Psalm 72:15 – “…prayer also shall be made for him continually…” The context of this passage is the Lord Jesus Christ. While the thought of praying for Jesus may be somewhat foreign to us, there is a deep truth to be learned.
“It is quite easy to see how we could pray for Christ if he were still on earth. My brethren, think a little, and you will see that we can still pray for Jesus…
For albeit that he is in one sense exalted to the utmost height of glory, and reigns victorious over his enemies, yet, in another sense, he is here in the midst of his chosen host, striving with principalities and powers. “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world,” is the blessed assurance that Jesus is our Captain in the great fight of faith, and is still present in the battle field. His great cause is here, his enterprise and business are here below. The work which he undertook to accomplish is not yet accomplished in the person of every one of his elect. His blood has been fully shed and his atonement has been perfected, but those for whom the atonement was made are not yet all ingathered. Many sheep he has which are not yet of his fold. We are therefore to pray for him, that the good work which he has undertaken may be prospered, and that one by one those whom his Father gave him may be brought to reconciliation and to eternal life. Brethren, the Lord Jesus Christ describes himself as being still persecuted and still suffering. He said to Saul, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” He calls his people himself; they are his mystical body; and in praying for the church we pray for Christ. He is the head of the body, and you cannot pray for the body except you pray for the head. We must put them all into one prayer. He is still struggling with the hosts of darkness in his church, still striving for the victory over sin in his people, and his people are waiting and longing for his second advent, which shall fulfil their brightest hopes. We must still pray for him, not personally, but relatively; for his cause, for his kingdom, for his gospel, for his people, for his blood-bought ones who as yet are in the ruins of the fall, for his second coming, and glorious reign. In this sense, I take it, the text is meant that “prayer also shall be made for him continually.” ~C.H. Spurgeon
(By Josh Wilcox)
