ABRAHAM: THE RELATIONSHIP OF COMMUNION TO INTERCESSION
What is the natural outcome of communion between two parties? Their interests become shared interests and their burdens and problems become shared and understood. Abraham has just spent time offering hospitality to God and enjoying His Presence. Now, it is up to God to make the next move.
Genesis 18:16-19 says,
Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. The LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in 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 to Abraham what He has promised him.”
As the heavenly Visitors got up to leave, we notice two things. First, they were heading for Sodom. They had other business on earth besides visiting Abraham. Second, Abraham followed along to see them off. This continues to show his desire to be with God. He hangs around as long as he can and this desire to be in God’s presence is about to present a great opportunity for Abraham.
Amos 3:7 says, "For the Lord God does nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets.” God was getting ready to act in a way that would reveal His righteous character and His power and it would also change the geography of the land Abraham had been promised in a very distinctive way. So God, based on His relationship with Abraham, begins to reveal His next errand. Before He tells Abraham His business, He reminds him that he is a chosen individual. He did not initially choose God, but God chose him for his own purposes. He also reminds Abraham that his own responsibility in all of this is to teach his children and his household to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness. Abraham is about to get a lesson in how far God will go in dealing with unrighteousness, so He impresses on Abraham to remember this.
QUESTION: Do we really fear God and teach our children to walk in righteousness or are we quick to relax righteous standards in the guise of “love and acceptance?”
OBSERVATION: In order to keep the way of the Lord and do righteousness, Abraham must know God. This is why communion with God is so essential.
Verses 20-21 of Genesis 18 continue:
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 altogether according to the outcry that has come to Me. And if not, I will know.”
Sodom is famous for one sin in particular, but let’s see some of the other things of which Sodom was guilty. Jeremiah 23:14 says, “But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to Me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.” Years later, God likens the sinfulness of Jerusalem to that of Sodom and Gomorrah and accuses them of adultery, lying, and favoring those who choose evil. Ezekiel 16:48-50 also says,
“As I live," declares the Lord God, "your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before Me. So I removed them, when I saw it.”
So we see that Sodom’s chief sin was the pride that came with an excess of prosperity. In their haughtiness, they looked down on the poor and would not offer them assistance. Instead, they spent their time in lewdness and filth. It takes a lot of spiritual focus to keep wealth from leading to decadence and boredom, followed by moral decay and finally societal collapse.
OBSERVATION: The US and the West in general are dangling from this very precipice.
Let us also notice that God is going to personally look into the matter. This outcry is a cry of great moral distress. Although God already knows what the outcome will be, He will give Sodom a chance to do right when He comes to visit them.
Continuing in Genesis 18, verses 22-26 say,
So the men turned from there and went toward 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 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? 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.”
The two “men”, who we understand are really angels, have separated from the LORD and are heading for Sodom. But Abraham keeps waiting with God. He sees that God has revealed to him His intention toward Sodom. Now Abraham is no babe in the woods. He knows that Sodom is a wicked place. He warned Lot a few chapters back that settling near Sodom had the drawback of Sodom’s wickedness to contend with. We also saw that after Abraham went to battle to rescue Lot, he would have nothing to do with the king of Sodom or his stuff. So Abraham pretty well knows that Sodom is toast. But his concern is not for the fate of the wicked—his concern is the fate of the righteous. So he approaches God and begins to intercede for Sodom, not for the sake of the wicked, but for the righteous because he knows that Lot is there.
Abraham keeps interceding for Sodom on behalf of Lot. What will it take for God to relent in His judgment so that Lot can be spared? Abraham keeps at it until God says that He will spare the whole city if He can find ten righteous men. In Luke 11:5-13, Jesus gave a parable about a friend who, through his importunity, succeeded in persuading his friend to get up at midnight and give him some bread to offer to his guest. Jesus continued immediately after this parable to emphasize the need to keep asking, seeking, and knocking in the matter of prayer, and assures us that continued perseverance will receive a righteous answer from God. He taught His disciples that God does want to give good gifts to His children. So we see in this passage with Abraham that he demonstrated persistence in prayer, together with a spirit of humility. He appealed to God’s righteousness toward the righteous, never forgetting that he himself was a mere man.
