How to Get “In” With God
Genesis
18:16-19 HCSB The men got up from there and
looked out over Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to see them off. (17) Then the LORD said, "Should I hide from
Abraham what I am about to do? (18) Abraham
is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will
be blessed through him. (19) For I
have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to
keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just. This is how the LORD
will fulfill to Abraham what He promised him."
·
Genesis 18:16 HCSB The men got up from there and looked out over
Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to see them off.
Verse sixteen is one of those verses that never fail to disturb me. They “looked out over Sodom.” So much said in so few words. What an ominous, discomfiting statement!
The Lord’s look is rather like the glance given by the Master to Peter immediately after his third denial.[1] What an impact those swollen, blood shot eyes must have had on the apostle! In fact, we see the power of that single look by Peter’s reaction – he ran out, weeping bitterly.
The line reminds me of Yeats’ line “And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”[2] There are times when we sinners don’t necessarily WANT the Holy Lord’s attention!
The phrase “looked out over” translates
the Hebrew šāqap. Here, the HCSB translates “look out over” and
both the grammar and the context allow us to conclude that they were high on a
ridge, looking downward toward the face of the Sodom’s northern walls. To
demonstrate what I mean, let me show you another place where the same word is
used.
·
Genesis 26:8 HCSB When Isaac had been there for some time,
Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was
surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.
I want you to notice that there
too, the term is used in a negative, even ominous manner. The term describes
the lofty perch of the Lord, who executes His judgment whether in blessing or
punishment.
·
Exodus 14:24 HCSB Then during the morning watch, the LORD looked
down on the Egyptian forces from the pillar of fire and cloud, and threw
them into confusion.
·
Deuteronomy 26:15 HCSB Look down from Your holy dwelling,
from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land You have given us as You
swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
·
Psalms 14:2-3 (and 52:2-3) HCSB The LORD looks down from heaven on the
human race to see if there is one who is wise, one who seeks God. (3) All have turned away; all alike have become
corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one.
·
Psalms 102:19-20 HCSB He looked down from His holy heights--the
LORD gazed out from heaven to earth--
(20)
to hear a prisoner's groaning, to set free those condemned to die,
·
Lamentations 3:49-50 HCSB My eyes overflow unceasingly, without
end, (50) until the LORD looks down from heaven
and sees.
Genesis 18 says “the men” because it includes the Lord, the two angels,
and Abraham. So, we have a lexical implication that Abraham adopted the same
point of view as the Lord. Abraham knew there was a problem in
·
Genesis 18:17 HCSB Then the LORD said, "Should I hide from
Abraham what I am about to do?
The contemplative character of
vv. 17–19 indicates just how deliberately the Son was about involving Abraham.
Elohim never rushes into things. It’s kind of funny to say but God talks to
Himself. Like any wise family, the Trinity talk matters through before they do
anything.
·
Genesis 1:26 HCSB Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our
image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds
of the sky, the animals, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the
earth."
·
Genesis 2:18 HCSB Then the LORD God said, "It is not good
for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is like him."
·
Genesis 6:7 HCSB Then the LORD said, "I will wipe off the
face of the earth: man, whom I created, together with the animals, creatures
that crawl, and birds of the sky--for I regret that I made them."
·
Genesis 11:6-7 HCSB The LORD said, "If, as one people all
having the same language, they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to
do will be impossible for them. (7) Come, let
Us go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand
one another's speech."
Abraham’s inclusion is reminiscent of the
divine council.
·
Job 1:6 HCSB One day the sons of God came to present
themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them.
·
Psalms 89:7 HCSB God is greatly feared in the council of the
holy ones, more awe-inspiring than all who surround Him.
·
Zechariah 1:10-11 HCSB Then the man standing among the myrtle trees
explained, "They are the ones the LORD has sent to patrol the
earth." (11) They reported to the Angel of the LORD
standing among the myrtle trees, "We have patrolled the earth, and right
now the whole earth is calm and quiet."
Revelation is God’s prerogative, and
it often came by means of dreams and visions.
·
Numbers 12:6 HCSB He said: "Listen to what I say: If there
is a prophet among you from the LORD, I make Myself known to him in a vision; I
speak with him in a dream.
We see that
confirmed repeatedly throughout the Old Covenant.
·
Abram
Genesis 15:1 HCSB After these events, the word of the
LORD came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield;
your reward will be very great.
