What Is Jesus Doing For You Now?

Since we hear so much about God the Son's ministry for us during the Gospel period, it is common to think that is all He did. With the Ascension Jesus Christ went up to Heaven and so some people wonder what if anything is He doing now? Fortunately, for every Christian Jesus Christ is still involved in important ministry for us.

Jesus Christ is doing several things for His people now. Today I want us to think about two roles that come out of Hebrews 9:24, "For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence." Notice the phrase, "now to appear for us in God's presence." Right now in Heaven, He is appearing in God the Father's presence for you and me.

The first is Jesus' role as our Intercessor. An intercessor is a person who intervenes between two parties to reconcile their problems. We do have problems and definitely need someone to intercede for us with God the Father. Fortunately we do as Romans 8:34 tells us, "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."

Hebrews 4:14-16 goes into more detail. "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Therefore, Christians not only have an intercessor, but we have one who understands us even better than we do. Because Jesus Christ, God the Son is our Intercessor we can confidently go to God in prayer!

The second is Jesus' role as our Advocate. An advocate is a person who pleads your cause. Sometimes it is used for a defense attorney. Now we all need one of these when it comes to God the Father, simply because every one of us is a sinner and He is holy. That is why 1 John2:1 is such good news, it says, "But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One."

Of course, everyone wants a good defense attorney verse 2 tells us why Jesus is the best we could ever hope for, "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins," Since we are guilty with no way to make good our sin before God, we are in desperate trouble. In fact, if we each got what we deserved we would get the immediate wrath of God now and eternity in Hell. Fortunately, our Advocate took care of that for us on the cross!

We still have an important role in the process. John describes it in 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins," We have to confess and that is hard to do. I do not know anyone whose favorite fun activity is confessing their faults and shortcomings. Yet that is precisely what we have to do to God. It is crucial in the entire process of being forgiven.

The good news is in the rest of that verse, "he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." God does forgive and even more, He will work at cleaning up our lives. That means we start living more like He wants us to.

This difference in viewpoint often makes little sense to us. Why would God forgive like this? Why would God call people like this to such roles? It all seems so unnatural! Just maybe that is part of the point God is making. Our way of seeing the world and thinking about things might be natural, but by God's standards are often wrong. Therefore, we have to get our viewpoint in line with His.

Appreciate God the Son's ministry as your Intercessor and Advocate.

Written by Rev. Daniel B. Baker June 2004



Articles by Rev. Daniel B. Baker :: Webmaster: Joseph I. Baker