OBSERVATION: This is one area where God is definitely not like man. He does not get tired or offended if we keep asking Him for what is needed. In fact, He wants us to keep asking until the time comes when He is ready to act on our behalf. He only requires a humble heart that is aligned with His own, and He will act when the time is right.
Genesis 19:1-3 begins to describe the situation that the angelic messengers find when they reach Sodom.
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 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." 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.
One of the first things we notice in the passage is that Lot is sitting at the gate of the city. This indicates that he has risen to distinction in the city because the elders sat at the city gate to discuss city business and to dispense justice among the people. Lot is at the gate, so he is probably now a town elder. Next we see Lot himself as a provider of hospitality to strangers. He has essentially mirrored Abraham by providing water to wash, food, and a place to rest. The fact that he presses them not to stay in the square, but to come to his home, is probably a good indicator that he knows Sodom is not a safe place to be out in the night. As a little aside, it is interesting to note that when these angels assumed the form of men, they were able to eat, drink, wash, sleep, walk, and talk just as human beings do.
Continuing in our text, verses 4-5 say,
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. And they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them."
Little do the people of Sodom realize that their fate is riding on their behavior in the presence of these two strangers. Notice that all the men of the city, both young and old, surrounded Lot’s house at bedtime. They have no idea who these men are, but they know that Lot has offered them his hospitality and they have come to challenge Lot because of it. They have probably been mulling this over for hours, working up a good head of steam, and they have formed a mob around Lot’s house. The Scriptures say this mob includes everybody in the city—all the men. Now, according to Middle Eastern tradition, providing hospitality includes providing protection. Because Lot is honor-bound to protect his guests, this is really a direct challenge to Lot. They are going to take Lot down a notch or two politically by demeaning and defiling his guests right in front of his face!
Verses 6-8 of Genesis 19 say,
Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, and said, "I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 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.”
Well, Lot is in quite a jam now! He has sought to protect these strangers from the evils of Sodom. He may have thought that his position as a town elder would be enough to assure that they would be safe under his protection. But alas, it seems that his enemies have been able to use it to turn public opinion against him. Now why should he have any enemies in Sodom? I think the probable answer is his righteous conduct. Wickedness is never comfortable around righteousness. It usually seeks to assert itself by trying to chip away and bring the righteous down a notch or two morally. But if that won’t work, a more frontal assault is tried. Remember how the Pharisees first tried to trap Jesus with tricky questions, but when that didn’t work, they began plotting a “legal” assassination. Likewise, the enemies of Daniel sought first to find some base of accusation, but when they couldn’t, they made righteousness illegal!
So how does righteous Lot handle these wicked assailants? He goes out to them and closes the door first. Does he have any idea who these visitors are? By closing the door, he is protecting them on the inside, but is also able to talk privately with the men of the town. If he knows why his visitors have come, perhaps he hopes to hush everything up before judgment can be passed. Or perhaps he hopes to persuade them with reasoning. Notice that he calls them “my brothers” trying to use their relationship as neighbors to dissuade them. He also reminds them that their intent is wicked.
Verses 9-11 say,
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. But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. 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.
How do people respond if you call a sin a sin? They get mad! “Who are you to judge,” they say. Or they start quoting Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount, “Judge not that you be not judged!” Isn’t it interesting? They may not listen to another word Jesus said, but they will try to use His words to exonerate their sin! They will try to use the fact that He visited sinners as a comfort while they wallow in unrepentant sin.
OBSERVATION: Judging sin is not the same thing as judging people. If God has said that something is a sin, we must agree with Him that it is. Judging people, on the other hand, means trying to look into their hearts and determine motive for actions. This is what we must not do, and it is the thing we are most guilty of doing. This type of judging reflects what we actually know to be true in our own hearts. We are merely ascribing to others what we have seen within ourselves. This is why Jesus said that the way that we judge will determine how we ourselves are judged because it reveals the truth about our own hearts. This does not ever mean, however, that we are not to recognize sin for what it is and agree with God’s righteousness.
So the wickedness of an entire town is pressing in upon the one lone righteous man and they are seeking to overwhelm him. Folks, wickedness simply cannot stand righteousness. It may wear a pleasant smile for awhile, but eventually a showdown will come. The angels inside now begin to intervene. They have seen and heard enough and judgment has been determined. The morally blind are now struck with physical blindness and the angels begin to deliver Lot.
