Genesis 18
Grace Detour
All right, Genesis chapter 18 is where we're at in the word today. And the word that I'd like to start out this teaching with is the word, grace. The word, grace. You see, in our last episode in Abraham's life in chapter 17, God re-established His promise with His man, Abraham, and his wife, Sarah, communicating to them that Ishmael would not be the promised seed from whom the promises of God would flow, but that God would give to Abraham and his wife, Sarah, not Ishmael's mother, Hagar, but his wife, Sarah, that God would give them a child. And the reason why I want to say the word, grace to start this teaching is because that's exactly what God is extending to His people. Though they have interfered with God's best for their lives, though they have allowed themselves to get off track, God by His grace is still taking them to the ultimate destination that He has for them.
I used to be really big into trail running, I still get out there, here and there, but not as much as I used to, and sometimes I would go on these behemoth insane runs, pack the backpack filled with water and calories and head out for 15 or 20 miles. And sometimes, I had the whole thing mapped out and I would not deviate, but at other points, I would just go and get out there but I always knew that I needed to get back to the parking lot or wherever I had put my vehicle at the end of that run. And though I might take 100 different routes to get to that final destination, I would surely get to that destination. And I see that same thing happening here in Abraham and Sarah's life, God's grace is upon them. Even though they have messed things up a little bit by inviting Hagar and then, by extension Ishmael, into the flow of their lives, God by His grace is blessing their lives.
So, rather than think of this as simply God being finished with them, it was merely a detour that they took on their way to the ultimate destination that God had for them. Now you might remember chapter 17, verse one, began like this, "When Abraham was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abraham." With that in mind, let's start out chapter 18, verse one, and see how it's just an extension of what already began in chapter 17.
1 And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 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 door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth...
The Lord Appeared
Now, one of the fascinating features especially this early part of chapter 18, and it will actually follow us into our study of chapter 19 as well, is this interplay between these three men that appear before Abraham and also the Lord. The passage begins in verse one with the Lord appearing, then it says that Abraham saw three men. Then as the text goes on, it tells us in verse nine, that they spoke to Abraham. They asked the question, "Where is Sarah, your wife?" And then, in verse 10, the Lord spoke to Abraham. So you have the Lord, three men, three men speaking, and then the Lord again. And then, in the next episode, Abraham is going to pray to the Lord, interceding for Sodom. And then, two men are going to go to Sodom when the Lord is done talking with Abraham.
So, it leads many people to conclude that somehow, some way, these three men are representatives of God. And even though God said in Scripture that His people in their physical flesh could not see His face, Exodus 33, verse 23, the reality is, is that in some way, Abraham is seeing God, not the full blast of God's glory, but he's interacting with God in this particular episode. And so, it's just a fascinating idea that here these three men come, perhaps even one of them is a Christophany, who is representing God Himself there before Abraham. And so, the Lord appeared to His man.
Now, let's notice how Abraham responded to the visit of these three men that were representatives of the Lord.
3 and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, 5 while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” 6 And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” 7 And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. 8 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.
Meticulous Hospitality
Now what this is a description of is Abraham's ancient Bedouin hospitality, or meticulous hospitality. Notice that Abraham went above and beyond his initial offer, that was the customer of the day. He had said to the three men, "Sit down and rest, let me give you a morsel of bread." That doesn't sound like very much, but then Abraham departs, and rather than bringing a morsel of bread, he bakes them cakes, takes a calf, kills it, has someone prepare it, cook it, barbecue it. And meat was not a normal part of their diet, so this is a delicacy for these three men. And then, he brings out some dairy curds and milk and then, the meat that he had prepared, and he sets it before these men under the tree while they ate. It is above and beyond hospitality that Abraham is demonstrating to these three men.
Now, part of the reason this is important is because this chapter is juxtaposed with the next chapter, chapter 19. And when the two men go to the city of Sodom, they're going to experience the exact opposite of Abraham's hospitality. They are going to be attacked by the people of Sodom who want to accost them, and it's a gruesome scene, but Abraham himself serves and lives as a hospitable man. It says in Hebrews chapter 13, verse two, to the church, that we should not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, "For thereby, some have entertained angels unawares." And I've never thought of that as a verse... Or, I can't say, I've never thought of it as a verse, I probably have at some point, but I have not often thought of that as a verse that means, hey, you should be hospitable because you never know, it might not be a person, it might be an angel.
