The Persistent Widow Pleads Before the JudgeBible World
18:7Luke 18:7
And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
Christ teaches by sharp contrast rather than likeness that God is altogether unlike the unjust judge in His dealing with those who seek Him. Though He appears to delay long, He hears His chosen ones who cry to Him day and night with infinite compassion and will surely vindicate them speedily. They are dear to Him as the apple of His eye, called and chosen for salvation, and He never turns away their sincere prayer. The verse is given to urge that men ought always to pray and not lose heart, especially amid the perils before the second coming, by persistent importunate asking that clings to the promise until the answer comes. In the final conflict, when the righteous face persecution and death and wrestle as Jacob did, their united day-and-night cry will be met by His powerful deliverance at the appointed time.
Parable Setting and Contrast
Christ's question in Luke 18:7 teaches by sharp contrast, not by likeness, for God is altogether different from the unjust judge toward those who seek Him. Unlike the judge who heard only to rid himself of appeals, God as caring, all-merciful and all-pitiful Father considers the appeals of the needy and distressed who cry day and night with infinite compassion and love. To the oppressed, to those falsified, scorned and derided and tempted to think themselves forsaken while enemies triumph, this contrast gives comfort that He has not forsaken them but will vindicate their cause and appear as their deliverer who has suffered in their behalf and borne their sorrows.
The judge feared not God nor regarded man, with self as his god, having no regard for right and no pity for suffering. Though he knew the widow's cause was righteous and could have relieved her at once, he repulsed her again and again with contempt and rough treatment and drove her from the judgment seat to show his arbitrary power and gratify himself with her vain asking and pleading. When human life was in the balance he decided according to debased, perverted sentiments, filled with satanic attributes, with appetite and passion destroying his powers of perception, showing to what depths men sink when they yield their powers to Satan and their lower nature is fully developed.
He avenged her at last only from selfishness, because her continual coming wearied and troubled him and his injustice was becoming conspicuous under many complaints about his course. His aim was to be relieved of importunity, trouble and annoyance, to save his reputation, and to avoid publicity for his partial one-sided judgment, while her misery was nothing to him and his cold heart remained without pity or compassion like ice. Separated from God and fearing neither God nor man, he felt nothing for her, yet her constant earnest petitions gained the favor she asked.
The judge represents corrupt earthly rulers and judges whose judgment is corrupted by selfishness and sinful habits, who do not make God's word their guide but follow their own unconsecrated, undisciplined impulses and debased sentiments. God's people can place little dependence on such men in official positions in the day of adversity, and as earth's history nears its close those who honor God should expect little justice and even oppression from people in positions of trust who neither fear God nor respect others. The judge was presented to show the kind of judgment then being executed and that would soon be witnessed at Christ's trial. Christ's people, loyal to truth and obedient to God's commandments, will be opposed as Christ was, and are to expect adversity from powers hostile to God, with Christ as their refuge as He was the widow's.
The widow pictures those who cry day and night, for she would not fail nor become discouraged but pressed her petition with unyielding persistency until he attended to her case. Though torn again and again from the seat and met with contempt and rough treatment, she was found again asking for justice, her determination was not quenched, and finally perseverance gained its reward. This shows the result of persevering prayer that Christ inspires and rewards, the same persevering faith seen in Jacob and the Syrophoenician woman, to whom He gave courage and determination. The poor, friendless widow who lost all pictures man who by sin lost connection with God and has no means of salvation in himself, but in Christ is brought nigh unto the Father.
God's Compassionate Promise
Unlike the unjust judge who heard only to rid himself of appeals, God as caring Father considers the appeals of the needy and distressed who cry day and night to Him with infinite compassion and love. He is reasonable and compassionate, His loving-kindness never fails, the sorrows of His people touch His heart of love, and as a kind Father He does not mock their miseries. The contrast is sharp and not a likeness: the judge had no regard for right and no pity for suffering, though he knew the widow's cause was righteous and could have relieved her at once, yet he repulsed her again and again with contempt and drove her from the judgment seat to show arbitrary power, and yielded at last only from selfishness to be relieved of importunity, to save his reputation and to avoid publicity for his partial one-sided judgment, while her misery was nothing to him and his cold heart remained without pity or compassion. To those who suffer persecution for faith, who are falsified, scorned and derided and tempted to think themselves forsaken while enemies seem to triumph, this gives comfort that God has not forsaken them but hears their day-and-night cries and will vindicate their cause and appear as their deliverer, One who has suffered in their behalf and borne with them their sorrows and afflictions.
