…having boldness to enter the
Holiest by the blood of Jesus… —Hebrews 10:19
“Beware of thinking that
intercession means bringing our own personal sympathies and concerns into the
presence of God, and then demanding that He do whatever we ask. Our ability to
approach God is due entirely to the vicarious, or substitutionary, identification
of our Lord with sin. We have “boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of
Jesus.” […] Vicarious intercession means
that we deliberately substitute God’s interests in others for our natural
sympathy with them. Am I stubborn or substituted? Am I spoiled or complete in
my relationship to God? Am I irritable or spiritual? Am I determined to have my
own way or determined to be identified with Him?” CHAMBERS
Think about this. Because of Jesus, we have the right to enter
into the very presence of God, the Father.
On our own we could not bear it.
Our sin … our fallibilities would be the end of us. Yet, Jesus was the sin offering poured out on
the mercy seat, once for all time. His
sacrifice satisfied the wrath of God. We
can stand in the Holy of Holies because of the blood of Jesus. People don’t really like to talk about that
much. They would prefer to think of Jesus
as the kind shepherd, holding a little lost lamb tightly in his arms. When in fact He is the victorious savoir with
his arms out stretched on a cross. And yet in Mark 15:37-38 it says “With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The
curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” What curtain?
The curtain that separated the holy of holies from the holy place. (Hebrews
9:2-4) The place where the Shekinah glory dwelt. The place where the blood offering was poured
out on the mercy seat that sat on the Ark of the covenant on the day of atonement
by the High Priest.
It is that place that we have
gained entry because of Jesus. Do not
take your privilege lightly. Jesus
stands at the right hand of God as our eternal high priest making intercession
for us. (Hebrews 7:24-27) “but
because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those
who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such
a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart
from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does
not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then
for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he
offered himself.” And the Spirit who is
each of us, prays for us. (Romans 8:26-27) “In the same way, the
Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but
the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who
searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes
for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” So why on earth or in
heaven would we treat prayer as such a small priority in our lives? ELGIN
It’s me, it’s me oh Lord standing in the need of
prayer.
Charley Elgin
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