Praying for Judgment
When we pray for God's judgment on
the enemies of righteousness,
our primary motives should be that
these evil people seek the one true God.
Here's Gene:
I want to fast forward you from the Old Testament
to the New Testament when Jesus was preaching
and teaching on the Mount of Beatitudes.
And this is what Jesus said:
I want you to love your enemies.
I want you to pray for those
who persecute you.
Now He also said:
You have heard, hate your enemies.
Here's the question:
How do we reconcile what Jesus said--
well, with what we read in some of these psalms
that are called imprecatory psalms--
meaning, praying God's judgment on your enemies.
How do you reconcile what Jesus taught
and what we find here in the Old Testament?
Well let me first of all explain the context
here for these psalms of judgment--
prayers of judgment.
Here's one of them.
Notice I've called this a prayer for protection.
And what we need to understand is that
in this case, Israel's enemies were
totally surrounding them.
Were closing in on them.
And were in the process of ultimately
destroying them.
And so we have this prayer:
God, do not keep silent. Do not be deaf, God;
do not be idle. ...
By the way, I think most of us could identify
with that. If the enemies of our lives
were coming at us with guns and machetes.
To destroy us, and our families, and our children.
...See how Your enemies make an uproar...
That is, he's simply saying: God, they're
not just our enemies. They're Your enemies.
They're against everything that you believe.
Everything that You are in Your holiness.
...those who hate You have acted arrogantly.
They devise clever schemes against Your people;
They conspire against Your treasured ones.
They say, Come, let us wipe them out
as a nation so that Israel's name
will no longer be remembered.
Does that sound familiar?
Seems like I've heard those words
coming from nations that hate Israel.
To wipe them off of the face of the earth.
To drive them into the sea.
Horrible things are said about them.
You see, this is not something new.
And by the way, this should not surprise us.
Because the hatred that exists here goes
all the way back to the hatred and
the tension between Isaac and Ishmael.
And then further on, Jacob who is the son of Isaac.
Also Esau the son of Isaac.
And so there was this tension--
this hatred--between Jacob and Esau.
And there's been that tension ever since.
And there will be until Jesus Christ
ultimately reigns in Jerusalem on the throne.
After He comes back as King of kings and Lord of lords,
for that thousand years that
He will reign on earth.
There will be no challenges of the King of kings
in that great part of the land, the world.
And so what we have is a prayer for
intervention from the enemies of Israel:
Make them like tumbleweed, my God,
like straw before the wind.
As fire burns a forest, as a flame blazes
through mountains, so pursue them with
Your tempest and terrify them with Your storm.
But here is something we mustn't forget.
That even in this Old Testament setting,
there's a more significant ultimate goal
for God's bringing judgment on Israel's enemies.
It's repentance. It's repentance. Verse 16:
Cover their faces with shame
so that they will seek Your name, YAHWEH.
The purpose of judgment is to
bring people to God.
And you see that even in the book of Revelation
where you have all those judgments.
And the purpose of those judgments
was not just to bring judgment on sin,
but to bring people to repentance.
And give them one more opportunity to believe
before ultimate judgment comes.
Now when we have that perspective,
it does give an element of understanding
from that cultural situation and Israel as a nation.
And the battles that they had to fight
that were earthly.
Now Jesus, as we said earlier, gives a
whole different perspective on this.
Because of who He is, what His purpose is,
and the purpose He has for us as the body of Christ.
In Matthew 5:43:
You have heard that it was said,
Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I tell you, love your enemies and
pray for those who persecute you.
That's a much higher goal isn't it?
And later Paul, writing to Timothy
on behalf of the church in Ephesus,
and certainly other churches. And us today
As a perspective in terms of praying
for enemies, he says:
First of all, then, I urge that petitions,
prayers, intercessions,
and thanksgiving[s] be made for everyone...
Everyone? You might say.
And I think some of the recipients of this
letter would say:
Everyone? Who are you talking about?
