Genesis 18:1-5
“Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, 3 and said, ‘My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. 4 Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant.’ They said, “Do as you have said.”
Genesis 18:16-25
16 “Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. 17 And the Lord said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, 18 since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 191 For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.’ 20 And the Lord said, ‘Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.’
22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. 23 And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
We continue our journey into the person of Jesus in the Old Testament. I encourage you to look in and read Genesis chapter 15. There, you will see a conversation and a covenant between God and Abram. It is confirmed in Hebrews 6:13 that God swore by Himself that He would give Abram the land of Canaan. This was an old ritual performed between two rival kings, most often. They would cut animals in two and place two halves with the blood pooled between them, then the two kings would walk between the halves of the animal in the blood and make a covenant to maybe stop a war, transfer a piece of land etc. In this case, Abram fell asleep, and God alone made the covenant with Himself that He would give Abram the land of Canaan.
The land does not belong to anyone else. In this passage, God does speak to Abram, but since Abram fell asleep, I cannot say for sure this was a Jesus encounter.
However, in Genesis 18, we find an actual face-to-face encounter between Abram and Jesus. In this conversation, some 25 years have passed since the initial promise to give Abram a son, an heir from his own loins. In Genesis 15, Abram complains to God that the only heir he has is his head servant, and God corrects him and promises him a ‘blood’ heir. Genesis 15:4, “And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, ‘This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.’”
The encounter in Genesis 18 is about 25 years later; Sara would be almost 90, and Abram approaching 100 years old. We are clearly told in verse 1 that the Lord appeared to Abram; while there, the Lord ate and drank with him. The Lord was accompanied by two other ‘men’ that we know later on to be angels. We can know further that this is the Lord because in verse 2, Abram bowed himself to the ground, and the Lord received it. In Revelation 22:8-9, John is expressly forbidden from worshipping an angel. “And I am John, who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown me these things. 9But he said to me, ‘Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!’”
In Matthew 4:9-10, Jesus refused to worship Satan, an angel. In Colossians 2:18, we are expressly forbidden to worship angels as well. But the Lord received worship from Abram and allowed him to do obeisance to Him. These three men and Abram spent quite a bit of time together, enough for Sara to make a meal and they ate it together.
In Genesis 18:10-15, Jesus further identifies Himself by reading Sara’s mind; He reiterates the promise to Abram that he would have a son from Sara, and she, listening in her tent, questions if God could do that at her and Abram’s age. She laughed, and Jesus called her out. She denies it, and Jesus stands His ground, verse 15. “But Sarah denied it, saying, ‘I did not laugh,’ for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”
There are several references to Jesus knowing people’s thoughts while He was involved in His earthly ministry: Luke 20:23, Matthew 22:18, John 2:25, John 6:15, John 16:19, Luke 5:22, and on we can go. Jesus knows your thoughts and the very intents of your heart. Jesus shows us who He is here.
Then, as we jump down to verse 16 and on, we see in conversation that Jesus is addressed in verse 25 as the ‘Judge of the earth.’ In 2 Timothy 4:8, Paul calls Jesus the ‘righteous Judge.’ “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
In Acts 10:42, Jesus is called the Judge. “And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead.”
In John 5:22, we see that God the Father has turned over all judgment to the Son, Jesus. “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son.”
We know the story of what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah. But before that, Abram intercedes for the cities and begs Jesus to spare the city, mostly for Lot’s sake. Jesus received prayer. Abram prayed to Him in the form of a conversation and interceded for Lot. Jesus was familiar with intercession, as He is our intercessor. Romans 8:34, “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”
In James 5:16, we are called to intercede for each other. “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
So, once again, we find Jesus in the Old Testament, receiving worship, reading minds, receiving intercessory prayer, and also judging the world. Jesus is all over the Old Testament.
How is your intercessory life? Do you pray for the people in this room often? Do you pray for me often? Do you pray for the ones that have hurt you often? Are you and I like Sara, who laugh at God’s promises?
We have waited so long that we have become cynical about God’s ability to perform what He said He would do. We have become cold-hearted, and we are just going through the motions. If you had asked Sara if she believed in God, she would scream ‘YES!!” But in private, in her mind, in practice, she did not. Nonetheless, her unbelief did not sway God’s faithfulness. Sara got pregnant, and Abram had an heir from his own bloodline, just like God promised.
Thank God for His faithfulness. Do you need to repent of your unbelief?
Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario