What is Trinitarian Intercession

Hebrews 7:25 and the Meaning of Intercession

Romans chapter 8, still a continuation of our Hebrew study, but more background needed to make sure that we fully understand the argument of the writer. So, Hebrews chapter 8 to begin this morning. Once again, let us ask the Lord's blessing upon our time.

Our gracious Heavenly Father, as we open Your inspired Word, we confess our need for Your Spirit to instruct, for Your Spirit to enlighten. And so, guide and direct us now, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.

Last Sunday morning, we began our Hebrew study in the book of Leviticus, looking at the role of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement. This Lord's Day morning, we have not progressed very far in Hebrews chapter 7, because we have encountered a very rich section that requires of us some extra work, some extra study.

You may recall that we have come to that signal passage in Hebrews chapter 7, verse 25, that says,. Therefore He is able also to save forever, or to the uttermost, those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives, to make intercession for them.

This concept of making intercession, I would like us to consider that this morning. This topic will actually be opened up more fully in the ninth chapter. As we have seen a number of times, the writer to the Hebrews will raise one particular issue.

He will make some grand statements about it, as we have in 725. But then, only later, will he unpack all of the applications. We will definitely see that in chapter 9, when we see Jesus having obtained eternal redemption, entering into the holy place.

Intercession in Romans 8 and the Spirit's Help in Prayer

But before we get there, I felt it would be very important. We cannot simply assume that everyone has an adequate knowledge of what intercession means. What does intercession mean? And so, turn back with me, if you will, to Romans chapter 8.

And let's actually go a little bit earlier into the text, beginning at verse 23. Romans chapter 8, verse 23. And not only this, but also we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

And he who searches the heart knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he intercedes for the faint according to the will of God. Now, keeping that in mind, then we skip over the golden chain of redemption, which is pretty unusual for Reformed Baptists to do, but we do know how to stick with the subject.

We go to verse 31. What then shall we say to these things, if God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things?

Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, rather who was raised, who is the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Peaceful tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, just as it is written, for your sake we are being put to death all day long.

We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered. That all these things we overwhelmingly conquered through him who loved us. Now, here in one section of Scripture, we have intercession mentioned a number of times, but they're very different kinds of intercession.

And different persons are doing the intercession. It is very interesting to note that as we look at Romans chapter 8, we have the role of the Spirit, and a special kind of intercession that he makes. In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Now, Pastor Frey has begun the book of Romans. Romans chapter 8 is a long ways down the road from Romans chapter 1, and I think we've been in Romans 1 -1 for at least three weeks.

So, I didn't get a calculator out to extrapolate this, but at the pace we're going, we might get to Romans 8 sometime around 2075. Now, personally, I believe that once a person begins the book of Romans, they are committing themselves to finishing the book of Romans in that church.

Would you all agree with that? So, I think that without him knowing it, Pastor Frey has committed himself to retirement at 99, which would be fine with me. But I don't think we're going to be stepping on any toes to look at this particular text, and it's not actually my intention to try to exegete Romans 8.

This is a deep, deep passage. But our goal is to see what does it mean to intercede for someone else? Now, the English term is not all that difficult to understand. Probably most of us, I would hope anyways, that at some point or another has interceded for someone else or had someone intercede for us.

Possibly you have been in a legal situation where you had someone who interceded for you. They came before the judge. Possibly they argued your case. Maybe they came and they bore testimony to your character.

They bore witness concerning a situation. There was a form of intercession in our families. Very often, Mom is an intercessor with Dad because Mom has the soft heart. And so sometimes Mom intercedes and says to Dad, yes, Junior did that, but you know, he was thinking this at the time, or I had said this to him.

And there's some sort of, maybe a desire for an amelioration, a limitation of the punishment in some way, shape, or form. Intercession. What does it mean? Well, it was interesting to study the specific term because it comes from a base word that simply means to hit a target, or just simply to hit.

And it's used a number of different ways, and over time it developed in meeting to the idea of meeting. I mean, hitting a target, meeting, that makes sense. But then over time it developed into the idea of standing in the presence, of communicating with someone, and it has a very special meaning here and in some extra-biblical sources, of one who intercedes, one who enters in between a meeting of two people.

And the idea, as it is used in this range of usage, the idea is of one representing another and seeking some either amelioration of punishment or the giving of gifts for another person. And so to intercede would be to come between two people, and the term itself doesn't necessarily mean that one's greater than the other, but in each of these situations we see that the intercession is taking place between God the Father and creatures.

