TO CHEW ON: "Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord." Genesis 18:22
Here we see Abraham, in effect begging for the life of one of his family members and the inhabitants of the whole city. He knew his nephew Lot had settled in Sodom. Now the Lord had said He intended to destroy the city for its wickedness and Abraham was probably thinking, Surely Lot isn't one of those wicked.
Abraham was such an effective intercessor he got the number of righteous for which God would spare the city from fifty down to ten.
Abraham, in his role, reminds me of another intercessor: Jesus.
His intercession is prophesied in Isaiah - Isaiah 53:12; 59:16.
During His earthly ministry He interceded
- for weak believers - Luke 22:32
- for His enemies - Luke 23:34
- that the Father would send the Holy Spirit - Luke 11:13
- and for the church - John 17:9.
As our risen Saviour, He continues to intercede before God
- for our acceptance - Romans 8:34
- and for our salvation - Hebrews 7:25
As those who have put our faith in Christ, we too have the noble task of interceding for others. Dick Eastman in his book The Hour that Changes the World defines intercession and gives us insights into it. Here are a few of them:
"What is intercession? It is God's method for involving His followers more completely in the totality of His plan .... Basically, intercession is prayer offered in behalf of another .... To intercede is to mediate. It is to stand between a lost being and an almighty God, praying that this person will come to know about God and His salvation .... Intercession is the broadest scope of prayer. There is no other mode of prayer that reaches out to all the world as does intercessory prayer .... Fill your intercession with the four key scriptural claims: Ask God to give more labourers to the harvest, to open doors for these workers, to bless them with fruit as the result of their efforts, and with finances to expand their work" - Dick Eastman, The Hour that Changes the World, pp. 75-85.
Abraham's prayer here is one of the Twelve Great Prayers of the Old Testament. In his book Great Prayers of the Old Testament, Walter Brueggemann says of Abraham and his venture into prayer:
"The exchange exhibits Abraham as a daring man of faith. More importantly, it presents YHWH as a ready and available partner in the free play of prayer in which the destiny of the world hangs in the balance and is under intense negotiation" - Walter Brueggemann, Great Prayers of the Old Testament, p. 8 (Kindle Edition).
PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for the example of Abraham's intercession. Help me to be a more effective intercessor for my loved ones as well as for people around the world. Please teach me to intercede. Amen.
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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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