Genesis 18:17-20

Genesis 18:17-20 And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; Three visitors stopped by Abraham’s tent on the plains of Mamre. They were average looking men, but they were anything but average. Two of them were angels and the third was the Son of God. Jesus Christ had not been born yet, but Jesus is eternal and He has existed from the beginning. These three heavenly visitors were on a mission to check out the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Their wickedness had gotten the attention of Almighty God, so Jesus and two of His angels came down to see Sodom first-hand.  Jesus knew that Abraham loved Lot, and Lot lived in wicked Sodom. So on His way to investigate Sodom, Jesus stopped by to tell Abraham of His plans for Sodom. While Abraham prayed for his nephew, the two angels went down to warn Lot. Things didn’t go well with their arrival in Sodom. The wicked men tried to attack them. But the wicked men of Sodom didn’t know that they were dealing with powerful angels. The angels told Lot of the coming judgement and Lot hurried to warn his extended family. But no one would listen to him. They thought he was crazy and just scoffed at his warnings. The angels scooped up Lot, his wife, and their two single daughters, and set them outside of Sodom telling them to escape while they still could. The angels said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t even look back, just run, run, run!” Lot’s wife couldn’t bear to leave Sodom. Her heart was still there in the wicked city and looked back longingly. She was immediately turned to pure salt. Lot and his two daughters fled to the mountains and to the tiny town of Zoar just as God rained down fire upon the cities of the plains. God is love and God warns people, but God is also holy and God will judge wickedness. God tells us how to live in His Word, the Bible. We will be happy if we follow God’s directions.

Genesis 15:7,18

Genesis 15:7,18 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates Abraham lived about 2,000 years before Jesus lived. Jesus lived about 2,000 years ago. How long ago did Abraham live? About 4,000 years ago! Abraham had separated from Lot and had moved to the plain of Mamre in the middle of Canaan. God had told him that his descendants would be innumerable as the stars of the heavens. And now God was giving Abraham an inheritance of land for his innumerable grandchildren to live in. But the Canaanites already lived there. Was God going to take the land from the Canaanites? That wouldn’t be fair, would it? But God knew that in the next few hundred years, the Canaanites living in the land would become extremely wicked. God knew that He would have to judge their evilness. And God knew that it would be another 700 years before the descendants of Abraham would become numerous enough to defeat the Canaanites, who would become wicked by then. God knew the future, and he was preparing the Israelites to punish the Canaanites. God was taking care of all of the details. He knows exactly what He is doing. Remember, God has a plan. Are you going to join God’s plan?

Genesis 15:5,6

Genesis 15:5,6 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. God had promised Abraham that He would make of him a great nation. But Abraham didn’t have a son and he was old – and getting older each day. Abraham wanted to make Eleazar, his trusted servant his heir. But God said that Eleazar was not the promised heir. Abraham wanted to make Ishmael, his son by Hagar, his heir, but God said that Ishmael would not be Abraham’s heir. God promised that Sarah and Abraham would have their own son. And he would have children, and they would have children and they would have children, and they would . . . well you get the picture. And Abraham’s descendants would be so numerous that they would be as the stars of the heavens. The famous astronomer, Ptolemy of Alexandria, Egypt lived about 1900 years ago and counted 1,028 stars. Was that how many descendants Abraham would have? In 1606 Galileo invented the telescope and looked into the heavens for the first time. When he looked at, what he thought was a star, it was actually an entire galaxy of 150,000 stars! The stars truly are innumerable! And so are the descendants of Abraham. Don’t forget, God keeps his promises!

Genesis 14:18-20

Genesis 14:18-20 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. Melchizedek was an mysterious character in the Old Testament. He was a Godly man who was a priest of the most high God. Abraham respected Melchizedek and stopped by his home as he was returning from rescuing Lot from the wicked king Chedorlaomer. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah had rebelled against Chedorlaomer and Lot was caught up in their argument. Abraham had to rescue Lot and the others who had been captured. After the war, Abraham stopped by to pay his respects to Melchizedek. Melchizedek lived at Salem, which would become Jerusalem under King David. Melchizedek blessed Abraham and gave him food and drink, and Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. How much is the tithe? The tithe is 10%. That means one penny out of ten cents. Or one dime out of one dollar. !0% is one out of ten. Abraham was brave; Abraham was thoughtful; Abraham was respectful; and Abraham was giving. Abraham is a good example for us.

Genesis 13:2,5-7

Genesis 13:2,5-7 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: God had blessed Abraham with a lot of stuff. Abraham was a shepherd and had many flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. And because his nephew, Lot, was with him, God had blessed Lot too. So Lot had many flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. But Abraham and Lot lived together and there was only so much grass and water to go around. Abraham and Lot’s herdsman began to argue over the pastures and water holes. So Abraham had a talk with Lot. Abraham was generous to his nephew and said, “Let’s not have fussing and fighting going on between my herdsmen and your herdsmen. Let’s divide up the land. I want you to pick first. If you choose to go to the left, I will go to the right. If you choose to go to the right, then I will take the left. You pick first.” But Lot was selfish. As he looked around he saw that the land towards the city of Sodom was well watered with plenty of green grass. But Sodom was a wicked city. But Lot was just too tempted. So he chose the good land over towards Sodom. And Abraham chose the other land. It wasn’t as green and there weren’t as many wells available. But God continued to bless Abraham. Lot kept hearing all of the noise from the parties that were going on in Sodom. He was curious about the city life. Who do you think had made the right choice? I think Abraham did. We should be careful with our choices in life. They may lead us in the right way or they may lead us in the wrong way. Abraham made the right choice.