What is intercession?

To intercede, according to Webster’s Dictionary, means “to intervene between parties with a view to reconciling differences”. You will notice that this meaning has very little connotation to prayer. It’s primary focus is reconciliation. To reconcile two parties, one would first have to resolve the issues that caused the faction or separation and then restore the relationship. If someone committed an offense against the other party, they would have to pay damages (settlement) and/or desist from further offensive actions if reconciliation is to be achieved. If the offensive act is pardoned and the parties reconciled, peace will only exist between them so long as the offense is never repeated. Once repeated, the process begins all over again, thus the need for true repentance or a change in thinking and direction by the offender.

You will notice also that Webster’s definition flows in perfect harmony with our current text in Ezek. 22:30. Why then, after having read what is written above, have we focused so much on going before one party, i.e. God, while spending hardly any time confronting the issues with the chief offending party — man? We spend most of our time going before our Righteous God on behalf of sinful man when it should have been the other way around. And don’t fool yourself into thinking that this is a job designed exclusively for prophets either. We are all called to be God’s voice in the earth; prophets just fulfill this function to a higher degree than others.

Most of us who read the previous verse before thought it was referring to intercessory prayer or identificational repentance. Although there is great value in intercessory prayer and identificational repentance, this is not what the previous verse was primarily talking about. I would recommend that everyone read the entire chapter of Ezekiel 22. In this chapter, God begins to denounce the sins of Jerusalem — a type and shadow of the Church — in four main categories:

1. Her Princes (rulers or leaders).

2. Her Prophets (those functioning in the ministry and office of a prophet).

3. Her Priests (ministers, ministries, elders and pastors).

4. Her People (saints, church members, “Christians”)

Repairing the wall and restoring the breach

Scripture suggests that the sins of the above mentioned groups caused a “gap” or breach in their perimeter “hedge” or wall of protection, leaving them vulnerable to be overtaken and overthrown. God, therefore, seeks for a man to “make up the hedge” or literally “repair the wall” as the original Hebrew language suggests, and secure the breach. Since the wall was broken and breached because of sin, the obvious remedy for repairing the wall and restoring the breach would be to deal with this sin issue and what caused the sin. This is something that intercessory prayer cannot address, yet this has been our sole focus in the area of intercession. Intercessory prayer only seeks to avert or delay impending judgment by crying out in repentance on behalf of a sinful people, but it is incapable of addressing the sin issue.

Now please do not misunderstand me; I am not in any way trying to devalue intercessory prayer and going before God on behalf of a sinful people or nation. However, I am asking you to consider the fact that such actions alone only prove to provide a temporary fix and delay the inevitable. Have you ever stopped to consider that with all of Moses’ “intercession” — as noble as it was — on behalf of the people of Israel in the wilderness, that God still ended up destroying them (Ex. 32:9-14; Num 14:11-24)? Why do you suppose this was? Why did God still have to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah after Abraham pleaded with Him not to do so, lest He destroy the righteous with the wicked (Gen 18:16-33)? Was it because of the lack of an “intercessor”? No, God destroyed these nations because the cause of the offense — sin — had not been addressed or resolved.

Even though Moses was a true intercessor in that he not only went before God on behalf of the people, but also stood before the people on behalf of God, the people still incurred God’s judgment and even provoked Moses into incurring upon himself the same. Moses did his job well, but he was unable to repair the breach due to the people’s own stubbornness and disobedience. Crying out to God on behalf of the people was effective in causing God to withhold His hand of judgment from them, but only for a season. And while we, too, should go before God and ask Him for mercy and to withhold His judgment from us by identifying with the people’s sins as our own, we should also engage in going before the people on behalf of God and calling their attention to the offenses that they have committed against God, and the consequences for their actions if they do not repent.

The man that God is searching for

What God was searching for in the book of Ezekiel was a man who would repair the wall and restore the breach. In other words, He was looking for a man who would set a righteous standard and confront the perverted mentalities and erroneous mindsets of the offending princes, prophets, priests and people with the truth of God’s Word. He was looking for a man of stature, power and influence who would cry aloud against the injustices and apostasy that was running rampant in Jerusalem. He was searching for a “John the Baptist” who would cry out “REPENT!”

We’ve had a lot of people willing to pray, but not very many willing to cry aloud and confront the issues. The world today understands this principle of intercession and publicly cries out and demonstrates against what they perceive to be unjust. I am not endorsing their methods, only identifying a principle. We can stay silent for no longer, being content with only beseeching God in our private closets on behalf of the people. As we have already discovered, there is much more to intercession than that.

Jesus completed His finished work of intercession not by remaining in heaven and beseeching the Father on our behalf, but by coming to earth to confront our sin and religious mindsets, dealing a lethal blow to the enemy and forever bridging the gap between ourselves and God through His death on the cross (Heb. 7:25). He was able to repair the walls of God’s Kingdom that had been broken and breached in the earth.

It is time to rise up and become true Kingdom Intercessors within our sphere of influence in the earth. Do not be afraid to confront that which violates the principles of the Kingdom. You don’t have to be rude or critical, but you can be uncompromising and truthful. When the princes, prophets, priests and people have become perverse, it is time for God’s anointed intercessors to cry aloud with the message of repentance and restore the walls of Spiritual Jerusalem — the Church of the Living God. God is searching for a man today… will He find you?