Let’s start with what we know. Let’s start with a definition of ‘intercessor’.
According to information readily available on the internet, intercessor is:-
“A person who intercedes on behalf of another, especially by prayer.”
The dictionary redirects you from intercessor to intercession. The definition of intercession is:-
“The act of interceding.”
Following the paper trail the dictionary’s definition of interceding is:-
“To intercede between parties with a view to reconciling the differences.”
Well that was a long way round, but we got there in the end. A intercessor in my terms is a ‘go between’, someone who ‘goes’ between each party to plead their case and bring about a truce.
Let’s direct our attention to our blessed Redeemer and Saviour, Jesus Christ, our intercessor.
Hebrews 7:25 “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
Romans 8:34 “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”
The above Bible verses clearly state that Jesus is our intercessor. Jesus stands between us and the Father pleading our case. We are saved from sin because of Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus is standing right now in the sanctuary. He is waiting for you dear one, Jesus and Jesus alone can relieve your burden and save your soul. Cast your cares upon Him dear friend. Jesus will intercede for you and your place in heaven will be secured. Jesus will also impart peace to the troubled soul.
The above facts we know, they are regularly preached and taught, but there is another side to our ‘intercessor’ that little is heard about and even less is put to pen and paper. There is a Bible verse I would like to bring to everyone’s attention.
1st Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
If we look at this verse closely, my friends, what can we see? Yes, He’s there, a intercessor. Jesus stands between us and Satan. We have placed ourselves on Jesus’ team and Jesus, my friend, will go into bat for us. Jesus stands between us and Satan, interceding on our behalf. I hear Jesus saying “no further can you advance, that child is mine”.
So why, we ask, do trials and temptations come our way at all? If Jesus is interceding for us, why doesn’t He stop it completely? My friends let’s take a look at a little allegory to try and help us understand why God works the way He does.
A very poor fisherman is trolling the sea bed. Today his little daughter has joined him. As he scours the sea bed looking for anything he can salvage or sell, his daughter copies him, following her father’s every move. As her father moves on she espies a small, very rough pebble. The stone attracts her attention, but as she reaches out for it her father stops her. “It’s rubbish,” he says and asks her to leave it behind. Seeing the disappointed look in his daughter’s eyes, the father relents and allows his daughter to take the pebble home. The pebble first sits in a prized place on the bookshelf, then as the years go by, ends up forgotten and abandoned. Time goes by, the girl now an adult stumbles upon the stone. The stone now chipped and damaged shows promise of being a beautiful gem. Bright colours are shining through. The girl takes the stone to a specialist and the process begins. This my friend, is the refining process, the stone is chipped away at, removing any flaws, it is cut, sanded and polished, and finally turned into a beautiful gem.
When the young girl first picked up the pebble she had no idea that a beautiful gemstone was hiding just below the surface, so it is with us. We are that pebble, our potential lies just beneath that hard crusted surface. Yes friends, Jesus uses the ‘refining’ process to chip away at our flaws, we are cut, sanded and polished to finally reveal the image of Jesus.
Isaiah 48:10 “Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.”
Zechariah 13:9 “And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.”
Without this process my friend we would still be a pebble at the bottom of the sea. Jesus knows our worth. He sees our value and He desires to bring us into closer connection with Him. Yes, the refining process may hurt, but without it our character wouldn’t reflect the image of our blessed redeemer, without it we wouldn’t even know Jesus was there. How do we know Jesus is there if we can’t hear Him tenderly calling us to repentance.
Yes my friends, the path is rocky but our Saviour is interceding in our behalf and He says to Satan “thus far and no further” as in the Bible verse in Corinthians:-
1st Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
God will provide a way for you to escape it.
So we clearly see my friends, why Jesus allows trials and temptations to come our way and as we pass through the fires of affliction we have His promise and assurance of strength and protection. We also know our Saviour loves us dearly and is longing for the day when He can take us home.
It is a beautiful thought that we have a Redeemer who not only intercedes for our sin but also stands between us and Satan. Without Jesus standing between us and the devil, believe me, we would have no chance against the devil and it is this factor I would like to highlight right now. Why do we think there is so much evil in the world. People with no respect for their fellow man blindly raping, killing and maiming. They have no intercessor. They have placed themselves on Satan’s grounds, they have rejected the Saviour, and now they are under Satan’s control. The evil we have in the world today is a direct result of people without a intercessor. Without a intercessor it is impossible to repel Satan, even in the christian world, if Jesus doesn’t stand between us and Satan we have ‘buckleys to none’ in defeating the devil. It is only through Jesus we can have power over the devil. We may tell Satan to ‘depart’, but it is Jesus who enforces it. Jesus stands between us and Satan, He tells what we say to Satan and compels Satan to leave. Satan my friend isn’t going to leave without a fight. The devil has claimed us by right and he will fight ‘tooth and nail’ to keep and destroy his perceived ‘rights’. But Jesus is our blessed Saviour and He stands between us. Nothing can get past Jesus and while the devil may fight, fret and fume, Jesus is our intercessor and there is nothing the devil can do about it.
My friends, I wanted to highlight today what a blessed Saviour we have. Not only interceding for our sins, but also standing between us and the devil. Few people realise how much our Saviour does for us. When times get tough and trials come too many blame Jesus. Friends, we have just seen how the devil works and why, look to Jesus all the time friends, He will intercede for you and He will carry us through.
Amen.