In another series, Christ our Great and Perfect High Priest, based on Hebrews 7:25-28, we look at the High Priestly office of our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. We see that He is more than able to perform the mediatorial office in that He lives forever to make intercession for those who come to Him.
Christ is making intercession for us so that we can “stand against the wiles of the devil”; so that we can “let our lights so shine before men, that they may see our good works and glorify our Father who are in heaven”; so that having reconciled us unto Himself, we can be agents of reconciliation; so that having comforted us in all our troubles and sorrows, we can with the same comfort, comfort them who are suffering; so that having called us out of darkness into His marvellous light, we can “be witnesses unto Him both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth”. In short, Christ is our Great High Priest in Heaven, so that we on earth can be the priest of the otherwise lost world.
This series is based on 1 Timothy 2:1-7
Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle — I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying — a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
Our Priestly Role: Praying for all men
As priests we are to pray for all men
Our Priestly Role: Praying for those in Authority
Our rulers need divine wisdom that they might govern well in subjection to Him who is earth’s rightful King. As we pray earnestly for them, we are furthering our own best interests because as the affairs of nations are ordered according to the will of God, His people find living conditions more comfortable and more enjoyable.
Our Prophetic Role: Spreading the Gospel
God desires that all men should be saved, and He has made provision whereby all may be saved if they will. But they will not come to the knowledge of the truth when we, like Jonah, are busy sleeping at the “down-below” of the ship when men are crying for help from gods which are no God. We must not only be priests - praying, interceding and supplicating on their behalf - but we must also be like prophets – carrying the Gospel, the whole truth of God to them or they perish.
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