Prayer and Intercession: 2. Jesus and Intercession

Hebrews 7: 25 says:
“Therefore He (Jesus) is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make INTERCESSION for them”

Here this scripture talks about Jesus interceding for us but to look in the context of the verse, this part of the book of Hebrews is talking about Jesus as our High Priest.

Lets take a quick history lesson…
In Israel the High Priest was the main guy who sacrificed all the animals, they were sacrificed to make up for the sins of the people, therefore if a sacrifice was made for a sin then in the Old Testament times the sin was forgiven by God. And this High Priest was the one who made sacrifices for people even for sins they didn’t realise they committed.

OK History lesson over! So when Jesus died He was the ultimate sacrifice and was the ultimate High Priest offering Himself instead of all people of the world. Therefore, Jesus can stand in the gap for us literally as well as through talking to God because when we sin and say sorry, Jesus can say “Hey Father, forgive them because I stand in their place for their sin.”

This is the ultimate form of intercession and one that we can't and are never expected to live up to. Intercession on our behalf is praying for mercy, crying for forgiveness, and so the list can go on. Not all of us are intercessors, but why not ask God to reveal to you more about prayer and intercession and show you your role in it all.

Sara Jukes

2003-10-06