Category Archives: Jesus as Priest

“Article 26: The Intercession of Christ” – The Belgic Confession (1561)

Article 26: The Intercession of Christ

“We believe that we have no access to God
except through the one and only Mediator and Intercessor:
Jesus Christ the Righteous. (1 John 2:1)

He therefore was made man,
uniting together the divine and human natures,
so that we human beings might have access to the divine Majesty.
Otherwise we would have no access.

But this Mediator,
whom the Father has appointed between Himself and us,
ought not terrify us by His greatness,
so that we have to look for another one,
according to our fancy.

For neither in heaven nor among the creatures on earth
is there anyone who loves us
more than Jesus Christ does.

Although He was ‘in the form of God,’
He nevertheless ’emptied Himself,”
taking the form of ‘a man’ and ‘a servant’ for us; (Phil. 2:6-8)
and He made Himself ‘completely like His brothers.’ (Heb. 2:17)

Suppose we had to find another intercessor.
Who would love us more than He who gave His life for us,
even though ‘we were His enemies’? (Rom. 5:10)

And suppose we had to find one who has prestige and power.
Who has as much of these as He who is seated
‘at the right hand of the Father,’ (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 1:3)
and who has all power
‘in heaven and on earth’? (Matt. 28:18)

And who will be heard more readily
than God’s own dearly beloved Son?”

–From The Belgic Confession, Article 26, as quoted in Ecumenical Creeds and Reformed Confessions (Grand Rapids, MI: Faith Alive, 1988), 103-104.

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“The unshaken ground of hope” by John Newton

“What a privilege is this, to possess God in all things while we have them, and all things in God when they are taken from us.

An acquiescence in the Lord’s will, founded in a persuasion of His wisdom, holiness, sovereignty, and goodness.—This is one of the greatest privileges and brightest ornaments of our profession.

So far as we attain to this, we are secure from disappointment. Our own limited views and short-sighted purposes and desires, may be, and will be, often over-ruled; but then our main and leading desire, that the will of the Lord may be done, must be accomplished.

How highly does it become us, both as creatures and as sinners, to submit to the appointments of our Maker! And how necessary is it to our peace!

This great attainment is too often unthought of, and overlooked: we are prone to fix our attention upon the second causes and immediate instruments of events; forgetting that whatever befalls us is according to His purpose, and therefore must be right and seasonable in itself, and shall in the issue be productive of good.

From hence arise impatience, resentment, and secret repinings, which are not only sinful, but tormenting: whereas, if all things are in His hand; if the very hairs of our head are numbered; if every event, great and small, is under the direction of His providence and purpose; and if He has a wise, holy, and gracious end in view, to which every thing that happens is subordinate and subservient.

Then we have nothing to do, but with patience and humility to follow as He leads, and cheerfully to expect a happy issue. The path of present duty is marked out; and the concerns of the next and every succeeding hour are in His hands.

How happy are they who can resign all to Him, see His hand in every dispensation, and believe that He chooses better for them than they possibly could for themselves!

A single eye to His glory should be the ultimate scope of all our undertakings.—The Lord can design nothing short of His own glory, nor should we. The constraining love of Christ has a direct and marvellous tendency, in proportion to the measure of faith, to mortify the corrupt principle Self, which for a season is the grand spring of our conduct, and by which we are too much biased after we know the Lord.

But as grace prevails, self is renounced. We feel that we are not our own, that we are bought with a price; and that it is our duty, our honour, and our happiness, to be the servants of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ:

  • to devote soul and body, every talent, power, and faculty, to the service of His cause and will;
  • to let our light shine (in our several situations) to the praise of His grace;
  • to place our highest joy in the contemplation of His adorable perfections;
  • to rejoice even in tribulations and distresses, in reproaches and infirmities, if thereby the power of Christ may rest upon us, and be magnified in us;
  • to be content, yea glad, to be nothing, that He may be all in all;
  • to obey Him, in opposition to the threats or solicitations of men;
  • to trust Him, though all outward appearances seem against us;
  • to rejoice in Him, though we should (as will sooner or later be the case) have nothing else to rejoice in;
  • to live above the world, and to have our conversation in heaven;
  • to be like the angels, finding our own pleasure in performing His:

—This, my lord, is the prize, the mark of our high calling, to which we are encouraged with a holy ambition continually to aspire. It is true, we shall still fall short; we shall find that, when we would do good, evil will be present with us.

