Genesis 18:16-33
Notes
Transcript
Last week, we heard an announcement. God shared with Abraham that Sarah was going to bare him a son. Abraham and Sarah both laughed, which resulted in their sons name being Isaac, which means laughter.
But we said last week, this was not the only reason why God came with two of His angels from heaven. As we will see tonight, there were other matters that needed tending to.
Read Genesis 18:16-33
Read Genesis 18:16-33
In the first 4 verses, we see the most amazing thing: God shows His love towards Abraham, and the closeness of their relationship, in the fact that He ponders whether or not He should tell Abraham what He was about to do.
In verse 17, the Lord says, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?”
Could you imagine being so close to God that He literally shares with you His plans?
He goes on to explain that the reason for Him telling Abraham what He is about to do is because:
Read vs. 18-19
Abraham is the beginning of the Lord’s people. It is from Abraham that God will bring about an entire nation of people who will love Him and follow Him. Abraham will pass down to Isaac, who will pass down to Jacob, who will pass down to his sons the ways of the Lord. From one generation to the next, God will be made known through the ages. Though Deuteronomy hasn’t happened yet, years later, these words from Deuteronomy 6 would be penned:
Read Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Because of this closeness, and this heritage, God decides to share with Abraham what He is about to do.
14 The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant.
7 Surely the Lord God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.
So what if we could be on the same level of understanding with the Lord as Abraham was? What if there was hope that we too could know the plans of the Lord ahead of time. This is not to say that we can tell the future, but rather that God would simply give us the gift of knowledge and wisdom so that we might see the things that He is doing and working out and then be able to discern those things for what they are.
15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
Starting in Verse 20, God shares with Abraham what is going on. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah have sinned so much and so badly, that the wretchedness of their hearts have reached the throne room of heaven. God has brought two angels with Him to inspect. If it is as bad as it seems, God is going to bring judgment upon that town.
When the Lord says these words, the two angels leave their presence and head off the hill towards Sodom, “but Abraham still stood before the Lord”, it says.
No doubt his heart is instantly stirred on account of Lot, his nephew, and his family. He knew how Lot had been raised to believe and follow the ways of the Lord, but he no doubt also knew the wickedness of that place. From time to time he probably went and visited Lot. He had seen the wickedness of the place firsthand, even if it was on a rare basis.
Upon hearing what was about to take place and seeing the two angels head off the hill in that direction, we see that Abraham “still stood before the Lord.” Though it does not say so, I believe that Abraham stood between the Lord and Sodom, between life and death. I can even envision that he held out his arms, as if to bar the way of the Lord from going any further.
It was at this time that Abraham began to plead on behalf of those in the city. He began to do everything in his power to secure the safety of them all, though they did not deserve it. He had went to war on their behalf, and no doubt, he had maintained somewhat of a relationship with the town because of that.
He had no idea that the very One he stood before would one day, many years later, do that very same thing. He would come in the flesh, spread wide His arms, and plead to God on behalf of those who did not deserve God’s grace and mercy, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
As Abraham stood before the Lord, the Lord was able to see a mirror of what was to come, a picture of His own ministry and what it would look like. And what made it even more real, is when He would come, the numbers would probably not be so very different. He would come for the many, but few would truly believe in Him and follow faithfully. Out of all of Sodom and Gomorrah, we are told that only one family is rescued from destruction. Jesus said that only few would find that true path that leads to righteousness.
I am reminded of John 6, when Jesus gave the thousands of disciples who followed Him some really tough sayings. Almost all of them turned around and quit following Him on that day.
Read John 6:48-69
After Abraham and the Lord finally settled on only 10 righteous people saving the whole town, it says that the Lord “went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.”
Abraham was not allowed to go and survey the situation. The Lord alone would check things out and move forward accordingly. Abraham just had to wait and see what would come of the situation.
It does not tell us that he did, but I assume that Abraham went back to his tent, hit his knees, and began praying for Lot and his family. I almost believe that he probably stayed up all night in prayer, waiting to see what would come of the situation.
Regardless of the outcome, Abraham had done all that he could have done to stay the hand of the Lord in judgment. He begged and pleaded with the Lord mercilessly, and got Sodom and Gomorrah the best odds that they possibly could have gotten.
The rest was up to the Lord and the people.
Sometimes, life is the very same way. We go to God in intercession, and we beg and plead with him. We pray for another day, another week, another month, or another year, while our loved ones remain in sin. We beg and plead with the Lord that He would give them just a little bit longer. And he does grant us these requests.
But at the end of the day, we cannot save them, and we cannot make them want to be saved. Like Abraham, we must return to the tent, hit our knees, and stay there until either they get saved or God decides that their time is done. It is ultimately between them and the Lord.
If there is still time:
This text is used by many in our camp to support the belief of the rapture.
Abraham says in vs. 23-25: (Read those verses)
The idea that God will bring out those who are righteous before destroying the city as a whole serves as a proof text in support of a pretribulation rapture, meaning that God will bring out, or call up, all of those who are saved and a part of the church, before He pours out His wrath upon the world.
Noah and ark serve as another example of this. Noah and his family were the only righteous in the whole world. God puts them in the ark, and then destroys everyone else.
I have to be honest though, when I look at the numbers of those who are saved, it doesn’t look good for us. In Noah’s day, only 8 people in the whole world were saved. In Lot’s case, only one family in the whole city was saved.
37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
This world is wicked, much more wicked than many of us can even fathom. And I know that I do not look at the world through the same lens as God does, but I would like to think that there are a few more righteous people in the world right now than in either of those cases. I sure hope there are anyway.
One thing I know for sure, I would hate to be on the wrong side of that merciful act of God to call out the righteous. I would hate to wake up one day and see that many were no more, but I was still here. Man, you talking about a bad day. I think that one would top anyone’s list.
