In Romans 8:34, “Jesus died, was raised to life, and is now at the right hand of God interceding for us.” He “always lives to intercede for us” too (Hebrews 7:25), so it’s an intercessory role both now and forever.
But what is Jesus’ intercessory role and why is it necessary? There’s a clue in Hebrews 5:10, that Jesus was “designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek” – and that’s “forever” too (7:17).
The purpose of that high priestly office is hinted at in the first appearance of “Melchizedek king of Salem and priest of God Most High” in Genesis 14:18. Melchizedek arrives on the scene just after Abram’s sensational victory over four kings to rescue his nephew Lot (11-17). And that’s when Melchizedek intercedes in the life of the exhausted Abram, by personally serving him with bread and wine, and saying to him, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High who handed your enemies over to you” (19-20).
Three things of note here: that God already had a priest on hand for Abram long before he began the priesthood in Israel. Secondly, Melchizedek came to serve Abram in his hour of need; and thirdly, he “blessed Abram” (19), pronouncing a blessing from God on Abram himself, and then a blessing on God for pulling off Abram’s victory.
Which ties in with Jesus and his intercessory role as a Melchizedek priest. That first of all, God has a priest on hand for us in our day too (Hebrews 4:14). Secondly, Jesus came in our hour of need as well, that “at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6), and he continues to serve us in our hour of need (Hebrews 4:14-16). And thirdly, Jesus was also sent by God to bless – with blessings from God (Luke 4:18-19), and blessings to God as well, as in Matthew 11:25-26, when Jesus prays, “O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, I thank you (bless you) for hiding these things from the clever and intelligent and for showing them to mere children. Yes, I thank you, Father, that this was your will” – for pulling off such an impossible plan on our behalf.
So Melchizedek and Jesus intercede in the same ways, as humble servants on hand to help in stressful situations, but also with full authority to pass on blessings from God to us, and blessings to God for what he’s done and doing on our behalf. But why do all this through a priest? To the second point in paragraph two, then: “Why is intercession by a priest necessary?”….(next blog)
