You’re A Priest, Pray For The World (Genesis 18:20-32)
There is one question that we can ask ourselves that will help us to understand this text with a great deal of clarity. Here is that one question, “Why did Abraham pray?”
Your first thought is likely what my first thought was, and that is, he was praying for Lot. But that’s not really the case. If he were praying for Lot, then he would have just prayed for Lot and Lot’s family. That is not what Abraham did. Abraham’s prayer here was for this area.
Abraham’s prayer was for the inhabitants of the Promised Land.
That leads us to another question that needs answered. Why did Abraham pray for the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah?
Sodom was guilty of all sorts of perversions. Ezekiel tells us that it was in part because they lived pridefully and with plenty but did not help the poor and needy (Ezekiel 16:49-50). But Jude lets us know that this was not the end of Sodom and Gomorrah’s depravity. Sodom and Gomorrah, “indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire” and their punishment today serves as an example of God’s justice (Jude 1:6-7). And the account makes it very clear that their sexually perversity was one of the reasons for their destruction. Like today, people don’t grow perverse in just one area, it’s an all over kind of a disease. God told Abraham what was going to take place and Abraham prayed for Sodom.
We are now in the first week of our society’s celebration of similar wickedness. Sodomy And Other Sexual Perversions Month is upon us. Our society celebrates it for a whole month. As was discussed to a greater extent last week, our society has been given up to a debased mind and is celebrating wickedness openly in the streets.
“Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (Romans 1:32 ESV)
Our society is currently facing God’s wrath of abandonment. And these parades is our society’s way of giving approval to what God calls an abomination (Leviticus 20:13), and “shameless acts” (Romans 1:27 ESV).
Last week we saw that we have a responsibility toward our families in a time of judgment. Judgment is falling upon our land, and we have an obligation toward our children and their children in a time such as this. But our obligations don’t end with our families.
We prioritize our families. We ensure that we are raising our children in the Paideia of God. But we also have an obligation to the world.
God’s people were always to be a missionaries to the world. They were always supposed to go forth and spread the knowledge of God to the world. Adam was created and given a mission, and as we discussed months ago in the early messages from Genesis it was a worldwide mission. Adam was to subject the entire Earth to the will of God (Genesis 1:26-30). Mankind was also given the task of expanding the presence of God to the entire Earth (Genesis 2:9-18). God also promised to bless Abraham, Abraham’s seed and all the families of the Earth through Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3). All the nations would be blessed through Christ, who was the seed that would ultimately bring the blessing of Abraham to the nations (Galatians 3:16).
But that did not mean the Israelites were not God’s priesthood, working to spread the knowledge of God to the nations. It has always been the case that God’s people were to be about this work. The plagues of Egypt occurred because God was letting the Egyptians know that He was the LORD (Exodus 7:5, 17; 8:22; 14:4, 18).[1] Israel was to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation that would bring the knowledge of God to the nations.
“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”” (Exodus 19:5-6 ESV)
And this did not change in the New Testament. Look at what Paul says about the Church.
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” (1 Peter 2:9-12 ESV)
So, what is the point? Why discuss this right now?
Go back to that question asked earlier. Hopefully an answer is now rattling around in your brain. When we ask the question, “Why did Abraham pray for Sodom?”, we come up with an interesting answer. The answer is that he was pleading with the Lord on their behalf. The answer is that Abraham felt an obligation to plead with the Lord concerning the people of the land that he was to inherit.
Abraham was to inherit the land (Genesis 12:1-3). It was to be his. So, not only had Abraham fought for Sodom and likely feel some kindred feelings toward that place (Genesis 14), but he understood that the whole area was to one day be his. He felt a responsibility toward the people of Sodom. And so, he prayed for them. What we see Abraham doing in this moment is him acting as priest over the land and praying to God for the people of Sodom. Exodus 32-34 has Moses doing the same thing for the people of Israel after they worshipped the golden calf. Samuel stated that he had done the same in 1 Samuel 12:23. Amos prayed for the people when he saw visions of what was to come (Amos 7:1-9). And we see Jeremiah doing the same in Jeremiah 14:7-15:1.
God’s judgment was about to fall upon Sodom. And Abraham pleaded with the Lord on behalf of Sodom. He cared deeply for the people of the land he was to inherit. Abraham did not want to see God’s wrath fall upon Sodom. He knew that God is just and righteous. But he also wanted to see Sodom saved from its doom.
