Step back in time with us to the ancient oaks of Mamre in an extraordinary encounter. As we unpack Genesis 18, prepare to be captivated by Abraham's hospitality and his intuitive recognition of the heavenly visitors at his doorstep. This episode invites you into the tent where Abraham and Sarah grapple with a promise that teeters on the edge of impossible—a child in their twilight years. Witness the unfolding of a miraculous narrative, enveloped in the warmth of ancient Middle Eastern customs.
Venture deeper as we trace Abraham's bold steps in a conversation with God Himself. This poignant narrative not only highlights Abraham's deep understanding of divine mercy but also God's openness to the pleas of a faithful heart. Through his fervent intercession for Sodom, we observe a foreshadowing of mercy that resonates through the ages. Join us on this exploration of faith, hospitality, and intercessory courage that challenge us to reflect on our own understanding of God's character and our role in His grand design.
Email: nathan@nathandietsche.com
Step back in time with us to the ancient oaks of Mamre in an extraordinary encounter. As we unpack Genesis 18, prepare to be captivated by Abraham's hospitality and his intuitive recognition of the heavenly visitors at his doorstep. This episode invites you into the tent where Abraham and Sarah grapple with a promise that teeters on the edge of impossible—a child in their twilight years. Witness the unfolding of a miraculous narrative, enveloped in the warmth of ancient Middle Eastern customs.
Venture deeper as we trace Abraham's bold steps in a conversation with God Himself. This poignant narrative not only highlights Abraham's deep understanding of divine mercy but also God's openness to the pleas of a faithful heart. Through his fervent intercession for Sodom, we observe a foreshadowing of mercy that resonates through the ages. Join us on this exploration of faith, hospitality, and intercessory courage that challenge us to reflect on our own understanding of God's character and our role in His grand design.
Email: nathan@nathandietsche.com
Thank you again for joining me for the mysteries of God's Word. Today we are in Genesis 18, where the Lord visits Abraham on his way before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, and we begin in verse 1,. And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamir as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent of the door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth. So we find Abraham sitting at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. It was customary to sit in the shade of your tent during the hottest part of the day. For example, where I live in the middle of the summer it gets extremely hot between two and four pm. I like to take a break around that time and come and rest. In my home it wasn't any different for Abraham. He sat in the shade of his tent during the heat of the day, and we see that Abraham is by the oaks of Mamir, which would later become the city of Hebron, and we also see the Lord is appearing to him Again. This is a physical manifestation, a theophany of the Lord. As I've mentioned before, over the first 2,000 plus years of earth's history, this is the way God interacted with his faithful. God physically walked and talked with his faithful servants. And we see that Abraham lifted up his eyes and he saw three men standing in front of him. I know when I first read this I thought, wow, three men. What a great representation of the Trinity. But this actually isn't the Trinity. After careful study, we see that this is two angels and the Lord appearing In the beginning of chapter 19,. We see that two of these men are angels and we also learned in Genesis 18-22, the third is the Lord. When Abraham saw them, he ran, he took off and he bowed himself to the earth. The fact that Abraham ran towards these men when he saw them and bowed himself to the ground shows he recognized something about these men that was very important and worthy of great respect.
Speaker 1:Picking up in verse 3, he says oh Lord, if I found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought and wash your feet and rest yourself under the tree while I bring a morsel of bread that you may refresh yourselves and after that you may pass on, since you've come to your servant. So they said Do as you have said. And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said Quick, three seas of fine flour, need it and make cakes. And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man who prepared it quickly. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared and set it before them and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
Speaker 1:We see in these verses that Abraham immediately addresses one of the men as Lord, and the Hebrew spelling of Lord here is Adonai. It's a specific spelling to refer to God as opposed to simply Master. Abraham somehow recognized one of these men as the Lord, god, which is why he's speaking to them as he does. Abraham asks the Lord if he'd rest himself under the tree while he prepares him a meal. Abraham desires to spend some time with the Lord. He invites the Lord and these two angels to show them hospitality. The meal Abraham wants to make will take some considerable time, considering Sarah is going to knead the bread and make cakes and Abraham's going to have one of his men butcher a calf for the meal. But the men agree and Abraham asks both Sarah and his hired man to do this as quick as possible because he wants to set a feast before the Lord. Picking up in verse 9, they said to him when is Sarah, your wife? And he said she's in the tent. The Lord said I will surely return to you about this time next year and Sarah, your wife, will have a son. And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him.
Speaker 1:An important note on the timing of this event is we had just read in chapter 17 that the Lord had came to Abraham and re-established his covenant with him, asking Abraham to walk blameless and establishing the symbol of circumcision that would last throughout the generations, symbolizing this covenant with Abraham. And at that time God also told Abraham that he would have a child about a year later. And now we see in chapter 18, god coming again to Abraham, this time with two angels, and God says again it will be about this time next year. So this event where God is speaking to Abraham just before going to Sodom and Gomorrah coming a second time, this time with two angels, is just shortly after God had established the covenant of circumcision, perhaps even within days, because now the Lord says when is your wife? Where is Sarah? Because she was in the tent Apparently.
Speaker 1:Abraham hadn't told Sarah about the promised child that was going to come through her barren womb. And now the Lord is going to speak this promise again in the presence of Sarah, and in verse 10 we read the Lord said I will surely return to you about this time next year and Sarah, your wife, shall have a son. And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now, abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying After I'm worn out, my Lord is old, shall I have pleasure? So, as Sarah is listening, the Lord reaffirms the promised child, isaac. Again, we see that the way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. As we learned last week, this is a gentle way of describing Sarah's menstrual cycle. Sarah had already gone through menopause in her advanced years, and so Sarah laughs to herself, saying I'm worn out and my Lord is old. Abraham is old. Am I going to have this pleasure? What a joy it would be for Sarah to have a child. And Sarah's laughter echoes Abraham's laughter that we heard last week. And so their son Isaac. His name means laughter.