·
Abimelech
Genesis 20:3 HCSB But God came to Abimelech in
a dream by night and said to him, "You are about to die because of the
woman you have taken, for she is a married woman."
·
Jacob
Genesis 28:12 HCSB And he dreamed: A
stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching heaven, and God's angels
were going up and down on it.
·
Laban
Genesis 31:24 HCSB But God came to Laban the
Aramean in a dream at night. "Watch yourself!" God warned him.
"Don't say anything to Jacob, either good or bad."
·
Samuel 1
Samuel 3:1 HCSB The boy Samuel served the LORD
in Eli's presence. In those days the word of the LORD was rare and prophetic
visions were not widespread.
The “face to face” encounters
Moses experienced were definitely out of the norm.
·
Numbers 12:6-8 HCSB He said: "Listen to what I say: If there
is a prophet among you from the LORD, I make Myself known to him in a vision; I
speak with him in a dream. (7) Not so
with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My household. (8) I speak with him directly, openly, and not in
riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. So why were you not afraid to speak
against My servant Moses?"
·
Deuteronomy 34:10 HCSB No prophet has arisen again in Israel like
Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.
Yahweh spoke to Moses “as a man
speaks with his friend”.
·
Exodus 33:11 HCSB The LORD spoke with Moses face to face, just
as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his
assistant, the young man Joshua son of Nun, would not leave the inside of the
tent.
So, in the entire history of the
Old Covenant, only the great leader Moses shares this experience of having the
Son of God directly speak to him face to face as “friend to friend.” However,
even in the life of Moses there is no parallel for Abraham’s experience in
which he repeatedly negotiates with the Lord. Moses certainly made big
requests and at times even faced God down. For example:
·
Exodus 32:11-14 HCSB But Moses interceded with the LORD his God:
"LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people You brought out of the
land of Egypt with great power and a strong hand? (12) Why should the Egyptians say, 'He brought
them out with an evil intent to kill them in the mountains and wipe them off
the face of the earth'? Turn from Your great anger and change Your mind about
this disaster planned for Your people.
(13)
Remember that You swore to Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel by
Yourself and declared to them, 'I will make your offspring as numerous as the
stars of the sky and will give your offspring all this land that I have
promised, and they will inherit it forever.'" (14) So the LORD changed His mind about the
disaster He said He would bring on His people.
The prophet Amos
also interceded on Israel’s behalf.
·
Amos 7:1-6 HCSB The Lord GOD showed me this: He was forming a
swarm of locusts at the time the spring crop first began to sprout--after the
cutting of the king's hay. (2) When the
locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land, I said, "Lord GOD,
please forgive! How will Jacob survive since he is so small?" (3) The LORD relented concerning this. "It
will not happen," He said. (4) The Lord
GOD showed me this: The Lord GOD was calling for a judgment by fire. It
consumed the great deep and devoured the land.
(5)
Then I said, "Lord GOD, please stop! How will Jacob survive since
he is so small?" (6) The LORD
relented concerning this. "This will not happen either," said the
Lord GOD.
But Jehoshaphat, in crying out to
the Lord, had this to say:
·
2 Chronicles 20:7 HCSB Are You not our God who drove out the
inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and who gave it forever to
the descendants of Abraham Your friend?
Abraham encountered the Lord like
a “friend” and thus he was a fitting prototype for the prophet, Moses.
But why did God choose
Abram? Why was Abram God’s friend? How
did he gain this exalted status as the Lord’s confidante? How did he earn his
place on the holy council of the Son of God?
·
Genesis 18:18 HCSB Abraham is to become a great and powerful
nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.
God had made a promise.
The first reason for Abraham’s
status as confidant is tied directly to the divine call and promise of…
·
Genesis 12:2-3 HCSB I will make you into a great nation, I will
bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. (3) I will bless those who bless you, I will
curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be
blessed through you.
We see that same
promise repeated in today’s text, Genesis 22:18.
Assurance of the promise is affirmed by the divine encounter itself. In other
words, it’s God Himself saying it so “HELLO!” it’s going to happen.
However, it’s also affirmed by the syntactical
highlighting of the divine word, “Abraham will surely become [hāyô yihyeh] a great and powerful
nation”. For all my Ironworkers, that type of phrase is typical for
emphasis and is the infinitive absolute construction הָיוֹ
יִהְיֶה.
The Son of God is saying “this will absolutely, unequivocally happen.”
