The Prayers of the Saints: Imprecation, Justice, and the Altar of Incense

Sermon Delivered September 27, 2026

And we mentioned last week that we would come to this subject. Verse 8: “When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”

And then chapter 8, verses 1 through 5, says: “And when the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth. And there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.”

Now, we are moving into the section of Revelation which is predominantly more symbolic and therefore more difficult to navigate. And as you might see this morning, there are three ways you can deal with Revelation. The first is to do as the dispensationalists do—focus on all the mystical predictions and time frames, centering on the Antichrist and things like that. We’re not dispensationalists. I’m not a dispensationalist, so I don’t approach it that way. Then there is the focus where you could just come to the book of Revelation and talk about Christ’s triumph and His conquering of things, and that would be okay. And then there is the third and the unavoidable aspect of Revelation, which is God’s judgment.

Now, that can become tedious after a while—week after week after week after week of talking about the judgment of God. So this is why we take a break, and then at the end of November into December, we’ll step away from it and focus on Christmas. Because if we’re going to explore the book of Revelation, especially from this point on, there really isn’t anything else you can talk about except judgment. This is the theme again and again and again and again and again. And so it comes up again this morning. It comes up again this morning with respect to this subject.

Now, these are the only two passages—chapter 5 and chapter 8—that actually mention prayer by the phrase “praying” or “the prayers of.” It is referenced in other respects by the concepts of worship. Whenever you see worship happening in Revelation, then they are praying in that moment as well. And it’s a very important consideration. So that’s the first thing you would notice: even though there aren’t a lot of words on prayer, there’s a lot of praying going on in Revelation.

Secondly, we need the reminder of 2 Timothy 3:16, which I mentioned as we began this series. If we acknowledge that Revelation is the Scripture that comes from God, then we must look for applications and truths in the book of Revelation that have meaning for us today in our age.

Thirdly, given the nature of prayer today, you should not conclude that I’m trying to diminish anything else that the Bible says about prayer or other books about prayer. I hope to bring some clarity there, but sometimes when I’m talking about this, somebody might say, “Well, what about…?” And I’m not trying to undermine that. I’m dealing with specific aspects of prayer this morning.

Fourthly, and perhaps most importantly, we’re going to have to acquaint ourselves with this symbolism that is here. Again: “Each of the angels was holding a bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” This is an Old Testament image. If you don’t know your Old Testament, you’re never going to understand what’s going on here.

When I was a young man and I was, you know, in the drug scene, you were always burning incense to cover up the smell of the marijuana, so nobody knew you were smoking. And now in the twenty-first century, whether it’s legal or not, nobody worries about covering up the smell of the marijuana as they smoke it. But back in those days, that’s what we did with incense. And therefore, somebody might read “incense” and be thinking of something like that rather than the Old Testament imagery of incense being symbolic of prayer being offered by the priest. So we have to go back a little bit and notice some of the passages that deal with that as I try to unpack this this morning.

Psalm 41, verse 141:1 and 2, is probably the most predominant passage we could look to. The psalmist says it is this concept that prayer—and this is the imagery that John is drawing on in Revelation—this concept of how the incense coming up in the sanctuary of the Old Testament was emblematic and symbolic of prayers being offered to God. Now, this has to be understood a little more, so let me try to walk us through this.

The Two Altars of the Tabernacle

This is an artist’s rendition of the tabernacle. And on your left, in the black square, is the altar of burnt offering, or the altar of gold and incense. There are two altars in the tabernacle and the temple: the altar of burnt offering, which is on your left in the square, and the altar of incense, which was in the triangle on your right, the black triangle. And these were the two altars that were in the tabernacle. And by the way, it was the altar of incense where Zechariah encountered the angel Gabriel inside the temple. One of them was in the tent, invisible to the people, and the other was outside the tent, at least partially visible to some of the people.

Now, these altars were linked, because you took fire from the altar of burnt offering to burn the incense at the altar of incense. A very important consideration. So, for example, if you’ll allow me to reference the passage—Leviticus chapter 16: “He, the priest, shall take a censer full of coals, a fire from the brazen altar, and bring it inside the veil, and put the incense on the fire before the Lord.” This was what happened. You took the fire from that altar and brought it in to burn incense. A very important consideration as we go forward.

