The One Who Stands in the Breach I. Base Texts: Psalm 106:23, Ezekiel 22:30 II. The Root of the Imagery A. What does it mean to “stand in the breach”? B. Ancient cities, existing before the advent of cannon fire, were surrounded by defensive walls; an attacking enemy sought to make a breach in the wall so as to compromise its defensive integrity, enter the town, and capture it 1. 1 Kings 11:27: Solomon repaired the part of the wall of the City of David which had a breach in it 2. 2 Kings 25:4, Jeremiah 39:2, 52:7: the Babylonians finally breached the walls of Jerusalem, and it led to the end of the siege and the destruction of the city 3. Nehemiah 6:1: Nehemiah and the people of Judah completed the walls of Jerusalem so there was no breach in it C. A breach, therefore, was any opening in which an enemy could attack or penetrate 1. Job 16:14, 30:14: Job speaks of his suffering in terms of having breach upon breach upon him, or as enemies flowing through a breach 2. Isaiah 30:13: Israel’s transgression as a breach in a high wall, leading to its collapse 3. Isaiah 58:12: a great legacy for Israelites who would come back to trust in YHWH: repairers of the breach 4. Micah 2:13: Micah envisions a great army with the one who opens a breach in the wall at its head D. Thus, to “stand in the breach” is to put oneself in the great place of danger, to attempt to maintain the integrity of defense after it has been compromised 1. Most who would defend an ancient city would be as those in Jerusalem during the Babylonian siege: they would fight hard while the wall maintained its integrity, but once the wall was breached, defense would seem hopeless, and it would be every man for himself (cf. 2 Kings 25:4) 2. To attempt to stand in the breach would mean almost certain death, for the enemy would immediately direct all their strength toward the breach to overwhelm its defenses 3. Thus, to stand in the breach would require selfless courage and devotion to one’s people, a powerful attempt to maintain the integrity of defense after the primary means of defense has been compromised III. One Who Stood in the Breach: Moses A. The Psalmist sets forth Israel’s disobedience in the Wilderness, declaring how YHWH would have destroyed them had not Moses “stood in the breach” before Him (Psalm 106:21-23) B. He refers to the events described in Exodus 32:1-14 1. While Moses was receiving the Law from God, the people grew restless, and assumed Moses was no more; they asked Aaron to make a god for them to serve, and he made them a golden calf (Exodus 32:1-6) 2. YHWH informed Moses of this; His anger burned against Israel, and He was about to destroy them and make a nation out of Moses (Exodus 32:7-10) 3. At that point Moses asked why YHWH’s anger burned against Israel, and how it would give the Egyptians reason to say that YHWH led Israel out with evil intentions to destroy them in the Wilderness; he asked YHWH to turn aside from His anger, remembering the promise He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 32:11-13) 4. YHWH relented of the disaster He was about to impose on Israel (Exodus 32:14) 5. Moses would go on to censure the people, and plague broke out among them, but they were not entirely destroyed (Exodus 32:15-35) C. Consider Moses’ selfless courage and devotion to his people 1. The Psalmist does well to express what Moses did as “standing in the breach”: Israel had sinned grievously, and their integrity had been greatly compromised 2. Moses had all kinds of reasons to step aside and let YHWH destroy Israel a. First and foremost, YHWH is the One speaking; Moses could have asked who he was to stand in the way of YHWH doing His thing b. He stood to personally benefit: we would no longer speak of the nation of Israel, but the nation of Moses! c. The people had sinned a great sin; didn’t they deserve punishment? Why not let them get what they deserve? 3. Yet Moses loved his people, as recalcitrant, broken, and sinful as they were, even when they were less than enthused about his leadership 4. Moses also loved YHWH; such is why he reminded Him of the covenant promise He made to the patriarchs as well as the blasphemy the Egyptians would have reason to say D. And so Moses took on the risk, stood in the breach of Israel’s integrity before God, and in this way preserved the people of Israel IV. Seeking a Man to Stand in the Breach in the Days of Ezekiel A. YHWH summons Ezekiel to render judgment on the “bloody city,” Jerusalem (Ezekiel 22:1-29) 1. The city is saturated in bloodshed, oppression, and sexual immorality, fully defiled, contemptuous of YHWH’s commands (Ezekiel 22:1-12) 2. YHWH will sharply judge her; He will consume her