That seems to be contradictory to the gospel itself, Jesus Christ came to shed His blood not for angels, but for humans. So, of course, God wants us to be loving towards human beings. I think the idea of Hebrews 13, verse two, is that you don't really know who you're dealing with at any given time. And it's good for us to extend ourselves to people because we really don't know the full story of what's going on in their lives. And so, Hebrews tells us to be hospitable, and Abraham lived out that kind of hospitable life. And I find that Christians who are hospitable, God does so many things through their lives. For one, a hospitable person, they're able to easily be an example to other people. They're able to easily be an example to other people. You see, it's one thing to sit in front of a camera or sit at a table, and share the Word of God, there's great value in it, and that's why I've committed my life to it.
But on the other hand, there was something about sitting in someone's home, driving around with them, you can just see, feel, experience their priorities, the way that they think about life much more easily. A hospitable person is able to live as an example more easily. But a hospitable person also is a person who provides refuge for others. And Abraham was actually providing that for these three men, he gave them food, he gave them a little bit of shade there in their journey as they dwelt under the shade of that tree. And so often in life, people just need a little bit of respite. They need a place to slow down and get encouraged and picked back up again in the journey of life. And I find that hospitality is also a great way to share your faith. It's a great way to, in other words, evangelize. Because you're loving a person, you're showing them the gospel, even before you verbalize for them, and you should, but verbalize for them the Gospel.
That love, that acceptance, that you are showing to them is emblematic of the love and acceptance that can be theirs in Christ Jesus. And so, here, Abraham serves as a hospitable man.
A Meal With God
Now, let's pause for a second though and think about what's happening here in Genesis 18. The Lord comes, somehow these three men are the Lord's representatives, maybe even so far as one of them being a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ in the pages of the Old Testament. So, the Lord comes to Abraham, Abraham prepares a meal. He stands and watches them, but they're partaking of a meal that Abraham has provided. And all throughout Scripture, God reveals himself as a God who wants to break bread, so to speak, with his people.
At the great Passover, the final meal in Egypt, God set his people free. In the wilderness, he gave them the manna from heaven that they could eat every single day except for the day of the Sabbath, that was the one day they didn't need to go collect it for themselves. When the law was given, the ceremonial law of God, meals like the fellowship, or peace offering were given to the people of Israel so that they could bring their sacrifices to God for their sins and their guilt, but also, other sacrifices designed as a way to say, "God, I want to commune with you, I want to know you." And as the smoke ascended and the worshiper ate, it was emblematic of eating a meal with God.
And then, of course, Jesus arrived. He said things like in John chapter six, where he announced that you must eat my body and you must drink my blood, He Himself became the meal, the meal whereby humanity could enjoy a relationship with God. And where is Jesus taking His people? He is taking us to the great marriage supper of the Lamb where we will eat and rejoice and celebrate at His table with Him. And as a reminder of all of this, this communion that God wants to have with His people, He has given to us the Eucharist or Communion, the bread and the cup, that as we eat and drink it, we remember that God so badly wants to have fellowship with His people that He sent His only begotten Son, that we might be able to come to the table together with God.
So, in a sense, as Abraham prepares this meal, and as they eat this meal, here you have God and man interacting at the table. It's really emblematic of everything that God is trying to do in the hearts of His people and in the heart of humanity. Please don't forget that. God, He wants to be in fellowship with you. He wants you to enjoy Him. He wants you to experience Him. He wants you to come to the table, so to speak, to develop your relationship with Him. But let's go on in the passage and see what happens next.
9 They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” 10 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.
So, again, you notice there the Lord, He makes this promise. It's a reaffirmation of a promise that we've already seen throughout the book of Genesis and especially saw again, a couple of weeks ago in chapter 17, where God renamed Sarai into Sarah, and said that Isaac would be born from her womb specifically. And so, now, the Lord puts a time marker on it. In a year, I will return and Sarah will have a child.
11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14 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.”
Is Anything To Marvelous For God?
Now, this is one of a long line of stories in Scripture where God promises that a child is going to be given to a woman, and one of a long line of stories where God promises a child to a barren woman both in the Old and New Testaments. And this really is the center of this whole passage.
