4. IV. The fourth thing. That Christ doth perpetually manage this office.
IV. The fourth thing. That Christ doth perpetually manage this office.
T he first evidence is in the text, 'We have an advocate;' we have at this present; we have an advocate actually remembering us in his thoughts, and presenting us to his Father; we in this age, we in all ages, till the dissolution of the world, without any faintness in the degrees of his intercession, without any interruption in time. He never ceases the exercise of this office, so far as it is agreeable to that high and elevated state wherein he is. As there are continual sins of believers in all ages of the world, so there are constant pleas of the advocate. This epistle was written many years after the ascension of Christ; some think in the time of John's banishment in the isle of Patmos, some think after; yet at that time he owns himself to have a share in the benefit of this intercession. The term we is inclusive of himself. Christ is an intercessor for us in the whole course of our pilgrimage. All the time that we have any need of him, his voice is the same still, 'I will that they behold my glory which thou hast given me,' till they are wafted from hence to a full vision of it. This is the true end of his heavenly life, and his living for ever there: Heb. 7:25, 'Seeing he ever lives
to make intercession for them.' He lives solely to this purpose, to discharge this part of his priesthood for us. His advocacy is, like his life, without end.
As he died once to merit our redemption, so he lives always to make application of redemption. He would not answer the end of his life if he did not exercise the office of his priesthood. It would not be a love like that of a God, if he did not bear his people continually upon his heart. He was the author of our faith by enduring the cross, and the finisher of our faith by sitting down at the right hand of God, Heb. 12:2. He will be exercised in it as long as there is any faith to be finished and completed in the world. His oblation was a transient act; but his appearance in heaven for us is a permanent act, and continues for ever. His mediatory glory is not consummate, though his personal be. He hath yet a mystical self to be perfected, a fulness to be enriched with. He cannot be intent upon this without minding the concerns of, and putting up pleas for, his people; for they are one with him, 'the fulness of him that fills all in all,' Eph. 1:23.
There can be no cessation of his work till his enemies be conquered, and his whole mystical body wrapped up in glory. If he had finished this part of his function, we should have had him here again before this time, with all his train of angels, to put an end to the present state of things, as the high priest stayed no longer in the holy of holies than was necessary for the atoning their sins, expecting the felicity of an acceptation, that he might bring the welcome news of it to the people that waited without. As soon as he hath reduced all the elect to an happy state, he will come again, for 'the heavens receive him' only till 'the restitution of all things' is completed, Acts 3:21; and then 'he shall come with a shout,' 1 Thes. 4:16, all the angels in heaven triumphing and applauding the accomplishment of redemption.
It is necessary it should be so.
1. Because it is founded upon his death. As his oblation is of eternal efficacy, so his advocacy hath an everlasting virtue. It is an 'eternal redemption,' Heb. 9:12, and therefore an eternal intercession. This the apostle signifies in the text by arguing from his propitiation to his advocacy; he is at present an advocate with an uninterrupted plea, because he is at present a propitiation in the efficacy of his passion. There was an end of his actual suffering when he expired, but no end of the virtue of his sacrifice; and therefore no end of his intercession, which depended not upon his death simply considered, but upon the value of it. It is in the virtue of this he pleads; since the virtue of his blood is perpetual, the plea grounded upon that virtue, and which is nothing but the voice of his blood, is of the same duration. There can be no end of the intercession of his person till there be an exhausting of the merits of his death; the one must fail in its strength before the other cease in its plea; his blood must be a speechless blood before he can be a silent advocate. As the continual sacrifice typified the continual virtue of the Redeemer's death, so the perpetual burning incense signified the perpetuity of his intercession; and no less was signified by the sprinkling the blood of the sacrifice upon the mercy-seat, which was not wiped off, but stuck there, as a visible mark, and remained as a continual solicitor for the continuance of grace and favour to the people.
2. The exercise of this office must be as durable as the office itself. His priesthood is for ever, therefore the act belonging to his priesthood is for ever. He was more particularly constituted an high priest 'after the order of Melchisedec' when he entered into heaven 'as a forerunner for us,' Heb. 6:20 where he abides an high priest continually, Heb. 7:3; made so 'not after the law of a carnal command,' or a command to be abrogated, but 'after the power of endless life,' ver. 15, 16; and 'confirmed by the oath of God a
priest for ever,' ver. 21; and therefore exerciseth his function of a priest for ever. Not of sacrificing himself, because he lives for ever, and cannot die again, but of interceding; since no other act belonging to the priesthood can be exercised in that glorious and endless state he hath in heaven but this of intercession, which must be without intermission, because it is the only act of that office which he can perform. It is not said he is a man for ever, but a priest for ever, which is a name of an office, and implies an exercise of the office. He is not called a priest for ever in regard of his life, but in regard of his function for which he lives. His mouth cannot be stopped by God, because he was constituted by the irreversible oath of God. God cannot deny himself, and destroy his own solemn act. He is a priest for ever, without repentance on God's part; he must therefore perpetually mind his office, the neglect of it else would cause repentance in God for exalting him to so high a dignity, and be a reflection upon divine wisdom, to settle one in this excellent place that were too weak for it, or too careless in it, that should bear only the title, and neglect the work; it would be a cause of repentance in God at the expending so much grace to no purpose. This advocate, as he bears the name of priest, so he appeared clothed with a priestly robe: Rev. 1:13, 'He had a garment down to the feet, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle,' which was the habit of the high priest under the law. As he is an everlasting priest, so he manages an everlasting intercession. He was too faithful in discharging his part on earth, to be negligent of performing his office in heaven; he did not embrace so great an honour to be idle in it, and neglect the work and duty that his place called for.
