How does Jesus pray for us in heaven?
Romans 8:34-35; Luke 22:32; Hebrews 7:24-25
As we have studied Jesus on prayer, the focus has been on our prayer lives, on us praying in the pattern he has taught us, for the things he has shown us, in the manner he has commanded us. And following these guidelines with ever-increasing faithfulness should be a major goal of our lives.
But infinitely more important than any praying we do is the continual and perfect prayer life of Jesus for us in heaven. The scriptures cited above make it plain that Jesus is at the right hand of God, the place of greatest intimacy and access to Almighty God in the universe. Jesus as God’s only begotten and perfectly beloved Son rightly possesses that intimacy and access because he is the image of the invisible God, the perfect reflection of God’s own character, and because his mind and heart perfectly coincide with God’s. Therefore, he always thinks what God thinks and loves what God loves. This means that one hundred percent of his requests are granted because he always prays according to the plans and decrees of God.
infinitely more important than any praying we do is the continual and perfect prayer life of Jesus for us in heaven.
Furthermore, in ways we can scarcely imagine, Jesus’ prayer life for every one of his sheep by name goes on incessantly until we are safely out of danger and in his holy presence. He “always lives to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:24-25). Who can possibly comprehend how omniscience pleads with omniscience to unleash omnipotence in perfect wisdom to perfect the salvation of every one of God’s elect?
A tiny glimpse of Jesus’ eternal and perfect prayers for his people is given in his statement to Peter right before Peter lurched into the worst and most sinful night of his life: “I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:32). This is not the only prayer our great high priest prays for us now in heaven, but it is a vital one. Jesus said that Satan has demanded to sift all of us like wheat … all of us will be tried and tested continually in this sin-cursed world, and Satan is going constantly for the jugular—the lifeline of our faith that unites us with Christ and his saving work. If Satan can sever that lifeline, we will most certainly die spiritually.
But Christ will never let that happen, and he knows his loving Father will never let that happen. The Father chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should end up eternally holy and blameless in his sight in heaven (Ephesians 1:4). Jesus promised four times that he will raise us up at the last day (John 6:39, 40, 44, 54). Therefore, as long as we need our faith—before we are safely in heaven seeing God face to face—Christ will pray for our faith not to fail. And his omnipotent Father will see to it that it won’t. Jesus prays for all the lesser details as well, including that we will not be tempted beyond what we can bear, but that he will make a way of escape so we can survive temptation’s assault (1 Corinthians 10:13). And that we will have a body of faithful Christians around us to encourage us daily so that we will not be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness (Hebrews 3:12-13). And that we will be forgiven for any sin we do commit because of his propitiating work on the cross (1 John 2:1-2). And that the Spirit will convict us of our sins and bring us to a deeper repentance for them (John 16:8; James 4:5-10). This detailed and comprehensive prayer work our advocate and high priest Jesus does continually at the right hand of God. And so does his Spirit, as Romans 8:26-27 tells us. We are comprehensively and perfectly covered in prayer!
So as important as it is for us to pray as our Savior taught us to pray, it is even more important that he prays so continually and perfectly for us, that we know it, and rest assured in it.
