Chapter 12. Genesis 18. The Angels’ Visit.
ONE day, while Abraham was camping in the plains of Mamre, he was sitting in his tent door in the heat of the day. Looking up he saw three men standing by him. He rose up directly and ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed toward the ground, saying: My Lord, if I have found favor in thy sight, pray, pass not away, but allow me to refresh you before you pass on. And they consented. So Abraham hurried to the tent where Sarah was and said to her: Make ready quickly, three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. Then he ran to the herd and brought a calf, tender and good and gave it to a young man to prepare. And he took butter and milk and the calf when it was ready, and he stood by them while they ate under a tree.
And they said to him: Where is Sarah thy wife? and he answered, “In the tent.”
And the Lord who was one of the three told Abraham that very soon his wife should have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door behind him, and she laughed for she was very old and Abraham was nearly one hundred years old, and she did not believe that what the Lord said was true. But the Lord said, Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Sarah shall have a son. Then Sarah was afraid and denied that she had laughed, and He said, “Nay, but thou didst laugh.” The men went away and Abraham went with them towards Sodom, and the Lord told Abraham He would not hide from him what He was about to do, “For,” said He, “I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.” Because Sodom and Gomorrah were so wicked and their sin very grievous the Lord said, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether as I have heard; and if not, I will know. So the men kept on their way toward Sodom, but Abraham thought at once of his nephew Lot, who had gone to live in Sodom. So he stood yet before the Lord, and drawing near said: Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous people in the city? And the Lord answered: I will not destroy the righteous with the wicked. If I find fifty righteous people in the city, I will spare all the place for their sake. But Abraham knew how very wicked those cities were and he was afraid there might not be even fifty people in them who were righteous, and he asked the Lord again, five times, if there were forty-five, or forty, or thirty, or twenty or only ten righteous people in Sodom, to save the city. And the Lord answered: If I find ten righteous people there, for their sake I will not destroy the city. Then the Lord went His way and Abraham returned to his place. How thankful Abraham must have been that God should confide in him as in a friend! But Abraham had shown his trust in God by believing His promises. “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness; and he was called the Friend of God.” Jas. 2:2323And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. (James 2:23). When the Lord Jesus was on the earth He said to His disciples “Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”
What a grand thing that the Lord of heaven should call His friends, the poor, unworthy people for whom He died! And to those who love Him and seek to find out His will in His blessed word, He tells them many secrets hidden from the others. He tells them what He is going to do with this wicked world. He will utterly destroy it. “The heavens shall “pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 2 Peter 3:1010But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10). Many, like Lot, although they know the Lord, prefer to seek their enjoyment among those who do not love Him, but like him too they shall suffer great loss as you shall see later, the Lord willing.
Dear children, you may be laughed at, for confessing the Lord as your Saviour, or for reading your Bible or going to Sunday-school, but if those who laugh are left for judgment when the Lord comes, they will see that you have made the wiser choice. Like Abraham, you must pray the Lord for them, that He may in His grace save them from the judgment coming upon this earth.
ML 03/28/1909