God Hears Our Intercessory Prayers, March 9

And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Genesis 18:23. We are told that Abraham drew near and said: “Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” While Abraham had a true sense of humility that every child of God should possess, yet he had an intense interest in the souls of sinners. He is represented as drawing near. He steps close to those heavenly messengers and pleads with them as a child would plead with its parents. He remembers that Lot has made his home in Sodom and that Lot has connections all through Sodom by marriage. Therefore Abraham commences at fifty, and the Lord tells him that He will spare it for fifty; then he goes down to ten, and the Lord tells him that He will spare it for ten's sake. He does not make any further appeal, but he does hope that there will be found ten righteous [persons] in Sodom. But when the angels came to Sodom, they could not find even five righteous ones in that splendid city, so we may reason that there may be the most splendid cities, having the greatest wealth, and yet there may not be found five righteous in them. As we are seeking for the future immortal life, every one of us should have everything connected with us as favorable as we can make it for the development of Christian character. God frequently calls us to break every tie that binds us to unholy influences and to come out from among them. Here Abraham stands as one who is a representative for God, and his history is brought down along the line to our time. Abraham's interest and anxiety for Sodom is a lesson to us that we should have an intense interest for those around us. Although we should hate the sin, we should love the souls of those for whom Christ died. And then we should feel most grateful to God that we have One who is pleading in the heavens above in our behalf. Jesus knows the worth of every soul because it is He who paid the price for everyone. When He was in His agony at the crucifixion, He prayed there for His enemies and He said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” And here, as we see in the case of Abraham, He pleads for the guilty as one person pleads for another. We should [offer] that [same] earnest prayer for those who are in darkness.—Manuscript 19, 1886.