Jesus Prays Psalm 6

In the Gospels we often read about Jesus’ prayer life – passages that describe His all-night prayers (Luke 6:12) catch our attention, especially in a time when our attention spans are decreasing at an exponential rate. How did He pray? Remember that the Psalms (the Bible’s prayer/song book) are about Jesus (Luke 24:44). Let me suggest that the Psalms are an insight into Jesus’ extensive prayer life on earth and as He intercedes for us in heaven (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25). Reading Psalm 6 this morning, let’s briefly explore how this is a Jesus-prayer.

“O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger,
Nor chasten me in Your wrath.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am pining away;
Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are dismayed.
And my soul is greatly dismayed;
But You, O Lord—how long?

Return, O Lord, rescue my soul;
Save me because of Your lovingkindness.
For there is no mention of You in death;
In Sheol who will give You thanks?

I am weary with my sighing;
Every night I make my bed swim,
I dissolve my couch with my tears.
My eye has wasted away with grief;
It has become old because of all my adversaries.

Depart from me, all you who do iniquity,
For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.
The Lord has heard my supplication,
The Lord receives my prayer.
All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed;
They shall turn back, they will suddenly be ashamed” (Psalm 6:1-10).

How is this Jesus’ prayer? The Lord Himself gives us the interpretive key to understanding this plea in His context.

He quotes verse 8a in Matthew 7 when He speaks of false confessors/teachers: “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  You will know them by their fruits.  Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?  So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:15-23).

 They may fool many people, but they do not fool Jesus the Judge. Jesus, in quoting Psalm 6:8a in this Sermon on the Mount teaching, reveals to us the greater context of His judgment of false confessors/teachers. In Psalm 6, we see that the damage they do within the covenant family (the Church) is taken personally by the Lord of the Jesus. What these liars and hypocrites do to the Church, they do to Him. Before Paul was apostle, he was Saul of Tarsus, chief among the persecutors of the Church. When Jesus knocked the man off his horse, the glorified Lord of the Church asked this question: “Why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4; 22:7,8; 26:14). To hurt the Church is to attack the Lord of the Church. He prays on behalf of His Church to His Father (even now).

The answer to the prayer is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Psalm 6, the Lord points out that God’s wrath and death itself must be conquered by God Himself before the adversaries of God’s beloved can truly be conquered. We often associate Jesus' prayer concerning His death with the Garden of Gethsemane alone. This is not necessarily true: “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety” (Hebrews 5:7). Psalm 6 was one of those prayers, prayed long before the Garden. The prayer was "heard," and answered. This, of course, happened in the saving work of Jesus on the cross, in His resurrection, and in His coronation seating at the right hand of the Father in heaven. The enemies were placed into the judging hand of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:25). Prayer answered.

Yes, false confessors/teachers are a deadly threat to the Church in every age. They sneak in to the Church from the outside, and rise up from the inside. Unless we are diligent, we step into that role ourselves.

We should read this Psalm as the answered prayer of Jesus to the Father on behalf of His Church, which in His Body – in union with Him by faith, sealed by the Spirit. To hurt His Church with lies (in practice or doctrine) is to attack Him. Judgment is assured.

This is how Jesus prayed Psalm 6.

The Exalted Fountain of Our Praise and Obedience

“For the choir director; on a stringed instrument. A Psalm of David.

Hear my cry, O God;

Give heed to my prayer.

From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint;

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For You have been a refuge for me,

A tower of strength against the enemy.

Let me dwell in Your tent forever;

Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah.

For You have heard my vows, O God;

You have given me the inheritance of those who fear Your name” (Psalm 61:1-5).

“You will prolong the king’s life;

His years will be as many generations.

He will abide before God forever;

Appoint lovingkindness and truth that they may preserve him.

So I will sing praise to Your name forever,

That I may pay my vows day by day” (61:6-8).

Verses 6-8 is a choral intercession the Holy Spirit gave the Church through David for the King. We have only one King: the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:31-46; 28:18; Luke 19:38; John 18:37; Ephesians 1:20-22; Revelation 1:5; 11:15; 17:14; 19:16).

The Father lifted up His Son from the grave to the eternal throne (Acts 2:24; 3:15,26; 10:40; 13:30; Romans 4:24; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 2 Corinthians 4:14; Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 2:12; Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 1:21). We sing of the Father’s doing this work in His Son the King: “You will prolong the King’s life; His years will be as many generations. He will abide before God forever; appoint lovingkindness and truth that they may preserve Him...”

What is the result of this for our lives as the Church? “So [כן] I will sing praise to Your name forever, that I may pay my vows day by day.” The Father’s exalting the throne of His resurrected Son enables us to sing forever of His glory. We cannot, would not sing apart from the Father’s exalting of the Son. We cannot sing forever apart from the enthronement of the resurrected Son.

