A Better Intercessor
I started a one-year Bible reading plan this past Januaryand too soon came upon the oft-dreaded book of Leviticus. You know what’sharder than reading the book of Leviticus? Listening to the book of Leviticus(which is how I’m doing my Bible reading plan this year). Not only does it seemrepetitive and inapplicable, it can sometimes fill us with questions of how thesame God who inspired Leviticus could inspire the book of John.
But througha podcast, God reminded me that every passage in Leviticus is aboutChrist. The first five books are in the Bible because they point to a specificpart of God’s redemptive plan.
Similar stories that began to stick outas I read through the Pentateuch were the intercessions of Moses on behalf ofthe people of Israel. The first time recorded was in Exodus 32. After Godmiraculously saved His people out of Egyptian slavery and parted the Red Sea toget them to safety, He was ready to show them how they would live as Hispeople. Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the freshly inscribed TenCommandments, only to find the people worshipping a golden calf. God,righteously angry at the egregious sin of the people, tells Moses to stand backso that He can consume them. But then Moses prayed:
“But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, whydoes your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of theland of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptianssay, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains andto consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger andrelent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, andIsrael, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘Iwill multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that Ihave promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit itforever.’” (Exodus 32:11-13).
The beauty of the story is that Godrelented! Moses reminded God of His covenant with Abraham that He would blesshis descendants (Genesis 15), and God fulfilled His promise. Even when theIsraelites forsook the covenant, God preserved it!
These intercessory prayers of Moses arerecorded multiple times throughout the Israelites’ wilderness journey. Moses isa constant intercessor between a holy God and a sinful people (Numbers 11:1-2, 14:11-19,16:20-23). God sovereignly ordained that His servant Moses would be the meansby which God saved a stiff-necked people.
What does this story have to do with us,Gentiles who have been grafted into the people of God? One application is that,when we pray God’s promises back to Him, He answers (a great sermon on this canbe found here).But God revealed to me an even greater purpose of this story—to point us toChrist, our greater intercessor.
Christ Intercedes as the Son
The writer of Hebrews says that Mosesforeshadowed a role of Christ in God’s Kingdom:
“For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory thanMoses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than thehouse itself. Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, totestify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful overGod's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast ourconfidence and our boasting in our hope.” (Hebrews 3:3, 5-6)
Moses interceded as a servant; Christintercedes as the Son! But why do we need intercession? A couple chapterslater, the writer tells us:
“The former priests were many in number, because they wereprevented by death from continuing in office, but [Christ] holds his priesthoodpermanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save tothe uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives tomake intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:23-25)
We have security in our salvation because Jesus was the perfect temple, the perfect priest, and the perfect sacrifice.
We have security in our salvationbecause Jesus was the perfect temple, the perfect priest, and the perfectsacrifice. When we, like the Israelites, forget the God that saved us out ofthe domain of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13),Christ intercedes for us—reminding God, just like Moses did, of His promises tous, achieved through Christ!
Resting in His intercession
How does this affect our daily lives?While Christ has saved us from the penalty of sin, in our human flesh westruggle every day with the presence of sin in our lives. As much as we like tolook down and scoff at the rebellious Israelites, every day we are guilty ofequal rebellion. God gives us good gifts, and we complain. He leads and guidesus, but we tire of following. He has promised an unimaginable inheritance, butwe would rather have the fleeting pleasures of the world.
If we were honest with ourselves aboutour sin, we may be prone to fear. How could God still love us when we haveforsaken Him? How do we know that He will not punish us for disobedience afterHe gave up His own Son? Because we have a better intercessor. We have confidencethat no matter what we do, we will not be consumed by the righteous anger ofGod. We are secure in His love.
“Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—morethan that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is intercedingfor us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, northings present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, noranything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of Godin Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:34, 38-39)
Your salvation does not rest in your own hands. Christ is guarding you today.
Your salvation does not rest in yourown hands. Christ is guarding you today. When you sin, you can boldly approachthe throne of God in repentance, confident that Christ is interceding for you,imploring His Father:
Turnfrom your burning anger at the rebellion of your child. For while their sindeserves the punishment of death, you have forgiven them and made them alive inme. Their debt has been paid at the cross (Colossians 2:13-14). Remember myperfect, sinless life. Remember my death. Remember my resurrection. I havesanctified your children through the offering of my body, once and for all(Hebrews 10:10).
So, sisters and brothers, let Christ’sintercession give us confidence, drawing us near to God with a true heart in full assurance of ourfaith (Hebrews 10:19-22).