Prayer for a Doomed City
Abraham the Believer: Part 10
Genesis 18:16-33
By Dave Redick

Occasionally I have run into people, as perhaps you have, who are extremely angry with God because He did not answer their prayers in the way they desired. I suggest to you that such a selfish, presumptuous attitude is the very opposite of what it takes for effective intercession. That sort of angry person will never know the joy of answered prayer until he or she repents.

"Pray for me, will you?"

"I'll be praying for you."

"Our prayers are with you."

"We're surely praying for you."

Everyone from consecrated saints to crooked politicians uses words like these today, don't they? They sound so warm and caring.

Yet are words like these appreciated anymore for what they really mean? When the politician says, "Our prayers are with you," does he or she really mean it? Does that politician go home at night, get down on his or her knees, confess all known sin to God, then humbly lay the requests of the day before God in intercession? I'm sorry, but I seriously doubt it. Considering today's sorry state of dirty, dog-eat-dog politics, I suspect the last thing on the minds of most is serious prayer.

Yet, what about us? When we promise someone, "I'll pray for you," do we really mean it? Do we really do it? Do we really know how to do it? Do we know what makes it effective?

Please turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis 18.

We come now in our study of the life of Abraham to a most remarkable example of what the Bible calls "intercession" – that is, a believer who is right with God, praying on behalf of others. In this case it is Abraham, friend of God, father of the faithful, praying for any righteous people who might still live in the doomed city of Sodom.  This is the very first mention of intercessory prayer in this book of firsts, Genesis, and it illustrates for us some important things we should know about praying for others. If you have ever prayed for another person, or you have a need to do so now, or you have at some point enlisted the prayers of others on your behalf, you'll do well to learn the important truths of this passage.

A few things to note before we get underway. The verses we're going to look at today are not the first mention of the city of Sodom. Back in chapter 13, though Moses tells us that "the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked," Abraham's nephew, Lot, foolishly chose to live there. Then in chapter 14, we saw that this same city was sacked by the savage hordes of Chedorlaomer. The invaders carried away Lot and his family along with the remaining residents of Sodom. Abraham, by the power of God, mustered his fighting men, a force barely bigger than the army of Gideon, and attacked the camp of the invaders, soundly defeating them and driving those who remained out of the region. His was the only force in Canaan that was able to defeat them. Abraham then returned his relatives, and all the spoils of Sodom, to the king of Sodom – refusing to take anything as a reward, lest he somehow end up beholden to the people of this wicked city. God had tolerated their sinfulness back then, giving them, as it were, a warning shot across the bow before their wicked ship would be sunk – a taste of the violent destruction that would ultimately become their judgment. His hope, as is always the case, was that they would repent.

That was then. This was now. Sodom was slated for total destruction. The memory of its scorching doom would become the watchword for two things: Blatant, in-your-face homosexuality and the resulting unbridled wrath of God.

Three men had appeared at Abraham's tent by the oaks of Mamre with a message. "Your aged, barren wife, Sarah, is going to be a mother and you, Abraham, though a hundred years old, are going to be a father. All of this will happen within a year."

That mission accomplished, the three men, who proved to be two angels and a manifestation of the Lord Himself, turned their faces south, toward Sodom. We will pick the story up there.

What God was about to do was destroy the wicked city of Sodom and the other four cities of the south Jordan valley.

I'm not fully sure who the Lord was talking to when He spoke these words. Perhaps He was addressing the other two personages of the Godhead, the Son and the Spirit, as was the case long ago when he said, "Let Us make man in Our Image," in Genesis 1:26. It is also suggested by some that He was speaking to the two angels who were present with them. Whatever the case, it seems like these words were spoken for Abraham's benefit as much as anyone else's in sort of a "stage whisper" intended for his ears.

Before we get on with the announcement of what God was about to do, I want us to notice God's mention of:

According to verse 19, God chose Abraham, "in order that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice… ."

There seem to be two possible renderings of this verse. The NASV brings out the idea that God had chosen Abraham for the purpose of passing along the faith to his descendants. Thus, the reason for telling him what was about to happen to Sodom would perhaps be so that his offspring would understand the reasons for divine judgement.

The KJV translates this verse a bit differently. The NASV puts this rendering in the margin:

"For I know him [rather than "I have chosen him"], that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him."

This rendering makes it sound like the reason for God's revelation of His plans for Sodom was because of the quality of Abraham's character. "I know what kind of person he is," would be the idea, "so I'm willing to let him know My will."

