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  GENESIS #15 CH. 19-21 SODOM AN GOMORRAH
  by Chuck Missler
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Summary: The study of Genesis chapters 19-21 highlights the importance
of prayer and intercession in preventing judgment, and the need for
revival in a nation that has become complacent and arrogant.

Duration: 1:26:28 Topics: "Gomorrah"

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DESCRIPTION
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The video is a sermon conducted by Chuck Missler on the study of the
book of Genesis, specifically chapters 19 through 21. Before delving
into the study, Missler shares some secular information related to
prophecy. The sermon focuses on the story of Lot and the events
surrounding his encounter with the irrational crowd outside his door.
Missler also references several biblical passages, including Genesis 22
and 24, Romans chapter 4, and Galatians chapter 3, to explore the
question of how Abraham was saved and the significance of faith in
salvation.

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CONTENT
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This is the 15th study in the book of Genesis conducted by Chuck
Missler. The subject of this tape, Genesis chapters 19 through 21.
Before we start the study, I'd like to share with you some secular
information from time to time.

You know, this is after all a course in prophecy, or a study in
prophecy. I shouldn't say course, really just a discussion or
exploration. And our interest in the book of Genesis indeed is as a book
of prophecy.

So our treatment or relationship with the book is perhaps a little
different than some of you who may have studied the book before. And
it's in our interest in prophecy, broadly, that I will from time to time
share with you some things that doesn't necessarily relate to the lesson
at the moment. And as you probably know from time to time, I do receive
a lot of interesting... I'm on a lot of interesting mailing lists, and I
also get some intelligence news wires.

And from time to time we'll share some of those things. But tonight I'm
going to share with you something from one of the most common
periodicals that's available to a businessman. And I think some of you
may know, even though we get into sort of specialized biblical studies,
my background personally, my vocation is as a businessman.

And as a businessman, I should point out to you, the Bible is like
business. It's not what you know, it's who you know. And... Isn't that
cute? Had to work that in.

But most businessmen are... If I was going to share with you something
about prophecy from the Rough Times newsletter, or the Smoot Report, or
any of the half a dozen scare letters, I shouldn't call them that, but
letters that tend to be alarmist by nature, you wouldn't be surprised.
But I have here in front of me something that I'd like to read a little
bit from, which is a publication known as the Kiplinger Washington
Letter. How many of you are familiar with the Kiplinger Letter? Okay,
those of you that are, know that this was started in 1923, and is
probably the most center-of-the-road kind of advisory letter out of
Washington a businessman can subscribe to, to get a sense of trends, get
a sense of thinking.

So before I read the excerpt, I want to set the context that this is not
from some wild-eyed guy carrying a sign on a street corner. This is from
the Austin Kiplinger Washington editors, and I'm going to read from you.
It's a four-page letter, and it's written in a very, very punchy style
that has become famous in the journalistic world before the Kiplinger
style.

But I'm going to read to you the fourth page of the Kiplinger Letter,
dated September 26, 1980, from Washington. And there's a lot of general
first-of-all pages about the recession and costs of borrowing and what's
happening in the Congress and various bills that are significant, the
usual kinds of things they cover very quickly, the stock market and some
other things. But I'd like to read to you, because I think it's
important enough.

I think this is the most important letter I've received in a long time.
And the back page is on the relationship between the Soviet Union and
the United States. And this particular letter, if you're familiar with
some intelligence information, will not surprise you.

What will surprise you is the source of this letter is that this is in
the public domain. First paragraph, top of page, U.S. Relationship,
Relations with Russia. We've written you often in the past about the
buildup of the Soviet military power and the threat it creates.

People used to say that neither country would attack the other. We
wouldn't attack the Soviets, and they wouldn't dare attack us, fearing
that a nuclear holocaust would result, tearing the world apart.
Paragraph.

Now this theory is being challenged, and for a simple reason. The
Soviets don't believe it. Turns out they never did.

We thought they did because we believed it. But the top Soviet leaders
have for years been building an arsenal of sophisticated nuclear weapons
so as to be able to defeat the U.S. by knocking out our nuclear force,
doing it without destroying the U.S. or annihilating our population.
Paragraph.

How do we know this? Russian leaders brag about it frequently. U.S.
military experts are privy to Soviet military reports and teachings.
Furthermore, we know what they have, the basic hardware now in hand, and
still coming off their production lines, an enormous array of weaponry.

Might they attack us? Don't know. Only the Politburo knows, and the top
leaders who obviously won't tip their hands to U.S. officials. All we
know is that they could in a few years if they chose.

They will have the capability, the force, the huge number of weapons,
plus a complete system of defenses, which is rapidly being deployed.
Paragraph. How would they do it? Surprise attack.

Knock out our missiles in the silos, destroy our bombers on the ground
and our subs in port. A carefully coordinated attack on our forces, both
at home and overseas, could suddenly leave us almost naked. They have
our weapons targeted.

Our weapons, not our cities. This is a fact that is widely known. Would
we retaliate with whatever stuff we had left? Maybe and maybe not.

Because, one, we wouldn't have much left. And, two, they would still
have lots of missiles they hadn't fired. Presumably Soviet leaders would
warn us that if we tried to retaliate, they would then destroy our
cities.

So any president would be faced with a terrifying decision, the
alternative being surrender. Remember, this is what could happen. No one
can say it will.

It's a possibility. For the mid-1980s, Soviet build-up plans will be
complete about 1983. Clear nuclear superiority over the U.S. Any way out
of this predicament? Yes, several, but all costly.

We can take Minuteman missiles out of the silos, make them mobile so
they're not easy targets, build more quickly, step up production of
cruise missiles and make them mobile around Russia's periphery, plus
other measures to make our weapons less vulnerable to Soviet attack. But
we must get a move on out with the Soviets, make a strike extremely
difficult and hazardous. Bluffing won't work, nor big talk.

We need to reorder our priorities way beyond any commitments heard so
far from Carter, Reagan, or Anderson. They aren't facing the issue
squarely. There is still time if we roll up our sleeves and get busy.

Yours very truly, the Kiplinger Washington editors. September 26, 1980.
Interesting letter.

Interesting letter because of the influence it carries in the executive
strata of American business. Not a radical paper, not a scare paper, not
one to rattle sabers or what have you. From the Kiplinger Bureau, that's
a startling newsletter, I think.

And I couldn't resist sharing that with you. Very interesting.
Interesting from lots of points of view.

It's interesting if no other point of view than Billy Graham's classic
remark about America, that if God does not judge America, he will have
to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. And there is something you can do.
Obviously, it's not surprising that Kiplinger overlooked.

And that's something to pray for a revival in this country. This country
is used to the arrogance and security of being number one and
invulnerable. We were not touched by a war directly on our shores.

It was something we exported elsewhere. The earth's too small for that.
And we're now facing not only the prospect of it, but we're also facing
an enemy that is more formidable than ourselves from a military point of
view, more aggressive.

And we now have good reason to believe that his intentions are
preemptive. That's a different perspective than I think generally has
been held in policy circles. I think it's valid to pray for this country
for lots of reasons.

I think that pray for a revival because one thing that we're going to
talk about tonight, who are the most important people in the world? Who
are the most important people in the world? No. No. Who are the people
that had to be pulled out of Sodom before the angels could do their
work? The song was cute, but does carry one misleading idea.