The elect who cry day and night are dear to His heart, as dear as the apple of His eye, and He will not let His heritage stay oppressed but will right their wrongs. They are those He has called out of darkness into His marvelous light to show forth His praise and to shine as lights amid the darkness and moral darkness of the world, chosen for salvation through the Spirit's sanctifying work and belief in the truth, entrusted with sacred responsibilities. His church is the dearest object on earth to Him, His property by creation and by redemption, kept as the apple of His eye and under His special care, and praying people who make Him their dependence and seek to live righteously are under that special care, praying as earnestly as the defrauded woman prayed to the unjust judge. Though they may suffer condemnation and oppression from the world and may not receive at once everything they ask, when they are in danger Jesus delivers them and makes a way out, and He deals with those who rob the widow and fatherless or meet needs with indifference, testing His people as individuals in this, while unfeeling selfish people cannot receive His favor.
God hears His elect when they call continually day and night; He never turns away from them indifferently and does not neglect their cries. No sincere contrite prayer is lost, for the just Judge turns away no one who comes in contrition, He hears even the weakest person, and His struggling church is precious to Him. Their earnest continuing prayers show confidence in God, and their sense of need moves their heavenly Father by supplication to hear and answer, not from selfishness or indifference but as their caring Father. He may restrain calamities and preserve many people for the sake of a few faithful servants, even while they are ridiculed and oppressed.
Though He bears long with them and help appears delayed, He will vindicate them and avenge them speedily. His bearing long does not mean He will fail to answer, forsake or abandon them, and the promise encourages confidence and patience and persistent prayer rather than despair, unbelief or losing heart, especially amid the perils before the second coming. The painful delay is the best answer to their petitions: it calls them to exercise faith, hope and patience while mercy is extended, and the promise of His coming assures them He will act and not delay beyond His appointed will. For the elect's sake the time of trouble will be shortened, and deliverance and the end will come sooner than people expect.
Even the most unworthy may commit their case to God, because when He gave Himself in Christ for the sin of the world He undertook the case of every soul. Having not spared His own Son He will with Him also freely give all things and fulfill this gracious word given for encouragement and strength. This calls for confident patience until the promise is received at the coming of the Lord.
Call to Persevering Prayer
The parable is given to teach that men ought always to pray and not to faint, to keep praying and not lose heart. A widow in a city kept coming to a judge who feared not God nor regarded man, asking to be avenged of her adversary, and after refusing for a while he avenged her because her continual coming wearied and troubled him. He acted to save himself from trouble and annoyance and because his injustice was becoming conspicuous under many complaints about his course, and her perseverance gained the favor she asked. Unlike that judge, God hears the appeals of His chosen who cry to Him continually with infinite compassion rather than selfishness or indifference, and though He bears long with them He will avenge them speedily. The promise encourages His followers amid the perils they will face just before the second coming to keep praying and not lose heart, and its closing question connects such persevering faith with the coming of the Son of man.
Confidence in God is proved by persistent importunate prayer combined with good works. Earnest continuing prayer shows confidence in Him, and the sense of need moves the heavenly Father by supplication to hear. The unjust judge granted justice only from selfishness to be relieved of constant earnest petitions, while his cold heart remained without pity or compassion for misery, but God is altogether different toward prayer and never turns away indifferently from His elect who keep calling upon Him continually, though He may seem not to respond immediately, hearing them and vindicating them speedily.
Like the importunate widow believers are to keep urging their case, asking and not letting go, without wavering or growing weary when the answer is not immediate. Waiting may test faith, but they are to cling steadily to the promise and to His Word, trusting that He will bless and answer and give power to live as children of God. There is time enough to do all He appoints when the work is done in His way and not in man's own way. The widow is the example of pleading persistently for blessing.