Now, sandwiched between these two references I read in Revelation of the prayers of the saints and incense being equated is this passage from chapter 6, verse 9. So in chapter 5, we hear a reference to the prayers of the saints. In chapter 8, we hear a reference to the prayers of the saints. In chapter 6, we see the prayers being offered. So it says: “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice—and please note the language here, it’s very important in a moment—’O Lord, holy and true, how long before You will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?'”

Which Altar?

Now, there are a lot of questions here, but the first one we want to ask, having already established that there were two altars in the tabernacle and that John is drawing on that imagery, is this: Which altar are these souls under? Which of these two altars are these souls under?

It has importance, as I hope to be able to show you in a moment. Which of the two altars is John seeing the souls under?

Now, some commentators think it is the altar of burnt offering, because you poured the blood of the slain under that altar. And what you’re seeing with these souls under the altar—who have been slain for their testimony for Jesus—the blood of the slain under the altar. And so you have this from Leviticus 4:7: “The rest of the blood of the bull, the priest shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering, that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting”—the big outdoor altar. And this is the thing.

But then the other altar comes in, and we’re trying to figure out which one of the two it is. Grant Osborne says this about Revelation 6:9, and he says it’s very important. So that passage says, “Pour out the blood of the slain under the altar of burnt offering.” And so some people think it’s that altar.

Then there is, though, the fact that on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, the priest took blood inside the tent and he poured it on the altar of incense, and he anointed it and put some on the horns. And so you read this in the same passage, Leviticus 4:7: “The priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before the Lord that is in the tent of meeting.” So you have both altars receiving the blood of this sacrificial animal. And the question is: which one of these two altars should we understand? Because it’s very important, because they are praying. They’re praying. Which altar are they praying under? A very important consideration.

Now, Greg Beal, acknowledging the complexities of the question, sides with others who say it is the altar of incense, because the altar of incense represents prayer. So you have this comment from Leon Morris, who says: “The sacrifice that puts away sin has been offered, and there is room only for the altar of incense, which typifies homage and the offering of prayer. That is, Christ has died. He’s already been sacrificed. There’s no need for that big altar where sacrifice is made. The sacrifice has been made. The debt has been paid. The only thing left is worship and prayer.” And this would suggest the altar of incense.

Matthew Henry, who died in 1714, agrees, saying: “John saw these souls under the altar at the foot of the altar of incense in the most holy place.”

These souls that are crying out—and I’m trying to connect all the dots here, and I’m sorry if I’m not doing a good enough job. You see the prayers of the saints in chapter 5, the prayers of the saints in chapter 8, tied to incense, which was offered at the altar of incense, and then you have these people praying under that altar. Very important to note these considerations.

The Cloud of Incense as Protection

The praying at the altar of incense also symbolized safety. It symbolizes protection. So when we read the passage from Leviticus 16: “The priest shall take a censer full of coals from the fire before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil and put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die.” Notice that.

In the Old Testament, when the priest went in, he had to be perfectly sinless. He had to go through all these rituals himself, and if he missed one, he would drop dead. And the other thing is, God’s glory was represented, and God says to Moses, “I will meet you there on the mercy seat, the Ark of the Covenant. I will meet you there, and you can’t see God. If you see God, you would die.” So the cloud protects the priest and his ministrations from the glory of God, or the wrath of God, as the case might be. And this is what the symbolism is with respect to the altar of incense, the prayers of the saints going up in the tabernacle.

Greg Beal points out that both Revelation and Jewish writings equate this altar—the altar of incense—with the throne of God, whose sovereign purpose is ultimately to protect the saints. Therefore, placing the saints under the altar emphasizes the divine protection that held sway over their souls despite their loss of physical life because of persecution.

What Are They Praying For?

So I’m trying to tie this together, so let me just be very diligent and patient. We’re talking about prayer in the book of Revelation. It is typified by this incense being offered to God. This incense is coming from an altar which symbolizes the prayers of the saints. Now the question is: what are they praying for? The saints under the altar are praying, and they’ve been killed for their faith. What are they praying for?

