Intercession for Sinners


Genesis 18:23–26 (ESV) Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” 26 And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

Do sinners make you angry? Join the club. Sin makes God angry. And sometimes, God wipes out sinners in anger in the scriptures. In fact, apart from repentance of sin and turning to Christ, God in justice will judge righteously every sinner on Earth.

Some Christians get excited about that. They frighten me. Because the normal response of God's judgment from God's best men was to weep and plead for mercy on those who least deserved it.

Case in Point: Genesis 18, where Abraham pleads humbly and repeatedly for God to spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He barters God all the way down to 10 righteous people.

In recent Church history, this passage has been used to demonize homosexuals as the worst of sinners. This passage has been the go-to passage for making a case that you can do almost anything else against God (like gossip, pornography, lying, slander, or divorce) as long as you don't be homosexual.

But the overarching message that was missed for years was the fact that God's chosen man - Abraham - did not once celebrate or rejoice over the just judgment of God on these cities. Instead, he prayed for them.

Think of the worst sinner you know... now pray for God to spare them... you're acting much more like the Abraham in Genesis 18 than ever before.

The funny thing is, this is a pattern in Scripture. God's best men usually have the most mercy for sinners. Consider Moses in Exodus 32 when God has had it with the people and plans to destroy them and start over with Moses. Moses pleads for God's mercy on their behalf and the Lord relents. Or consider Jesus himself. When the woman caught in adultery was yanked out of bed and thrown at his feet, the One who had the right to judge her did not condemn her.

It seems those with the least skeletons in their closet were often the most merciful. For consider that you don't get any cleaner than Jesus... He was perfect and yet He was the most merciful.

I've seen the opposite with many Christians... those with the most baggage often take the most joy in accusing and destroying others concerning their baggage. It's hypocrisy to the max, and its nothing like Abraham, Moses and Jesus. I'd like to be more like those three.

How about you?

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