God’s judgment is falling upon our land. He has left us to follow after the lusts of our flesh. As happened with Ephraim, God has left us to the lusts of our flesh (Hosea 4:17). As happened with the blind Pharisees, Jesus has left us to our own devices (Matthew 15:14). As God had permitted nation after nation to go its own way, so God has done with us today (Acts 14:16). God has given us up to the passions of our own flesh and we see that especially clearly during Sodomite Pride and Other Sexual Perversions Month (Romans 1:18-32).
Christian, if Abraham felt this obligation toward Sodom amid judgment oughtn’t we to feel it toward our society as well. We understand that the promises given to Abraham would eventually encompass the entire world (Romans 4:13, Hebrews 11:10). And we, as God’s people will inherit the Earth (Matthew 5:5). And on top of this we understand that we are, as God’s people, a holy nation and a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9-12).
What we see from this text is that we should be in deep and earnest prayer for our society. We should pray as a priest for our wicked society.
Pray Because You Have Pity For The People
Pity is sympathetic sorrow for a sufferer. It is pity that leads us to give money to the person in need. It is pity that leads us to do things like adopt a child. The sympathetic sorrow for another person is the beginning of us helping someone. It is that first inclination to help. And it is pity that we should feel for those people who have completely rejected God’s ways.
Pity is something that we do not have much of today for people who have rejected the Lord. We tend to draw up battle lines and start sifting through our best arguments. There is definitely a place for arguing, I think we need to be making arguments from Scripture concerning the issues at hand today. But we should be doing so from a heart of compassion for the lost. That is what is missing from much of the discussion on this topic today.
We should pity the plight of those that are far from God. Because of their rejection of the Lord, they are living in ways that are so incongruent with the way the world actually exists that it simply will not work. And at root, it seems they know it. It doesn’t matter how many “rights” people create and give to people in rebellion against God, it might be the change in the definition of marriage, it might be abortion, their shrill shrieks will be heard fighting for something else.
But here is the truth, no matter how much they fight, they are not going to find a congruent lifestyle as long as they live in complete rebellion against God and His ways. God has created the world to work a certain way. And those who reject that way will always be shrieking for more. And the sorrow comes to us in that moment. This is where our pity should kick in. Yes, it is annoying to constantly hear the shrieking. But the shrieking is a sign of the pitiable condition they are in.
We share a common humanity and that should draw us in to compassion for them. Surely this was part of Abraham’s pit for these people. He fought for them in Genesis 14. To see people who have lost their way so very far should cause us to have a reaction of pity.
We also share a common dilemma. The root malady that leads a person to complete rebellion against the Lord is a shared one. Where would Abraham had been had God not chosen him and called him out of the land of Ur? Where would you be had the Lord not saved you?
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV)
Those who practice the unrighteousness that we discuss from Sodom and Gomorrah will not inherit the kingdom of God. But where would you be had it not been for God’s saving grace? I’d likely be on that list somewhere.
And that’s the point. God redeemed us. God brought us out of that life. God purchased us and brought us to Himself.
God the Son took on human flesh and dwelt among us. He lived a perfect life on behalf of sinners and died on the cross, bearing God’s wrath for sinners. And all those that turn from ruling their own life and trust in Christ are redeemed. They are brought to God. They have been brought out of darkness and into God’s marvelous light.
Our common dilemma should lead us to pity their plight and desire their salvation.
Our tendency today is to watch television or go into a store and see the celebration of abominations and become an angry and frustrated mess. While there is a place for that, Phinehas is an example of just such a thing. But our normal reaction should be one of pity.
We have pity because people created in God’s image have made a wreck of their lives and mar God’s image incredibly. The drug addict should draw pity from within us because their world has been ruined by their decisions. The same can be said for any number of other sins. Those that are enslaved to sexual immorality are making decision after decision that ruins their life and this should draw pity from within us.
But we also have pity knowing that it could have been the same for us. We could also be going astray. We could just as easily be darkened of mind. We could also be blind to the truth, but God saw fit to save us. He rescued us from that and so we look at our neighbor who is living in complete rebellion against God and pity their plight. So, we pray for them.