3. This was both the reason and end of his advancement. The intercession he made for transgressors was one reason why God would 'divide him a
portion with the great,' Isa. 53:12; 'because he made intercession for the transgressors.' This is alleged as one reason, among others there mentioned, of his glorious exaltation, which intercession is most evident to us in his last prayer, John 17, wherein he prays for all that should believe on him. And also upon the cross, when he prays for his murderers: 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,' Luke 23:34. An act so pleasing to God as to be the motive to give him the division of the spoil of the strong, cannot but be perpetual. Will Christ, who always did what was pleasing to God on earth, discontinue that which is so delightful to the bowels of his mercy? He cannot look upon his own glory, the robe he wears, the throne he sits on, the enemies prostrate at his feet, but he must reflect upon the reason of his present state, and be excited to a redoubling his solicitations for his people.
He would be no longer glorious than he were an advocate. The superstructure cannot stand when the foundation moulders. Since he was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows, because he loved righteousness and hated iniquity, he cannot be unmindful of promoting the destruction of the one and the perfection of the other. A perpetual action will be the result of these perpetual qualities; and being anointed a priest for these qualities, he will act as a priest for the glory of them, which can be no other way but by intercession. It was the end of his advancement: Heb.
10:12, 'But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God.' The antithesis is made between him and the legal priests; they stood at the altar every day offering the same sacrifices, but this (not man as it is in our translation, but rather to be supplied with priest) this priest, having finished his work on earth, sat down for ever, viz. as a priest, on the right hand of God, and never leaves the place. Other priests stood, as not having finished their sacrificing work, but were to
repeat it again; this priest sits, as having finished his sacrificing function, and having attained the glory due to his person. His sitting down is not mentioned only as a point of honour, but of office; he sat down as one that had offered a complete sacrifice in the nature of a priest, and sat down for ever to exercise his priesthood at the right hand of God. This verse, compared with the other, would not else have a full sense; and the words following second it, ver. 13, he sat down 'expecting till his enemies be made his footstool,' expecting the full fruits of that sacrifice in the complete subjection of his enemies, and consequently the full felicity of himself and his friends; and all this time of expectation he is suing out the promise of God to him, asking that inheritance which was assured him in the covenant between them, Ps. 2:8. This is the reason of his sitting down for ever to exercise his priesthood for ever in the presence of the King and Judge of all the earth. He is always in the presence of his Father in the dignity of his person and fulness of his merit, continually spreading every part of his meritorious sacrifice in the view of God. The high priest entered into the holy of holies but once a year, but this high priest sits for ever in the court in a perpetual exercise of his function, both as a priest and a sacrifice. And since his own sacrifice for sins offered on earth was sufficient, he hath nothing to do perpetually in heaven but to sprinkle the blood of that sacrifice upon the mercy-seat. He is never out of the presence of God; and the infiniteness of his compassions may hinder us from imagining a silence in him when any accusations are brought in against us. The accusations might succeed well were he out of the way; but being always present, he is always active in his solicitations. No clamour can come against us but he hears it, as being on the right hand of his Father, and appears as our attorney
there in the presence of God to answer it, as the high priest appeared in the holy of holies for all the people.
V. Thing is, the efficacy of this intercession. The efficacy of it is implied in the text, both in the person of our advocate, Jesus Christ; in his quality, righteous; in regard of the work he had wrought on earth, propitiation; in the object of his intercession, and the place, with the Father. He is an advocate to the Father; not only to him at a distance, but with him. The constant presence of a favourite with a king, of a princely son with a royal father, is a means to make his intercessions of force with him. He is an advocate, and he is constantly with the Father in that capacity. A letter from a friend is not so successful as a personal appearance for gaining a suit. If his death were meritorious, his prayer must be so too, as being put up in virtue of his meritorious blood; and though we are reconciled by his death, yet we are saved by his life, with a much more, Rom. 5:10; not formally in regard of merit, for that was the effect of his death, but in regard of application of that merit, the end for which he lives, to render it efficacious to us as it had been in his passion valuable for us. If he separated himself to death to procure it, he will employ the authority and dignity of his life to finish and apply it. As none offered so noble a sacrifice, so none lives a more powerful life. As when he was on earth never man spake as he spake, so, now he is in heaven, never did any man or angel plead as he pleads. If 'whatsoever we ask in his name' we shall receive, John 16:23, surely whatsoever he asks in his own name will not be refused.
1. This was typified.* The strength of his mediation was signified by the horns, ordered by a special precept to be made upon the four corners of the altar of burnt-offerings, Exod. 27:2, and also upon the altar of incense,
Exod. 30:2. As the brazen altar signified the strength of his death, so the
golden altar signified the excellency of his intercession, horns in Scripture being an emblem of strength, power, and dignity. And perhaps his feet of brass wherewith he is described, Rev. 1:15, when he appears to John in a priestly garb, signifies his irresistible standing before God in the exercise of that office. Much more may be said of him, as it was of Jacob, Gen. 32:28,
'As a prince he hath power with God,' by his death and intercession, as well as power with men by his Spirit, and prevails in all when he pleases.