A prerequisite condition, we're told in chapter 19, is that Lot had to
get out of there before they could do anything. So we'll get into that,
and we'll get into a little of that. We'll jump into that shortly.

Let's open with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you
this evening in awe. Father, we're just overwhelmed by the awareness
that in your kingdom there are no chances, there are no accidents, there
are no coincidences.

And Father, we know that you have set and appointed time for all things.
And Father, we would just praise you for our redemption in Jesus Christ
that you have made sure on our behalf. We thank you, Father, that you
are able to deliver us from all that would harm us.

Father, we're also conscious that your timetable is in motion as we see
visible evidence of the stage being set for the climax of history. And
Father, we're also conscious that as you tarry, so not willing that any
should perish, Father, we're conscious that you have a ministry for each
and every one of us in this room. And Father, we would just pray that
you would send the Holy Spirit to illuminate that in our understanding,
that you might first of all call us into the kingdom, that we might hear
your call.

And Father, that you would increase an appetite in us for the things in
your word, that you might increase in us an understanding of that
particular role, that particular destiny that you have for each and
every one of us, if we would but hear. Father, we ask all these things
to the glory of and in the name of and in the authority of Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Okay, we're in Genesis. And we got through 18? Did we get through 19
last time? So we did touch on 19 earlier, but we didn't really... We did
finish 18, did we not? More or less? Didn't we get into this
negotiation? Now, this negotiation in chapter 18, this incident is one
of the most famous ones in the Old Testament, this interesting incident
under the oaks of Mamre by Abraham entertaining these three visitors,
two angels and the Lord Jesus Christ, as it's generally regarded. Now,
as the two angels go ahead, go on to their mission, which we'll pick up
in chapter 19, Abraham, of course, enters into this fascinating
discussion starting at verse 23 that I think we covered last time, but
just by way of warm-up and review, in which he, in an ethnically
characteristic way, negotiates.

You know, if there are 50 righteous, Lord, will you spare the city? And
then 45, and 40, then 30, then 20, and just once more, would you believe
10? And he goes through this thing, and, of course, we chuckle because
we cannot but be amused at the chutzpah of Abraham to the Lord, you
know, just pushing his luck, as it were. And it turns out, not said
here, is that he would spare the city not for 10, but for one. And we're
going to see the one.

And what we may miss is that Abraham is in a very important role here, a
very important role. He is in the role of an intercessor. Now, we hear
many, many sermons or studies on intercessory prayer, but I can't recall
one that starts a study of intercession with Abraham in chapter 18, but
that's exactly what he's doing.

Who is he interceding on behalf of? The righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah.
Now, this same idea can be traced through the Old Testament. Israel was
spared at the golden calf thing, not for the sake of Israel, but Moses
who stood in the way.

And just to review that, because I think it might be worth doing, turn
to Exodus chapter 32, and we'll get an interesting insight about prayer
that's often overlooked in studies on prayer. We're looking at Exodus
32. We'll just pick verses 9 and 10.

Verse 10 is what I'm after, but verse 9, And the Lord said unto Moses, I
have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now,
therefore, let me alone, that my wrath may burn against them, that I may
consume them, that I may make of thee a great nation, and I will make of
thee a great nation. Interesting.

And, of course, Moses goes on to pray, but I think it's an interesting,
interesting phrase that the Lord uses in verse 10. Get off my back. Let
me alone.

Now, in case you think I'm making a case of something, turn to Ezekiel
22-30. Ezekiel 22-30. It may shock you to discover there are other
chapters in Ezekiel besides 38 and 39.

Ezekiel 22, the last two verses of the chapter is what I'm interested
in. The Lord is saying, And I sought for a man among them that should
make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I
should not destroy it, but I found none. Therefore have I poured out
mine indignation upon them, I have consumed them with the fire of my
wrath.

Their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord God.
Did Israel deserve God's wrath and judgment on more than one occasion in
the Old Testament? Why didn't he judge them on all those other
occasions? Because there was a man standing in the gap. On this
particular case that's alluded to here, he goes on to judge them.

Why? Were they any more guilty here than before? No, is my suggestion.
Because there was no, he says, he looked, he sought for a man among
them, but I found none. Is it possible the United States may be judged
for the lack of prayer? Is it possible the United States might be facing
judgment not just because she deserves it, because she may have deserved
it from any occasion? But can we appropriate this Scripture to a
ministry of intercessory prayer on behalf of the people of this land? I
think so.

I think so. If the Holy Spirit leads you in that way tonight and or
subsequently, I call you to a prayer, a ministry of intercessory prayer
on behalf of this land. It's a very interesting time to do it.

We're beset by specific enemies with specific objectives. We're also in
an election year. And I'm not here to tell you what to do, but I am
suggesting that there is, it's the kind of thing that God can, is He in
control? Okay, and His judgment is better than ours.

And I commend that to you as a point of prayer, because Nebuchadnezzar,
in the words of Nebuchadnezzar himself, he learned some interesting
lessons in Daniel chapter 4 as to who sets up kings and who brings them
down. And I submit to you that God is in control and I urge you, with
all the influence I might wield, to consider that very heavily in terms
of intercession on behalf of not just a specific person, although I
don't disparage that, or even a city, but I'm going to suggest on behalf
of our land. Okay.

Now, we're going to see just how significant this intercession is in
chapter 19, but while I'm here, I'd like you to look ahead to verse 22
of chapter 19. We're back in Genesis, I'm sorry. In many respects, your
most important verse as a student of prophecy is verse 22 of chapter 19.

The angels are speaking to Lot and they're saying, Haste, escape thee.
Escape here. Haste thee, escape there.

For I cannot do anything till thou be come there. I underlined that and
I circled the word till. I think it's a very interesting word.

It's a prerequisite condition for the angels to do their thing, for Lot
to be out of there. It is not a situation where, gee, Lot, because
you're his nephew or because of this or because of that, we're trying to
do you a favor and give you a tip. By the way, it's going to get pretty
rough here.

Get out while you can. More than that, it can't happen until you get out
of here. We've got to get you out of here.

To make my point, I'll exaggerate a little bit and say that they don't
care about Lot. They want to get the job done. That's not fair, but you
follow what I'm trying to say? Let's jump into chapter 19.

That is where we are. We were picking it up, right? Chapter 19, verse 1,
And there came two angels to Sodom at evening, and Lot sat in the gate
of Sodom, and Lot, seeing them, rose up to meet them, and he bowed
himself with his face toward the ground. That's interesting how much
insight Lot had as to who he was facing is something that is open to
speculation.

Was he just being hospitable to two obviously significant strangers, or
did he recognize something supernatural in their demeanor? We don't
know. I don't think we know. Maybe you can glean from the text an
insight into that.

I don't think we really know, but he obviously treats them with
substantial respect. We have a probable reference to this whole scene in
the New Testament where we're told that many have entertained angels
unawares, and if that passage refers to this incident, then we can infer
that Lot may not have fully appreciated what he had on his hands until
later. But in any case, that's speculation.

Let's move on. Verse 2, And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I
pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your
feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go your ways. And they said, Nay,
we will abide in this street all night.

And of course, Lot realized Manhattan is no place for that sort of
thing. And he pressed upon them greatly, and they turned in unto him,
and entered into his house, and he made them a feast, and did bake
unleavened bread, and they did eat. But before they lay down, the men of
the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and
young, all the people from every quarter.

