April, 1937
THE K I NG ' S BUS I NES S
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was plenty of food and plenty of water for Lot’s animals. But in the valley there were already large cities filled with people. Very soon Lot himself was living in one of the cities. Now the people in these cities had long ago forgotten God and had grown very wicked. One day God could stand this wickedness no longer. He decided th$l the cities must be destroyed. But first lie would tell Abraham what He planned to do. Abraham was His friend. Abraham was sorry when he heard from God what He planned to do. Surely God would have mercy if there were some good people left, Abraham thought. He prayed God to spare the cities if fifty good people should be found. God listened to His prayer and promised. Then Abraham thought that perhaps there were only forty-five good people there. He asked God to spare it for the sake of forty-five. God promised. And Abraham asked God finally whether He would spare it for the sake of ten righteous people. God does not want to destroy. He wants us to pray to Him for mercy. Jesus said: “Ask, and ye shall receive.”
to the end that he may command his chil dren.” According to the first rendering, the reference seems to be to God’s mere foreknowledge as to what Abraham would do in the future regarding his children. But the second makes Abraham’s action the direct result of God’s having “known” him. The word “known” here means vastly more than a mere foreknowledge of what will take place by human volition. It involves a definite choice to a definite relationship. (See Amos 3:2 for a clear instance of this meaning.) 3. “I will go down now, and see . . . and if not, I will know” (v. 21). Such language as this on the part of Jehovah seems to suggest that He is limited in knowl edge instead of being omniscient. But this is not the case; it is rather the condescend ing language of mercy and grace. Cer tainly the Lord knew what the sinners of Sodom had done in their wickedness, alto gether sufficient to justify their destruction in divine judgment. But mercy holds back the judgment; a long-suffering God will give Sodom one more opportunity to re pent, a little more time to demonstrate whether or not the judgment is altogether merited. As the final test, the two angelic companions of the Lord were sent to Sodom, and their reception by the men of Sodom sealed the doom of the city (Gen. 19:1-13). Thus, in language suited to our finite un derstanding, God had gone down, and had seen, and knew that further mercy would be unavailing. On the front page of the Endeavor World for May 10, 1923, is the picture of a loco motive engineer about to mount his engine, and underneath is printed: “George Bemis, of Indianapolis, Ind., is here shown board ing his engine for his last run after fifty- three years’ service with the Big Four Rail road. In all that time he has not had a single accident. But then the quality of his service may be judged from the fact that he never made a run without first kneeling in the cab of his engine and pray ing that the Lord might help him to bring the passengers safely to their journey’s end. He was seventy years old when he retired with this unique record.”— Five Thousand Best Modern Illustrations, by Hallock. Abraham Praying for His Neighbors G enesis 18 Memory Verse: “Pray one for another” (Jas. 5:16). Approach: Abram made the long journey from Haran to the Land of Promise, and there he settled. The first thing that he did was to build an altar to God. Lot had Golden Text Illustration J ames 5:16
There was boldness in Abraham’s prayer. He knew something of God’s grace, and he reckoned upon God’s great patience. Hav ing had all things settled concerning him self, Abraham could consider the things of others when he approached the Lord in prayer. When he pleaded for Sodom and its inhabitants, Abraham spoke to God as one friend speaks to another. Abraham also knew something of the justice of God. This thought is expressed in his prayer as an added argument for mercy: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (v. 25). If, to Abraham’s mind, there was in Sodom a sufficient rea son for God’s granting of mercy, surely to the mind of the Judge of all the earth there would be even greater cause for the avert ing of the destruction. God would not al low the sense of justice in a human being to be superior to His own sense of justice. But at no time did Abraham suggest that God should allow mercy to supersede right eousness. At this point we meet with dan ger when we plead with God. We some times approach Him as though He could be bribed to forego the exercise of His jus tice. In Abraham’s prayer there was no evidence of this tendency. Decreasing the number of persons for whom he pleaded—from fify to forty-five, and finally to ten—'Abraham stopped pray ing, “and the Lord went his way” (v. 33). It has been suggested that had Abraham asked protection for Sodom, even though none righteous could be found therein, God would have granted him the request. The writer of these notes believes that Abra ham’s mind was controlled by the Lord himself, and that Abraham’s prayer was directed by the Holy Spirit so that he stopped just when he did because that was the will of God. God knew Abraham had asked enough to protect whoever was right eous, and that was all that was required. Three things are to be noticed specially in this lesson: first, that prophecy should be made the foundation for intercession as well as for testimony; second, that when God pours out His judgments, this action is taken not in a vengeful spirit but with sorrow and distress; and, third, that when a Christian walks with God, in fellowship and comm'union with Him, that Christian will be interceding for the world that lies under judgment and in danger of destruc tion. Points and Problems 1. “And the Lord said” (Gen. 18:17). It should be noticed that “Lord” in this verse should be "Jehovah,” and also that the “Jehovah” of verse 17 is one of the “three men” of verse 2 who came to the tent of Abraham and were entertained by him. Two were angels (19:1), and the third was none other than the Second Per son of the Triune God, our Lord and Saviour in His preincarnate state. For the proof of the identification of Jehovah and the Lord Jesus, see Isaiah +0:3 with Mat thew 3 :3 in the American Revision. 2. There is an important doctrinal point in Genesis 18:19 which is obscured by the common version. It reads: “For I know him, that he w ill command his children.” The American Revised Version changes this wording to: “For I have known him,
Object Lesson P rater C hanges T hings
Objects: A milk bottle, a hard-boiled egg, and a candle. Before the public appearance, rinse the bottle out with boiling water, and immediately place the shelled egg over the mouth of the bottle. The egg will be drawn into the bottle. Leave a few drops of water in the bottle to keep the egg moist. Lesson: This hard-boiled egg looks as if it were in the bottle to stay. It does no good to shake or pound it—it still stays in the bottle. We will let this lighted candle remind us of prayer. I will let it warm the cold bottle and we shall see what happens. (Tip the bottle up so that the egg will fall into the bottle’s neck, and hold it in this position until the heat has made enough pressure to hold the egg in position.) If you will be patient for a few minutes, the candle will bring the egg out without touching it. Out it comes! There are many problems in life which, from the human standpoint, seem impos sible. Peter was in prison in Jerusalem, and it looked impossible for him to come out alive. He and the church prayed, and he was. delivered. Sodom and Gomor rah were to be destroyed, and it looked as if Lot would be destroyed too, but Abra ham prayed, and Lot was delivered. Boys and girls, there will be problems in your lives which neither you nor any other human being can solve, but if you will be faithful in prayer to God, He will help you solve them. “Prayer changes things.” The Bible tells us in James 5:16: “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
traveled along with Abram, and w h e n their number of ani mals grew too many to herd in one place, they separated. Lesson Story: Lot selfishly chose to take his flocks to the bet ter pasture lands, to the green and fertile river valley. There
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