2. It was prophesied of Christ, Ps. 21:2, 'Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips.' This psalm seems to be a comment upon part of the second psalm, or rather a dialogue between Christ and the Father, Christ speaking ver. 1, and the Father promising him a full victory, ver. 8, which is a prophetical triumph of the church after the victory gained by the passion of Christ. And of the Messiah, the Chaldee and some of the Jews understand it. The expressions in the psalm are many of them too illustrious to be meant of David, as ver. 4, 'length of days for ever and ever,' which cannot be understood of David in his royalty as a mortal man. God had given Christ the right of asking, and grants him whatsoever he asks; he bestows upon him whatsoever he desires, and refuseth nothing that he sues for. The good of his people is the desire of his heart, and the request of his lips, and nothing is refused that his heart wishes, and his lips move for. This, of the efficacy of his intercession, is the salvation he rejoices in. The pleasing and favourable countenance of God is that which makes him exceeding glad. He would have little content in the rest of his glory without this power of prevalency with his Father. Since his intercession for his church is for his own mystical glory, it must be successful, or his own glory would be in part defective, since it is linked with that of his church, which is yet behind. As Christ glorified the Father,
so the Father is reciprocally to glorify the Son, John 17:4, 5, which is by giving him a power of asking, and engaging himself to a facility of granting. A promise of granting was annexed to the command of asking: Ps.
2:8, 'I will give.' He should not be so ready to request as the Father would be liberal to bestow. He was promised a mighty encouragement till he had set judgment in the earth, and wrought a perfect deliverance for his people,
Isa. 42:4. It is to this contrite person that he would look perpetually favourably, Isa. 66:1, 2. It is that person by whom the ceremonial law was to be torn in pieces to whom God promised to look.
3. God never denied him any request which he put up upon the earth for the divine glory and his people's good, and Christ himself acknowledges its
John 11:42, 'I know that thou hearest me always.' He did but groan in his spirit without moving his lips, ver. 38; and how soon did his groans rise into hallelujahs: ver. 41, 'Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.' As soon as ever he sighed, he had an occasion of praise. He was heard in all his petitions in the world, Heb. 5:7, εἰσακουσθεὶς, heard to purpose; while he was in the days of his flesh encompassed and pressed with the infirmities of our nature, much more will he be heard in the days of his glory. He was not indeed heard for himself at the time of his suffering, so as to have what he begged formally granted; for in that prophetic psalm, Ps. 22:3, he complains that he had cried all the day, and God heard him not. His prayer that the cup might pass from him was in specie denied him. That prayer proceeded from a natural fear and horror of an accursed death as he was man, and is therefore said to be in the days of his flesh, when he had our natural infirmities about him, which was not also an absolute desire, but conditional. 'If it were possible,' i.e. if it were not prejudicial to the glory of God and the salvation of his people; yet in this also he was heard; for
though he was not delivered from death, he was supported in it. The death was to be suffered, and yet to be conquered; and afterwards his bloody passion was changed into a spiritual and glorious life by a resurrection. He was heard ἀπὰ ἐυλαζείας; a deliverance from his fears and horrors was granted, that he might with courage proceed on in his suffering. Christ sometimes prayed as mediator, and for things in order to his mediatory work, as when he prayed for the raising of Lazarus, that by so great a miracle his doctrine might be propagated, and the faith of his disciples strengthened: John 11:40, 42, It was for the glory of God, and that they might believe that God had sent him. In this Christ was never in the least denied, and to this that speech of his success, 'Thou hearest me always,' refers. He utters this confidence and assurance in the hearing of the people,
'that they may believe that thou hast sent me.' Thou hearest me always, when what I desire tends to the propagation of the gospel doctrine, and the faith and advantage of that people to whom and for whom thou hast sent me. But in those prayers he puts up from human affections, and the innocent inclinations of nature, as that in the garden which he put up from a human sense, yet with a condition; and that upon the cross, which he puts up as a man subject to the laws of charity; though he was not formally answered, yet he was not absolutely denied, because he did not absolutely beg, but with a condition expressed or implied. It was not possible that cup should pass away from him according to the determination of things and the predictions of the prophets, without a manifest alteration of purpose in God, breach of his word, and the utter ruin and devastation of mankind. And for that prayer upon the cross, Luke 23:34, 'Father, forgive them; they know not what they do,' a condition is implied, viz. if they did repent and believe. It cannot be supposed that he prayed for their pardon without their repentance,
whether they repented and believed or no; and indeed the motive that he urgeth implies a condition, 'they know not what they do,' implying that when they came to be sensible, and to know with an inward penitent practical knowledge what they had done, that they had crucified the Lord of life, God would pardon them, which without doubt he would, according to the tenor of his own promise. But to consider rightly that petition of his in the garden, the refusing his request upon the account of the impossibility of the passing away of the cup, doth strongly conclude the efficacy of his intercession in heaven. The reason why he was not answered was because such a grant had been inconsistent with the redemption of his people; and upon the same reason he will be answered in every suit in heaven, because he doth everything pursuant to the redemption and full felicity of believers.