The question that God asks after Sarah laughs, in verse 14, He says, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" Now that word, hard, immediately conjures up in our minds the idea of difficulty, is anything too difficult for the Lord? But it's actually a word that points less to difficulty and more to something beautiful, something marvelous, something wonderful. In fact, some translations say it that way, is anything to marvelous for the Lord? A great cross reference that might help you envision the way that God is thinking of this word would be Proverbs chapter 30, verse 18 and 19. There, the author says, "Three things are too wonderful for me, for I do not understand."
And listen to these things that are wonderful to the author, "The way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a virgin." It's not that he's saying these things are beyond me, he's just saying, these are such beautiful and majestic things. I could have never invented them of my own design. They point me to something greater, more grand, more beautiful than myself. They are wonderful to consider, wonderful to behold.
And so, here's Sarah, this old woman, married to Abraham, an old man. And God says, "By this time next year, you'll have a son." And she laughs, it's a laugh of doubt. But God responds, is anything too hard? Is anything too wonderful? Is anything too marvelous for the Lord? You see, this is who God is. He's the God who is able to make life from the place of death. She had a barren womb, but that barren womb would give birth to a son, who would eventually be the one to have descendant, after descendant, after descendant, the ancestor of Abraham and Isaac, Jacob, the nation of Israel, and eventually the church, the body of Jesus Christ.
Beauty From Ashes
And so, in a sense, we're just seeing what the Bible is all about here, embodied or typified in Sarah's womb, from the place of the most gruesome death comes the most wonderful and abundant life, because nothing is too marvelous for the Lord. And this leads us, of course, to one of the great pinnacles of the entire Bible. When Jesus died, it was the pinnacle of the gruesomeness, the tragedy of humanity. Humanity rejected the Christ, the Messiah, and in the grave, He went after His crucifixion. It was ugly, it was death, but from that death, Jesus rose from the grave certifying that His crucifixion was sufficient for the sin of the world, and preparing the ultimate resurrection for all of His people.
So, in a sense, we're seeing the gospel in and of itself, in this statement, is anything too hard or mysterious or marvelous or wonderful for the Lord? And I think that this question... I'm sure that it has served as a comfort, encouragement, and counsel to billions of believers in the Old and New Testament era over the years, is anything too hard for the Lord? You see, so often, I think we succumb to a, I'm too... And you fill in the blank syndrome. I'm too weak, I'm too dumb, I'm too angry, I'm too short sighted, I'm too fearful. But the Lord, with Him in the equation, you have to ask... The question, is anything too hard? Is anything too marvelous for the Lord?
Now, with God in the equation, sometimes, He will change the circumstances. But did you know that sometimes, one of God's greatest works is not to just change your circumstances, but enable you to endure your circumstances? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Can He make you strong enough for the difficulties and the challenges that have come your way? It's just a hope filled question that the Lord asked Abraham about Sarah.
15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
Doubt Memorialized
Okay, now, I'm sure many of you have experience with trying to lie to God. I know I have attempted it from time to time, even at moments... I'll catch myself in prayer, saying things about myself that I know are misleading about how I really feel and how I really think, trying to appear to be something other than what I really am before God.
So, she tried to do that with the Lord. No, I did not laugh. I'm here in the tent. You're outside of the tent. You don't know what happened. I did not laugh." And she said it because she was, it says in verse 15, afraid. And He said, "No, but you did laugh." And that was the end of that conversation. Now, the thing that's powerful about this, is that when God announced, "No, but you did laugh." What did that do? Well, it preserved, if you will, the doubt of Abraham and Sarah on the pages of Scripture. You see, Abraham had laughed in chapter 17, now Sarah is laughing here in chapter 18. You have the mother and father of faith, so to speak. You have the great Abraham and the great Sarah and both of them, there it is, embedded in God's word, in permanent ink, they have both doubted the promise of God.
And every time they said the name of their son, Isaac, whose name meant laughter, they'd be reminded of the fact that there was a point in their lives where they doubted the promise of God. But the thing is, is that the Word of God, it should be respected. It should be believed, it should be held on to. And that would be a message that the ancient Israelite people would receive from this passage. They'd look at this and say, "I can't believe, even Abraham and Sarah doubted the Word of the Lord, they should not have doubted the Word of God, they should not have doubted the promise of God." Let us not be a people who stagger in on belief.