And so there is a need that the intercessor be fitting to enter into the presence of God Himself. We saw the role of the high priest. Remember last week, what was the first thing the high priest had to do as he began to make atonements, plural, on the day of atonements?

He had to purify himself and the altar. He had to make purification for himself and he had to make purification for the altar. It's been amongst these sinful people. And so an intercessor is a very special person.

He has to have certain qualifications. Now, notice that in Romans 8, we are introduced to what I can only identify as Trinitarian intercession. What do I mean by that? Well, in both the instances where we have intercession, where the Spirit intercedes for us, that is, He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God, verses 26 and 27, you have a different kind of intercession than you have there in the next portion where Jesus is at the right hand of the Father interceding for us.

You will notice that this is Trinitarian because it is the Father before whom each of these other divine persons are interceding on our behalf. The difference in the intercession seems to come from the different roles that the Father, Son, and Spirit voluntarily have taken in our redemption.

And so this brings us directly to the doctrine of the Trinity. Remember that what we believe is that there is only one true and eternal God and that there are three divine persons that share fully the one being that is God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

We can recognize the Father, the Son, and the Spirit because they have allowed us to recognize them in the roles that they bear toward one another and in the roles they have taken in our redemption, what we call the eternal covenant of redemption.

The Father is the fountainhead, the source of the decree of salvation. The Son is the one who in His incarnation, His death, His burial, and His resurrection provides the very essence of redemption itself in a substitutionary atonement.

And it is the Spirit who comes and makes these things real, makes application in the believer's life. They have taken different roles, and we see in this form of intercession those roles being reflected.

Remember in John chapter 14 that Jesus had promised His disciples that He would not leave them as orphans. He would come to them. The Father and the Son would make their abode with His people. How? Through the presence, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

Though clearly the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are differentiated from one another in their roles, yet in the Spirit's presence in our life, we can honestly say, in light of Jesus' words, that the Father and the Son likewise dwell with their people in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Because of that unity that is theirs, they share fully, not one-third of the divine being, they share fully the entirety of the divine being. So to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit is the means by which we have that intimate communion with the Father and the Son as well.

So in His role as the paracletos, the paraclete, the comforter who lives within us, who empowers us, who enlightens our minds, we have this section where there is an intercession by the Spirit. But it is not a soteriological intercession, an intercession relevant to bringing about our salvation.

It is not soteriological in the sense that Christ's intercession is soteriological, having to do with salvation. Instead, the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. This has to do with the fact that we have weaknesses, that we do not know how to pray as we should.

Prayer, communication with God, we would think, maybe from our upbringing, is a very simple thing. And on one level it can be. The prayers of the child are heard by God, and certainly the child does not have to pretend to use big words they do not understand to try to imitate mommy and daddy or the people they hear in church.

But we're talking here about the prayers of the saints and the fact that we have weaknesses. We have weakness because we don't know the future. We have weakness because we don't even know ourselves all that well.

Certainly not on the level that God Himself does. We have weaknesses in that we are self-deceived. We have built up ideas about ourselves that just don't actually correspond with reality. And so we need an intercessor.

The Spirit who dwells within us makes our prayers appropriate. See, our prayers, tinged as they are with selfishness and sin and pride, are liable to be inappropriate in the very presence of the Holy God.

But it is the Spirit who, in essence, ushers our prayers into the presence of the Father. He intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Now, I will leave to Pastor Fry in 2075 to explain whether these are our words or the Spirit's words or all those other things.

It's not my intention to enter into that this morning. The point is that we have a picture here. He who searches the heart, that's the Father, knows what the mind of the Spirit is because of their perfect unity in the Godhead.

Because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And so, God the Father has a perfect knowledge of our hearts. The Spirit dwells within us. And since the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God, you, in essence, have God taking care of our weakness by giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit sanctifies us. The Spirit guides us. And the Spirit provides the proper, holy means of communication with God the Father so that even when our prayers are imperfect, the true needs of our hearts are presented before the Father.

Now, that is not a situation of intercession that is directly parallel to what we have in the next section, Romans 8. Because the Spirit here is providing for us that necessary corrective. We still live in this life.

We have not yet been fully sanctified. There is impurity within us. And yet, because of the imputed righteousness of Christ, the Spirit can dwell within us. And yet, He takes our imperfections and He takes our prayers, and we don't have to shrink away from the throne of grace knowing our imperfections because we can trust that the Holy Spirit of God intercedes for us.

