Heavenly Visitors (Genesis part 32)
Text: Genesis 18:1-15
By: Ken McKinley
(Read Text)
Now if you know your Bibles then you know that in the next chapter is the infamous Sodom and Gomorrah story – where those two wicked cities are destroyed. And Bible scholars like to point out the contrast between that chapter and this one. How God personally meets with Abraham and dines with him contrasted with God’s judgment upon sin and evil. How Abraham offers kindness and serves God and the two angels with Him contrasted with how the men of Sodom want to do vile things to the angels.
Now there are a lot of things we could look at in our text, but I want to focus on mainly on one thing today, and that’s that we see that God is able!
So first; in verses 1 – 15 Abraham is out relaxing in the heat of the day. He’s found himself a shady spot at the door of his tent, and he’s taking it easy, when all of a sudden the Lord and two angels show up. The next thing we see is Abraham up and busy, running around, getting food and water for his guests.
Now if you’ve been with us for awhile, you know that we’ve been looking at Abraham for the last few weeks – starting back in chapter 12. And we’ve talked about how Abraham and his family have been set apart, how God has entered into covenant with Abraham and how God has made a promise to him that he would have a son. And actually; that’s going to be working towards fulfilling a promise that God made all the way back in Genesis 3:15. Remember that? That’s when God said that through Eve, God would bring about a Savior who would crush the head of the serpent and undo everything that sin introduced into the world.
And we’ve been tracing that line through Seth, then to Noah, and then to Shem, and finally to Abraham. And what we’ve seen is that Abraham is a man, just like you or me. He’s come to trust God, and God has declared him righteous based on his faith alone, but there have also been times when Abraham really blew it and has messed up because his faith has wavered. There have been times when Abraham let his lack of understanding or his doubts get the better of him. But throughout it all, God has remained faithful. In-fact; last week we saw how God was aware of Abraham and Sarah’s wavering faith, and He reiterated the promise in order to give them assurance. And now… He’s dropping in for a visit again.
Now this is what we call a Theophany, which comes from two Greek words, “theo” Which means “God” and “phaneia” which means “to show.” Basically it’s a rare instance when God visibly shows Himself in some form to a human being. This isn’t the first time for Abraham. Remember in chapter 15 when God entered into covenant with him and Abraham had the vision of the “torch” passing between the offering? But this is the most intimate approach since God walked with Adam in the Garden. So why did God even bother to do this? Most likely its so that He can draw near to Abraham without killing him.
So… God takes on this human form, and this shows us how far He is willing to go to relate to Abraham and bring him assurance. Now think about that for a minute. There have been a lot of people throughout history who have said that God is impersonal; that He’s basically just created the world and left it to its own devices.
But this is showing us that God is personal, and that He’s personally invested in what’s going on here on earth. He hasn’t just wound it up like a clock and let it go. This is the Supreme Being, Almighty God, who created the heavens and the earth, and who created man in His image, and He is interested in His creation and wants a personal relationship with us. So God is not just Abraham’s Creator. James 2:23 says that “Abraham was a friend of God.” And that’s where we get our understanding that being a Christian isn’t just about being religious, but it’s about an individual, personal, intimate relationship with God through Christ.
So God comes to see Abraham, and we can see from our text that he’s a little bit surprised. The text implies that he was probably nodding off; which is understandable, it’s hot, and he’s 100 years old, and then suddenly he notices his heavenly visitors. He jumps up and runs toward them (and again that’s pretty impressive for a guy who’s 100 years old). Then he bows and says, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant…” Now that’s telling us that Abraham must’ve understood that this was God. First of all he’s running around like a 10 year old, he’s bowing down, he calls Him “Lord” and he says literally, “If you will have grace on me now…” It’s actually pretty cool in the Hebrew, because what Abraham is saying is something like, “Lord if you will have grace on me now, don’t pass on by, but instead let me serve you.” That’s amazing to me. How many times do we go to the Lord in prayer and we say things like, “Lord please bless me.” “Lord I need this particular thing.” “Lord please do this particular thing for me.” But here’s Abraham saying, “How can I serve YOU?” That’s someone who has faith and who knows that God is going to supply all of his needs.
And so Abraham pulls out all the stops. He gives the best he has to offer.
Ok… let’s look at verses 9-12 (Read).