New Testament Parallel
Now, in a sense, everything that we've read up to this point tonight has an incredible New Testament parallel. I mean, think about it. As I mentioned earlier, Abraham and God had a meal together. And now of course, we know that Christ, He is the one that we partake of His body and His blood. Second, God in this passage made incredible promises to Abraham and Sarah. And Christ has made incredible promises to us in the New Testament era, promises that by faith, we would be recipients of justification, salvation. That we would be regenerated, that we'd be washed and forgiven, that he would cleanse us of our guilt and shame. These are incredible promises that have been given to us.
And then finally, faith was needed by Abraham and Sarah so that they might enter into the promises of God. And faith is needed in our modern day as well to believe the provision of Jesus, the promise of Jesus, so that we might enter into the plan of Jesus for our lives today. Okay with that, let's move on in the passage to see this next movement.
16 Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way.
Sodom!
Now the mention of Sodom is a little bit of a foreshadowing. We've seen Sodom already at this point. Remember, Abraham told Lot, his nephew, to go wherever he wanted to go, and that Abraham would go in the opposite direction, and Lot chose the green pastures near the Jordan Valley, and he eventually pitched his tents near Sodom.
And then, in chapter 14, Lot was captured along with the citizens of Sodom in an international struggle, and Abraham attacked the invading armies and won a miraculous victory, and even the king of Sodom was thankful to Abraham for what he had done. But we're going to get back to the people of Sodom, who the Scripture has already told us at this point, in Genesis, were a wicked and sinful people, we're going to see that sin come full bloom in chapter 19. So now, the Lord looked down, these men looked down towards Sodom, and Abraham goes with them.
17 The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 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 to Abraham what he has promised him.”
Why God Told Abraham His Plans
Now, here, what is happening, is God is wanting to bring Abraham into His plans for the nation. Particularly, the fact that He is about to judge the city of Sodom. And why would God want to tell Abraham of his plans? Well, first of all, notice there in verse 18, one reason is because he knew that he had promised that Abraham would become a great and mighty nation. And as a great and mighty nation, part of God's plan for Abraham and His people or group is that they would be a blessing to all nations. So, in a sense, God wants to tell Abraham what he's going to do with the nation or the nation state or city state of Sodom, so that Abraham can be a blessing to the people of Sodom, or at least attempt to do so. But another thing is that... It says there, in verse 19, "That his house and his household after him would keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice."
Part of what Abraham and his offspring were meant to be on earth is a living Bible that communicated to the world what justice and righteousness look like. When God gave the law to the people of Israel, it was so contradictory to the moral code of the people all around them. And in a sense, what God wanted was for the nations around Israel to be able to learn what justice and righteousness actually looks like. So, what better opportunity to begin training Abraham on what righteousness and justice looks like than by showing Abraham the deprived city of Sodom and how God needed to bring judgment against them because of their lack of justice and righteousness.
So, again, God is bringing Abraham into his plans and wanting to use him as a blessing to all nations.
20 Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”
Complete And Total Knowledge Of God
Now obviously, the Lord is omniscient, he knows all things, he does not need to come down to see anything to make any kind of determination. But this is language that's familiar to us, at this point, in the book of Genesis, because God came down to observe the sinful activity in the city of Babel before God struck it and divided the people with various tongues and spread them out through the Earth.
The idea here is not so much that God needs to discover something, it's that He needs to be seen by Abraham as one who has complete and total knowledge. And God's complete and total knowledge is the thing that uniquely qualifies Him to make accurate judgment here on Earth. So, when God judges the people of Sodom, it is not meant to be seen by Abraham, or the people of Israel, or even Christians today, as something that was, God's just... A sense of being repulsed at what He saw, emotional about what He saw, lashing out because of what He saw. No, the idea is that it is calculated. It is long suffering. It is waiting. Remember, already at this point in Genesis, God has told Abraham that his descendants would receive the promised land once the iniquity of the Amalekites was complete.
So, the idea here is that the iniquity of the Sodomites, it had become complete. God has waited, God has been long suffering, God is patient, and now, with complete accuracy, no emotion, God is lashing out and is going to bring his judgment upon these people. And Abraham needed to know that this was an accurate, good, holy judgment that God was making. Part of the reason I say all of that as a precursor to this is because in our era, we are more concerned about the judgment that God brings than we are about the forgiveness that God offers. But there are many cultures on earth that are very concerned that God would be a God of judgment, that is very important to many peoples in many cultures. For us, it's very important that God would not judge, that he would withhold judgment. But here, what God is teaching Abraham is that when he judges, it is right and just.
