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I. IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE INTERCESSION OF CHRIST IS, AND WHAT IS IMPLIED IN IT, WE MUST CONSIDER AND COMPARE THOSE PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE WHERE IT IS SPOKEN OF. The two principal passages of Scripture where it is directly spoken of are the text and Romans 8:34, in which the same word is used as in the text. The word which in these two passages is translated "to make intercession," just means to plead with — to use entreaties and importunities (in order to obtain something we desire)with reference to another person. There is a other passage of Scripture which refers to one branch at least of Christ's intercession, and casts additional light upon it, viz., 1 John 2:1. The idea which this statement is intend, d to bring before our minds is substantially this — that whenever a believer commits a sin, and that sin comes up before the throne of God, pleading for punishment against the offender, upon the ground that "cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them," Christ steps forward as his Advocate and Intercessor, to avert the threatened danger — takes the sin on His own shoulders — and pleads, in order to its remission, the perfect sacrifice He once offered up of Himself to satisfy Divine justice, and to purchase for Himself a peculiar people. That His sacrifice is the foundation of His advocacy or intercession with reference to the sins of believers, is implied in the statement which immediately succeeds, viz., in the second verse. He has expiated or atoned for our sins by shedding His precious blood, and is therefore well entitled to appear as our Advocate, when we are accused, and to prevail on our behalf. The apostle goes on to state that this privilege of having with the Father an Advocate who had expiated their sins, was not peculiar to them, that is, to those of whom, and in whose name, he was then speaking — in other words, to those who had already believed on Christ Jesus; — but that it extended to the whole world — to all who should afterwards believe on Him, without distinction of period or country. Finally, in illustration of the nature of our Saviour's intercession, we have what is commonly called His intercessory prayer, as recorded in John 17. We have another instance of intercessory prayer on our Saviour's part, in a particular case, when He prayed for Peter, that his faith should not fail, notwithstanding the peculiar violence of Satan's temptation. We are assured, then, that Christ ever liveth to make intercession for His people — that He is continually employed at the right hand of God pleading on their behalf — pleading what He Himself has done and suffered for them — presenting, in their name and for their sakes, the punishment He has endured, that they might be delivered from guilt and danger — the merit which He has wrought out, that they might be accepted, and blessed, and rewarded. Christ is continually presenting before His Father His wishes with regard to what His people should enjoy and suffer; and their enjoyments and their sufferings, their trials and their supplies of grace, are just what He sees to be best for them — what He in consequence wishes and pleads for in their behalf — and what they therefore certainly receive. This is what is implied in Christ's intercession. We are told that "Him the Father heareth always"; and no wonder, when He pleads the efficacy of that sacrifice which has fully satisfied Divine justice, and which is commensurate in efficacy with the exceeding sinfulness of sin; — when He pleads the worth of that meritorious obedience which has fully satisfied the Divine law, and which is commensurate in value with an eternal and exceeding weight of glory. All true believers, then, should have perfect confidence in Christ's willingness and ability to work out their complete salvation — to finish the good work that He had begun in them — to overrule everything in their temporal circumstances for their eternal welfare — and at last to make them more than conquerors.

II. WE SHALL NOW ENDEAVOUR TO ILLUSTRATE THE PRACTICAL PURPOSES TO WHICH THIS GREAT DOCTRINE WE HAVE ATTEMPTED TO EXPLAIN, TO ILLUSTRATE, AND TO ESTABLISH, MAY MOST OBVIOUSLY BE APPLIED.

1. Let us consider the practical application of this doctrine, with regard to the sins of believers. The knowledge that we have an Advocate or Intercessor — ready at all times to take the burden of our guilt upon Himself, and to free us from its painful consequences — while it tends greatly to comfort and encourage us, and is indeed indispensable to our serving God acceptably. — has no tendency, when rightly viewed and seen in its proper connections, to encourage us in sin, or to lead us to think lightly of guilt. Everything connected with the history and work of Christ — with His incarnation, and humiliation, and suffering, and death — is fitted to lead us to regard sin as exceeding sinful.

2. Let us consider the intercession of Christ with reference to the outward circumstances and worldly condition of believers. The truth which in this view it presents to our mind is this, that the outward circumstances of believers, except in so far as they are the necessary results — according to the ordinary laws of nature and providence — of the sins they have committed, are just, at any one time, precisely what their kind and compassionate Saviour wishes them to be; — and that they, are wholly the result of His wishes and prayers, presented before the throne of His Father — and because they arc His, carried into complete effect.

3. Let us consider the doctrine of our Saviour's intercession with reference to the believer's prayers. We are to pray at all times in Christ's name — relying entirely upon Him and His work for the acceptance of our services, and the answering our petitions. But His intercession implies something more than this, or rather it gives a distinct and palpable form to this idea. It implies that our prayers are heard and answered only in so far as Christ takes them and presents them in His own name, and on the ground of His own merit, before the throne of His Father.

4. Let us consider the intercession of Christ in its reference to the believer's prospects and ultimate condition. The very object of Christ's intercession for His people, then, is that He may thereby secure their final deliverance from sin and all its consequences — their restoration to God's image — and their admission to dwell for ever in His presence. All this it is admirably adapted to effect; and all this, therefore, it will assuredly accomplish. To have Christ interceding for us at God's right hand is all that we can need, and all that we should desire, as appertaining to life or to godliness. It secures deliverance, full and final, from every real evil — the possession, complete and eternal, of every genuine source of happiness.

(W. Cunningham, D. D.)

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KJV: 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.

WEB: Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them.