Paul said: Well let me tell you:
...for kings...
I'm talking about Herod--an evil man.
I'm talking about other kings.
I'm talking about Agrippa.
I am talking about the governors
of Felix, and Festus, and these evil men
who really approved my going on into prison.
And that's why I was in prison.
I'm talking about the man who is
in control right now of the Roman Empire.
Who's one of the most evil men that
ever lived and that's Nero.
Because Nero was in control when
Paul wrote this letter.
Because it says pray for:
... all of those who are in authority, so that we...
And here's the purpose:
...so that we may lead a tranquil and
quiet life in all godliness and dignity. ...
And why do we pray for quietness and
this life of tranquility--free from persecution?
The ultimate goal:
This is good, and it pleases God our Savior,
who wants everyone to be saved and
to come to the knowledge of the truth.
And so through God's progressive
revelation--from the earthly existence of Israel
and having to deal with their enemies
to keep from being wiped off the
face of the earth.
We move in to the coming of Jesus.
And first of all, becoming a part of the
spiritual kingdom of God--as believers
who live within this world.
To be light in the darkness so that
people will come to Jesus Christ.
This is a priority, I believe that God has given us
as we live in this world.
Now here's a question for Reflection and Response:
When we're confronted with terrorists
who are killing innocent and defenseless people,
how should we pray?
In our world today that's a very practical question.
And some people live in the full light of
that every day of their lives.
Of being destroyed by a terrorist,
a suicide bomber.
Well one of the things I think that we
need to think about:
Number one--is we need to pray for protection.
And it's not wrong to pray for protection.
Just as Asaph prayed for protection.
David prayed for protection.
God wants us to pray for protection of our families.
Protection of our children.
Protection of our nation.
And certainly we should pray for justice.
There's nothing wrong in praying for justice.
Because those who are evil need to be brought to justice.
We see this in Romans 13:
God has established governments to
bring people to justice with a sword.
Which was the word that was used
back in that culture.
Justice. But not to take vengeance personally.
Vengeance is Mine; I will repay says the Lord.
But we need to pray for justice.
Every time we hear horrible things like that
we need to pray for justice.
Though ultimately, we need to pray for repentance.
Repentance.
And we see that certainly in the whole biblical story.
As I was thinking about that, I was
thinking of a man that I've had
the privilege of meeting.
His name is Burl Cain.
And he is the warden in what was one of the
bloodiest prisons in the United States--Angola.
It was horrible.
He went into that prison and God has
used him in an amazing way to bring the
gospel to that prison.
Today, out of five thousand inmates,
most of them murderers, rapists.
About two thousand of them are
born-again Christians.
They're still in that prison.
In fact, he has established Bible training
for these people.
They're leading churches on that campus.
But one of the things that Burl is
responsible for is the death sentence
and fulfilling the death sentence.
And he shared with me personally
as I've talked with him.
He said: The first person where I had to give the
signal to let that poison flow into
that man on that gurney.
He said: I said nothing, except do it.
Authority lands--it was with him. Final authority.
After that his mother said:
Burl, did you share Jesus Christ with that man?
And he said: No mom, I didn't.
She said: Well Burl you should.
And he said: From that point forward, I have shared
Jesus Christ with every man I've had
to put to death.
Justice has to be done.
And many of those men have come to Christ.
And if these men desire, he will stand there
with them on the gurney as they're
being sentenced.
And as the poison flows into their bloodstream,
and holds their hand and says a final prayer.
And most of those men have said:
Burl, will you pray with me and hold my hand?
And he said, many of them have a smile
on their face as he says goodbye
to these men who have come to Christ
but justice must be served.
And said: When you open your eyes
you'll see Jesus.
I think that Burl amazingly balances
this whole concept of justice with compassion.
He illustrates that, I think, in an amazing
way within our culture.
Here's the Principle:
When we pray for God's judgment
on the enemies of righteousness,
[and that's not wrong]
our primary motive should be that
these evil people seek the one true God.