Pray According To God’s Revelation Of Himself (Genesis 18:27, 32, 23-25)
What then should the content of these prayers be? Abraham helps us here as well. He prayed according to God’s revelation of Himself. And we should as well.
Pray in a respectful manner. God is holy and is to be treated as such. Abraham goes to the Lord understanding that he is “but dust and ashes” (Genesis 18:27). And he pleads with the Lord but reverently and sincerely hopes and asks that the Lord not be angry with him (Genesis 18:32). Abraham is passionate about what he is praying for, but he is also reverent.
Reverence is something that our society is lacking today. Therefore, the behavior of Abraham seems almost foreign. But God is not like us. He is different, to be honored, and revered. We show that with our bodies and we show that with how we address the Lord.
We also pray according to God’s character. This is seen repeatedly in Abraham’s prayer to the Lord. “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” (Genesis 18:23 ESV). And again we read, “Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it?” (Genesis 18:24 ESV) And again, “Far be it from You to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked!” (Genesis 18:25 ESV) There is an overarching way of appealing to God that Abraham uses here and it is God’s character.
Abraham understood that it would be unjust for God to sweep away the righteous with the wicked. Therefore, he prays for God not to do such a thing.
We do something similar when we pray to the Lord and say, “God, I know that you are a mighty healer. Please heal ____of this illness.” God, we know that you are a mighty Savior, please save_____.” It is asking the Lord to do something that accords with His nature and character.
And we pray according to God’s Word. Because we live in the time we do, there is more revealed about God than Abraham had access to. For instance, Jesus gave us the model prayer that we call the Lord’s Prayer. And when we utter the Lord’s Prayer we pray for the coming of God’s Kingdom. We don’t think of it in that way, but notice what comes at the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer.
“Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9-10 ESV)
We pray for the expansion of God’s Kingdom and for His will to be done here on Earth just like it is in Heaven. And this is not the only place we see such a thing. We see that God has promised that there is coming a day when the whole Earth will be filled with the knowledge of God (Habakkuk 2:14, Isaiah 11:6-9). And we pray for that to come.
We are not petitioning the Lord for something out of our own minds. We are asking Him to fulfill things that He has said will one day come to pass. The earth really will one day be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. There really is coming a day when all people who dwell on Earth will be filled with the knowledge of God.
God has told us that Christ really did come “to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found” as we sing at Christmas time. God really is good. And He really will save the world. So, we pray according to God’s revelation.
We also understand that God is gracious and merciful. And so, we pray for God to save this ruthlessly wicked nation.
Pray A Determined Prayer
We are not dispassionate about the people around us. We are determined to see them join God’s Kingdom. That is what we see with Abraham. Abraham was determined in prayer.
When you put the entire account together, Abraham prays for God to not bring judgment upon the city if there can be found 50 righteous people (Genesis 18:24). Then the number goes from 50 to 45 to 40 to 30 to 20 to 10 (Genesis 18:28-32). Abraham seems determined to plead with the Lord on behalf of the people of Sodom.
Christians are to pray in a determined manner. Jesus told a parable that teaches this quite plainly.
“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”” (Luke 18:1-8 ESV)
Our prayers are not just to be arrows shot up to the Lord. We are to pray in a determined and dogged manner. I believe that is what you see with Abraham concerning Sodom. And we also see this same attitude taught by Jesus in the Parable of the Unjust Judge.
This is not just something you say because you know that you should. It’s not just tacked on to the end of your prayer list. This is a determined prayer because you desire it greatly.
Abraham truly desired the salvation of those of Sodom. And he went to the Lord on their behalf. Now, we know the rest of the story. We know that there were not 10 righteous in all of Sodom and fire from heaven devoured the place. But that does not take away from what Abraham was doing. This place was his inheritance. And he interceded for the people to God. He truly desired the salvation of that place.
Do we truly desire the salvation of our community?
Do we truly desire the salvation of those marching up and down the streets in the Pride Parades? Do we desire for the knowledge of God to fill the world, the street they’re marching down included?
Pray, Work, And Leave The Results To God
Abraham did not know everything there was to know about Sodom, nor do we know all there is to know about America. It is God who is the Judge over all, not mankind. God is also the One who saves, not us.