He intercedes not there, as he prayed sometimes on earth, as a man, but as a mediator. If anything were denied him on earth because the refusal conduced to the advantage of his elect, it necessarily follows that he will have all things granted him in heaven which are for the glory of God, the happiness of his people, and the fulness of their redemption. The same reason God hath now to allow his pleas, which before he had to refuse them. The necessity of his death for redemption was the cause of the refusal. The accomplishment of redemption, which is that he now intercedes for, cannot be denied him upon the same account, but he will always carry the cause he sues for. As to that petition upon the cross, he was answered in it. Many of those whose hands were red with his blood, had their hearts afterwards filled with repentance, and their heads crowned with pardon; and if his prayer upon the cross was so efficacious for some of his bloody persecutors, shall it have less force in heaven for his affectionate friends, since it is for those that believe, and not for the world, that he there
intercedes? John 17:9. If he were heard always, as himself asserts, before he had offered that sacrifice, much more in heaven, since he had completed it, and is now suing out his own right after he had paid God his. If his prayers were so prevalent here before he had accomplished his task of suffering, his intercession is much more prevalent above, since his sufferings are at an end, which are the ground of his intercession.
Now this intercession must needs be efficacious, if you consider, (1.) His person.
[1.] The greatness of it. A person in the form of God, infinitely more excellent than all the tribes of angels; a person so great, that all the creatures in heaven and earth, and millions of worlds cannot equal him, they being less to him than a grain of sand to the glorious sun. It cannot be said of all creatures that ever were made, or of all that ever God can make, that in them all dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily; as it is said of Christ,
Col. 2:9, he is not as the highest angel, that must cover his face, and stand before the throne, but the man, God's fellow, sitting upon the throne with him, Zech. 6:13; applied to Christ, Mat. 26:31. He is equal with God, and therefore cannot be refused by God. As his divine nature gave value to his satisfaction, so it gives efficacy to his intercession. His agonies in the garden, and his gaspings upon the cross, were rendered by the greatness of his person mighty to reconcile us, and by the same, his pleas in heaven are rendered successful to save us. His humanity being in conjunction with his divinity, is the instrument, that receives all its virtue from the Deity. Though he doth not intercede with God, as himself is God, because in that respect he is equal with God, but as mediator in his human nature, yet his intercession as man receives a power and dignity from him as God, which causes the prevalency of it. What there was of humility and supplication in
his prayers upon earth, proceeded from his human nature; what there was of authority and efficacy in his mediatory interpositions, proceeded from his divine nature. He was bound to die as he was man, taking upon him our sins; he had a right to have his death accepted, as he was God assuming and sustaining our nature. It is a privilege due to the greatness of his person to have his suit granted, as it is his duty, as the high priest of his church, to present it in the holy of holies. The infinite worth of his prayers results from his divine nature, as well as the infinite worth of his passion; and being the intercessions of a divine person, they are as powerful as his sufferings were meritorious. In regard of this greatness of his person, God seems to stand in an admiring posture at the approach of Christ to him: Jer. 30:21, 'Who is this that hath engaged his heart to approach unto me?' and presently the decree passes out for the confirming the fruits of his mediation in the fullest manner: ver. 22, and 'ye shall be my people, and I will be your God,' taking them as his own propriety, and giving himself to them as their portion.
Nothing can be denied to so great a person. We know the suits of princes meet with greater success than those of peasants. In the same capacity that Christ performed his oblation, he manages his intercession; it was 'through the eternal Spirit,' the strength of his deity, he offered up himself to God; and so through the eternal Spirit, the strength of his deity, he presents his supplications to God.