Now here’s where we have to be careful with the symbolism, and I don’t want to go off too far, so I would just say: we have to be careful with the symbolism, okay? And then if you have questions about the carefulness, you have to ask that later because I don’t want to get off track too far.

What are these people praying for? These souls—what are they praying for? And the answer is clearly, from Revelation chapter 6, that they are praying for vindication. This is not worship in the sense of, “Oh God, how great and wonderful you are. Thank you for all the blessing you’ve bestowed upon my life.” This is: “We have died for your word. When will you vindicate us?” And this is what it says—and if I could read it again without going back to the slide: “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, and please note the language here, it’s very important in a moment. ‘O Lord, holy and true, how long before You will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?'”

They’re praying for vindication and justice to be done. And the argument is that right after this, then, you begin to see the judgment. And that is that God is answering the prayer of these saints by pouring judgment out upon the earth. He is vindicating them and bringing justice to them.

Now there’s a lot to be said here, and I’ve got three little points at the end to try to tie it together. So stay with me and don’t go off into imagination land and miss what I’m trying to say.

Grant Osborne says: “These souls are crying out to God for justice. This is an imprecatory prayer, a cry for vindication and vengeance in the face of enemies. It is similar to many of the Psalms that are built on the covenant curses. These enemies of God have deliberately rejected and mocked His covenant with humankind and have turned against God’s people. Therefore, they have brought down upon themselves God’s curses. And the martyrs are praying for God to fulfill these promises, to vindicate His people and avenge them. The point here is that the victims do not seek vengeance. They do not seek vengeance. They leave the vengeance to God. So that this scene is not a low point for Christian ethics, but a high point for divine justice.”

Imprecatory Psalms

Now here, I want to take a moment to talk about—because many of us perhaps haven’t heard, certainly don’t hear it often, and I say “many of us,” that means the Christians in America today, not just our little church—many people have never heard that term, “imprecatory Psalms” or “imprecatory prayer.” And an imprecatory Psalm is one where the writer is calling for God to judge sin and to vindicate Him in the face of His enemies.

So, for example, this is a very big one. And by the way, let me remind you of two things quickly. If you have never heard the phrase “imprecatory Psalm” or “imprecatory prayer,” don’t say, “I’ve never heard that. It must be wrong.” You just probably have never heard it. And don’t judge it and say, “That’s crazy,” until you’ve heard the whole presentation. Secondly, before I read these sample Psalms, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for instruction and righteousness. It would have to include, then, those Psalms where the writer is calling out for God’s judgment. And we have to learn how to navigate this.

So let me read this. Psalm 109, verse 1 through 14. “Be not silent, O God of my praise, for wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They reward me evil for good and hatred for my love.” And I hope you can see Christ in that. Because Jesus comes loving, and He says they hated me. “They reward me evil for good and hatred for my love.” Now listen to how He prays: “Appoint a wicked man against Him. Let an accuser stand at His right hand. When He has tried, let Him come forth guilty. Let His prayer be counted as sin. May His days be few. May another take His office.”

I pause there because Peter quoted that part of the verse in reference to Judas in chapter 1 of Acts. “May His children be fatherless and His wife a widow. May the creditor seize all that he has. May strangers plunder the fruits of His toil. May His posterity be cut off. May His name be blotted out in the second generation. May the iniquity of His fathers be remembered before the Lord. And let not the sin of His mother be blotted out.”

Boy, what a mouthful of what sounds like ugly spite. And yet, it is in the Scriptures, and Peter quotes that passage.

Listen to this one and notice the correlation with Revelation chapter 6 that we noted. How long, O Lord? How did Revelation 6:9-10 begin again? “How long, O Lord, before You judge and avenge our blood on the earth?” Listen to it: “How long will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire? Pour out Your anger on the nations that do not know You and on the kingdoms that do not call upon Your name. Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of Your servants be known among the nations before our eyes.” John is almost quoting verbatim Psalm 79, verses 5, 6, and 10. “How long before You judge and avenge our blood on the earth?”