The verse gives force to asking, seeking, and knocking, taught also through the friend asking for bread at midnight. Its memory strengthens wavering faith to keep crying to God with confidence that persistent prayer is answered by a just God who will do justice speedily for His elect who cry day and night though He is longsuffering over them. The same persevering faith was seen in the Syrophoenician woman and in Jacob, showing the result of persevering prayer that Christ inspires with courage and determination and rewards. Determined, importunate, unyielding faith that lays hold of God's promises prevails as Jacob prevailed, and the greatest victories for the church and the individual are gained in the audience chamber with God when earnest agonizing faith lays hold upon the mighty arm of power.
Prevailing requires forsaking every sin and seeking earnestly for God; those unwilling to do this will not obtain the blessing, but all who are as earnest and persevering as Jacob was will succeed as he succeeded. Before Christ returns the church will be tested, and God's people must persevere in prayer, wait on the Holy Spirit, and search Scripture to know God's will. Those who walk in the light of God's commandments can trust that their prayers will be answered, while those who knowingly go against His expressed will should not expect to receive what they ask.
Followers are to leave vindication and deliverance to God, waiting for His judgment in His own good time rather than appealing to earthly rulers for vengeance. Christ lived this by doing nothing to vindicate or deliver Himself but committing His case to God, so His followers are not to accuse or condemn and are not to resort to force in order to deliver themselves. Little dependence can be placed on earthly rulers or judges in the day of adversity, since the elect often must stand before men in official positions who do not make God's word their guide but follow unconsecrated undisciplined impulses. Instead they are to call upon God in the day of trouble, present perplexities and necessities and need of divine help, be instant in prayer as soon as difficulties arise, and offer sincere earnest importunate petitions evidencing strong confidence.
When the answer is delayed they are to wait patiently, trusting God's wisdom rather than trying to secure it by their own plans and strength. Earnest intense prayer offered in Jesus' name and inspired by the Holy Spirit reaches the throne, and delay is no reason to stop praying. When the request serves God's glory He answers, and His answer can exceed what is asked or thought.
God's ministers are to work and pray without ceasing, and those who lack spiritual blessing must wrestle earnestly for it rather than submit to discouragement. Persistent prevailing faith is necessary, and giving up allows Satan to triumph. Diligent seeking deepens and strengthens experience, praying together brings grace and blessing and can help others receive truth, while neglecting to seek with faith that will not be denied means losing a precious experience. Perseverance in earnest persistent crying through intense struggle meets God's approval and help, and light from Jesus encourages those who so plead day and night for victory.
End-Time Trouble Deliverance
Before Christ returns the church will be tested, and God's chosen people will cry to Him day and night for deliverance while facing persecution, deadly opposition, and the threat of death. Their distress will continue until His appointed will is fulfilled, and then He will deliver and vindicate them. Those who walk in the light of His commandments can trust that their prayers will be answered, while those who knowingly go against His expressed will should not expect to receive what they ask.
This cry belongs to the final conflict with the image of the beast, when a decree goes forth to kill those who refuse to worship it. It comes after Jesus finishes His work in the sanctuary and appears on the great white cloud, represented by the angel calling for the harvest to begin. There will be a special time of mourning and prayer prompted by the Spirit, and they will not all be killed, for God will deliver them by His voice. Their distress will come just before the Lord's coming as a decree to put them to death, and their situation will resemble Jacob's anguish when Esau approached with four hundred men.
Just before the second coming God's people must pass through the trial represented by Jacob's night of wrestling. When Christ ceases His work as mediator and every case is decided, as Jacob was threatened with death by his angry brother so the righteous will be in peril from the wicked seeking to destroy them. As Jacob wrestled all night for deliverance from Esau so they will cry to God day and night for deliverance from the enemies surrounding them. Their pleading will be earnest yet submissive, like Jacob wrestling for deliverance, trusting God's power to save while submitting to His will and enduring the appointed trial until His will is fulfilled.
Though it appears He has left them to perish and enemies are close to destroying them, His delay does not mean He has abandoned them. He shields them by angels and makes the attackers' swords and weapons powerless while the wicked pursue them and try to kill them. At the appointed time He powerfully delivers everyone who has patiently waited for Him and whose name is written in the book. He speaks to His people amid the upheaval of the earth and preserves them in the final crisis for the glory of His name.
