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Genesis 19:14-25: ‘Hurry’

“So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, ‘Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!’ But his sons-in-law thought he was joking. ¹⁵ With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.’¹⁶ When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. ¹⁷ As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, ‘Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!’ ¹⁸ But Lot said to them, ‘No, my lords, please! ¹⁹ Your servant has found favour in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. ²⁰ Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it – it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.’ ²¹ He said to him, ‘Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. ²² But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.’ (That is why the town was called Zoar.) ²³ By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained down burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah – from the Lord out of the heavens. ²⁵ Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities –                                                              and also the vegetation in the land. ” NIV UK

The gospel message carries with it an urgency, because those who reject Jesus Christ, and his offer of salvation (rescue) are ‘’condemned’’ (John 3:18). This wonderful passage in John’s gospel shows that it is not God’s desire to judge the world, but to save it. However, by our stubborn refusal of the light, we condemn ourselves to perpetual darkness.

The note of judgment must be sounded in gospel preaching, otherwise we are not proclaiming the full gospel. We must say what the Bible says, even though some people may treat it as a ‘joke’ (14).

Our message also is that people should ‘’Flee’’ for their lives. In our case, we are not saying, ‘Flee from your country, your city, your town, or your village.’ But we are most definitely saying, ‘Flee to Jesus.’ In Him alone we find refuge from the judgment we so richly deserve.

PRAYER: Lord, we live in a day in which there is pressure on us to not say that certain things are wrong. Many people do not want to hear that they are accountable to Almighty God. So please strengthen your people to ‘stay true to truth’; to remain solidly faithful to you.

Genesis 19:4-13: Which Bible are you reading?

^“4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom – both young and old – surrounded the house. ⁵ They called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.’ ⁶ Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him ⁷ and said, ‘No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. ⁸ Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.’ ⁹ ‘Get out of our way,’ they replied. ‘This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.’ They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door. ¹⁰ But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. ¹¹ Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door. ¹² The two men said to Lot, ‘Do you have anyone else here – sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, ¹³ because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.’” NIV UK

A famous preacher was quoted as saying words to the effect that if God does not judge America, He will have to apologise to Sodom and Gomorrah. It was a graphic way of making his point. The same thing could be said with reference to the entire western world – for starters. In reading this story, the predominant sin of Sodom is obvious. It is also clear that the judgment of God fell on the city because of it. When some professing Christians say they read their Bibles, but can’t see what’s the big deal with this kind of behaviour, I have to wonder, ‘Exactly which Bible are you reading?’ Genesis 19 is NOT advocating such conduct.

What a contradiction Lot is. Part of eastern hospitality included a strong sense of the duty to protect one’s guests. But how could a father treat his daughters in such a careless fashion? Lot was a foreigner in Sodom, as was pointed out to him. But too much of that city had entered his own soul. He was a deeply compromised man.

‘What had happened to Lot’s personal values that he would offer his daughters to satisfy the sensual appetites of a mob? (In contrast, Abraham would offer his son to the Lord.)’ Warren Wiersbe

PRAYER: ‘The world is ever near me, around me and within; O Jesus draw thou nearer, and shield my soul from sin.’

Genesis 19:1-3: Prayer being answered.

“The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. ² ‘My lords,’ he said, ‘please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.’  ‘No,’ they answered, ‘we will spend the night in the square.’  ³ But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate.” NIV UK

Don’t forget that these two angels were despatched to Sodom in answer to Abraham’s prayers. ‘Abraham, who lived outside Sodom, had more influence than Lot, who lived in the city.’ Warren Wiersbe.  When Abraham had his divine visitation ‘’he was sitting at the entrance to his tent’’ (18:1). But Lot ‘was sitting in the gate-way of the city’’ (19:1) when the ‘’two angels’’ came calling. Like his uncle, he showed kind and generous hospitality to his visitors. But he was not like him in outlook. Lot had some time previously traded his tent for a settled home. As he was in the gate-way, it may indicate that he was a person of influence. But in order to affect ‘Sodom’ you have to be salty salt and bright light. The overall impression we get from Lot’s story indicates he was not. In fact, but for 2 Peter 2:7,8, you might question whether he was a believer.

‘Abraham was a pilgrim and stranger, only passing through this world, but Lot had gradually abandoned his tent and settled down in Sodom. Instead of keeping his eyes on the heavenly city (Heb. 11:10, 14-16), Lot looked toward Sodom and began to walk by sight (Gen. 13:10-11). Then he moved his tent near Sodom (v. 12), and finally he moved into Sodom (14:12). Lot’s location in the gate indicates that he was a man of some authority, for that was where official business was conducted (Ruth 4:1ff.).