Then listen to Psalm 94, verse 1 through 3: “O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth. Rise up, O judge of the earth. Repay to the proud what they deserve, O Lord. How long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exalt?”

Now, this is part of what’s going on here in chapter 6, that people are praying for God to judge the wicked and avenge our blood on the earth. Now again, you may never have heard the term “imprecatory Psalm,” and part of that is your pastor’s just an idiot, okay? He just wades in where other people wouldn’t go because it’s heavy, and I’m just—you know, stupid, I guess. I don’t know. But if it’s in the Word, we can’t just skirt it forever. Sooner or later, we have to engage with it.

Crying for Justice

Now, this is a little booklet, a little book, that we actually went through on Wednesday night a long time ago called Crying for Justice: What the Psalms Teach Us About Mercy and Vengeance in an Age of Terrorism. And it was written in 2005, obviously, in the shadow of 9/11. What do we say? How do Christians respond to that kind of barbarity, with people who are willing to fly into buildings and kill indiscriminate numbers of people without a whim of conscience? What are Christians to do? And this is the question that he asked in this book. And we went through it, and it’s about the imprecatory Psalms. And by the way, I read three to you, and there are many more that are much more graphic in the cry for God to judge the wicked. What do we do with these passages as Christians in twenty-first-century America?

He says this—John Day, he says, and by the way, it’s 178 pages of text, okay, and then there’s the bibliography at page number 179. 178 pages of text on the subject. 56 of those pages, almost a third, are footnotes and explanations that go further into the case he’s making. But here, on page 11, he says this: “Loving and cursing are kept in harmonic tension throughout Scripture, so that in every era of their lives, God’s people must wrestle with the implications of both these things in their cultural context. Since the character of God does not change, the essence of His ethical requirements does not change. Therefore, as the imprecatory Psalms were at times appropriate on the lips of believers before the incarnation, so they, or their like, are at times appropriate on the lips of believers today. There is a time and place to call for tangible, temporal, divine judgments. There is indeed, according to Ecclesiastes 3, a time to curse.”

This is what we see in Revelation here. They’re praying. Their prayers are going up like incense, but they are praying for God to judge the wicked and the world around them.

Now, John Day, the author, asks, as we should: how can it be right for Christians to cry out for divine vengeance and violence as in the imprecatory Psalms? And he gives four answers. If I could call these to you:

First, God is called upon to be the avenger. I’m not seeking vengeance. I’m calling on God to avenge me of my enemies and vindicate me.

Secondly, God’s covenant promises include that very idea. Now, we don’t stress it in our church too much, but there are churches that are always talking about Israel, the chosen people. In Genesis 12:3: “Whoever curses you, I will curse.” This is part of God’s revealed character. He defends His people. In Deuteronomy 32:35, is that specific phrase: “I will avenge. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.” And Paul quotes that, of course, in chapter 12 of Romans, is it? And he tells us not to seek vengeance because that’s God’s department.

Thirdly, Old and New Testament both have these examples of the people of God crying out for that kind of judgment and vindication. And they are never called or described as being bad for doing so. And especially in the New Testament, where we come to Galatians 1:9: “As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you receive, let him be accursed.” That’s probably not in the category of my favorite Bible verses. It’s probably not in there. But that word “accursed”—”let him be damned to hell,” basically—if he’s preaching a different gospel. And then in 1 Corinthians 16: “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Maranatha.” Now if we’re familiar in acknowledging that those passages are in the Bible, you can see how they challenge our faith, don’t they? And complicate our faith. How does that relate to loving our enemies? Well, I hope to come back to that.

But the fourth thing I would call to your attention that John Day mentions is that in our very text of Revelation chapter 6, these people are crying out for God to judge and avenge, and they’re not reprimanded for it. He says, wait. He doesn’t say, “Oh, what a horrible person you are to ask something like that.”

Now contrast it, please. Remember, I think Scott Wetzel mentioned this the other week about James and John. They want to call down fire, and Jesus says, “What’s wrong with you?” And yet here in Revelation, they are calling down God’s judgment on the earth. Why is there a difference between those two scenarios? And I hope you can see at least, if I don’t achieve anything else, that this book is involved and complex and heavy, and we have to be really diligent in approaching it.

