“Then the Lord said, “The
outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I
will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has
reached me. If not, I will know.” The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but
Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham approached him and
said: “Will
you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” (Gen 18:20-23, NIV)
This passage is the
first instance of intercessory prayer in the Biblical record. That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen prior – it is well possible, for there have already
been numerous instances of prayer in the Genesis already, and who knows what was left off the Scriptural record? But this
is the first case of intercession that is recorded.
That’s
important, because that very fact already begins to inform us about it.
Intercession is a profound
experience in prayer. Abraham – a man
who knows God and was already in dialogue with the Lord, continues in that
dialogue when the Lord got up to leave.
Verse 16 informs us, “Abraham walked along with
them”. He didn’t let the conversation end, even though the
conversation about him and Sarah was over. Rather, Abraham determined to see where the
Lord was going. On His part, the Lord is
about to hold court. Knowing that
Abraham is determined to walk with Him, and knowing that it would only be
proper for the man who is to direct others to understand His ways, He gives
Abraham a word of knowledge. It is at
this point that Abraham is given an opportunity to intercede.
Judgment is coming on Sodom
and Gomorrah. The angels of the Lord
leave, “but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.”
Intercession is not unlike a court case.
The lawyers have to stand before the judges as the charge is read, and after
it is read, they have to wait for an opportunity to present their argument as
the judge allows. This is exactly what
Abraham does. “Then Abraham approached him and said…” The
intercessor must know the time and place to intercede, and also must have a
Scriptural warrant to present to the Judge.
A Scriptural warrant is simply evidence of God’s prior
action –
usually taken from His Word, except in this case Abraham predates the written
Scripture. He relies instead of God’s
revealed character.
“Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are
fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare
the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill
the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far
be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Intercession requires not only a right
standing and an understanding of His character and Word, but a holy boldness! Indeed, think of how bold Abraham must have
been, to present such a forceful argument. To act this way before a King was tantamount to taking your life in your hands. Abraham speaks such to God Most High, the King of Kings!
Such boldness must not be based
not on his own flawed character, but on the certainty and stability of God’s
revealed character. On that one can make
a forceful argument, for God changes not.
Indeed, our adversary the devil makes exactly this kind of argument – that
God, who alone judges sin, must and should judge and condemn those who are not
righteous before Him because of their behavior.
It is the intercessor’s role to appeal to God to forgive that
behaviour, that the unrighteous might have opportunity to repent before His judgment sweeps them away.
We who live this side of
heaven can make that appeal for forgiveness based on the sacrifice Christ made
for us, which washes away all sin.
Abraham does not have that sacrifice yet, so he must rely instead on a
community of righteous people who could represent Sodom and Gomorrah as
righteous in God’s
sight. The smallest number of people who
could represent a community in Abraham’s time was 10, so Abraham goes to that level in
his argument. He doesn’t start
there though, because to ask that only 10 represent two towns is – even in
that day –
a reach. The work of intercession is a bold work, and at times a tedious work. It requires perseverance.
That God walks away then is
witness to Abraham that there is not even 10 righteous available. Judgment will come on Sodom and Gomorrah in
spite of Abraham’s
intercession. This final fact teaches us one of the most profound things about
intercession. It has value in God’s sight – so much
so that He thinks it’s worth recording in His Book, even when our
case is lost. Actually, the value of intercession is never lost. It reaches down across the centuries. You just realized the value of this one act of intercession - it spoke into your life today.
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