Cooperating with the Heavenly Ministry of the Ascended Christ
Message Six
Responding to Christ’s Intercession in His Heavenly Ministry
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Hence also He is able to save to the uttermost those who come forward to God through Him, since He lives always to intercede for them—Heb. 7:25。
Again, truly I say to you that if two of you are in harmony on earth concerning any matter for which they ask, it will be done for them from My Father who is in the heavens—Matt. 18:19.
Word of Appetizer
How can we respond to Christ’s intercession in His heavenly ministry?
Christ’s intercession requires our response; we need to participate in Christ’s interceding life and become on earth the reflection of Christ’s intercession in His heavenly ministry, praying the prayers of the interceding Christ. When we have the heavenly position and authority, our prayers become God’s administration, the execution of God’s will.
Spiritual Burden
Christ is able to save us completely because He is interceding for us; He is our perpetual, constant, and eternal Intercessor.
Christ’s intercession requires our response; we need to participate in Christ’s interceding life and become on earth the reflection of Christ’s intercession in His heavenly ministry, praying the prayers of the interceding Christ.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
Christ as the kingly and divine High Priest is interceding for us.
In Romans 8 Christ is interceding for us at the right hand of God, and the Spirit is interceding for us in our spirit.
We need to respond to Christ’s intercession in His heavenly ministry.
The Experience of Life
Christ as the kingly and divine High Priest is interceding for us; Christ as our High Priest is able to save us to the fullest extent, that is, to save in every kind of situation and condition.
Christ can save us to the uttermost because He is living not only in the heavens but also in us. While He is living in the heavens, He is transmitting Himself into us.
Practice and Application
We need to participate in Christ’s interceding life and become on earth the reflection of Christ’s intercession in His heavenly ministry, praying the prayers of the interceding Christ.
The position of prayer is ascension, that is, a heavenly Position. When we have the heavenly position and authority, our prayers become God’s administration, the execution of God’s will.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
Hence also He is able to save to the uttermost those who come forward to God through Him, since He lives always to intercede for them. For such a High Priest was also fitting to us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners and having become higher than the heavens—Heb. 7:25-26.
I. Christ as the kingly and divine High Priest is interceding for us
•Because Christ lives forever without any change, He is able to save us to the uttermost in extent, time, and space.
•The expression to the uttermost means “completely, entirely, perfectly, to the end, and for eternity”; this indicates that Christ as our High Priest is able to save us to the fullest extent, that is, to save in every kind of situation and condition.
•Christ is able to save us completely because He is interceding for us; He is our perpetual, constant, and eternal Intercessor.
•Christ intercedes for us constantly, and eventually His intercession will overcome, subdue, and save us; we all will be completely saved by His intercession; His salvation reaches to the uttermost
Key Verses (2)
Who is he who condemns? It is Christ Jesus who died and, rather, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us—Rom. 8:34.
Moreover, in like manner the Spirit also joins in to help us in our weakness, for we do not know for what we should pray as is fitting, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. But He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to God—8:26-27
II. In Romans 8 Christ is interceding for us at the right hand of God, and the Spirit is interceding for us in our spirit
• Christ died for us, He was resurrected, and now He is in the heavens at the right hand of God interceding for us.
• The Spirit also joins in to help us in our weakness, for we do not know for what we should pray as is fitting, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
•He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to God; The mind of the Spirit here is not the mind of the Spirit that is independent of us; it is the mind of the Spirit that has been mingled with our mind and has become part of our heart.
•His interceding is mainly that we may be fully conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son.
Key Verses (3)
So then Peter was kept in the prison; but prayer was being made fervently by the church to God concerning him—Acts 12:5.
Epaphras, who is one of you, a slave of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God—Col. 4:12.
III. We need to respond to Christ’s intercession in His heavenly ministry
•Christ’s intercession requires our response; we need to participate in Christ’s interceding life and become on earth the reflection of Christ’s intercession in His heavenly ministry, praying the prayers of the interceding Christ.
•Through our prayer Christ, the Head, is given a way to carry out His administration through His Body.
•In Acts 12 we have the intercessory prayer of the church, and in Colossians 1:9-11 and 4:12, the intercessory prayers of Paul and Epaphras.
• The position of prayer is ascension, that is, a heavenly position.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 Christ has been constituted the High Priest according to the powerful element of an indestructible life (Heb. 7:16; Acts 2:24)
(Please explain that this is an endless life, being the eternal, divine, uncreated life and the resurrection life that has passed through the test of death and of Hades.)
T2 Christ lives forever, He is able to save us to the uttermost in extent, time, and space (Heb. 7:25)
(Please use personal experience to explain that Christ as our High Priest is able to save to the fullest extent, that is, to save in every kind of situation and condition.)
D2
T1 We need to keep coming forward to God (Heb. 4:16)
(Since we have such a High Priest interceding for us, what kind of attitude should we have?)
T2 Christ is interceding for us, and He will save us to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25)
(Please explain: if we are not saved to the uttermost, it does not mean that He is not able to save; rather, it means that we were not willing to be saved.)
D3
T1 Christ is both at the right hand of God and in our spirit (Rom. 8:34, 26-27) (Refer to Outlines II. A-B)
(Please explain that Christ is interceding for us at the right hand of God, and the Spirit is interceding for us in our spirit.)
T2 Christ is interceding for us to be brought into perfection (Rom. 8:30)
(Please explain that Christ is not interceding merely for us to have comfort, also is for us to be glorified.)
D4
T1 In our groaning the Spirit groans also, interceding for us (Rom. 8:26-27)
(Please use personal experience to explain that at times we may have some burden and some feeling, but we do not know how to utter them; all we can do is groan.)
T2 Christ intercedes for the saints according to God (Rom. 8:27-29)
(Please explain that the searching Spirit prays for us according to God Himself, that we may be conformed to the image of His Son.)
D5
T1 Responding to Christ’s intercession in His heavenly ministry (Heb. 7:25-26)
(Please explain that our prayers are the response to His heavenly ministry.)
T2 When Peter was in prison, “prayer was being made fervently by the church to God concerning him” (Acts 12:5)
(Please explain that in Acts 12 we have the intercessory prayer of the church.)
D6
T1 The apostle Paul and his co-workers prayed that the Colossians would know the will of God (Col. 1:9; 4:12)
(Please explain that in Colossians 1:9-11 and 4:12, we have the intercessory prayers of Paul and Epaphras.)
T2 With the position of prayer there is the authority of prayer (Matt. 17:20)
(Please explain that whatever a Christian does is not only a matter of power, but even more, a matter of authority.)