Notice the broad strata that's emphasized in the text here. It isn't
just a fringe group that happened to be kind of an obnoxious minority
that are going to create the problem here. It's from every quarter, old
and young.

That's awesome when you realize, as you probably know, what's coming.
And they called upon Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men who came
in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him.

Now, somehow, the word's gotten around there's some strangers in town,
and that's drawn a crowd, a crowd with a pretty unseemly objective. And
he said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Lot knew exactly what
may be masked somewhat in our polite King James.

He knew exactly what was up, and he was offended on behalf of the
strangers. We note both here and in chapter 18 the beginning of a
tradition that's prevalent among Abraham and Lot, and honored especially
by the Arab world to even this day, a concept of hospitality of the
stranger that is so deep as to be awesome. That concept is rooted in
that culture so deep that it's, until you've experienced it, you can't
begin to understand what kind of protection you enjoy as a stranger
under the roof of a proper Bedouin, or whomever, several others.

Anyway, so Lot goes out there and he doesn't want, you know, these
strangers are under his protection. Now the extent to which Lot goes is
rather staggering. Listen on.

Behold now, verse 8, I have two daughters who have not known man. Let
me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in
your eyes. Only unto these men do nothing, for therefore came they under
the shadow of my roof.

Now note, by the way, now that they didn't seek shelter under Lot's
roof, he insisted they stay there. And they accepted his hospitality.
And he feels bound to protect them.

How much insight he had as to who they were is enigmatic at this point.
But the extremes of all, the alternatives that Lot proposed is really
beyond our comprehension. I don't think we have any insight into the
interpersonal situation here.

We have no real insight into the cultural background, we have no real
insight into Lot's condition. We can, it's very, very easy for us to
sort of stand aloof self-righteously and be pretty tough on Lot. Very
easy to do.

We forget that Peter, as we look at shortly in chapter 2, calls Lot a
righteous man, vexed and grieved over the unrighteous around him. Now,
on the one hand, and that's going to be important to his inner study
before we're through, so I'll make that point now, but secondly, at the
same time, we can also very validly ask, what was Lot doing there in the
first place? Can you dwell safely in Sodom or Gomorrah as a child of
God? It's a very, it's a question the text raises not too subtly and
leaves us to answer. We are called to a life of separation from the
world.

And Lot set his tents towards the plain, then towards the city, and not
only was he in the city, he was an alderman. He sat in the gate, we are
told. So he was one of the council.

He was one of the men of respect within the city. In fact, you can sense
that here in the study because he can go outside and lock the door
behind him and deal with this crowd. Doesn't sound like it would be a
safe move in view of the circumstances, but Lot apparently can.

He's not without influence. Now he offers them his virgin daughters. Now
we don't, there are some indications that the daughters were married as
an apparent, you'd want to think there's a contradiction, but they had
not known man yet we know verse 8 in any case.

But they, the crowd incidentally, which even further bewildering, turns
them down. Verse 9, they said, stand back. They said again, this one
fellow came into sojourn and he will needs be a judge, now will we deal
worse with thee than with them.

And they pressed hard against the man, even Lot, and came near to break
the door. So Lot's in trouble. If you're doing this as a play or a
movie, you can think of many, many similar kinds of scenes where you've
got, you know, the hanging party outside and someone trying to stave off
the irrational crowd and how futile it is.

You can think of many, many places where this kind of a thing has been
dealt, obviously perhaps, with less, less unseemly objectives, but
nevertheless, that the image, you can quickly get a, a mood of the
thing. And what breaks it, of course, is the intervention of Lot's two
guests. Verse 10, but the men put forth their hand and pulled, now the
men here is the men in the house.

The men put forth their hand and pulled Lot into the house to them and
shut the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house
with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to
find the door. And by the way, that phrase really bothers me.

You can sort of, in your imagination, probably assume that you've got
these creeps crowded around as part of their, you know, cultural
situation. They're pretty, pretty gross bunch. You can also see them
press, perhaps in your imagination, press their point with Lot.

But when they're collectively struck with blindness, you would think
that that would put them into disarray. You'd think that they'd figure
something's up and they'd split the scene. Notice what that says, as
they wearied themselves to find the door.

I used to just figure well that broke it up and went on, but in trying,
in getting at this closer for the lesson, that really hit me. Because
even blinded by some unexplainable blindness, they're trying to find the
door to get in there. Awesome.

Just awesome. I suppose you could make a big study about the occultic
undertones of all of this, but I won't take the time tonight. Verse 11,
and they smote them in, oh that's verse 12.

And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? Meaning, you
know, besides your household. How many are you? Who else is here? Son-
in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in
this city, bring them out of this place. I wonder if this is asking Lot
not only who in his family are under his covering, if you will.

I wonder if this verse is asking him for an inventory of fruit. Isn't it
interesting, be it that you're Lot, and be it that you're here in this
unseemly place in the first place. Isn't it rather illuminating to
realize that Lot had no, zero fruit? Well, we're going to go in there
and we're going to convert him.

I don't know that you do that. Abraham didn't. Abraham didn't.

He separated himself. And the four kings raided the five kings. It
wasn't until Lot was taken captive that he takes his trained army that
was ready at hand, already trained, interesting thing, and sends them
after.

And frees Lot and so forth. It's interesting that Lot here, dwelling in
Sodom, apparently has no fruit. I think that's very interesting.

Then said unto Lot, Hast thou any of his sides, according to your son-
in-law, thy sons, thy daughters, whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring
them out of this place, for we will destroy this place, because the cry
of them has become great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord hath
sent us to destroy it. Up till now, you would think that was just a
warning. Hey, because you're sort of, you've got a relationship through
Abraham or yourself or whatever, we're tipping you off.

It's far more significant than that. As we have pointed out, we'll point
out more before we go. And I'm going to submit to you that the most
important people in Sodom and Gomorrah is Lot and his family.

In fact, people in that category are so important that they were the
subject of Abraham's intercession with the Lord. Whether they're 50, or
45, or 40, 30, 20, 10, or one, in his household. Most important people
in the earth right now.

Include the people in this room. As Luke will tell us in chapter 17, and
2 Peter develops in chapter 2. But let's move on before we jump into
that and get the sense of this. Verse 14, And Lot went out and spoke
unto his sons-in-law, who married his daughters, and said, Up, get you
out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city.

But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. In other words,
the sons-in-law were not impressed. They somehow didn't think he was
with them.

Verse 15, And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot,
saying, Arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters, which are here, lest
thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the
men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the
hand of his two daughters. And the Lord being merciful unto him, and
they brought him forth and sent him outside, set him outside of the
city.

Notice that even now he's virtually forced out. Isn't it interesting how
difficult it is to separate ourselves from the world, even under these
circumstances? Leave Los Angeles tonight. We're going to be bombed.

Oh, but gee, I've got to. And you have your long list, right? Where do
you think you've got to split? Because it's 11.15 tonight or whatever,
you know. Yes, but separation's difficult.

Here, in this case, they take the hand and they drag them out of there.
Verse 17. It came to pass when they had brought them forth abroad that
he said, Escape for thy life.

Look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain. Escape to the
mountain lest thou be consumed. They instruct him to go to the hills.

He negotiates a compromise, which they reluctantly agree to. But they're
called to the mountain. They read he wants to go to the Zora, and he
later on hides in a cave, but it's a real bad scene.