Now remember last Sunday, when we looked at chapter 17? In chapter 17 God told Abraham that he and Sarah would have a son, and Abraham laughed. In-fact it says he fell on his face and laughed. But also remember that when God gave Abraham that promise in chapter 17, it was just Abraham that was present. Sarah wasn’t there.
Well she’s here now, even though she’s kind of hiding in the tent, and she hears the promise given again. Now I personally believe that God was speaking directly to Sarah, even though she wasn’t outside with Abraham and the Lord. He knew that she could hear it, and I believe that He said it for her benefit. And He says, “Sarah’s going to have a baby.” And it’s interesting, because Sarah’s more reserved than Abraham was. She doesn’t fall on her face and laugh out loud. Instead she chuckles to herself. She’s more reserved and refined than crusty old Abraham.
But look at what happens in verses 13-15 (Read).
Now I imagine that Abraham had told Sarah what God had said to him the last time they spoke. If for no other reason than to explain why he was circumcising himself and why he was changing her name from Sarai to Sarah. But she either didn’t believe him or didn’t listen. And I’ll avoid the temptation to talk about how husbands and wives need to listen to one another. We can get that from the Bible, but it’s not what our text is dealing with. Instead; what we’re seeing here is that Sarah is in the same rut that Abraham was in last chapter. She’s wavering in her faith. And you notice here that the Lord calls her out on it.
Now some people ask, “Why did God seem so harsh to Sarah and not to Abraham when he laughed?” And the answer to that is because Sarah denied it.
Now think about this for a minute. Sarah laughed to herself – Abraham laughed out loud and fell on his face. Sarah… like I was saying, was a bit more reserved. And God knew it, even though it was an internal laugh. That right there should’ve told her that she wasn’t dealing with just a normal person. This is God she’s dealing with. He knows our hearts, our minds, our thoughts, even better than we do. And if He knows you’re laughing, don’t try to deny it. That’s like the kid getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar but he still denies it, with a straight face. Now I don’t know about ya’ll there are few things that get under my skin more than someone bald-face lying to you, when you know, and they know that’s what they’re doing.
So God calls her on it and says, “You did laugh!”
Now that’s grace right there. God would’ve been perfectly just in blasting Sarah from the face of the earth. She had just sinned in His presence by telling a lie. But instead He leaves it at His rebuke and goes on. You can’t tell me that in the Old Testament God doesn’t show grace and mercy. Right here is a perfect example of it. Amen?
Now in the time we have left I want to talk about how this applies to us today.
If we’re honest with ourselves I think that we all can see ourselves in the lives and behavior and actions of Abraham and Sarah. Our record of responding to God is just as inconsistent. These ups and downs that we’ve seen them go through aren’t unfamiliar to any one who’s been a Christian for a while. But here’s the thing. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is just as patient with us as He was with them. He loves us just as much as He loved Abraham. And He’s just as committed to us as He was to Abraham. And God’s Word is just as true to you today as it was to Abraham 3500 years ago, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”
See the question of faith here wasn’t “Is this too hard for Abraham and Sarah?” The answer to that is obviously “YES!” But the real question is, “Is it too hard for God?” Can God work in the heart and life of that stubborn family member? Can God change the situation of your home, or your job, or your school, or community? YES! Nothing is too hard for Him.
The problem that we have is the same problem that Abraham and Sarah had. We magnify our problems and make them seem so huge, and we lose focus on God, and in our minds He seems so small. It’s almost like; we make our problem so big, that it blocks out everything else… and even when do manage to see something, it’s only in the context of the problem. Let me give you an example. I’m a fan of film. I love going to the movies. I watch them, I critique them, I try to discern the social commentary that’s in them. But one thing I’ve noticed is that when you’re at the movies and someone stands up in-front of you. It doesn’t matter how big the screen is, your eyes automatically zoom in on the person in-front of you. They don’t even have to stand up. They might just be sitting in-front of you with a hat on, blocking out a tiny fraction of the screen, but you look at your wife and say, “Let’s scoot down one seat, I can’t see.” Now maybe that’s just me, but it’s the best example that I can think of right now to explain this. But you know what else happens? Sometimes you go to the movies and the film is so good, and you’re so engrossed in it, that you don’t even notice the person in-front of you.
So I want to encourage you this morning. No matter what you might be going through, or what life might be throwing at you. Nothing is too hard for God.
LET’S PRAY!
