III. Christ is now engaged in making intercession for us at God’s
throne.
His work on earth is finished, but in Heaven, He is still engaged in
our behalf. The priest of the Mosaic Dispensation, made intercession
for the people. He offered sacrifice for them and then he entered into
the temple, the Holy of Holies, once a year, in the person of the
High Priest and prayed for the people. But this priest was a sinner
like the people. He had to first offer sacrifice for himself then for
the people. He has passed away. The earthly priesthood, in the Mosaic
sense, is no more. This priest was but a type of Christ. Christ is the
great anti-type. Christ offered His sacrifice also, which was His own
life. He made no sacrifice for himself, for He was without sin, but He
made sacrifice for the people. Now He has entered into the temple on
High, into the Holy of Holies, where He stands to plead for you and for
me. Intercession here, means that Christ is our Advocate at the throne
of God. He is our lawyer in the supreme court of God. He represents us.
He pleads our case, He defends our cause. There is nothing that takes
place in our lives that He does not take note of, there is no sin
that passes without His taking account of it, there is no thought, or
word, or deed, that is not entered in the book of His Remembrance. He
must keep an accurate account of our lives, for He represents us at the
Great White Throne. How wonderful is this thought and how inspiring!
Let us therefore make our intercessions to Him that He may take up our
prayers and in His own Heavenly language, present them to our Heavenly
Father.
Christ Glorified in His Word.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.”--Col. 3:16.
It is well nigh impossible for us to understand the power of a word.
We read that in the beginning God said, “Let there be light,” these
were the words or the Word. Who can tell the wisdom and the power that
dwelt in that word or command? We are not able even now to measure the
magnificent result, but we read, “And there was light.” Christ stood at
the sealed tomb and said. “Lazarus, come forth.” This was the word or
the command. It is not in the power of the human mind to comprehend the
meaning, the power and the wisdom of this word, but we see the effect,
“And Lazarus, came forth.” We take the Bible in its entirety and call
it the Word of God, the Word of Christ. So that in the unfolding of the
text, we wish you to note that:
I. The entire Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, is the Word of
Christ.
We must not look on the Bible as composed of parts when we make it,
“The man of our counsel,” the guide of our life. The entire book is the
guide, the man, the law, the Gospel. There is a disposition of many
Christians to attach more importance to one part of the Bible than
another part. This is wrong and it leads to evil in our lives. Every
part of the Bible belongs to the entire book, it cannot be detached,
it must not be rendered less important than some other part, for it
was all written for our instruction and edification. So I would have
you understand that the Bible itself in its entirety, is the Word of
Christ, in the text, Christ is the light and the glory of every page
of its history, prophecy, precept, promise, poetry, philosophy and
practice. Human reason, effort and energy are too weak to have reached
Heaven and brought down to us the riches of the Word of God. No man
hath come down from Heaven to tell us of the wonders of the spiritual
life, but the man, Christ Jesus. He is the pearl of priceless value,
which we are to find hidden in this Word. Let the Word of Christ reign
in you when your greatest interests are at stake, when your strongest
passions are raging, and He will guide you into all truth and grace,
and you will sing, “Glory to God in the highest, Peace on earth, Good
will to men.”
The Bible is the Word of Christ, because He is the Author. He is the
Jehovah of the Old Testament, and the Jesus of the New Testament.
He spake to the Prophets as well as to the Apostles. He was in that
beginning which was before time, when He is called the Word of God,
when He was associated with God, and when He was God, and He was also
in that beginning which marks the first moment, the first hour, the
first day of time, when all things were made by Him and without Him
was nothing made which was made. He is known as the Lamb which was
slain from the foundation of the world, the everlasting Prince, the
Holy One. As the Word of God, Christ is the great and only revealer of
God and His revelation or revelations are the Bible, the Scriptures,
the Word of God. We are exhorted therefore to see that great company
which doth encompass us about and which looks down upon us, filled
with God’s wisdom and power, because the word of Christ dwells richly
in us. We are to look to Jesus as not only the author of His own
Word, but also through this word, as the author and finisher of our
faith, or religion. This word must dwell richly in the heart that the
believer may be able to glorify God and to strive for that faith which
is steadfast and immovable, for let us remember that faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Just as Christ appeared
to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, to whom He said, “I will be thy
mouth,” so He appears today to every believer, in His Word. All these
holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit takes the things of God and of Christ, and tells them to us in
words. He gives us God’s and Christ’s words. When Joshua prayed that
the sun might stand still, the sun in his fiery course stood still.
Why? Because it was the word of God in Joshua which commanded the sun
to stand still. I pray God, my brethren, that you may be filled richly
with the word of God in all wisdom, that your own hearts may be filled
with all spiritual blessing; that the wickedness which is flooding the
country in hellish rage, may be stopped; that sinners may be brought
to repentance; that the church may triumph most gloriously, and that
the whole earth may be filled with righteousness as the waters cover
the deep. We need today another Pentecost, when thousands shall be
converted to God, and that time will come just as soon as God’s
disciples are filled with the word of God.