Out of our union with the resurrected heavenly King we sing forever. And out of this we are further enabled to remain faithfully obedient to Him. It doesn't get more practical than this.

Our praise and obedience are the fruits of the act of God in exalting His Son. It is not of us. We cannot boast in ourselves. It is the divinely gifted “inheritance of those who fear [His] name.”

Sing. Serve. Pray.

Until we’re Home:

“Let me dwell in Your tent forever;

Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings.”

Union with the Intercessor

I’m preaching on confession in a few weeks and have been reading the Scripture’s examples. There’s a pattern that has captivated my attention. Sometimes when interceding for either the Church or Nation we pray as those removed – it’s an “us-and-them” prayer. This is usually because we don’t accept any part in the problems for which we are praying. However, I noticed that the O.T. intercessors don’t have this attitude.

Nehemiah: “I said, ‘I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, Who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses’” (1:5-7).

Isaiah: “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.’ And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, ‘Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts’” (6:1-5).

Daniel: “So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed and said, ‘Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, Who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land. Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day - to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; nor have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets. Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the LORD our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice. And now, O Lord our God, Who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day - we have sinned, we have been wicked. O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us. So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name’...I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God...” (Daniel 9:3-20).

The intercessor does not stand apart from those for whom he is interceding. Even if he/she is the only one praying and seeking the face of God, there is no sense of separation from sinners. An intercessor stands both in the presence of God as the sinners for whom he/she is interceding. The intercessor does not pray for them, but for us. The intercessor does not confess their sin, but our sin.

This attitude carried over into the early generations of the Church: “Ye mourned over the transgressions of your neighbors: their deficiencies you deemed your own” (1 Clement 2.6).

Any judgment over this land will begin with the Church (1 Peter 4:17,18; cf. Proverbs 11:31). Peter, quoting the Proverb, speaks of the “difficulty” with which the people of God will be saved. Jesus called it “impossible” (Matthew 19:25,26//Mark 10:26,27//Luke 18:26,27). If the salvation of the Church is such, where is our broken heart for neighbors, co-workers, fellow students, family? Where is our “great sorrow and unceasing grief in...heart” (Romans 9:2)? As long as they’re just categories or ideologies or sins and not people, we don’t make confession to God as one of them. We’ll rail and not weep. They’ll be wicked or ignorant rather than souls on the edge of hell.

Moses said, “forgive their sin - and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written” (Exodus 32:32).

Paul said, “I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Romans 9:3).

Can you pray like this? Are you broken-hearted intercessor before God, or venom-spitting idealogue who speaks to God like the throne room is a FaceBook page, blog, radio program, or letter to the editor?

May we learn to pray for them as them. We are, after all, eternally united with Christ, sealed in Him by the Holy Spirit according to the election of the Father. This same Christ with Whom we are one is the same Who “knew no sin” yet was made “to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). We are united with the One Who “redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). I am not suggesting that we duplicate Christ’s saving work, but that we reflect the heart of the Incarnate One Who became the ones for whom He came to accomplish salvation. If we are united to Him, this attitude/heart ought to be imaged in our intercession for the Church and Nation.

We do not lessen their guilt. They are sinners meriting eternal hell alone and nothing else. Just like us. “Such were some of you” (1 Corinthians 6:11). Pray as one of them for the salvation that comes only through Jesus Christ.

Lord, make us biblical, Christ-like intercessors. We have fashioned our tongues (physical and digital) into worldly weapons. Our words are the overflow of our hearts (Matthew 12:34//Luke 6:45), but there’s no heartbreak over the damned in our hearts or words! Create in us the Spirit of the Intercessor for Your eternal glory and – should You will it – their eternal joy! May we stand before You as one of them in confession and intercession, for this is what it means to be unified with the Intercessor.

The Ever-Living, Ever-Praying Son

We read Psalm 119 today: “My soul cleaveth to the dust: quicken Me according to Thy word...My soul melteth for heaviness: raise me up according to Thy Word...behold, I desire Thy commandments: quicken Me in Thy righteousness...it is My comfort in My trouble; for Thy promise hath quickened Me...let Thy tender mercies come unto Me, that I may live: for Thy Law is My delight...My soul fainted for Thy salvation: yet I wait for Thy word. Mine eyes fail for Thy promise, saying, ‘When wilt Thou comfort me?’ For I am like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget Thy statutes...quicken Me according to Thy loving kindness: so shall I keep the testimony of Thy mouth...I will never forget Thy precepts: for by them Thou hast quickened Me...I am very sore afflicted: O Lord, quicken Me according to Thy Word...stablish Me according to Thy promise, that I may live, and disappoint Me not of Mine hope...the righteousness of Thy testimonies is everlasting: grant Me understanding, and I shall live...hear My voice according to Thy loving kindness: O Lord, quicken Me according to Thy judgment...plead My cause, and deliver Me: quicken Me according unto Thy Word...consider, O Lord, how I love Thy precepts: quicken Me according to Thy loving kindness...let My soul live, and it shall praise Thee, and Thy judgments shall help Me” (Psalm 119:25,28,40,50,77,81-83,88,93,107,116,144,149,154,159,175, Geneva Bible).

