Click for Chapter 25
We have studied in these lessons the working of God for a period of 4000 years in the preparation for Christ’s coming (Genesis 4:1-5). We have studied the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection for us through which He redeemed us from Satan’s authority (Hebrews 2:14).
Now we are going to study the present ministry of Jesus; what He is doing now for us; what He has been doing for almost a period of 2000 years. Most Christians have neglected this present ministry of Jesus. So many, when they think of Jesus giving His life for us, think of only His death and resurrection. They do not know that when He sat down at the Father’s right hand that He began to live for us in as much reality as He had died for us. How few Christians have a clear conception of the present ministry of Christ.
There are three views of Jesus ministry for us: (a) Jesus beyond the cross as the lowly "man of sorrows," (b) Jesus on the cross as the "Son made sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21), or (c) as the exalted one, with a name above every other name (Philippians 2:9-10).
As we study our hymns, we realize how few teachers and songwriters have understood this present ministry of Jesus. Many see Jesus beyond the cross, the lowly Jesus. Another group sees Him only on the cross. A very small number have looked beyond the cross and the tomb to the Christ seated at the right hand of the Father.
It is well for us to understand that He is no longer the meek and lowly man of Galilee. He is no longer the son made sin, forsaken of God. He is now the Lord of all, who has conquered Satan, sin, disease, and death. He is the one who possesses all the authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18).
We can today act fearlessly upon His Word, because He is the surety of it. He is the surety of the New Covenant. Hebrews 7:22 "By so much also has Jesus become the surety of a better covenant."
The surety of the Covenant is the Word. Hebrews 8:6 "But now He hath obtained a ministry the more excellent, by so much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant which hath been enacted upon better promises." The New Covenant has been enacted, and is based upon God’s Word (promises): and He is the surety. This man today at the Father’s right hand, is the surety of His Word.
He who possesses all authority in heaven and in earth, makes good every word in these promises. Let us now study what He is today to us in this New Covenant.
In the revelation that Paul received, God has drawn aside the veil and given to us the present ministry of Christ. He sat down as our "High Priest," "Mediator," "Intercessor," "Advocate," and "Surety" of the New Covenant.
We have studied the High Priesthood of the Old Covenant. The High Priest of the Old Covenant was a type of Jesus, the High Priest of the New Covenant.
Once every year the High Priest under the Old Covenant had entered into the Tabernacle on earth with the blood of bulls and goats to make a yearly atonement for the sins of Israel (Hebrews 10:11).
Christ entered into heaven itself with His own blood having obtained eternal redemption for us (Hebrews 9:12, 23-27).
When God accepted the blood of Jesus Christ, He signified that the claims of justice had been met and that man could be legally taken from Satan’s authority and restored to fellowship with Himself. By the sacrifice of Himself, Christ had put away sin (John 1:29, Hebrews 9:26).
The crime of High Treason of Adam had been met and settled by His one sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 10:12).
By the sacrifice of Himself He had sanctified man (Hebrews 10:14). "To sanctify," means to "set apart" or "to separate." He through the atonement had separated man from Satan’s kingdom and family. In Christ, we become as separate from Satan’s kingdom as Jesus was (John 17:14).
When Christ met Mary after His resurrection (John 20:17), He said to her "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father." He was then on His way to the Father with His own blood, the token of the penalty He had paid, and He could not be touched by man.
Jesus’ ministry of High Priest did not end with His carrying His blood into the Holy Place, as He is still the minister of the sanctuary (Hebrews 8:2).
The word "sanctuary" in Hebrews 8:2 in the Greek means "Holy Things." These "Holy Things" are our prayers and worship. We do not know how to worship Him as we ought, but He takes our oftentimes-crude petitions and worship and makes them beautiful to the Father. These "Holy Things" are our "Spiritual Sacrifices" that He makes acceptable to the Father. Every prayer, every worship, is accepted by the Father when it is presented in the Name (personage) of Jesus.
1 Peter 2:5 states: "Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house to be a Holy Priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God, though Jesus Christ."
Study the High Priest ministry of Jesus as it is given to us in the book of Hebrews. He is a merciful and faithful High Priest (Hebrews 2:17-18). He is a High Priest who can be touched with our feelings of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:14-16). He is a High Priest forever (Hebrews 6:19).
When Jesus sat down at the Father’s right hand, He had satisfied the claims of justice and He became the mediator between God and man.
1 Timothy 2:5 "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus."
Jesus is man’s mediator for two reasons. He is man’s mediator because of what He is, and He is man’s mediator because of what He has done.
First, Jesus is man’s mediator by virtue of what He is. He is the union of God and man (John 1:14). He is the Word "who was with God and was God" and made flesh (John 1:1).
He is the one who existed on an equally with God, made in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:8-9).
He has bridged the gulf between God and man. He is equal with God, and He is equal with man. He can represent humanity before God.
This however, was not sufficient ground for a mediation between God and man. Man was an eternal criminal before God. Man was alienated from God (Ephesians 2:12) and under the judgment of Satan (John 16:11).
