The relation which intercession bears to atonement has
just been remarked. They are correlate ideas. They stand to each other in much
the same character as do the ideas of creation and providence. The providence
of God consists in upholding all things, or maintaining in being the creatures
he has made: it is best conceived of as a continued putting forth of the
creative energy. So the intercession of Christ is the continued efficacy of his
expiatory merit; on which account it has been spoken of by some of the ancient
writers as a perpetual oblation. If the providence of God were suspended, all
created being must be annihilated; and if Jesus were to make intercession, the
merit of his atonement would prove utterly unvailing. The arguments by which
the reality of atonement has been established, thus support the reality of
intercession. Admit the necessity and truth of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, and
the certainty and prevalence of his intercession within the vail naturally and irrefragably
follow.
Christ’s intercession is, indeed, essential to the
fulfilment of the covenant of grace. As ‘mediator of the covenant,’ everything
which he performs as a priest has a relation to this divine economy. The sacerdotal
functions of oblation and intercession have regarded respectively to the
condition and the administration of the covenant. The stipulated conditions of
the covenant is, that satisfaction shall be made to the law and justice of God for
the sins of those who are redeemed; and this is done by the sacrifice of
Christ. The administration of the covenant comprehends whatever is concerned
with putting and maintaining the covenant children in possession of the
blessings of redemption: and this takes its rise directly and immediately from
the intercession of Christ. True, it is, the agency of the Spirit and the instrumentality
of means are concerned in this object: but, in the economy of man’s salvation,
the intercession of the Mediator is necessary alike to the operation of the
one, and to the efficacy of the other. It is so arranged by infinite wisdom
that all the good done to the souls of man, in connexion with the covenant of
grace, shall be begun, carried forward, completed, and maintained through
eternity, in relation to Christ’s intercession. (William Symington, On the
Atonement and Intercession of Jesus Christ [West Linn, Oreg.: Monergism
Books, 2024], 264-65)
It is not difficult for us to understand, how
intercession is made for us in heaven by the memorials of the Saviour’s
sacrifice. The language of signs is no strange thing among men. God has
condescended to allow himself to be addressed in the same way:--‘The bow shall
be in the cloud, and I WILL LOOK UPON IT that I may remember the everlasting
covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the
earth.’ Or, to adduce an example more directly bearing on the present
subject:--‘And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you
are: and WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD, I will pass over you.’ In like manner, there is
a rainbow round about the throne like unto an emerald, which pleads with God our
exemption from the deluge of wrath, and which derives its vivid tints from the
rays of the Saviour’s love, refracted by the shower of divine anger, and
reflected from the dark cloud of his suffering. It is when he sees the blood of
the everlasting covenant, that Jehovah passes by those who were deserving of
destruction. Even profane history has been happily adduced in illustration of
this subject. Amintas has performed meritorious services in behalf of the
commonwealth, in course of which he had lost a hand. When his brother Aechylus
is about to be condemned to death for some offence of which he has been guilty,
Amintas rushes into the course; without uttering a syllable he holds up the mutilated
limb, the judges are moved out; and Aechylus is set free. Thus the sacrifice of
our Redeemer,--the wounds in his hands and his feet, and his transfixed side,
plead the cause of his people with perfect clearness, and infallible power. The
advocate and the propitiation are the same:--‘We have an advocate with the
Father—He is the propitiation for our sins.’
In the intercession of Christ there is also included an
intimation of his will that the purchased of blessings of redemption be conferred.
(Ibid., 273-74)