Genesis 18:9-19:5

We know it was the Lord from verse 1, “Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. ” WE know the other two visitors were angels from Genesis 19 verse 1 where we’re specifically told the two Angels came to the city of Sodom.

Most bible scholars agree that Hebrews 13 verse 12 refers to this incident where we’re told to be careful to entertain strangers because we never know when we might be entertaining angels unaware.

Here again, the LORD came to Abraham in human appearance. This is another presentation of Jesus in human form before His incarnation. We know it could’t have been God the father because of John 1 verse 18. “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him”. So, if God appeared to someone in human form in the Old Testament (and no one has seen God the Father) it makes sense the appearance is of the eternal Son, the Second Person of the Godhead, before His incarnation in Bethlehem.

Although the meal was simple, it was plentiful. Abraham himself would not have sit down with his guests, but would’ve stood, waiting on them to carry out their slightest wish. The eating of physical food on the part of the heavenly beings is fascinating. The resurrected Christ, did the same thing in Luke 24 verses 41 to 43 and its a miracle beyond our understanding. The entire incident pointed forward to the time when the Son of God visited His people, lived among them, and, above all, let them see His kindness, His mercy and His love.

Now to Genesis 18:9-10, “Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” So he said, “Here, in the tent.” Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!” Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent. Gen 18:9  Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” So he said, “Here, in the tent.” And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) 

Genesis 18:11-12,  “Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” 

I like the way the New Living Translation puts it, “Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children. So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?” 

Sarah’s at the tent door eavesdropping on what the man was saying outside. When she hears this thing she laughs “within herself”. That is she’s thinking how impossible this thing that she’s hearing is.

That is, Sarah asks, “Is it possible that I will have a son?”—and she laughs. Now what kind of laughter is this?

Well first, the visitors take care that Sarah’s within hearing. They named her. They knew her. They knew that she must conceive by faith, and therefore the promise must be made and confirmed to her. We see this in Hebrews 11 verse 11 which reads, “By faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age because she judged Him faithful who had promised.”

So Sarah’s laugh is a sort of mix between doubting as she looked at the natural circumstances of her and Abraham’s age and great joy at knowing that He, The Lord, who has just reconfirmed this promise yet again, is faithful and able to perform this promise. In effect, she’s saying, “This is something just too good to be true. It just can’t happen to me!”

 

Now to verses 13-15, “And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” 

But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh!” 

Sarah’s frightened by the Lord’s question and tries top hide the truth from the Lord and it seems that The Lord gently but firmly let’s her know that He knows.

Verse 16, “Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. “

These heavenly messengers had now finished one part of their business, which was grace and confirmation to Abraham and Sarah, but now they have another work before them. Sodom is to be destroyed. With the Lord there is mercy, but He is also a God of justice, judgement and vengence. We tend to forget this today.

Abraham walked out a distance with them to bid them goodbye.

Genesis 18:17,  And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, 

Now, up to this point, the Lord’s not revealed to Abraham what He’s going to do with Sodom and Gomorrah. He’s going to destroy them and He asks. “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?”

Notice now in the next verse the reason that God’s not going to hide it from Abraham.

Verses 18 and 19,  since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?  For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”

Abraham is going to have a tremendous influence. He is going to influence multitudes of people, from his family to all those living in his house and including the succeeding generations. Even now today through these podcasts Abraham is influencing us.

Those who live by faith in communion with God can’t help but know more of his mind than other people, and gain a better foresight of what’s to come, at least so much as is needed for their guidance and comfort.

We know this from Hoses 14:9 which tells us, “Let those who are wise understand these things. Let those with discernment listen carefully. The paths of the LORD are true and right, and righteous people live by walking in them. But in those paths, sinners stumble and fall.” 

Also, Psalm 107:43 tells us,  “Whoever is wise will observe these things, And they will understand the lovingkindness of the LORD.” 

Interestingly the old Jewish sages suggest that because God had granted the land of Canaan to Abraham and his seed and therefore he wouldn’t destroy those cities, which were a part of that land, without his knowledge and consent.

Now we move to Genesis 18:20-21,  And the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, 

I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” 

In other words, God’s saying to Abraham, “I know the situation there, but I’m going down to investigate.” God never does anything hurriedly or hastily.

