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Studies in Genesis, Prevailing Prayer, Lesson XLIII, Genesis 18:16-33
Today we continue our visit with Abraham and the three visitors, one who was the Lord, and the other two we assume to be angels in human form.
So, we will read of this in Genesis 18:16-33, And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. 17 And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I 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 know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. 20 And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. 22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. 23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? 25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? 26 And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. 27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: 28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. 29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure (By chance, perhaps it may be) there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. 30 And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. 31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. 32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. 33 And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
We find in this passage the Bible’s first instance of intercessory prayer, and in this case a prayer like no other prayer in God’s Word.
And we also are instructed that prayer is a conversation between that which was made, Abraham who called himself dust and ashes, and his maker, the Lord.
Here Abraham assumes the role of a defense attorney for a horrid and wicked client, that of Sodom and Gomorrah before a judge who has full authority to execute justice.
Abraham and Sarah, as hosts, have entertained the Lord and his two companions serving them a sumptuous meal and have been told that the next year the promised son Isaac will be given them.
The meal being over, it is time for the guests to depart and they arise and look toward Sodom, beginning to walk in that direction, along with Abraham who starts their journey with them kind of like we see our guests to the door.
And at this time God includes the self-conversation of the Lord in a way that Abraham is allowed to overhear of the fate of his neighbors, those cities in which his loved one’s dwell.
Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? the Lord asks himself.
Of course, the answer is “No” for Abraham is allowed to know about the impending judgement of Sodom.
At this point the two companions of the Lord separate and proceed toward Sodom but Abraham stays alone with the Lord to argue the case of mercy for Sodom.
God has herein chosen Abraham as an intercessor, certainly an apt role for the Father of Faith and a role in which any father desires his children to also assume.
This is an amazing court case, for Abraham is very persuasive and using the knowledge that the Lord is merciful and desires to be merciful he brings God to agree if there are 50 righteous men in Sodom judgment will be spared.
So, if God will be merciful because there are 50 how about 45 he argues, then 40, then 30, then 20 and finally to ten.
Abraham argues no further believing there certainly must be at least 10 in Sodom.
Doesn’t Lot and his family live there?
His children have children also!
Surely there must be at least 10 righteous so Abraham rests his case having prevailed with God.
For God is indeed merciful, and He wishes to be merciful.
We see this by Him rescuing Lot, his wife and his daughters, who were not specifically brought up in the plea bargain, before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah and all their wicked inhabitants including turning Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt for she disobeyed and looked back.
So, what are we to learn from this for as I Corinthians 10:11 says,
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
From this we are to learn that God has purposed us to prevail with Him who is the righteous and merciful judge of all the earth.
Faith is to move us to prevail with God.
Don’t you think God was pleased with Abraham when the event of this passage in Gen 18 occurred. Don’t you think that God delighted in the faith that Abraham showed when he reasoned with God in behalf of the souls in Sodom? But notice how close Abraham came to what he may have thought as insubordination as he sought the Lord on behalf of the righteous. He questioned God by saying: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Notice his humility as he speaks to the Lord almost tiptoeing around God in his request. Verse 27, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: Verse 30, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Verse 32, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Abraham believed in his cause and went to Almighty God on behalf of the righteous even to the point of thinking that he may himself be subject to God’s anger and wrath. But God himself in Isaiah 1:18 instructs us as he says: Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Importunate (Synonyms: Persistent, demanding, unrelenting, annoying, forceful) prayer, prevailing prayer is reasoning together with God. As Moses prayed forty days and forty nights, he reasoned with God as he sought to stay the wrath of God against Israel. God gives us this account to stimulate us to prevailing prayer.
Jesus said in his beatitudes, Ye are the salt of the earth.
And as salt, God desires we prevail with Him that the earth be preserved.
Because of Abraham, God was willing to spare Sodom if only ten righteous people were counted.
As salt God’s judgment may be withheld because of the prevailing prayer of the righteous.