He points out that Scripture records an instance, Revelation 6:9, in which God’s people in heaven—where there is no sin, there is no sin—cry out for divine vengeance and are comforted by the assurance that it is coming. Remember our four mantras for prayer, answered prayer? Yes. No. Not like this. What’s number four? Not yet. Not now. God says, “I’m going to answer your prayer for vindication and vengeance. It’s just not yet. Not yet.”

And why not yet? Because there are other people that have to die for their faith. These are challenging thoughts, aren’t they? And this is what happens when we come to the book of Revelation. These cries of vengeance are prayed by those already killed for their faith, which implies they did not seek vengeance in life. They might still be alive if they had fought back, but instead, they do not strike back. The lesson is, as Osborne hints, is God’s faithfulness to judge His enemies. The living can cry for vindication, but only the martyred can cry for vengeance. We can cry out and say, “Oh God, vindicate me,” and I do it all the time. I know you have, in your personal life, experienced injustices, false accusations, libels, and what can you do? There’s no way to prove it. So what you have to do is say, “Oh God, vindicate your servant. Vindicate your child.” We can cry that way.

Three Practical Applications

But now let’s come to three practical applications, if we can, about how do we reconcile these prayers of imprecation with what we’re called to as Christians in the twenty-first century. How do we do this? Well, I’ll give you three things this morning.

1. We Have to Acknowledge the Ethical Dilemma

We have an ethical dilemma here. We’re supposed to love our enemies, and yet God empowers us to call down vengeance and judgment on the wicked. What can we say about that?

Well, first, love of our enemies does not negate the evil that they do. I love my enemies. I do not undo their wickedness. They are sinning and in rebellion against God, and they deserve and will receive judgment. My love might be an instrument by which I awaken them to their error, but it does not negate their error. And there are many people who don’t—they think that’s what that means—and they’ll throw out that passage in Peter, and based on the Old Testament, “love covers a multitude of sins.” That’s true, but it does not justify the sins that are being committed.

And this is, I think, I have to say it, that I think this is part of the problem—why the advance of homosexuality in our culture today. These people have an entire month dedicated to their cause, and they have pride festivals every week in Virginia. Every week in a different city, there’s a pride festival, in spite of having an entire month dedicated. Next Saturday, it’s Winchester. Two weeks ago, on the twelfth of September, it was in Richmond. Next, a couple weeks from now, it’s in Lynchburg, Bristol, Warrenton, everywhere, every week they have a festival, while at the same time having a whole month dedicated to them. And, I don’t understand. But part of it is because of “love.” “Love is love.” As long as you love, it doesn’t matter what you do. As long as you’re a loving person, that’s all that matters. That is not what “love covers a multitude of sins” means. That is not what it’s saying there. And we have to ask this question.

Now, let us look at this because, you know, “there goes the homophobe again, talking from the pulpit.” But I’ve actually had people in our church in the past who said that after I have mentioned this: “Boy, he’s homophobic, isn’t he?” No, he’s biblical and he wants to warn against sin and the destructive power of it.

Here’s the predicament. Here’s the dilemma. How do I love my enemy when my enemy is oppressing my neighbor whom I’m also commanded to love? That’s the dilemma. I’m not supposed to—people say, “We’re supposed to love our enemies.” Incorrect. We’re supposed to love everybody, including our enemies. But what do we do when the enemy is oppressing my neighbor? Now, the pacifists among us say, “Just turn the other cheek.” Well, that’s not loving my neighbor. I’m just going to let some person come in and kill them and beat them up and steal their property and say, “Well, I’m loving my enemies.” I’m also commanded to love my neighbor. I’m thrilled. Leanna’s laughing at me. She never smiles at me. She at least likes I’m theatrical in my presentation this morning. That’s very encouraging.

We can’t do that. That’s the dilemma. I encountered someone the other week and he came up to me and he saw my book, Friendly Fire, and he says, “I don’t know how he got from Friendly Fire about trials over to loving our enemies.” And he said, “We’re supposed to love our enemies. We’re not supposed to kill them.” And I knew it was a hint towards the war in Iran that nobody wants. None of us wants a war in Iran. And I understand all the difficulties there. But his argument—well, we have to love our enemies—which basically means just let them trample over everybody else’s rights. Because it’s love. No, I’m supposed to love my enemy, but I’m also supposed to love the neighbor that my enemy is oppressing.