Some sins, and the sins of some sinners, cry aloud to heaven for vengeance. The iniquity of Sodom was crying out to the Lord, provoking and urging God to punish.

God told Abraham He was going to destroy these cities because Abraham would have formed a wrong impression of God. He would have thought that God was dictatorial and vindictive, showing no mercy or consideration.

Abraham would’ve had a distorted and warped view of God, and so God lets him know what He’s going to do. Abraham now has time to turn this over in his mind.

It’s also good that God told him because he had a wrong idea of God and of Sodom and Gomorrah.

This is one of the reasons that God’s telling us as much as He is. There are a lot of things that He doesn’t tell us, but He’s told us enough so that the ones who search and listen can understand.

Genesis 18:22,  Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. 

Abraham’s now waiting before the Lord.

Verse 23,  And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 

What’s the first thing that enters Abraham’s mind?

His nephew Lot of course is living in Sodom. He’d rescued Lot once, and now Lot’s in danger again.

Abraham probably wondered many times about Lot and his relationship with God, but at least he believes that Lot is a saved man. He’s asking God, “What about the righteous?” Abraham more than likely thought there were many people in the city of Sodom who were saved. He couldn’t understand why God would destroy the righteous with the wicked.

What a picture we have here!

To verse 24,  Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? 

Abraham begins with fifty. He says to the Lord, “Lord, suppose there are fifty righteous down there in Sodom. Would You destroy the city if there were fifty righteous?”

Verse 25,  Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” 

That is still a question that many people ask: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” And there is an answer to it. The rest of the Bible testifies to the fact that the Judge of all the earth always does right.

Whatever God does is right, and if you and I don’t think He’s right, the trouble is not with God, but the trouble is with you and I and our thinking.

It’s us that are thinking wrong. We don’t have even a small portion of all the facts. We don’t know all of the details. We have no idea of how any particular situation could affect every molecule of the universe and for eternity.

If we did know all that God knows, we’d make the same decision. We would know that the Judge of all the earth does right. We’re wrong; He is right. We believe that becasue of our faith in Him and Who He Is.

Verse 26,  So the LORD said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”

Abraham thinks this over.

Verse 27,  Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: 

Verse 28  Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?” So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.” 

In other words, Abraham says, “If there are forty–five righteous left, would You destroy the city for forty–five?” And God tells him, “If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.”

This makes old Abraham a little bit bolder, and he says to the Lord, “Suppose there are forty?” Interestingly God says, “I will not destroy it for forty.” And Abraham keeps on bringing the number down. He says, “How about thirty?” God says, “If there are thirty there, I still won’t do it.” Abraham says, “Suppose there are twenty there?” God says, “I’ll not destroy it.” Abraham is overwhelmed now, and he takes another plunge: “Suppose there are ten righteous there. Would You destroy it if there are ten?” And God says, “If there are ten righteous in the city, I will not destroy it.”

Now we’ll jump to verse 33. That’s of course Genesis 18:33,  So the LORD went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place. 

Now the question arises: Why didn’t Abraham come on down below ten?

Well, at this point, he’s afraid that Lot is lost, and this disturbs him greatly; so he’s not going to come down any further.

But he could have come down to one. He could have said, “Lord, if there is one in that city who is righteous, would You destroy the city?”

What God would have said? He would have said, “If there is one who is righteous in that city, I am going to get him out of that city, because I would not destroy a righteous man with the city.”

How do we know this?

Because that’s exactly the way it happened. There was one righteous man there. Abraham didn’t believe it, but God knew him and that one was Lot.

God said to Lot, “Get out of the city. I can’t destroy it until you’re out.”

2 Peter 2:6-8 confirm this and I read, “turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;  and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— “.

Do you know that the Great Tribulation period cannot come as long as the church is in the world?

It just can’t come, friends, because Christ bore our judgment, and the great tribulation is part of the judgment that’s coming.

This is the reason that the church can’t go through it. This is a wonderful picture of that truth.

We’re going to see that Sodom and Gomorrah are a picture of the world and what a picture it is! What a condition the world’s in today, so very much like Sodom and Gomorrah.

