There have been many questions and much confusion over some things that happened to God's people under the Old Covenant. Many today try to link things that were suffered then to what we can expect to experience.

But God has provided better things for us (Heb. 11:40). Not the least of which is Jesus—our advocate, and the Holy Spirit—our comforter.

Under the Old Covenant, God sought for a man to stand in the gap and make up the hedge, but He found none. Under the New Covenant, however, we have such a man: His name is Jesus. And we have a Comforter—the Holy Spirit.

There is power on the side of the believer today. Jesus gave us His Name to use. We now have an Intercessor, One Who is seated at the right hand of the Father, and He makes intercession for us.

God speaks through Isaiah about the Lord's intercessory efforts:

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
(Isa. 53:12)

Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would make intercession for the transgressors. We know that He wept over Jerusalem; He prayed for those that rejected Him. When He was on the cross He cried, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).

John gives us insight on this in the light of the New Covenant:

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
(1 John 2:1-3)

If any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father. The word advocate in the Greek is paraclete. It means advocate, consoler, comforter or intercessor.

Pleading For Another
The Old Testament word intercessor means mediator; one who intercedes; one who pleads in behalf of another. In the New Testament the word translated intercession means "to meet with, come between; intercede."

Every time the word is used referring to intercession that is done under the New Covenant, it is referring to Jesus or the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is our Intercessor. He is our Counselor, our Consoler, our Comforter; in other words, our Lawyer. In making reference to the Holy Spirit as the Comforter, Jesus said, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you" (John 14:18).

Jesus Christ, being our Advocate and Intercessor, pleads our case for us. John gives us some good news: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

The book of John was not written to sinners, but to the Church. All those who are born again have Jesus as their Advocate, their Comforter and their Intercessor. But if they don't understand His present-day ministry, they may never receive the full benefits of that ministry.

Only when we get a revelation of Jesus as our Intercessor will we be able to flow with His anointing and receive all the benefits of His ministry.

Source: Jesus Our Intercessor by Charles Capps
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers