Confession of Faith: Article XXVI

This impressive article speaks of the glory of the exalted Mediator. It is about Christ’s intercession. It begins with the words, “We believe that we have no access unto God.” This becomes reality in the life of a sinner who has learned to know God and himself, and who has learned to know that from his side there is an impossibility. He himself has closed the door, and there is no way back unto God. It is impossible that a holy and a just God and such a wretched sinner would ever have fellowship and communion. All those who are taught by the Spirit of their utter need of this Advocate, of this Intercessor, will learn to know, first of all, that we have no access unto God. What a blessing, what an eternal wonder, that the sentence does not end here, but that there is something which follows.

Article I of the Confession of Faith states that the God to whom there is no access from our side is “one only simple and spiritual Being, which we call God; that He is eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, immutable, infinite, almighty, perfectly wise, just, good, and the overflowing fountain of all good.” The Westminster Catechism says that we are created for this God, and that “man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” Now if the Lord begins to work in our life, it becomes our desire to have fellowship with God and to enjoy Him forever. And if you then learn to know that there is no access, it is something that will not only humble the soul, but it will be a burden too heavy to bear. The question then arises, “Is there a way?”

We have already heard about Christ, who is the Way. Therefore this sentence does not end with “we have no access to God,” but it says, “we have no access unto God but alone through the only Mediator and Advocate.” So there is an access, there is a way; there is One who stands between, a Mediator, standing between the sinner and a holy and righteous God. And there is also One Who intercedes, who is an Advocate. The word “advocate” is derived from two Latin words, which mean “to call toward.” Literally it then means somebody who is called toward us, called to help us, called for our help. What a blessing if we may learn to know what that means, and it may be our prayer, “I am oppressed; undertake for me, O Advocate.”

Many places in God’s Word point to this Advocate. We read of Him in Romans 8:34: “Who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” The apostle says in Hebrews 7:25: “Seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” And we read in 1 John 2:1: “And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.” Many more texts are mentioned, also at the end of this article, which speak of Him being Intercessor and Advocate.

Calvin says that He is as Judah was for Benjamin, who said, “I will be Surety for him.” He would plead his cause; he gave himself to be responsible for Benjamin. Calvin says He is as Paul was for Onesimus, that slave who had left his master. Paul pleaded his cause when Onesimus was going to return to his master, Philemon. Christ is the Intercessor, the greater Judah and the One greater than Paul, pleading for those who, like Onesimus, have left their lawful Master and therefore could righteously be put to death.

This Mediator intercedes, He makes intercession. How does He do that? When we make intercession for somebody and plead his cause, we seek to do that in an earnest, sincere way, in a humble and urgent way, trying to incline the heart of the offended person, trying to kindle his compassion. It is trying, not demanding. There is no advocate who can ever demand something. He can plead, he can use many words, he can plead eloquently and humbly, but he can never demand. The pleading of an earthly advocate often fails; it can be so powerless, it can be in vain.

But the Advocate at the right hand of the Father does not plead and make intercession as does an earthly advocate. He does it in a different way. When He comes, then, first of all, He is not just pleading for others as one who is separated from them. An earthly advocate is not the sinner for whom he is pleading; he is not bound to him. He may have some relationship with him, may be friendly with him, and may often talk to him, but they are two persons, and in the eyes of the judge they are two parties: there is the guilty one, for whom the pleading is made, and there is the one who pleads.

This is, however, so different with the heavenly Advocate. When He pleads the cause of guilty sinners, who in themselves have no access unto the Father, then they are not two parties. Remember, this is the same party, for He is the Head of the church; and when He stands before the Father, He stands there not apart from the body, but as part of the body, being the Head of the body. He is their Representative. When He stands there, actually they stand there. When He pleads there, actually they are pleading there, even if, of themselves, they know not what to say and know not what to plead. But the Father sees Him as the Head of the body; and in Him He sees the body. What a wonder if we may know that for ourselves. Neither hell nor sin can ever separate the Head from the body. That is the first difference.

“And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.”