But their first instruction is to escape to the mountain lest thou be
consumed. Verse 18. Lot said to them, Oh, not so, my lord.

Can you get over this guy? Not so, my lord. It's funny how we look at
Lot and laugh, and yet don't we do the same thing? Gee, Lord, call me in
the ministry as long as it's a neat place. Hawaii.

Or whatever. Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and
thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shown unto me in saving
my life. And I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil overtake me
and I die.

Verse 20. Behold now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little
one. In other words, he doesn't want to leave town.

There's something about the big city life. So I don't want to go out on
the sticks. Here's a little town.

At least it's a town, Lord. This city is near to flee to. It's not far
away.

It's a little one. Oh, let me escape there. Is it not a little one? The
Holy Spirit's emphasizing that for some reason.

And my soul shall live. He said unto him, See, I have accepted thee
concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city for
which thou hast spoken. The town of Zohar.

So they exempt the Zohar from the judgment and let him go there.
Interesting. Now, a lot later finds it kind of weird to be in this town
surrounded by ash heaps and things, and he splits there later too.

But notice what happened here is the angels reluctantly allowed him
this, right? He said, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing
also, that I will not overthrow this city. What's implied is that
otherwise they were going to. There's a whole group of cities on the
plain.

Five of them, I believe. Sodom and Gomorrah are the two main ones. And I
will not overthrow this city for which thou hast spoken.

In other words, by lot going there it was spared. Because they were less
sinful than Sodom and Gomorrah? No. No evidence of that.

Might have been. We don't have any evidence of that. They're spared
because lot was there.

Now, what makes this so important to us is that the Lord Jesus Christ in
Luke 17 sets up lot as a significant thing to study relative to the end
times. We want to try to understand what was going on here as best we
can. And verse 22 as we covered, Hastily I escaped there, for I cannot
do anything till thou become there.

Therefore, the name of the city is called Zor. Which is a word at least
one root. The root of the thing implies it just means little.

Some of these city names we're not 100% sure because there's several.
We're really dealing with etymological roots and it's capable of
alternate renderings. But Zor probably means small from the previous
dialogue.

Verse 23 And the sun was risen upon the earth when lot entered into Zor.
In other words, all this occurred overnight, now we're at morning and
it's actually, the sun's up, it's really daylight. Then the Lord reigned
upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of
heaven.

And he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants
of the cities and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife, that is
Lot's wife, looked back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt.
And scholars, some scholars point out there are some subtle linguistic
issues here but they're very technical and to me not that convincing.

I think most reputable scholars take this stress literally. She became a
pillar of salt. And the Lord Jesus Christ in Luke 17, when we get into
that, is going to tell you after his whole rendering, remember Lot's
wife.

So whether it's literal salt or some other thing, she obviously got
wiped out by looking back. You don't look back, you move. Remember what
Luke 9, 62 says.

No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the
kingdom of God. Strange thing. Wonder what the Lord meant in Luke 9.
I'll let you, that's your homework assignment for this week.

And there will be a quiz. Okay. Verse 27, Abraham got up early in the
morning to the place where he stood before the Lord and he looked toward
Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain and beheld and
lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God
remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when
he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt. And Lot went up out of Zor
and dwelt in the mountain and his two daughters with him for he feared
to dwell in Zor. Some people are slow learners, you know.

And he dwelt in a cave he and his two daughters. And the firstborn said
to the younger, Our father is old and there is not a man in the earth to
come into us after the manner of all the earth. Come, let us make our
father drink wine and we will lie with him that we may preserve seed of
our father.

And they made their father drink wine that night and the firstborn went
and lay with the father and he perceived not when she lay down or when
she arose. And it came to pass the next day that the firstborn said to
the younger, Behold, I lay with last night with my father. Let us make
him drink wine this night also and go thou in and lie with him that we
may preserve seed of our father.

And they made their father drink wine that night also and the younger
arose and lay with him and he perceived not when she lay down or when
she arose. Thus were both of the daughters of Lot with child by the
father. An unseemly conclusion to the story of Lot because we're going
to hear no more of him later from this point on.

What's also interesting, verse 37-38, the firstborn bore a son and
called his name Moab. And the same as the father of the Moabites until
this day. The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ami which
is the same as the father of the children of Ammon.

The Ammonites and the Moabites come from this offspring. Now if you take
Ishmael who we've talked about already as the offseed of Abraham and you
take Esau who we will come to shortly and the porridge and all of that
from which we get the Edomites. Edom meaning red, Edomites.

Got Ishmael, Edom and you have the Moabites and the Ammonites. Those
four account for that group of tribes and ethnic cross-breeding that we
today think of as the Arab community. And the rise of Islam and so
forth.

We're going to discover that Moab and Ammon are obviously the hinderers
if you will of Israel's progress in their transition. We're going to
come across the Moabites and the Ammonites all through the Old Testament
and the Edomites. And we're also going to discover that the Ammonites,
the Moabites and the Edomites are the one area of the world that the
Antichrist does not control.

Is that interesting? If you study Daniel you'll discover that they are
not for some reasons unexplained that when it describes the terrain
under political control of that person that we incorrectly call the
Antichrist that it excludes Ammon, Moab and Edom. And that's why Israel
flees, the faithful, the remnant flees Jerusalem when it's under attack
to Petra which is the Greek name or Basra in terms of the Hebrew name
which is in Edom. Because that turf is not under the Antichrist's
control for reasons we don't know.

And so I think it's awfully interesting today to see that we're studying
here Melchizedek and Salem, Jerusalem, the city that David sets up as
the capital of Israel. We find Zechariah warns us at the end time that
all the world will go to war over what? Over Jerusalem. What's happening
today? The state of Israel is trying to make Jerusalem the capital.

And all the world is upset about it. Before the smoke clears the U.S.
will be also even more vigorous. It's very interesting to see this all
sort of take shape.

And it makes the study of Genesis quite timely. Now we can't leave the
study of chapter 19 without taking, and some of this is reviewed because
I think we've covered some of this before, but for the sake of being
complete and we have some new people, let's turn to Luke 17. Let's turn
to Luke 17.

And we're going to be interested in verses, well we'll start about verse
26. The Lord is talking about His second coming, starting with about
verse 22. And He makes an interesting remark, verse 26, As it was in the
days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man.

They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in
marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark. The flood came and
destroyed them all. Also, phase 2, also, As it was in the days of Lot,
they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they
built.

The same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone
from heaven and destroyed them all. Very interesting thing. First of
all, don't misunderstand.

We know that the time of Noah was very sinful. We have the whole sons of
God and daughters of men thing. Here we have, but notice they did eat,
they drank, verse 27, and they married wives.

Why? Anything wrong with eating and drinking? Married wives. Fine. It's
sanctioned.

Marriage is sanctioned by the Lord. That sounds fine. Nothing
intrinsically wrong with that.

What he's really saying is business as usual. They went about their
normal business until the day that Noah went in the ark. Okay? The flood
came and destroyed them all, verse 28.

And in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they
sold, they planted, they built. Anything wrong with planting or
building, buying, selling? No. Uh-uh.

Not intrinsically. No. Business as usual.

But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and
brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus it shall be in
the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day let him that shall
be upon the housetop and his stuff in the house not come down to take it
away.