Had Lot gone to Sodom because God directed him, his being there would have fulfilled divine purposes. After all, God put Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon, and Esther in Persia, and their presence turned out to be a blessing. Worldliness is not a matter of physical geography but of heart attitude (1 John 2:15-17). Lot’s heart was in Sodom long before his body arrived there. No doubt he got his first love for the world when he went to Egypt with Abraham (Gen. 13:1, 10), and he never overcame it.’ Warren Wiersbe.

The last sentence is conjecture, but for the rest, I feel there is warning in it that it’s possible to be a worldly kind of Christian – one who lives well away from God’s real purpose for their life. You cannot bless your world in the way God wants you to if you are content to be lukewarm.

PRAYER: Lord, set me ablaze by your Spirit, and keep me burning. ‘Never let my heart go cold…’

Genesis 18:16-33: Standing in the gap.

^“16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down towards Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. ¹⁷ Then the Lord said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? ¹⁸ Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. ¹⁹ For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.’  ²⁰ Then the Lord said, ‘The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous ²¹ that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.’  ²² The men turned away and went towards Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. ²³ Then Abraham approached him and said: ‘Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? ²⁵ Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?’  ²⁶ The Lord said, ‘If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.’  ²⁷ Then Abraham spoke up again: ‘Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, ²⁸ what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?’  ‘If I find forty-five there,’ he said, ‘I will not destroy it.’  ²⁹ Once again he spoke to him, ‘What if only forty are found there?’  He said, ‘For the sake of forty, I will not do it.’  ³⁰ Then he said, ‘May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?’  He answered, ‘I will not do it if I find thirty there.’  ³¹ Abraham said, ‘Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?’  He said, ‘For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.’  ³² Then he said, ‘May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?’  He answered, ‘For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.’  ³³ When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.” NIV UK

‘History belongs to the intercessors.’ Walter Wink.

Warren Wiersbe points out that earlier on, in chapter 14, Abraham had intervened to rescue Lot; now he interceded for his rescue. In the first place, an intercessor stands in the counsel of the Lord. He, or she, is given insight into what God is doing, or intends to do. So they are able to pray in an especially enlightened way. Abraham knew what was going to happen to Sodom before the people there (including Lot) did. ‘’The LORD confides in those who fear him…’’ Psalm 25:14a. It is interesting to me that the last words in the chapter say: ‘’When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham…’’ You think, ‘But hasn’t Abraham been speaking with God?’ Well yes He has. But the initiative is always with God. ‘When God intends a great mercy for a people, first He sets them a praying.’ Matthew Henry.

With the knowledge he was given, Abraham prayed. He appealed to God’s justice (23-25). When the Lord rescued Lot, however, it was on the basis of His mercy and grace (19: 16 & 18). But God listened to Abraham. Prayer is powerful.

“If they [lost sinners] will not hear you speak, they cannot prevent your praying. Do they jest at your exhortations? They cannot disturb you at your prayers. Are they far away so that you cannot reach them? Your prayers can reach them. Have they declared that they will never listen to you again, nor see your face? Never mind, God has a voice which they must hear. Speak to Him, and He will make them feel. Though they now treat you despitefully, rendering evil for your good, follow them with your prayers. Never let them perish for lack of your supplications” (Charles Spurgeon: Metropolitan Pulpit, vol. 18, 263-64).

‘Undoubtedly he was thinking of Lot and his family as he progressively lowered the number of righteous people that might be needed to save the city. We don’t know why Abraham stopped at ten (verse 32); perhaps he calculated that Lot’s extended family now included ten persons. But Abraham had learned enough; he had learned that God is as concerned with the few as he is with the many, that He desires to save rather than to punish..In fact, there turned out to be only one ‘’righteous’’ person in Sodom – Lot; and God delivered him…God had greater concern and compassion for the righteous than Abraham did. Abraham stopped at ten; God was not willing that even one should perish (see Matthew 18:12-14). Since this is true, let us not tire of interceding on behalf of even one soul; God will not tire of hearing us.’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.159.

Genesis 18:9-15: God knows.

^” ‘Where is your wife Sarah?’ they asked him.  ‘There, in the tent,’ he said.  ¹⁰ Then one of them said, ‘I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.’  Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. ¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, ‘After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?’  ¹³ Then the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh and say, “Will I really have a child, now that I am old?” ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.’  ¹⁵ Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, ‘I did not laugh.’  But he said, ‘Yes, you did laugh.’” NIV UK

God knows everything about us, but still loves us. This is not an excuse for sin, nor should it be a motivation to spiritual complacency. But it should cause us to be grateful that we are deeply loved; that we are engulfed in an unfathomable sea of mercy; that grace is all around us. Sarah’s laughter, and her lying, were known to God. This did not stop Him keeping His promise regarding Isaac. How good is our God.

Genesis 18: 1 – 8: Ready to serve.

