Before the Humble Arrival (II)

“The deity of Jesus Christ, is pivotal in Christianity, for without Jesus being God, His statements are meaningless.”   

There are many today who would claim that Jesus Christ was only a man and did not exist before He was born in Bethlehem. These scoffers are sadly found in churches and church leadership today. Yet, as we started last week in studying the preincarnation of Jesus Christ, we are seeing how very real He was prior to His humble arrival. Today in part two in our series, we focus on one of the most misunderstood and read over passages found in the Bible.

A promise by a visitor!

Now the Lord appeared to him (Abraham) by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth, and said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by. Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant”. And they said, “So do, as you have said.” So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, kneed it and make bread cakes.” Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it. He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate. Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?’ Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah denied it however, saying “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.” Genesis 18:1-15.

Here we see several key points to help us understand who this individual is. Let us start first with the name “Lord.” This word in Hebrew is the proper name of God, it is “Yhvh.” The first time the word is used is in Genesis 2:4, “This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.” Simply put, this verse is describing God, for only He can create anything. Thus, we now have a conundrum, we have two verses describing Lord in two different ways. Genesis 2 shows His power to create the known universe, while we also have Lord being used in Genesis 18:1-15 as being a man. The scripture describes this man as being tired. Abraham was allowed to prepare a meal to refresh the Lord, “and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant” Genesis 18:5. So here we see two distinct natures that help identify the characteristics around the word Lord. Imagine, Abraham is sitting and attempting to cool down in the hot sun and suddenly he has three men in front of him, one of whom he identifies immediately as God.

How did Abraham immediately know? I have no idea, for the scripture does not say. But I can only assume that Abraham was permitted to know. Additionally, the Lord knows the thoughts of Sarah when she is not even in His presence. In verse 12, Sarah laughs to herself about being told by the Lord that she is going to have a son. When confronted by the Lord on the matter, she is afraid and then corrected again when she tries to say she did not laugh in verse 15. The Lord knows the thoughts, Jesus Christ is also identified as knowing the thoughts of people, “Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, ‘every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand” Matthew 12:25. The similarities continue to prove that both individuals are one. Nevertheless, this is not the end of the story. For we are about to see more evidence as to this man being God incarnate.

 “Then the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. The Lord said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” And the Lord said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Lord. Abraham came near and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account.” And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” He spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?”  And He said, I will not do it on the account of the forty.” Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there” And he said, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on the account of the twenty.” Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on the account of the ten.” As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham the Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his place.”  Genesis 18:16-33.

This helps outline the characteristics of the Lord, spoken in Genesis, is in fact, Jesus Christ. In verses 18 and 19, we see that the Lord is prophesying He would bless the nations through Abraham. Also, in verse 25, we see Abraham as identifying the Lord as the Judge of all the earth. There is no one who is capable of judging the World but God, “but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” 1 Peter 4:5. Jesus Christ, is further shown to ultimately judge all those who are in the world found in Revelation, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, everyone one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s’ name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” Revelation 20:11-15. We can tell just from these two clues that this person is God!

So out of Genesis chapter 18 we have identified the Lord as having specific qualities that will help identify if the Lord as described in Genesis 18, is Jesus Christ. Verse 1 identifies Lord as being God with His name. Verse 5 shows the Lord could get tired, when we examine John 4:6 we see Jesus being tired, “and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.” Verse 17 shows the Lord as prophesying of what will happen to Abraham, we see Jesus Christ being referenced as a Prophet in Acts 3:22-23, “Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything He says to you. And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.” Verse 16 shows the Lord walking, look at any of the gospels we can clearly see Jesus Christ’s entire ministry was done on foot with Him visiting locations and stopping to give lessons, signs, and to fulfill specific prophecy.

I would lastly argue that this is Jesus Christ because of the nature of the Lord’s departure from Abraham in verse 33. When He was done talking, He just departs. Jesus in all of the gospels is quick to continue to where He is needed, and He is deliberate in His actions and concluding those actions.

Wrapping up, we are seeing the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as being God. Any argument of Jesus Christ being only a man is inherently wrong and lacks a clear and full study of all the scripture to see Him in completeness! He is fully man and fully God, we have His pre-incarnation visits to prove His authenticity as God prior to His humble arrival in Bethlehem.  But what is the take home value of knowing this? What is the “SO WHAT FACTOR” of the Genesis 18 account? The Genesis 18 account does two things for us in studying Jesus Christ, it shows His authenticity in His ability to prophecy (promises to Abraham and actions against Sodom and Gomorrah), but also with passing of judgment on individuals and whole groups within Sodom and Gomorrah. In Genesis 18, Jesus Christ is not bound by man’s limitations. Yet, during His 33 years of life, He chooses to orchestrate within man’s limitations. Hebrews testifies this in chapter 2, “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone” Hebrews 2:9.

The second take away for us studying this is confirming Jesus’ own statements found in John 8, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.’ So the Jews said to Him, ‘you are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.’” John 8:56-58. This is vitally important; Jesus Christ’s statements are backed with previously written scripture. It is not one of His followers claiming His righteous character and actions, but rather those who came before! This shows Jesus Christ is in fact God! Moses, through the power of the Holy Spirit, wrote down what Jesus stated to Abraham. This helps confirm what Jesus did in the four gospels. His pre-incarnation visit to Abraham helps shed light our marvelous God.

Hold until relieved, our Blessed Hope is coming

JL