Page 6 - Imprecatory Prayer

Prayers Which Overcome Institutional Evil
Our Lord Jesus is releasing prayer that will defeat the evil imbedded
in religious leaders of an apostate 1st century Judaism. This
precedes His prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70
recorded in Matthew 24:1-35.

In Matthew 23, the Lord Jesus pronounces a long list of woes upon
the religious leaders of Judaism. He designates the Pharisees,
Sadducees, and scribes as hypocrites, blind men, fools, and blind
guides. Judaism in Jesus’ day had not faithfully stewarded the
covenant the Lord God had made with their father, Abraham. They
had allowed the traditions and doctrines of men to replace the
revelation and doctrine of God. This disobedience aligned them
with their forefathers in Jeremiah’s day, who, like they, rejected the
word of the Lord through the prophet.

This pronouncement of woes is a part of imprecatory praying.
Notice the woes in this chapter culminate with a final
pronouncement in verse 38: “Behold your house is being left to you
desolate!” This is a direct reference to the imprecatory prayer David
prayed in Psalm 69:25:

“May their camp be desolate; may none dwell in their tents.”

We should note that the generation that rejected Him was going to
be held accountable for all the innocent blood shed from previous
generations going all the way back to Abel’s murder. (See Matthew
23:35).

4. The Apostles. Read Acts 4:23-31.

The forces that opposed the Early Church were (1) religious leaders
of Israel and (2) the Roman Empire which was led by Caesars who
claimed deity status.

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