Praying for Civil Government
They are praying for a governmental entity, specifically the Sanhedrin. When they pray, they acknowledge the situation, they know that God is a God of justice, and they say, look on their threats. But their prayer for the government at that point terminates. The prayer primarily is for them.
In other words, how are we supposed to respond when the pressure comes? How are we supposed to function when the difficulties arise? If you ask the Bible, how can we pray for civil government? I've reduced it to three R's.
First R: Pray for Redemption
First, we pray for their redemption. 1 Timothy chapter 2, verses 1 to 7. You see that God, the Apostle Paul, tells Timothy specifically to pray. I entreat you first of all, I urge you, that prayers, supplications, intercessions, and givings of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority. In verse 4, he highlights the fact that Jesus Christ is a Savior of all men.
By that, he doesn't mean all men without distinction, but in the context, all men without exception, kings, Rulers, civil authority. So it is just and legit for the church today to pray for the redemption of our government authorities.
Second R: Pray for Restraint
Secondly, we can pray that God restrains them. Solomon, the wise man in Proverbs 21.1, tells us, in tune with God's sovereignty, that the Lord holds the heart of the king in his hand, and that he directs that heart the way he does the rivers of water. So Lord God, restrain them. We don't want the variant communism.
Please keep that from us. That is a legit expression of biblical praying on the part of the people of God. When I was younger, they taught us of the horrors of communism. We forgot those lessons.
Communism is anti-Christ. It is in absolute opposition and contradiction to the Lord of glory, the most virulent, Anti-communists ought to be people of God in churches, because commies don't provoke or incite true religion. They clamp down on it. So restraint is a perfectly legitimate prayer for civil government.
Third R: Pray for Removal
And then there's the third R, which is remove them. Remove them. Psalm 74 verse 11. Asaph prays that Yahweh withdraw his hand from his bosom and destroy the enemies of Israel.
Again, that's the kind of praying we kind of shrink back from because we're filled with love in the New Covenant as if God in the Old Covenant wasn't filled with love. Love is opposed to wretchedness, to wickedness, and to evil. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us love rejoices in what? Truth. Not lies, not deceit, not deception and falsehood.
It rejoices in truth. So God Most High can either redeem, restrain, or remove. That is a specific petition that the church has legitimacy to pray with reference to their civil authority.
Praying for Our Own Conduct
Now back to our text. They understand the opposition, they see the rage of their enemies, they understand the nature of the battle, and let us see how they pray. So, when we pray for redemption, restraint, or removal, let's not neglect to pray for ourselves on how we're supposed to conduct ourselves in the midst of oppression and persecution. Notice, verse 29, now, Lord, look on their threats.
Great place for them to invoke the removal clause at that point. But they don't, and I'm admitting that, and I'm acknowledging that. But there's other places in the Bible where men do invoke the removal clause. But here, it's now, Lord, look at their threats and grant to your servants.
See, here's the rub, brethren. Whatever happens from out there, whatever happens within here, whatever happens in God's big world, there's always our response to it. There's always our reaction to it. There's always the way we think through it, the way we strategize about it, the way we conduct ourselves in the midst of it.
And I think it's biblically right to ask God to make us proper vehicles