John 6:15 – So Jesus, aware that they intended to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself, alone.
I love the beautiful picture of Christ longing, even needing, to be alone with His Father in His humanity. Jesus longs to be alone in prayer when He sees His disciples struggling for their lives on the Sea of Galilee just down below. Here is where the scripture takes on an even deeper shade of meaning. Could this be a picture of Jesus seated at the Father’s right hand praying for His disciples? I think that is exactly what this is. This is a picture of the church struggling through the storms of this life with Jesus seated above us, watching every move we make and praying for us. This is the present day ministry of Jesus. He is always in prayer, praying for you and for me.
The first blessing of this heavenly Intercessor is that He represents me before the Father in heaven. Paul said it like this in 1 Tim.2:5 – “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus”. This shows us the power of this man actually being in heaven with the Father. He is there to represent us, to represent every human. He took our sin and placed His righteousness on us. This is the blessing of Christ’s heavenly ministry.
He not only represents me, He is praying for me. He knows me inside and out, He knows my weaknesses and is always praying for me. His prayers are answered by the Father and released in me by the power of the Holy Spirit. Pauls tells us this in Rom.8:34 – “Christ Jesus is He who died, but rather, was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us”. Finally, Christ’s heavenly prayers serve to work His saving power more and more into my life. Paul said that He saves us to the uttermost in Hebrews 7:25. This beautiful word translated “uttermost” has a double meaning. It means complete salvation; spirit soul, and body. It also means eternal salvation, He is able to keep me as His throughout eternity.
As I think about Christ praying for His disciples in the storm from the mountain above, I am reminded that He has me no matter what storm I am facing. He is with you and praying for you in whatever circumstance you find yourself in today.