For the elect's sake the time of trouble will be shortened, and God will act speedily. The delay before deliverance is painful, but it is the best answer to their petitions because it exercises faith, hope, and patience. Deliverance and the end will come sooner than people expect. Near the close of history God's oppressed people will raise a united day-and-night cry, and God will answer by delivering the remnant who keep His commandments and have the testimony of Jesus.
In the church's greatest danger, distress, and depression, when members have become worldly and are following the world, a small faithful company will pray earnestly for the church. Their prayers will not be in vain, and their zeal for God's honor and their faith will grow strong through fervent prayer. When God comes as avenger He will also protect those who have kept the faith pure and remained unspotted from the world. Though He bears long with them, He will answer and avenge His elect when the transgressor's guilt has reached its height.
Vindication and Final Judgment
God will do justice for His own elect by vindicating them against Satan their adversary. Notwithstanding their defects and sins, He does not turn away from the repenting and believing, but removes their filthy garments of iniquity, places His own robe of righteousness upon them, writes pardon against their names on the records of heaven, and confesses them as His before the heavenly universe, while Satan is exposed as accuser and deceiver.
Though the elect may suffer condemnation and oppression from the world, they are as dear to Him as the apple of His eye and He will not let His heritage stay oppressed. He hears His people when they call to Him continually day and night, and He will right their wrongs and deal with those who rob the widow and the fatherless or meet their needs with indifference. In this He tests His people as individuals, and unfeeling and selfish people cannot receive His favor. He will ultimately judge those who neglect or deprive vulnerable children of what they need, even when He bears long with those who cry to Him continually.
His patience in bearing long does not mean injustice will go unpunished, for He has promised to vindicate His persistent praying people. When human iniquity reaches its full measure He intervenes in judgment, acting on their behalf when they face their greatest danger and seem unable to withstand satanic power. Their day-and-night cries include the suffering of people in India, Africa, China, and elsewhere, and He will avenge them speedily. His answer includes sweeping the earth free of moral corruption, not by another flood as in Noah's day but by an unquenchable sea of fire.
The promise applies when defiance of God's law becomes nearly universal and human power can no longer help. Then the elect cry to Him day and night under affliction and oppression, and He will arise as their protector and avenger and answer their fervent prayers for deliverance. This is when falsehood seems to prevail, rulers use legislation to compel conscience, human laws are made supreme and God's law is made void, a false sabbath is exalted and religious liberty is suppressed. At that time those who remain faithful to His law are to seek Him wholeheartedly and depend on Him as Deliverer, and He will act in judgment against those who use their power to suppress religious liberty and vindicate His people. He hears the cries of His people and acts for their deliverance, and He may restrain calamities and preserve many people for the sake of a few faithful servants, even while they are ridiculed and oppressed.
Daily Applications for Believers
Objections may press heavily upon faith, yet they need not prevent trust, for His word gives a sure basis for taking hold of His promise. He will avenge His own elect who cry day and night to Him in humility, exalting everyone who humbles himself while everyone who exalts himself shall be abased. Unlike the unjust judge who acted only to rid himself of appeals, the just Judge turns away no one who comes in contrition. The parable is thus an admonition to those claiming righteousness: those who fear God and accept Christ reveal His character through mercy, sympathy, respect for the poor, and practical care for the distressed. No sincere contrite prayer is lost, for He hears even the weakest person, and His struggling church is precious to Him, so believers can entrust their case to Him and trust His gracious promises.
When church difficulties arise, members should unite in prayer and keep asking God for help rather than rely on lawyers who do not obey God or fear Him. The call to cry day and night applies to pleading for power to rescue the tempted and fallen, with victory coming through living connection with God through Jesus Christ. It applies also to united prayer for an afflicted brother's recovery, teaching earnest persevering prayer that continues pleading until the petition is answered. This means praying like the widow, asking again and again many times a day with humble requests until the full answer is realized, with faith claiming restoration and saying it shall be done, weeping and praying and rejoicing even in prayer for healing power to come to the sick.
Parents are encouraged to keep praying earnestly with firm persistent faith for their children until they receive help, grace, and salvation. Those seeking to live righteously and praying to Him are under His special care, though they may not receive at once everything they ask. When they are in danger Jesus delivers them and makes a way out. They are to plead like the importunate widow for His blessing, holding to His word and asking for power to live as children of God, with assurance that there is time enough to do all He appoints when the work is done in His way and not in man's own way.