This matters greatly in what I am going to say next. The LORD and Abraham part ways and that is the end of Abraham’s prayer (Genesis 18:33). But because there were not 10 righteous people in all of Sodom, this is not the end of the story. Sodom would go up in smoke. God’s judgment would soon fall upon both Sodom and Gomorrah.
The fact of the matter we do not know how unrighteous a land is. We don’t have all knowledge, but God does. And He knows. He is the perfect judge and will judge all the Earth rightly and at the right time. God is also the perfect and righteous Savior, who brings salvation.
It is for us to pray for the lost in our country and to pray for laborers (Matthew 9:38). We do this because we know that it is only the Lord that can open blind eyes to see the loveliness of the gospel (John 3:8, Acts 16:14, Philippians 1:29-30, 2 Timothy 2:24-26). That is not something that I am able to do. But I pray that it will happen as I work to deliver the good news to this lost and dying world.
So, we work to share the good news with others. But it’s not done in a manner that is like a used car salesman. We are working faithfully as we leave the results to God. We have been commanded to go with the message of the gospel. We are to go with the message of what Christ has done and make disciples of the nations (Matthew 28:16-20). But we do so understanding that our successes will be granted to us by the Lord because ultimately it is only God that can bring about salvation.
I can preach the gospel. And I should do so.
I can pray for people to come to faith in Christ. And I should do that as well.
I cannot make people come to faith in Christ. God the Holy Spirit must work in the life of a person in order for them to come to faith in Christ. So we pray and live faithfully. And we leave the results to God.
We walk in faith. We pray to the Lord for the salvation of our society. And we leave the results to the Lord.
Ultimately, Lot and his daughters were rescued, but the rest of Sodom and Gomorrah burned.
Conclusion
I believe that saints in year’s past understood this better than we do. I want to end with the example of two Scottish ministers. Both of them were persecuted for their faith Both of them were brave in the face of fierce opposition.
At John Knox’s funeral, legend has it that a man was heard saying, “Here lies a man who neither flattered nor feared any flesh.” Bloody Mary drove him out of Scotland after he wrote a tract entitled, “A Vindication That the Mass Is Idolatry” and he fled to the protection of John Calvin’s Geneva in 1547. He was run out a second time in 1555 by Mary, Queen of Scots. He returned in 1559 where he behaved in the same manner as he did before. He was a courageous pastor, what we call a firebrand. He loved Scotland deeply. Of him, Mary, Queen of Scots would say, “I fear John Knox’s prayers more than all the assembled armies of Europe.” And what was it that Knox most famously prayed for. It was his country. “Give me Scotland, or I die!” He would work and pray for the salvation of his country until he died.
Samuel Rutherford was imprisoned years later, in 1636, for something that he had written. He wrote letter after letter while in prison. And from these letters we get a glimpse of the love that Rutherford had for his country and desire for its redemption. Here are some quotes from those letters.[2]
“Woe, woe, woe is me, for the virgin daughter of Scotland! Woe, woe to the inhabitants of this land! For they are gone back with a perpetual backsliding.” P. 231
“My sorrow is that I cannot get Christ lifted off the dust in Scotland, and set on high, above all the skies, and heaven of heavens.” P. 234
“This is the truth which I now suffer for; for He that sealed it with His blessed presences. I know that Christ shall yet win the day and gain the battle in Scotland. Grace be with you.” P. 175
“Woe is me for the virgin-daughter! Woe is me for the desolation of the virgin-daughter of Scotland! Oh, if my eyes were a fountain of tears to weep day and night for that poor widow-kirk, that poor miserable harlot! Oh, for that cloud of black wrath, and fury of the indignation of the Lord, that is hanging over the land!” p. 165
It seems to me that they understand something that we oftentimes do not. They weren’t just depressed about the condition of their homeland. They desired the redemption of their country, so they prayed and worked toward that end.
They followed the example of Abraham in this text.
Let us do the same.
Where is that attitude from us today? Where is that love and care for a society in judgment?
Lord, give to us Conway. Give to us these United States. We desire for the knowledge of You to spread from this community, to this country, and to the world.
R. Dwain Minor
[1] Walter C. Kaiser Jr., “Mission in the Old Testament: Israel as a Light to the Nations”, Baker Academic, 2000.
[2] Frank E. Gaebelein, “The Letters of Samuel Rutherford”, Moody Press, Chicago, 1951.