My God died, but my God is not dead. My God was laid to rest, but he is earnestly at work. We all are standing outside the cosmic conversation, and in ourselves we have no hope of being heard in that divine discourse. Thanks be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that we have a friendly voice who with great passion advocates for us. We mortals have a great many needs, and we have in Christ Jesus one who sympathizes with our needs and takes our pleas, our desires, our prayers daily before God the Father Almighty. 

I was standing awkwardly after worship near a group conversing. Have you ever been in that moment? You are waiting to chat with someone but the person is already engaged in another conversation. To speak up would be rude and interrupt the ongoing discussion, so waiting is the decision. Sometimes a person in the group conversation will notice you waiting and physically invite you into the discussion. Sometimes it is a person taking a step back to “widen” the circle of speakers and allow you to step forward. Sometimes it is a person giving you a look or motioning. Sometimes it is someone speaking up and using their words to give you a platform to address the group or join in the talk.

I needed to speak with a person in the group, but couldn’t do much without being rude. Even if I was rude and interrupted, there was no guarantee that the person I needed to speak with would respond. I needed an advocate, I needed someone in the group to act on my behalf. I needed someone to use their influence in the moment to allow me an audience.

How much more so for us mere mortals on earth! The conversations and ordering of the universe is an important and I can only imagine very busy bit of work. How can we bend the ear of God Almighty to hear us and care for our daily concerns and needs? We enter into the divine discussion and interrupt the flow of the cosmic conversation only by the intercession of another. The work Jesus Christ engages in on a daily basis since his ascension is to intercede for his people in the courts of heaven.

The Belgic Confession was written in 1559 and has some incredibly helpful summary statements based on the Bible regarding the ongoing work of Christ Jesus in Article 26:

Article 26: The Intercession of Christ

We believe that we have no access to God except through the one and only Mediator and Intercessor, “Jesus Christ the righteous,” who therefore was made human, uniting together the divine and human natures, so that we human beings might have access to the divine Majesty. Otherwise we would have no access.

But this Mediator, whom the Father has appointed between himself and us, ought not terrify us by his greatness, so that we have to look for another one, according to our fancy. For neither in heaven nor among the creatures on earth is there anyone who loves us more than Jesus Christ does.

Although he was “in the form of God,” Christ nevertheless “emptied himself,” taking “human form” and “the form of a slave” for us; and he made himself “like his brothers and sisters in every respect.” Suppose we had to find another intercessor. Who would love us more than he who gave his life for us, even though “we were enemies”? And suppose we had to find one who has prestige and power. Who has as much of these as he who is seated at the right hand of the Father, and who has “all authority in heaven and on earth”? And who will be heard more readily than God’s own dearly beloved Son?

So, the practice of honoring the saints as intercessors in fact dishonors them because of its misplaced faith. That was something the saints never did nor asked for, but which in keeping with their duty, as appears from their writings, they consistently refused. We should not plead here that we are unworthy— for it is not a question of offering our prayers on the basis of our own dignity but only on the basis of the excellence and dignity of Jesus Christ, whose righteousness is ours by faith. Since the apostle for good reason wants us to get rid of this foolish fear—or rather, this unbelief—he says to us that Jesus Christ was made like “his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest” to purify the sins of the people.

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