“GOD LOOKED FOR A MAN”

By C.W. Wood     November 2004

It is strange, but true, that our Great Creator, God, who has total wisdom, knowledge, and power, only works on Earth as His Church releases faith for that work. God only works through His believing Church. This is not true because He COULD NOT, but because He CHOSE NOT TO. Since He, Himself made the rule, then He abides by that rule, or Spiritual Law. Understanding this answers the often asked question, “Lord, why don’t you do something about this situation that is so wrong? Looking into the Scripture, we can find our answer. HE LOOKS FOR A MAN TO BELIEVE for that situation to be corrected, then He moves.

          In Eph. 1:19-23, we read where God gave all power and authority to the Lord Jesus Christ, then gave this all powerful One, who was Head over all things, to the church! In other words, this authority and power was delegated to the church, that they might be led by the Spirit in enforcing God’s will on Earth!

          Eph. 1:19-23, “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

          21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

          22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church,

          23 Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

          Notice! It is the exceeding greatness of His Power to us-ward. (To us who believe)

          Can we see the revelation in these verses? God gave Jesus Christ, and His Power and Authority TO THE CHURCH! The Authority of God now lies in the Bride Church . It is not the Authority to enforce our own will and plan, but God’s. More and more we are seeing the great truth our Lord Jesus taught when He said, “Pray Our Father which art in Heaven…..Thy Will be done, as in Heaven, SO IN EARTH.” (Luke 11:2) We are His Hands and Feet, and His Voice on Earth. We will see this principle set forth in the scriptures as we proceed with the sermon.

          Our Prophet, William Branham, taught this Spiritual Law, saying that God only works through men.

          QUOTE: LOOK AWAY TO JESUS, PAGE 41, “Now remember; now I am just your Brother. I am sure you understand that. I am a man. He is God. BUT GOD ONLY CAN WORK, AND ALWAYS HAS WORKED, AND ONLY WORKED THROUGH MAN.” (End quote)

          QUOTE: WHY CRY SPEAK, PAGE 12, “I, there the personal pronoun, ‘I have come down to deliver them.’ And now, and may I just add this if it….God forgive me if this sounds sacrilegious; ‘I do not work on the earth, ONLY THROUGH MAN. I am the vine, ye are the branches, and I only declare Myself when I can FIND A MAN, and I’ve chosen you (Moses) and I’m sending you down to take them out……” (End quote)

          Here the Prophet states God’s principle of only working through His believing people. According to God’s own Law, He must find at least one man who will believe Him so He can work. The Scripture sets forth this principle.

          Ezk 22:29-31, “The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy; Yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. Verse 30, “AND I SOUGHT FOR A MAN AMONG THEM, THAT SHOULD MAKE UP THE HEDGE, AND STAND IN THE GAP BEFORE ME FOR THE LAND, THAT I SHOULD NOT DESTROY IT, BUT I FOUND NONE. Verse 31, “Therefore have I poured out Mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath, their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord.”

          Can we understand what the Lord said in the above Scripture? He said the people had departed from Him and His Word; they were in danger of Judgment. But, before He set out to destroy them, He looked for a man to stand in the gap, to intercede for them. He looked for a man who would stand between Him and the people and put up a protecting hedge! Notice the implied truth here; if God could have found a man, just one person, who would pray and believe God to spare the people, then He would have extended His Grace.

          He wanted to spare the People, and lead them back to Himself. The Scripture said he did! He said, “I sought for a man.” Let us look further into the Scripture and see that God always looks for a man to stand and believe for the people.

          We want to see that because God had made the Law, that He would give Jesus and His authority TO THE CHURCH, then He would be constantly looking to the Church, not only to believe for themselves, but to intercede for the lost. Because of His Law, He was constantly looking for a man, or men, that He could work through to save the people.

Isa. 59:12-16, “12 For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions [are] with us; and [as for] our iniquities, we know them;

13  In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

15 Yea, truth faileth; and he [that] departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw [it], and it displeased him that [there was] no judgment.

16 And he saw that [there was] no man, and wondered that [there was] no intercessor: 

          God wondered that there was no intercessor! Can we see it Bride of Christ? We who have been called to more light are being held responsible to intercede for those who are still in darkness. There is a spirit that has attacked us in this Message that would have us close the Door of Mercy against those who are in disagreement with us on doctrine. Far be it from us to declare some to be beyond redemption! God knows His Own, and most often we do not, therefore, we intercede that His will may be done in each life. Our goal is not to see how many we can cast out of the boat, but how many we can pull over the rail to safety.

          Over and over in Scripture, the Merciful Lord looks for a man who will plead for the people, and loose His hands to save them. Jerm. 4:31, “For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying woe is me now! For my soul is wearied because of murderers.” (God’s people were crying out for help)

          Jer. 5:1, “Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, IF YE CAN FIND A MAN, IF THERE BE ANY THAT EXECUTETH JUDGMENT, THAT SEEKETH THE TRUTH, AND I WILL PARDON IT.”

