Submitted by Andy McIlvain
In the book of Job there is a lot of talk in the heavenly realm about humans on Earth. But what has changed is that now at this present moment our risen Lord in his physical self is talking to God the Father concerning his children (all of us), based on his experience as a human on earth.
Just as we gloss over the person of the Holy Spirit, so we also, in our culture of casual faith, gloss over our Lord’s work on our behalf in the present.
Christ makes it plain to his disciples and to us that He does have a physical body and is not a disembodied spirit: “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” (Luke 24:39) After spending forty days with His disciples, Jesus ascended bodily into heaven (Acts 1:9). Jesus is still human at this very moment, and He has a human body in heaven right now. His body is different from ours in that our human flesh is perishable, but Christ’s heavenly body is imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:50). Jesus has a physical body, a resurrected body designed to last for eternity.
The book of Hebrews says, “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25).” This verse (and many others like it) reminds us that although Christ’s work to secure the salvation of the elect (believers) was completed on the cross, as made evident by His cry “It is finished!” (John 19:30), His concern and care for all of us, His redeemed children, will never be completed.
So, if you will imagine, Christ Jesus in his human body like ours standing to the right of God the Father speaking to him about you and I and our sins and struggles.
Paul said: “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (Romans 8:34) Jesus is interceding for us while Satan (the “accuser”) is accusing us, pointing out our sins and weakness before God, just as he did with Job (Job 1:6-12).
We need also to understand that Jesus is the only human mediator between God and man. No other person—not Mary, any Christian Saints or Church Fathers, priests etc.—has the power to intercede for us before the throne of the Almighty. No Angel has that authority. Christ alone is the God-man, and He mediates and intercedes between God the Father and you and me. “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).”
You are not forgotten by God; Christ speaks of you often. Thanks be to God!
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