[2.] His near relation to the Father. As there was to be a respect to him in regard of the greatness of his person, so there was an affection due to him in regard of the nearness of his relation. It is against the rules of justice to deny him his requests, because of his obedience, and against the rules of goodness to deny him his respects,* because of his alliance. As he was from eternity begotten by the Father, and his particular delight, his person cannot
but be very acceptable to God. It is upon this relation his consecration to his eternal priesthood is founded, which he exerciseth in this administration:
Heb. 7:28, 'The word of the oath makes the Son,' i.e. priest, 'who is consecrated for evermore.' Upon the account of this relation he had the power of asking, and the privilege of obtaining: Ps. 2:7, 8, Thou art my Son, ask of me.' It is this relation enters thee into this honour and glory; this prerogative had not been granted but as thou art my Son; and when he went into heaven, to appear in the presence of God for us, he was entertained as a Son-priest, not only as a priest in relation to us, but as a Son in relation to his Father: Heb. 4:14, 'We have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God;' and the text implies that he manages his advocacy in heaven with God as a Father, rather than with God as a Judge:
'advocate with the Father.' He appeals to God in heaven under the title of a Father, as God considered him in all his expressions to him in the world as his Son: 'This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased; this is my Son, hear him;' carrying himself in all ways of paternal tenderness to him while he was upon earth, which cannot but be as strong now he is in heaven. He always considered him in the capacity of his Son, as well as our surety. As Christ was placed in this office as a Son, so he doth manage it as a Son; in the same capacity he was placed in this function, he doth exercise this office. Now what can render his intercession more efficacious than his relation? If Moses, a man, could screen a people from divine anger, and cool the wrath of a provoked God, by interposing between God and the offenders, so that God should say to him, 'Let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against this people, and I may consume them at once,' Exod. 32:10; and when Moses would not silence his cry, God at length would silence his wrath, ver. 14;—if Moses, who was dignified only with a glorious title of
his friend, with whom he spake face to face, had so great a power, how forcible must be the interposition of that person, who hath the more illustrious title of that of his Son? What suit can be cast out of the court that is presented by a beloved Son, of whom he hath signally pronounced that in him he is well pleased, and well pleased with whatsoever he doeth? Denials would be an argument of displeasure, not of a well-pleasedness; it would then be a Son with whom I am displeased, if any plea he makes be rejected as invalid. To whom should he grant anything if he refused his Son, and his
Son upon the same throne with himself, and put a slur upon him in the face of the whole host of heaven? If an earthly father knows how to give good gifts to his children that ask him, a heavenly Father doth much more, and most of all to an only-begotten and only beloved Son, for whose sake he loves all his other children. It is a consideration that discovers the sincerity and tenderness of divine mercy. Had not God intended to hear him in all his requests for us, he would never have appointed one so nearly allied to him to plead our cause; one that he could not deny without some dishonour to so near a relation, and a reflection upon his own affection, as he might have done to some inferior person. God would not love his Son according to his own greatness, if he did not express it in the most signal marks of his favour.
[3.] The special love God bears to his person for what he hath done in the earth, and doth yet in heaven. Could there have been any increase of the Fatherly affections to him, his person had been more endeared to God after he had performed so exact an obedience. After he had triumphed over the enemies of his Father's honour, he might challenge as a reward the most sprightly sparklings of his Father's affection. What could hinder the grant of his suit, when the flames of that wrath in his Father's breast, which was an
hindrance to any request, were quenched? Since justice was silenced, no other voice could be heard but that of tenderness and love, which was the spring of that power he gave him after his conflict; power in heaven as well as in earth, Mat. 28:18, which may comprehend a power with God as well as power over angels; a power with God, not over God. Though the relation of a son be endearing, yet, when the quality of obedience is added to the dearness of that relation, it enlarges and inflames paternal affection, and renders the Father more inclinable to grant any request that is made to him by such a person; as a king will listen more to the petitions of a son who had done him signal service, and brought by his achievements a renown and honour to his name and government, than to a son barely in the relation of a child, without testifying the same affection and obedience in such eminent enterprises. If the Father had so special a care of Christ in the management of his office in the world, as to uphold him in his arms, as Sanctius saith the word אתמך signifies, Isa. 42:1, and support him in the depth of his misery; much more delight hath he in him now in heaven, since he hath brought that honour to him, that no created men or angels were ever capable to offer him. He will not be insensible of so great an obedience, or stain that glory he hath given him for it, by denying anything he presents to him. How can
God express a greater affection to him, than by committing the government of the world into his hands? And as the apostle argues in our case, Rom.
8:32, from his delivery of his Son up for us to an assurance of the free gift of all things else, so it may in this, since he hath put the sceptre for a time into his hands, and from a boundless affection invested him in the government of the world, how shall he refuse him anything in the confines of it, since he hath during this state of things committed all judgment and power or rule to him? John 5:22. If his intercession upon earth for
transgressors was a motive to God to clothe him with so great a glory, as hath been before mentioned from Isaiah 53:12, his intercession in heaven
(every way as delightful to him) would excite him to confer a greater glory on him, were it possible for him to be elevated to a throne of a higher pitch.
The one hath as mighty an influence upon his affections as the other, and there is the same reason of both. There is an intimate union and an affectionate communion between the Father and the Son in heaven in regard of this advocacy: 'Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me,'
John 14:11, which he speaks upon a discourse of his ascension, ver. 2, 3, and to encourage them to ask in his name after his going to the Father, ver.
13. Believers have not only an advocate with the Father for them, but the person that was offended is now united to them in their advocate by an indissoluble league and communion, and unalterable affection. And as whatsoever we ask in his name should be, 'that the Father might be glorified in the Son,' ver. 13, so whatsoever Christ sues for is for the same end, which must needs in the very act of it fix him more strongly in that affection, which was due to him upon the account of his eternal alliance and his unspotted obedience.
2. It must needs be efficacious in regard of the pleas themselves, the matter of them.
(1.) The matter of his plea is holy. It is, as was said, that the Father might be glorified in the Son in regard of his holiness and righteousness, and it is included in the text, by the epithet righteous, 'Jesus Christ the righteous'; righteous in his person, righteous in his office as an advocate, both in the pleas he makes, and the manner of managing them. He is 'holy, and harmless, and undefiled,' as an high priest, Heb. 7:26. All his petitions are as himself, unspotted, his suit is as holy as his nature; if there be no guile in
his mouth, there can be no iniquity in his plea. Our prayers are of themselves rejected because of their impurity, Christ's intercession is accepted because of its perfection. If a sinful Jacob prevailed with God, much more must a perfectly holy Jesus, presenting nothing to God but what is becoming the purity and mercifulness of his own nature to grant. If his blood were 'without blemish,' 1 Peter 1:19, his intercession must be without spot, because the one is the sole foundation of the other.