Continuing on in verses 12-14,
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. 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." 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.
The angels have determined to rescue Lot because of Abraham’s prayer, but they are willing to rescue anyone under his influence. Sadly, there is no one under his influence. He may have occupied a place of some prominence, but in the end, there was no one who would listen to him. It is also distressing to see that he was willing to receive into his family men who were evil and who apparently had no respect for him. As in the days of Noah, Sodom had become so evil that only one man and his family had enough faith to follow God’s instructions in order to be saved.
QUESTION: In our society, how many people have heard the gospel and know something about heaven and hell, but won’t repent and be saved?
Genesis 19:15-16 says,
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." 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.
The LORD gave Lot all night to round up the righteous, but there were none. As the day of judgment dawned, the angels began insisting that Lot get his own family and go. Still, Lot dithered around. Was he wondering what to take and what to leave behind? Where will I go and what will I do? At last, the angels grabbed his indecisive hands and dragged him out the gate with his family, and apparently with nothing else. Again, we see that their actions in delivering Lot were a result of God’s mercy. Even though Lot couldn’t find ten righteous men, God was still remembering Abraham’s prayer, and He showed mercy toward Lot and his family.
The angels’ final instructions to Lot are found in verses 17-22:
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." And Lot said to them, "Oh, no, my lords. 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. 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!" He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar (meaning “little”).
The props are being kicked out from under Lot because he hasn’t been standing firmly on faith, and so he is still clearly indecisive and doesn’t know what to do. Nor does he appreciate the urgency of his situation or he would have headed for the hills and then figured out later what to do. Instead he asks if he may go to a small city not far away. So, is a smaller amount of wickedness ok for him? He wants the security of a city with other people, but this is a false sense of security. He does not have the dependence upon God that Abraham has. This angel understands the merciful nature of God and allows Lot to go to the city in question. I think that Jude 22-23 describes how to deal with the Lot’s of this world. “And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.”
Verses 23-26 describe the overthrow of Sodom:
The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Notice that when God executed judgment, He did it in broad daylight. There was no room for doubt that God was carrying out justice. Also, this is a total destruction, including vegetation. We see also that Lot’s wife, lingering behind him, looked back and became a pillar of salt. Her heart was in Sodom. The maps of ancient Bible lands place the probably location of Sodom and Gomorrah at the southeast edge of the Dead Sea, with the Jordan River emptying into the Dead Sea at its north shore. Knowing that the Genesis record has already told us that these cities were in the well-watered plain of the Jordan River, it becomes readily apparent that there was a massive geographic change in that area, and it seems reasonable to believe that it came about as a result of the supernatural destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The means that God used to destroy this area apparently resulted in the formation of a great pit into which the Jordan River now empties, forming the Dead Sea. We already know from studying the battle of the kings in Genesis 14 that the area was filled with bitumen pits. It seems reasonable that God may have caused a major eruption in the area, throwing burning sulfur and tar into the air, after which it rained down upon the entire area, forming crystallized salts. The Amplified Bible has a notation concerning these verses that says:
In fact, at the southern end of the Dead Sea there is a mountain of table salt called Jebel Usdum, “Mount of Sodom.” It is about six miles long, three miles wide, and 1,000 feet high. It is covered with a crust of earth several feet thick, but the rest of the mountain is said to be solid salt.
QUESTION: When the Lord says it is time to leave this world, will your heart be yearning back for something here?
We return to Abraham for the final verses of our text, 27-29:
And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD. 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. 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.
So what was the result of Abraham’s intercession? Was the city saved? No. But the righteous man was saved, and we know that Lot really was considered righteous, even though he chose to live in Sodom, because II Peter 2:7-8 tells us that he was righteous and that his soul was tormented by the things that he saw going on in Sodom. We must always intercede in the way that seems right and best, but we must also leave the result to God. It probably won’t turn out exactly as we had thought, but we have seen from Abraham’s life, that God moves when His people pray. We have also seen that prayer is based on our communion with God. We can’t begin to know how to pray for others until we know God’s heart.
Thanks for joining us again! We only have a few more lessons in the life of Abraham. Thanks for persevering in your study.
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