This brings to us our second fact. Jesus is man’s mediator because of what He has done.
Colossians 1:22 "Yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable through Him."
2 Corinthians 5:18 "Who reconciled us unto Himself through Christ." There could have been no mediator between God and man if there had not first been a reconciliation between man and God. Man was unrighteous in his condition of spiritual death. He could not approach God. Neither could any mediator have approached God for him.
Christ has reconciled us unto God through His death on the cross, so that he now presents man holy and without blemish before God. Therefore, man has a right to approach God through Christ, his mediator.
From the fall of man until Jesus sat down at God’s right hand, no man had ever approached God except over a bleeding sacrifice through a divinely appointed Priesthood, or by angelic visitation of dreams.
On the ground of His High Priestly offering of His own blood, Jesus perfected our redemption, satisfied the claims of justice, and made it possible for God to legally give man Eternal life, making him righteous, and giving him a standing as a son. Every unsaved person now has a legal right to approach God.
Jesus, the High Priest, carried His blood into the Holiest of Holies, satisfying the claims of justice that were against the natural man. As Mediator, He introduced the unsaved person to God.
John 14:6 tells us that Jesus is THE way to God and no one can approach God except through Him. As soon as a person accepts the reconciliation work of Christ, that person becomes a child of God. Then Christ begins His intercessory work for him. Jesus is the mediator for the sinner, but He is also the intercessor for the Christian.
The first question that comes to us is: Why does the child of God need someone to intercede for him? We can find the answer for that in Romans 12:2.
At the New Birth, our spirits receive the life of God. The next need is that our minds be renewed. For the number of years that existed before we were born again, we walked according to Satan (Ephesians 2:1-3). Satan ruled our minds. Now that our spirits have received the life of God, our minds must be renewed so that we will know our privileges and responsibilities as a child of God.
Ephesians 4:22-24 shows us the need of a renewed mind. The New Birth is instantaneous, but the renewing of our minds is a gradual process. Its growth is determined by our study and mediation of the Word. During this period we need the intercession of Christ. Many times we strain our fellowship with the Father, as in our ignorance of His will, we many times say and do things that are not pleasing to Him.
Then again, we need His intercession because of demoniacal persecution against us. Matthew 5:10 "Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake." This is not the persecution of men, but the persecution of demons. Matthew 5:11-12 refers to the persecution of men. Demons persecute us for righteousness sake. They hate and fear us, because God has declared us righteous. Because we have not fully learned of our authority, they cause us to stumble many times. Regardless of this, He is able to save us unto the uttermost, because He ever lives to pray for us (Hebrews 7:25).
No one can lay anything to the charge of God’s child. God has declared him righteous. There is no one to condemn him. Jesus is living to make intercession for him (Romans 8:33-34).
We came to the Father, through Christ our Mediator. We have felt the sweet influences of His intercession on our behalf. Now we want to know Him as our advocate before the Father.
How many Christians today who are living in broken fellowship would be living victorious lives in Christ, if they had known or knew that Jesus was their Advocate. Because of our unrenewed minds, and satanic persecution, we sometimes sin and cause our fellowship to be broken.
Every child of God who breaks fellowship with the Father goes under condemnation. If he had no advocate, he would be in a sad position. The Word shows us that if we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father (1 John 1:3-9), which is God’s method for maintaining fellowship with Him. If we sin so that our fellowship is broken, we may renew that fellowship by confessing our sin.
Jesus’ ministry as an advocate is a work of Jesus on the part of God. However, He is unable to act as our advocate unless we confess our sins. The moment we confess, He takes up our case before the Father.
The Word declares that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God can forgive us our sins and be perfectly righteous in doing it, because Jesus bore them all (Isaiah 53:6).
He is also faithful and ready at the moment we confess, to wipe them out as though they had never been. It is absolutely essential that the Christians know Jesus as their Advocate. Many who are out of fellowship have confessed their sins many times without receiving a sense of restoration, because they did not know Jesus as their Advocate. They did not act upon the Word that declares that the Father forgives the moment they confess.
No Christian should ever remain in broken fellowship any longer than it takes to confess their sin and ask for forgiveness. What the Father forgives, He also forgets. A child of His should never dishonor Him by ever thinking of those confessed sins again.
Jesus is our personal surety. This is the most vital of all ministries of Jesus at the Father’s right hand.
Under the law the High Priest was the surety of the Old Covenant. If the High Priest failed, it interrupted the relationship between God and Israel. The blood of the atonement lost its efficacy. Under the New Covenant, Jesus is the High Priest, and the surety of the New Covenant. Hebrews 7:22 "By so much more also hath Jesus become the surety of a better covenant."
Our position before the Father is absolutely secure. We know that throughout our lifetime, we have at the right hand of God a man who is there for us. He is representing us before the Father. He always has a standing with the Father. Always, regardless of our standing, we have one who is representing us before the Father. Our position is secure.