And Abraham drew near and said, Wilt thou consume the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there are fifty righteous in the city: wilt thou consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Gen. 18:23–25)
A great calamity is about to take place. The measure of iniquity of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah is full. Their judgment day is very near. Through some physical calamity they simply will be erased from the face of the earth. And terrible it will be, as are all judgments of God upon the wicked.
The immediate setting of this chapter is that it is a hot day in Canaan. Abraham is sitting in the door of his tent, no doubt to catch a little breeze to be relieved from the heat. He sees three men approaching his tent. They are angels, in the form of men. One of them is t he Son of God. Often he already appears to His people in this form, as He did later with the incarnation. Abraham invites them to stay for a meal. Bread is baked and a calf is killed and the meat prepared. Time evidently is not important. Imagine people waiting that long today to be served at the home of a friend! But the point of emphasis is that Abraham is God’s friend. And it is characteristic of friends to have fellowship, but also to communicate. Friends tell each other secrets. Regarding the impending doom upon Sodom and Gomorrah, the Lord says, “Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do?” He is God’s righteous friend. The Lord knows that Abraham will tell his children to keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice (vs. 19). Being such a friend who walks in the way of righteousness, God in His mercy is going to tell Abraham exactly what He is going to do. As a result Abraham will know the true meaning of it all and why the cities will receive such judgments.
Isn’t this basic principle always found in God’s dealings with His people? Because He tells us, we have the answer to the big questions of history. The world doesn’t have the interpretation of the basic meaning of history. But Christians do. That‘s what Christian education in the area of history is all about. In general He tells us why there are wars and catastrophes. Also that there have been antichrists and will be the great culmination of the Antichrist. Also that there will be the spirit of the lawless one and sin developing. Also that the church will be persecuted. But she must not think that at such times He is not in control. These events are to purify His people. All this amounts to God saying “Shall I not tell my friends, my children, what I am going to do in the last days?” If many of the predicted things would not happen, our faith would be shocked, since He has told us that they would come to pass. Because of God’s love Christians are His friends.
But God is more, much more for His people. He is also the protector of His people, even when they don’t always walk in faith as they should. When Abraham is told what God is going to do to these cities Abraham immediately thinks of Lot. And then not first of all as his blood relative, as a nephew, but as a Christian, as a righteous one. And he prays that God will spare the cities for the sake of the righteous. Will God spare t hem if there are fifty righteous? The answer is that He will. But there aren’t fifty righteous! How about 45 then? And so the “dialogue” is carried on, from 45 to 40 and finally 10. But there aren’t even 10 righteous. Abraham doesn’t “dare” go any further.
What does all this mean? That Abraham is praying for Sodom and Gomorrah? Not directly, not at all. He is praying for righteousness, that the judge of all the earth will do right and that the righteous within the cities will not be “treated” like the wicked. If Sodom and Gomorrah would be spared, it would be for the sake of the righteous (the Church). This does happen in the history of the church (Jer. 29:7). Later Jeremiah must pray for the peace of Babylon for the sake of the peace of the church.
The main point of the entire history is that God is the Friend of the righteous. He tells them His secrets but also protects them. God is always righteous. Abraham quits praying with the number ten. But God shows that He will in His faithfulness spare the righteous always, even if there is only one. Lot surely sinned by living in Sodom. And the results are evident in the lives of his wife and daughters. What a sad history! His wife’s heart is in the worldly cities. His daughters commit incest and become the ancestors of Moab and Ammon, the children being fathered by their grandfather Lot. What a sad, sad history! Nevertheless, we read that Lot vexed his righteous soul when he lived in the midst of this wickedness. And what a comfort this is for all Christians. Never, never may we find an excuse for sinning in thinking that if God saved Lot in his sin He will also spare us. But the story does mean that we in our imperfections, and with our sins of infirmity, do have a God of amazing mercy and condescending love. All this points to the mercies of Jesus Christ.
And those who basically are righteous in Christ and love the Lord, shall be blessed. Always! Notice further what happens. In the end, does God spare Sodom and Gomorrah? By no means. He is righteous. In His righteousness and concern for His friend Lot He takes him out of the city. Lot is spared. Abraham’s prayer essentially is answered. But the Judge of all the earth also does right in destroying the cities. What a demonstration of judgment they become for all future history!
We can learn much from this history. Sin is punished by a righteous God. Sin is also extremely “high-priced” for Lot, even though he is one of God’s own. But he is one of God’s friends. And God will always care for His people. It may be that in some circumstances the Lord delays sending judgments upon the world, but then the delay is for the sake of the righteous. It may also be that a given catastrophe is judgment for the unbeliever, but a chastisement for His people. In His love for His righteous friends He will always do what is right. He will always, always bless them. And in the end, what will happen? The wicked will be destroyed, but He will spare and give complete deliverance to the righteous, dividing the sheep from the goats. And because of Christ and for the sake of Christ in His righteousness He will give His people a new heaven and earth, without sin, in which they will always live with Him.
When we are His righteous friends, He will in love and righteousness ALWAYS bless us.