(2.) It is nothing but what he hath merited. He doth not desire as a bare supplicant, but pleads in a way of right and justice. What he sues for is due to him from God's truth, because of his promise, and from God's righteousness, because of his merit. So that his suit is put up ratione meriti, ratione juris, he intercedes for no more than he hath purchased, and may demand as a due debt. It is necessary God should render what he owes unto that person that hath merited of him; he would be unrighteous if he did not, or put a note of insufficiency upon the sufferings of his Son. What he pleads for in heaven, is nothing but what he sued for on earth, John 17:4, 5, upon the account of his glorifying his Father, i.e. rendering to him what was due by agreement between them; no doubt but the same argument is used by him in heaven; the matter of his plea is what he hath merited, viz., pardon of sin, sanctification, continuance of justification, all which he sued for in that chapter. The Father hath acknowledged it already a just demand, for by his raising him from the dead, he hath given his approbation of all the acts of his life, not only to his death, whereby he merited, but to his prayers, whereby he supplicated for those things which he now solicits for in heaven, upon the account of the glory he did by his incarnation and passion bring to God. No plea can prevail against him, since he hath conquered his enemies, wiped out the guilt of sin by his sacrifice, condemned sin in the
flesh, led captivity captive; and all this not by a mere strength, but by a legal right; having satisfied the rigours of the law, prevailed at the tribunal of justice (which was the sharpest tug and hardest conquest), all which God hath subscribed to, by setting him 'at his right hand, far above principalities and powers,' Eph. 4:8. Yet, in as legal a way as he merited it, he might sue out the fruits of his merit. Shall he not much more prevail at the throne of grace by his intercession, since the mouth of justice, which gave life and strength to all suits against us, is perfectly stopped by the merit of his death? It hath nothing to except against the issues of mercy upon the perpetual pleading of that merit; what he doth sue for is rather short of, than outweighs his merit. An infinite merit deserves infinite blessings, but all the blessings he solicits for are finite in themselves, though proceeding from infinite grace, and purchased by a payment of infinite value. God cannot be unjust to detain the goods and the price paid for them; Christ must have his death and sufferings given back again and uneffected, which is impossible, or else have the fruits of his death given to him and to those for whom he suffered.
(3.) Whatsoever he pleads for is agreeable to the will of his Father. The will of Christ whereby he intercedes, is the same with the will of the Father with whom he intercedes; and when the will of an eternal mercy and the will of an infinite merit meet together, what will not be the fruit of such a glorious conjunction? As on earth he did nothing but what he saw the Father do, John 5:19, 20, so he intercedes for nothing but what he knows the Father wills. What he did on earth was not without, but with, his Father's will; what he doth in heaven hath the same rule. As they were joint in the counsel of reconciliation and peace, which was 'between them both,' Zech.
6:13, so they are joint in the counsel of advocacy and intercession, which is
between them both, the one as the director, the other as the solicitor. Their wills are in the highest manner conformable to one another, and the will of the Father as much known by the soul of Christ in heaven as it was on earth.
He asks nothing but he first reads in the copy of his Father's instructions, and considers what his will was. He reads over the annals of his Father's decrees and records; he does nothing but what he sees the Father do; he takes the copy of all from his Father, and whatsoever Christ doth, the same doth the Father also. They have but one will in the whole current of redemption, so that he can plead nothing in regard of the persons for whom he appears, and the good things he desires for them, but it is according to the will of God. When he came into the world, he came 'not to do his own will,' i.e. only his own will, 'but the will of him that sent him;' and when he returned, he went up, not to do his own will, but the will of him that accepted him. The persons were given him by God for the ends which he intercedes for; the words Christ gave them were first given him by God; and this will of God, and his people receiving his words, he urgeth all along as an argument for the grant of his prayer, John 17:8, 9. His intercession is in some sort a part of his obedience as well as his passion; by his obedient suffering he learned a further act of obedience, Heb. 5:8, which could not be practised here but in heaven. The apostle seems to refer this obedience to that part of his office as high priest in heaven after the order of Melchisedec, which he discourseth of in that chapter. His whole advocacy is but pursuant to that command given him by his Father, of losing none of those that God had given him, but 'raising them up at the last day,' John
6:39. What he doth in heaven is in a way of obedience to this obligation, and conducing to this end. There is not an answer of prayer which is the fruit of his advocacy, but the design of it is 'that the Father may be glorified
in the Son,' John 14:13. As he glorified his Father on earth by his suffering, so he glorifies the same attributes by his intercession in heaven; it is for the glory of divine grace that the one purposed and the other acted, Eph. 1:5, 6.
