Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Perfect Intercession

Tuesday Night Bible Study at CDG. Moses intercedes for Israel, and Jesus intercedes for us.

Last week Mikey talked about Moses’ prayer of intercession for Pharaoh and for the Israelite's after they made the golden calf.  I want to talk about the intercession for the Israelite's a little bit more tonight.   


Remember that to intercede is to intervene on behalf of another.  Intercessory prayer has been defined as prayer that pleads with God for your needs and the needs of others. But it is also much more than that. Intercession involves taking hold of God's will and refusing to let go until His will comes to pass.


Exodus 32:9-10 (NLT)9  Then the LORD said, “I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are.10  Now leave me alone so my fierce anger can blaze against them, and I will destroy them. Then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation.”

Moses interceded before God on behalf of the people in a priestly prayer, asking him to relent from destroying the nation based on three factors.


  1. That He (God) had delivered the people Himself.
  2. Pharaoh  would learn of the destruction of the nation and believe that Egypt had, in fact, been victorious.
  3. He had made a covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  


Exodus 32:11 (NLT)11  But Moses tried to pacify the LORD his God. “O LORD!” he said. “Why are you so angry with your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and such a strong hand?  


God had just delivered the nation of Israel from Egypt, and Moses pleaded that he could not abandon them now.


Second, Pharaoh would learn of the destruction of the nation and believe that Egypt had, in fact, been victorious and that God’s plan was to bring them out of Egypt in order to kill them.


Exodus 32:12 (NLT)12  Why let the Egyptians say, ‘Their God rescued them with the evil intention of slaughtering them in the mountains and wiping them from the face of the earth’? Turn away from your fierce anger. Change your mind about this terrible disaster you have threatened against your people!


Third, God had promised to uphold his covenant to his people, and he could not turn back on his promises.


Exodus 32:13-14 (NLT)13  Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You bound yourself with an oath to them, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. And I will give them all of this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever.’”14  So the LORD changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people.


In Deuteronomy before entering the Promised Land Moses reminds the children of those who died during the years of wandering, that after Israel sinned against God by making a golden calf that God was going to destroy them and start all over with him.   He also reminded them of why they had to wander around for 40 years.  


He pleaded with God to remember his promises to the patriarchs and overlook the people’s sin. He also argued that by destroying the people of God’s own inheritance, God’s saving power and the authenticity of God’s love for his treasured possession would be called into question.


Deuteronomy 9:22-29 (NLT)22  “You also made the LORD angry at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah.23  And at Kadesh-barnea the LORD sent you out with this command: ‘Go up and take over the land I have given you.’ But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God and refused to put your trust in him or obey him.24  Yes, you have been rebelling against the LORD as long as I have known you.25  “That is why I threw myself down before the LORD for forty days and nights—for the LORD said he would destroy you.26  I prayed to the LORD and said, ‘O Sovereign LORD, do not destroy them. They are your own people. They are your special possession, whom you redeemed from Egypt by your mighty power and your strong hand.27  Please overlook the stubbornness and the awful sin of these people, and remember instead your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.28  If you destroy these people, the Egyptians will say, “The Israelites died because the LORD wasn’t able to bring them to the land he had promised to give them.” Or they might say, “He destroyed them because he hated them; he deliberately took them into the wilderness to slaughter them.”29  But they are your people and your special possession, whom you brought out of Egypt by your great strength and powerful arm.’  


What’s the point of talking about Moses interceding for the Israelites again?  The Israelites were God’s people and Moses prayer for them was a priestly prayer for the people.  We have a Great High Priest too and His name is Jesus.   


Hebrews 4:14-16 (NLT)14  So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.15  This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.
16  So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.  

Go to the 17th Chapter of John.  In John 17 Jesus intercedes for his disciples and those who come after them.  That’s us.  The entire 17th Chapter of John is Jesus prayer.


