“So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.” (Ezekiel 22:30)
Let us continue from where we left on my last post and consider the fifth truth deduced from Ezekiel 22:30, namely, that intercessors are difficult to find.
The difficulty stemmed from the fact that most of us are caught up in our own needs and interests. Referring to Christians the apostle Paul declares:
But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:19–21)
This statement might seem harsh and too categorical, but sadly enough it depicts one of our most established tendencies, a tendency ingrained in human life. No wonder Paul had to exhort the Christians in Corinth saying:
Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being.” (1 Cor. 10:24)
This sort of genuine altruism can only grow in a heart where love abounds, for as we are told: love doesn’t seek its own (1 Cor. 13:5).
It was precisely this unfeigned love that compelled Paul to seek the profit of many:
Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.” (1 Cor. 10:32,33)
These words manifest the very heart of an intercessor. Without this abnegation and selflessness we are doomed to orbit around ourselves with little hope of breaking away from the point of gravitation. No wonder self-denial is put as a condition for those who want to follow Jesus (Matt. 16:24).
Another reason why it is difficult to find intercessors resides in the fact that to intercede a person must invest time, and sadly enough the art of redeeming the time is getting nearly abandoned. Time is rather wasted than redeemed and the means of entertainment are not to be blamed, but rather the people letting themselves to be hypnotized by these crafty pendulums.
Intercessors are rare
Actually, it seems that throughout history intercessors have been hard to find. The words of Eli are quite confirmative:
Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. No, my sons! For it is not a good report that I hear. You make the Lord’s people transgress. If one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him?” (1 Sam. 2:22–25)
This passage suggests two things, viz. Eli didn’t know where to find an intercessor, and secondly, he was not an intercessor himself. This can only prompt the question: Am I an intercessor?
A direct command
One of the things we must consider is that the work of intercession is not optional but mandatory. Time after time the Scriptures exhort us to plead the cause of the offender. For instance, we read in the Book of Proverbs:
Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.” (Prov. 31:8,9)
Here God is telling us to open our mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Surely the person who is lost in his sins enters in that group. Not only is he speechless, but also appointed to eternal death (Rom. 6:16 & 21). And it is our duty to plead his cause, for he is poor and needy.
A few words about pleading
The first thing to understand is that a plea is made of arguments. The more powerful the arguments the more effective the plea. The second thing to consider is that the arguments has to be in harmony with reason. Job shows understanding when he writes: “Now hear my reasoning, and heed the pleadings of my lips” (Job 13:6). God invites us to reason with Him (Isaiah 1:18) and intercede before Him.
Another necessary factor in interceding is that the intercessor has to believe his arguments are valid, i.e., He must be convinced they will appeal to the offended party. In other words, he must have faith in his arguments.
Moses is a good example of such conviction. When God told him: “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation” (Exodus 32:9,10), Moses immediately started to plead with the Lord his God. His plea was built on two basic arguments. The first one was established on the fact that if God would destroy the Israelites the Egyptians would have a wrong idea of who God is. That is: His name would be defamed.
Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’?” (Exodus 32:12)
His second argument was: “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” (Exodus 32:13)
Not only Moses presented these two arguments, he was convinced they were apt to influence God’s mind and to change His course of action, and as the following verse demonstrates he was right: “So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.” (Exodus 32:14)
Time and again the Scriptures testify that the pleas presented by an intercessor can be highly effective. Therefore let us strengthen the hands which hang down and the feeble knees, and let us come boldly to the throne of grace to plead the cause of the offender. God is waiting for us.
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