Romans 8:33-34, “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”

Paul has ushered us into the courtroom here in chapter 8. He begins this portion of his letter with verse 1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” But here there is something noteworthy…while a justified sinner stands before the bench, awaiting judgment, the call goes out for any accusers to step forward. But there are none. If God has already justified “the elect” then who is able to bring a charge against the elect? NONE! We have been secured from all charges against us. We have been declared “not guilty” by the highest Judge, therefore none can bring a charge against us! We have been justified! AMEN!

The word “elect” is a problem for a portion of Christianity. Yet it is clearly in the Scriptures. The word itself simply means to select or to pick. It would literally translate as “called out ones” or “chosen out ones”. The idea is that there are those whom God has chosen out of a larger number. Kenneth Wuest argues an important clarification, “This election does not imply a rejection of rest, rather it is the outcome of the love of God lavished upon those chosen-out.”

As the verse says, “God is the one who justifies…” We’ve studied that word (justifies) in previous studies. To continue in that “courtroom” setting, it refers to an acquittal or a vindication. If God is the One who justifies, He is the One who declares a sinner free the reign and consequence of sin. Instead, verse 34 points out that it is Jesus who suffered that judgment on the cross…He died, suffering the wrath of God as He became the mediator and the sacrifice…He became the judged for us. Jesus, Who was innocent, became the guilty in order than an unredeemable sinner might be made right.

Now, following the Resurrection of Jesus, He ascended to the Father in Heaven, where He now is at the right hand of God. This verse doesn’t give us the “seated” position, but we know that He is seated. In Luke 22:29, Jesus says that He will be seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Col. 3:1 informs us that Christ currently is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb. 12:2 also declares this. (For further study: Matt. 26:64; Mark 14:62; Heb. 8:1; Ps. 9:4, 16:8; 110:1, 5; Eph. 1:20; Rev. 4:2, 5:1, 7; Acts 7:56) This is a major truth in the context of the Old Testament sacrificial system, where in all the Tabernacle, there was no seat for the High Priest. Jesus replaced that system, He fulfilled it, Jesus completed it, and now He SITS next to the Father on high, having fully accomplish the work before Him.

But His ministry is not over. From His seated, glorious position, Jesus intercedes. To simply say that this means Jesus “prays” for us, is to miss the point Paul is making in these verses. The word carries the idea of “falling in with”. Or we might say “to make an earnest request before one approached.” Our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus, speaks to the Father on our behalf, continually…continuously. Then, the word intercession itself, implies a sort of substitution, meaning that Jesus doesn’t merely make intercession FOR us, but rather, He makes intercession ON BEHALF of us.

In other words, we (who are unlovable, unlovely, ungodly, helpless, sinners, rebels, opponents to God, and mortal enemies of the Lord) became the very objects of God’s most compassionate love. WE DO NOT STAND CONDEMNED BECAUSE JESUS CONTINUALLY MAKES INTERCESSION FOR US TO THE GREAT AND ALL-POWERFUL JUDGE.