If he gives blessings for the glory of his Father, he then in his suit urgeth the glory of his Father as an argument to obtain them. God must then be an enemy to his own glory, if he be deaf to his Son's suit; and since the Advocate's plea is suitable to the Father's will, he cannot reject the will of his Son without offering violence to his own will. They are both one in will and one in affection. His human will cannot desire anything in opposition to the divine. Though he desired the passing away of the cup here, which was not agreeable to the divine will, yet it was without any sin, because with submission to the divine will; but since he is stripped of our infirmities, and hath no furnace of wrath any more to suffer in, there cannot in his intercession be so much as a conditional dissent from the divine will. What
Christ acts now is upon that foundation which he laid here according to God's instructions. Christ had not come had not God sent him; the world had not been reconciled had not God employed him upon that errand. The whole plot was laid by him; it was his own purpose. Should God deny anything which was founded upon this his will, he would be mutable and deny himself; deny his own act and deed in denying the fruits of that work which was designed and cut out by himself. The intercession of Christ concurring with the eternal design of God, with his will, with the good pleasure of it, and being for the glory of his grace, he must be beloved in and for that very act of mediation, and consequently prevalent in it. To conclude: it was God's will to make any of you children, and he took a pleasure in purposing and effecting it, Eph. 1:5; and will he stop his ears when the wants of those children are presented to him for supplies by their
mighty Advocate, who acts nothing but what is agreeable to the eternal pleasure of his Father's will?
(3.) In regard of the foundation of his intercession, his death. His intercession must be as powerful as his satisfaction. As he was a mighty surety for the discharge of men's debts, so he is a mighty intercessor for the salvation of men's souls, because his intercession is in the virtue of his satisfaction: he is an advocate, but by his propitiation; both are linked together in the text. His intercession being founded upon his death, his death may as soon want its virtue as his intercession its efficacy. If his blood is incorruptible, which must be concluded from the antithesis, 1 Peter
1:18, 'We are not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ.' If his blood be incorruptible, as being precious in the eyes of God, his intercessions are undeniable, as having an equal value in God's account. If his blood hath the same virtue now, which it had when it was first presented to God, his pleas must have the same virtue with his blood; as the one was owned, the other cannot be refused. There is a necessary connection between the perfection of the one and prevalency of the other. If his sacrifice be perfect, his plea upon it must be prevalent; if his plea be not prevalent, it must conclude the imperfection of his sacrifice. A fiat must be set upon all his petitions, since he hath finished his passive obedience. What greater rhetoric can there be in the tongues of men and angels than in the tongue of Christ? Yet all his eloquence cannot be so powerful as that of his gaping wounds. His blood hath the same efficacy in heaven that it had on earth; it speaks the same things, and must meet with the same success. His merit must be deficient before his intercession can be successless; and his blood will not want a voice while his death retains a satisfactory sufficiency. Having by his bloody obedience silenced justice, that it cannot
put in any exception, he hath nothing to do but to solicit mercy, prone enough to bestow all good upon those that love him and believe in him.
(4.) In regard of the persons he intercedes for. They are those that are the special gift of God to him, as dear to the Father as to Christ: John 17:9,
'They are thine;' thine as well as mine; thine before they were mine; thine in purpose, mine by donation. There is a likeness in the love the Father bears to his people to that love which he bears to Christ. It is the argument Christ himself uses for the grant of what he desired in that intercessory model:
John 17:23, 'That the world may know that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me;' not that the Father might have a rise for his affection, but an occasion for the manifestation of his affection in the view of the world. And though Christ doth pray the Father, yet he intimates how easily his prayer for them would be granted; because, saith he, 'the Father himself loves you':
John 16:26, 27, 'At that day you shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me.' Do not think the Father is so full of revenge that he must be earnestly pressed to be merciful to you. I do not say I will pray the Father for you, he of himself is inclinable to embrace you with the tenderest affection; he hath, for your love to me, a particular kindness for you. It is as if a favourite should say, I will entreat the king for you, but I need not; for he bears you such an affection because you are my friend, and belong to me, that he will, from his own inclination, be ready to do you all good. Christ doth not here deny his intercession for them, which before he had promised them, but would have them in their dependence consider not only his suing for them, but fix their mind upon the Father's love to them, and assure themselves there is nothing but they may expect from his immense bounty and infinite affection. The Father himself loves you in the
greatness of his majesty; he hath as deep a stamp of affection to you as I myself have, and as you know I have manifested to you. The persons he intercedes for are those whom the Father loves, those whom the Father bath given him, those whom God hath justified, those for whom himself is a propitiation, those for whom he 'died and rose again;' for, Rom. 8:33, 34, since they were the persons for whom he was intended as a sacrifice, and for whose good his glorious resurrection and exaltation were designed, there is no doubt but his intercession shall be accepted for them. When the love of the Father to the advocate, and his love to his clients, meet together, what a glorious success must be expected from such an intercession!
(5.) It is evidenced by the fruit of it.