There are times we don't even know how to put into words our desires before God. There are some times we don't know what would be right in a certain situation, but we want God's will to be done. We want our fellow believers to be sanctified.

We don't know what to pray for, but the Spirit does. And so we don't have to shy away from approaching into His presence. We have the promise that the Spirit of God will intercede for us. But then compare that with what we have in the next portion of Romans 8.

We have one of the most important pictures in all of the New Testament given to us in Romans 8 .31 and following. And once again, we could spend weeks just in this section. But I want to focus on the nature of intercession because there are only a couple examples where the term is used in the Bible to give us the light that we need to have to understand what the writer of the Hebrews is saying.

What then shall we say to these things? These things being that golden chain of redemption where God is the one who from eternity past has chosen to glorify Himself in the salvation of a particular people.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, and we hardly need to argue it amongst ourselves, but sadly amongst so many others, they do not understand that the context has already established for us what is being said here.

If God is for us, who is the us? Those who are foreknown and predestined before time itself, the elect. That will be repeated then in verse 33. If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all.

Delivered Him over. The very same term used of betraying, to give over in sacrifice. Delivered Him over for us all, the elect. How will He not also with Him freely give us all things? If the Father has been so giving as to give of Himself in His Son, then what question can possibly exist as to His attitude toward us?

How will He not also with Him freely give us all things? If you have Christ, then you have the greatest evidence of God's favor to you that you could ever have. No Christian should ever be seeking some further sign than that of Jesus Christ.

And so then Paul takes us into the law court. He takes us into the court, and while there are some differences between the legal system of the Romans and that which we are familiar with, there are many similarities.

Who will bring a charge against God's elect in the legal system? You bring charges. You bring a case. There has to be a formal charge that is brought against the one who is being brought into the law court.

Someone must come before the judge and say, the charge against this person is this. This is where he or she has violated the law. And so you have, first, a judge. You have the one who is on trial, the defendant.

Then you have the one who brings the charge of accusation. In our system, this would be the prosecuting attorney representing some civil organization, some governmental organization, if this is a trial where you have some type of crime that has been committed.

Who will bring a charge against God's elect? Who will enter into the courtroom and bring a charge against the ones that God Himself has chosen? There we sit as the elect. And we are before a holy God.

And so Paul is saying, who can enter into God's presence? Remember the book of Job. When Satan enters in before God's presence, then he attempts to bring allegations against Job. Take this from him and Job will do that.

Take this and Job will do that. This is the role that is being spoken of here. But notice the answers given by the apostle. Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. To justify is to declare righteous.

To bring down the gavel and say, not guilty. And the judge has brought down that gavel. God is the one who justifies. Paul has already talked about that in Romans chapters 3 and 4. He has described God as the one, the justifying God.

That's a divine action. To bring down the gavel and say, not guilty. If God is the one who has said, not guilty, then who can be the one who says, condemned? Is there an authority above God himself? Surely not.

Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, rather, who was raised. Who is the right hand of God. Who also intercedes for us. And so now we have another brought into the law court. We have the prosecuting attorney.

But we don't really have anyone. Because no one would be foolish enough. Once the judge has said, not guilty, to enter in and try to say, but you're wrong. The ultimate authority has already declared righteous.

But then we have another. Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, rather, who was raised. Who is at the right hand of God. Who also intercedes for us. Here now is the paraclete. In a different situation. Not the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit's a comforter. He's an interceder in one sense. But now we have Jesus. And he enters into the law court. But he is partly the defense attorney. But more than that. He's absolutely unique.

Because notice how he's described. Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, rather, who was raised. Now why would that be relevant? If we are united with him. Then we are united with him in his death. And in his resurrection.

The penalty of the law has been fulfilled. There's nothing left. Upon which condemnation can be made. If we are united with him. He has died. He has been raised. And since he's been raised. He is at the right hand of God.

God has accepted his sacrifice. If he had not been raised from the dead. That would have been clear indication. That God did not accept his sacrifice. But he has been raised from the dead. And he has entered into a position.

Of absolute authority and acceptance. The very right hand of God. And so here you have a unique individual. Who has conquered death. Experienced resurrection. And now he is at the right hand of God. Which shows that he has been accepted.

He has authority, power and dominion. And then we have the statement. Who also intercedes for us. Who's the us? Go back to verse 33. God's elect. Those united to him. Those for whom the sacrifice has been made.

We have one who stands before the judge. And he intercedes for us. Why does he need to intercede for us? What is the nature of this intercession? God has already said righteous. But on what basis? What is the basis upon which God can justly bring down that gavel and say.

