Before we approach the core of the matter, let me clarify what the word “intercessor” means. The term stands for a person who acts or interposes himself on behalf of someone facing juridical charges or the like. His aim is to mediate between the two parties by means of valid arguments in view to prompt repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation. It follows that the intercessor will speak to God about men and to men about God.
A defying diving board
To plunge into the matter let us look to a scripture that has the potential to challenge and perhaps admonish us. It is found in the book of Ezekiel. It reads:
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)
As we are about to see, this verse reveals five basic truths related to intercessors and each one of them deserves our consideration and rumination.
First basic truth
The first thing this verse reveals is that God aches for intercessors. He wants them to the point of looking for them: “So I sought for …”. This avowal discloses God’s very desire, which is: to interact with an intercessor. Consequently we can say: It is God’s will for us to plead the cause of the offender.
The words of the prophet Isaiah unveil God’s mind quite substantially when he writes, in reference to God:
And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor” (Isaiah 59:16 KJV).
Here God is wondering. The Hebrew word for “wondered” is: שָׁמֵם (šāmēm). Strong defines it as follow: —be appalled, astounded, כִּי that, because, Isaiah 59:16.
No wonder the Expanded Bible reads: “He ·could not find anyone to help the people [L saw there was no one], and he was ·surprised [shocked; appalled] that there was no one to ·help [intervene]”.
The fact that God was appalled and shocked should bring us to a pause. Such a state reveals the contrast between God’s concern and the apathetic disposition His people had at the time, and we can only hope things have improved since then.
Second basic truth
Another thing Ezekiel 22:30 brings upfront is the fact that intercessors must be found among men: “I sought for a man among them”. Here God is not searching among angels but among men. As much as the preaching of the Gospel has been entrusted to men to save men, the ministry of intercession has been assigned to us Christians. So here God is seeking for a man, and He is seeking for a man because half a man would not be sufficient. He needs an entire person to get the work done, i.e., the intercessor must pray with his whole heart. He must be absorbed by that task, a task emanating from a sense of responsability.
Third basic truth
“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)
From this verse we can deduce that the intercessor can influence God’s mind to the point of bringing a reversal in His intention. This is seen in such scriptures as the following:
And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 10 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.” 11 Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 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’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. 13 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.’ ” 14 So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.” (Exodus 32:9–14)
This portion of scripture is quite amazing. It reflects the greatness of our responsibility and encourages us to approach God to plead the cause of the offender.
At this point a person could ask: Why does God need intercessors? Such a question would be reminiscent of: Why does God need preachers? He needs them because He has decided to have it so, and this, according to the counsel of His own will.
Fourth basic truth
The fourth conclusion, which can be drawn from Ezekiel 22:31, goes as follows: Without intercessors God will surely actualize His sentence on the perpetrator. This is made explicit when we read the verse following Ezekiel 22:30. Let’s read it in its context:
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. Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 22:30,31)
This fourth conclusion is confirmed by Psalm 106:23, which reads: “Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them.”
Here again, this verse exhibits the greatness of our responsibility. I repeat: Salvation flies with two wings, viz. speaking to men about God and speaking to God about men. On this duality resides the hope of the unforgiven.
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