The great work which the Lord Jesus came to do was to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. This finished work of the cross is the basis of His present and future work. What mind can estimate the value of that work in which the Holy One offered Himself through the eternal Spirit without spot to God! He procured redemption by His death. In His present service and much more in His future ministry, He works out this great redemption.
There is much confusion in the minds of Christians about the present and future work of Christ. Many speak of the Lord now occupying the throne of His father David in heaven. The church, according to this teaching, is His kingdom, which is gradually being enlarged under His spiritual reign until the whole world is brought into this kingdom.
All this is wrong. The Lord Jesus will reign over the earth; He will have a kingdom of glory, righteousness, and peace on earth; the nations of the earth will have to submit to His government–but all this is still to come. It will be accomplished with His visible return to the earth, when He will claim dominion of the earth. But there is a present work of our Lord in glory which is revealed in His Word.
Each believing sinner, saved by grace, is one spirit with the Lord. He calls each by name, like a shepherd calls his own sheep. He said, “I know them.” He knows circumstances, trials, difficulties, and temptations. He know our conflicts and our tears.
The High Priesthood of Christ
“Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Rom. 8:34). “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Heb. 9:24).
Again we read of our Priest in Hebrews 7:24-25: “But this Man, because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
The unsaved have no share in all this. For them the Lord is not the intercessor. He declared this truth first of all in His high priestly prayer, when He said, “I pray for them (the believers); I pray not for the world” (Jn. 17:9).
This was also foreshadowed in the Old Testament. The high priest in his garments of beauty and glory had on his shoulders two onyx stones, and on his breast a breastplate with twelve stones. On both the onyx stones on the shoulder and the twelve stones on the breastplate there were names engraved. These were not the names of the Egyptians, the Jebusites, the Amorites or the Hittites, but the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
So our High Priest in the highest heaven carries His own on His shoulders–which typify His power, and on His bosom–which tells us of His love. The fact that the names were engraved on these precious stones also has meaning. If they had been written there, they might be blotted out. They were engraved and could never be erased. It tells out the blessed truth of our security.
Other passages reveal details of the present priestly work of the Lord. “Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest…For in that He Himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted” (Heb. 2:17-18). And “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed [through] the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:14-16).
The first passage tells of the propitiation He made for sins. He suffered, being tempted, the basis of His intercessory service. Chapter 4 tells us how He was fitted while on earth for this great work. While here, He was tempted in all points as we are, apart from sin. From sin within He could never be tempted, for no sin was in Him. He has gone through the trials and sufferings that a man who depends on God is subject to in this world, with the exception of sin. Now He can be a merciful and faithful high priest, entering into all our sorrows and trials and sympathizing with us in our difficulties.
He does not intercede for the flesh–He has no sympathy with sin–but by His unbroken intercession in the sanctuary, He upholds us individually on the path down here. He gives strength to endure. If it were not for that intercession, we all would fall by the way. How often God’s people fear troubles and difficulties, losses and bereavements, which might possibly come. But with the trial, with the loss, there comes such a strength to bear it all, and more than that, real joy and songs of praise.
It is because the great High Priest lives and intercedes. He knows all about it; and, in the tenderness of His love and the might of His power, He takes us in His loving arms whenever trials and troubles come upon us. At all times, under all circumstances, He is our representative before God and thinks of us.
Our enemy is most powerful and intelligent. He knows how to spread his nets. His wiles are subtle. If Satan had his way, he would completely destroy the people of God. If it depended on our strength, we would soon fall. But the Lord knows. His eyes watch the enemy as they watch us.
Peter’s case illustrates this perfectly. The Lord saw the old serpent as he moved toward Peter. He knew the cunning plan Satan had conceived to ensnare Peter. But Satan did not reckon with Peter’s Lord. Before the plan could ever be carried out, the Lord had prayed for Peter that his faith might not fail. And though Peter denied the Lord, the Lord’s gracious intercession kept him through it all.
So it is with us. He prays for us before that foe can approach, and thus we can be victorious in the conflict. Should we stumble and fall, as is so often the case, then He is the great shepherd who “restoreth my soul.” How much we owe to this blessed present work of our Lord in glory no one knows. What revelation when we shall look back over our lives and behold what the intercession of the Lord Jesus accomplished for us and for all the saints of God.
