What is Intercession?

God Sets the Example

“Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.””
Isaiah 53:12 (NKJV)

“Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”
Romans 8:34 (NKJV)

“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
1 John 2:1(NKJV)

“And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
Luke 22:31-32

“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 (NIV)

In the Scriptures listed above, we see God, the Son, Jesus, telling Peter that He was praying for him. We see that even when we sin, Jesus “advocates” or intercedes for us with the Father. What a powerful thing it is to know that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father always interceding for us!

Here’s an entry from my journal (April 13th, 2013) that captures my feelings when I first discovered this:

“Interceding for Me
Yesterday, I had a vision of Jesus kneeling and praying for me, interceding for me. Now I know that the Bible says that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father vs. kneeling. But I also know that the Bible also says that He, Jesus, is interceding for us. That image in my heart of Him praying for me really ministered to me. It made me want to respond with right actions. It was like wow, Jesus is interceding for me, praying for me that I would get it right, that I would make it. I want to get it right.”

If Jesus can take time out to pray for us, who are we not to pray for others? God, the Holy Spirit, also prays for us. I have previously shared Romans 8:26-28:

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
Romans 8:26-27 (NKJV)

The Holy Spirit makes intercession for and through us by coming alongside and helping us pray “according to the will of God” when we pray in tongues. God places such importance on intercession that He has set Jesus at His right hand, interceding for us. Further, when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, He helps us to intercede.

      What about God-the-Father? As I looked through the Old Testament, I saw God following the same pattern of setting up intercessors as part of His great mercy and love.

      We have seen how God has set Jesus at His right hand to intercede for us and sent the Holy Spirit to help us intercede, but what did He do before Jesus’ arrival on Earth?

    In the Old Testament, God sets up priests, Judges, Prophets, and others to intercede for the children of Israel.

“Throughout the Bible priests are mentioned over 780 times. The first priest mentioned was Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18, the priest of the most high God, El Elyon in Hebrew. The Levitical priesthood was established by God in the nation of Israel. There are different orders, types and duties of priests within the Levitical priesthood of the Bible. Among the priests of Israel there was a high priest that was anointed to serve in a unique fashion, such as entering the Holy of Holies once a year on the Day of Atonement. God’s establishing the office of priest ultimately finds its purpose and fulfilment in the Messiah of Israel, Jesus.

The Aaronic – Levitical Priest
The Aaronic Priesthood (also called the Levitical Priesthood) began with Aaron, the older brother of Moses, Exodus 28:1–3. The Aaronic priesthood ministered in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple. The Levitical priest (the term Levitical is derived from the tribe of Levi) had the responsibility of offering the sacrifices required by the Mosaic law, Deuteronomy 33:8-11. All priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests. Most of the Levites just assisted the priests. One place the distinction is seen is in 1 Chronicles 23:2, “And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites.” The primary word for “priest” in the Old Covenant is the Hebrew word כהן, “kohen.”

The Levitical priesthood was divided into three groups: 1) the high priest, 2) ordinary priests, and 3) the Levites. The Levites cared for the service of the sanctuary. The sons of Aaron, set apart for the special office of priest, could minister sacrifices at the altar. The highest level of priest, the high priest, represented bodily the height of the purity of the priesthood. He bore the names of all the tribes of Israel on his breastplate into the sanctuary, thus representing all the people before God, Exodus 28:29.

The priest acted as a mediator, the one who represented man to God.” (jewishawareness.org, 2022)

We see that the priest was a “mediator,” a go-between, or an intercessor. God uses prophets and Judges in a similar fashion.

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways…”
Hebrews 1:1

“Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them.”
Judges 2:18

Judges 2:18 says that God saved the children of Israel as long as “the judge lived.” In the New Testament, we see that God now has an intercessor at His right hand that will never die and “ever liveth to make intercession” (Hebrews 7:25 KJV)

      Before the priests, prophets, judges, and even Abraham and Moses, God had the same heart to save us from the consequences of our sins and poor choices. In Genesis chapter 4, God speaks to Cain directly to try to prevent him from the sin of murdering Abel.

“So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

Genesis 4:6-7 (NIV)

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
2 Peter 3:9 (NKJV)

From Genesis to the present, God has demonstrated that it isn’t His will “that any should perish.” God asks us to intercede on behalf of others as an act of love. He has demonstrated that love through priests, judges, prophets, and leaders (like Abraham and Moses) and by allowing Jesus and the Holy Spirit to intercede for us.

      God not only sent Jesus to die for us, but He also ordained that Jesus would intercede for us in Heaven and that the Holy Spirit would intercede for us through others on Earth. How great is the Father’s love toward us!