Jesus would have lived His life reading, singing, and praying the Psalms (like all of God’s Church through the ages). He taught us that these Psalms spoke of Him (Luke 24:44). As we read the petition for life – the Word of God prayed by the Word made flesh – we know that His Father heard and honored His prayers (Hebrews 5:7), for He lives. Hear Him pray in the Word; let His prayer become yours. Search the Scripture. Every page speaks of Him (John 5:39).

He prayed for life. His Father heard. He has not stopped praying for life, and His Father will never stop hearing His beloved Son: “He is able also perfectly to save them that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth, to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

Come to the Father by the ever-living, ever-praying Son today. He lives.

"Christ in Gethsemane," Michael D. O'Brian (b. 1948)

The Angel of the LORD Teaches Us a Lesson About Intercession

Zechariah’s vision in 519 B.C.: “Then the angel of the LORD said, ‘O LORD of hosts, how long will You have no compassion for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been indignant these seventy years?’” (1:12). The “angel of the LORD” is certainly interceding for God’s covenant people here, but it would be a mistake to assume that the role of mediator or intercessor is one of trying to convince God to do something against His will (or to change His mind). The “angel of the LORD” surely is not ignorant of the LORD’s revealed plan some 86 years earlier, since the Mediator quotes its specific timeline! In the LORD’s sermon through Jeremiah in 605 B.C., He promises “...these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years” (25:11). “Seventy years.” The Mediator is not trying to change God’s mind or convince Him to do what He has promised to do (as if God is resistant to fulfilling His promises). Rather, it is God Who is – as part of His plan – using the intercession of the Mediator to reveal His promissory faithfulness!

• “Christ Jesus is He Who died, yes, rather Who was raised, Who is at the right hand of God, Who also intercedes for us” (Romans 8:34).
• “...there is...one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus...” (1 Timothy 2:5).
• Jesus “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).

How does our only Mediator intercede for us before God? Does He represent our interests before a God Who must be convinced to do what we desire? NO! The example of Zechariah 1:12 and Jeremiah 25:11 shows us that God’s plan is to use the intercession of the Mediator to enact His revealed will and plan, not to be convinced by the Mediator to change His mind about His plans!

• “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him Who sent Me and to accomplish His work’” (John 4:34).
• “Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner’” (John 5:19).
• “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38).
• “So Jesus said, ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. And He Who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him’” (John 8:28,29).
• “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself Who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me” (John 12:49,50).

Consider the third Person of the Trinity Who intercedes for us as the “Spirit of Christ” (John 3:34; Romans 8:9; Galatians 4:6) perfectly unified in the will of the Mediator Jesus: “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He Who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26,27).

The Mediator between God and man doesn’t change God’s will to make God favor God’s people; it is God’s will that He reveals His favor toward His people through the intercession of the Mediator. The Son is not representing us before the Father against the Father’s intention or will for us! Never forget the most basic truth about love and its Source:

• “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:16,17).
• “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9,10).

The Mediator (the Son) intercedes for us as a perfect expression of the will of the Father!

There is a lesson here for us, as well, concerning how we pray. Our goal should not be to try to “change God’s mind” or convince Him to share our intentions or plans. Just as the Mediator between God and man intercedes as an expression of the Father’s will for His covenant people in Christ, so we should make it our goal to pray as an expression of His will. I am convinced that this is the most basic meaning of “praying in the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit’s primary identity is that He is the “Spirit of truth” (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 John 4:6), and is, in fact “the truth” (1 John 5:6). As the breathing-forth, inspiring Author of Scripture, it seems to me that to “worship in Spirit and truth” (John 4:21-24) is to worship in line with the revealed Word of God. As the breathing-forth, inspiring Author of Scripture, it seems to me that to “pray in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18; Jude 20) is to pray God’s Word back to Him. Just as the Mediator reveals God’s will perfectly in His intercession, may we learn to reveal God’s will (His Word) perfectly in our prayer life.

• “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:13,14).
• “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7).
• “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you” (John 15:16).
• “In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full” (John 16:23,24).
• “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:21,22).
• “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him” (1 John 5:14,15).