Let him also that is in the field not return. Remember Lot's wife.
Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it.

Whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you in that
night there shall be two men in one bed. The one shall be taken and the
other shall be left.

Two women shall be grinding together. The one shall be taken and the
other left. Two men shall be in the field.

The one shall be taken and the other left. And he answered them, Where,
Lord? He said unto them, Wherever the body is, there will the eagles be
gathered together. That is a verse that has everybody scratching their
heads.

Now many people, first of all let's talk about these three groups of
people. There is a duet in each case. There are two men in one bed.

It says in that night. So it is night time they are sleeping in one bed,
right? Two women are grinding together. When did women grind? In the
morning before breakfast.

They ground the meal for the day. That was the early morning chore,
standard routine. When did two men work in the field during the day? So
we have night, morning, and say noon, all in the twinkling of an eye, in
a moment.

It is kind of interesting. It is evidence that the Lord had a round
world concept. You want the round world described two thousand years
ago? Here is one example.

That is if you didn't read Isaiah chapter 40 which speaks of the severe
of the earth hung upon nothing and so forth. Certainly the Lord Jesus
Christ had no cosmological problem here. Verse 37 is a strange one
because many people try to teach that they think of these eagles.

You think of all these passages like in Ezekiel 38 and elsewhere where
after a battle the birds are called upon to feast upon the bodies. That
is what this sounds like except the trouble is eagles are not birds of
prey. I mean birds of carrion.

They don't do that after a battle. Buzzards do, vultures do, eagles
don't. Also in the book of Revelation where you sometimes have angels,
the word is aetos not angelos.

It means eagles not angels. The eagle is used in the book of Revelation
as a special type of messenger. So where the body is there will the
eagles be gathered together.

Some people teach and I'm drawn to this although it has problems is that
the body here is the body of Christ and that's where the eagles are
gathered together. So that's an interesting passage. One other thing I'd
like to move on to is take 2 Peter chapter 2. As long as we're talking
about a lot.

I always panic because I look at 1 Peter 2 and I realize there's
something wrong I realize that wasn't what I was looking for. 2 Peter 2
and I'm looking for verses 7, 8 and 9. Peter tells us verse 7. Let's
pick it up verse 6. It would be like turning the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah into ashes he condemned them with an overthrow making them an
example unto those that after should live ungodly and delivered just
lot. In other words lot was justified.

We're going to see in the next verse. Well, just lot vexed with the
filthy manner of life of the wicked for that righteous man dwelling
among them. Now, does that mean that lot was sinless or without blemish?
No.

It means he was justified. So whose righteousness did God ascribe to
lot? Only one righteousness it is ascribable to any of us. The
righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Lot was justified. As far as God was concerned, he was just. That is
subject of justification.

And it describes here Peter talks about lot as a righteous man. Did he
earn that righteousness? No. Got the same way Abraham did by faith.

Now, was lot walking in the spirit? Was he in fellowship? I don't think
so. Not after that negotiation where these angels have to drag him out
of there. What kind of fruit did he have? We can inspect that.

What kind of attitude did he have in terms of the leading of the Lord?
Et cetera. Now, this is an interesting passage because there are those
that like to feel, there are groups that when they get into studies of
the rapture and so forth that teach all kinds of interesting things. And
what I personally infer from this passage is that you're saved or you're
not saved and if you're saved you're in the rapture.

And I would hang, not entirely on this, but I think I could hang my case
on the case of Lot and the use of this example by Jesus Christ in Luke
17, the description of Lot by 2 Peter, and the actuality of Lot is
recorded in Genesis 19. Does that mean you shouldn't aspire to a higher
spiritual level than just what we sometimes call a carnal Christian?
Hardly. But I think at the same time I don't think, I personally don't
sense, I don't see that as, I don't disparage carnal Christianity for
the lack of security vis-à-vis the rapture.

There's lots of other things to attack, not that one, because of this
passage. In my opinion, I may be very wrong. And fortunately I'm
challenging you to do your own homework so I'll hide behind that.

Notice Lot is recorded here by Peter as being vexed with a filthy manner
of life of the wicked. Lot must have had a pretty miserable time. I
think Lot had a pretty, a much more miserable time than Abraham did
because Abraham knew he was called to a life of separation.

And Lot decided to live in Sodom and I suspect that was a more anxious,
vexing, troubled time than Abraham who dwelt out on the, you know, on
his own. You might think about that for what it's worth. Righteous man
dwelling among them and seeing and hearing vexes righteous soul from day
to day and from their unlawful deeds.

Now notice it's in this context that the Lord gives us verse nine which
is the whole issue of Genesis 18 and 19 and I believe the reason the
Lord Jesus Christ makes reverence to Lot in Luke 17. It's because of
verse nine. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations
and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.

Can the Lord make the separation you betcha? And a precondition for the
judgment in chapter 19 was Lot getting out of there in verse 22. So I
think we've hammered away at that enough. Let's move forward.

We are now in verse 20. You know, again, we think of Abraham as the
father of the faithful. He's a pretty good guy, never makes mistakes.

You won't believe verse chapter 20. We study Abraham's con game with the
pharaoh of Egypt. And this mess that he got into, passing off Sarah as
his sister, right? You figure, well, the guy blew it.

I mean, it's bad news. You'd think he'd learn. Chapter 20 will convince
you more than anything that Abraham is indeed the father of us all.

Chapter 20, verse one, meaning we're slow learners too perhaps. Chapter
20, verse one. Abraham journeyed from there toward the Negev and dwelt
between Kadesh and Shur and Sojourn and Gerar.

And Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, she is my sister. And Abimelech,
the king of Gerar, which incidentally is analogous, I believe, to the
general area of the Philistines, sent and took Sarah. But God came to
Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, Behold thou art but a
dead man.

That's God the father talking like the godfather perhaps. Behold, thou
art but a dead man. For the woman that thou has taken, for she is a
man's wife.

And Abimelech said had not come near her. And he said, Lord, wilt thou
slay also a righteous nation? Said he, Not unto me. She is my sister.

And she, even she herself, said he is my brother. In the integrity of my
heart and the innocency of my hands have I done this. You can't help but
sigh to Abimelech.

Just because he was a Gentile unsaved king doesn't mean he didn't have
ethics and morals and tried to go handle it straight. You can't help but
simply be sympathetic with this guy. Verse 6, Lord God said unto him in
a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart,
for I also withheld thee from sinning against who? Me.

Therefore allowed I thee not to touch her. You know, it's very, very
interesting when we study the case of David and Bathsheba. His sin
against Bathsheba.

His sin against Uriah, not only by violating his wife but having him
killed. And that whole scene. His sin against the nation in dishonoring
the dignity of the office of the king.

You can make a long list. But when David repents and you hear his psalm
of repentance in Psalm 51, what can he say? Lord, against thee and thee
only have I sinned. Does that mean he didn't sin against these other
people? Sure he did, but he was so overwhelmed by the fact that his real
sin was against the Lord.

It's interesting that the Lord deals with adultery that way. And here,
in this case, the Lord himself intervenes. Now, from our study of
Revelation 12, sorry for giving you the clue here, what's really going
on with Abimelech? What's Satan really trying to do? He's trying to
corrupt the line, the same thing he did with Pharaoh.

A hand of Satan is on this, but the Lord is, you know, in control. The
Lord is still in control. And this plot by Satan, which I'm sure
Abimelech was not aware of, but nevertheless an instrument of, is
thwarted.

