Intercession
@nseylubangi
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Intercession isn’t a word we use every day, but it’s an important word to understand. In the Bible, it often means “speaking to God on behalf of someone else, especially in prayer.”
It’s similar to the idea of priest and mediation, but also a bit different. A priest has a particular role or office as someone who represents God on behalf of others, especially through making offerings and sacrifices. Mediation tends to focus on the overall restoration of two people or parties. These ideas are connected to the idea of intercession—priests can also intercede, and intercession is often a key part of mediation. But they’re also different.
In this article, we’re going to see what happens when Moses intercedes, how Jesus and the Spirit intercede, and who we’re called to intercede for.
Intercession and Exodus
Intercession is particularly necessary for God’s people in Exodus. In Exodus 32:1, we read:
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
Sounds problematic, right? They’ve just been given the Ten Commandments. The first one says, “No other gods”. The second one says, “No idols”. It’s pretty clear. But after forty days of waiting for Moses to come back down, the people are getting a little impatient. So the people grab all their gold, give it to Aaron and he makes it into a golden calf for the people to worship. The people say, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
Obviously, God sees what happens. He tells Moses everything, and then says, “Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation” (Exodus 32:10).
Things are pretty bad. God offers Moses the possibility of starting a new nation. But Moses intercedes. In verse 11, we read:
But Moses sought the favour of the LORD his God.
He prays to God on behalf of Israel: “Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people” (Exodus 32:12-13).
Then the LORD hears Moses’ prayer. He “relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened” (32:14).
Moses intercedes for Israel. God responds. Moses asks for God’s favour. God shows favour. Not because they deserve it, but because he is merciful.
As Moses comes down from the mountain with the two stone tablets, the people are worshipping the calf. He’s furious. He smashes the stone tablets, burns the calf, grinds it to powder, and scatters the dust on the water.
When Moses asks Aaron what’s going on, Aaron tells what is perhaps the worst lie in the Bible:
23 They [the Israelites] said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewellery, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
Exodus 32:23-24
Having had some time to calm down, “The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”
Moses intercedes for Israel. Again. Punishment will come for those who sinned, but there’s still hope for the rest.
After this, God sends Moses on his way with some angelic help, but says, “I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way” (Exodus 33:3). Moses and the Israelites are rightfully terrified about their prospects.
So, Moses intercedes for Israel. Again:
“15 If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?
Exodus 33:15-16
God hears Moses’ prayer and responds favourably in verse 17:
I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.
Three times Moses intercedes for Israel. Three times God hears his prayer. Three times God shows mercy to Moses and Israel.
2. Intercession and Jesus
Moses seems like he’s pretty good at this interceding thing. He has a good track record. If there’s anyone you want praying for you in the Old Testament, it’s Moses.
But when we get to the New Testament, we discover that we have an even better intercessor. Forget Moses. Jesus intercedes for us.
Israel’s situation was bad. They had just broken two of the Ten Commandments in making the golden calf. Aaron broke another commandment when he lied about chucking the calf into the fire.
Our situation is arguably worse. We’ve broken all Ten Commandments! In Romans 3:10, we read that “there is no one righteous, not even one.” In Romans 3:23, we read that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Then, in Romans 6:23 we discover that “the wages of sin is death.” We’ve all sinned, and sin leads to death. So, we deserve death!
But, God is for us, just as he was for Israel. In Romans 8, we read:
31 If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Since God is for us, he gave us Jesus. He shows us his grace and favour, meaning that no one can bring a charge against us. Jesus intercedes for us, having been raised and seated at God’s right hand in heaven. Forget Moses interceding for Israel. We have someone seated at God’s right hand interceding for us, praying for us. That’s why God raised him from the dead: to intercede for us (see Hebrews 7:25). If there’s anyone whose prayer God is going to listen to, it’s Jesus!
But wait, there’s more. It’s not just God’s Son that intercedes for us. His Spirit does too! In Romans 8:26-27, we discover:
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
When we’re weak or unsure about what to pray, the Spirit intercedes for us. He intercedes for us in accordance with God’s will. How good is that?!
Our sin problem is arguably worse than Israel’s sin problem. But we have a better intercessor. We have Jesus. And we have the Spirit. If God listened to Moses, how much more will he listen to his Son and Spirit?
The Son and Spirit intercede for us.
3. Intercession and Us
The God who rescues us from sin is a gracious God. He is in control of the entire universe. He “works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:11) and he “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20).
Now that we have access to this God through his Son and Spirit who intercede for us, we are called to intercede for others. In 1 Timothy 2:1–6, we read:
1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
God, through Paul, now calls us to intercede. We’re to make petitions, prayers and intercession. Those words are basically synonyms for “praying” or “asking God for stuff”. Who do we pray for? As we’ve just seen above, we pray for:
1️⃣ All people (1 Timothy 2:1)
This includes:
2️⃣ Those in authority (1 Timothy 2:2)
This is a group we don’t often intuitively think to pray for, but if we want to have peaceful and quiet lives, it makes sense that we do. It’s a good thing to do.
In addition, we’re also called to “pray” or “intercede” for:
3️⃣ Fellow believers (Ephesians 6:18)
4️⃣ Those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44)
5️⃣ The sick (James 5:14-16)
6️⃣ Those who spread the gospel (2 Thessalonians 3:1, Matthew 9:38)
7️⃣ Those who need to hear the gospel (Romans 10:1)
8️⃣ Ourselves (especially when we’re anxious, Philippians 4:6)
So, just as Jesus and the Spirit intercede for us, let’s commit ourselves to interceding for all of the above, knowing that he is gracious, powerful, and able to do immeasurably more than we could ever imagine.
Other articles in this series:
Disclaimer: I use Grammarly and ChatGPT to catch my typos. Let me know if they missed any.