And God reveals to His friends His plan of righteousness and justice.
As I have already said he shows us this by pondering the question he asks of himself:
Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?
We who know the Lord, we who are friends of the Lord walk in the light.
We are not kept ignorant of God’s plan of righteousness and justice.
Nor did God keep Abraham ignorant of this for Abraham was his friend.
Jesus emphasized this in John 15:15 where he said,
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
God gives His word to his friends.
God gave His word to Abraham whom He declared to be His chosen channel of blessing to all the nations culminating in Jesus Christ the Savior.
And He desires that we, his friends also be a chosen channel of blessing by including this important verse in conversation with himself.
19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
So, in being a channel for prevailing prayer we are to note the importance of the family for the family is that institution that is to keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment.
That can never be delegated to the Christian School nor even the church!
And within the family note the powerful role of the father.
For the father is given to command, for fathers are responsible to instill the Lord’s way, which involves righteousness and justice upon their children.
Fathers, let no one take this command from you!
Now righteousness refers to conduct conforming to God’s character as given to us in His word and revealed to us in his creation. Read Psalm 29 to hear His voice from creation.
Justice is the exercising or administration of God’s righteousness in human affairs, that of government and human relationships as applied in the law.
In other words, we are to teach our children through both example and instruction how to live so as to please God both as individuals and in society.
So by including Abraham commanding his children in this context I believe it is implied that we are to show our children the importance of prayer for a lost and dying world, a world that faces God’s judgment.
How else to infuse in them an understanding that the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be preached to that lost and dying world.
We are learning in our Prayer Times on Wednesdays to pray prevailing in the lives of our Christian School students and their parents.
Why must we do this?
We do this for we know that our God is righteous and just and because of this His judgment is inevitable upon the lost and without the saving hand of God all of these students are doomed.
So as Abraham our Father of Faith, interceded on behalf of that wicked city, we as parents are encouraged to frequently pray and to also pray for and with our children for the lost.
Abraham had a heart for the lost Sodomites and prevailed upon God for mercy.
That is the kind of heart God wishes us to have as we too prevail with Him.
We are to remember that our God’s realm of righteousness and justice means that no sin hides from his searching eyes and absolute judgment.
The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah cried out greatly to God.
When Cain killed Abel, his blood cried out to God for justice.
If we could hear sin’s cry to God what volume would it be today?
God has ears to hear sin’s cry and God in righteousness and justice will act when sin’s crop is ripe.
God is the God of a moral universe and everything in it is to be in accord with God’s command.
God has so arranged things that even sin has its alarms to call upon God’s judgment to make things right.
My wife and I were talking about this the other day regarding the cries of children, cries in reality for judgment.
For children, have within them alarm systems to alert mother, and father that sin needs to be dealt with.
But alas, too many times things are let go and the child suffers for it.
But parent, listen to those alarms and bring judgment upon your child’s sin lest that sin becomes so great that others are required to intervene. Pay me now or pay me later!
But the world rejects the idea of God’s judgment, for the world if thinking at all about God, creates a Judgeless God.
Sodom had a taste of judgement 15 years before this visit when the kings of the east conquered the city and captured the people and their possessions.
God stepped in and showed mercy by using Abraham to rescue them and bring back all that was stolen.
But as usual things like this make no difference to the wicked heart for they simply returned to their old sinful ways.
And now leads to Abraham again trying to prevail upon God to withhold judgment and he so does with the caveat if there are ten righteous men.
God revealed His plan of righteousness and justice to Abraham and He also, though His Holy Word revealed it to us.
He did not reveal it to us, so we could HO HUM through this life but to get on our knees and prevail upon Him to have a heart for the lost.
A heart for the good news that Jesus Christ died for sinners and that all who come to Him will be saved from the wrath to come.
For as Sodom felt God’s certain judgment this world is also certain for judgment. Our part is to prevail in prayer before God for God indeed, our merciful God, saves the lost. |