The Intercession Connection

Verily, verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give [it] you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” John 16:23, 24.

Do we really understand the meaning of what Jesus is communicating to us in these texts? He says, “Ask the Father in my name.” By faith, we must grasp His intercession as the connection to our Father. By faith, we must comprehend His pleading for us, because it is through His name that we have access to God—just as in the Old Covenant the people said, “Moses, you talk to God and you talk to us, but do not allow us to talk to Him directly. We will die.” (Exodus 20:19.) We could not approach the Father, we could not come to the throne, without Jesus’ intercession and without going through the name of our Saviour. We are not just to say His name as a mindless repetition—“In Jesus’ name.” As we pray, we are to realize that Jesus, at that very moment, is pleading on our behalf, and it is through His pleading, through His name, that we can come to God.

Prayers as Sweet Incense

In Revelation 8:3, 4, we read: “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer [it] with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, [which came] with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.” By faith, we must see our prayers ascending to our Father, made fragrant by the righteousness of our Saviour. Without Jesus’ righteousness, without His intercession, our prayers could not even ascend to the Father. Jesus is our connection, the connecting link between God and man.

Ellen White wrote, “The incense, ascending with the prayers of Israel, represents the merits and intercession of Christ, His perfect righteousness, which through faith is imputed to His people, and which can alone make the worship of sinful beings acceptable to God.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 353. Christ’s perfect righteousness alone can make our worship acceptable.

Intercession of the Son

The story is told of a son, who, while serving in the Civil War, had sent a letter to his father. He explained that he had been found sleeping at his post of duty. He explained in the letter as to why it had happened—he had fulfilled his hours of duty and then had taken another comrade’s shift. As a result of serving a double shift, he had fallen asleep at his post, and the sentence was death. The father received the letter a day or two before the execution day. To save his son, he boarded a train to Washington, D.C., arriving there the very morning that his son was to be executed.

Hurriedly, he made his way to the White House. (At that time, there was no fence or security surrounding the White House.) Rushing to the front door of that majestic building, he approached a guard and said, “I must see the President. It is an emergency.”

The guard asked, “Do you have an appointment?”

“No,” the father responded.

“Then I cannot let you in,” replied the guard.

Although the father pled and pled at the door, there was no admission. Finally, he staggered out onto the lawn, and slumping beneath a tree, cried. Seeing the President was his only hope. As he sat there, a little boy came up to him and said, “Mister, what is wrong?”

Through his tears, he told the boy his story. When he had finished, the boy said, “Come on.”

The father hesitated, saying, “You cannot do anything. You are just a boy. You cannot let me in.” But the boy insisted.

When the father and the boy came up to the guard, the boy said, “This man wants to see the President.”

The guard replied, “He cannot. He does not have an appointment.”

The young lad began to cry, “Father, father.” Soon President [Abraham] Lincoln appeared at the door.

“Tad,” the President asked, “what do you need?” The father’s son was saved, through the intercession of the son of the President.

Intercession of Praise

As we think about that story in relation to Jesus’ ministry, it is through His intercession that we are connected to the throne of God. Through His intercession, we can even praise the Lord.

Hebrews 13:15 says, “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of [our] lips, giving thanks to his name.” Notice this verse says, “Therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.” How is the sacrifice of praise to God offered continually? The first two words of the verse give us the answer—“By him.” We cannot even acceptably offer the sacrifice of praise except through Jesus.

Just as the Israelites could not offer thank offerings in the Old Covenant without the intercession of the priests, we cannot offer praise offerings without the intercession of Christ. His intercession makes our prayers and our praise acceptable. Just as the priests gave guidance in the Old Covenant, so Jesus gives guidance in His intercession.

“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Hebrews 7:25. Our sins cannot be forgiven without the intercession of our Saviour. The Bible says, in Isaiah 53:12, that He “made intercession for the transgressors”—not just intercession for the righteous but intercession for the transgressors as well. Just as, in the Old Covenant, the priest had to officiate in the offering of the lamb, so the intercession of Christ is essential in saving us from sin.

Redeeming Blood

Jesus’ intercession is as necessary to us as is His redeeming blood. Both are essential to the plan of salvation. Notice Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:17: “And if Christ be not raised, your faith [is] vain; ye are yet in your sins.” How do we explain that? Through the intercession of our Saviour. Without Christ’s intercession, our faith is vain, and we are yet in our sins. Do not let anyone say that salvation was completed on the cross. Do not let anyone say that that was all there was to the plan of salvation.