uncleanness (Ezekiel 22:13-16) 3. Israel is as dross, to be purged from pure metal in the fire and cast out by the fierce wrath of YHWH (Ezekiel 22:17-22) 4. The prophets conspire and do not speak the truth; the priests profane the holy things of YHWH; the princes destroy people to obtain wealth; the people of the land extort and exploit the poor and sojourners (Ezekiel 22:23-29) B. Thus Israel again stands before God with compromised integrity; their sins are grievous; YHWH stands ready to pour out His anger on them and destroy them C. At this moment YHWH sought for a man to stand in the breach, as Moses did, to attempt to stand up and maintain the integrity of Israel before Him; this time, none could be found, and so YHWH would pour out His indignation and wrath upon Israel, and He most assuredly did by the hands of Babylon (Ezekiel 22:30-31) D. The connections of the imagery between Psalm 106:23 and Ezekiel 22:30 prove too compelling to be coincidental 1. Note well how YHWH actively seeks for someone to come and “reason” with Him in Ezekiel 22:30, looking for the Moses like figure who loves YHWH and loves His people Israel and is willing to stand up to preserve Israel by appealing to YHWH’s covenant loyalty and standing among the nations 2. This “word from YHWH” does not come out of nowhere! 3. YHWH through Ezekiel deliberately describes Israel’s condition leading up to 586 BCE in terms of Israel in the Wilderness; whereas Moses stood in the breach, by the 6th century, no one was found who would do so E. We can see the great value and importance of having one who stands in the breach! V. Jesus, Our Mediator, the Ultimate One Who Stands in the Breach A. So who can truly stand in the breach between God and His people? B. Moses himself pointed the way, speaking of the One who would be a prophet like him whom Israel should heed (Deuteronomy 18:18-19) C. Jesus of Nazareth proved uniquely suited to stand in the breach 1. Jesus was fully God and fully man (John 1:1, 18) 2. He loved God fully, seeking His will in all things (Matthew 22:37-38, 26:39) 3. He also loved His people fully, dying for them (John 13:1) D. Jesus stood in the breach by living a sinless life yet dying for our sins, thus standing as Mediator and Intercessor between God and man 1. Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered, able to identify with us in our weaknesses, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15, 5:8-9) 2. Jesus saw Israel and all mankind as having sinned, having its integrity compromised, and thus stood in the breach, absorbing the full force of evil, pain, sin, and suffering, and overcoming in His death and resurrection (Romans 3:1-28, 5:12-6:11, 8:1-5) 3. Jesus, as fully human and fully God, is our Mediator between us and God (1 Timothy 2:5) 4. In Jesus all the promises God made find their fulfillment (Luke 24:44)! 5. Jesus triumphs over the powers and principalities; God manifests His wisdom in the church through Jesus before the powers and principalities (Ephesians 3:10-11, Colossians 2:15) E. Thanks be to God that Jesus proved willing to stand in the breach, to live, suffer, and die, and through His death and resurrection provide salvation for all who would trust in Him! VI. The One Who Stands in the Breach A. Yes, Jesus is the ultimate embodiment of one who would stand in the breach, but such does not mean that there ought not be anyone else among the people of God who would stand in the breach for the benefit of God’s people B. In our highly individualistic, atomized world, we tend to value the individual over the collective, and wonder if any individual even has responsibility for the collective 1. It is true that Scripture speaks of a level of personal autonomy: our judgment is based on what we have done in the body (Romans 2:5-11, 14:11-12, etc.) 2. We are not directly responsible for the behavior of others C. And yet we continually see the value of intercession: seeking to make petitions to God on behalf of others 1. While some have denied that Christians have any kind of intercessory role, common practice and 1 Timothy 2:1-3 speak otherwise 2. We constantly pray for the needs of others; that’s all intercession! D. Daniel and Ezra are notable for their intercessory prayers on behalf of the people and their iniquity (Daniel 9:1-19, Ezra 9:6-15) E. Moses spoke with YHWH, making intercession; Jesus’ prayer in John 17:1-26 is also intercessory in nature F. Thus there is still a place among the people of God for those who will stand in the breach, standing before God with integrity, love, and service, even when the integrity of the people of God has been compromised! 