Chapter 7: Proving that Christ's offering and intercession form one united work, aimed at the same p
A Crushing Blow to Universal Redemption This truth is devastating to the doctrine of a universal atonement—the idea that Christ died for all people without exception.
For if He did die for all, and also intercedes for all with infallible success (which Scripture affirms), then all must be saved—a conclusion plainly contradicted by Scripture and experience.
We must briefly pause here to establish this further. The full proof will come in the next section, where we discuss the actual end and effect of Christ's death. For now, however, we can note a few independent reasons supporting this claim.
Book I, Chapter 7 Reasons Why Christ's Oblation and Intercession Form One United Means and Have the Same Personal Object I. The Testimony of Scripture The first reason for affirming that Christ's oblation (sacrificial offering) and intercession (priestly pleading) are one united
work with one common goal and object, is the consistent testimony of Scripture. These two aspects are almost always joined together, revealing that they are inseparable in both intent and effect.
Consider Isaiah 53:11:
"By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities."
Here, the justification of sinners (the fruit of intercession) is directly tied to His bearing of iniquities (His sacrificial death). In verse 12, this connection is made unmistakable:
"He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors."
He intercedes for those very same transgressors whose sin He bore.
Even our complete healing is said to be the fruit of His suffering:
"By His stripes we are healed" (Isa. 53:5).
Likewise, Paul writes:
"He was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification" (Rom. 4:25).
He died for our sins, and He rose again for the justification of the same people. If He died for all, then all must be justified—or else the purpose of His death and resurrection fails. To claim such failure would be blasphemous.
Instead, let us echo Paul:
"Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ who died, yes, rather, who was raised, who is even at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us" (Rom. 8:33–34).
The same people are the objects of:
Christ's death, His resurrection, And His intercession.
The scope is identical. If He died for you, He intercedes for you. If He intercedes for you, you will be saved—for He cannot fail in His intercession.
II. Both Acts Belong to Christ's Priestly Office Offering and interceding—sacrifice and prayer—are both essential to the priestly office. If Christ did only one of these for someone, He would not be a faithful High Priest on their behalf.
But Christ is a faithful High Priest. As John writes:
"If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He is the propitiation for our sins" (1
John 2:1–2).
He is both advocate (intercessor) and propitiation (sacrifice). These two functions must go hand in hand.
This is also the clear teaching of the Epistle to the Hebrews:
"When Christ appeared as High Priest… by His own blood He entered the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption"
(Heb. 9:11–12).
Just as the high priest of old entered the holy place with blood to intercede for the people, so Christ, having shed His blood, entered heaven to apply its power.
His entrance into heaven is not merely a reward for His sacrifice —it is the continuation of His priestly work, applying all that He purchased.
This is why Hebrews 7:24–25 says:
"He holds His priesthood permanently… He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them."
And so we are told:
"We have boldness to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus"
(Heb. 10:19).
In short, if Christ is a priest for someone, He must:
1. Offer for them, and 2. Intercede for them.
To do one without the other would be to fail in His priestly office, which is unthinkable. Therefore:
Everyone for whom He offered Himself—He also intercedes.
The scope of each act is equal.
They cannot be separated.
A Challenge to the Opponents of Definite Atonement Let me ask those who deny this truth:
Does Christ intercede for all people?
If you say no, then you make Him only half a priest.
If you say yes, then either:
All people must be saved (which is false), or Christ fails in His intercession (which is blasphemy).
But Scripture assures us:
"The Spirit intercedes according to the will of God" (Rom. 8:27), And "If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us" (1
John 5:14).
Christ Himself said: "Father, I thank You that You always hear Me" (John 11:42).
If the Father always hears the Son—even before the cross—how much more now, as He sits at His right hand, having finished His
saving work?
Therefore, Christ cannot intercede in vain. He intercedes for those for whom He died, and all for whom He intercedes will be saved.
III. The Nature of Christ's Intercession Proves Their Unity The very nature of Christ's intercession makes clear that it cannot be separated from His oblation.
Now that His priestly work is perfected in heaven, Christ's intercession is not some humble pleading with cries and tears, as during His earthly ministry. It is not even properly vocal, like a human entreaty. Rather, His intercession is a real and continual presentation of Himself—the One who was sacrificed—before the throne of God.
As Hebrews 9:24 declares:
"Christ has not entered holy places made with hands, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us."
His intercession consists in appearing before the Father in His glorified body—the very body in which He suffered and shed blood.
Just as the high priest in the Old Testament entered the holy place with the blood of animals on behalf of the people, so Christ enters heaven with His own blood, so that His past offering might have perpetual power and effect.
