COOPERATING WITH THE HEAVENLY MINISTRY OF THE ASCENDED CHRIST
Message Six
Responding to Christ's Intercession in His Heavenly Ministry
Scripture Reading: Heb. 7:25-26; Rom. 8:26-27, 34; Col. 1:9-11; 4:12
I. Christ as the kingly and divine High Priest is interceding for us—Heb. 7:25-26:
A. Christ has been constituted our High Priest according to the power of an indestructible life (v. 16), which nothing can dissolve; this is an endless life, being the eternal, divine, uncreated life and the resurrection life that has passed through the test of death and of Hades (Acts 2:24; Rev. 1:18).
B. Because Christ lives forever without any change, He is able to save us to the uttermost in extent, time, and space—Heb. 7:24-25.
C. In Hebrews 7:25 the expression to the uttermost means "completely, entirely, perfectly, to the end, and for eternity"; this indicates that Christ as our High Priest is able to save us to the fullest extent, that is, to save in every kind of situation and condition.
D. Christ is able to save us completely because He is interceding for us; He is our perpetual, constant, and eternal Intercessor—vv. 25-26:
1. God has appointed Him to take care of us, and He is now caring for us by interceding for us; He is interceding for us now, and He will save us to the uttermost.
2. He appears before God on our behalf, praying that we may be wholly saved and brought fully into God's eternal purpose—9:24; Eph. 3:11; 2 Tim. 1:9.
3. Christ intercedes for us constantly, and eventually His intercession will overcome, subdue, and save us; we all will be completely saved by His intercession; His salvation reaches to the uttermost.
4. We should believe that Christ is always interceding for us and come forward to God through Him—Heb. 7:25.
5. Christ can save us to the uttermost because He is living not only in the heavens but also in us—Col. 3:1; 1:27; Rom. 8:34, 10:
a. While He is living in the heavens, He is transmitting Himself into us—Eph. 1:22-23.
b. He is living in the heavens to intercede for us and take care of our case, but the reality of this is transmitted into our spirit by His Spirit.
c. We must learn to see this heavenly vision and enjoy our High Priest; then we will receive mercy and find grace at the throne of grace for timely help—Heb. 4:14-16.
II. In Romans 8 Christ is interceding for us at the right hand of God, and the Spirit is interceding for us in our spirit—vv. 34, 26-27:
A. Christ died for us, He was resurrected, and now He is in the heavens at the right hand of God interceding for us—v. 34:
1. Our Christ today is in the highest heaven, holding the highest position at God's right hand—Heb. 8:1.
2. Christ is interceding for our glorification; this corresponds to His interceding for us to be saved to the uttermost—7:25-26.
3. As the consummated and ascended God-man and as the Head of the Body, Christ is interceding for us that we, the many God-men, could overcome opposition and all kinds of circumstances and be kept in union with Him in His unconditional love so that we may be conformed to His image as the firstborn Son of God and thus become His reproduction for the constitution of the corporate and organic Body of Christ—Rom. 8:29, 34-39; 12:4-5.
B. "The Spirit also joins in to help us in our weakness, for we do not know for what we should pray as is fitting, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered"—8:26:
1. The weakness here is our ignorance of how we should pray; we do not know the kind of prayer God desires, and we are not clear how to pray.
2. In our groaning the Spirit groans also, interceding for us; His interceding is mainly that we may experience the transformation in life for growth in life unto the maturity of sonship so that we may be fully conformed to the image of God's firstborn Son—12:2; 8:29.
C. "He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to God"—v. 27:
1. The mind of the Spirit here is not the mind of the Spirit that is independent of us; it is the mind of the Spirit that has been mingled with our mind and has become part of our heart—v. 6.
2. The Spirit has not only mingled Himself with our spirit (v. 16); He has also mingled His mind with our mind.
3. The searching Spirit prays for us according to God Himself, that we may be conformed to the image of His Son—v. 29.
III. We need to respond to Christ's intercession in His heavenly ministry—Heb. 7:25-26; Rom. 8:34; Acts 12:5; Col. 1:9-11; 4:12:
A. Christ's intercession requires our response; we need to participate in Christ's interceding life and become on earth the reflection of Christ's intercession in His heavenly ministry, praying the prayers of the interceding Christ—Rom. 8:26-27, 34; 1 Tim. 2:1; Col. 4:3; 1 Thes. 5:25; 2 Thes. 3:1; Heb. 13:18.
B. Through our prayer Christ, the Head, is given a way to carry out His administration through His Body—Rev. 5:6; 8:3-5; Eph. 1:10, 17-23.
C. In Acts 12 we have the intercessory prayer of the church, and in Colossians 1:9-11 and 4:12, the intercessory prayers of Paul and Epaphras:
1. When Peter was in prison, "prayer was being made fervently by the church to God concerning him"—Acts 12:5:
a. Behind the scene there was a battle of spiritual forces, a battle between God and His enemy, Satan—vv. 4-6.
b. By prayer the church fought the battle with God against Satan, the evil one—vv. 5-23.
2. Paul prayed that the saints would "be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding"—Col. 1:9:
a. Here the will of God concerns the all-inclusive Christ as our portion—v. 12.
b. The will of God is profound in relation to our knowing, experiencing, and living the all-inclusive Christ; God's will for us is that we know Christ, experience Christ, enjoy Christ, live Christ, and have Christ become our life and our person—Phil. 3:7-10; 1:21a; Col. 3:4; Eph. 3:17a.
3. Epaphras struggled on behalf of the saints in his prayers that they would stand mature and be fully assured in all the will of God—Col. 4:12.
D. The position of prayer is ascension, that is, a heavenly position—Eph. 1:3; 2:6:
1. If we leave the heavenly position, we lose the position of prayer.
2. With the position of prayer there is the authority of prayer; as the position of prayer is ascension, the authority of prayer is also ascension—Matt. 17:20; 18:18-19.
3. When we have the heavenly position and authority, our prayers become God's administration, the execution of God's will—6:10; Eph. 2:6; 6:18.