1. The duty of intercession. — The duty of inter- cession is explicitly and frequently taught by Christ in the Gospels. It has often been remarked about His teaching as to prayer that He seldom, if ever, gives a direct command to His followers to pray, but, taking it for granted that they do pray and do not need to be told to pray. He simply gives them directions how to pray, and shows them what are the essential elements, character- istics, and conditions of prayer {cf. e.g. Mt 6^- *, Mk 11^- -\ Lk 18>).
It hardly needs to be remarked that the Chris- tian religion, being a social religion, implies that prayer on behalf of others is an essential and dis- tinguishing element in its devotions. It would have been surprising if Christ had not taught the duty of intercession. This, of course, must not be taken as meaning that He taught it for the first time. Under the OT dispensation God's people were admitted to the privilege of intercession, and their prayers for others were availing. In par- ticular, ' the prophets were intercessors in virtue of their calling. 'The ground of this was twofold. ■The prophet was an acceptable person ; but, further, he had the Spirit, and the possession of it enabled him not only to interpret the mind of God to man, but also the mind of man to God' (Bernard in Hastings' DB, vol. iv. p. 40''). But in the Gospels we might have expected to find, as we do find, that the duty and privilege of intercession is ad- vanced and developed. In Christ's teaching, inter- cession takes a wider range and a higher view than under the OT dispensation, for no section of mankind is excluded from the scope of His redemp- tion. Jewish prayers, even of intercession, had been ottered to ' the Lord God of Israel ' or ' the God of our Fathers,' but in our Lord's pattern prayer, as well as throughout His teaching, every human being is invited to call upon God as his Father, and in so doing to regard all mankind as his brethren. 'When His disciples ask to be taught to pray, He gives them a prayer very unlike what John would have given, for it con- tains not a word of that petition for blessing upon Israel which, in any prayer that an Israelite ottered, contained, to his mind, the gist of the whole' (Latham, Pastor Pastorum, i>. 416).
The Incarnation has furnished a new motive and a new power for intercession. The man who is in Christ is no longer an isolated unit : he is a member of the Body of Christ, and therefore prays for all mankind as Christ did ; for, knowing that God has loved him in Christ, he loves others for wliom as for himself Christ came, and in the power of that love he prays for all men living.
When we come "to our Lord's express teaching as to intercession, we arc at once arrested by the fact that in the Lord's Prayer — given to the dis- ciples in response to their request to be taught how to pr.ay— intercession not only holds the first place, but the spirit of intercession pervades it all.
This prayer, which is the peculiar prayer of the Christian believer, the use of which marks him out from all others (witness the fact that in the early Church it was not taught to the catechumens till they were competentes and on the eve of their baptism), is a prayer of intei'cession. 'Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' Here the disciples are taught to pray that all mankind may be brought into the King- dom of God, that they may reverence His name, that they may learn to do His will and submit themselves to His rule. Here all limits of space and time are transcended, and he who prays the Lord's Prayer prays for all mankind, even for the generations yet unborn. It would liardly, there- fore, be an exaggeration to say that in Christ's teaching upon prayer, intercession holds the first place. This is in keeping with the whole tenor of His teaching and with the genius of His religion, who all His life took thought for others, and whose first utterance on the cross was a prayer for His murdereis (Lk 23*^). Following upon this, it is noteworthy that, according to Lk 1 p->^ it wag in direct sequence to and by way of commentary upon the Lord's Prayer that Christ spoke the parable of the Friend at Midnight, in which He teaches the necessity of importunate prayer, the importunity inculcated being the importunity ol one for his friend. Intercession, therefore, accord- ing to Christ's teaching, is not only to be ottered, but it is to be ottered with importunity.
2. Christ's personal example. — Besides His great prayer of intercession recorded in Jn 17, the Gospels afibrd several instances of our Lord's per- sonal example in intercession. His prayer on the eve of the ordination of the Twelve, when He con- tinued all night in prayer (Lk 16'-'-), was, it is highly probable, largely occupied with intercession for them. He prayed for St. Peter (2232)_ jjig first word from the cross was a prayer for His enemies. There is also the prayer recorded in Mt ir-^"^, and His prayer at the grave of Lazarus (Jn II'"'-), both of which are intercessory.