You are righteous knowing your own heart. And knowing your own sin. You see this intercession. We need to understand. We need to avoid a common error of thought amongst many believers. Some of you here are former Roman Catholics.

Some of you here have Roman Catholic friends, family members that you see regularly. We live in the southwestern portion of the United States. And if we went that direction. Not very many hours. We would enter into the nation of Mexico.

And every Mexican and especially in southern Mexico. Every Mexican knows about our Lady of Guadalupe. And I can say without fear of contradiction. That at this very hour in many shrines in Mexico. There are many men and women on their knees.

Servantly rocking back and forth. Having lit candles. Holding rosaries in their hands. Praying to the Virgin. There are many in hospitals who are praying for loved ones who are on death's door. And their prayers are directed to Mary.

To the Virgin. Statues all over the place. Lady of Guadalupe. Or you could go to Fatima. Or you could go to Lourdes. You could go to Medjugorje. You could go many places in the world. And find this taking place.

What process. What evolution took place. That would lead us from the Mary of the New Testament. The Virgin Mother of Christ. But the faithful wife of Joseph. The mother of the brothers of Christ. And the sisters of Christ.

The one who did not understand that Jesus needed to be about his father's business. The one who had to ponder things in her heart. The one who with her other sons came to take Jesus away because they thought he had gone mad.

And the early believer who is in the upper room at Pentecost. A wonderful example but not a sinless source of grace. What happened that could result in the kind of abject idolatry that we see today. Perpetually a virgin.

Immaculately conceived. Bodily assumed in heaven. Queen of heaven. Co-redemptrix. Co-mediatrix. Idolatry. What happened? Well, there are lots of reasons. The development in the second and third centuries of a celibate concept of the monks and the monasteries.

An unbiblical view of sexuality and marriage. All those things are extremely important. But I would suggest on the theological level that one of the key reasons why you can find men and women seeking the intercession of Mary is because of a lack of understanding of the biblical doctrine of Christ's intercession.

You see, when you read the pious literature of the Roman Catholic Church, especially Alphonse de Liguri's book, The Glories of Mary. A man elevates the high position of doctor of the church. A book that has not gone through one edition but over 80.

When you read that kind of material, you discover a constant, repeated theme. Mary is the maternal, kind, gracious one to whom we can turn to save us from the stern judge who is Jesus. So you will find prayer after prayer after prayer where the petitioner praying to Mary says, Save me from my sins, from the devils, and from Jesus my judge.

It is the situation that many of us have known in our families where when little Junior has done something wrong, in most family situations, he doesn't go running to dad. He goes running to mom. Because mom's going to have the kind heart.

And since there is no finished work of Christ in Roman Catholicism, that's why he's still up there on the cross. Oh, I know. Believe me, I know. Oh, he was only sacrificed once, but he's represented every mass.

Never perfected. You're never perfected by that mass. Since there is no finished work, then there is a need for a mediator with the mediator. And that's where Mary comes in. You see, we need to understand the nature of the intercession that Christ makes.

It's not just Roman Catholics that have the idea that what is needed is some turning away of the wrath of God. Since they don't have a finished work, the Roman Catholic fears the wrath of God, and appropriately so.

But the non-Roman Catholic who understands what justification is, recognizes the difference between justification and sanctification, the non-Roman Catholic, where would they get wrong ideas? And yet, is it not so common amongst many to see the Father as the wrathful judge, and Jesus as the kind, loving Savior who intercedes.

He gets between the nasty Father and the believing sinner, and makes everything alright. He turns away the wrath of the Father, and makes everything okay. There is no question that the wrath of God needs to be propitiated.

But notice I said the wrath of God, not the wrath of the Father. If the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are equally participants in the one true being that is God, then they're equally holy, and that means they have equal wrath against sin.

You can't talk about the wrath of the Father separately from the wrath of the Son or the wrath of the Spirit. And how is the wrath of God dealt with? It is dealt with in what the Father, Son, and Spirit have done in the sacrifice of Christ.

And then the bringing of that sacrifice to fruition in our lives. So the Father is just as much a part of bringing about the satisfaction of His own wrath as the Son and the Spirit. This idea that turns the Father into this unpropitiated, wrathful person, and Jesus is this, oh, I just love sinners, Jesus, you know, type of a...

It is utterly unbiblical. And it's totally based upon not seeing that the work of God in salvation is a triune work. God has brought about His own glorification in the work of the Father, Son, and Spirit in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And I think the only reason that there are many evangelicals who don't understand what intercession really is, is because, A, many evangelicals are not even functionally Trinitarian, and, B, they think the gospel is all wrapped up in themselves.

