Vicarious Intercession
. . having
boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus . . . —Hebrews 10:19
Beware of thinking that intercession
means bringing our own personal sympathies and concerns into the presence of
God, and then demanding that He do whatever we ask. Our ability to approach God
is due entirely to the vicarious, or substitutionary, identification of our
Lord with sin. We have “boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus.”
Spiritual stubbornness is the most
effective hindrance to intercession, because it is based on a sympathetic
“understanding” of things we see in ourselves and others that we think needs no
atonement. We have the idea that there are certain good and virtuous things in
each of us that do not need to be based on the atonement by the Cross of
Christ. Just the sluggishness and lack of interest produced by this kind of
thinking makes us unable to intercede. We do not identify ourselves with God’s
interests and concerns for others, and we get irritated with Him. Yet we are
always ready with our own ideas, and our intercession becomes only the
glorification of our own natural sympathies. We have to realize that the
identification of Jesus with sin means a radical change of all of our
sympathies and interests. Vicarious intercession means that we deliberately
substitute God’s interests in others for our natural sympathy with them.
Am I stubborn or substituted? Am I
spoiled or complete in my relationship to God? Am I irritable or spiritual? Am
I determined to have my own way or determined to be identified with Him?
(Taken from Oswald Chambers – “My Utmost
for His Highest” May 4)