A True Intercessor

In order to be a true intercessor between God and man, heaven and earth, one must be as relevant on earth as you are in heaven. I'm going to illustrate this - think it through carefully. It seems like a 'duh' example... but it's profound to me.

Matthew 14:29-31 MKJV
(29) And He said, Come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
(30) But seeing that the wind was strong, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me!
(31) And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him; and said to him, Little-faith! Why did you doubt?

For Peter, the only Truth he cared about when he stepped out of the boat was Jesus. Jesus was his hero. Jesus was someone he trusted. Jesus told him to get out of the boat. Peter did. When Peter did that, he was doing NOTHING in the flesh. He was walking a spiritual walk which - by default - has dominion over all earthly rules. The key to this walk for Peter - was Jesus.

Then Peter looked away. He utters perhaps the shorted prayer in the Bible. HELP! Jesus reached down and grabbed his arm. For Peter, his walk at that moment failed. He went immediately from walking in the Spirit to walking in the flesh. How did he survive this? Jesus! Jesus is the answer in both situations. Jesus is the answer when the Spiritual walk is thriving, and He is the answer when it fails.

Hebrews 1:3a
(3) God's Son has all the brightness of God's own glory and is like him in every way. By his own mighty word, he holds the universe together.

By His word, He can hold you together between your two worlds - the world of the flesh and the world of His Spirit. It is His perfect power that makes Him the perfect intercessor. As we become more like Him, our power of intercession for others also grows. We think more like he thinks - staying above the waves and helping others stay up, too.

Wash It, Then Burn It

Lev 1:4-9 LITV (4) And he shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it is accepted for him to make atonement for him. (5) And he shall kill the son of the herd before the face of Jehovah. And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall bring near the blood and sprinkle the blood on the altar all around at the opening of the tabernacle of the congregation. (6) And he shall skin the burnt offering, and shall cut it into pieces. (7) And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. (8) And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall arrange the pieces, with the head and the fat, on the wood on the fire, which is on the altar. (9) And he shall wash its inward parts, and its legs, with water. And the priest shall burn as incense the whole of it on the altar for a burnt offering, a fire offering of soothing fragrance to Jehovah.

This is an incredible passage. It immediately raises questions, most of which begin with 'why'.

Why did he lay his hand on the head of the sacrifice? In the Old Testament, the priest transferred the sin of himself or the people upon the sacrifice by laying his hand upon his head. If you do a search on this throughout the Old Testament, you'll notice it was NEVER good when God's hand was upon a person or a people. "...and God's hand was heavy upon Pharaoh."

In the New Testament, when the priest laid hands upon someone, life was transferred. Healing. What (who) was the difference? Jesus. It was truly a divine reversal. To that point, the Law stated separation from lepers. Grace stated healing for lepers. Again... Jesus!

Next... WHY! Why cut a sacrifice into pieces, take the legs and take out some of the inner organs... wash them... and throw them on the fire? Because any sacrifice to God must be clean on the outside AND on the inside. No dirt! No sin! Again... lets shift to the time of Jesus.

Joh 13:6-10 LITV
(6) He then came to Simon Peter. And that one said to Him, Lord, do You wash my feet?
(7) Jesus answered and said to him, What I am doing, you do not yet know. But you will know after these things.
(8) Peter said to Him, You may in no way wash my feet to the age. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.
(9) Simon Peter said to Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also the hands and the head.
(10) Jesus said to him, The one having been bathed has no need other than to wash the feet, but is wholly clean. And you are clean, but not all.

Do you see it? It's the same picture. We are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God. Peter was such. But Peter had need to be washed - by the Priest. Peter was already clean on the inside - as only Jesus can make us. So Peter says, "If you must, then, Lord wash all of me!" And what did Jesus say? "Peter... I don't NEED to wash all of you. Only that which has been in contact with the world." The feet!

Don't miss the point, though. It wasn't really about Peter's gnarly feet. It was a demonstration to Peter that once made clean by Jesus, we are truly clean. However we can all get pretty dirty in our worldly dealings. The trials of life hammer us... get us down... make us... tired. They drive wedges between us and God that keep us from drawing near to Him. You might call them 'virtual wedges', because nothing truly separates us from God once we are His. It's a perception that the enemy uses. The cure? To get our feet washed. We do this for our brethren because Jesus did it for us. We are... priests.

Not About Us

Exo 40:26-27 MKJV
(26) And he put the golden altar in the tent of the congregation in front of the veil.
(27) And he burned sweet incense on it, even as Jehovah commanded Moses.

This was the first point that Moses or the Levitical priesthood had ever burned incense to God, per God's instruction. I would imagine that out of all the unpleasant business the priests had to tend to, burning incense was a favorite task. It was peaceful. It didn't involve blood. It smelled GOOD. Do you think that there were ever times when the priest thought, "Hmmm, I think I'll skip the incense today." Or, "Lets change this stuff up some... I'm getting tired of the same old smell."

No.

God had already warned the priests, "You shall offer no strange incense on it" (Exodus 30:9). The message was clear. God said, "This is not for you. This is for ME." The penalty for not doing it God's way was NOT GOOD!

And yet, we treat worship the same way. If it's the same song as last week, people get offended. If it's too heavy or too light, people find a different church. If someone plays an instrument... or someone doesn't... for some reason we take that as a burden upon ourselves. What a backwards way of thinking! Shame on us if we ever do this! "It aint about you or me, so get over it and worship Him!"