(Biblical Pattern for Intercession from Genesis 18:16 -33)

The story of Abraham’s intercession for his nephew Lot in Genesis 18, is the first recorded instance of a major intercession in the Bible. If we followed the hermeneutic principle of first mention – I believe, this story sets the tone and the trend for intercession in the rest of the Bible.

The first thing to note in the story is that intercession was initiated by God. It began with God revealing his will for Sodom and Gomorrah. Intercession is not born as a result of man’s burden or concern. It is God’s burden that he shares with man and invites us to partner with him in bringing his will to pass on earth. God must show his will. He must put the burden into our hearts. He must give us the right words to pray for. Only then true intercession is possible. But, why does God reveal his will to us?

God reveals his will because of the covenants he made with Adam at the beginning and later with Abraham. The Adamic covenant is the covenant of authority he gave to Adam over the earth. “And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Gen 1:28-29). I believe, it is because of this covenant, whenever God chooses to do anything significant on earth he shows it to someone somewhere and awaits their participation in his plans. While God could and does work without the mediatorship of man but because of the Adamic covenant he chooses to work through man’s mediation. And this is because man has a unique position in all of creation. He is both a material and a spiritual being. As a spiritual being he can connect with God and as a material being he connects with creation. Therefore God chooses to work through man upon earth.  Abrahamic covenant is about blessing the nations of the world, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:3. God reveals His will so that we can participate in His plans (Amos 3:7).

Who does God reveal his will to? We notice in the Genesis story, that God revealed his will to Abraham regarding his plans for Sodom and Gomorrah because of his intimacy with him. Listen to what God expresses regarding Abraham, “The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” The basis for this revelation was clearly God’s intimacy and trust in Abraham. God was saying, in effect, having come to visit Abraham and having shared a meal with him in his home and knowing the kind of man Abraham is, how can I hide from Abraham, what I am about to do in his neighborhood?

We read in verse 22, “…but Abraham still stood before the Lord.” But the NIV in its footnote for the verse tells us that some ancient manuscripts have, “…but the Lord remained standing before Abraham.” Some scholars think that this is a more accurate rendering of the verse. The first translators probably thought that it was scandalous to think of God standing before man, hence a more conciliatory rendering. But God, standing before Abraham was more about God inviting Abraham to respond to what he has said regarding Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham did not fail God. He responded through intercession.

Next, look at Abraham’s intercession? First, he acknowledges his creatureliness before God and then pleads with God making God’s character the argument for his pleading, “…Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” All intercession must be based upon the character of God as revealed to us in his word and through his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (Genesis 1: 28-30; Genesis 12: 2-3; Psalm 2:1-11; Psalm 115:16; Matthew 28:18-20; Ephesians 1: 19-23).

In the final analysis, intercession is the exercise of our delegated authority in Christ over the nations of the world. This authority is given to us both in Adam and Abraham and later in Jesus Christ. It is an authority given to us both in creation and in redemption. I think the church of today hardly understands nor knows how to exercise her authority in Christ. The sad result is the enslavement of millions to different kinds of bondages, to sin and to evil.  God’s authority is not demonstrated through politics or by economics and not at all through military might. It comes through a life of intimacy with God, of rectitude and of prayer.

But such exercise of authority through intercession depends upon our discernment of God’s will in a given situation. Such discernment is contingent upon our intimacy with God. As Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing.” John 5:19, 20.

It is also significant to note here that Abraham did not pray for Sodom and Gomorrah. While he pleaded for God’s justice, he did not plead for God’s mercy! It is evident that Abraham was not trying to change God’s mind regarding his judgment upon the wicked and their wickedness. His concern was for God’s justice and the righteous living there. Abraham probably knew that for the sake of the righteous God might spare the cities. But alas, there were not enough of them. I believe that the one who knows God intimately also knows what to ask God for and what not to.

There is a great dearth today, of those who know God as revealed in his word and through his Son, Jesus Christ. The dearth is also of knowing him in his Trinity and knowing him in his incarnation. A right understanding of God, especially his tri-personality, is crucial to understanding about the nature of being, world, human life, individual, marriage, family, society, church, missions, tolerance, global peace, reconciliation, economics, organization and a host of other issues pertinent to life and existence. And knowing him in his incarnation is crucial to understanding humans, their life as finite beings – how to handle time, space, knowledge, issues of identity, security and more. The dearth is evident in the way we pray and the things we pray for especially in the context of missions and world peace. The problem is we do have people who do know a lot of things about the world, but God. The urgent need is for men and women who know God!

Finally, we notice that intercession was brought to an end by God. “And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.” When Abraham reached the figure of ten, God withdrew from the conversation. The lesson for us is that, we do well to remember and discern when God wants us to stop our intercession. This is another matter that can be known only through intimacy with God.

We learn from Abraham’s story that the whole process of intercession hinges on intimacy with God from beginning to end. One of the outcomes of an intimate walk with God is a life of intercession. But it is equally true that intercession deepens our intimacy with God.

May we make intimacy with God our goal in life and learn to walk with him so that we can be mediators of his blessing to the nations of the world. May the Lord raise many such intercessors, who stay close to the heart of God. Amen.