Atonement: Christ in Heaven

These are comments on Sabbath School Study Lesson 11, Benefits of Christ’s Atoning Sacrifice.

The Study Guide’s thrust is about the work Christ is described as doing in heaven. The subtitles for each of the day’s lesson focus on the concept of “mediation.” Closely related to the concept of mediation is the idea of intercession.

What does it mean for Christ to be the Mediator and Intercessor, mediating and interceding for us? Is Christ in some way “pleading” our case, so to speak, in a judicial sense, before the court of the Father? Does Christ’s intercession in some way change the scales of judicial inquiry?

Or can the concepts of mediation and intercession be seen in some other way?

The IVP Bible Background Commentary NT (QuickVerse edition) has an interesting note regarding 1 Timothy 2:5. The verse reads,

⁵For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man^£ Christ Jesus… (ESV)

The commentary for this verse reads,

Both Christ’s mission and Paul’s mission testified to God’s purpose, his wish to save all. In Judaism, wisdom, the law or, in a lesser sense, Moses was thought to have mediated divine revelation, but it was ultimately effective only for Israel, not for the Gentiles. Most Gentiles believed in many mediators of revelation, just as they believed in many gods.

So according to this interpretation, the concept of mediation can be seen as bringing revelation and clarity. In other words, when Christ is said to mediate for us, it can be understood as Christ continuing to bring more clarity about the true character of the Father to us through both the work that was done during his time on earth, and now through the Holy Spirit.

On the concept of intercession, Vincent’s Word Studies, Vol. 4: Epistles (QuickVerse edition) gives insight in its commentary on Hebrews 7:25. The verse reads,

²⁵Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (ESV)

The commentary for this verse includes,

… The idea is not intercession, but intervention. It includes every form of Christ’s identifying himself with human interests…

Thayer’s Greek Definitions (QuickVerse edition) gives definitions for the Greek translated as intercession as,

1. to light upon a person or a thing, fall in with, hit upon, a person or a thing
2. to go to or meet a person, especially for the purpose of conversation, consultation, or supplication
3. to pray, entreat
4. make intercession for any one

There is little, if any, judicial sense to the word. Rather, is is full of relational connotations, of bringing two parties together. Taking both the concept of Christ identifying with the human race, and of the relational idea of intercession, could it be that the common image of Christ somehow pleading with the Father to forgive and to let live those who have accepted him [Christ], be wrong?

What if the intercession for us was just that – that Christ is not interceding with the Father on behalf of us, but rather that Christ is interceding and mediating the Father’s image and nature to and for us? How else could we reconcile what Jesus said in John 16:25-27 with mediation and intercession?

²⁵“I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. ²⁶In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; ²⁷for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. (ESV, italics and emphasis supplied)

My conclusion is that Christ’s mediation and intercession are simply extensions of what he did while upon the earth; that is, to reveal the truth about God. It could be said, in a metaphorical manner, that Christ directs the Holy Spirit’s work from his heavenly headquarters. It is through the Holy Spirit that Christ now works to continue his work of revealing God to the world. When understood in this sense, the concepts of mediation and intercession are not at odds with a God who “first loved us” (1 John 4:19) and a God who sent Jesus, not to condemn, but to save (John 3:17).