CHAPTER 18

(1898 B.C.)

HEAVENLY VISITORS

¹And the LORD appeared unto him (Abraham) in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day (the First Verse of this Chapter confirms the experience of the Christian that a fresh Revelation of the Lord to the soul follows upon obedience to a Divine command Williams);

²And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three Men stood by Him (stood by the Lord; these were Angels): and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground (implies worship, for he knew this was the Lord),

³And said, My LORD, if now I have found favor in Your sight, pass not away, I pray You, from Your servant (Abraham had found favor in Gods sight, but only by and through the Faith which he exhibited):

⁴Let a little water, I pray You, be fetched, and wash Your Feet, and rest Yourselves under the tree (the Lord and the Angels did not need such; however, the washing of the feet and the rest symbolized a Spiritual Truth; it spoke of the humility which is required on the part of Believers and, as well, the rest which the Lord alone can provide):

⁵And I will fetch a morsel of bread, which will comfort Your Hearts (bread is a Type of the Word of God and, as well, of the Lord Jesus Christ [Jn. 6:35]; Abraham giving the Lord bread, along with His Angelic associates, proclaims what the Lord will do for the whole of humanity and, above all, that He would actually be that bread; this is the bread which satisfies all spiritual hunger); after that You shall pass on (but not before I have shown You the dignity and respect You deserve): for therefore are You come to Your Servant. And they said, So do, as you have said (the Lord favorably received guarantees the favorable blessing).

⁶And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth (spiritual activity in the heart of one servant of Christs stirs up activity in the hearts of other servants).

⁷And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hastened to dress it (as the calf would be killed, likewise would the Son of God, all of which served as a Type).

⁸And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before Them; and he stood by Them under the tree, and They did eat (Jesus told us that we must eat as well; I speak of the eating of Christ, which, in effect, speaks of evidencing Faith in Him and what He has done for us at the Cross [Jn. 6:53-58, 63]).

SARAH

⁹And They (the Lord and the Angels) said unto him (Abraham), Where is Sarah your wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent (one of the greatest announcements ever made in human history is now forthcoming).

¹⁰And He (the Lord) said, I will certainly return unto you according to the time of life (according to this time next year); and, lo, Sarah your wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind Him.

¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age (Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90); and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.

¹²Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord (Abraham) being old also? (Unbelief makes men cowards and liars. Sarah laughs with unbelief, and then, through fear, denies the fact. Despite, however, her incredulity, and despite Satans seeming success in having retarded the birth of a child till it was impossible to nature despite it all, the mighty words of Grace and Promise are spoken Sarah shall have a son!)

¹³And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? (There is in the Scripture the laughter of faith and the laughter of unbelief. Psalm 126:2 fulfills the former, and Matthew 9:24 the latter. Sarahs laughter was that of unbelief.)

¹⁴Is anything too hard for the LORD? (the actual Hebrew says: Is anything too wonderful for Jehovah?) At the time appointed I will return unto you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

¹⁵Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not (she lied); for she was afraid (unbelief tenders fear). And He said, No; but you did laugh (the Lord gently rebukes her).

SODOM AND GOMORRAH

¹⁶And the Men (the Lord and the Angels) rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom (it was not a look of Grace, and because of their great sin): and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way (walked a little distance with Them).

¹⁷And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do (the secret of the Lord is with them who fear Him);

¹⁸Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty Nation, and all the nations of the Earth shall be blessed in him? (Both predictions came through exactly as spoken by the Lord.)

¹⁹For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him (the actual Hebrew says, For I have known him in order that he may command his sons...), and they shall keep the Way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment (this is the responsibility of the modern Church as well, a responsibility, incidentally, which by and large has been abrogated); that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which He has spoken of him (looking back from this present time to the time of Abraham, all have come to pass exactly as the Lord promised).

²⁰And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous (the sin of these twin cities had become so great that it threatened contamination of the entirety of that part of the world; consequently, they had to be destroyed; in other words, the Lord had to perform major surgery, just as a surgeon does presently in order to save the patient);

²¹I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto Me; and if not, I will know (all sin is inherently offensive in the Eyes of the Almighty; but some forms of wickedness are more presumptuously daring or more intrinsically loathsome than others, and of such sort were the sins of Sodom; the phrase, I will know, doesnt mean that God didnt already know, for He knows all things, past, present, and future; the statement has reference to the Perfect Justice of God; at the Judgment, no one will be able to claim insensitivity or unfairness on the part of God [Rev. 20:11-15]).

²²And the Men (the two Angels) turned their faces from thence (from Abraham), and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD (after the Lord explained to Abraham what He was about to do, Abraham would now intercede for Lot).

LOT

²³And Abraham drew near, and said, Will You also destroy the righteous with the wicked (he was thinking of Lot)?

²⁴Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: will You also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are therein (we find from this narrative how important the righteous are, as it involves the overall scheme of things)?

²⁵That be far from You to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from You: Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right? (We can be confident that the Judge of the Earth shall do right. That Judge is the Lord!)

²⁶And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

²⁷And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am but dust and ashes (we find here the humility of the great Patriarch):

²⁸Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: will You destroy all the city for lack of five? And He said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.

²⁹And he (Abraham) spoke unto Him (the Lord) yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And He said, I will not do it for fortys sake.

³⁰And he said unto Him, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak (I think it can easily be said that the Lord delights in the Believer pressing, as it regards petitions and desires): Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And He said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

³¹And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And He said, I will not destroy it for twentys sake.

³²And he said, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And He said, I will not destroy it for tens sake. (We are here witnessing true Intercession.)

³³And the LORD went His way, as soon as He had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place. (While the Lord now goes His way, He doesnt do so until Abraham ceases his petitioning. Abraham ceased asking before God ceased giving.)