12/21/15: If Ten Be Found Faithful?

[Spirit Bear 0]

Read Genesis 18.

 

'Then Abraham approached Him and said: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing--to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

The Lord said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."'

Genesis chapter 18, verses 23 through 26. 

 

And they continued like this until...

 

'Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?"

He answered, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it."'

Genesis chapter 18, verse 32.

 

 

But Abraham dares not to further push the Lord, so he walks away in what was most likely the grim knowledge that the city of Sodom was doomed.

 

What do we gather from this? That the Lord can change His mind, when He had already decided to destroy the Capital of Sin on Earth?  

That He can be swayed?

 

No, but we can gain that He is highly merciful.

 

Our pastor once asked the congregation at Church, "What were the sins of Sodom?" 

People called out, "Homosexuality!" (the first thing to be called out was that, and I stared at the man who all but screamed it out with my thought of, "Do you not think that there may be homosexuals here?") Others answered, "Unfaithfulness!" "Immorality!" "Drunkenness!" "Pagan worship!" &c. 

But even Jews and Christians commit such acts.

 

Their sin was that they had left the Lord, thus leading to all of this because they had no moral compass. They followed everything but God, seemingly trying to mess with God by purposely going against Him. 

 

Do you not think that there used to be righteous people filling the city?

This was a major city, one that directed the World at the time; even Abraham seemed to at least hope there were righteous people still there. Would he have tried asking for it to be safe, thus risking his life and that of his family, if he thought there were never any righteous beyond Lot, thus meaning that there couldn't be any righteous? 

 

God couldn't leave Sodom to lead the World further down, so it had to be destroyed.

Still, He would have spared it in merciful love had there been only ten people faithful in the city.

Yet there was not, and so it was destroyed. 

 

See any modern-day Sodoms? "Las Vegas" may come to mind, but are there not ten righteous people there? Would not the Lord spare it?

Yet all will be leveled a while after God comes to take His people away from this world of sin. Will there be any righteous left, ten or one, in the places to be leveled?

Will you be faithful, thus having a city of men, women, and children be spared? If you are not going to be faithful, would not their blood be on your hands if nine others were found faithful when the number needed was ten?

Edited December 22, 2015 by Spirit Bear

[BJbear2001† 0]

[Gen 14:18 NASB] 18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.

...The priest blesses Abram. God visits Abram.

 

[Gen 15:7, 16 NASB] 7 And He said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it." ... 16 "Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete."

 

Their sin was that they had left the Lord, thus leading to all of this because they had no moral compass. They followed everything but God, seemingly trying to mess with God by purposely going against Him.

 

 

 

...Abram has an illegitimate son by Hagai, called Ishmael. God visits Abram again..

[Gen 17:2, 7, 10 NASB] 2 "I will establish My covenant between Me and you,And I will multiply you exceedingly." ... 7 "I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. ... 10 "This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.

 

[Gen 19:1, 4, 6-7, 9, 12 NASB] 1 Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. ... 4 Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; ... 6 But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, 7 and said, "Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. ... 9 But they said, "Stand aside." Furthermore, they said, "This one came in as an alien, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them." So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door. ... 12 Then the two men said to Lot, "Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place;

 

God couldn't leave Sodom to lead the World further down, so it had to be destroyed.

Still, He would have spared it in merciful love had there been only ten people faithful in the city.

Yet there was not, and so it was destroyed.

 

 

Lot was an alien to the land of Sodom. God's covenant with Abraham was extended to save Lot and family. So when the two heavenly men went down to the city, they went to destroy it because the Amorites very likely refused circumcision and the covenant of purity with God. It was all known to God, who gave a way of escape but the Amorites proved God right. Not only were the Amorites fugitives in a land that was now given to Abraham, but they betrayed the mercy that Abraham had plead for. Their iniquity was complete.  

 

Conclusion: I believe that God will not change His decisions, but I believe that it is because nothing changes.--there isn't a single thing that surprises God. There isn't a single thing that can surprise God.

 

Will you be faithful, thus having a city of men, women, and children be spared? If you are not going to be faithful, would not their blood be on your hands if nine others were found faithful when the number needed was ten?

 

...

So, Spiritbear, I agree with your spirit of evangelism, but the woman at the well has more to do with what you want than Sodom and Gomorrah.  The woman at the well was a Samaritan( a descendant of a cursed, immoral people from Joshua's time). Yet, they find grace and salvation because of the faith of one woman at a well.  I would headline it this way: " We are a cursed people, meant to return to Christ."

 

We are advocates for the sake of the world, but God is not mocked( people will either accept the Gospel, or reject everlasting life with the Creator). It may be a shame on our shoulders, if we don't try to share our testimony and example of purity with the world; but based on what I know from these chapters of Genesis and of Corinthians, their bad decisions are not blood on our heads.

[Spirit Bear 0]

Thank's for reading and responding.

I'm not sure of the relevance of some of your points or verses, though, and I think you misinterpreted some of what I said (it happens, a lot.).

Genesis also said that God was going down to see if it was as He had heard from the cries of people. 

We see a more human version of God than we typically think.