Christ teaches by sharp contrast rather than likeness that God is altogether unlike the unjust judge in His dealing with those who seek Him. Though He appears to delay long, He hears His chosen ones who cry to Him day and night with infinite compassion and will surely vindicate them speedily. They are dear to Him as the apple of His eye, called and chosen for salvation, and He never turns away their sincere prayer. The verse is given to urge that men ought always to pray and not lose heart, especially amid the perils before the second coming, by persistent importunate asking that clings to the promise until the answer comes. In the final conflict, when the righteous face persecution and death and wrestle as Jacob did, their united day-and-night cry will be met by His powerful deliverance at the appointed time.
Parable Setting and Contrast
Christ's question in Luke 18:7 teaches by sharp contrast, not by likeness, for God is altogether different from the unjust judge toward those who seek Him. Unlike the judge who heard only to rid himself of appeals, God as caring, all-merciful and all-pitiful Father considers the appeals of the needy and distressed who cry day and night with infinite compassion and love. To the oppressed, to those falsified, scorned and derided and tempted to think themselves forsaken while enemies triumph, this contrast gives comfort that He has not forsaken them but will vindicate their cause and appear as their deliverer who has suffered in their behalf and borne their sorrows.
The judge feared not God nor regarded man, with self as his god, having no regard for right and no pity for suffering. Though he knew the widow's cause was righteous and could have relieved her at once, he repulsed her again and again with contempt and rough treatment and drove her from the judgment seat to show his arbitrary power and gratify himself with her vain asking and pleading. When human life was in the balance he decided according to debased, perverted sentiments, filled with satanic attributes, with appetite and passion destroying his powers of perception, showing to what depths men sink when they yield their powers to Satan and their lower nature is fully developed.
He avenged her at last only from selfishness, because her continual coming wearied and troubled him and his injustice was becoming conspicuous under many complaints about his course. His aim was to be relieved of importunity, trouble and annoyance, to save his reputation, and to avoid publicity for his partial one-sided judgment, while her misery was nothing to him and his cold heart remained without pity or compassion like ice. Separated from God and fearing neither God nor man, he felt nothing for her, yet her constant earnest petitions gained the favor she asked.
The judge represents corrupt earthly rulers and judges whose judgment is corrupted by selfishness and sinful habits, who do not make God's word their guide but follow their own unconsecrated, undisciplined impulses and debased sentiments. God's people can place little dependence on such men in official positions in the day of adversity, and as earth's history nears its close those who honor God should expect little justice and even oppression from people in positions of trust who neither fear God nor respect others. The judge was presented to show the kind of judgment then being executed and that would soon be witnessed at Christ's trial. Christ's people, loyal to truth and obedient to God's commandments, will be opposed as Christ was, and are to expect adversity from powers hostile to God, with Christ as their refuge as He was the widow's.
The widow pictures those who cry day and night, for she would not fail nor become discouraged but pressed her petition with unyielding persistency until he attended to her case. Though torn again and again from the seat and met with contempt and rough treatment, she was found again asking for justice, her determination was not quenched, and finally perseverance gained its reward. This shows the result of persevering prayer that Christ inspires and rewards, the same persevering faith seen in Jacob and the Syrophoenician woman, to whom He gave courage and determination. The poor, friendless widow who lost all pictures man who by sin lost connection with God and has no means of salvation in himself, but in Christ is brought nigh unto the Father.
God's Compassionate Promise
Unlike the unjust judge who heard only to rid himself of appeals, God as caring Father considers the appeals of the needy and distressed who cry day and night to Him with infinite compassion and love. He is reasonable and compassionate, His loving-kindness never fails, the sorrows of His people touch His heart of love, and as a kind Father He does not mock their miseries. The contrast is sharp and not a likeness: the judge had no regard for right and no pity for suffering, though he knew the widow's cause was righteous and could have relieved her at once, yet he repulsed her again and again with contempt and drove her from the judgment seat to show arbitrary power, and yielded at last only from selfishness to be relieved of importunity, to save his reputation and to avoid publicity for his partial one-sided judgment, while her misery was nothing to him and his cold heart remained without pity or compassion. To those who suffer persecution for faith, who are falsified, scorned and derided and tempted to think themselves forsaken while enemies seem to triumph, this gives comfort that God has not forsaken them but hears their day-and-night cries and will vindicate their cause and appear as their deliverer, One who has suffered in their behalf and borne with them their sorrows and afflictions.
