God's Coming Judgment is Revealed to Abraham (Gen. 18-16-21)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 09-01-2006

My Worship Time                           Focus:  God’s coming judgment revealed to Abraham

Bible Reading & Meditation                                    Reference:  Genesis 18:16-21

            Message of the verse:  “16 Then the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off.  17 The LORD said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?

19  ‘For I have chosen him, so 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 upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.’  20 And the LORD said, ‘The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.

21  ‘I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.’  22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the LORD.”

           

            The men or angels leave the Lord and Abraham and proceed down to Sodom in order to destroy it.  In verses 17 & 18 the Lord seems to be speaking to the angels although He may just be speaking to Abraham.  The question is whether or not He should reveal to Abraham what He is about to do to Sodom and Gomorrah, since He was about to destroy it.  What I see in these two verses is wicked cities which God is about to destroy because the cup of God’s wrath for them is full and because He is a just God He must act in judgment.  I want to compare this judgment to what the Lord says to Abraham, for Abraham was called by God out of his sinful past to become a man that would begin a people who would be set apart for the Lord in order that God may send His Son into the world to pay the debt of sin for all.

           

            The Lord goes on in verses 20-21 to speak of the outcry that had come to the Lord about the sin that has been going on in Sodom and Gomorrah, and He says that He wants to see if they have done according to that outcry.  First it is a mystery to me as to where this outcry has come from, and second why would God have to go down and check this out since He knows all things?  I will seek some answers to these questions. (Today is June 1, 2020.)  John MacArthur in his study Bible writes “The iniquity of the two cities, by then complete (cf. 15:16), had reached the point of no return before the Lord, who demonstrated before Abraham ho justly He assessed the time for judgment (v. 21), ‘I will go down, and see…’).”  In his commentary Barns writes the following for verses 20-22:  “The Lord now proceeds to unfold his design. There is justice in every step of the divine procedure. He comes down to inquire and act according to the merits of the case. The men now depart on their errand; but Abraham still stands before the Lord.”   

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Abraham is known as “a friend of God,” and Jesus speaks of His disciples as being His friends and in both cases because of this friendship the Lord will reveal secrets to His friends, which is what the Lord was doing in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, revealing its outcome to Abraham.  In light of these statements I can see that God reveals things to me, as one of His sons, through His Word, and I must keep myself clean by confessing any sins and walk with the Lord so He will speak to me through His Word.

The Word of God has been a challenge and also it has be convicting to me as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  To continue to learn contentment from the Lord as He directs my path, and to continue to seek the Lord as I read and study His Word each day so that I can be more like my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.