[1.] Before his sacrifice. The text intimates it; as he was 'a propitiation for the whole world,' i.e. for all ages of the world, so he is an advocate in all ages of the world. How could the execution of God's vengeance upon the world for sin, at the first commission of it, have been prevented, but by the interposition of the Son of God? He interposed then by virtue of a promise to offer himself a sacrifice, he interposeth now by virtue of his actual performance. If it were so prevalent as to support the world for so many ages, in the midst of that abundance of mire and dirt which should overflow it, and to save those that should believe in a promised Messiah, it is much more powerful to save those that believe in a sacrificed and conquering
Messiah. For as he was a lamb slain from the foundation of the world, so by the same reason he was an advocate pleading from the foundation of the world. The credit of his plea is the same with that of his passion; as he was a sufferer by promise from the foundation of the world, so he was an intercessor by virtue of that promise.* There is the same reason of his intercession upon the credit of his future suffering, as there was for the
pardon of sin upon the credit of his future passion. Those that were saved before, were saved upon the account of his life as well as we; as they were reconciled by his death as well as we. For God made not several ways of salvation, one for them and another for us, Acts 15:8, 9, 11. They were
'saved by faith;' by the same grace, by the same grace of Christ. And his future death being a sufficient ground from the foundation of the world for the pardon and salvation of those that believed in him, because it was not possible, in regard of the greatness of his person, and faithfulness to his trust, that he could fail in the performance of the condition required of him, and God knew he could not; and besides his own stedfast resolution, and his ability to accomplish his undertaking, God having given him promises of his omnipotent assistance; upon those accounts, Christ might with confidence be, even before his coming, a powerful advocate for those that laid hold upon the promise by faith. Though he was not actually installed in all his offices, yet he exercised them, if I may so speak, as a candidate; as a king he ruled his church; as an angel he guided his Israel; as a prophet he sent the prophets of the Old Testament, and revealed his will to them. So though he was not a perfect priest till he was a propitiation for sin by the oblation of himself as a grateful victim to God, because propitiation could not be made without blood, yet upon the account of the promise of his suffering he did exercise that part of his priesthood, whereupon the sins of many were pardoned. God was then a pardoning God, and a God blotting out iniquity; and whenever Christ interposed himself for his people, he was answered with 'comfortable words,' Zech. 1:13. And though it be said, that Christ upon his ascension went 'to appear in the presence of God for us,'
Heb. 9:24, this excludes not his former intercession in heaven. He tells the disciples that he went to heaven to prepare a place for them, yet the place is
said to be 'prepared before the foundation of the world,' Mat. 25:34. He interceded before as a promiser, he intercedes now as a performer; and if his intercession then was graciously answered with comfortable words, his intercession now hath a ground to meet with a no less acceptable entertainment.
[2.] After his sacrifice, in the first fruit of it, the mission of the Holy Ghost. God gave a full proof and public testimony of the vigour of his interposition, in that abundance of the Spirit which he poured forth upon the apostles at the day of pentecost; and his sending the same Spirit to dwell in the hearts of believers, and the gracious operations of this Spirit in the hearts of men, are infallible evidences that his intercession is still of the same force and efficacy. He had acquainted his disciples before that he
'would pray the Father, and he should give them another Comforter,' John 14:16. We find not any prayer of Christ for the Spirit upon record while he remained upon the earth. He prayed for this Spirit after he went to heaven; for he seems to speak of it as that which was to be acted by him after his going from them; and, saith he, the Father will 'send the Comforter in my name,' ver. 26, i.e. as a fruit, and a manifestation of the great interest I have in him. This was so great a pledge of the prevalency of this advocacy, that a greater could not be given. As soon as ever he was at God's right hand, and had put up his petition for it, before he could be well warm in his throne, he received 'the promise of the Holy Ghost,' Acts 2:23, i.e. that Holy Ghost which had been promised, the richest gift, next to that of his Son, that could be presented to man. As the apostles had but little hopes after his death of his being a redeemer, till they saw the truth of his resurrection, so they might have as little expectations of his mighty power in heaven after his ascension, till he gave them this token of it in the mission of his Spirit. The
Spirit, indeed, was in some measure sent before, when he was an advocate designed (the live coal, which seems to be an emblem of the Spirit, was taken from the altar, a type of Christ, Isa. 6:6), but much more richly poured out when he was an advocate installed. The Old Testament had some drops, and the New Testament full effusions and showers. Though all the blessings of the new covenant are the fruits of Christ's death and intercession, yet the first fruit of it was the Holy Ghost, as the person who by office was to convey to us, and work in us, the blessings of the covenant sealed and settled by the blood of the Redeemer; and therefore the promise of the Spirit is the first promise of the new covenant: Ezek. 36:25–27, 'I will sprinkle clean water upon you, a new spirit will I put within you, and I will put my
Spirit within you.' This was the first thing Christ solicited for when he came to heaven, as the first blessing of the new covenant. And though he gave his disciples in his prayer, John 17 an essay whereby they might well imagine what should be the substance of his petitions in his state of glory, yet he tells them not positively of any particular thing, but of this of the Comforter, 'I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter.'
This was the first boon he begged after his ascension; this was granted him, and with this the riches of heaven and the blessings of eternity to pour down upon us, which the apostle notes, Titus 3:6, when he speaks of the shedding of the Holy Ghost abundantly and richly by the Father, but through Jesus
Christ our Saviour, as the choicest witness of the irreversible validity of our Saviour's intercession with the Father; so that we may as well conclude in this case as the apostle doth in a like case of the love of God, Rom. 8:32,
'He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?' so, since the intercession of Christ hath been so efficacious for a gift of so great a value as the Holy
Ghost, wherein the gift of whatsoever was great in heaven was virtually contained, should it not be a warrant of assurance to us that nothing will be denied to the solicitation of one that, in his very first request, hath been so inexpressibly successful?