Because the Lord indicates he himself intervened to keep Sarah's womb
pure for the destiny that he had for it. Verse 7, Now therefore restore
the man his wife, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee. Can
you get over this? Can you see the Lord justify and raise his own?
Abraham ought to be chastised for this behavior.

Because he is the one that really brought this all about. What does the
Lord say to Abimelech? Restore the man his wife, for he is a prophet,
and he shall pray for thee. And he shall pray And thou shalt live.

And if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die. Thou
and all that are thine. This is known as explaining it more clearly.

Verse 8, Therefore Abimelech arose early in the morning, called all his
servants, told all these things in their ears, and the men were very
much afraid. Understandably. Verse 9, Abimelech arose Abimelech called
Abraham and said, What hast thou done unto us? And what have I offended
thee that thou hast brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? Thou hast
done deeds unto me that ought not to have been done, to be done.

And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What didst thou have in view that thou
hast done this thing? And Abraham said, Because I thought surely the
fear of God is not in this place, and they will slay me for my wife's
sake. And yet, indeed, she is my sister, for she is the daughter of my
father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. In
other words, he's explaining that it's really only a half lie.

Or half truth, if you will. In other words, she was indeed his half
sister. Verse 13, And it came to pass when God caused me to wander from
my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou
shalt show unto me at every place to which we shall come.

Say of me, He is my brother. Notice, this is all an unfolding of a
scheme that Abraham cooked up with Sarah at the Ur of the Chaldees. A
long time ago.

Incidentally, as just an aside, the word wander there occurs 50 times in
the Old Testament, always negatively. It really means to stumble or to
err. It's to wander, the way a drunk does when he's in a stupor and
doesn't know where he's going.

In other words, it's to be, you know, lost somewhere. So in the
linguistics, there's interesting pun being unfolded here. Anyway, verse
14.

And Abimelech took sheep and oxen and men's servants and women's
servants and gave them to Abraham and restored him Sarah his wife. This
is known as heaping coals on another's head. Abimelech is, who has the
right to be pretty upset with Abraham, gives him gifts.

Verse 15. And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee. Dwell
where it pleaseth thee.

And to Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces
of silver. Behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes unto all that
are with thee and all the others. Thus she was reproved.

What he's saying is here's some money. Go buy a veil. That's right, by
the way.

Interesting. Verse 17. So Abraham prayed unto God and God healed
Abimelech and his wife and his maid servants and they bore children.

That gives us a clue as to part of the problem. One of the ways the Lord
got his attention was the barrenness. The Lord had completely closed all
the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah Abraham's wife.

Interesting, isn't it? Now, I'll tell you what's also interesting here
that's sort of perhaps tucked away behind the whole scene. Recognize
that Abraham, first of all, it is a disparaging commentary on Abraham's
faithfulness that here he goes through this whole scene again. That same
thing we talked about back in I forgot now which chapter it was, back
here in the chapter what was it, 14 or? Twelve.

Twelve, yeah. Okay, good. Chapter 12.

Sounds right. Anyway, same repetition of the whole thing again. There's
something else here.

An incredible comment on the faithfulness of God. Obviously because the
Lord backs Abraham, covers him, takes care of him, and Abraham, you
know, actually, interestingly enough, gets blessed by the thing because
he ends up with these gifts from Abimelech. But there's another thing
about this that I think is absolutely fascinating on how the Lord
performs.

Abraham and Sarah were in what condition in terms of age and
childbearing? Old. In fact, in Romans 4, which we're going to look at
shortly, it mentions that the womb was as if dead. They were old, they
were beyond the age of childbearing, and we have the promises that we're
going to explore shortly as we get into this whole Isaac thing in three
or four different places prior, including chapter 18 where it's
reconfirmed again in Sarah's hearing.

Abraham had the promise of God that Sarah was to have a son. Sarah
hears, Abraham laughs when he first hears it, Sarah laughs when she
overhears it in the tent by the oaks of Mammon. Isn't it, you know, it
isn't as if God simply let an exception occur and let Isaac be born.

We sometimes fall into that trap. You figure, okay, there's Abraham
beyond the years and Sarah's beyond the years and the Lord says, hey,
don't worry about it, we're going to have something very special occur
and Sarah's going to have a baby, his name's going to be Isaac. And
there's a tendency for us to infer that that was sort of a very, very
unique exception.

I suggest to you the record records the contrary, namely, that Sarah was
transformed, maybe gradually, maybe overnight, but Sarah is so
transformed in preparation for chapter 21 that she becomes the object of
a plot between Abraham and Abimelech. She was desirable. Abimelech
wanted her for the harem.

That's interesting, isn't it? Let's talk about Abraham. He was beyond
the age of childbearing. He obviously had Isaac.

We're going to find that out lately. Do you realize that at the age of
140, after Sarah dies, he marries again and has six more sons and who
knows how many daughters? Isn't that interesting? And I personally think
it's fair to look to that, to recognize that God doesn't mess around.
When he says he's going to restore them to bearing, he doesn't do it
just for Isaac.

He really restores them physically in an extremely dramatic way. And the
text gives evidence of that. Okay, this is probably a good time to jump
in and take a look at chapter 21.

That'll put us in a good position for my favorite chapter next week,
chapter 22. It's my favorite chapter in the scripture, probably bar
none. But let's get 21 because this all ties together.

Chapter 21, verse 1. The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord
did unto Sarah as he had spoken. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a
son in his old age at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And
Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah
bore to him, Isaac.

And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old, as God had
commanded him. And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac
was born unto him. A hundred years old.

Isn't that wild? And Sarah said, God hath made me laugh, so that all
that hear will laugh with me. And she said, who would have said to
Abraham that Sarah would have nursed children, for I have born him a son
in his old age? Meaning Abraham's old age. And the child grew and was
weaned, and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was
weaned.

And Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, whom she had born unto
Abraham, mocking. Therefore she said unto Abraham, cast out this
bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir
with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in
Abraham's sight, because of his son.

God said unto Abraham, let it not be grievous in thy sight, because of
the lad, because of thy bondwoman, in all that Sarah hath said unto
thee, hearken unto her voice, for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
Now, previously, when Abraham listened to his wife, he got into trouble.
When he listened to Sarah, vis-à-vis Hagar, bad news, he shouldn't have
done that.

And if your husband gals quotes that often, that he's not supposed to
listen to his wife, turn quickly to chapter 21, where the Lord tells
Abraham to listen to his wife. Okay? And of course, what that tells you
is you can't consistently apply either doctrine. But I went on by, all
right.

In Isaac shall thy seed be called. Very important phrase. Very important
phrase.

And we'll come back to that. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I
make a nation because he is thy seed. And Abraham rose up early in the
morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting
it on her shoulder, and gave her the child and sent her away, and she
departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

Beersheba means the well of the covenant, or it can mean the seven
wells. Sheba can mean either thing. Seven are the covenant.

And Beersheba, and the covenant is incidentally not one but seven wells
that Beersheba discovered. The water was spent in the skin and she cast
the child under one of the shrubs and she went and sat down apart from
him a good way off as it were a bow shot, and she said let me not see
the death of the child. In other words, she's desperate.

She thinks they're both going to die. She doesn't want to watch it so
she splits up. And she sat apart from him and lifted up her voice and
wept.