We are not trying to lessen the importance of the cross, but simply showing that Jesus’ work right now is equally as essential as was His death upon the cross. If He is not interceding today, our faith is vain. If He is not interceding today, we are still in our sins. Our sins could never be forgiven without Christ’s intercession, because we could not approach the Father without Christ’s intercession. We could not repent and confess without Christ’s intercession. Christ’s intercession, as was the priest’s in the Old Covenant, is essential, but there is more to Christ’s intercession.

Most Holy Place

All of what we have looked at has referred to Christ’s administration in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary. There is more to His administration in the second apartment as well. In the ministration of the priest in the Most Holy Place, the blood was taken into the Most Holy Place, and we are told that it was sprinkled before and upon the Mercy Seat. (See Leviticus 16.) Once each year, that actually happened twice. One time, Aaron entered the Most Holy Place with the blood of a bullock for his sins. The next time, he entered in with the blood of a goat for the sins of the congregation. The focus was the sprinkling of the blood upon and before the Mercy Seat. That was not all. There were, of course, the scapegoat that was sent away, and then, at the very end, the burnt offerings of one ram for the congregation and one ram for Aaron. But let us look further at the importance of the sprinkling of the blood.

In the New Testament, we read, “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” 1 Peter 1:2. Notice with what the sprinkling of the blood is associated—“the sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood . . . .” The sprinkling of the blood was representing, according to this verse, the necessity of complete, full sanctification and obedience.

Refiner and Purifier

In another passage, we read, “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he [is] like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And he shall sit [as] a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” Malachi 3:1–3.

Verse 1 sets the stage and gives us the time frame to which these texts refer. It tells us about the Lord coming to His temple. It refers to 1844, when Jesus entered the Most Holy Place. “The coming of the Lord to His temple was sudden, unexpected, to His people. They wew not looking for Him there.” The Great Controversy, 424. It says His work there, in the Most Holy Place, is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap and that He sits as a refiner and a purifier to purify and to purge. In the Most Holy Place, Christ is administrating His blood to purge away our sins. “Thise who are living upon the earth when the intercession of Christ shall cease in the sanctuary above are to stand in the sight of a holy God without a mediator. Their robes must be spotless, their characters must be purified from sin by the blood of sprinkling. Through the grace of God and their own diligent effort they must be conquerors in the battle with evil. While the investigative judgment is going forward in heaven, while the sins of penitent believers are being removed from the sanctuary, there is to be a special work of purification, of putting away of sin, among God’s people upon earth.” Ibid., 425.

It tells us also, in verse 1, that this is to prepare the way before the Lord. This is the final step of preparation for the Second Coming—the sprinkling of the blood, the sanctification of the Spirit, the obedience, the final purifying from the stain of sin. It is the final purifying from selfishness, from pride, from covetousness, that we might be that vessel unto honor.

Filthy Garments Removed

The sprinkling of the blood is essential for the time when there is no more intercession for us. Zechariah 3:3–5 describes the process that takes place on the Day of Atonement as the blood is sprinkled. It says, “Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by.”

The picture here depicted is of the filthy garments being removed. “When Satan seeks to cover the people of God with blackness, and ruin them, Christ interposes. Although they have sinned, Christ has taken the guilt of their sins upon His own soul…By His human nature He is linked with man, while through His divine nature He is one with the infinite God. Help is brought within the reach of perishing souls. The adversary is rebuked.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 169.

“All who have truly repented of sin, and by faith claimed the blood of Christ as their atoning sacrifice, have had pardon entered against their names in the books of heaven; as they have become partakers of the righteousness of Christ, and their characters are found to be in harmony with the law of God, their sins will be blotted out, and they themselves will be accounted worthy of eternal life.” The Great Controversy, 483.

Pardon is possible through Jesus’ death and His intercession—His work of sprinkling the blood in the Most Holy Place. As we think about that work that has been going on for 160 years, we know that very soon it is going to conclude. Very soon the sins of those that have been repentant and have looked by faith to the intercession of Jesus are going to be blotted out. As we think of Jesus lingering over our names, is the blood being sprinkled on our lives? Are we experiencing that complete sanctification, that complete refiner’s fire, to purge not only the open sins but to purge the motives, to purge the feelings so we might be prepared to stand when there is no intercessor? We must want to choose to allow the Lord to burn the fire as hot as it takes, that our lives might be cleansed and prepared for the coming of the Lord, that our sins might be blotted out forever from remembrance. It is a daily acceptance of His intercession and ministration, not just in the Holy Place but also in the Most Holy Place. I pray that daily we each make that choice.

Cody Francis is currently engaged in public evangelism for Mission Projects International. He also pastors the Remnant Church of Seventh-day Adventist Believers in Renton, Washington. He may be contacted by e-mail at: cody@missionspro.org.