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1/17 Reading Portions: Genesis 18; Matthew 17; Nehemiah 7; Acts 17
Genesis 18:32
Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once.
Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”
MERCY
From this chapter of Scripture, I’ve heard too many people suggest that Abraham should have kept going after ten, and perhaps, the LORD would have shown mercy to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah by not destroying the cities. Although I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, even as a young Christian, for some reason I thought this idea sounded strange. Are we to presume that Abraham is more merciful than God? In the frailty of our flesh, we presumptuously think we are more merciful than the heavenly Father. Even if we never thought of Abraham continuing after making a request for the sake of ten righteous people, we have all questioned God on His judgments at one time or another. Yet we shouldn’t. God went to the incredible and miraculous lengths of sending the very Treasure of the universe, His only Son Jesus Christ, to become a flesh and bone Man, to live righteously among sinful descendants of Adam, to lay down His life as the perfect sacrifice to save our wretched souls, to rise again from the grave, and to ascend into heaven with the promise of coming again! The only reason we can be merciful at all is that God made us that way. He is far more merciful and gracious than our frail minds can conceive.
Abraham would have never interceded on behalf of sinners had God not called him to be a prophet unto Him. Abraham’s intercessions express the intercessions of Jesus Christ (Heb 7:24-25). We are never more like Christ than when we extend mercy to others (Matt 5:7); yet we are never more like Satan than when we presume our mercy to be equal to or greater than the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
The merciful are bless’d indeed,
Its witness speaks of Christ;
We must beware, and God’s Word heed—
Presumption is unwise.