THE INTERCESSION OF CHRIST.                                                                                                                                                          BPL/RML  6-6-99

The Intercession of Christ is one of the most misunderstood, and by many groups badly and wrongly taught, and by other groups totally ignored.  This subject and that of Salvation in Christ is at the core of the Holy Bible, throughout; a Christian group therefore should be focused on the understanding of these subjects, but unfortunately are not.  It is a measure of the success of the great Enemy Satan, as to the degree that so called Christian groups busy themselves with many various subjects but do not focus, on the fundamentals of God's Word.

There is only one chosen people by Jehovah God in the world.  They are the Jews, and are descendants of the Friend of Jehovah God, Abraham.  This one crucial, accurate, and definite Truth is clear to anybody who studies the Scriptures in Spirit and Truth.  Jews were chosen by the Almighty and stated as such in (Isa. 41:8-9) (Isa. 43:10).

All the Jews that descended from Abraham through the miracle son Isaac are much loved by Jehovah, and He requested of them that they should honour Him in thought, word and deed, as they were to be His witnesses throughout the world (Isa. 43:10).  In that much honoured role they failed.  They did not honour the Almighty in thought, word and deed, so Jehovah God made a way out for them in the sacrifice of animals whose blood and various offerings became the propitiation and atonement between them and their God Jehovah.  Because their failure was continual the sacrificial system with the priesthood in the Temple in Jerusalem was also continual; however, even in that they failed, in that they did not keep up the required sacrifices, and even went as far as to deny the existence of their God, which led to the Babylonian exile.

The Almighty had promised the Jews great blessing if they honoured Him in the ways mentioned but had already foreseen their failure and had promised them a second chance to draw close to Him in Righteousness, (Jer. 31:31).

By the time of John the Baptist (the forerunner prophesied in Malachi), Israel was in a dire spiritual condition and for a brief period Salvation was offered to them by water Baptism, which was the physical forerunner and symbol of the Spiritual Baptism in death that Christ was yet to undertake.

At the end of Jesus Christ's short three year ministry, knowing that His earthly time was growing short, at supper with His disciples He expressed that the New Covenant promised by His Father Jehovah was now to be shortly instituted in His Body (bread) and His blood (wine), which was accomplished at His crucifixion at Golgotha.

In this statement and act Christ became the substitutionary sacrifice, the propitiation and the atonement for the sin of the Jews (at that time), and later offered to the Gentiles.  This heralded a new beginning for the chosen people had they accepted Christ as Messiah at that time.

As is well-known Saul, as he was then known was met by the risen Lord in vision on the road to Damascus as he traveled to persecute to death Christians of that city.  As is also well-known he was temporally blinded, but was completely changed from persecuting Christ to promoting Him.  As he later witnessed before king Agrippa, (Acts. 26:12-18) he was told at the time of the encounter with Christ that he had to undertake for Christ a special mission to the Jews to explain clearly to them who Christ was, and how the Jews were to change their thinking, understanding, and behaviour in the New Covenant that Christ was, and represented.  He was also told at the same time on the Damascus road that Christ would have other work for him at a later date that He would communicate to Saul when appropriate.  Paul's work (as now he is called), was to explain to the Jews this great understanding in the New Covenant in Christ, and that He would shortly return to them when He was accepted of His people.  The detail of Paul's explanation to his fellow Jews is the book of Hebrews, which was almost certainly the first writing of Paul early in his Jewish ministry.  In Hebrews we see that Christ the Lord is interceding for the Jews, as the Great High priest in the manner shown in the Old Testament before the Father, but also as the once only sacrifice.  Each Jew that would accept Christ as Messiah Lord was to be in a state of Salvation and sealed from that time on (Eph. 1:13).  Unfortunately as we read in Acts 28 the Jews finally rejected Christ as Messiah and in Acts 28:28 Paul states clearly and unequivocally that the offer to the Jews which had been rejected, of Salvation in Christ, was to go to the Gentiles and that they would respond.

The condition in the world still prevails, that this offer is open to all who will accept it.  There is no limitation as to nationality or tribe, although the Jews are under a particular disadvantage in that they are burdened with a lack of understanding (veil), and are in a temporarily dispossessed state (Lo - Ammi) for nearly the last 2000 years.  The risen Lord Christ Jesus, therefore intercedes for any person with the Father who wishes to be in a regenerated, sinless state, in the eyes of the Father through Christ, and once the Father accepts the intercession of the Son for that person they are sealed (2Cor. 1:22), (Eph. 1:13) (Eph. 4:30), even though they remain in the flesh, and the completion is not until after the raising of the Body of Christ.  Only people who seek the above in Spirit and in Truth can achieve this blessed state of Salvation, and when they are in that state there is no further need of cleansing, other than the washing of feet illustrated by Christ when He washed the feet of His disciples, (Jn. 13:5), to wash away the inevitably dirt and grime of living and walking in the world.  Some groups teach that Christ intercedes with the Father for their daily sin or error.  That is not the case, as when a person is washed in the blood of Christ they are made whole once and for all, (Jn. 13:10), the absolute self sacrifice of Christ is sufficient for the Father to accept any or all people that will ever live, if their hearts are absolutely sincere at that moment in time when they embrace Christ's love for themselves.  From then on they need only communicate / pray / speak to Christ as Lord, Master and Friend to request their feet be washed.

Whereas in the Old Testament Jehovah chose His people, the people of the world may now choose Jehovah (through Christ)!