The elect who cry day and night are dear to His heart, as dear as the apple of His eye, and He will not let His heritage stay oppressed but will right their wrongs. They are those He has called out of darkness into His marvelous light to show forth His praise and to shine as lights amid the darkness and moral darkness of the world, chosen for salvation through the Spirit's sanctifying work and belief in the truth, entrusted with sacred responsibilities. His church is the dearest object on earth to Him, His property by creation and by redemption, kept as the apple of His eye and under His special care, and praying people who make Him their dependence and seek to live righteously are under that special care, praying as earnestly as the defrauded woman prayed to the unjust judge. Though they may suffer condemnation and oppression from the world and may not receive at once everything they ask, when they are in danger Jesus delivers them and makes a way out, and He deals with those who rob the widow and fatherless or meet needs with indifference, testing His people as individuals in this, while unfeeling selfish people cannot receive His favor.
God hears His elect when they call continually day and night; He never turns away from them indifferently and does not neglect their cries. No sincere contrite prayer is lost, for the just Judge turns away no one who comes in contrition, He hears even the weakest person, and His struggling church is precious to Him. Their earnest continuing prayers show confidence in God, and their sense of need moves their heavenly Father by supplication to hear and answer, not from selfishness or indifference but as their caring Father. He may restrain calamities and preserve many people for the sake of a few faithful servants, even while they are ridiculed and oppressed.
Though He bears long with them and help appears delayed, He will vindicate them and avenge them speedily. His bearing long does not mean He will fail to answer, forsake or abandon them, and the promise encourages confidence and patience and persistent prayer rather than despair, unbelief or losing heart, especially amid the perils before the second coming. The painful delay is the best answer to their petitions: it calls them to exercise faith, hope and patience while mercy is extended, and the promise of His coming assures them He will act and not delay beyond His appointed will. For the elect's sake the time of trouble will be shortened, and deliverance and the end will come sooner than people expect.
Even the most unworthy may commit their case to God, because when He gave Himself in Christ for the sin of the world He undertook the case of every soul. Having not spared His own Son He will with Him also freely give all things and fulfill this gracious word given for encouragement and strength. This calls for confident patience until the promise is received at the coming of the Lord.
Call to Persevering Prayer
The parable is given to teach that men ought always to pray and not to faint, to keep praying and not lose heart. A widow in a city kept coming to a judge who feared not God nor regarded man, asking to be avenged of her adversary, and after refusing for a while he avenged her because her continual coming wearied and troubled him. He acted to save himself from trouble and annoyance and because his injustice was becoming conspicuous under many complaints about his course, and her perseverance gained the favor she asked. Unlike that judge, God hears the appeals of His chosen who cry to Him continually with infinite compassion rather than selfishness or indifference, and though He bears long with them He will avenge them speedily. The promise encourages His followers amid the perils they will face just before the second coming to keep praying and not lose heart, and its closing question connects such persevering faith with the coming of the Son of man.
Confidence in God is proved by persistent importunate prayer combined with good works. Earnest continuing prayer shows confidence in Him, and the sense of need moves the heavenly Father by supplication to hear. The unjust judge granted justice only from selfishness to be relieved of constant earnest petitions, while his cold heart remained without pity or compassion for misery, but God is altogether different toward prayer and never turns away indifferently from His elect who keep calling upon Him continually, though He may seem not to respond immediately, hearing them and vindicating them speedily.
Like the importunate widow believers are to keep urging their case, asking and not letting go, without wavering or growing weary when the answer is not immediate. Waiting may test faith, but they are to cling steadily to the promise and to His Word, trusting that He will bless and answer and give power to live as children of God. There is time enough to do all He appoints when the work is done in His way and not in man's own way. The widow is the example of pleading persistently for blessing.