Lot is a picture of the church today. It’s made righteous by the blood of the sacrificial Lamb, Christ Himself, but, like Lot, the church is still living in the world. Notice how God couldn’t judge and destroy that city until Lot was taken out, just the same as He won’t judge this world until the church is taken out.

That doesn’t mean the Lord’s coming tomorrow. I don’t know when He’ll come, and by the way, no one else knows either, but He could come tomorrow, and it certainly would be in keeping with the picture that’s before us here in Genesis.

Now we come to Genesis chapter 19.

Chapter 18 was a picture of blessed Christian fellowship with God. But now the picture changes.

We leave Hebron on the plains of Mamre where Abraham dwells and we go to the city of Sodom where Lot dwells.

In this chapter Lot leaves Sodom with his wife and two daughters, and Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed.

Lot’s wife turns to a pillar of salt, and then we have Lot’s awful sin with his two daughters.

In chapter 19 we have a picture of that which is “the shipwrecked life.”

Don’t forget that this man Lot happens to be a righteous man. It’s hard to believe that and yet this is confirmed in 2 Peter 2:6-8 as we’ve just read.

Lot lived in Sodom, but he was never happy there. It was a tragic day for him when he moved to Sodom, because he lost his family and he lost all of them if you look at the total picture. It’s tragic.

There’s many a man today who may be a saved man, but due to his life style or where he lives, he loses his family, his influence, and his testimony.

Wew all know Christians like Lot and many who are in positions great influence and power. We don’t question the salvation of any man who trusts in the Lord, but you’d never know it by the way they live.

Poor Lot! It’s a tragic story for sure! This is one of two very sordid chapters in the Book of Genesis.

Genesis 19:1,  Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. 

These two angels visit Lot in Sodom to announce judgment. We’re not told when the third heavenly messenger, the One who we believe was The Lord, the pre-incarnate Christ left the group but only the two angels go into Sodom.

Notice that Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. We should understand that the ones who sat at the gate of a city were the judges. Lot not only moved to Sodom, but he also got into politics down there. Here he is, a petty judge sitting in the gate.

Verse 2,  And he said, “Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the open square.”

Of course, if you had walked from the plains of Mamre down into Sodom wearing nothing but sandals, your feet would need washing. Again, we see this custom of the day which was practiced by those who extended hospitality to strangers.

Lot was a hospitable man. When these strangers came, he invited them to his home, and they came in.

At first, however, they were reluctant. “No, but we will spend the night in the open square.” In other words, they said, “We’ll just stay outside. We don’t want to inconvenience you.” And they said this for a purpose, as we’ll see.

Verse 3  But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

Now these men have another feast. They had a feast with Abraham; they now have a feast with Lot.

Lot insisted they stay at his home instead of sleeping in the open streets. Why? Well you didn’t do that in Sodom. It was dangerous! Your life wouldn’t be worth a thing if you did that.

Many people live like this in cities today, behind firmly locked and alarmed doors.

The days of Sodom and Gomorrah are very much here again, and practically for the same reason. Lot says, “No, men, do not stay on the street. It wouldn’t be safe for you.” When he “pressed upon them,” they came in.

Now to Genesis 19:4-5,  Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. 

And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.”

Again we see here that some translations are more graphic than others. The New Living Translation says, “Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”, while the King James and others leave it at “that we may know them.”

The name that’s been put on this sin from that day to this is sodomy. Apparently, there was no attempt made in the city of Sodom to have a church for this crowd and to tell them that they were all right in spite of the fact that they practised this thing. May I say to you that the Word of God is specific on this, and you can’t tone it down? Sodomy is an awful sin.

Remember every one of us has sinned and we do constantly. We fall, then we apply the Christian’s bar of soap in 1 John 1: 9, but it’s knowingly walking the path of sin, seeking out that which we know is wrong and thinking it’s all fine. That’s the difference. We all fall daily but we don’t desire to. We hate it. We don’t purposefully go after sin and yearn for it. If we do we need to question our redemption.

In the next episode, we’ll continue on through this disturbing chapter to one of the most awful events in the Word of God. Until then my friend may the Lord grant you peace in this world we’re currently living in and may He continue to reveal to us His Grace and Mercy.