Dear Failure, He Prays for You
Letters to a Weary Pilgrim
Dear Failure,
I sometimes deny Jesus. You do too.
Maybe not with our words, but certainly with our actions.
Our sin calls God’s truth into question, leading us to accept the lie that what our flesh or this world is offering us is better than Christ. In other words, we deny Jesus.
This reality can burden true disciples with guilt; it causes us to run and hide behind the supposed success of our self-improvement project through outward obedience. What’s more, we fall into unbelief. I know amid my failures, I’ve denied God’s faithfulness, wondering if he’ll ultimately let go of me.
Those times revealed that I forgot an aspect of the good news: someone is constantly praying for me.
The Failure We Often Relate To
One of Jesus’ earliest followers, Simon Peter failed His savior by denying Him, not once, not twice, but three times. Before He did, Jesus said these words, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31–32).
After Peter denied His Lord, Jesus restored him, making good on His promise and showcasing that His prayer indeed was answered. But think of it, Jesus prayed for Peter.
Have you ever wondered what Jesus is doing right now? We know He’s seated at the Father's right hand, but what is He doing there?
Hebrews gives us the answer: “He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). It turns out Jesus’ prayer for Peter on earth, only foreshadowed the ongoing ministry He would undertake in heaven.
He Intercedes: What Does It Mean?
The fact that Jesus always prays for His elect people is rooted, not in some arbitrary activity He has chosen to undertake, but in who He is as our mediator.
The Second London Confession sums it up this way, “This office of mediator between God and humanity is appropriate for Christ alone, who is the prophet, priest, and king of the church of God.” (Emphasis mine)
The Old Princeton, Dutch Theologian Geerhardus Vos helped me understand this priestly role more deeply. Vos summarizes the intercession of Christ this way:
“It is the steadfast will of the Mediator by which He presents His satisfaction to the Father and keeps it in His remembrance, and by which He claims its particular application for all the members of His body.”1
Intercession, then, is to stand between two opposing parties and plead on behalf of another, as Priests did for Israel in the Old Testament. Vos points out that the heavenly intercession of Christ does not mean that the Father somehow forgets Christ’s atonement or is perpetually angry at us and needs His Son’s prayers to keep His wrath at bay. Rather, it is simply the present application of the redemption already accomplished in history.
God the Father and God the Son mutually agree as they pour out love to the saints through the Holy Spirit. Christ stands before the Father praying which is the continual confirmation that satisfaction for sins has been made and His promises have been fulfilled. Additionally, He stands before the Father pleading that our “faith would not fail” (Luke 22:32), that is, we will not ultimately fall away.
He Intercedes: What Does it Mean For Failures Like Us?
Because Jesus is praying for you…
God continually accepts you
Christ’s prayers for you give you an ironclad defense against the condemning words of the accuser. Amid your sin, the Father’s heart has never grown cold toward you. Your union with Christ does not ebb and flow based on your performance. Yes, the Father looks at you and still sees His own Son.
This causes our hearts to respond with gratitude, go to him in constant prayer, and respond with true obedience, living like who we already are in Christ.
But when we fail to do so we remember,
“Before the throne of God above,
I have a strong and perfect plea,
a great high priest, whose name is Love,
who ever lives and pleads for me.”
The Savior saves you completely
As the author of Hebrews reminds us, “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
The clause, “He is able to save to the uttermost…” is packed with meaning. The word “uttermost” denotes comprehensiveness or completeness. He doesn’t just save his people from the penalty of sin in the past, His salvation is comprehensive; He is saving us from sin’s present power and will save us from sin’s very presence in the future. And what grounds the promise? Notice the connector word “since…” He will keep you till the end since (or because) He always lives to intercede for you.
You deny Jesus with your words, thoughts, and actions. But remember, dear saint who is a failure just like me: Jesus is praying for you, instilling confidence that the same grace that saves is the same grace that leads you home.
Like Peter, your faith may fail momentarily but will not ultimately fail (Jude 24). As the Puritan, Thomas Watson stated, “The saints persevere in believing because Christ perseveres in praying.”2
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics (Christology), Lexham Press, p.117
The Select Works of the Rev. Thomas Watson, Comprising His Celebrated Body of Divinity, in a Series of Lectures on the Shorter Catechism, and Various Sermons and Treatises (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1855), 124