The promise is also repeated in Genesis 26:4;
27:29, 33; and 28:14. We see it fulfilled in:
·
Deuteronomy 26:5 HCSB You are to respond by saying in the presence
of the LORD your God: My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down to Egypt
with a few people and lived there. There he became a great, powerful, and
populous nation.
The man was to father “a great and powerful nation”
v. 18 tells us, in language reminiscent of the great progenitors Ishmael,[3]
Isaac,[4]
and Jacob[5]
who, by the way, are each direct descendents of Abraham. So, those promises are
simply secondary correlations of this primary one.
Interestingly, God’s other friend, the prophet
Moses, also received promises of being made into a great nation in Exodus 32:10
and Numbers 14:12. However, in both of those cases
Moses turned down God’s offer and chose, instead, to faithfully continue to lead
and build up our people.
So, the first reason we have for this divine
revelation is God had already made a promise to Abraham, to build him into a
great nation that would end up blessing the whole world.
Abram was
elected to the role.
·
Genesis 18:19 HCSB For I have chosen him so that he will command
his children and his house after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what
is right and just. This is how the LORD will fulfill to Abraham what He
promised him."
The word kî, “for”
presents the second rationale for the revelation to Abraham; the divine
election of the man will result in a people characterized by righteousness and
justice. The word “chosen” (yādaʿ, lit. “known”) shows the
election. The result is shown in “so that,” (lĕmaʿan).
Abraham’s people are to be characterized by righteousness (ṣĕdāqâ)
and justice (mišpāṭ). Furthermore, the Lord goes on to say
that that righteousness and justice will in turn result (again with the “so
that,” lĕmaʿan) in the Lord fulfilling his promise of
worldwide blessing.
The ideas of election, promissory
blessing, and righteousness come together in v. 19. The Lord chose Abraham for
the purpose of blessing all nations.
·
Jeremiah 4:1-2 HCSB If you return, Israel--this is the
LORD's declaration--if you return to Me, if you remove your detestable
idols from My presence and do not waver,
(2)
if you swear, As the LORD lives, in truth, in justice, and in
righteousness, then the nations will be blessed by Him and will pride
themselves in Him.
Abraham was chosen
as an intermediary step of creating a righteous
people whose conduct would be a beacon for the nations.
·
Matthew 5:16 HCSB In the same way, let
your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give
glory to your Father in heaven.
C. J. H. Wright, in his book “Ethics,” wrote:
“Election means election to an ethical agenda in
the midst of a corrupt world of Sodoms.”
Ultimately, however, the agenda is wholly God’s to
accomplish, for Israel did not live up to its calling, and the realization of
the promises were achieved by divine grace.
·
Deuteronomy 7:7-8 HCSB "The LORD was devoted to you and chose
you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the
fewest of all peoples. (8) But
because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He
brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery,
from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
·
Deuteronomy 9:4-6 HCSB When the LORD your God drives them out before
you, do not say to yourself, 'The LORD brought me in to take possession of this
land because of my righteousness.' Instead, the LORD will drive out these
nations before you because of their wickedness.
(5)
You are not going to take possession of their land because of your
righteousness or your integrity. Instead, the LORD your God will drive out
these nations before you because of their wickedness, in order to keep the
promise He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (6) Understand that the LORD your God is not
giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are
a stiff-necked people.
Derashot:
To be God’s friend and earn the right to be in His council:
1.
We must
assume God’s point of view.
2.
We must
consider the world’s offerings as “down” and outside of the Promised Land of
godly, healthy living.
3.
We must
be horrified by the sins of the world and yet intercede for them anyway.
4.
We must
always keep in mind that God is “looking down” (šāqap) on us from heaven with a considering eye.
5.
We must
grasp our calling to become a great and mighty nation.
6.
We
should take hope that when God makes a promise to us it will absolutely,
unequivocally happen, even if it takes generations to accomplish.
7.
Replication,
whether it be through raising godly families or through evangelism must
constantly be at the forefront of our minds.
8.
As
individuals and as a group we must be characterized by righteousness and a
fervent, passionate drive for justice.
9.
Righteousness
and justice must be expressed, not merely locally, but worldwide.
10.
We must always keep in mind that if anything good
happens through us, it is not because of our integrity but wholly because of
God.
11.
We must know, deep in our hearts, that unchanging
God has ALWAYS, whether in the Old or New Covenants been about salvation by
grace through faith in the Son of God.