Now, how do I do that? Where’s the balance for those two things? Because that’s what we’re called to. And what’s part of the balance? What is part of it? Crying out to God for vengeance. I have no power. I have no ability. I can’t make anybody do anything right. I can’t change the culture. What do I do? And in case you don’t know, plans of wickedness destroy people. They destroy people. We’re seeing this in our culture today, and we keep wanting to loosen the reins, make everything less bad, easier, etc. And all it’s doing is creating more collateral damage. More people, lives being destroyed in the name of love.

We are to love our enemies, but we are also to love our neighbor. And when I have no power to prevent my enemy from oppressing my neighbor, my one recourse is God. And my prayer that He would vindicate His people. Who gets the priority, children? And oh, by the way, love is a warning, right? If you love people, you warn them. You don’t just pretend everything’s okay. You tell them, “You’re heading in the wrong direction.” We had that on the sign the other week. “Love includes”—whatever it said. I can’t remember. But it was a good message, okay? Scott was out of town, so he didn’t get a picture of it, but it was a good message, all right? It’s maybe on the list still if I haven’t thrown the old list away.

Jesus says, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Don’t go that way.” It’s an act of love. Question: Who gets the priority of love when my enemy is oppressing my neighbor? Who gets loved first? Who gets loved best in that setting?

2. We Have to Recognize the Importance and the Limitation of Prayer

First, your prayers matter. Look at this illustration, and this is how Leon Morris says it: “In Revelation, the saints on earth are despised and accounted as of no importance. But in heaven, their prayers are precious, being brought into the very presence of God Himself in golden bowls. God is storing up your prayers.” Have you felt like He hadn’t answered? Have you felt like you’ve prayed it long enough and you’re not going to pray it anymore because it hasn’t been done and therefore must be unimportant? Or maybe it just wasn’t the will of God? Do you understand that it’s so important God is storing it up and giving attention to it at some point?

The Evangelical Commentary on the Bible says this: “In the presence of God, the prayers of His people fill the heavenly courts with the blessed aroma treasured by Him and providing the atmosphere in which worship takes place and the will of God is accomplished.” Prayer is important and God honors your prayers.

Now we come to the limitation, and that is prayer isn’t something everybody can do. Notice the symbolism. Please get the symbolism, children. The prayer was only acceptable to God as incense when the fire came from the sacrifice. When the fire came from the sacrificial altar—that’s the coals they used. They got the coals from the sacrifice and sprinkled the incense and it went up to God as a sweet-smelling savor. It didn’t happen if the fire was from somewhere else.

This isn’t Wednesday night, but can anybody give me an example? Nadab and Abihu. The Scripture says they offered strange fire to the Lord and He killed them. Why? R.K. Harrison in his Leviticus commentary says the fire came from somewhere else than the burnt altar where the sacrifice had sanctified the coals. And thus when the incense is sprinkled on the coals, the incense—the prayers—are coming up from sanctified fire.

Why? You and I must stop telling people who are living in rebellion against God that He’s going to answer their prayers. I’ve said that a thousand times and it’s been dismissed for 99.9% of those times. We are doing people an injustice to tell sinners to pray to God for blessing and goodness. “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

James 1:6 and 8, paraphrased or not abbreviated: “Let him ask in faith with no doubting, for that doubting person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, a two-souled man, someone trying to live on both sides of the track at the same time.” And James says that person whose allegiances and loyalties are divided will not receive anything from God.

We don’t talk about this much because it’s tricky and we don’t want to start a cultural clash. But the Scripture says that the Christian man’s prayers can be hindered if he does not honor his wife and treat her with dignity and respect. That’s also in the Book of Peter. This is where it’s not popular because of Peter’s language: “Give honor to the weaker vessel.” And the women kick back on that. “Hold on just a minute. I’m not…” Let’s get it in the right context. Nevertheless, Peter says, “Give honor to the weaker vessel lest your prayers be hindered.” You cannot be an abusive husband—whether verbally or physically or financially—and expect God to answer your prayers. Now, if that’s true for the Christian man, how much more true is it for the person who’s making no effort to live with you and serve the Lord?

