Christ Our Intercessor

Now our Lord Jesus Christ not only prays for those whom we pray for, but he prays for those we never thought of praying for. There are some whom he mentions before the eternal throne whom we have never mentioned, who have never yet been observed by any interceding Christian, whose cases have never impressed a single godly heart, yet Jesus knows them: and does he cry to God for them, and shall there not come to them grace in due season? Ay, my brethren, I rejoice in this, that where through ignorance or through the narrowness of my charity my prayer has never stretched itself, the prayer of the great High Priest who wears the Urim and Thummim can yet reach, and the salvation of God shall come to such. I doubt not Jesus might well have said to Paul, ““I have prayed for thee, and therefore thou shalt be mine,”” and in many other cases the like is true.

The intercession of our Lord is a mighty power, and as it wins gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, apostles, and preachers, and teachers, are called forth by divine grace. Not our colleges, our councils, our societies, or our conferences, but the intercession of Jesus is the mainstay of our strength, the secret cause of the calling of men into the mystery of the gospel.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "An Encouraging Lesson From Paul's Conversion," delivered August 7, 1870. Image by Luis Argerich under Creative Commons License.