22 So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. 23 Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 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?” 26 And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
Abraham's Intercession
Now, here, Abraham approaches the Lord. Lord, thank you for showing me what you're going to do in Sodom, the judgment that you're going to bring upon Sodom. But Lord, you're just, you're the judge of the whole earth. And it doesn't seem that it would be right if there were 50 righteous in Sodom, for you to bring judgment upon all of Sodom because those 50 righteous would experience your judgment along with the rest of the city. Now, it's important to make a distinction here. The Scripture teaches us that believers and unbelievers alike pass through trials, difficulties, pains in life, some would even call them trials and tribulations. But here, what Abraham is saying, is not, God, why would we go through trials along with the world who's going through trials? That's not what Abraham is saying. What he's saying is, why would we experience your punishment? If we're righteous, if there are 50 righteous there, then they should not receive the judgment of God, the punishment of God.
God Agreed
And the interesting thing is that God agreed with Abraham. What would this teach the people of Israel? Well, it would show them in a sense, that righteous people cannot ultimately be judged with the wicked. So, if you've received the righteousness of God, you cannot ultimately be judged with the wicked. But it would also teach that the righteous preserve and bless the communities that they're in. I mean, think of it, God had heard of the sin in Sodom, but if there were only 50 righteous people there, God would withhold His judgment upon all of these unrighteous in that city. So, in some sense, it helps us understand that even a small minority of righteous people, God fearing Christ loving people, are meant to somehow be a blessing to their communities, even if they are vastly outnumbered.
27 Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” 30 Then he said, “Oh 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.” 31 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.” 32 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
God Judges Righteously
All right, this is a very interesting little movement. God has revealed to Abraham that He's about to judge Sodom. Abraham goes to the Lord and says, "Lord, it doesn't seem right that the just God of all flesh would judge the righteous with the unrighteous. So if there are 50 righteous people in Sodom, will you refrain?" And God says, yes. And then Abraham continues to pray. He says, "God, if there's 45, and then if there's 40, if there's 30, if there's 20, if there's 10, will you withhold your judgment?" And God declares to him each time, I will withhold my judgment.
Now, what are some of the things that we can learn from this prayer volley that God and Abraham are having together, this conversation? Number one, as I've been saying already, we have the idea reinforced that God judges righteously. That God judges righteously. That He is going to make sure that He is not delivering His judgment to those who He considers righteous.
Live As A Blessing
But a second thing that we can learn is partly what it looks like to be a blessing to the world that we live in. That's what Abraham was. And He had been trying to live this out ever since God had told Him in chapter 12, to be a blessing to all the earth. You've gone out in battle against foreign invaders to try to be a blessing to the local city states that were in his region and area and now here, what does he do? He starts praying, interceding, crying out to God for the people of Sodom.
Now, it's not that God was beaten down by Abraham, that God wanted to judge 50 righteous, but said, "Okay, fine, I won't. And wanted to judge 45 and 40 and 30 and 20 and 10, no, it's that... What God is trying to show Abraham is that His judgment is so gracious he won't judge if, of even a small amount of righteousness is found there. And eventually, what we're going to learn in chapter 19, is that even though there weren't even 10 that were righteous in Sodom, God went in and He found the people that were righteous, at least positionally, and He delivered them, delivered Lot and his family from that judgment. And as Abraham was praying, what was he doing? He was just merely praying the way that God wanted things to unfold. God wanted to see the righteous in this city rescued.
Abraham, though, had just interceded for this group of people. Now, the question that sometimes comes up is, why didn't Abraham keep going? Why did he stop at 10? Why not go down even further? Well, one option or one potential answer is that, he had gone from 50 to 45, then 40. And then from there, he had gone down in numbers of 10, 30, 20, 10. So, subtract 10 from 10, and you're down to zero. And Abraham wasn't going to ask God not to judge if there were zero righteous people in Sodom, no, Abraham trusted God's discernment, trusted God's judgment. If there was real unrighteousness that was fully ripe, the depravity was at its upper limit, then he trusted that God needed to do what God needed to do.