But the attempt is glorious, and shall not be wholly in vain. He that gives us thus to will, will enable us to perform with growing success, and teach us to profit even by our mistakes and imperfections.

O blessed man that thus fears the Lord; that delights in His word, and derives his principles, motives, maxims, and consolations, from that unfailing source of light and strength! He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, whose leaf is always green, and fruit abundant.

The wisdom that is above shall direct his plans, inspire his counsels; and the power of God shall guard him on every side, and prepare his way through every difficulty: he shall see mountains sink into plains, and streams spring up in the dry wilderness.

The Lord’s enemies will be his; and they may be permitted to fight against him, but they shall not prevail, for the Lord is with him to deliver him.

The conduct of such a one, though in a narrow and retired sphere of life, is of more real excellence and importance, than the most splendid actions of kings and conquerors, which fill the annals of history (Prov. 16:32).

And if the God whom he serves is pleased to place him in a more public light, his labours and cares will be amply compensated, by the superior opportunities afforded him of manifesting the power and reality of true religion, and promoting the good of mankind.

I hope I may say, that I desire to be thus entirely given up to the Lord; I am sure I must say, that what I have written is far from being my actual experience. Alas! I might be condemned out of my own mouth, were the Lord strict to mark what is amiss.

But, O the comfort! We are not under the law, but under grace! The Gospel is a dispensation for sinners, and we have an Advocate with the Father. There is the unshaken ground of hope.

A reconciled Father, a prevailing Advocate, a powerful Shepherd, a compassionate Friend, a Saviour who is able and willing to save to the uttermost. He knows our frame; He remembers that we are but dust.

And has opened for us a new and blood-besprinkled way of access to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in every time of need.”

–John Newton, “Letter VII, September 1772” in The Works of the John Newton Volume 1 (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824), 455-458.

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“At the cost of His life” by Martin Luther

“By the fact that Christ is Priest He turns God into our Father, and Himself into our Lord. If I regard Him as Priest, then I know that He does nothing but sit in heaven above as our Mercy Seat and there intercedes for us before the Father without ceasing, pleads on our behalf, and says the best for us.

This is the greatest comfort that can come to a human being, and no sweeter sermon can be preached to the human heart. This He has proved in the Gospel by everything He says and does. For He does nothing but serve and help people and offer Himself to everybody.

In addition, in order to atone for us, He burdens Himself at the cost of His life and blood with all the wrath which we have deserved. Is it possible to preach anything more comforting than this to troubled consciences?”

–Martin Luther, What Luther Says: An Anthology, comp. Ewald M. Plass (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959), entry no. 552, pp. 190-191. Luther was commenting on Gen. 14:17-24.

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“Jesus is praying for me” by Robert Murray M’Cheyne

“I ought to study Christ as a living Saviour more,—as a Shepherd, carrying the sheep He finds,—as a King, reigning in and over the souls He has redeemed,—as a Captain, fighting with those who fight with me (Psalm 35), as One who has engaged to bring me through all temptations and trials, however impossible to flesh and blood.

I am often tempted to say, ‘How can this Man save us? How can Christ in heaven deliver me from lusts which I feel raging in me, and nets I feel enclosing me?’ This is the father of lies again! ‘He is able to save unto the uttermost.’

I ought to study Christ as an Intercessor. He prayed most for Peter, who was to be most tempted. I am on His breastplate.

If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million of enemies. Yet the distance makes no difference; He is praying for me.”

–Robert Murray McCheyne and Andrew A. Bonar, Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne (Edinburgh; London: Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier, 1894), 158.

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“Our prayer partner in heaven” by Kevin DeYoung

“We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1). Our Lord Jesus is in heaven pleading our case, so that whenever Satan accuses us in our conscience or dares to lay a charge against us before the Father, Jesus Christ, God’s own Son and our flawless advocate, stands ready to defend us and plead His own blood for our sakes.

Think about that. Christ is our prayer partner in heaven. He intercedes for us before the throne (Rom. 8:34).