Speaker 1:In verse 13, the Lord said to Abraham why did Sarah laugh and say Shall I indeed bear a child now that I'm old? Is anything too hard for the Lord At the appointed time. I will return to you about this time next year and Sarah shall have a son. But Sarah denied it, saying I didn't laugh for she was afraid. He said no, but you did laugh, god says Is anything too hard for the Lord? The Lord Almighty encourages Abraham and Sarah. He encourages them with His quality of omnipotence.
Speaker 1:When we sit in our human frailty and live under the circumstances of sin in this sin-cursed world, all of us destined for physical death, it can be very hard for us to recognize the unlimited resources of God's power, and certainly this was the case for Abraham and Sarah. They recognize that time has taken its toll on their bodies and they're now worn out. But the Lord tells Abraham that according to His power and His plan, sarah shall have a son. And we read, when Sarah was confronted by the Lord, that she laughed. It says she denied it. Sarah does what's very common for many of us when dealing with our own doubts and fears she denies it and she compounds her problem by lying. In this case, sarah is living in denial that she had just laughed because she was afraid, implying she believed there might be some kind of consequence for laughing at what the Lord said. The Lord doesn't dish out any consequences for Sarah's insecurity, but rather he just confronts her denial and he says no, but you did laugh, picking up in verse 16,.
Speaker 1:Then the men set out from there and they looked down towards Sodom and Abraham went with them to set them on their way. The Lord said shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do, picking that? Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed by him, for I have chosen him that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring Abraham what he has promised him. Then the Lord said because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done all together, according to the outcry that has come to me, and if not, I will know. In these verses we see that the two angels and the Lord got up and they left the camp of Abraham and they started to head towards Sodom. We also see that Abraham went with them, which would have been customary At this time in history. There were no public roads and guides were very commonly used in foreign countries. Abraham continues to show his generous hospitality and walks with them as they leave.
Speaker 1:And the Lord asks shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do? And the Lord says this in front of Abraham, signaling that he was going to reveal something big to Abraham that might just shock him. The Lord also reveals why he gives Abraham this insight, because Abraham plays a special role in God's covenant plan of grace. God says I've chosen him. The Hebrew word for chosen here is yadah. It's often translated I have known. It also means to take notice of or to have regard for. God has known of Abraham's faith in the Messiah. The righteousness and justice in the life of Abraham is not of his own doing, but as a result of his faith in the one who's called him. It's not uncommon to translate yadah as chosen in light of the common meaning to take notice of. However, we should take notice that this is not God arbitrarily choosing someone, but rather taking notice of Abraham's faithfulness to the message of God's grace.
Speaker 1:And then the Lord said that there was an outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah, for their sin was very grave. This could mean that people were crying out to God about the wickedness of the cities in their prayers, or it could mean the intensity of the evil itself was crying out to God, much like the blood of Abel cried out to God. In either case, god is declaring in his perfect judgment that the sin of the cities were very grave, their iniquity was complete and it was time for God's judgment. When God says I'm going to go down there and see whether they've done it altogether, this isn't implying that God has limited knowledge and somehow he needed to go down and see. Rather, god's communicating to Abraham in a way he can relate to God's, revealing his coming judgment to Abraham in a human way, so that Abraham will be able to take in what the Lord is about to do. Furthermore, this shows the very relatable in-person way that God interacted with people as a theophany during those first 2,000 years, picking up in verse 22,.
Speaker 1:So the men turned from there and went towards Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drew near and said Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there's fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked. Far be that from you. Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just? And the Lord said If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.
Speaker 1:Abraham answered and said Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Who am I but dust and ashes? Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking, will you destroy the whole city for the lack of five? And he said I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there. Again, he spoke to him and said Suppose forty are found there. He answered For the sake of forty, I will not do it. Then he said Let not the Lord be angry and I will speak, suppose thirty are found there. He answered I will not do it if I find thirty there. He said Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there, he answered For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it. Then he said oh, let not the Lord be angry, but I will speak again. But for this, once Suppose ten are found there, he answered For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it. And the Lord went on his way when he had finished speaking to Abraham and Abraham returned to his place.
Speaker 1:The first item of note is that in verse 22 we see that the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord.
Speaker 1:So we see that two of the men, the two angels, went toward Sodom, but the third man, who was the Lord, was standing with Abraham. Some scholars have suggested there's good cause to reverse the role in this sentence and it should read but the Lord stood before Abraham. Whichever translation would be correct, it's clear that God is waiting for Abraham to speak so that he can address Abraham's concerns and teach him further, and we see Abraham drawing near to the Lord. This is representing Abraham speaking intimately with the Lord, as if in prayer, and Abraham asks the Lord if he's going to sweep away the righteous with the wicked. This is a central question for Abraham's intercession and it's based on the character of God's justice and righteousness.
Speaker 1:Abraham had just rescued his nephew Lot, and Abraham knew that Lot had now returned to the city of Sodom. Abraham's questions show an understanding of God's mercy and grace towards those who believe in the Messiah, and it shows an understanding of God's character of doing what is good and above reproach. And God says Even for the sake of ten, I will not destroy it. The Lord's reply is to the point he will not destroy the righteous with the wicked. The wrath of God against Sodom and Gomorrah is symbolic of the wrath of God to come on the earth in the end days. God continues to show Abraham the fullness of the gospel message throughout his life and now, as he's about to rescue Lot from the wrath of God, join me next week as we see the Lord rescuing Lot from the wrath of God on Sodom and Gomorrah. God bless you this week.