But before we move on into chapter 19, which we'll cover quickly today, I want to ask you the question, how does Abraham's behavior inform impact or affect your perception of your role here on earth? You see, God hasn't called you if you're a believer to just sort of coast through life. No, he's left you here so that you might pick up the mantle of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and be an extension of that glorious people, so that you too, might be a blessing to all the nations. And ultimately, how can we be a blessing through the ultimate blesser and blessing, Jesus Christ? But think about it, how could you be a greater blessing to your world? Abraham was praying for the city of Sodom. Abraham loved the people that were there. He had a heart for what was happening in that city. He wanted God's justice, absolutely, but he also wrestled with God over this people group.
And perhaps, for us, so many good things, what unlock about who we are and why we're here on earth, if we cried out to God for the people of our communities. Okay with that, we do need to look at part B, part two, if you will, of this episode, chapter 19. It's really the other side of the coin.
Genesis 19
1 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 bowed himself with his face to the earth 2 and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” 3 But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
Lot's Regression
Okay, so, three had gone to Abraham, two had left Abraham, one, the Lord had remained and spoken with Abraham departing once their conversation about Sodom was over with, but the two proceeded on to Sodom, and they arrived there and they met with Lot. Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. He inquired about them, they said they'd spent the night in the open square, which was the custom of the day, that's what many travelers would do. But Lot knew the conditions in Sodom and knew they wouldn't be safe there, so he implored them to come and stay with him in his house. He had a measure of hospitality just like Abraham did in chapter 18. But notice where Lot was located, he was sitting in the gate of Sodom.
Now, sitting in the gate of Sodom indicates that Lot had obtained a position of leadership and influence and prominence in this town. In fact, when we get to verse nine, the citizens of Sodom are going to say of Lot, "Who made this man a judge over us?" Or, "Look at him, he's operating as our judge. So, Lot was in an influential position where he would weigh in on the events that unfolded in Sodom. It says in 2 Peter, chapter three, if I could look it up here, now I don't have it marked for me. Man, this is going to take me a second. The pages in this Bible are just so terrible. 2 Peter chapter three... No, I've got the wrong one. Chapter two, it says that God rescued righteous Lot, who is greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked. And part of the reason I wanted to read that is because what you're seeing here is that Lot was a righteous man, but he vexed his soul as he dwelt in Sodom.
You see, if you follow Lot's story, you discover a man who saw the green plains, camped in the green plains, pitched his tents close to Sodom, eventually became an inhabitant of the city. And now, here he is so firmly entrenched in the city, that he is in the gates of the town weighing in on the affairs of the city of Sodom. He had gone all the way in to this place. And really, in a sense, what this whole passage is going to show us is the danger of compromise personally, in our lives. Unfortunately, we're going to see Lot's sons-in-laws reject God, we're going to see Lot's wife reject God, and we're going to see Lot's own daughters have a confused sexual morality that is so perverted, partly because of where he led them, and what he exposed his family to as they lived in the city of Sodom.
And that, of course, would lead us to the question, just asking ourselves, what are we exposing ourselves to? What are we allowing ourselves to be comfortable with? Are there small steps that we are taking where we are allowing ourselves to be lulled to sleep, no longer living a holy and righteous life. You see, Lot understood, he knew that nighttime in Sodom was a crazy scene. So, he tells these guys, you got to get out of there. You can't stay in the town square. But still, he persisted in that place. It does not seem that he was there as an evangelist influencing the culture, but that he himself was influenced by this place. Patching it all together, it seems that Lot liked the wealth that Sodom provided, the ease that Sodom provided. He didn't always like the unrighteousness, but he put up with it so that he could have his own versions of unrighteousness. And so, there is Lot all the way in the city sitting at the gate.
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house.
Now this is kind of a Biblical way of saying, everybody. You or I might say, all the men came, but it goes out of its way to communicate. It was the men of the city, the men of Sodom, young and old, all the people to the last man, they surrounded the house. And the idea here is that this is... What's going to happen is very evil, and the idea is that this evil has spread throughout this whole culture. What we're going to see is the depths of depravity found in the city of Sodom. Remember, in chapter 18, God said He would go down to see, and the idea that's being communicated is that when He judges, He is judging with accurate information. He is fair, He is just, He is right. And now, here, what we discover is that everybody, all the men in Sodom, are complicit in this coming crime.
