Some fragmented thoughts on imprecatory prayers and divine judgment:

Imprecatory prayers are fundamentally a request for God to show up. This is because God’s presence in Scripture is identified with his judgment. IOW, if you see God, you’re about to get judged.

Imprecation is therefore ultimately an expression of faith in God’s promise to redeem his people through judgment of his enemies. For us to ask God to “break the teeth of your enemies” echoes Gen. 3:15 (HT: @DrJimHamilton).

And, to be clear, imprecation is biblically warranted for Christians.

I think, though, that we often mistake warranted, biblically rooted imprecatory prayers for divine intervention with our own desires for human vengeance. This is because I also think we reduce the notion of divine judgment to retribution.

Of course, God’s judgment can be - & will be in eternity for those who deny him - penal & retributive. But this is not the only form that divine judgment takes when God shows up. Meeting God face to face - seeing him on his throne, the judgment seat - can also lead to repentance.

IOW, there is one sense in which God’s justice is retributive, namely towards those who deny him. But there is another sense in which God’s judgment is restorative, namely towards those who repent of their sinful rebellion against him and turn to him in faith.

The latter is rooted, of course, in the fact that God himself has taken the retribution sinners deserve in the person of Jesus Christ and his penal substitutionary death. God showing up in judgment results in salvation for those who trust in the substutionary death of God’s Son.

We can see these two ways of judgment in Judas & Paul. They both stand trial before the judgment seat in the LORD’s presence, Judas at the Lord’s Table & Paul on the Damascus Road. One’s continued rebellion leads to death, while the other’s submission to king Jesus leads to life.

So when we pray imprecatory prayers, we are praying for God to judge his enemies, absolutely. But we should remember two things as we do so:

1) We are all enemies of God apart from the finished work of Jesus; and,

2) God is mighty to save even the worst of sinners, his greatest enemies, through the work of his Son and by the power of his Spirit.

To put it succinctly, prayers of imprecation ought to really be prayers for the salvation of your enemies, while there is still time “today” for them to turn to God in Christ. This, too, is judgment, but judgment that leads to repentance through the kindness of God.

If there’s someone or some group that you think is an enemy of Christ, your obligation is to pray for their salvation, not glibly wish for their destruction. Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who persecute you.