When Accusations Fly

Therefore, He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them. Hebrews 7:25 (CSB)

Boy do I have good news for you today!

Are you ready?

Are you hanging on the edge of your seat? (did you just channel Freddie Mercury singing “Another One Bites the Dust”?)

Okay, here’s the good…wait, wait!

First, let me tell you a little bad news. The sting of bad news is soothed by good news, right?

Okay, the bad news is: People talk about you.

Shocked, aren’t you!?

It’s true!

It could be a jealous coworker or sister-in-law spreading gossip about you. Unless you really did look ridiculous in that dress or like your wine a little too much.

People talk about us by means of accusations too. Sometimes the gossip and accusations are based on lies. Sometimes they are based on truth.

Did you know that as followers of Jesus Christ we have an adversary that is always making accusations against us to God? As a matter of fact, the very meaning of their name is “accuser.” If you guessed I’m talking about Satan, I owe you a coffee.

Scripture tells us that not only does Satan accuse us but that he accuses us day and night before God (Revelation 12:10).

Just what is he trying to accomplish through these accusations?

Are you familiar with the saying misery loves company?

Well, Satan knows victory over sin, death, and himself already belongs to Jesus. The only move he has left then is to try to get God to be less merciful, less loving to those who have chosen Jesus over him. Therefore, he accuses God’s children to their Father in an attempt, as it were, to force God’s hand and condemn us.

If you have siblings or children, you may be familiar with what Satan is doing. He’s tattling! But unlike a jealous coworker or sister-in-law making false accusations, Satan’s accusations aren’t founded on lies. They are founded on truth.

Most likely, the things we tattled on as kids were things that actually happened too. And because of how we hoped our parents would react, we couldn’t wait to rat out our little brother or sister for saying a bad word or eating three cookies instead of two.

Likewise, Satan loves to tattle on us. But his accusations are much more sinister than water-cooler-gossip or childhood tattling.

I would bet the reason we took such glee (or was it just me?) in ratting out our siblings is because there was no one to intercede for them. No one to defend them to our parents. Since there was no intercessor, our parents would just have to believe what we told them. There was no one to say otherwise.

Speaking of being told something, I bet you think I forgot all about the good news I promised. I didn’t!

Here it is…

Our little brother or sister may not have had anyone to intercede for them when we were tattling on them, but as believers in Jesus Christ we do. Jesus Himself!

When Satan comes before God to point out the bad words we said when that driver cut in on us too short, or the unloving way we treated our spouse when they tweaked our last nerve, Jesus also comes before God…to intercede and save us completely, according to the author of Hebrews.

Back up!

Didn’t He already save us by dying as payment for our sins?

Yes, he did.

But did we stop sinning after we pinned Him to the cross?

No, we did not.

Otherwise, we would have offered a blessing instead of a gesture when the person, whose license should be taken away, cut us off.

Jesus’ sacrifice of his own life saved us from having to pay for our own sins and reconciled us to God. But, Hebrews 7:25 assures us that He is still saving us.

It says, “Therefore, He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.” (emphasis mine)

Is this verse suggesting that we are only partially saved when we put our faith in Jesus?

Nope!

That’s like saying someone is partially dead. They’re either dead or they're not. Nothing partial about being dead. There’s nothing partial about being saved through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice either.

What then is this verse saying?

Using the example of someone or something being dead, we are of the understanding that they are dead to the full extent of what being dead encompasses. No brain activity. No breathing. No pulse.

When the author of Hebrews writes “…He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him…,” he is actually saying that Jesus, by mediating on our behalf between Satan and God, is continuing to save us to the full extent. I love that the The English Standard Version (ESV) translates “save completely” as “save to the uttermost.”

He began His work of salvation on the cross and continues saving us today because we continue sinning today. Only Jesus saves to the uttermost because “He always lives.” We should not overlook all that the word “lives” implies here!

The author of Hebrews didn’t throw in “always lives to intercede” just to have filler words to beef up his letter. He was writing to Jewish believers who had abandoned Judaism to follow after Christ, but they were wanting to turn back to their old ways of worship due to being persecuted.

As former practitioners of Judaism, they were well acquainted with the role of the High Priest as intercessor. He was the one to offer sacrifices to God for the sins he and the Israelites committed. But because those who fulfilled the role of High Priest were human and therefore died, there were many who came into and out of that role (Hebrews 7:23).

By stating that Jesus “always lives to intercede,” the author is emphasizing the eternal nature of Jesus Christ. By emphasizing this, he is underscoring Jesus’ superiority over the human High Priests. That because Jesus is eternal, there is no High Priest yet to come. He is the great High Priest! (Hebrews 4:14)

Friend, when Satan goes before God and tattles on us in hopes of diminishing our Father’s mercy and love for us, we can rest assured that we will never be condemned because our great, eternal High Priest is still at work saving us to the utter most.

It doesn’t matter what word we say, what thoughts we think, how unkind or unloving we are to someone. Jesus’ righteousness is imputed to us the moment we believe in Him. His righteousness is all God sees…no matter what Satan says.

How’s that for good news!?