“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people”
1 Timothy 2:1 NIV
The meaning of intercession
Let’s get into a pretty important study about “intercession”.
It is the key that moves or stops the hand of God.
Its role is highlighted throughout the Bible.
Paul says that this is a practice that must occupy first place in the life of the church. “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people”.
According to the apostle, intercession must come “first” than anything.
- The concept of intercession – Interceding means literally “to mediate” or “to plead”.
It is to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and fighting for his/her cause. The intercessor raises his/her hands to God and says:
“Lord, I stand before you to fight for this person. I am willing to present my life, faith and insistence as an argument for you to bless”.
So, the intercessor is a person who humbly but boldly prays to God for his/her fellow man.
- The need for intercessors – God is a graceful and good being, but also holy and righteous.
Hence, He allows men to prove the bitterness of the consequence of their sins and often takes initiatives of judgment as a way of punishing rebellion. But His heart suffers because of it.
If holiness leads God to punish sin, love urges Him to bless the sinner with mercy.
This is exactly where the need arises for the intercessor, for someone who comes before the Lord to make His arm stand for grace and not for judgment.
In the Old Testament, we find many individuals, families, cities and nations who were treated with mercy because of the ministry of an intercessor.
- God seeks intercessors – Intercessors are often the answer to an agonising struggle of the heart of God.
He is love, but at the same time He watches over justice and holiness. Thus, He must punish sin, but still He wants to be merciful.
There are two texts in the Old Testament that reveal this struggle of the heart of God.
In Ezekiel 22: 23-31, God talks about the sin that had dominated all levels of the nation.
The prophets, the princes, the priests, and, finally, all the people had become terribly corrupted. Then, in verses 30 and 31, He lets off steam with Ezekiel:
30 “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land, so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. 31 So, I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.” Ezequiel 22:30-31
What a shocking statement! The Lord sought one (only one!) man to intercede for those people. As He did not find, He had to bring the harsh judgment upon the people of Israel.
Another quite strong biblical quote is Isaiah 59:12-16. It also reveals the context of sin of the people: wrong was treated as right in those days (It seems that things have not changed much…) and the text ends by describing the reaction of God in verse 16:
“He saw that there was no one, He was appalled that there was no one to intervene (…)”.Isaiah 59:16
These biblical texts can show us clearly how the Lord needs intercessors to bless lives and how frustrating it is for Him not to find them on many occasions
INTERCESSION IN THE MINISTRY OF JESUS
Jesus was and is the biggest of all intercessors. He presented Himself before the Father not only with arguments, prayers and words, but with His own blood, to appease divine wrath against the sin of mankind and to attract God’s forgiveness to men.
As we study the life of Jesus, we realise that He exercised a dramatic public ministry that was abundant in the practice of prayer, especially interceding for lives.
We can see Him, for example, weeping for Jerusalem (Luke 19:41) or crying out for His disciples, because they were about to go through tribulations (John 17: 9,15,17, Luke 22: 31-32).
But the intercession of the Son of God reached its apex on the cross, when He offered His life as a ransom for humanity. More than this, the Lord has remained for more than two thousand years exercising the ministry of intercession.
The Word says: “Therefore, He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.” (Hebrews 7:25).
Here goes another verse: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15).
Prophetically speaking, Isaiah announced:
“(…) because he poured out his life unto death and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:12).
These expressions clearly highlight the profile of an intercessor. He/she involves his/her soul (thoughts, feelings, and emotions) in this ministry, and presents himself/herself in the condition of the one who needs mercy, assuming the role and place of the needy.
He/she defends the cause of those who are not worthy of defence.
With Jesus we learn some very important truths. Regarding intercessory prayer, the life of Jesus presents us several principles:
1- Intercession requires a heart involvement – Jesus did not stand coldly before God to pray for others. For him, it was not an exercise in “religious bureaucracy.”
His soul was in it. Whenever we navigate through the pages of the Bible, we find Him shedding tears for those who suffer.
”When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” Luke 7:13 NIV
”Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”“
John 11:35-36 NIV
Jesus being moved with compassion for the crowd.
”When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.“Matthew 14:14 NIV
”Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.“
Matthew 20:34 NIV
- Deep intercession requires sensitivity to the voice of God.
Often, for deep intercession, we need to know the intimacy of God. When Jesus warned Peter about the struggles he would have to go through, his words were:
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:3-32).
Notice that Jesus had received a revelation from the Father. By the Spirit, He knew what was about to happen and had previously prayed for Peter. This quality is very important in the life of an intercessor. He/she needs to be attuned to the Lord, sensitive to the commands and weights that the Spirit brings to his/her heart. Many times, the intercessor will pray before the events take place and, with his/her prayer, will prevent tragedies and obtain blessings for other people.
- Intercession does not consider the merit of its purpose.
From the cross of Calvary, at the height of His suffering and humiliation, Jesus prayed for those who were killing Him:
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34).
It reveals a heart moved by love, which does not consider the merit of the purpose of intercession but seeks arguments to attract the blessing of God.
There on the cross, bathed in His own blood, Jesus exercised the priestly ministry, crying out for the forgiveness of a rebellious people before the Almighty.
- Intercession must be a lifestyle
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews presents Jesus as our High Priest (Hebrews 2:17), the one who stands before the Father in intercession for us, the believers.
It is quite significant because we are also designated in the New Testament as “The royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2: 9).
In plain English, every believer has a priestly responsibility. What does it mean? It means that we have an obligation to bring the truth of God to men and bring the needs of men to God.
This is the most basic function of a priest. He/she lives for it. This is his/her way of life: To represent God before the people and to represent the people before God.
If the intercessor does not execute his/her role, he/she is sinning, as the priest and prophet Samuel says:
“As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.” (1 Samuel 12:23).
Such awareness was so strong in the life of Jesus that we see Him always seeking a place of prayer, despite His life full of commitments.
As He approached the moment of his crucifixion, He could have many reasons to worry about Himself, but still spent precious time praying to the Father for His disciples, as it is narrated in chapter 17 of John.
This awareness of responsibility was upon His life and was transferred to the apostles. Therefore, we see Peter declaring in the early times of the church in Jerusalem:
“(…) and we will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6:4)