Question: Have you ever thought about the meaning of intercession? “To intervene on behalf on another” is the meaning of the verb form of intercede.

Understanding intercession is fundamental to a biblical worldview. Why? Because Christ is the Christian’s great intercessor. He is our representative. The whole doctrine of imputation hinges upon Christ as our mediator.

That’s what Paul means when he writes to Timothy, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).

Christ is the Christian’s mediator, his intercessor.

A Glimpse Back at Recalcitrant People: Remember how often Moses interceded on behalf of sinful Israel? Remember how often the crowds complained to Moses that they had it better in bondage in Egypt? Here’s one example:

Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” (Numbers 14:1-4)

Moses as Intercessor:

Yet God was merciful. God was gracious. He had Moses, his intercessor. And Moses’ job, if you will? To petition the Lord on behalf of others.

Listen to Moses’ words:

And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now. (Numbers 14:17-19)

Encouragement: Do we understand the depths of God’s mercy and grace towards us sinners? God provided Moses as his intercessor on behalf of sinners. It’s a picture of the gospel, folks, where God was doing something through Christ, the ultimate intercessor and mediator, between God the holy and us, the sinners. Intercession is fundamental to a coherent understanding of the biblical narrative of redemption.

It’s a federal holiday here in America in honor of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Despite his legacy being that we ought to be a people who judge people by character rather than skin pigmentation, few seem able to learn that fundamental wisdom. Ugly tribalism thrives among mob mentalities. In this postlapsarian world, I don’t think that will ever change for the undiscerning masses.

As a soldier, I, too, have a day off from work today to celebrate King’s legacy. He was by no means a perfect man. Scholarship has revealed that he was a philanderer and plagiarized much of his dissertation. As one who regularly has his words stolen, it is painful to endure. But each man will give an account one day. So, again, in this postlapsarian world, I do not anticipate a cessation of intellectual theft.

But I do not want to focus on King here or on tribalistic thinking or on intellectual theft. Rather, I want to write of waking up late this morning, of coming down the staircase, of hearing my wife practice “In Christ Alone” on the piano, and of what it means to have a God-fearing spouse.

It’s only Monday and she is already planning the piano pieces for next Lord’s Day. If you’re a Christian, and if you have a Christian spouse, there’s a benediction that you discover (if you pay attention). When I came down the stairs, she was printing off sheets of music, arranging parts for herself and other singers at church, and she asked me to record with her the melody and harmony lines in order that folks could hear their parts, based upon their registers.

I had a suspicion a quarter of a century ago when I proposed that marrying a sweet church girl from GA, a girl whose parents loved the Lord and served their church body, that I was making the right decision. Rather, it was that I discerned that God was making the decision for me in His provision of her in my life. That’s the hand of providence, dear ones.

But you have to have eyes to see that sort of thing. You have to be able to step out of tribalism, groupthink, and the mob mentality. You have to be quiet. If you are, you might hear the sounds of piano keys being played by your spouse’s slender fingers, and hear “In Christ Alone” as you awake and descend the stairwell for your morning coffee.

Introduction: This Sunday as my family and I gather with the saints, I am teaching from 1 Peter 1. “Looking Back, Looking Forward” is the title.

We are to look back in order to learn from the past. But we are also to look forward–in the sure and certain knowledge that all of history is known to God, and if we are God’s people and are in Christ, we are to be a people of hope.

Text:

¹⁰ Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, ¹¹ inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. ¹² It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. (1 Peter 1:10-12)

Teaching: Peter writes that the prophets of before were “serving not themselves but you” (1 Pt 1:12). That is crucial for us to understand. Peter is saying that those who labored in the faith were not in that labor for their fame, fortune, or aggrandizement. They served the Lord by serving the people.

In other words, we owe a lot to those who labor well. We stand upon their shoulders. They sacrificed on our behalf, even though they may not have known us personally. But because they loved the Lord and the truth, they served faithfully.

Encouragement: Folks, we need to honor those to whom honor is due. Let us look around and see who’s got theological blisters due to hard work. Let us look to those who serve others rather than self. Let us encourage one another in the Lord and in the truth. Because God sees. And we will give an account.

Bottom line up front: Job was a master of biblical theology because he had a God-centered worldview.

Why do I say that? Just listen to these words from the man whom God first crushed, only to exalt him later:

10 But he knows the way that I take;
    when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
¹¹ My foot has held fast to his steps;
    I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
¹² I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
    I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
¹³ But he is unchangeable,and who can turn him back?
    What he desires, that he does.
¹⁴ For he will complete what he appoints for me,
    and many such things are in his mind.
¹⁵ Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
    when I consider, I am in dread of him.
¹⁶ God has made my heart faint;
    the Almighty has terrified me;
¹⁷ yet I am not silenced because of the darkness,
    nor because thick darkness covers my face. (Job 23:10-17)

Teaching: Job endured staggering amounts of suffering–the loss of his own health, his friends, his children, his wealth, his reputation, and more. But what Job did not lose was God. God was there–through it all. And God was going to–and indeed did–reward Job and also rebuke those who turned against Job.