The second difference is that an earthly advocate can only plead; he may not demand. He may try, may do his utmost, may be very eloquent, but the pleading of the heavenly Advocate is not like an earthly one. What is the difference? An earthly one may plead, but not succeed. But the heavenly Advocate in John 17 does not say, “Father, I plead, I supplicate.” No, He says, “Father I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am.” No, that is not presumption, but that is what He may righteously and justly say. He doesn’t come as a humble supplicant, but He comes as One who demands. An earthly advocate might be so bold as to say, “I demand,” but he has no right to do this. However, Christ has a right to do so and to say, “I will.” Why? It is because He not only represents His body, His church, but He at the same time presents His own merits. Christ, as prefigured by the high priest in the temple, went into the Holy of holies with the incense of His own mediatorial work. When the Father (reverently speaking) smells the incense of the perfect work of Christ, of His accomplished work, of His perfect righteousness, then He knows and agrees when Christ says, “I will.” Therefore the heavenly intercession of Christ is much more than, and excels, the intercession of any earthly advocate. He represents them, is one with them, and He demands for them. He says in John 17:11, “Holy Father, keep” (He does not ask, “May Thou keep”?) “through Thine own Name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they maybe one, as We are.”

When we read this article further, it seems that Guido de Bres, as in a doxology, in a song of praises to the glory of this Mediator and Intercessor, tries to plead for Him. Is this necessary? He is trying to convince those who might stay away from Him. First of all, he is speaking to those who are affrighted, who are afraid of Him, this majestic Being. For this Advocate is great; He, the Son of God, is great in glory, is more than Abraham was. He is the One who is also holy and just and righteous. He is the One before whom also the angels cry out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.” He is God from eternity. And His majesty, as will be seen at the last day when He will come to judge the quick and the dead, is a majesty that will cause the unconverted, His enemies, to flee in all directions and to cry to the mountains and the hills to cover them and to hide them. Let us never forget that this is also the Son of God, who is so holy that He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, outside of His own work. He will come with flaming fire to avenge and to do justice to all those who have rejected Him.

There is a people in the world who learn to know of that majesty, and of that distance between Christ and themselves. They learn to know how deeply they have fallen away from God. They learn to know what Abraham said, “Which am but dust and ashes.” They know that even their righteousnesses are filthy rags, and that Christ is holy and just.

You understand that Guido de Bres defended this Advocate against Rome and all the errors which are taught in the Roman Catholic church, but which are also found in the human heart, even in the hearts of God’s people. What does Rome say? Rome says, “God must be worshipped; God is holy and just and a heavenly majesty. One must say, ‘Have mercy upon us and hear us,’ but the Lord has given some to stand between the Holy God and us. Paul himself asked others to pray for him, saying, ‘Brethren, pray for us.’ So it is scriptural. You read that the centurion also sent other messengers, because he felt he was not worthy, and the Lord did not rebuke him for that.” Thus they say that there are also people who can do it better than we can. We are sinners and are so far away from the Lord Jesus, and He is so great in glory and power, therefore we need some qualified saints to intercede for us. For all different circumstances they have a specific, qualified saint who can make intercession on behalf of the sinner to God. You will recall that when Luther was returning to the university in Erfurt and the thunder and lightning cast him to the ground, he cried, “Holy St. Anna, help me! Pray for me!” But this is not according to the Bible. Those saints do not know our needs. Even if they are in heaven, they are sinners saved by grace. We do not need them, nor can they help us.

Speaking to the church of God, Guido de Bres says, “No, you should not be frightened by Christ’s majesty. That should not cause you to seek another mediator who would be well affected towards us. For whom could we find who loved us more than He who laid down His life for us, even when we were His enemies? And who would have more power or more majesty than He who sits at the right hand of His Father? We should not seek another mediator.”

There is no better frame than having nothing in ourselves, and yet to cling unto Him.

Perhaps you say, “How foolish it is to have a mediator for various circumstances and to have one for every occasion.” However, how is it in our life? How often can we find those practices in our own hearts? How often do we lean upon the prayers of a servant or a child of God or seek their approval? How often are we building or trusting in man, maybe in ourselves? How often are we seeking for some frame of our heart in order to have some liberty to pray to the Lord? If we feel warm inside, if we feel love or some humility and longing, then we say, “Now I think the Lord will hear me.” On the basis of those frames we then try to approach God. How often we base our acceptance, the acceptance of prayer, on something in us, instead of on Him and His work! Oh, how often we build upon the sandy foundations of our own changeable feelings and our own deceitful heart! That does not mean it is not good if our heart melts while we are praying, or that it is unimportant or insignificant if we may feel a strong drawing to the throne of grace. But if we build upon it and base our hope on it, then we actually are grieving the Lord Jesus.