5 And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.”
Now to know them means to know them carnally, physically, or sexually. This is, of course, a homosexual desire but it's even more than that. This is militant rape that these men are wanting to engage with, with these angels or these men who have come to the city of Sodom. It is meant to be read as a gruesome request, something that makes you kind of squirm a little bit as you read about it because it's just so far gone. That's the idea, this city is so far gone so much so that every man wants to engage in the rape of these strangers who have come to town.
6 Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, 7 and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8 Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.”
Now this makes it no better. Here, Lot comes out and rather than like Abraham who interceded for Sodom, righteously, Lot intercedes for these men unrighteously. He embraced the ethic of his time and place, believed things about women that should have been obviously untrue to any God fearing person, thought of his own daughters as secondary sub-human figures, and offered them to the men of the city as a mark of his hospitality in defense of these men who had come to stay in his house. It's a grotesque, as I said, scene as he offered his daughter.
9 But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. 10 But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. 11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.
Depravity To The Extreme
This is meant to be another movement that shows us the ultimate depraved nature of the men in Sodom, that even after they were supernaturally struck with blindness, there is no repentance, there is no sorrow, there is no even turning from the error of their ways, but now they are groping for the door to try to continue on in their stated desire and ambition. It's just a grotesque passage. Now, I should say this, obviously, Scripture is abundantly clear. Creation itself, general revelation, is also abundantly clear that God has intended a man and a woman to be together. Scripture teaches us that homosexuality is a sin, in fact, it is a grievous error that is a mark of a fallen and broken culture. In Romans chapter one, a culture that denies the Creator, ultimately, one of the things that you'll see inside of that culture is that homosexual desire will flourish in cultures like that.
But too often, I think, Genesis chapter 19 has been held out as one of those landmark passages rebuking and condemning homosexuality. And the Bible definitely rebukes and condemns homosexuality, along with many other sexual desires that human beings experience that are unhealthy for them to engage in. But what you're seeing in Genesis chapter 19 goes beyond just homosexuality. It goes into this broken depravity that is so strong, gripping the hearts of the men of Sodom so strongly that even when blind, through angelic intervention, they still are trying to persist in the era of their waves and trying to rape these men who have come to their town. It is meant to be seen as the ultimate in human brokenness and sin and wickedness.
Sodom In Scripture
Now, it is interesting because Sodom throughout the rest of Scripture becomes emblematic of certain things. For instance, in the life of Jesus, when He went to various towns and preached, some of them rejected Him. And so, He would compare them to various Old Testament cities who also had some kind of visitation from God. Of Capernaum, He said, "Woe to you Capernaum, for if the works done in you had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." The idea is that their visitation, Sodom and Gomorrah's from God, was not even close to as strong as what Capernaum had received. And he went on to say it would be more tolerable in the day of judgment for them than for the people there in Capernaum.
So, the idea there is fairly simple, the greater the revelation from God and the greater the rejection of that revelation, the greater the judgment. Another place where Sodom is spoken up is in the book of Ezekiel, in Ezekiel, chapter 16, verse 49, Ezekiel points out various sins that the people of Sodom were engaged in, and notice what he said. He said, "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister, Sodom. She and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but they did not aid the poor and needy."
That's very interesting because it appears that this sexual license that turned into sexual slavery, that turned into sexual abuse and dominance, apparently began with wealth, and ease, and lots of food, and prosperity, and tons of idle time. In that idleness and wealth, pride developed and grew to the point that they felt that they were allowed to objectify and dominate other human beings that were made in the image of God.
So, it just speaks to us, I think, a warning concerning our own lives, that we would not be people who are gluttonous, not be people who are prideful, not be people who just have huge amounts of spare time to get ourselves in trouble, but that we instead give, that we're generous, that we're content, and that we use our lives to serve other human beings who are made in the likeness of God.
12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. 13 For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” 14 So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
So, Lot had really just lost his witness even with his daughter's future husbands.
15 As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” 16 But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
Righteous Lot
In a sense, what you see here with Lot, is that it's hard to get Lot out of Sodom. He just is a picture of a person who though righteous, though a believer, though a knower of God, just struggled with a love for the world.
