God claimed the entire tribe of Levi for full-time service as priests of Israel. Within the tribe of Levi, Aaron, the brother of Moses, and his sons were given special status as high priests. The high priestly family had the highest responsibility and privilege to serve in the holy place and most holy place of the tabernacle and the temple.

"The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven." (Hebrews 8:1, NIV) "So, friends, we can now - without hesitation - walk right up to God, into 'the Holy Place.' Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God." (Hebrews 10:19-21, The Message) "Our risen and ascended Lord is the high priest over the house of God, the minister of the sanctuary, who leads us i

Dr. Purves believes that the ascension is often forgotten. This is how he describes its significance. The ascension is "the upward movement of Jesus by which the now alive human Lord returns to eternity to continue his ministry...The ministry of Jesus does not end with his resurrection. In his ascension he does not abandon his humanity. He is not the ascended Lord apart from everything that has happened between his incarnation and resurrection.

So, intercessory prayer is common sense. The Lord Jesus taught us to pray, "thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." This is the Lord commanding us to expect God to move in the world. It is God telling us, in the imperative, that we are even responsible for God's beauty goodness and truth being manifested by our words and deeds. Beauty, Goodness, and Truth is the philosophical way to describe the ministry of Jesus, all this God stuff.