Abraham's Knowledge

Abraham’s Knowledge

9/8/15

Many of us know about the story in the Bible when God set His destruction in Sodom and Gomorrah, and many of us also know the outcome of this historical fact.  There are those that have come to understand that similar conditions exist within our societies today and in some instances surpassed even those two cities.  How many understand what Abraham immediately before this act of God was based upon how much he knew about the land and the history of the land.  It is a fascinating series of events that occurs when Abraham begins this scene and if truth be told it is in play once again today and accurately described this nation and its followers.

The timing of this message is one of great importance and one that should teach us a basic concept about our lives at the same time.  As I have stated many times over the last few years up until about 15 years ago I could not stand the subject of history.  It did not matter what type of history one would try to talk about I quickly shut out my ears, and for the most part, stopped listening to what those people had to say.  But it was my own heart condition that swayed me from this view for as I was adopted I had no idea of my medical history.  When my family found me almost 6 years ago I began to learn about my medical history and all of the troubles that my biological family had endured, and consequently I had many of the same issues that I was facing.

It was at this point that I changed my views on history, not only my own personal history but history about humanity as well. There is a little caveat that I must mention and that is when God changes a person for His reasoning, in that humanity does not look at things the same as others or as the general public views them.  When I view history I look at it from a neutral position one that seeks the truth about the human heart instead of padding my reasoning and beliefs, in other words, God’s way of teaching history, not man’s.  And it is this type of history that Abraham demonstrates when he is communicating with God about the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah.  It is this identical history that defines our country today and soon it shall come into harvest just as those two cities yielded.

When I was a kid I vividly remember many of our trips to Arkansas to visit my paternal grandmother.  I thoroughly enjoyed going to Nanny’s house for she always had great food and I had plenty of things to do while I was there.  Sometimes there were storms in the area and sometimes cold weather but whatever the weather presented it was always nice to visit her domain.  I also remember on a couple of occasions when the atmosphere in the house was not the best yet overall I still had and still have the same memories today.  It is this type of specific history that one can tell to others if warranted and through this personal and up close history of the land Abraham could ask those famous requests and questions to God as He was on His way to complete His mission.

In Genesis Chapter 18, the stage is set for a true miracle to occur and one that would seal the fate and origins of the nation of Israel.  Yet at the same time God had another mission that was pressing and it had to do with a few cities in the area that had totally accepted a lifestyle that God had warned about in the past.  And in verses 16-19 make statements about the relationship that God has with mankind and vice versa, providing one knows the extent of such a relationship.  God had chosen to inform Abraham of the events that were about to transpire in his land and that it was a deed that was necessary due to the choices that those cities had prepared for themselves.

Now, first of all if an angel, God or Jesus would physically manifest themselves to me I would definitely be in awe and probably be in a state of semi-shock, wouldn’t you?  So my words and my sentence structure probably would not be in the best form; just saying.  Yet Abraham presents himself in clear conscious and sound mind when he begins a series of questions concerning the mission and the state of the cities.  We must remember that Abraham is talking directly to God here so words and truth would be of the top priority; this is a given because one would not dare speak an untruth or question God based upon an untruth, correct?

The angels had their orders and were sent on their way to complete the mission that had been given them, with Abraham still in the presence of God.  The first question posed to God from Abraham was one of a sneaky nature because it sets the stage of a bargaining stance that we try and mimic today.  The first question that Abraham asked was if there were 50 righteous people in Sodom if God would destroy the righteous with the unrighteous.  A logical question that God was willing to accept and at the same time both parties involved in the question and answer session knew was not possible.

How did both parties know this fact that 50 were not present in that city?  God knew because God is God and He knows all about everything at all hours of the day and night.  Abraham knew because he understood the land and the people that inhabited that city.  There is no question or doubt that Abraham loved God and that God was moving through him like no other being on the planet at that time.  It is also understood that God had dumped a huge amount of information about his present and future just a few moments earlier, information that actually embarrassed both he and Sarah.  So in any instance why would a human place themselves into a lying argument with the overall Creator of everything, at any time I might add but especially right after a heart-wrenching conversation about his future.

So, we can come to the conclusion that Abraham knew the state of the wants and choices of that city and that he also understood what was about to occur because of those choices, which means that while he understood them, the people of the city had no clue because of their involvement and belief of their current state.  Another issue that must be addressed here is the amount of people that Abraham began with when he started his questions to God.  On the flip side of this number, Abraham used his historical memory to choose a number that God would not question right off the bat.  This means that at one time, Sodom had at least 50 people in that city who considered themselves to be righteous and would justify his initial question without provoking a lying question for God to respond.

The Lord agreed to spare the city if 50 people proved to be righteous to the all holy and all-knowing heart and eyes of God; both sides knew this number would not fly and Abraham had to do some more quick thinking.  God understood perfectly what Abraham was doing with Abraham having personal interests in Sodom in the manner of Lot and his family.  So, the bargaining game continued and Abraham began his countdown to 45, to 40, to 30, to 20 and then finally reaching the number of 10.  Could God not find 10 righteous people in a city?  Well, Abraham knew the city well enough to ask for that low of a number so probably he knew that not even that number existed.  But at that moment God ended the conversation and went from Abraham and Abraham then went back to his residence.