Another phase of His priestly present work is recorded in Hebrews 13:15. “By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” He presents our spiritual sacrifices to God. Our worship, our praise, and our prayers are all imperfect, but as they are presented to God by Christ, they are acceptable to Him and delight the heart of God for that reason.
The Advocacy of Christ
There is another aspect of His work in the presence of God for His people. He is our advocate with the Father. Some Christians think that the Priesthood and Advocacy of Christ are the same. They are not. His advocacy is that which restores us. In 1 John we read of this phase of His present work. “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 Jn. 2:1).
In the preceding chapter our wonderful privilege as the children of God is made known. We are to be in fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Fellowship with the Father is when we delight ourselves in His blessed Son, who is His delight, when we share the Father’s own thoughts about Him. The Son knows the Father and He has revealed Him and brought us into His own relationship with the Father. Fellowship with His Son is to enjoy this relationship with the Father.
The condition for the enjoyment of this privilege is that we walk in the light as He is in the light. These things were written that we sin not. Sin cannot rob us of our salvation, but it mars the enjoyment of that fellowship. The standard is that we sin not, and if we live in constant enjoyment of that blessed fellowship, we do not sin. But how often this is not the case. We fall into sin. Then the blessed revelation is given: “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.”
It is the exercise of grace in His own loving heart toward us to restore our souls, to put us back into the place where we can enjoy His fellowship. The moment the believer sins on earth, Christ acts as the Advocate above. The Holy Spirit then likewise acts in that He applies the Word to convict and cleanse. The cleansing is by the water, the Word, and not a second time by the blood.
Then follows confession from our side and the restoration is effected. Notice that it does not say “we have an Advocate with God,” but “with the Father.” It is a family matter, and the Father is a Father who can do nothing but love those whom He has brought to Himself through His Son. The conception that the Father is angry with His sinning child, and that the Son of God by His pleadings inclines the heart of God to be merciful, is unscriptural.
Another reason the Lord acts as Advocate is to deal with Satan, accuser of the brethren. He still has access to the presence of God. The day will come when he is cast out, but not until the church meets the Lord in the air (see Rev. 12:9-10). Because Satan accuses God’s people before God day and night, the Advocate is there to rebuke him. Every attack by accusation of the sinning children of God, the Lord Jesus Christ meets with the fact that He made propitiation; He died for their sins.
In Isaiah 42:4, we find this word concerning God’s perfect Servant: “He shall not fail nor be discouraged.” Well may we apply this to His present work as Priest and Advocate of His own. As Priest, He will never fail in keeping His own and sustaining them, in sending them help from the sanctuary in time of need. As Advocate, He will not be discouraged. The same old failures in our lives humble us and break us down, but He continues in this service in behalf of His poor sinning people.
Some Christians do not believe in the fundamental doctrine of the gospel, that a child of God in possession of eternal life can never be lost. They think it depends on their walk and service. If one of His own could ever be lost again, if even the weakest, the most imperfect could be snatched out of His hands, His present work would be a failure as well as His finished work on the cross. But read the great High Priestly prayer He left for us in John 17. There He prays the Father, who heareth Him always, that His own may be kept.
Another aspect of His present work is what He does for His church. We can but briefly indicate what this means. He is the Head of the church, now seated in glory. The church is His body, the fullness of Him, that filleth all in all. Every believing sinner is a member in that body. The risen Lord Himself adds new members to that body. Each member is guided and directed by Him. And He supplies this body with gifts: “And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-13).
Thus He builds up His own body from the glory. Some day that body will be complete. Then we all will come unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ–when we see Him as He is. Then His present work on behalf of His own will be finished. Brought home from this wilderness to the Father’s house safely–no more tears will then be shed, no more wounds of pain and sorrow to be soothed, no more help required for the time of need; all that is passed. Nor does He then need to exercise His office as Advocate, for we are delivered forever from the presence of sin and sanctified wholly–body, soul and spirit. Sinning will then be an impossibility. What a happy, glorious day that will be!