And God heard the voice of the lad and the angel of God called to Hagar
out of heaven and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not, for
God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad,
and hold him in thine hand, for I will make him a great nation. And God
opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.

And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad drink. And
God was with the lad and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became
an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran and his mother took
him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

A wife out of the land of Egypt. Very interesting. He's an archer.

One of the interesting archers that we all like to study is in
Revelation chapter 6 verse 1 and 2. So I'll leave you with that one to
wrestle with that to see if there's something there that you find
interesting. Now, we are just witnessing here in the scripture one of
the most important key steps of the Lord. Very key step in his plan.

His concept as a father is to call a people of his own. People of the
covenant. Call them separate.

He calls them separate because they are to be the custodians of the
oracles, of the prophets. They'll have custodianship, if you will, of
the work of the Holy Spirit. And they'll also be the channel through
which the Messiah, the Son, will make his appearance.

This whole scene of Isaac occurs probably something on the order of 30
years after the call out of the Ur of the Chaldees referenced in Genesis
chapter 12. We had a promise of the seed originally in Genesis 13 and
then reconfirmed in Genesis 15 that he will have an heir for his house
and then developed further in chapter 17 as a matter of fact. This is 13
years after Ishmael and I think we covered that 13 implication in the
several lessons we could draw in the time short.

I'll just go over it quickly. We first of all discover from all of this
God is in no hurry. We're always in a hurry.

God is not. His timing is perfect. He's not in a hurry here and he's not
in a hurry with the rapture because he's not willing that any should
perish.

And if you don't believe me, read Isaiah 28, 16, that he that believeth
shall not make haste. So I'll leave that with you and it's probably a
lesson I should write on my bathroom mirror to remember because that
seems I'm always ineffective at applying that if at all. The second item
would be it's interesting this whole thing is a testimony to God's
almightiness that Sarah's barrenness is addressed and not only
transformed for Isaac's sake but enough so that she becomes a problem
for Abraham vis-a-vis Abimelech.

I think that's provocative we've covered that. The second reference on
Sarah regarding Jeremiah 32, 17 for your notes but let's keep moving
because we're short of time. In terms of God's faithfulness it's
interesting that Sarah shall have a son.

God promised that. It wasn't an adopted son out of the Ishmael approach,
it was a direct son. May the Lord deliver us from our attempts to help
God do his plan.

That's what Ishmael was all about and I think we covered that before.
And Abraham, in terms of God's faithfulness it's not just Isaac but the
sense that Abraham is now virile and at the age of 140 in Genesis.
Chapter 25, first two verses you'll find a list of his six sons by his
wife that succeeds Sarah who dies in chapter 23 I believe.

We probably should, even though we're under some time pressure as we're
getting close to the end of the period, let's turn to Romans chapter 4
because Galatians 3 and Romans 4 is required reading for next week's
lesson. Galatians 3 and Romans 4. We're in Romans 4 now and there's a
lot of comments in Romans chapter 4 about Abraham that I really would
like you to try and digest before next week. It's in verse 11 that he's
called the father of all them that believe and there's much here but in
the interest of time let's just pop down to verses 19 and 20.

Pick up maybe verse 18. Who against hope believed and hoped that he
might be a father of many nations being according to that which was
spoken, so shall I seed be. Verse 19.

And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body, now dead,
but he was about a hundred years old. Neither yet, he was considered not
his own body, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. They were both
dead.

Right? In terms of their ability to bear life. And we have the Holy
Spirit operating here and you have the idea in terms of the doctrine of
the regeneration of the believer. He staggered, verse 20, he staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but he was strong in faith
giving glory to God.

And being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to
perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now, it
was Abraham's belief relevant to Isaac that was critical.

He believed the Lord in chapter 12 when he left the oracalities, or in
fact left Haran to get to the promised land. He believed the Lord. But
his belief that was imputed for him for righteousness, that Genesis 15,
6 makes reference to, has to do with Isaac.

We'll develop more of that next time. Okay. Something else we're
conscious of here, and we're going to be conscious of all through the
scripture, is that all these things are done on the set time.

There are no chances, no coincidences, no accidents in God's plans.
Nothing is contingent. And we see that here emphasized in verse 2. We
had at the set time that it comes up.

And we see that same when you reference Genesis 17, 21 and Genesis 18,
14. You can tie that together. And for those of you that have time to
dig into this same idea, you can look at Habakkuk 2, 3 and Galatians 4,
4 as other passages.

Isaac is the child of promise. More is said about Isaac's birth than any
other birth in the Bible except Jesus Christ. The birth of Isaac is
very, very relevant to us to our understanding of the scripture.

It's interesting that both Abraham in chapter 17, verse 17 laughed, and
also Sarah did in chapter 18, 10. And you can take the whole 126th psalm
and relate it to Sarah. Those of you that are interested in the
assignment, take Psalm 126 and go through it in the light of Sarah's
situation.

It's also interesting that in Hebrews chapter 11, their unbelief is
glossed over. Sarah's laughter, her unbelief is glossed over, just as
Rahab's deception is glossed over in Hebrews 11, and Job's impatience.
If you study Hebrews 11 and its comment on this, you'll discover it
glosses over her unbelief, but it also glosses over others, and that's
another example where you can see that remember your sins no more.

Very interesting side issue. Isaac is the product of a miracle, and
there are several others like that. Rachel has that situation occur.

Hannah, the mother of Samson, has that situation occur, and there's
Elizabeth, the mother of John, the Baptist, has that situation occur, in
addition, of course, to Mary. So, they're all interesting places to
study. What makes this one particularly interesting is that it's a pre-
named.

In fact, one of the things you might like to do is to make a list. I
suggest this is an interesting study for this week, since I know you'll
have time on your hands and be looking for things to do, is to make a
list of the ways in which Isaac is a type of Jesus Christ, a model, an
item. For example, the fact that the seed in the sun was promised in
advance.

We see that in Genesis 17, 16, with respect to Isaac. In Jesus Christ,
you start out with the seed in the sun. You start at Genesis 3, 15, have
it amplified in Isaiah 7, 14, a virgin shall conceive, and so forth.

You make a long list. There's a lengthy interval between the promise and
its realization. We see the promise for Isaac in Genesis 12, 7, 17, 16,
18, 14, and it doesn't come to fruit here until chapter 21.

And, of course, there's quite an interval between the promise and the
realization of Jesus Christ, also, because if you want to start the
promise of Genesis 3, 15, that's a long way to Matthew 1. Nonetheless,
there's an annunciation in both cases. Not only are announced in Genesis
18, 13, but also Luke chapter 1, verses 34 and 37. But, in the context
of God's omnipotency, the annunciation to both emphasizes that what God
promises, He is able to perform.

Very interesting parallelism, if you want to take a look at those and
compare them. In both cases, the name was specified before the birth.
And thou shalt call His name, Isaac.

Or thou shalt call His name, Jesus. And you'll see that in Matthew 1,
21, and the Genesis 17, 19, in the two comparisons. In both cases, at
the appointed time is emphasized.

Obviously, here, we've seen it already. You might turn to Galatians 4,
4, because I think that's a key reference to our primary commentary on
Genesis, namely, the New Testament. Galatians 4, 4, But when the
fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of women,
Mary, and made of women, Mary, and made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

When the fullness of time was come. Everything has a set appointed time.
The fullness of time.

