Genesis 18

Abraham received a sudden visit from three men and he knew that it was more than an ordinary call from strangers who were passing by. With eagerness he prevailed upon them to accept the hospitality of his home as his wife and servants prepared a meal for someone Abraham calls “Lord.” Are these angels? Is one of them God? We are not given answers immediately, but we see the behavior of Abraham which communicates to us that he understands more than we can immediately surmise.

These “men” know Sarah by her God-given new name. We have learned that Sarah is a women of great importance to the Lord. God has insisted that the child of promise will come from her. “Where is Sarah your wife?” they asked. Suddenly the one who is speaking is unambiguously the Lord. “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.”

This news is what Abraham has been waiting for, but can he believe it? Sarah is listening at the tent door, and she laughs, though she soon denies it. We know that the name of her future child will mean “he laughs.” We get the joke. Does she? At the moment she just seems embarrassed before the Lord who loves her and knows her.

The point that God, somehow in the flesh before this elderly couple, seems to emphasize is not only the fact of what will happen within one year, but also the ability of God to do far more than we can imagine. He says, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” This is good for us to consider when we meditate upon the great plans of the Lord that have been announced to us in Jesus Christ. Is anything too hard, is anything too wonderful, for the Lord? Sarah was afraid at this interchange, since she had been caught in the laughter of unbelief, but God insists on the truth, and we are able to laugh along, since we know how this story turns out. God says to her, “No, but you did laugh.” Eventually she will be able to laugh with everyone at the wonder of the goodness and the enormity of the blessing that comes from the God who loves His people.

These “men” came for more than one purpose. We may be laughing about the abundant mercy of God, but now we must see that a meeting between God and man is not all laughter. We soon will pick up the story of Abraham's nephew Lot once again, which has become dangerously entwined with the judgment of God against the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham demonstrated caution regarding Sodom when he interacted with the king of that place who was trying to honor Abraham after his military success in Genesis 14. God has heard about Sodom. This should not surprise us. Earlier we heard this question: Is anything too hard for God? Now we can add a second one: Can anything be hidden from the Lord?

God has announced the imminent arrival of Isaac, the child of promise, but He has also come to reveal the even more immediate destruction of the beautifully fertile area that Lot had chosen for himself. God speaks again of His plan for Abraham, His determination to bless all the clans of the earth in him and his descendants whom Abraham would instruct in the ways of the Lord.

The Lord has heard the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah. Just as the blood of Abel called out to Him from the ground, the sin of man can never be hidden from the God who sees and hears. The Lord has come to examine the truth that He already knows. God will judge wickedness. The cross displays this truth as well as the truth of the Lord's abundant mercy. God has not ignored our sin. He has judged it through an appointed Substitute who faced the full wrath of the Almighty that was coming against His people. Those who will not embrace the Lord's gracious provision in Christ, how will they stand in the day of His anger?

What remains in this chapter is the pleading of a mediator who knows that God is both merciful and just. He calls upon the Lord to put off His wrath against an evil majority on the basis of a minority who have been counted as righteous. One day there will be a complete separation between the righteous and the wicked. Until that day we live in close proximity, sharing this world and experiencing the manifold grace and curse of the Lord that is common to all the children of Adam. Will God continue to spare a wicked place based on a small number of His chosen servants who live there?

Here we see the care of our Mediator Jesus being expressed through the pleading of Abraham. Jesus holds back the judgment that the world deserves as He pleads for the world in which the elect live. The day will come when He will no longer stand in the way of the full expression of the justice of God. Then the sheep will be placed on one side of the King and the goats on the other. Until then, the Lord may allow a city to stand even when there are 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, or even 10 righteous in that place.

On the cross, the one truly righteous man took the wrath of God upon Himself for a great multitude of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Now He continues to plead for us on high, and His voice is heard. His sun and His rain are blessings upon the just and the unjust. The flood of waters does not come upon the whole earth, and many cities and nations are spared for a season. But the day will come when the full purposes of God will be accomplished. The Protector will stand out of the way, and He will come as the holy Warrior with all His angelic host and the entire multitude of the redeemed who eagerly look for the vindication of His Name above.

The Lord knows how to separate the righteous from the wicked. He will save and He will judge. He will do what is right. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.