The Covenant, The Promise, and The Intercession

In our last show before we did our AI shows, we covered Genesis 17. We witnessed the profound moment when God forged an everlasting covenant with Abraham, marked by the sign of circumcision and the remarkable vow to make him the Father of many nations, with a son yet to be born. We marveled at Abraham and Sarah’s advanced ages, pondering the sheer impossibility of birth at such a stage in life.

Today, we will look further into this story in Genesis 18, where we will continue to explore the suspenseful anticipation of Abraham and Sarah’s promised offspring. We’ll see today an extraordinary visitation by three angelic messengers who reaffirmed the promise of a son, igniting hope against all odds. Furthermore, we’ll begin to unveil the dire narrative of Sodom and Gomorrah, setting the stage for the divine intervention that would lead to their ultimate destruction.

Today, we will only read Genesis 18, but Genesis 19 is closely connected to Genesis 18. There are three main characters that we will focus on in these two chapters. In Genesis 18, we will focus on Abraham, and next week in Genesis 19, we will focus on Lot and Jesus. Each of these men stood between Sodom and Gomorrah and the complete destruction. We will explore this further as we continue reading.

Let’s Read Genesis 18:1-8

All ministry must first be to the Lord, for if we fail to be a blessing to the Lord, we will never be a blessing to others. Colossians 3:23-24 says “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, for you serve the Lord.”

In vs 2 it says Abraham ran to meet them and hastened Sarah to bake some bread in vs 6. He personally ran to get a tender calf and saw to it that the young man hastened to dress the meat in vs 7 and in vs 8 it says only after he had served his guests that Abraham stood still. What can we learn from this example?

Let’s read vs 9-15 and witness how Abraham ministered to his wife

Because Abraham was faithful to the Lord, he became a channel of blessing to his wife and eventually to his family. Sarah had an important role to play in the working out God’s plan of salvation for the world, and she did her part as it says in Heb 11:11. She was 89 years old and in Gen 20 it says she is still a desirable woman with charm and beauty. Abraham loved his wife like the princess that she was.

The husband who ministers to the Lord will find himself ministering to the members of his own family, especially his wife. He will be the source of blessing for his family.

Let’s read 16-33

Abraham belonged to that select company of God’s people known as intercessors, individuals like Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Jeremiah, the apostles and Jesus Himself. In fact, Jesus’ ministry to us today is as an intercessor, Romans 8:34.

In vs 16, 22 we see The Lord and 2 Angels leaving Abraham’s camp and started moving towards Sodom, but we noticed the Lord lingered while the angels went on before Him. Why do you think that is?

An intercessor must know the Lord personally and be obedient to His will. He must be close enough to the Lord to learn His secrets and know what to pray about.

Abraham’s prayer was based not on the mercy of God, but on the justice of God. Vs 25 “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” A just and holy God could not destroy righteous believers with wicked unbelievers, and Lot was a believer, even though his actions and words seemed to contradict the fact.

But why would Abraham want God to spare such wicked people? Shouldn’t he wanted to wipe them off the face of the earth?

We must not get the idea that Abraham argued with the Lord, because he did not. He was very humble before the Lord as he presented his case.

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