CrossTalk: Abraham's Mercy, and God's

In Genesis 18, we read that after God promised Abraham and Sarah that Isaac would be born the next year, He forewarned of the disaster about to come on the city of his nephew, Lot, “because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and their sin is very grave” (Gen. 18:20).

What follows is one of the most famous intercessory prayers in history. Abraham said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it?”

God’s reply was filled with comfort and mercy: “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” It is comforting because the faithful are assured that they will not be harmed on account of the wickedness surrounding them. It is merciful because even a small congregation of 50 believers is enough to spare an entire city.

But the congregation wasn’t that large.

So, Abraham asks again and again, dropping the numbers each time. What about 45? What about 40? What if there are only 30, 20, or even 10?

God’s answers are always merciful. He will not sweep away the righteous with the wicked. There is no collateral damage with God’s judgment. More than that, the unbelievers in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah would have had their lives spared even if there were only ten believers living in their midst.

When Jesus says in Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth,” that’s what He meant. Even a miniscule number of believers, scattered throughout the world, are a powerful preservative in a society rotted by sin.

Sadly, for Sodom and Gomorrah, there weren’t even 10. Abraham, who cared deeply for Lot had pushed God as far as he dared. After whittling down the numbers from 50 to 10, rather than ask about five, or four, or three, he turned and sadly walked away. Abraham could not imagine that the LORD would be so merciful as to save only three.

But even merciful Abraham severely underestimated the mercy of God. He thought he had done everything possible for his nephew. But God wasn’t done, yet. He sent two angels to the city to seek out the faithful family.

Lot had a wife and two daughters in his tiny congregation of believers. Four people in one house could not spare both cities, but neither would they be caught up in the destruction. The Psalmist writes, “A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you” (Psalm 91:7).

But there’s more! The angels didn’t only come to save the faithful. The two men betrothed to Lot’s daughters were given one final chance at life even thought they were unbelievers and just as wicked as the city surrounding them.

God knew their hearts. But he offered them escape anyway. He said to them, “Up! Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city.” But they thought the angels were joking. No amount of warning or pleading could persuade them to go.

Finally, as the day of destruction dawned, God’s messengers of mercy had enough of talk. They grabbed Lot’s daughters by the hand and physically dragged them to safety. They did absolutely everything that could be done to save people from the terrible destruction too come.

At the beginning of the story, it seemed like Abraham was kindly and merciful, while God is stern and severe. By the end of the story, we know that Abraham’s mercy doesn’t even hold a candle to the mercy of God.

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).