“The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. ² Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.  ³ He said, ‘If I have found favour in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. ⁴ Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. ⁵ Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way – now that you have come to your servant.’  ‘Very well,’ they answered, ‘do as you say.’  ⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. ‘Quick,’ he said, ‘get three seahs  of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.’  ⁷ Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. ⁸ He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.” NIV UK

‘Resting in the afternoon is a normal practice in the East, and don’t forget that Abraham was nearly a hundred years old. Sometimes the most spiritual thing we can do is take a nap!’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.28. Wiersbe also makes the point, in his Old Testament Commentary, that few people travelled when the sun was so hot, so Abraham was immediately curious and courteous. ‘Hospitality is the first law of the East, and Abraham faithfully obeyed it.’

God may ‘appear’ to you any ordinary day as you do what you usually do. You may sense Him come close as you sit quietly, or as you contemplate nature. Be alert; be ready. He still ‘visits’ homes. Are you prepared for Him today? Ready to worship; to give Him the reverence He deserves? (2) Will you be quick to respond? (It’s been pointed out that this was an elderly man running around in the heat of the day). Will we be eager to serve Him; to give our absolute best? (3-8). Wiersbe makes the point that although Abraham had 318 servants, He served the Lord personally. He then stood by (8), presumably to be available for further service, if needed.

When asked why he spent so much time doing practical jobs in the church building, one man who had been a works manager, replied, ‘I have a good Master.’

‘All ministry must first be to the Lord, for if we fail to be a blessing to the Lord, we will never be a blessing to others.’ The Wiersbe Bible Commentary (OT), p.76. (See also Colossians 3:24, 25).

Genesis 17:23-26: Painful obedience.

^“23 On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. ²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, ²⁵ and his son Ishmael was thirteen; ²⁶ Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day. ” NIV UK

I simply want to make the point that Abraham fully obeyed God, even though there was pain involved. Doing what God tells you do can be costly. There must be no hiding of this truth. But it’s always the right, and best, way to live. The price of disobedience is far greater and far worse.  Amy Carmichael, missionary to India, wrote to a friend who was perplexed about a painful experience, “I will say what our Heavenly Father said to me long ago, and says to me still very often: ‘See in it a chance to die.’” Warren W. Wiersbe.

As followers of Jesus, we also know that any opportunity to die is equally one to rise again. Good Friday and Easter Sunday go together in Christian history and experience. If ‘it’s Friday’, we know for sure that ‘Sunday’s coming.’

PRAYER: Lord, I need your strength. Help me, please, to obey you fully in every area of my life.

 Genesis 17:18-22: How good of God

^“18 And Abraham said to God, ‘If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!’ ¹⁹ Then God said, ‘Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. ²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. ²¹ But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.’ ²² When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.” NIVUK

Abraham wanted to re-visit his own ‘plan B’ – a strategy which had already caused him and Sarah much grief. But he just couldn’t see how he could father a child at the age of a hundred, and Sarah at 90. So his prayer was:

‘’If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!’ (18).

It was understandable that Abraham loved his boy, but it was the wrong prayer. How good of God to answer it though:

‘’And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers’’ (20).

What an insight into the power of prayer. I wonder how many of our prayers are ‘wrong’ in a sense – we’re not quite asking the right thing – yet God still graciously, mercifully answers them, and He is able to fulfil His purposes through them.

(Note: The first baby in the Bible to be named before his birth was Ishmael, Gn. 16:11: the second was Isaac.)

PRAYER: Thank you Lord that you can sort out the tangled threads of good prayers interlaced with bad ones. It’s not that we want to ask amiss, but we often do. I marvel that you can still answer prayers that may not be the best, but somehow bring your purposes to pass through them. This is amazing grace.

Genesis 17:15-17: No super-hero.

^“15 God also said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶ I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.’               ¹⁷ Abraham fell face down; he laughed and said to himself, ‘Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?’” NIV UK

I love the gritty, down-to-earth reality of the Bible stories. These are characters I can identify with. They are flawed, and I can relate to that! They might love God, and be seeking to follow him in faith; they may be living sacrificially. Abraham was doing all of that and more. But in this short passage he could not believe what God was saying to him. On the face of it, that might trouble you. You might think, ‘Well surely if God spoke to you, and you knew it was God, you would have to believe him.’ But Abraham didn’t – and there is something incredibly real about that. Why would any author make that up? If the writer were spinning a yarn, surely he’d want to make him out to be a super-hero? But that’s not what you have here.

Note:

• The definite promise of God: ‘’I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her’’ (16a);
• The disconnect in Abraham’s response. His body was worshipping, but his heart was questioning (17). He was no doubt torn between wanting to believe and being unable to.

I take encouragement in the grace and mercy of God, that He did not write him off.