They think the gospel is all about themselves. And that, well, God's trying, but it's my actions that end up determining whether the gospel will be complete or not. They don't see the gospel as that which God has done to glorify Himself, and He's done it perfectly.

Results in horrible situations. So, here we have these pictures of intercession. So, what does it mean about Jesus? Well, there's one other picture of intercession that, very quickly, I need to get to because we're running out of time.

Do you remember another picture of intercession? It's one that we all, every person in this room who's been to any Lord's Supper, knows one other beautiful picture of intercession in regards to Jesus.

The Suffering Servant and Christ's Finished Work

Isaiah chapter 53. Look at the very end of Isaiah chapter 53. Verse 12, Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, he will divide the booty with the strong, because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he himself bore the sin of many.

And what did he do? And interceded for the transgressors. 700 years before the birth of Christ, you have this one who pours himself out to death. He's numbered with the transgressors, yet he's not a transgressor.

He has been bruised and beaten by God, yet he himself bore the sin of many, and because he bore the sin of many, what does he do? He interceded for the transgressors. I think one of the most beautiful pictures that we can see to understand the nature of Christ's intercession is to remember once again that incredible scene of Revelation chapter 5.

When John looks and what does he see? He sees a lamb standing as if slain in the presence of God the Father. And of course we know this is the Son. He's standing as if slain. He has those, as the hymn we sang last week, five bleeding wounds he bears received on Calvary.

It is not that the Son is having to do a second work outside of his sacrifice of intercession. The sacrifice is complete in and of itself, but as we saw in Leviticus 16, what does the high priest have to do?

His job isn't done when the sacrifice is offered. He has to take it into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle it upon that mercy seat, that place of propitiation. That's one work. And so, when the Son enters into the holy place, unlike, and this is going to come up again in Hebrews, but unlike the high priest who never stops, he never sits, he never rests when he's in the holy place.

There's no place to sit. There's no place to sit. When the Son enters in, the Lamb as if slain, he is seated at the right hand of the Majesty. Because his work is done. Then what's the intercession? It is finished.

They're in me. If they're in me, they have my righteousness. They have my life. A finished work. The Lamb standing as if slain. It is the completeness of the perfect sacrifice that speaks for eternity.

It's not another work. It's not something that has to be added to. It's enough in and of itself. Of the sacrifice still upon Him. Look, Thomas, see my hands and my feet, seated as I myself. Thomas' response, my Lord and my God.

He interceded for the transgressors. You will see that he enters into that holy place. We already saw in an earlier chapter, our forerunner, he's gone in. We have that sure anchor for the soul. And now we're seeing why it's such a sure anchor.

What could not move that anchor? The fact that the sacrifice offered is absolutely perfect. Never to be repeated. Never to be added to. But let me say one thing in closing. If your heart rejoices with mine and seeks to add nothing to this, seeks only to glorify Christ for what He has done, then you understand.

But there are so many who don't think that's enough. Who think that's just a start. And now I need to do this. I need to do that. I need to add this. I need to add that. May I suggest to you, that's not true saving faith.

If you are seeking to add to what Christ has done, then you don't understand what He has done. And Christ will not be a co-savior with anyone. He will not share His glory with another. You will either be saved utterly and completely by Him, or you will not be saved.

I know those are strong words. But the Apostle Paul himself laid that out in Romans 4 when he said to the one who works, the wage he receives is not considered a gift, but is what is due to him. But the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteous.

What kind of faith do you have? Is yours a faith that rejoices completely in the finished work of Christ? Or is it a faith that accepts the necessity of what He had to do, but thinks there's something more you can add?

I exhort you, please, consider well the words of Scripture. Trust only in Jesus Christ for your salvation. Let's pray together. Our gracious Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, once again we worship you and praise you for the Gospel of Jesus Christ whereby you have been glorified and whereby we have eternal life only as the gracious result of your kindness and your mercy.

And God, it is our prayer this day that anyone within the sound of my voice, now, within this room, in the future, via those amazing means you've made available to us whereby many thousands of others can hear what was done here this day, if there be any who hear these words, O God, may you by your grace reveal Jesus Christ to them in all of His glory, in all of His sufficiency.

And if there be any who continue to seek the intercession of others, O Lord, show them your truth. Grant to them repentance and forgiveness. Entrusting solely in Jesus Christ, for it is in His name that we pray.