          Again the Lord saying, if you can find anyone that is serving Me, and seeking Truth, I will hear his prayers and pardon the people! If this was God’s Principle in days of old, we do know that He has to work the same way today, since He does not change His ways. Yet, again in Ps. 106:21-23, we read, “They forgat God their Saviour, which had done great things in Egypt ; Wonderous works in the land of Ham , and terrible things by the Red Sea . Therefore He had said that He would destroy them, HAD NOT MOSES, HIS CHOSEN, STOOD BEFORE HIM IN THE BREACH, TO TURN AWAY HIS WRATH, LEST HE SHOULD DESTROY THEM.”

          When the Israelites had thrown away their faith in God and discarded their trust in Moses, and had made themselves a Golden Calf to worship, Moses made the following statement in Deut. 9:18-20, “And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights, I did neither eat bread nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger.

          For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the Lord was wroth against you to destroy you, BUT THE LORD HEARKENED UNTO ME AT THAT TIME ALSO, AND THE LORD WAS VERY ANGRY WITH AARON ALSO TO HAVE DESTROYED HIM, AND I PRAYED FOR AARON ALSO THE SAME TIME.”

          God’s Scriptural way is to find those who will pray and believe Him so He can save the people. He is greatly pleased when He finds someone who will stand in the gap for the sinner, the sick, the discouraged, and hopeless. We may think, “Do I dare to believe God will save, heal, and deliver the people?” The truth is we should not dare to fail in doing so! The Word we have read should cause us to repent if we have not been interceding. This word shows us that it is God’s will and plan that we intercede for each other. It is His provision that we pray the Prayer of Faith for the lost, the sick, and discouraged, and those who need deliverance of any kind. We dare not fail in our duty.

          The conversation Moses had with his Creator concerning the sins of Israel and the Golden Calf is most remarkable. Can a mere man stand before The Great Jehovah and ward off judgment that is about to fall on his fellows? The answer is a definite “Yes.” No doubt the Lord has many reasons for having given such prayer power to men, one being to reveal to us the part we are to play in redeeming the Earth, and saving such people as should be saved. Without question, this is a part of the Bride Revival that we have waited for so many years. The Bride will “Bind the Strong Man” and loose the Hands of God to finish His work on Earth.

          It is well worth our time to study the conversation Moses had with the Lord, as mentioned above.

          Ex. 32:9-14, “And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it [is] a stiff-necked people:

10  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?

12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.

13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit [it] for ever.

14  And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”

          We can hardly imagine a mere man saying such things to his Creator. One’s carnal mind would suppose that God would have stricken Moses, himself, dead for such talk. But, our Prophet told us that this was the Spirit of Christ speaking through Moses. The truth is God was only testing Moses; GOD DID NOT WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE TO DESTROY THE PEOPLE! He was looking for an intercessor! Moses responded in exactly the way the Lord wanted him to respond.

          And what was the result? God did not slay Moses, nor rebuke him for his boldness, but rather he was well pleased to have such a man in His service. For those who today, would find Grace in the Eyes of the Lord, let us also be intercessors. Let us come boldly before our God and believe that He is the same God today who forgave and delivered the Israelites. This world is about over as we have known it, and our God is seeking out the very last ones who are to receive Eternal Life. Never forget, they will only be brought in by the intercession of Believers.

          We were brought in and given revelation, not so we can scorn those who have it not, but so we can reach back and offer to others what has so mercifully been given to us. If we are not found interceding, then I wonder if we have advanced as far as we suppose. May God give us grace and mercy for others to the same degree he has given it to us!

          I will close with another of the great Scriptural examples of intercession. It is found in GEN. 18:20-33, “And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;

21  I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.

22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom : but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.

23   And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

24  Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that [are] therein?

25    That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

          26    And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

27    And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which [am but] dust and ashes:

28    Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for [lack of] five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy [it].

29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do [it] for forty's sake.

30 And he said [unto him], Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do [it], if I find thirty there.

31   And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy [it] for twenty's sake.

          32   And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy [it] for ten's sake.

33   And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.”

In reading the above scripture, we see that Abraham was truly a great intercessor. However, he finally reached the point where he was afraid to lean any harder on God’s Grace. God had answered every prayer Abraham had prayed in his effort to save Sodom and Gomorrah . He was, no doubt, testing Abraham’s faith. Can we believe that the Lord actually wanted Abraham to request He save the cities for the sake of one righteous man, Lot ?

Abraham supposed He had used up God’s patience and grace. Even with God encouraging him by answering every single prayer, he did what most of us would have done, he was weighing God’s Grace in the scales of his own judgment. We cannot fathom God’s Grace, but may He help us to understand that we cannot overtax it by praying for those He has laid on our hearts. Amen!