The Power of Christ's Intercession

Christ “is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25). Through prayer to God, Christ makes intercession for us. These prayers that Christ offers to the Father on our behalf invoke extremely powerful forces and are 100% effective. After Lazarus died, his sister Martha said “unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.” (John 11:21-22). Christ’s prayers are always answered by the Father because he and the Father possess the same mind and spirit. The Lectures on Faith explain it this way:

“The Father and the Son possessing the same mind, the same wisdom, glory, power and fulness: Filling all in all—the Son being filled with the fulness of the Mind, glory and power, or, in other words, the Spirit, glory and power of the Father—possessing all knowledge and glory, and the same kingdom: sitting at the right hand of power, in the express image and likeness of the Father—a Mediator for man—being filled with the fulness of the Mind of the Father, or, in other words, the Spirit of the Father” (Lectures on Faith 5:2)

Christ may invoke the suffering and blood of his atoning sacrifice, which was still fresh on his mind when he gave a revelation to Joseph Smith 1800 years later aand still caused him so much distress that all he could say about it was:

18) Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—

19) Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men. (D&C 19:15-19)

In an intercessory prayer, Christ invokes the power of his suffering like this – “Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified” (D&C 45:4). He actually asks the Father to behold his sufferings, death and blood. To behold means to look at, see, watch, or view. When he says a prayer like that, apparently something happens where the Father has to review the suffering of the atoning sacrifice in vision, which by all accounts would not be a pleasant thing to see or behold. After this process of invoking and visually showing his suffering to the Father and reminding him about the purpose of it all and his role in it, Christ then asks the Father to grant “eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God” (D&C 14:7) to us – “Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.” (D&C 45:5).

Below is a beautiful example of an intercessory prayer when Christ was visiting the Nephites after his resurrection. It is an example of an experience rarely recorded in the scriptures where the people Christ was praying for were right there with him, listening to and watching him pray.

14) And it came to pass that when they had knelt upon the ground, Jesus groaned within himself, and said: Father, I am troubled because of the wickedness of the people of the house of Israel.

15) And when he had said these words, he himself also knelt upon the earth; and behold he prayed unto the Father, and the things which he prayed cannot be written, and the multitude did bear record who heard him.

16) And after this manner do they bear record: The eye hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard, before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Jesus speak unto the Father;

17) And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father. (3 Nephi 17:14-17)

The people’s reaction to the prayer (“eye hat never seen, neither hath ear heard …”) seems to indicate that this event is the fulfillment of a prophecy given by Isaiah – “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” (Isaiah 64:4). During his mortal life, Christ prayed for Peter, apparently alone, then later told Peter about the prayer. It seems that Christ was able to foresee (in vision?) challenges that Peter did and would have, so he prayed for what Peter needed to meet those challenges:

31) And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:

32) But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. (Luke 22:31-32)

Other times, Christ will offer an intercessory prayer in his role as our advocate in more of a private conversation or council between him and God the Father. The decision of that council may or may not be explicitly made known to us. Here is an example of a time when Christ implied that he had acted as advocate during a council with the Father and the resulting decision of that council – “Lift up your hearts and be glad, for I am in your midst, and am your advocate with the Father; and it is his good will to give you the kingdom.” (D&C 29:5).

 
From the aforementioned verses, we can conclude that Christ acts as our advocate in a variety of situations. Those situations include when we sin and then repent, when Christ foresees a difficult challenge in our future, when we are ready to advance to the next level of spiritual progression, and when we are ready to be given the ultimate gift of eternal life.