who sympathizes with us in all our weaknesses.
THE GREATNESS OF OUR HIGH PRIEST
How great our High Priest is! He “is able to save to the uttermost those who come forward to God through Him, since He lives always to intercede for them” (Heb. 7:25). The high priests who served under the law had weaknesses; therefore they had to offer sacrifices first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people (v. 27).
Our High Priest, on the contrary, is “holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and become higher than the heavens” (v. 26). He has no need to offer sacrifices, “because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself” (v. 27).
Unlike the weak men who served as high priests under the law, our High Priest is “the Son, perfected forever” (v. 28). “[…] we have such a High Priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (8:1). He is the “great Priest over the house of God” (10:21).
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¹ Hymn no. 186 in the Brazilian hymnal
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Hymn: 186
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