Seven Biblical Intercessors
Who Changed History

God called Abraham, "My friend." He even said, at one time, "Shall I withhold from Abraham what I'm going to do?" You know the story.

And you know that when the Lord said, "I'm sick of the sin and iniquity of Sodom and Gomorrah, and I'm going to judge them," then Abraham began his intercession. You know the story. It's very interesting. He went down from 50 people to 45 to 40. It was very Jewish, a little bit more time, 30, 25, 20. Each time the Lord said, "If there are 20 people, I will withhold. I will not judge." But Abraham never came to five, and there were only five righteous people in Sodom. Maybe there was a lesson to learn there. I don't know.

Moses was an intercessor. The humour of the Lord is something that has fascinated me. When I was young, I thought that God was humourless, but I discovered that God has enormous humour.

I think it's amazing when the Lord said to Moses, "Stand aside, Moses. I'm going to destroy this people. I'm sick of them. Murmuring, stiff-necked, critical the whole time, never thankful for what I've done for them. After all, I brought them out of Egypt, turned the whole of Egypt upside down to save them and they spend their time murmuring".

And then he said to Moses, I think with enormous humour,

It's okay, Moses. I'll make of you a new nation.

He knew very well he was putting Moses to the test. Moses was no ordinary person, brought up in Pharaoh's household, educated at the highest degree in Egypt, a military hero. All this, we learn from our tradition. Not all those traditions are stupid, it's even referred to in the book of Acts, these things.

And I would have thought that Moses, if there had only been a little bit of a commitment to himself, to his own future, to a fulfilment of his own will, he would not have obeyed the Lord. And he would have said, "Well, Lord, I think that's a very interesting idea you've got. I'm a bit fed up with these people myself, and maybe you could start afresh with me and the family. Aaron, Miriam, we're better stock than these others." But not Moses. The moment the Lord said it, he remonstrated with the Lord. He was an intercessor. He pleaded with the Lord to forgive the people. And he said,

What will the nations say? You brought these people out with an outstretched arm with mighty miracles, and they will say you took them out to destroy them.

And the Lord relented. I think he knew all along that Moses had already abandoned any big ideas about himself. I find this very interesting.

Samuel stood between the Lord and a sinning people. In today's terms, it's not just an unsaved nation, we would say he stood between the Lord and the church, the redeemed, the people of God, and he pleaded with the Lord for them.

I have recently been reading through the psalms, and I'm amazed how much of an intercessor was David. Again and again in his psalms, he tells the Lord when he talks about the judgments of the Lord upon Israel, he pleads with the Lord to remember his covenants with the fathers, remember the promises that he made concerning this people. That was the basis of his intercession.

But wherever you look, you can go further, even with Nehemiah. When you read the paraphrase of Nehemiah's intercessory ministry, you're speechless. He wept before the Lord. He stood between the Lord and the people. He was an intercessor. He saw the walls of Jerusalem completely rebuilt.

And Ezra was another extraordinary brother, or whatever you like to call him. I mean, he restored the word of God and the law of God to its rightful place at the heart of the people.

Well, I don't have to mention Daniel because we have all the record in Daniel chapter nine. So tremendous was Daniel's intercessory ministry. If you're good Bible students, look at Daniel 9:1, and you will see the date is given:

In the first year of Ahasueras, I, Daniel discovered by reading the scroll of Jeremiah the 70 years that were determined for the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem.

If you look at that date, turn back a few more pages to another chapter, first verse. And it says:

In the first year of Ahasueras, the emperor, certain satraps, (that is, princes) came to the king and said, O king, you are God in the flesh. Will you decree that no one is allowed to pray except to you?

And the king, of course, thought it a marvellous idea. And they said, "You have the lion's den. Get it ready for anyone who disobeys this rule. It's the law of the Medes and the Persians. It cannot be changed."

In other words, Satan was so bothered with Daniel's intercessory ministry that he prepared an incredible strategy to trap Daniel and to murder him. But Daniel went straight on. He opened the shutters of his window toward Jerusalem and he was standing on the word of King Solomon. If anyone in exile prays toward this city and to this house which is named with your name, hear them, answer them and bring them back from their captivity. That kind of intercessory ministry is tremendous.

If Daniel had not fulfilled his intercessory ministry, Jerusalem would have not been rebuilt. The house of the Lord would not have been rebuilt. Bethlehem would not have been rebuilt. Nazareth would have not been rebuilt. Nothing else would have been rebuilt.

But it all had to be rebuilt for the coming of the Messiah, because Micah had prophesied:

And thou Bethlehem Ephrathah, which art little amongst the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall come forth he that shall be ruler of my people, Israel.

That's Jesus.

Or you think of Isaiah when he said about the way of the sea, the Via Maris. So interesting, passing just north of Capernaum, just south of Nazareth, speaking of those who were in darkness, they shall see a great light. But there was no Nazareth, there was no Capernaum. They'd been destroyed. They had to be rebuilt. This intercessory ministry of dear Daniel, maybe he thought it was only to do with the Jewish people going back to the land, but in fact it was to do with the coming of the Messiah.