The verse gives force to asking, seeking, and knocking, taught also through the friend asking for bread at midnight. Its memory strengthens wavering faith to keep crying to God with confidence that persistent prayer is answered by a just God who will do justice speedily for His elect who cry day and night though He is longsuffering over them. The same persevering faith was seen in the Syrophoenician woman and in Jacob, showing the result of persevering prayer that Christ inspires with courage and determination and rewards. Determined, importunate, unyielding faith that lays hold of God's promises prevails as Jacob prevailed, and the greatest victories for the church and the individual are gained in the audience chamber with God when earnest agonizing faith lays hold upon the mighty arm of power.
Prevailing requires forsaking every sin and seeking earnestly for God; those unwilling to do this will not obtain the blessing, but all who are as earnest and persevering as Jacob was will succeed as he succeeded. Before Christ returns the church will be tested, and God's people must persevere in prayer, wait on the Holy Spirit, and search Scripture to know God's will. Those who walk in the light of God's commandments can trust that their prayers will be answered, while those who knowingly go against His expressed will should not expect to receive what they ask.
Followers are to leave vindication and deliverance to God, waiting for His judgment in His own good time rather than appealing to earthly rulers for vengeance. Christ lived this by doing nothing to vindicate or deliver Himself but committing His case to God, so His followers are not to accuse or condemn and are not to resort to force in order to deliver themselves. Little dependence can be placed on earthly rulers or judges in the day of adversity, since the elect often must stand before men in official positions who do not make God's word their guide but follow unconsecrated undisciplined impulses. Instead they are to call upon God in the day of trouble, present perplexities and necessities and need of divine help, be instant in prayer as soon as difficulties arise, and offer sincere earnest importunate petitions evidencing strong confidence.
When the answer is delayed they are to wait patiently, trusting God's wisdom rather than trying to secure it by their own plans and strength. Earnest intense prayer offered in Jesus' name and inspired by the Holy Spirit reaches the throne, and delay is no reason to stop praying. When the request serves God's glory He answers, and His answer can exceed what is asked or thought.
God's ministers are to work and pray without ceasing, and those who lack spiritual blessing must wrestle earnestly for it rather than submit to discouragement. Persistent prevailing faith is necessary, and giving up allows Satan to triumph. Diligent seeking deepens and strengthens experience, praying together brings grace and blessing and can help others receive truth, while neglecting to seek with faith that will not be denied means losing a precious experience. Perseverance in earnest persistent crying through intense struggle meets God's approval and help, and light from Jesus encourages those who so plead day and night for victory.
End-Time Trouble Deliverance
Before Christ returns the church will be tested, and God's chosen people will cry to Him day and night for deliverance while facing persecution, deadly opposition, and the threat of death. Their distress will continue until His appointed will is fulfilled, and then He will deliver and vindicate them. Those who walk in the light of His commandments can trust that their prayers will be answered, while those who knowingly go against His expressed will should not expect to receive what they ask.
This cry belongs to the final conflict with the image of the beast, when a decree goes forth to kill those who refuse to worship it. It comes after Jesus finishes His work in the sanctuary and appears on the great white cloud, represented by the angel calling for the harvest to begin. There will be a special time of mourning and prayer prompted by the Spirit, and they will not all be killed, for God will deliver them by His voice. Their distress will come just before the Lord's coming as a decree to put them to death, and their situation will resemble Jacob's anguish when Esau approached with four hundred men.
Just before the second coming God's people must pass through the trial represented by Jacob's night of wrestling. When Christ ceases His work as mediator and every case is decided, as Jacob was threatened with death by his angry brother so the righteous will be in peril from the wicked seeking to destroy them. As Jacob wrestled all night for deliverance from Esau so they will cry to God day and night for deliverance from the enemies surrounding them. Their pleading will be earnest yet submissive, like Jacob wrestling for deliverance, trusting God's power to save while submitting to His will and enduring the appointed trial until His will is fulfilled.
Though it appears He has left them to perish and enemies are close to destroying them, His delay does not mean He has abandoned them. He shields them by angels and makes the attackers' swords and weapons powerless while the wicked pursue them and try to kill them. At the appointed time He powerfully delivers everyone who has patiently waited for Him and whose name is written in the book. He speaks to His people amid the upheaval of the earth and preserves them in the final crisis for the glory of His name.
For the elect's sake the time of trouble will be shortened, and God will act speedily. The delay before deliverance is painful, but it is the best answer to their petitions because it exercises faith, hope, and patience. Deliverance and the end will come sooner than people expect. Near the close of history God's oppressed people will raise a united day-and-night cry, and God will answer by delivering the remnant who keep His commandments and have the testimony of Jesus.
