UNDERSTANDING DIVINE INTERVENTION

What is meant by ‘intervention’? 

The idea of ‘intervening’ is to come or to go between. It has reference to someone(s) stepping in and affecting the outcome of events. There is either a compelling, an altering, a maintaining, or a preventing of conditions in the affairs of those affected.

Similar terms are: INTERPOSE and INTERRUPT

DIVINE intervention is when GOD intervenes. 

There are two points to observe in reference to DIVINE intervention: 

1] God always intervenes according to His purpose.

2] Man always responds in one of two ways to this intervention—rejection or acceptance.

Let's notice the first point:

The Bible declares that God’s purpose for divine intervention is always in harmony with divine purpose. 

1 Tim. 2:4 – He “...desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

2 Peter 3:9 – God “..is...not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

Ezek. 33:11 – God has “...no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live...”

Accordingly, we find that before the Creation, God provided for man’s salvation. Speaking of Christ, Peter wrote: “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world ...” (1 Peter 1:20)

The second point: 

The Bible declares that man always responds in one of two ways. This relates to God's intervention, for God continues to intervene in the affairs of man, and it is conditioned upon man’s will.

Ezek. 14:1-9 – "Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. And the word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols. "Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, I the LORD will answer him myself. And I will set my face against that man; I will make him a sign and a byword and cut him off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the LORD. And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel."

We need to ask ourselves, have we “taken idols into our heart?”

Examples of those who had done so:

Ahab ~ 1 Kings 16:33 – “...Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.”

1 Kings 21:20, 25-29 – “...you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the LORD...there was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab...and when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly. And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, "Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son's days I will bring the disaster upon his house."

Accordingly, God dealt with him (Ahab) in this manner:

1 Kings 22:13-23 – “And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, "Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably." But Micaiah said, "As the LORD lives, what the LORD says to me, that I will speak." And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, "Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?" And he answered him, "Go up and triumph; the LORD will give it into the hand of the king." But the king said to him, "How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?" And he said, "I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the LORD said, 'These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.'" And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?" And Micaiah said, "Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; and the LORD said, 'Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, 'I will entice him.' And the LORD said to him, 'By what means?' And he said, 'I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And he said, 'You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.' Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has declared disaster for you."

Some related passages that show this pattern of God's manner of dealing with man, was determined by man's acceptance or rejection of what God had commanded of man.

Rom. 8:28 – “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good...”

2 Thess. 2:9-12 – “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

God carries out His purpose through His intervention to save and at the same time, chastise the wicked. We saw this in how Ahab was dealt with. 

God's word is “...living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12) 

Many today are attempting to serve God but have “taken idols into their heart”. Those who have “taken idols into their heart” are the ones who have no love for truth.

How will God carry out His purpose through intervention toward them? [2 Thess. 2:11, “Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false...”]

Prov. 19:21 – “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”

The plans of those who ‘love not the truth’ will be overthrown. God’s intervention/purpose will stand. Man may have one thing in mind, yet it is God’s purpose for man that will be accomplished. If your ‘plans’ are to serve God, nothing will prevent you from doing so—God’s word is sure; if, however, your ‘plans’ are to resist God, nothing will prevent God’s rod of chastisement from coming. God intervenes to accomplish this in our lives. Job acknowledged this: Job 34:10-12, 14-15, 21-27 - "Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong. For according to the work of a man he will repay him and according to his ways he will make it befall him. Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice...If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust..."For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps. There is no gloom or deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves. For God has no need to consider a man further, that he should go before God in judgment. He shatters the mighty without investigation and sets others in their place. Thus, knowing their works, he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed. He strikes them for their wickedness in a place for all to see, because they turned aside from following him and had no regard for any of his ways...”

There is no doubt that He intervenes in this manner: We see that the Amorites were going to be punished, yet, as with Ahab, God was merciful.

Gen. 15:13-16 – “Then the LORD said to Abram, "Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete."

God would intervene (& affect the outcome) when He knew the iniquity was complete. Abram did not know, nor need to know when this would be; he believed what God said about this and was fully persuaded that God would fulfill His word; in fact this was fulfilled long after Abram’s death (Josh. 21:43). The Hebrew writer tells us Abram and many others, “all though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us...” (Heb. 11:39).

Did they know the particulars of why the events in their lives were so occurring? No, but they loved God & believed that it was going to “...work together for good...”

Other examples: Joseph & his brothers: In Gen. 50:20 – “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

Speaking of Balaam & Balak, Moses said of God’s intervention...Deut. 23:4-5 – “But the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you...”

God intervened in Esther’s day and struck Haman for his wickedness. The result? Esth. 7:10, “...so they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai.”

Job spoke of God’s intervention: Job 5:12 – “He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.”

Gamaliel recognized that if God was behind it, it was futile to resist. Acts 5:38-39 – “...if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.” The apostle Paul believed in divine intervention: 

Phil. 1:12 – “...what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel...”Paul did not know how God would achieve His will in man to save him, yet Paul did know that such was why God intervened. He said in 2 Tim. 1:12 – “And that is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return.”

Speaking of Onesimus’ desertion and return, Paul wrote to Philemon: Philemon 1:15 – “For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever...”

Who knows why this sequence of events in the life of Onesimus happened as they did? 

- Did Onesimus intend to become a Christian when he ran away? 

- Did those who persecuted Paul intend to advance the very gospel preached by Paul? 

- Did Haman intend to be hanged on the same gallows prepared for Mordecai? 

- Did Balak intend for Israel to be blessed when he summoned Balaam? NO! But God turns man’s curse into blessing; God frustrated the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. Why?

Because God:

1 Tim. 2:4 – “...desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

2 Peter 3:9 – “..is...not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

Ezek. 33:11 – has “...no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live...”

Divine intervention was, and is, to cause our salvation. How we respond to that intervention determines how God intervenes thereafter.

Do you want to be saved? Do you love God, or do you have pleasure in unrighteousness?

As Job said God deals according to the work of a man, and “... he will repay him and according to his ways...”

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