In the verses from Job 23 quoted above, will you notice the following:

• Job repeatedly confessed the omniscience of God.
• Job, though a sinner, labored to be a faithful man of God.
• Job repeatedly confessed the sovereignty of God.
• Job embodied a biblical, reverent posture towards God.

Encouragement: God sees, dear ones. He truly does. He sees EVERYTHING. Nothing escapes God’s sight. For those in Christ, that should encourage us. For those still under God’s wrath, that should lead them to repentance over their sin and a change of heart/mind such that they flee to the gospel of Christ. Let us learn from Job. Don’t be put off by his story. It is written, like all Scripture, for our instruction.

Introduction: Surely many know the poem from the Old Testament:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. (Psalm 23)

Today’s Focus: It is one of the most cherished of poems from sacred Scripture. And for good reason. But today’s focus is upon the phrase my cup overflows.

That imagery . . . wow! A cup filled beyond what it can hold. Why’s that so moving? Because it’s not about the cup. It’s about the One who fills it.

I say again: it’s not about the cup. It’s about the One who fills it.

Teaching: I do not presume to speak for others when I write. I speak my thoughts, and I try to align my thoughts under the Author of all that’s true and beautiful and good.

Have you ever doubted? Have you ever doubted God’s providence? Have you ever thought (even if you didn’t say it to others), that God didn’t see your suffering?

Rest assured, dear saints: God sees. God knows. And truth will prevail.

Encouragement: Trust the Lord. His faithfulness is unbeaten. He is undefeated. You can think you murder the truth; you can dupe sheeple into thinking you’ve got them fooled, but God’s truth will out; it will prevail.

May we be a ransomed people of transparency, light, and truth. Why? Because God will fill our meager cups to overflowing.

For me, this evening is a quiet one indoors. Outside our home the rain is falling softly and steadily. Small shallow pools of water are on either side of the front steps. Our Cavalier King Charles does not want to go pee outside for fear of getting her paws wet. [She is truly a ‘Lady’ (that’s her name)]. And I just completed the reading of a slim volume of theology by Jim Boice entitled Standing On the Rock.

Like Boice’s other volumes, this one was winsome and wise. In this volume, Boice tackled common objections secularists and liberals have historically raised about the sufficiency, authority, and inspiration of the Scriptures. And just as in his other volumes, he more than withstood all inquiries via vetted scholarship. He answered honest (and often dishonest) questions and assertions raised against the authority of Scripture, and gently called naysayers and skeptics to the truth via evidence.

As one steeped in this sort of polemics, his answers were not new to me. The same questions have been around since the Patristic Era and before. And honest answers are not hard to come by if one will do a bit of study.

But what I was so moved by this quiet evening were all the stories he shared in this slim volume–of skeptics who came to faith in Christ in the most interesting ways. One was of a man shouting ad hominem attacks, who challenged Boice to a debate. Boice willingly accepted the challenge, but the man refused.

Another was of how W.A. Criswell told First Baptist Dallas that he was going to preach through the entire Bible as their pastor–from Genesis to Revelation–knowing that many folks could not even locate books like Habakkuk and Zephaniah in their Bibles. Critics laughed and scoffed at Criswell. But the result? The hearers could not fit inside the church, there were so many. His exposition was so accurate and the Word of God was so powerful, people were regenerated by God.

The stories go on and on. And all of them testify to the power of the Scriptures–the very breath of God.

When I see my own writing on my laptop, I sometimes chuckle now. Why? Because when I was a young man, full of intellectual pride and a sharp tongue, and I studied philosophy and literature, and went on to earn several graduate degrees, I get what the Apostle Paul meant when he said he had learned to count all those things as so much rubbish. He didn’t mean that he devalued the life of the mind. Just the opposite, in fact.

What he meant is that zeal without true knowledge/wisdom is vanity and pride. True knowledge comes when we fall under the recognition that this is God’s world and therefore God’s Word is the authority. It’s not man’s world or the words of men that carry ultimate authority. We are always the creatures; God alone is the Creator. We are borrowers of the creation only.

God is bigger than our trials, dear ones. His Word proves true. You can kick against it, besmirch it, shun it, and pervert it, but it survives and remains authoritative. As a friend of mine wrote earlier this week when she quoted Isaiah, I will do the same:

Behold, I am doing a new thing;
    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:19)