Ah, sword of the Lord, how long until you are quiet? Put yourself into your scabbard. Rest and be still.
– Jeremiah 47:6
Whoa, what a verse. This chapter talks about God’s judgment upon the Philistines. And when you get to verse 6, as judgment’s being poured out upon sinfulness among the Philistines… You see this plea for the sword of the Lord to rest and be still… This plea for mercy upon the Philistines.
Jeremiah 47:6 is a picture of intercession.
That is such a powerful picture of intercession that we see all throughout the Bible. I think about Moses in Exodus 32, when God’s judgment is coming down upon God’s people for the golden calf and Moses stands in the gap and he pleads for God to relent his holy wrath and show holy mercy and in response to that prayer, that’s exactly what God does. God relents. God doesn’t pour out all the judgment they deserve and instead shows mercy in response to Moses’ prayer.
Do you realize you and I have that kind of opportunity in prayer to intercede on behalf of people who are under the judgment of God for them to receive the mercy of God and God has sovereignly ordained our prayers to be the means by which his mercy is poured out on them? We cannot be a prayerless people. If this doesn’t drive us to prayer, what will? To pray and intercede for people, knowing that God will answer our prayers in his sovereignty and timing, he will answer prayers for mercy upon others.
So let’s do that right now. Let’s just intercede and pray for God’s mercy on people we know and people and people groups we don’t know who need God’s mercy. God, we take our place before you right now, the place you have called us to. We want to be faithful intercessors. We want to be the means in your sovereign hand by which your sovereign mercy is poured out on people around us and people are saved from the holy judgment their sins deserve. So God, we pray this for family members of ours who don’t know you.
Jeremiah 47:6 encourages us to pray for the lost and unreached.
God, please have mercy we pray. Please, oh God, have mercy. Show your salvation in their lives we pray. Save them from the judgment they deserve. God, we pray this for friends who are not followers of Jesus, and who have not trusted in Jesus to save them from their sins. God, we pray, have mercy on them. We pray for their salvation. Please, God, save. God, we pray for co-workers and classmates. Lord, we pray as their names come to our mind right now. God, we pray for their salvation.
We pray for people that we’ll meet today, that we have opportunities to share the gospel with, who may be under your judgment. God, we pray that you would save them and you would help us and all these people that we’re around, family members, friends, classmates, co-workers, people we’ll interact with today. God help us. Help us to boldly share the gospel, to wisely share the gospel and the power of your Holy Spirit and we pray that family members and friends and neighbors and classmates and co-workers that we are around would come to know your grace, your mercy.
We ask for that, God, and we pray for people far from us. God, we pray for leaders, for presidents, vice presidents, for senators or lawmakers, for judges, for leaders in our cities and governors in our states or leaders in provinces. God, we pray, please bring about their salvation. We intercede. We pray for your mercy on them.
Prayer for the Macedonian Albanians
And God, we pray this for people groups around the world today, specifically for Macedonian Albanians, God, for 521,000 Muslim Macedonian Albanians. God, please cause the gospel to spread to them. Have mercy on Macedonian Albanians and draw them to your grace, your mercy in Jesus. God, please hear our prayers now and help us to be faithful intercessors for those who are under your judgment in this moment, that they might receive your mercy and that our prayers, our lives would be the means by your grace by which they are saved. Help us to take our place just like Moses did in Exodus 32. We pray all this according to your Word in Jeremiah 47 in Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
