How willing are you to intercede for people you know are sinful and wicked? Are you willing to go before God in prayer, interceding on their behalf, to in a respectful way try to bargain with Him for His mercy for them, knowing that they are wicked sinners? Most of us would rather sit in the judgment seat, calling for condemnation, especially if they are accused of something terrible. We would not be trying to bargain with God on their behalf. In our Scripture today we look at an episode in the life of Abraham, where he does just that. Let’s see what God’s Word says.
Right prior to our Scripture, Abraham had just had some visitors to his residence, which he found to be the Lord and two of His angels. When they left, Abraham walked with them for a short while, and the Lord decided He would share with him what He planned on doing shortly. This showed that Abraham had a very close, personal relationship with God. He wasn’t the type of believer who just said a quick, memorized prayer-poem before he went to bed. He was God’s friend (James 2:23), and as such, God would not keep this secret from him.
As they walked, He revealed to Abraham that He was going to bring judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah because of their grave sin and depravity (vs. 20). These cities have long had a deep rebellion against God and His ways. Before passing judgment, though, God would give them one last look-over to see exactly how wicked they were (vs 21). Though God is omniscient, and knows everything, His going down to investigate shows that His justice is never arbitrary. It is deliberate and righteous. The two angels left God and Abraham and traveled down into Sodom, and what they found is further described in Genesis 19.
It was at this moment that Abraham stepped in as a great intercessor. First, he knew that his nephew Lot and his family had been residing in Sodom for a while. He knew that, though Lot was a believer, his spiritual life had greatly fallen into the pit since he had moved there. Still, Abraham did not want them to suffer in the judgment with the rest of the city. He also did not want anyone else who had not participated in any of the grievous sins of the city to perish, either. Abraham stood before the Lord and began to pray, to intercede on behalf of the innocent people in those cities.
Though historians and Bible scholars do not know for certain exactly how many people lived in Sodom and Gomorrah at this time, Abraham started at the number fifty, and asked God to spare the cities if fifty righteous people could be found (vs 23-26). He appealed to God’s justice. He knew that God would not ever condemn the righteous along with the wicked. God agreed. He would not destroy the place if fifty were found. Abraham continued and worked his prayer and intercession all the way down to ten people. If just ten were found, would God spare the place? The answer from God was yes, if just ten are found it would be spared (vs. 27-32).
Abraham was both bold and humble. He boldly came before God to plead for the righteous, people whom, aside from Lot and family, he didn’t even know. He knew the wickedness of the place, which is why he never joined Lot in residing there. However, he cared about others, and would come before God to pray for them. Abraham, though, was also humble. He wasn’t proud, nor prayed with presumption. He knew that he was but dust and ashes before God (vs. 27). Yet, because he knew God’s character was one of love and mercy, he interceded on behalf of Lot and others.
After Abraham’s prayer, God ended the conversation, not in anger, but in sovereign decision (vs. 33) As we later see in the next chapter of Genesis, Abraham’s intercession did not save Sodom. Ten righteous people in the cities could not be found. However, this did reveal that God was willing to spare them for the sake of ten if they could have been found.
What can we learn from this Scripture passage? First, we see that God is just. He does not punish the righteous with the wicked. His judgments are always fair and holy. We also see that God is merciful. He was willing to spare an entire city filled with evil and wickedness just for the sake of ten righteous people if they could have been found, which unfortunately they weren’t.
Very importantly we see the importance of intercessory prayer. Like Abraham, we today are called to stand in the gap, pleading for mercy for others. Like the prophet Ezekiel said centuries later, God is looking for people to stand in the gap with prayer for others (Ezekiel 22:30). This world has only gotten worse since the days of Abraham or even Ezekiel. Abraham gave us an example that believers must pray and plead with God on behalf of the lost. Will you do that? Will you stand in the gap and pray for God’s mercy on an evil and wicked world today?
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