Triple A’s A laugh A test and two Angels
Genesis chapter's 18 – 19
A divine encounter, some of
you may or may not be familiar with a song called ‘Entertaining Angels’ by a
group called the Newsboys in 1998; or even the passage in Hebrews Chapter 13:2
where it talks about hospitality and entertaining Angels unaware. Well, that is
exactly what happens to Abraham, by the oaks of Mamre. Abraham quickly gets Sarah
to prepare a meal for his surprise guests, one of which is the LORD himself and
two angels. The LORD says to Abraham he will return about the same time next
year and Sarah will have a son (you know the one that was promised). Sarah was eavesdropping
on the conversation and she laughed to herself about him saying she will have a
son and he heard her. Notice she denies that she laughed, but he calls her out
on her lie, and says, but you did. Well, the LORD really has good hearing
(which is correct) or he knows what we are thinking. That should be a reason
for us to pause and think carefully about our thought life, I know it does for
me. After the meal, the men set out from there to go down to Sodom and Gomorrah
to execute the LORD’s plan of judgment on them. The LORD tells Abraham what is
about to happen to them as a test for Abraham. A few things you need to see in
this conversation between Abraham and the LORD is exactly that, ‘it is a
conversation.’ That is what prayer looks like, not ‘Our Father who art in
heaven’, The LORD is right there in front of Abraham, and he is not an Englishman!
Hallowed be thy name, Abraham was talking very reverently to the LORD, he knew
who he was having a conversation with. Abraham did not say the same thing over
and over repeatedly as though God could not hear him, we already established
the LORD has excellent hearing. Prayer is an intelligent conversation with a spiritual
being who is far more intelligent than we ever could be and knows you better
than you know yourself. Be mindful of who you are talking to and have the
conversation, remembering that like Sarah you cannot hide anything from him. Back
to the test, God wanted to see Abraham's heart in this matter and how he will
raise his son and the men of his household by how he demonstrates his actions
for righteousness and justice. Abraham pleads for the righteous people in Sodom
and Gomorrah, spare the cities if you find in them 50 righteous people, then
45, 40, 30, 20, 10. Abraham is concerned for people and is willing to risk God
being mad at him, which is exactly what God is looking for. What value do we
place on the good things of God (people) and how far will you go to save
someone you do not know. Fast forward to the two angels, they are met at the
gate of Sodom by Lot, Abraham’s nephew. He offers them lodging, not realizing who
they are, but afraid for their safety if they decided to camp outside in the
town square for the night. Before any of them could lay down inside the house
for the night, all the men of the city, young and old, it says even down to the
last man surrounded Lot’s house and demanded Lot send out the men (angels) they
saw go into Lot’s house. Why? because they wanted to have sex with them. This
is not a misunderstanding of the word for man and woman in the text. This is
not a misunderstanding in the text of having sex between a young child who
is male and a grown man. Slice it and dice it however you would like, the text says
what the text means. God sent his Angels, and this is why judgement would come.
Who are we expected to be in this type of situation? We are to be like Abraham
have conversations with the LORD and plead for the people and leave the
judgement and punishment up to God, period.
To be continued….
In case you were curious about the song, here is the YouTube link.
Comments