In Genesis 18 we have an account of an afternoon in the life of Abraham, “the friend of God” (James 2:23). The written words and my imagination tell me the following: While sitting at the doorway of his tent, Abraham no doubt found shade and relief from the intensity of the brazen midday sun. Perhaps he pondered with awe the marvelous promise of God to give him a son through Sarah, even though she was well past her child-bearing years (see Genesis 17:16). Abraham looked out to see three travelers standing.
From cultural hospitality and the excitement of simply having visitors, he ran to greet them and bowed himself in humble salutation. His heart’s great desire was for the visitors to rest and refresh themselves with the service of his household and to satisfy their hunger with the best of his food, the most tender meat available, freshly baked bread, and milk for their sustainment. Indeed, the righteous find as much or more happiness in sharing their blessings from God as in having them. He then stood as he hosted and talked with his visitors as they ate beneath the shade of one of the mighty oaks of Mamre.
In reading this chapter thoughtfully, can we not feel Abraham’s excitement as well as a Heaven-sent breeze and the deep shade which God gave them for relief and enjoyment? We don’t know at which point Abraham recognized the men as messengers from God (one of them being the Lord himself in a pre-incarnate, human form [vv. 17-20]). But, as with all Heavenly visitations to God’s people, there must have been astonishment as well as a peaceful rest of mind in the Lord’s presence. Abraham and Sarah were told the appointed time for their promised son’s arrival. Sarah’s lingering doubts (vss. 12-13 & cf. 16:1-2) were met with the Lord’s answering question, “Is anything too difficult for the Lord?” (vs.14). Great joy must have mingled with many other rising emotions. The vivid memory of this day – these precious moments – would be with them to their yet-distant graves.
Time passed too quickly as Abraham cherished each pleasant and revealing moment. As the visitors indicated their time to leave, Abraham wished to remain in their presence for as long as possible, at least for a good walking distance. While they walked the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do…? …I have chosen him, in order that he may command his children and his household…to keep the way of the Lord” (vss. 17-19). The Lord proceeded to tell Abraham of how the lewd wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah had become great. He would now know for certain if its wickedness was as widespread and dark as its clamor.
Two of the visitors went forward toward Sodom, leaving Abraham, who still stood before the One whom he now fully recognized as his Lord, who was now appearing in human form for the sake of this special communion with Abraham. He thought of his nephew, Lot, who had long departed from his company to live in the fertile Jordan valley and had pitched his tents “as far as Sodom” (Genesis 13). Would God destroy Lot, Abraham’s beloved nephew, along with the wicked people among whom he dwelt? Whatever his sins might be, surely they were not of the magnitude of which the Lord had spoken (vs. 20).
Abraham immediately acts as a pleading intercessor on behalf of any who were not of the described, heinous guilt which would bring swift and complete destruction if they were, in truth, so guilty. Acknowledging God’s well-known mercy and justice, he begins to plead for the sparing of judgment for the sake of a relatively few righteous persons, beginning with a doubtful number of fifty. “Far be it from Thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and wicked are treated alike. Far be it from Thee!” (v. 25).
Is Abraham not now entrenched on his knees with face to the ground as he prepares to venture for even more and more mercy? What if there are but forty five? The Lord answers graciously, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there” (vs. 28). With outreached hands and heart Abraham asks for the sparing of the whole place for the sake of forty. Yes! With hope he asks “for the sake of thirty?” Yes! The Lord’s unhesitating ‘yes’ gives him courage still. “For the sake of twenty?” Yes! Abraham thinks of Lot who has become regretful and weary of Sodom and his choice to live there (II Peter 2:7-8). Finally, in desperate hope that there might be at least ten of Lot’s household and his neighbors who have not forsaken God and succumbed to the lawlessness of Sodom, he asks, “For the sake of ten?” The Lord answers him “I will not destroy it on account of the ten” (vs. 32). At this the Lord departed and Abraham returned to his tent.
What a day! From a typical morning to this afternoon visit and meal with the Lord his God and two angels! From the glad news of when his son would be born through Sarah to an evening of dismay over the possible judgment and doom awaiting Sodom and Gomorrah. Now all he could do was to await the outcome. Were there ten righteous people in Sodom? The morning would answer, as billowing streams of smoke rose from the valley of Sodom (19:27-28).
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As we now wait for the ultimate Son of Promise, our Christ, to return to Earth for the gathering of His people or as we await our individual departure to be with Him until the new heavens and earth appear, it is easy to waver—from a sense of great hope to a sense of impending doom and judgment (whether temporal or eternal) because of the wickedness of the world (I John 5:19). We are not the first generation to fear that all of God’s patience with the wickedness of our time is spent and that He is ready to punish the peoples of the world and their governments. Will He send possibly severe discipline to His own people for the needful awakening from our callousness and compromise?