And even in the New Testament, you see this, the church in Corinth had their problems, the Church in Laodicea and Pergamos, even Ephesus, had their problems. The church in Sardis had their problems. The church in Laodicea had their problems. There were believers who were present in these churches, they had gotten mixed up, some of them, with the world, and it had hindered their walk and relationship with God. And here, we see Lot in that way, they have to urge him, it says there in verse 15, he lingers, in verse 16. Also in verse 16, it says that the Lord was merciful to him. The idea here is that God was not going to judge the righteous. We learn that from Abraham's prayer, even though there weren't 10 righteous in the city, even just one righteous man, would not be judged in God's sight. And so, God is merciful with his man.
17 And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” 18 And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. 19 Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. 20 Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” 21 He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 22 Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
A Little City
Zoar means means little.
So, Lot had this desire to be a city man, living a city life. He felt he was incapable of living in the hills. Hey, better to live in the hills in righteousness than to live in a city with unrighteousness. Now this is not God's way of rebuking city life, but it is his way of rebuking Lot and the kind of heart that Lot had. And Lot just felt that what he really needed in life was the peace, the prosperity, the blessings that he thought came from city life. But that's not what he needed. He needed righteousness, he should have been content with godliness, but he had a different plan altogether.
23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Move Forward
Now, this is fascinating, the angels had said, "Don't look back." Lot's wife, she did look back, she became a pillar of salt. And I know sometimes you'll see these silly photographs from this region with some kind of salt structure or rock structure, they'll call it Lot's wife. But we really have no idea where this happened or what became of her. But here in the text, we learn that at that moment, she became a pillar of salt. Jesus himself in the New Testament said, "Remember Lot's wife." And He said it embedded in the context of Him talking about His coming, and needing His people to be watchful, waiting, looking forward to His return, not falling in love with this present age.
Remember, Lot's wife. That's the idea. She looked back upon Sodom, not just to see the judgment of God, not just to observe this thing that was happening, the idea is that she looked back longingly. That's the life that she craved. That's the life that she wanted. Her look-back was identifying her with the very people that were in need of the judgment of God. And so, she herself was also judged, and miraculously, quickly, spontaneously turned into a pillar of salt. The God of the Bible, the God who created the heavens and the earth, produced this in her life in that moment. The Bible says in Proverbs 4, verse 23, that we should keep our heart with all diligence, or some versions say, vigilance. The idea is that your heart, it must be protected. You've got to make sure that you're not falling in love with things that are contrary to who God is, as revealed in His Word.
But so often, we let things in, and Lot's wife had let things in to the point that she loved, saw them much more than she loved God. And unfortunately, it led to her demise.
27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. 29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
Abraham's Prayer
The idea here is that Abraham went back to the place that he'd had his little prayer meeting with God. And he looked out over the communities that he'd been praying for.
And when he saw the smoke ascending, he would have known in his heart, that there were not 10 righteous in Sodom, that his prayers had been answered, and that God had been just, had delivered His justice to this people group, and had wiped them from the face of the earth before they had a chance to do any more damage to other members of the human species.
30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters.
There, perhaps, was a paranoia that Lot felt about living in the city of Zoar, maybe worried that the spontaneous judgment of God would come down upon that city. In a sense, what you're meant to see with Lot is a man who's a believer but is also confused. God tells Abraham what he's going to do, Abraham prays about it. God reconfirms, is what I'm going to do. Abraham would not have been nervous in Zoar because God had said, "I won't judge Zoar. I'll leave it alone, so that Lot can live there."
But Lot is confused. He thinks that God's judgment is haphazard and without reason. So, in Zoar, he's afraid. And so, he eventually leaves the very city that he requested to live in, and he goes and lives in a cave, out in the hills with his two daughters.
31 And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” 33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 34 The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.”35 So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.
Moabite And Ammonite Peoples
This is grotesque, and we all know it as we read of it. You see, the Bible records what happened, and records the faults of its individuals. And Lot had raised his daughters in such a backwards pagan place, and had not apparently, been able to have a voice in their lives because he himself was living the hypocritical life. That their whole view of sexuality, and family, and offspring, and having children, it was all just so backwards, that somehow, they convinced themselves that this was a good idea. Now, the reader understands intuitively that it's not, but it's even backed up further by looking at the sons that they bore. A son named Moab, and a son named Ben-ammi, who is the father of the Ammonites.
The Moabite and Ammonite people became never ending enemies, persecutors of the people of Israel. And all of this, all this chaos and brokenness occurred because, at least in part, Lot was a man who loved the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and it led to his demise. Let us be a holy people, church, that we might get the best from what God has designed for us. God bless you, we'll see you next week.