Can you imagine what thoughts and figuring Abraham did while walking back to his house?  His mind raced trying to remember who all could be considered righteous and who would stand up for God in that city.  He must have wondered about how God would judge this city and what would become of it since God was specific when He gave details of the mission.  He had a vested interest in this city and fought for Lot to retrieve him so that he could live there again after being captured.  It was this history and the knowledge of the conditions of the city that Abraham also had to contend with, historically speaking.  And it was through this historical knowledge that Abraham had the grounds to ask those famous questions to God without having God laugh him off because they were based upon lies.

It is through this history that Abraham understood how important it was that he asked these questions for it had meaning to him, just like a nation has a meaning to people today.  When you look around the world one can see the pride of heritage and lineage bursting out from almost every inhabitant.  Many Hungarians are proud to call themselves Hungarians or Poles Polish, etc.  But from this portion of the biblical story it seems like Sodom had reached God’s “Point B” in their inhabitance and through their selfish wants and demands their hearts had completely turned away from God loud and far enough that God had to take a stance.

A serious question we must ask ourselves is this: would we be able to recognize God if He appeared to us and stated His mission?  While Abraham recognized God and His messengers the question still remains if we would or not since we have done our best to severe any ties with God.  It is a logical thought that if a person met their cousin for the first time when they were 6 years old and did not see them again until they were 36 years old, it would be logical that both would not recognize each other. The same is in play here as well because once a relationship is established and then is torn apart the recognition and separation between both parties becomes dim.

This attribute of recognizing God was portrayed during this story and while I am not going to dwell on this particular detail it is important for us to remember that these men that went into Sodom were angels and the men of Sodom were so enthralled with “knowing” them that they could not distinguish the truth of their identities.  Lot even presented these men of the city his daughters and the men of the city ignored him and then became more violent in their actions.  It is this point to which their fate was sealed and it shall be the exact same when God levels the playing field with this country as well.

Abraham clearly understood all sides of the issue when he was talking with God, and so did God.  If Abraham had no recognition of what was about to occur or had no interest in the land of Sodom, he would have felt bad for the people but that would have been it.  All of us act in this manner when we find out that a close friend’s uncle has passed away we feel sorry for them but usually do not shed any tears.  The same is in play for this story, we must remember that the Bible is filled with humans and it is through this human history that we can obtain invaluable knowledge about God, the land and ourselves.

At one time in Church history, she served as the one entity that differed enough from the world in which no one had any problems recognizing who she was.  Today, the Church has lost her edge against the world and instead of recognizing the world for what it is she has joined forces with the world and consequently has lost her mission statement.  It is through this lack of knowledge and opposite positioning from Abraham’s knowledge that we have become an endangered country ready to be struck from the record books.  Instead of a sore thumb to the world we are embellishing our worldly ways in such mannerism that no doubt place God into a sickening position.  Israel did the exact same thing many times during her storied history and she eventually paid for it drastically, losing her identity as a solid and formidable nation for millennia.

It is safe to assume that we have lost Abraham’s knowledge about the area that surrounds us, both the spiritual land and the physical land.  For both lands matter because God created each of them and it is He that should be represented on both levels.  It is our responsibility to inform the world that it is wrong and should repent of the sins that engulf it, but if we can no longer understand the area around us, we cannot have a legal right to argue for this salvation.

If we personalize this type of activity and look at our internal condition, could we even identify our history or past life enough to warrant salvation from certain destruction?  It is sad to say that in this country we have received so many blessings since our creation we have sought to end the relationship with the One who gave us those blessings.  We have thrown out our “leg to stand on” and have no defense to save ourselves.  God is a merciful and loving God but if we do not have the knowledge about our surroundings we will be placed into the same category as Sodom and Gomorrah with a prophet crying and pleading God to save our country, but falling on deaf ears because of our own choices.

It was through the choices that Sodom and Gomorrah made that established, created and executed their destruction and Abraham could not save the land.  His knowledge of the history about that land was vast and he fought well for that land many times but in the end it was the personal choices of the cities that sought out their destruction.  There have been many warnings that have been placed upon our land and through our selfish lusts we have failed to recognize the knowledge we need to survive from the world.  Instead, we have placed our knowledge into the intellectual instabilities that humans can only offer, thus burning a bridge of salvation we might have with God.  We were created to have eternal knowledge about our lives and our surroundings and we have voluntarily cashed this wisdom in for a quick fix of humanity.

I have no idea when God is going to say that He has had enough, but I believe it to be VERY soon.  I do know that there are many prophets and prayer warriors that are begging and pleading with God to save this country, but while they complete these prayers to the Almighty Creator of everything, His will is already in place and judgment must be enabled.  Just as Abraham’s knowledge was well demonstrated to God in those desperate times, there was nothing he could do to stop the will of God.  This country has come so far in helping to turn the world around     and yet we have crossed a line that we no longer can perform the mission that our land was established for, and so, God must act accordingly including the just and the unjust together.

DLB