Works of John Bunyan – The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness 0f the Loss Thereof; The Intercession of Christ, and Who Are Privileged In It. 159

 

by Thomas Sadler, oil on canvas, 1684

I. OF THE INTERCESSION OF CHRIST.

FIRST, We will begin with HIS INTERCESSION, and will show you, First, What that is; Second, For what he intercedes; and, Third, What is also to be inferred from Christ's intercession for us.

First, I begin, then, with the first, that is, to show you what intercession is. Intercession is prayer, but all prayer is not intercession. Intercession, then, is a prayer that is made by a third person about the concerns that are between the two. And it may be made either to set them at further difference or to make them friends; for intercession may be made against, as well as for, a person or people. 'Wot ye not what the Scripture says of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel.' (Rom 11:2) But the intercession that we are now to speak of is not an intercession of this kind, not an intercession against, but an intercession for a people. 'He ever liveth to make intercession for them.' The high priest is ordained for, but not to be against, the people. 'Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things about God,' to make reconciliation for the sins of the people; or 'that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.' (Heb 5:1) This, then, is intercession; and the intercession of Christ is to be between two, between God and man, for man's good. And it extends itself to these: 1. To pray that the elect may be brought all home to him—that is, to God. 2. To pray that their sins committed after conversion may be forgiven. 3. To pray that their graces, which they receive at conversion, may be maintained and supplied. 4. To pray that their persons may be preserved unto his heavenly kingdom.

Second, This is the intercession of Christ or that for which he does make intercession.

1. He prays for all the elect, that they may be brought home to God, and so into the unity of the faith, &c. This is clear, for that he saith, 'Neither pray I for these alone'; that is, for those only that are converted; 'but for them also which shall believe on me through their word'; for all them that shall, that are appointed to believe; or, as you have it a little above, 'for them which thou hast given me.' (John 17:9,20, Isa 53:12) And the reason is that he hath paid a ransom for them. Christ, therefore, when he maketh intercession for the ungodly, and all the unconverted elect are such, doth but petitionarily ask for his own, his purchased ones, those for whom he died before, that they might be saved by his blood.

2. When any of them are brought home to God, he still prays for them, namely, that the sins that, through infirmity, they may commit after conversion may also be forgiven.

This is shown to us by the intercession of the high priest under the law, that was to bear away the iniquities of the holy things of the children of Israel; yea, and also by his atonement for them that sinned; for that it saith, 'And the priest shall make an atonement for him, for his sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him.' (Lev 5:10) This is also intimated even where our Lord doth intercession, saying, 'I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.' (John 17:15) That Christ prayed that the converted should be kept from all manner of commission of sin, must not be supposed, for that is the way to make his intercession, at least in some things, invalid, and to contradict himself; for, saith he, 'I know that thou hearest me always.' (John 11:42) But the meaning is, I pray that thou wouldest keep them from soul-damning delusions, such as are unavoidably such; also that thou wouldest keep them from the soul-destroying evil of every sin, of every temptation. Now this he doth by his prevailing and by his pardoning grace.