Perpetual Prayer for God’s People
D. Scott Meadows
Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way (1 Sam 12.23).
Samuel was one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament era. God gave him a lifelong ministry, from childhood to old age. God preserved him spiritually and morally so that his hoary head could proclaim his consistent innocence with all integrity (1 Sam 12.3). The people he served, however, were not so innocent. When they insisted on having a human king like the Gentile nations, the LORD said of them to Samuel, “They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Sam 8.7). One reason the rebellious nation of Israel was not utterly destroyed, like Gentile nations under divine wrath, was that Samuel prayed for them. In fact, he prayed for them “without ceasing” (1 Thess 5.17). Even though the people were unbelieving, perverse, and stubborn, Samuel kept praying for them and teaching them “the good and the right way.” Especially as a prophet and priest, this was his duty before the LORD.
But Samuel died and his ministry ended, as happened with every other Old Testament prophet and priest (Heb 7.23). In mercy, God kept giving His people such holy men to serve their physical and spiritual interests generation after generation, but in every case, their ministries, like their lives, were like a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away (Jas 4.14).
All of these holy men were anticipatory of the Savior that God’s people have always needed. They were like Him in their intercessory prayers, inspiring hope for His coming, but they were unlike Him in their sinfulness and limited ministries, lest the people idolize them.
God is holy and we are not. We are sinners, born guilty on account of Adam’s sin as our divinely-appointed representative (Rom 5.12, 19). We begin life and continue for a time, at least, as those who are alienated from God (Eph 5.18), idolatrous and immoral, suppressing the truth in unrighteousness (Rom 1.18), given over to a reprobate mind (Rom 1.28-31), piling up a mountain of sins to be punished on Judgment Day, except God should have mercy upon us (Rom 2.5, 6). Even if and when God has graciously saved us, we continue to be in need of daily forgiveness for our sins (Matt 6.11, 12; 1 John 1.7, 9; 2.1, 2). We are still burdened with wretchedness on account of our remaining sinfulness in heart and conduct, and the perpetual struggle against it grieves and vexes us (Rom 7.21-24). We continue, even as Christians, as much as ever in need of the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Scripture proclaims that “there is one God,” only one. It also announces the good news that there is “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2.5). As Mediator, one who stands in the middle, He achieves and maintains reconciliation between God and His chosen, sinful people. He reconciled us historically by giving “himself a ransom for all” of us (1 Tim 2.6) upon the cross (Rom 5.10), dying as our Substitute (1 Pet 3.18), bearing our sins in His own body on the tree (1 Pet 2.24).
But Jesus’ work as Mediator did not end on the cross. He continues to serve us as our Mediator today by His prayers (Rom 8.34), offered only for God’s elect, not for the world (John 17.9). Christ’s prayers for us are particular, perpetual, and powerful. He is offering them for us every hour of every day without sleep and without interruption. And Christ’s prayers most certainly shall be answered in the most complete and glorious way! It is by His atoning blood and intercessory prayers that all God’s elect, without a single exception (John 18.9), shall be saved at last. In contrast with the priests who passed away, “this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb 7.24, 25).
Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is risen from the dead to eternal immortality, ascended to heaven, seated in glory, and impeccably serving His blood-bought Church by His intercessory prayers! This is why those who are in Christ by faith are never truly in danger of losing our status of reconciliation with God or of perishing in our sins. When you are having a bad day, spiritually speaking, it is still true that Christ has died for you, and that He is praying for you constantly. When you are in a better frame, and have had fewer and less severe moral lapses, you still are kept by the atonement and intercession of Christ alone, and not your own efforts or merits. The Savior who is greater than Samuel has come! The Lord Jesus Christ is for us and He cannot fail in His mission to save us!
Let your hearts soar in gratitude and praise for God’s gift of our Savior Jesus, precisely the Savior we need! Let us consecrate ourselves afresh to love Him and to live for Him all our days. Ω
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The following books by D. Scott Meadows are available at Trinity Book Service and Cristianismo Histórico:
Ebook: A Call to Pure Worship | D. Scott Meadows
Ebook: God’s Astounding Grace | D. Scott Meadows