Do you know what the best frame is? To come to Him as one who has no other frame than, “Lord, everything with me is wrong; everything from my side is polluted; nothing in my hands I bring.” There is no better frame than having nothing in ourselves, and yet to cling unto Him; it is to hope on Him, not because of what we feel, but because He is what He is. There is a people who have learned to know who He is because it has been revealed unto them by the Holy Spirit. Guido de Bres was one of them. He strongly recommends this Advocate. He says, “You do not need another; you shouldn’t seek another. There is no other, and He is approachable; He is willing. You should not be affrighted because of His majesty, and you should not look for other ways before you come to Him.”

Luther said that everyone of us has a pope in his heart. You might say, “That does not sound so kind,” but it is so true. What a gift it is to come unto Him, even if everything testifies against us, and say, “Yet I will hope in Him.” We are to come as we are, not with the garments and with the coverings of our own righteousness, not presenting unto Him the frames of our heart, but with empty hands. That is what is taught in this article.

Another point he is emphasizing is that you may have an advocate who is capable and able, and before whom you lay your case, but you feel that he does not understand your feelings. He may be a competent lawyer, but he cannot completely understand in what turmoil and turbulent circumstances you are. He cannot understand it because he has never experienced it himself. I often come to see people who are mourning, but I have not experienced it myself Happily I then do not have to come with my own message, but I may come with the Word of God. How hard it is, however, to have an advocate who does not fully understand your concerns and requests.

The concerns and requests of God’s people can be so difficult that they do not know how to express it. Sometimes it is just a cry. How should they put it into words? An earthly advocate might say, “I do not know what to make of you,” or “I think I understand some of it.” But he could be mistaken, and the real needs of that person would not be dealt with in the right way. But this Advocate understands fully. He was tempted in all points. Guido de Bres says, “Think of this. He knows it, even if you cannot express it. He sees it in your eyes, He looks into your heart, and He understands even if you do not understand it yourself and cannot express it and must say, ‘O God, it is all turmoil; it is all confusion.’” Would the Lord know if I cannot put it into words anymore? Yes, He knows before you say it. Oh, what a blessing to have such an Advocate.

This Advocate also has the power. In His intercession lies the preservation of His church. That is necessary, for that church is subject to many threatening powers: the terrors of the devil, the assaults and temptations of Satan, and the world which distresses them, persecutes them, hates them. There is the unbelief in their own hearts that distrusts God, and the power of the old corrupt nature. In this Intercessor there is the mighty fortress of which Luther and the entire church of God sings. Christ prays in John 17:11, “Holy Father, keep through Thine own Name those whom Thou hast given Me.”

The prayer and intercession of this Advocate will never be denied or rejected. He says, “Father, I know that Thou hearest Me always.” The Father is a prayer-answering God. Christ’s prayer will be answered. What an Intercessor the church has! He loved them so much that He laid down His life and came from the throne of glory to this cursed world. He took their place and still loves them. At times He shows this again unto them, reminding them of it. He again puts the ring on their finger. He says, “O bride, O church, O my beloved, My fair one, I am still the same, and I still love you as much as I did in former days when you tasted it. Perhaps you don’t feel it now, but I am still the same. Oh, come, pour out your heart, let Me hear thy voice, and show Me thy countenance.”

What should we say more about this Intercessor? May you also learn to know Him, to show Him your countenance, and to let Him hear your voice. Do you know who He is? He is like the Old Testament high priest who had the names of the tribes, all twelve, upon his shoulders and upon his breast. What is there on His shoulders? There is the government, the power; He has the power, and He says, “I will carry you, I will bear you.” But also on His breast, on His heart, there is the place of love. So He has the power, and He has the love. That is what we read in this article. May the Lord bless it to your hearts.

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