I missed a passage. I hate when that happens. I’m not going to go back, but it was a good point to miss. I have a situation with a young lady, and I will mention a prayer request or concern. I don’t even—I don’t say it as a prayer request. So one day I mentioned Pam. I said, “We have a lady in our church that’s really having some health issues.” “Oh, I’ll pray for her.” And one day I mentioned Lisa and her cancer. “Oh, I’ll pray for her.” This individual’s not living for Christ. She’s living out of wedlock with a man she’s not married to. She doesn’t go to church. She would justify every kind of sin there is. What do you do, Pastor? I didn’t encourage her. I didn’t get into—I didn’t blow off on her right there, you know, in the public place and just—you know, that doesn’t work, because there’s a right place and a right time to say things. Amen? But I didn’t say, “Oh yes, would you please pray for us?” Because I’m encouraging her to do something that God says is going to be pointless because she’s not in relationship with Christ.

This is the symbolism of the sacrifice and the incense. It is rising to God from the altar which has been sanctified by the sacrifice. Our prayers are effective because we are in Christ and we are serving Him and pursuing Him. Not in perfection, as all of you know, but in persistence. 1 Peter 2: “As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” If we’re not in relationship with Christ, we do not have the authority or the expectation of God answering prayer.

Now you say, “Wait a minute, Pastor, I know somebody.” Then we put that in the category of common grace. God can answer any prayer according to His common grace, but that does not justify the sin that characterizes my life. I must turn and plead for God to bring deliverance.

3. Are You Preparing for Vindication?

Now I have to finish up here. Number three. And this is one I don’t really have any Scripture to give me except by implication. Robert Thomas says this: “The development of the book of Revelation is largely a divine response to a martyr’s cry. It is significant that the condition of these modern saints in heaven, having moved on to their heavenly abode, guarantees the absence of any selfish motive in their prayer life.”

Now when I talk to you about praying for vindication, I don’t mean, “Oh God, get that person that cut me off in traffic this week.” And we all deal with that one. I’m not talking about petty stuff. And this is where the American Christian is at a disadvantage. And we all have to be honest about this. I know there’s rumblings in the political realm and rumblings here or there, but we are not suffering in America anywhere close to what they are. Nobody has come in during the service and drug the pastor out at gunpoint to never to be heard from again. We have to make sure we put this in a global context so that we don’t fall into that pit of petty things. Every little petty thing that I don’t like, I need vindication. No. When these people were praying, it was because they had died for their faith.

And guess what? There are Christians dying for their faith today on this planet. And what are they praying for? Vindication. And what does God say? “I’m going to vindicate you.” Which means what? And this is very difficult because I don’t want to be an alarmist. I don’t want to predict things that don’t come through and I look awful. But if God is faithful—and that’s the song, you know, “You are faithful to Your promise”—God is faithful to His promises, and that means for all those saints around the globe throughout time who’ve been crying out, “Oh God, vindicate us!” That that vindication is coming. And we don’t know what it looks like culturally. But are you preparing your heart for it? Are you preparing your financial life for it?

We all pray “God bless America” and what we mean is the stock market will keep climbing and the home equity will keep going up and I can just keep leveraging my equity to have all these nice things. And what happens then if God’s judgment takes the form of economic collapse? Everybody remember two years ago Donald Trump was going to save the world by bringing down gas prices, and they’re higher now than they were under Biden. I saw a pump yesterday, $4.65, and it wasn’t anywhere close to Northern Virginia. The economy teeters. What if that’s the way God decides to judge and vindicate His people by sending the world into economic crisis? Are you ready for it?

What about your prayer life? What about your devotional life? What about your church time? Because here’s the thing: if God is going to honor His Word and respond to the cries of His oppressed around the world, sometimes that oppression, when it comes, is going to affect you and me. Are we ready?

And I have to stop there.

Father God, thank you for Your Word.