1. We do well to note two elements about the “one who stands in the breach” a. They stand before God; God has become the enemy that would ravage the people b. The “wall” that has been breached is the faithful integrity of the people of God: they have sinned; there is no excuse or justification for their sin; and yet the one who stands in the breach stands there anyway 2. The “one who stands in the breach” has all sorts of reasons not to: he or she could just let the people of God suffer what they deserve for their iniquity; he or she might even obtain personal gain if such destruction were to be unleashed on others 3. And yet, the “one who stands in the breach” loves both God and the people of God, and loves them both enough to stand in that compromised position, full of danger, interceding for the salvation of God’s people G. Would we be willing to be the ones who stand in the breach? 1. Do we feel that people are still worth praying for and worth saving even though they prove recalcitrant, rebellious, and perhaps even do not think much of us? 2. Do we love God enough to challenge Him to be faithful to covenant and to not allow His name to be blasphemed by the Gentiles? Believe it or not, He searches for such people! 3. Do we feel any sort of obligation at all toward God or our fellow believers for “mutual defense,” and thus would prove willing to stand in the breach, or if the “walls” were breached, would we, like so many others, despair and believe the time has come for every man for himself? 4. Will we prove willing to fight in prayer for people, even when they are compromised, and before God, to be faithful to covenant? VII. Conclusion A. We have explored the “one who stands in the breach” 1. We understand it comes from a last-ditch attempt to maintain the integrity of a city’s defense once part of the wall was broken down 2. We have seen how Moses stood in the breach for Israel; YHWH was going to destroy Israel, but relented (Psalm 106:23) 3. We have seen how YHWH searched for such a man to stand in the breach in the days of Ezekiel and found no one; YHWH was going to destroy Israel, and did so (Ezekiel 22:30) 4. We recognize how Jesus is the ultimate Man who stood in the breach, fully God, fully human, offering Himself for our sin to reconcile us to God (Romans 5:6-11) B. We can hopefully see the imperative of having one who will stand in the breach among the people of God: a person who powerfully prays to God for the salvation of His people, to exhort Him toward covenant loyalty, lest the wrath of God be poured out among His people (cf. 1 Peter 4:17-18) C. May we prove willing to stand in the breach, loving God and our fellow man, and intercede before God so many may hear and be saved! D. Invitation Scripture, Meditation, and Application 1: Therefore he 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 (Psalm 106:23). To “stand in the breach” means to prove willing to fortify the dignity of a city’s defense once the wall lost its integrity with a breach. In the Wilderness, after Israel sinned, Moses interceded before God for them to be spared. In this way Moses stood in the breach when Israel’s integrity was compromised in sin. May we turn from sin and trust in God in Christ! 2: And I sought for a man among them, that should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none (Ezekiel 22:30). The list of Israel’s transgressions in the days of Ezekiel was long and grievous. YHWH sought a man to stand in the breach, a man of integrity who could remind Him of His covenant faithfulness and show care for the greatness of His Name. YHWH could not find such a man in Jerusalem. And so Jerusalem was destroyed, given over to its enemies. May we always have one who will stand in the breach for us! 3: For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). Moses stood in the breach for Israel; Moses spoke of a prophet like Him whom Israel ought to heed. Jesus of Nazareth is the ultimate one who would stand in the breach. Jesus, fully God and fully man, suffered and died for our sins, and was raised in power on the third day. He now serves as Mediator between God and man, and in Him we can be reconciled to God. Thanks be to God for salvation in Jesus! 4: I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for all men (1 Timothy 2:1). Christians as the people of God today still need one who will stand in the breach. Who will love God and His people enough to stand in the breach? Who will exhort God toward covenant faithfulness and care for the sanctity of His Name? Who will selflessly care for the fate of others even when they have transgressed? May we stand in the breach through prayers of intercession for one another, and may all find salvation in Christ!