His intercession is, in essence, His oblation continued.
He is:
"The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8).
Before He died in time, He interceded based on the certainty of His coming sacrifice. After His death, He intercedes based on the completion of that sacrifice.
Thus, His intercession is nothing more than the ongoing application of His finished oblation. It is the living, priestly act of declaring and presenting His sacrifice to the Father for the sake of those for whom He died.
So, how could His intercession extend to people for whom He did not offer Himself? If intercession is just the presentation of His sacrifice, then it cannot be for any more than those for whom the sacrifice was made.
IV. The Purpose and Foundation of Intercession Are Grounded in the Covenant If Christ's death purchased every good gift that is actually bestowed through His intercession, then the purpose of both acts is the same, and they must share the same scope.
This truth becomes clear when we remember the covenant agreement between the Father and the Son—discussed earlier in Chapter 3. When the Son voluntarily undertook the work of redemption, the Father made specific promises to Him:
Promises of a people,
Promises of success, Promises of reward for His suffering.
And these very promises are what form the basis of Christ's intercession.
What is Christ's intercession grounded upon? If He asks for something from the Father—whether we think of it in terms of speech or action—on what basis does He do so?
Surely, it is on the basis of the promises made to Him—for example:
"Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations as Your inheritance"
(Psalm 2:8).
But why was this promise made? Verse 2 tells us—it was in light of His sufferings, as the kings and rulers conspired against Him (as fulfilled in Acts 4:27–28).
So then:
The promise is made in view of His sacrifice, The intercession is based on that promise,
And the blessings granted are the very things He purchased by His death.
Therefore, it is impossible to say that Christ intercedes for any more (or fewer) than those for whom He died. His intercession is based on His oblation, and the benefits He asks the Father to bestow are the fruits of His sacrifice.
Until those benefits are actually given, the effects of His death are not complete.
To claim that Christ's death purchased blessings that are never granted is to contradict both Scripture and reason—as will be shown more fully later.
V. What Christ Has Joined, Let No Man Separate Let us be clear: what Christ Himself has joined, no one has the right to divide.
We may distinguish between His oblation (His sacrificial offering) and intercession (His ongoing priestly pleading), but we may never separate them. They are united by Christ Himself.
Consider John 17—Christ's great High Priestly Prayer. There He both offered Himself (in full commitment and intention, verse 4) and interceded (praying for those given to Him, verses 9, 20–24).
In that moment, before the cross, He offered Himself as fully in will and purpose as on Calvary, and interceded as perfectly as He does now in heaven.
Who, then, can lawfully divide what Christ united?
Moreover, Scripture tells us that without His intercession, Christ's death would have been ineffective for our redemption. As Paul says:
"If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins" (1 Cor. 15:17).
And the writer of Hebrews adds:
"He entered once into the holy places… having obtained eternal redemption" (Heb. 9:12).
Without His entrance into heaven (intercession), His death would not have secured our salvation.
VI. To Divide the Death and Intercession of Christ Destroys Christian Assurance To separate Christ's death and intercession—especially in terms of who they apply to—is to destroy the very foundation of our comfort and assurance.
This is one of the greatest problems with the teaching of a general ransom—the idea that Christ died for all people, without securing salvation for any in particular. Such teaching undermines true assurance and drains comfort from the gospel.
Let me explain how.
The strong consolation that God desires His people to enjoy flows from this truth:
That Christ, by His death, obtained every good thing for His people—and by His intercession, He ensures those blessings are applied.
He never abandons the sins He died for; He follows them into every courtroom of God's justice until they are fully pardoned
(Heb. 9:26). He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him (Heb. 7:25).
But if His death and intercession are separated—either in intention or in result—what comfort is left?
Christ's death without His resurrection and intercession would profit us nothing. As Paul says, if Christ has not risen, our faith is futile, and we are still in our sins (1 Cor. 15:17).
It is the union of His death and intercession that forms a solid foundation for the soul to rest on.
"What good is it for me to believe that Christ died for my sins, if those same sins might still rise to condemn me, and Christ will not intercede on my behalf?"
If I ask with Paul, "Who is he that condemns?"
Can I answer:
"It is Christ who died"?
Not unless I also add:
"Yea rather, who is risen again, and is at the right hand of God, making intercession for us" (Rom. 8:34).
The full assurance comes not only from His death, but from the fact that He now appears for us, and none of our sins or accusers can appear against us where He appears.
This alone gives firm and lasting comfort.
Objections to this glorious passage (Rom. 8:34) will be addressed in due time. For now, we conclude with confidence that: