the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Intercession
Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary
or INTERCESSOR, INTERCESSION
We meet with but one passage in the Bible where the word Intercessor is used, namely, Isaiah 59:16, though by virtue of the office of interceding as our great high priest, it is a well known character of Christ. But though the name and title is but once mentioned, being implied in that of his priestly office, yet the Lord Jesus, in his sweet employment as our Advocate with the Father, is held up to the view of the church in this most endearing character every where throughout the word of God. He is said "to make intercession for the transgressors when he was numbered with them and bare their sins." (Isaiah 53:12) And the apostle Paul as blessedly points to Jesus in his priestly office, when he encourageth the poor sinner to come to him, because "he ever liveth to make intercession for them, and is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him." (Hebrews 7:25) And God the Holy Ghost is careful to shew the church how the Lord Jesus carrieth on this gracious office. First by personally appearing, "in the presence of God for us." (Hebrews 9:24) John saith, that he saw him in the midst of a throne as "a lamb that had been slain." (Revelation 5:6) intimating, that his wounds still appeared fresh and flowing, to denote the everlasting efficacy of it. And secondly, the Lord Jesus carrieth on this high office not only by a naked appearance in the presence of JEHOVAH for his people, but by pleading the merits and worth of his sacrifice and righteousness. Paul the apostle calls Christ's blood a speaking blood, (see Hebrews 12:24) and so it certainly is; for if, as the Lord said to Cain, "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground," (Genesis 4:10) what a voice must there be in Christ's blood, crying as it cloth for mercy and salvation! Surely it speaks to God of God's faithfulness to his promises, and Christ's claim to his merits; and it speaks from God for our sure pardon, and all the blessings of redemption to JEHOVAH'S glory and Christ's and his church's triumph and happiness. Such are the blessed views of Christ in his intercessional character.
I would beg yet farther to observe, that this blessedness is abundantly heightened when we consider that he who intercedes, and he with whom intercession is made, are one in the same design and end. The divine glory is the first cause, and the final issue of all. The church, made up of redeemed sinners, is originally the Father's gift to the Son. (John 17:6) The son hath purchased the Church with his blood. (Acts 20:28) Hence, therefore, all the persons of the GODHEAD are engaged and interested in the same concern. And as Christ is God the Father's dear Son, so is the church the dear children of God in Christ: so that what our blessed Lord Jesus saith, when speaking of this very subject, comes home to the heart of the believer with the strongest and sweetest recommendation of tenderness. "At that day ye shall ask in my name, and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you; for the Father himself loveth you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God." (John 16:26-27) These are blessed views both of the Father's everlasting love, and Christ's unceasing intercession. And it is highly important to remark, and a point that should never be lost sight of, that Christ in all his intercessions never once prayeth for the Father's love to the church, but for the fruits and effects of that love and his own merits and death. Yea, Christ himself, with all his fulness, blessedness, and glory, is the gift of the Father; for the express doctrine of the gospel in its first and leading point is, "that God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) For a farther illustration of Christ's office of Intercessor,
See Advocate
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Hawker, Robert D.D. Entry for 'Intercession'. Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance and Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/pmd/i/intercession.html. London. 1828.