–Kevin DeYoung, The Good News We Almost Forgot (Chicago: Moody, 2010), 96.

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“A plain Christ” by Charles H. Spurgeon

“A plain Christ is forever the loveliest Christ. Dress Him up, and you have deformed Him and defamed Him. Bring Him out just as He is, the Christ of God, nothing else but Christ and Him crucified.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Chief Office of the Holy Spirit” in Spurgeon on the Holy Spirit (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2000), 61.

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“Greater glory among the oxen” by Charles H. Spurgeon

“Think for a minute of Christ’s person as revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. What can more glorify Him than for us to see His person, very God of very God, and yet as truly man? What a wondrous being, as human as ourselves, but as divine as God! Was there ever another like Him? Never.

Think of His incarnation, His birth at Bethlehem. There was greater glory among the oxen in the stall than ever was seen where those born in marble halls were swathed in purple and fine linen. Was there ever another baby like Christ? Never. I am not surprised that the wise men fell down to worship Him.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Chief Office of the Holy Spirit” in Spurgeon on the Holy Spirit (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2000), 61.

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“A merciful and faithful High Priest” by John Calvin

“In Christ’s human nature there are two things to be considered, the real flesh and the affections or feelings. The Apostle then teaches us, that He had not only put on the real flesh of man, but also all those feelings which belong to man, and he also shows the benefit that from hence proceeds.

And it is the true teaching of faith when we in our case find the reason why the Son of God undertook our infirmities. For all knowledge without feeling the need of this benefit is cold and lifeless. But he teaches us that Christ was made subject to human affections, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest…

For in a priest, whose office it is to appease God’s wrath, to help the miserable, to raise up the fallen, to relieve the oppressed, mercy is especially required, and it is what experience produces in us. For it is a rare thing for those who are always happy to sympathize with the sorrows of others…

The Son of God had no need of experience that He might know the emotions of mercy. But we could not be persuaded that He is merciful and ready to help us had He not become acquainted by experience with our miseries. But this, as other things, has been as a favor given to us.

Therefore whenever any evils pass over us, let it ever occur to us, that nothing happens to us but what the Son of God has Himself experienced in order that He might sympathize with us; nor let us doubt but that He is at present with us as though He suffered with us…

An acquaintance with our sorrows and miseries so inclines Christ to compassion, that He is constant in imploring God’s aid for us. What besides? Having purposed to make atonement for sins, He put on our nature that we might have in our own flesh the price of our redemption.

In a word, that by the right of a common nature He might introduce us, together with Himself, into the sanctuary of God.”

–John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews, trans. John Owen (Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1853), 74-76. Calvin is commenting on Hebrews 2:17.

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“One Songleader, our Lord Jesus Christ” by Sinclair B. Ferguson

“We come for worship to be led by one Songleader, our Lord Jesus Christ. Which, incidentally, is one of the reasons you ought to be singing. Shame on me if I am silent when I am standing at the shoulder of my Lord Jesus Christ singing His heart out in praises to His heavenly Father.

Shame on me if I am in His choir and I am silent when He is urging me to sing the praises of this magnificent God. It is a marvelous incentive to sing that you know that it is Jesus who is leading your singing.”

–Sinclair B. Ferguson. “True Spirituality, True Worship.” Lookout Mountain, GA: Covenant College, 2004. Audio CD. As quoted in Ron Man, Proclamation and Praise: Hebrews 2:12 and the Christology of Worship (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2007), 80-81.

[HT: JB Salmon]

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“Nothing less than omnipotent compassion” by John Murray

“To view the heavenly sympathy of our Lord from the aspect of our existential need, how indispensable to comfort and to perseverance in faith to know that in all the temptations of this life we have a Sympathiser, and Helper, and Comforter in the person of Him from whom we must conceal nothing, who feels with us in every weakness and temptation, and knows exactly what our situation physical, psychological, moral, and spiritual is.

And this He knows because He Himself was tempted, like as we are, without sin. That He who has this feeling with us in temptation appears in the presence of God for us and is our advocate with the Father invests His sympathy and help with an efficacy that is nothing less than omnipotent compassion.”

–John Murray, The Heavenly Priestly Activity of Christ (London: Westminster Chapel, 1958), 8. This brief address is available online here.

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