Stirring arrangement of Lo! He Comes with Clouds
Descending perfect for prelude, offertory, or other
special service music.
If any of you have seen the movie The Bells of St.
Mary’s, or even if you haven’t, then you might
think of “O Sanctissima” when you hear this
melody—indeed, it is the same tune. The Latin hymn
“O Sanctissima” is a prayer to the Virgin Mary,
imploring her to pray up in Heaven for those here on
earth below. Yet, why is it that we need Mary to pray
for...(+)
Stirring arrangement of Lo! He Comes with Clouds
Descending perfect for prelude, offertory, or other
special service music.
If any of you have seen the movie The Bells of St.
Mary’s, or even if you haven’t, then you might
think of “O Sanctissima” when you hear this
melody—indeed, it is the same tune. The Latin hymn
“O Sanctissima” is a prayer to the Virgin Mary,
imploring her to pray up in Heaven for those here on
earth below. Yet, why is it that we need Mary to pray
for us? Sure, she is in Heaven, but she is not herself
a god (or goddess), merely the mother of Jesus Christ
when He was made incarnate. The common response is
that Mary, a very righteous person, enjoys a privileged
place in Heaven, and that hearing our prayers, she can
take them to Jesus and make intercession for us—serve
as a mediator, if you will. After all, the Old
Testament priests served a similar role. It was their
job to bring the sacrifices for the people’s sin to
God. They were appointed of God to be the mediator
between man and God, since man, due to his sinful
condition, could not have direct access to the sinless,
holy Father—God cannot allow sin in His presence.
The priests, however, were merely a signpost—a
symbol—of what was to come. When Jesus Christ died
on the cross to save us from our sins, He made the
ultimate sacrifice of atonement. Matthew 27:51 tells
us “the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the
top to the bottom” as Jesus died. What’s so
significant about that? Well, the veil enclosed the
Holiest of Holies, the part of the temple in which God
made His presence, a place so sacred, the priest was
only permitted to sacrifice within it once a year.
When Christ died, however, He made the ultimate
sacrifice. The shedding of His blood allows anyone to
be saved, merely by trusting on Him. We still cannot
go directly to God the Father because of our sin, but
we can go to Jesus, and He can approach God the Father
because He has paid our sin debt, making us blameless
in the Father’s sight. Hebrews 7:17 reads, “For he
testifieth, ‘Thou art a priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek.” Christ is now our mediator.
Similarly, are those saints—Mary, Peter, Paul,
etc.—also mediators for us—standing in God’s
presence and petitioning Him on our behalf? 1 Timothy
2:15 says, “For there is one God, and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Jesus
and the saints are all in Heaven, but only Jesus has
the ability to go before the Father and communicate
with Him on our behalf. The saints themselves are not
mediators between us and the Father, nor are they
mediators between us and Jesus—that would be a
mediator to a mediator, which equals two mediators.
Let us instead come to Jesus with our prayers, the One
Who by His power saves us from sin, the only One Who
can approach the Father on our behalf, the One by Whom
we can have the relationship we were meant to have with
God!
