Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
When you hear the words “Sodom and Gomorrah” what comes into your mind? What emotions rise up in your heart? They were actual places and as we travel with Abraham and Sarah those two towns are an important part of God’s “Grand Narrative”, found in Genesis 18 & 19.
In the heat of the day Abraham was evidently sitting in the shade of the flap of his tent when he saw three men approaching from a distance. The hospitality culture of that time required Abraham to invite them out of the hot sun and offer them some refreshment, even if he didn’t know them. But Abraham was evidently a very generous man and he went way beyond expectations by offering a freshly prepared full meal!
Did you know there’s a verse in the Bible book of Hebrews which seems to be built on this event? Hebrews 13:2 says: “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” While these three visitors gratefully ate the wonderful meal so generously offered to them, one of them shocked Abraham by saying: “Where is your wife Sarah?…I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son!” (Gen. 18:9,10) As far as we know Abraham had never seen any of these three travelers before. How did they know his wife’s name and what could they know about the Covenant promise God had made to Abraham not long before, recorded in Genesis 17? Who were these guys?
Sarah was evidently listening from inside their tent and laughed when she heard what the men said. So, Genesis 18:13 reads: “The LORD said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘will I really have a child, now that I am old? Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Now we know that one of those three travelers was another “appearance” by God Himself to Abraham, and, as in Genesis 17:1,22 this could be none other than an Old Testament appearance of God the Son, Jesus.
After the visitors finished their meal, Abraham walked with them as they left, seeing them on their way. Suddenly one of them spoke to Abraham: “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so the LORD will bring about for Abraham what He has promised him.” (Gen. 18:17-19)
As another evidence that this traveler is the Son of God, He has now spoken words which only God could speak. Words of God’s Sovereign foreknowledge and election, words about God’s fulfillment of His promises, words about God’s purposes being realized in a far distant future, in our time! The powerful nation God was speaking of is Israel. All nations being blessed through Abraham is both the blessing the Jewish people have been to our world, but also the fact that Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, would incarnate into our world, born in Bethlehem, Israel, into the lineage of Abraham.
Do you also see Abraham had a high moral calling from God to live and raise his descendants to live ‘by doing what is right and just’? That moral standard is an extension of what Holy God was doing in a perfect Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. It’s also what God was doing with blameless Noah and his family as they walked out of the ark to begin repopulating the earth. It’s God’s design for and expectation of the human race He has created in His image. But as we all know, our sin nature battles against that and our human history shows nothing short of rebellion against God generation after generation, every person.
As they walked along together the LORD gave Abraham an understanding of the purpose of the visit of these three travelers that day. “The LORD said, ‘The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me.’ (Genesis 18:20) What does it mean, my friends? Does God hear the cries of suffering people? Oh YES! Consider Exodus 2:23 “The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help…went up to God. God heard their groaning and remembered His covenant with Abraham…so God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.”
As we’ll see when we arrive at Exodus 3, that statement immediately precedes God coming to meet with Moses at the burning bush and telling Moses that He has heard the cries of His people and has come to rescue them! (Exodus 3:7,8) Take heart my friends, if you are a person who cries out to God about things that trouble you deeply. God hears. God sees it all and understands it better than you or I do! God loves and cares and God is actively involved in accomplishing His purposes in our pain filled world!
In Genesis 18 two of the three travelers went down into the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah for their due diligence to understand the moral condition of these cities and why cries for help had been coming up to God. Who are those travelers? I believe they were angels who accompanied Jesus in this very important visit to earth, to evaluate and assess Sodom and Gomorrah.
One traveler remained with Abraham and the record identifies Him: “The men went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD. Then Abraham asked: ‘will You sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” (Gen. 18:22,23) Oh my that’s a very powerful question isn’t it?
In the verses which follow Abraham ‘negotiated’ with God, seeking to have the cities spared if only a handful of ‘righteous people’ could be found living there. Alas, finally God said He would spare both towns if ONLY 10 righteous inhabitants were found. (Gen. 18:32,33) This is a picture of the love and mercy of God as He considers our sinful, rebellious human race, everywhere in our world.
In fact the apostle Peter makes sure we understand this with these powerful words: “The LORD is not slow in keeping His promises, as some understand slowness. Instead God is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
Why has God not destroyed your city and mine by this time as He watches the wickedness so prevalent around our world? It’s God’s patience, God’s mercy, God’s willingness to forgive and draw every and any repentant person into a sin forgiven relationship with HIM!
So I think we should pause right here and reflect on this. I urge you to read Genesis 19 and see what happened. Did they find at least 10 righteous people in Sodom & Gomorrah, or was the wickedness so pervasive, so horrible God simply had to destroy both cities? Here’s a worship song to help us consider the patience, mercy but also justice of God! And I’ll meet you back here again tomorrow…
Today’s Scripture: Genesis 18 & 19.
Choose below to read or listen.
 |  |
Genesis 19
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.