In the church's greatest danger, distress, and depression, when members have become worldly and are following the world, a small faithful company will pray earnestly for the church. Their prayers will not be in vain, and their zeal for God's honor and their faith will grow strong through fervent prayer. When God comes as avenger He will also protect those who have kept the faith pure and remained unspotted from the world. Though He bears long with them, He will answer and avenge His elect when the transgressor's guilt has reached its height.
Vindication and Final Judgment
God will do justice for His own elect by vindicating them against Satan their adversary. Notwithstanding their defects and sins, He does not turn away from the repenting and believing, but removes their filthy garments of iniquity, places His own robe of righteousness upon them, writes pardon against their names on the records of heaven, and confesses them as His before the heavenly universe, while Satan is exposed as accuser and deceiver.
Though the elect may suffer condemnation and oppression from the world, they are as dear to Him as the apple of His eye and He will not let His heritage stay oppressed. He hears His people when they call to Him continually day and night, and He will right their wrongs and deal with those who rob the widow and the fatherless or meet their needs with indifference. In this He tests His people as individuals, and unfeeling and selfish people cannot receive His favor. He will ultimately judge those who neglect or deprive vulnerable children of what they need, even when He bears long with those who cry to Him continually.
His patience in bearing long does not mean injustice will go unpunished, for He has promised to vindicate His persistent praying people. When human iniquity reaches its full measure He intervenes in judgment, acting on their behalf when they face their greatest danger and seem unable to withstand satanic power. Their day-and-night cries include the suffering of people in India, Africa, China, and elsewhere, and He will avenge them speedily. His answer includes sweeping the earth free of moral corruption, not by another flood as in Noah's day but by an unquenchable sea of fire.
The promise applies when defiance of God's law becomes nearly universal and human power can no longer help. Then the elect cry to Him day and night under affliction and oppression, and He will arise as their protector and avenger and answer their fervent prayers for deliverance. This is when falsehood seems to prevail, rulers use legislation to compel conscience, human laws are made supreme and God's law is made void, a false sabbath is exalted and religious liberty is suppressed. At that time those who remain faithful to His law are to seek Him wholeheartedly and depend on Him as Deliverer, and He will act in judgment against those who use their power to suppress religious liberty and vindicate His people. He hears the cries of His people and acts for their deliverance, and He may restrain calamities and preserve many people for the sake of a few faithful servants, even while they are ridiculed and oppressed.
Daily Applications for Believers
Objections may press heavily upon faith, yet they need not prevent trust, for His word gives a sure basis for taking hold of His promise. He will avenge His own elect who cry day and night to Him in humility, exalting everyone who humbles himself while everyone who exalts himself shall be abased. Unlike the unjust judge who acted only to rid himself of appeals, the just Judge turns away no one who comes in contrition. The parable is thus an admonition to those claiming righteousness: those who fear God and accept Christ reveal His character through mercy, sympathy, respect for the poor, and practical care for the distressed. No sincere contrite prayer is lost, for He hears even the weakest person, and His struggling church is precious to Him, so believers can entrust their case to Him and trust His gracious promises.
When church difficulties arise, members should unite in prayer and keep asking God for help rather than rely on lawyers who do not obey God or fear Him. The call to cry day and night applies to pleading for power to rescue the tempted and fallen, with victory coming through living connection with God through Jesus Christ. It applies also to united prayer for an afflicted brother's recovery, teaching earnest persevering prayer that continues pleading until the petition is answered. This means praying like the widow, asking again and again many times a day with humble requests until the full answer is realized, with faith claiming restoration and saying it shall be done, weeping and praying and rejoicing even in prayer for healing power to come to the sick.
Parents are encouraged to keep praying earnestly with firm persistent faith for their children until they receive help, grace, and salvation. Those seeking to live righteously and praying to Him are under His special care, though they may not receive at once everything they ask. When they are in danger Jesus delivers them and makes a way out. They are to plead like the importunate widow for His blessing, holding to His word and asking for power to live as children of God, with assurance that there is time enough to do all He appoints when the work is done in His way and not in man's own way.