INTERCESSORY PRAYER

"Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 2:1-4).

Devotion 8 of 17 MOSES, THE INTERCESSOR

Moses was chosen by God to give the Law (John 1:17). He was a faithful servant in the house of God (Heb 2:3-5), administrating the First Covenant. He wrought great wonders in the land of Egypt through the power of God, and led the remarkable exodus. However, Moses was at his greatest when he stood before God, pleading for the Israelites. He was an intercessor of unequaled rank during ancient times. "And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people. Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth Thy wrath wax hot against Thy people, which Thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did He bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against Thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom Thou swarest by Thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. And the LORD repented of the evil which He thought to do unto his people" (Exo 32:9-14). The very thought of God repenting is challenging; and yet Moses' intercession moved God to turn from His fierce and destructive wrath. Divine qualities are revealed in this instance that are otherwise hidden. Not only is God disposed to choose mercy over judgement, His nature PREFERS to do so at the request of His servants. Moses knew the Lord, and pled with Him on the basis of that knowledge. He loved Israel, but the knowledge of God constrained him to pray as he did, not his love for the people! That is what endeared him to the Lord!

MOSES AGAIN INTERCEDES

A second example of Moses' powerful intercession is found in Scripture. It teaches us that intercession does not need to be a once-in-a-lifetime occasion. Again, the conduct of the Israelites was so contrary to the Lord that it incurred His fierce indignation. His anger welled up to the point that He was going to destroy the whole nation. They provoked Him even though He had worked mightily among them. "And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke Me? and how long will it be ere they believe Me, for all the signs which I have showed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for Thou broughtest up this people in Thy might from among them;) And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that Thou LORD art among this people, that Thou LORD art seen face to face, and that Thy cloud standeth over them, and that Thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if Thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of Thee will speak, saying, Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which He sware unto them, therefore He hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I beseech Thee, let the power of my LORD be great, according as Thou hast spoken, saying, The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of Thy mercy, and as Thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word" (Num 14:11-20). It is not coincidence that God told Moses of His intention. This was His way of providing for the display of mercy. He knew what Moses would do! The man of God reasoned with God, appealing to His nature and purpose. He was more interested in preserving the name of the Lord than the people of God. That is what gave Moses influence with God! With undeniable power he appealed to the nature of God, reminding the Lord of His "great mercy" and propensity to forgive "iniquity and transgression." Moses acknowledged that God could not simply overlook sin, "clearing the guilty" without a just basis. But the faithful leader appealed to the demonstrated "greatness" of His mercy as a basis for pardon. The Lord had acted with remarkable consistency in this regard, showing mercy to the recalcitrant Israelites "from Egypt" until the very day Moses pled with Him. The result: the Lord pardoned Israel according to Moses' word! A most remarkable insight into the nature of our Father!

THE TESTIMONY OF MOSES

Moses was "the meekest man in all the earth" (Num 12:3). Yet, he did not hide from the people the power of his intercession for them. Twice he reminded the Israelites of God that they owed their very lives to him. The words he employed in these testimonials provide insights into the nature and power of intercession. "I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to show you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount" (Deut 5:5). "Thus I fell down before the LORD forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the LORD had said he would destroy you. I prayed therefore unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, destroy not Thy people and Thine inheritance, which Thou hast redeemed through Thy greatness, which Thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember Thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin: lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness. Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm" (Deut 9:16-29). How marvelous the view afforded by the words of God's faithful servant. "I stood between the Lord and you . . . I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights . . . I prayed therefore unto the Lord." The thought of a man standing between God and a people God had determined to destroy is arresting. You do well to ponder it, taking it into your heart and mind. Moses put his own life on the line in his intercession, saying he would rather God destroy him than to destroy the people with whom He had made covenant. It will contribute to our understanding of intercession to recall this incident. "And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written" (Ex 32:30-32). Moses was a man, but he was a man that had power with God! PRAYER POINT: Father, help me to be a powerful intercessor amont those I inflence, as Moses was among those he influenced. Enlarge my heart to see your people as you do, and to pray with your perspective.

--TOMORROW: INTERCESSION SEEN IN TYPOLOGY--