It would be easy to isolate these verses from the rest of the “red letter” in John 14-17, but Jesus makes it clear that He is the Lord Who issues commandments and makes obedience to those commandments the necessary proof of our love for Him (John 14:15; 15:10; 1 John 2:3,4; Revelation 12:17; 14:12). Asking of the Father in the name of the Son means to ask in the name of the One Who “glorified [the Father] on the earth” by “having accomplished the work which” the Father gave the Son to do (John 17:4). Learn from the Mediator, for He is our Master and Lord, as well! The LORD commanded 70 years (Jeremiah 25:11), and willed that it be revealed and reminded to God’s people through the intercession of the Mediator, the messenger/angel of the LORD (Zechariah 1:12). In the same way, the only Mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ, intercedes for us the same way He does everything: in perfect volitional union with His Father. May we, in our Spirit-led meditation and study of the Word, then pray the Word of the Spirit back to the Father in the name of the Son!


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From the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith:

VIII. Christ the Mediator

1. It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, in accordance with the covenant made between them both, to be the Mediator between God and man; to be Prophet, Priest, and King, the Head and Saviour of His Church, the Heir of all things, and the Judge of all the world. To the Lord Jesus He gave, from all eternity, a people to be His seed. These, in time, would be redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified by the Lord Jesus.
2. The Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being true and eternal God, the brightness of the Father's glory, of the same substance and equal with Him;

- Who made the world, and Who upholds and governs all things which He has made,

- did, when the fullness of time had come, take upon Himself man's nature, with all its essential properties and common infirmities, with the exception of sin.

- He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit coming down upon her and the power of the Most High overshadowing her, so that He was born to a woman from the tribe of Judah, a descendant of Abraham and David, in accordance with the Scriptures.

- Thus two whole, perfect and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion;

- So that the Lord Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man, yet He is one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.

3. The Lord Jesus, His human nature thus united to the divine, once in the person of the Son, was sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit above measure, having in Himself all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. It pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell in Him so that, being holy, harmless, undefiled, and full of grace and truth, He might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a Mediator and Surety, a position and duty which He did not take upon Himself, but was called to perform by His Father. And the Father also put all power and judgement in His hand, and gave Him commandment to exercise the same.
4. This office and duty of Mediator and Surety the Lord Jesus undertook most willingly. To discharge it, He was made under the law, and perfectly fulfilled it, and He underwent the punishment due to us, which we should have borne and suffered. He was made sin and was made a curse for us; enduring the most grevous sorrows in His Soul with the most painful sufferings in His duty. He was crucified, and died, and remained in the state of the dead, but His body did not undergo any decomposition. On the third day He rose from the dead with the same body in which He had suffered, with which He also ascended into Heaven, and there sits at the right hand of His Father making intercession, and shall return to judge men and angels at the end of the world.
5. The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience and sacrifice of Himself which He, through the eternal Spirit, once offered up to God, has fully satisfied the justice of God, has procured reconciliation, and has purchased an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of Heaven for all those whom the Father has given to Him.
6. Although the price of redemption was not actually paid by Christ until after His incarnation yet the virtue, efficacy, and benefit arising from His payment were communicated to the elect in all ages from the beginning of the world through those promises, types, and sacrifices in which He was revealed and signified as the seed which should bruise the serpent's head, and also the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, for He is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.
7. Christ, in His work of Mediator, acts according to both natures, each nature doing that which is proper to itself. Yet, because of the unity of His person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture attributed to the person denominated by the other nature.
8. To all those for whom Christ has obtained eternal redemption, He certainly and effectually applies and communicates this redemption, making intercession for them, uniting them to Himself by His Spirit, revealing to them in the Word and by the Word the mystery of salvation. He persuades them to believe and obey, governing their hearts by His Word and Spirit, and overcome all their enemies by His almighty power and wisdom. This is achieved in such a manner and by such ways as are most consonant to His wonderful and unsearchable dispensation, and it is all by free and absolute grace, without any condition foreseen in them to procure it.
9. This office of Mediator between God and man is proper only to Christ, Who is the Prophet, Priest, and King of the Church. Free Will of God, and this office may not be transferred from Him to any other, either in whole or in part.
10. This number and order of offices is essential. Because of our ignorance we need His prophetic office. Because of our alienation from God and the imperfection of the best of our service, we need His priestly office to reconcile us and present us to God as acceptable. Because of our aversion to, and utter inability to return to God, and for our rescue and keeping from spiritual enemies, we need His kingly office to convince, subdue, draw, uphold, deliver, and preserve us until we reach His heavenly kingdom.