Foundations of Faith
THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST (II)
As noted in the previous issue, one of the benefits of the ascension of Christ into heaven is that He is now our High Priest, Intercessor, and Advocate. We now examine these aspects of Christ’s present work on behalf of His own.
Christ became “a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make [propitiation] for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is able to [help] those who are tempted (Heb. 2:17,18). “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, who is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a High Priest who cannot [sympathize] with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:14-16). This High Priest “ever lives to make intercession for those” who “come unto God by Him” (Heb. 7:25,26).
The role of the high priest of Israel in the Old Testament was to offer the animal sacrifices necessary to keep the people in a close relationship with God and make it possible for the people to approach God with all their needs. All of these sacrifices pointed forward to the one perfect sacrifice offered by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. That perfect sacrifice has been offered; the Offerer is risen and ascended into heaven. On the basis of that sacrifice of Himself, Christ as our great High Priest helps and encourages every believer to “come boldly unto the throne of grace … in time of need.”
Many of our needs relate to our trials and temptations. Christ Himself “suffered being tempted.” How so? In the wilderness He was hungry (Matt. 4:2). In the garden He was “in an agony” and His “soul [was] exceeding sorrowful” (Luke 22:44; Matt. 26:38). Before and on the cross He was falsely accused, wrongfully condemned to death, forsaken, denied, mocked, spit upon, slapped, beaten, stripped, nailed, and taunted by man, and then forsaken by God (Matt. 26:56-27:50). Oh, how He suffered—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually—far more than we can imagine! So whenever we are tried, tested, or tempted—because of pain, ill-ness, bereavement, depression, loneliness, financial problems, hurtful or difficult people, false accusations, or whatever—we are invited to bring those needs to the throne of grace. There we will find a merciful High Priest who knows perfectly—from His own personal experience—what we are going through, and thus knows perfectly how best to help us in our time of need.
Let us be careful to note that these passages are only referring to so-called “holy temptations,” those that come from outside of us. Christ cannot sympathize with our lusts, sins, and failures. For those we need Christ as our Advocate (see below). But when we are oppressed with trials and temptations, our merciful High Priest helps and strengthens and encourages us to depend upon Him; thus He keeps us from anger, fear, impatience, retaliation, or other sinful responses to our trials.
“If any man sin, we have an Advocate with [or literally, toward] the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:1,2). “I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever:even the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16,17,26). The words “Advocate” and “Comforter” are exactly the same in the original Greek. That is why the second passage says “another Comforter.” We are blessed with two Advocate-Comforters—the ascended Christ and the Holy Spirit. An advocate or comforter is literally one who comes along side to assist us.
While the work of Christ as High Priest is largely to keep us from sinning, the work of Christ as Advocate is to direct our hearts back toward the Father if we do sin. How does Christ carry out this work? By reminding us that “He is the propitiation for our sins” (see Feb97), that is, by reminding us of how much He suffered for us on the cross for our sins. Such a reminder shames us, humbles us, leads us to confess this fresh outbreak of sin, and results in our restoration to communion with God our Father. (See Assignment 2)
Is there a difference between the work of the ascended Christ as Advocate-Comforter and that of the Holy Spirit as Advocate-Comforter? The work of the Spirit is to remind us of the teachings of Christ (John 14:26) and the things pertaining to Christ, including His Person and work (John 16:14, 15). So it would seem that these activities of the ascended Christ and of the Holy Spirit go hand in hand with each other.
In Jan02 we noted that one of the blessings of Christ’s ascension is the blessed hope that He is coming back to take His waiting people home with Him in heaven. This plus other themes relating to the end times will be topics of consideration in upcoming issues of GROWING.
Running the Race
HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE (in View of Christ as Our High Priest, Intercessor, and Advocate)?
God’s purpose for His sons is that we should “be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29). If our risen and ascended Christ is presently occupied with keeping us from sinning and restoring us if we do sin, is this not also a worthy occupation for each of us in our associations with our fellow believers? “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14) “Love covers all sins” (Prov. 10:12).
Assignment 2: (a) Write out a verse in Matthew 26 that illustrates the high priestly activity of trying to keep another person from sinning. (b) Write out a verse in John 21 that illustrates the advocate-like activity of restoring a sinning person to the Lord.
Assignment 3: Write out one verse each in Matthew 18, Galatians 6, and 1 Thessalonians 5 that point out our responsibility to help others not to sin and to restore sinners to the Lord.