He prays for Himself in the first 5 verses


John 17:1-5 (NLT)1  After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.2  For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him.3  And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.4  I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.5  Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.
Jesus makes only one request for himself—that the Father would glorify him, so that he might glorify the Father.
The time had finally come for Him to complete His assignment.  The reason He had come which was to bring salvation to mankind.  Christ did not seek some honor here for his own sake.  His glorification through death, resurrection, and exaltation, would  be to glorify the Father.  He did everything that God asked him to do. His life, death and resurrection all brought glory to God.
John 12:49-50 (NLT)49  I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it.50  And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say.”
This glorification of the Father includes in it the elevation of the Son to glory and power, where he is head over all things including the authority to give  eternal life, on the basis of Christ's finished work (on the Cross). The beneficiaries are described as those whom the Father has given to the Son, the disciples. (and by extension us) - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
In His prayer Jesus asked God to give to him again the glory that they had shared in heaven.  He had finished what He was sent to do which was to reveal the Father, to expose sin, choose and train those who would follow after Him and most of all the sacrifice of Himself for the sins of the world.  Now that He was finishing the work Jesus asked the Father to return the glory that He had in heaven as it had been from the very beginning.


John 1:1-2 (NLT)1  In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.2  He existed in the beginning with God.
Now we know that happened.
Acts 7:54-56 (NLT)54  The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage.55  But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.56  And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!”
After interceding for Himself, Jesus prays for the disciples


John 17:6-12 (NLT)6  “I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word.7  Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you,8  for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me.9  “My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you.10  All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory.11  Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are.12  During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.  

Jesus viewed the disciples as those whom God had given to Him out of the world.  Since the Father had given them to Him He is asking God will protect them.  

John 17:13-19 (NLT)13  “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy.14  I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.15  I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one.16  They do not belong to this world any more than I do.17  Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.18  Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world.19  And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.

Jesus wants His disciples to experience full joy once He leaves.  When He refers to His “word”.   He is talking about His gospel which is the Good News about salvation through Him, in addition to the scriptures.

The reception of the word identified these men with him and set them apart from the world, which rejected and hated him and therefore had the same attitude toward them.

People rejected Jesus. They refused to believe in him. Many of them especially the leaders  hated him. So they also hated everyone who followed him.  


John 15:18-25 (NLT)18  “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.19  The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.20  Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.21  They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the One who sent me.22  They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin.23  Anyone who hates me also hates my Father.24  If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father.25  This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures: ‘They hated me without cause.’


People still reject Jesus many people hate him.   Therefore, they will hate us, just because we follow Jesus.

Yet, it is interesting to note that Jesus doesn’t pray that disciples be exempted from evil. That prayer will not be answered until we receive glorified bodies and are in heaven.

The goal is not isolation, but insulation.


Next Jesus intercedes for us.  


Jesus had said before that He had sheep, others that He wanted to save, who were not Jews.

John 10:16 (NLT)16  I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.


The prayer reaches out to include those who will believe because of the testimony of the disciples.


John 17:20-26 (NLT)20  “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message.21  I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.22  “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one.23  I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.24  Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!25  “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me.26  I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”

After Jesus’ death and resurrection, his disciples told many people about him. They spoke in public about salvation.

Acts 2:1-6 (NLT)1  On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place.2  Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.3  Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them.4  And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.5  At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem.6  When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.

They used Jesus’ name to do miracles. The good news about Jesus spread quickly.
Acts 2:37-41 (NLT)37  Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”38  Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins, turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ to show that you have received forgiveness for your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.39  This promise is to you, and to your children, and even to the Gentiles—all who have been called by the Lord our God.” 40  Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”41  Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.  

The church has continued to grow during the last more than 2000 years. Christians have continued to teach each other about Jesus. People have translated the Bible into many different languages. We know about Jesus because of all the disciples that Jesus interceded for.  

When Jesus prayed for us the first thing he asked was that we have the same kind of relationship with each other that He and the Father have, and that we have that same relationship with Him.  


John 17:21 (NLT)21  I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.


John 13:35 (NLT)35  Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”


Just as Moses interceded on behalf of Israel, so also Jesus Christ intercedes on behalf of believers who approach God through him. The salvation Jesus offers through the new covenant is a complete salvation that endures for all time and extends to all of life. Those who place their faith in the finished work of Jesus are saved by virtue of his sinless life, sacrificial death and glorious resurrection.
Romans 6:23 (NLT)23  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.


Ephesians 1:7 (NLT)7  He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.


Romans 5:9 (NLT)9  And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.


Romans 4:25 (NLT)25  He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.

Jesus, I know I could have begged for God’s mercy and it wouldn’t have made any difference without your gift of the cross. Thank you for interceding on my behalf, so that I could receive God’s beautiful mercy.  Jesus, it is so humbling to think that as you faced crucifixion, you made time to pray for me. Thank you for interceding on my behalf. Amen.


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