Jesus Christ made His first appearance in the fullness of time. When the
fullness of the Gentiles be come in, He'll make a second. The fullness
of the Gentiles.

That reference is in Romans 11, 25, or 26. For those of you that want to
tie that together. In both cases, a miracle was required.

The fullness of the In both cases, we have His Father's delight
manifested. That happens to be what the word Isaac means. His Father's
delight.

And of course, we have the case of Jesus Christ. Behold my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased. There's also something else you might be
interested in.

That's what I'll call the doctrinal order. And if you turn to Romans
chapter 8, there's something that we will make reference to on several
occasions. And that's the And I'm looking for verse 30.

You might look at verse 29 and 30. In Romans chapter 8, it says, For
whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the
image of His Son that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Verse 30.

Moreover, this is speaking of God's dealing with the believer. For whom
He did predestinate, them He also called. Whom He called, them He also
justified.

Whom He justified, them He also glorified. There are four steps that
Paul suggests here as a basic pattern that the Lord uses.
Predestination, calling, justification, glorification.

And, as we study the book of Genesis, we will become sensitive to the
fact that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph fulfilled those four.
Abraham was predestinated, out of the irraticalities, to be the father
of the faithful. In Isaac shall I cede the called.

Right? Jacob proves that if God can justify Jacob, He can justify all of
us. Take great comfort in Jacob. Bruce and I thank the Lord for Jacob,
what, once a week.

Because that just gives us comfort. That if Jacob can be justified,
there's a chance for us. That conniver, that schemer, that scoundrel, is
justified.

We find that we're going to emphasize that when we get to Jacob. The
last thing is glorification. And the study of Joseph is the most
fascinating study of God glorifying a type of his son.

Okay. We made, as I rattle off here, by the way, in terms of Isaac and
Christ, a typology. I mentioned seven ways that Isaac is a type of
Christ as we went through that.

There are others, too, by the way. Jesus never left the land of Israel.
Neither did Isaac.

Some of the others did, but he never did. Interesting point. And I
suspect you can make quite a list.

When we get to the story of Joseph, I will give you a list of over a
hundred ways that Joseph is a type of Christ. It will actually be such a
fascinating study in its own right. Okay.

In studying this, we should also be aware of the fact that this whole
business of Sarah and Abraham is a study of regeneration. And a
precondition to this was that the natural means had to be put to end
before the Lord could work. Do you ever wonder why the Lord has to bring
you to the end of the road before he moves? That's probably because you
insist upon it.

Okay? He's the job of quickening the dead. The first thing to do is
acknowledge that we're dead. Before you can come to the Lord Jesus
Christ, you have to acknowledge that you are dead in trespasses and
sins.

Nowhere in the Scripture does it talk about a conversion in the sense of
turning over a new leaf, that sort of thing. It's a totally new birth.
And it's necessary for every sinner to be born again that comes out of
this.

It's also interesting that the minute that Isaac appears in the scene,
after the new birth takes place, if you will, that the opposition is
aroused. Ishmael was a pretty good guy, darling of his father, getting
along well for thirteen years. Along comes Isaac and what happens? We've
got opposition aroused.

The flesh and the spirit. And when Isaac shows up, Ishmael has got to
go. That's true in our lives.

That's true in our lives. You want a full commentary on that, turn to
Galatians, the book, but especially chapter four, not now, but this
week. Study it.

And notice how Paul talks about the warfare between the two natures, the
flesh and the spirit. And he uses as his example, Ishmael and Isaac,
Hagar and Sarah. Study it.

Paul uses that as a model. Isaac reveals the true nature of Ishmael in a
spiritual sense. Okay, the circumcision here, needless to say,
circumcision here is literally in the mosaic sense, recognizing this as
some years before Moses, but the whole concept of circumcision is here
illuminated, but we're interested in spiritual circumcision.

This foreshadows the spiritual circumcision, Colossians chapter 2 verses
10 and 11 can put you on that track. We're talking about being
circumcised on the eighth day, which puts you on resurrection ground.
The eighth day.

The first day of the following week, if you will. Resurrection occurs,
we're on resurrection ground, and that's what this is all prophetically
looking toward, Colossians chapter 3 deals with that. Colossians 2 and 3
would be worthwhile studies in amplifying the circumcision issue.

And if you have, another way to go about it is you might get the Joshua
tapes where we deal with the issue, the circumstances at Gilgal. We do a
whole study of the circumcision that you can draw upon for that. You'll
notice here also, you can parallel this, what I'm really getting at is
the situation of Isaac being born here parallels the new birth of the
believer.

New birth, being born again, being in effect spiritually circumcised,
being weaned. In first Peter chapter 2 verse 2 we are admonished to be,
you know, weaned from the milk of the word and go after the meat, if you
will. And of course, the casting out of the bondwoman and her son, the
flesh has got to go, the scripture says.

Okay. Alrighty. I think that's as much damage as I care to do to chapter
21 and 22.

I want to touch just briefly before I let you go on a couple of other
things. Let me give you the homework for next time. Next week, next
Monday night, we're going to take the chapter that's my favorite chapter
in the scripture, chapter 22 and we're also touching 24.

And so you might get it, if you get a chance, read Genesis 22 and
chapter 24 for next time. Read Romans chapter 4 for next time. In fact,
read Romans 1 through 4 if you have the time, because 1st, 2nd, 3rd
chapter builds up to chapter 4, but chapter 4 is a very, very important
commentary by Paul on what we're going to deal with next time.

And you might also read the first 18 verses of Galatians chapter 3.
Again, Genesis 22 and 24, Romans chapter 4, and Galatians chapter 3,
first 18 verses. And the kind of questions that you might ask yourself
in preparing for next time. Is how was Abraham saved? Galatians 3, 17
makes the point that the law came 430 years after Abraham, and yet
Abraham was saved.

So he makes the point you can't be saved by the law. How was Abraham
saved? And don't tell me just because he believed the Lord. Because
James tells us the devils also believed the Lord and trembled.

I don't think they're saved. Something very specific that Abraham dealt
with that caused him to be justified. So another little riddle that we
can play with is that in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 4 it says that the
gospel is how Christ died, was buried and rose again the third day
according to the scriptures.

Which scriptures? Where in the scriptures does it point out that Jesus
Christ was to be raised from the dead on the third day so that Paul can
make that remark. It has to be in the Old Testament because he was
dealing with scripture. When he said scriptures he meant Old Testament.

And I'm going to look forward to next week because we're going to
explore one of the most interesting errors in the scripture. Don't you
believe in the inerrancy of the word? No. I believe the word has some
errors.

The Holy Spirit put there for our instruction. I really do believe in
the inerrancy. I'm playing games with you.

But I'm going to suggest to you that the Holy Spirit has so engineered
the Bible, the scriptures, that he has actually taken liberties with the
text so that what it actually says is an error because in doing so
incorrectly it teaches us something else. Totally unrelated in a sense
to what was going on. And we'll explore that next time.

I appreciate you being with us. I run out of time. I'm glad you're with
us tonight.

I look forward to sharing my favorite chapter in the scripture next
Monday night. God bless you.

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Audio: https://sermonindex1.b-cdn.net/12/SID12142.mp3
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/chuck-missler/genesis-15-ch-19-21-sodom-an-gomorrah/
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