The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah – Part 1, A Sudden, Divine, Appearance
2006 : August  |  Website Version  

Today we begin a Series of Devotions from the book of Genesis. The Devotions stem from a meeting between the Lord, two angels, Abraham and his wife Sarah. The meeting is recorded in Genesis 18, and occurs just before Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed. There are many lessons to be learned in these verses, and they teach us many valuable truths to help our Christian walk. We hope they will be a blessing to you.

As we read Genesis 18, Abraham is sitting near the door to his tent. He’s probably getting some rest from the heat of the day, when, suddenly, three beings appear to him out of nowhere:
 
         1 Now the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.
2 When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth,
  Genesis 18:1-2 (NASB)
 
Of the three beings Abraham sees standing opposite to him, One of them is identified as “the LORD”. Many Bible scholars believe that this is an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ in the flesh. There are several such appearances by Jesus Christ in the Old Testament where He reveals Himself to man in an intimate way; it makes good Biblical sense that it is Jesus standing before Abraham in Genesis 18. The others two with Jesus are identified as “angels” in Genesis 19:1.

One of the first things we note as we read Genesis 18 is how quickly life can change and how dramatic the Lord’s impact can be on our circumstances. No prior warning was given for this visit, and you do not get the sense that Abraham was expecting it. To put it another way, Abraham is just ‘chilling out’ in the middle of a hot day when he lifts up his eyes, and the Lord is before him. It can be much the same in our lives. We might have been praying to the Lord for days, weeks, months or even years for Him to work in our lives or in a situation. Perhaps there has been no response, so we are tempted to give up praying; however, this story shows us that the Lord can enter our circumstances at any time. God knows our lives and our paths, and He has determined exactly what we need and when we need it. Our duty is not to guess when it is that the Lord will answer our prayers or intervene in our circumstances; our duty is to trust that He is always with us and to remain in prayer. At the time of the Lord’s choosing, He will reveal more to us.

Such is the case as the Lord meets with Abraham; He tells Abraham two things that will come to pass:

  1. This time next year, Sarah your wife will have a child.
  2. Sodom and Gomorrah will be destroyed for their wicked sins.
These verses are meant to show us several different aspects of the Lord our God: an infinite God with infinite attributes. First, these verses show us that the Lord always faithfully fulfills His promises. When Abraham was first called by the Lord, he was told that a great nation would spring from him; of course, the great nation would be God’s doing and in God’s divine time:
 
         1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you;
2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing…
  Genesis 12:1-2 (NASB)
 
God’s promise to Abraham was incredible, since we know that Abraham was 75 years old when the Lord first made the promise to Him. Further, the Lord took his time fulfilling the promise He shared with Abraham. It was not until Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 91 that the Lord fulfilled the promise He had made to Abraham. Twenty-five years had passed since the Lord first made His promises to Abraham. Had he given up on ever having a child with Sarah? Had he stopped believing this would come to pass? Could we blame him if he did? Could we wait so long to have a promise fulfilled, or would we simply give up hope?

The Lord knows our strengths and our weaknesses, and this is the second wonderful lesson from these verses about out God; that the Lord will give us all the strength necessary to endure any trial, process or test of endurance that lies before us. Even when we are weak and fail to keep our focus on the promises, the Lord remains steadfast, powerful and keeps us on the track He has set out before us. He gave Abraham and Sarah the strength to persevere while His promises unfolded. No doubt, He will do the same in your life through the challenges you face. As the Lord reminds Abraham and Sara,
 
         14 "Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
  Genesis 18:14 (NASB)
 
If the Lord has said it will come to pass, then rest assured, it will come to pass. Regardless of the amount of time between the promise being made and the fulfillment of the promise, we can rest assured the Lord is faithful to complete what He has promised. What great joy it must have been to them to hear that they now had a date that their promised child would be born, and yet, the joyous news is tempered by some very sobering words by the Lord. Next devotion we’ll continue to study these verses and the news of Sodom and Gomorrah’s pending destruction,

May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you today and always…

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Genesis 18: 1-2 (NASB)

1  Now the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.
2  When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth,

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