This latter translation seems to harmonize with several truths in the scriptures that have to do with the kind of people to whom God is willing to reveal Himself. For instance,

Psalm 25:14 says, "The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him…."

The NIV puts it this way: "The Lord confides in those who fear him… ."

We certainly see that here.

Proverbs 3:32 echoes the sentiment: "The Lord… is intimate with the upright."

This relates to our subject of intercession in a very important way. Let me put it in the first person so that perhaps it will be easier to recognize.

If I need someone to pray for myself or others, I want to be sure that they know God and live for Him! God doesn’t hear just anyone's prayer. Sometimes I hear people say, "I have three churches praying for me." I say, "What a great blessing, provided those people are in touch with God in their lives and aren't just buildings full of lukewarm sinners."

James tells us, in the fifth chapter of his letter, right after his instructions on praying for the sick, that we should be sure to confess our sins because, "The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." (1) Unconfessed sin ruins the effectiveness of intercession.

The point is, not just anyone can intercede before God on behalf of another. God was willing to listen to Abraham because Abraham was a faithful, righteous man. He was, as James says, a "friend of God." (2) God won't heed just anyone who prays. The privilege of having the ear of God is a possession of only those who live righteous lives.

Further verifying this point, Proverbs 15:29 says, "The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous."

Again, God told Israel in Isaiah's day, during a period when they had drifted away from Him: "Your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear." (3)

I would rather one Christian who is committed to living for God pray for me than a thousand people who live marginal spiritual lives.

This is precisely the reason James instructed those who were sick to "call for the elders of the church," to pray for them in James 5:14. Church officers should be the kind of people who keep their lives right before God so that they may be heard.

Our text, in essence says, "I know the kind of person Abraham is. He will faithfully pass along my word to his offspring. So I'm going to give him the special privilege of knowing My will in this matter of Sodom's destruction."

Thus we have the first principle of intercession from this passage: Effective intercession comes only from those who are righteous.

We come now, in our text, to:

This, of course, is what one author calls "the language of accommodation" (4) - that is, God makes the statement that He is going to go down and check out Sodom to see if the outcry He has heard is true for Abraham's benefit. God is all knowing. He doesn't need to go down and check anything out.

Considering the outcry of Sodom that provoked God here, we have to wonder just how much of an outcry is rising up from our own nation as we sink deeper and deeper into gross wickedness. Just yesterday I heard on the news that there is a new class at the University of California at Berkley, subsidized by taxpayer dollars and accredited for graduation, that teaches every manner of gross sexual indulgence and requires the watching of X-rated videos to pass the course. So now we offer classes on fornication and adultery right in our colleges, as though it weren't enough that a person could run the street and learn these things! Yet I suppose things like this hardly surprise us anymore, which is perhaps an accurate barometer of our condition.

Though the iniquity of the Amorite was not yet complete (5) so as to destroy all the nations of Canaan, the sins of the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and probably the other three cities of the plain, had become exceedingly grave. And it wasn't because they had not had opportunity to know the God of heaven. They had seen Him in action, having been remarkably delivered from Chedorlaomer's horrible capture of their city by the power of God. They had also heard and seen the testimony of Melchizedek. They had seen the witness of Abraham's nephew, Lot for many years now. They had special opportunity to know God, but they had disregarded him and sunken even deeper into their wickedness than before. Now their judgement was at hand.

Though it is not mentioned in this passage in so many words, there was another reason for God to tell Abraham what was about to happen. His relative, Lot, and his family, still lived in the city of Sodom. God is giving Abraham an opportunity to pray for Lot.

We come now to Abraham's intercession for the doomed city of Sodom, where the issue raised was:

Do you recognize the principle of the "salt of the earth" that Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:13? The reason God puts up with sin and rebellion in cities and nations is because of the presence of the righteous people within them. God spares nations because there are righteous living there. As the presence of salt preserves food from spoiling, so the presence of the righteous preserves nations. God would have spared Sodom had there been but fifty righteous people living there. As an application of that, if we desire to see our nation spared from God's judgement, the most effective thing we can do is work to raise up righteous people. That's the work of the church that Jesus gave us in the Great Commission, and it consists of evangelism and edification. (6)

Beyond this there is a second important principle of intercession here. Notice that Abraham recognized God's sovereignty in verse 25. He referred to God as "the Judge of all the earth." Though Abraham's prayer was bold, it was not presumptuous. As the Judge of all the earth, God could do whatever He chose. There is no demanding here. Abraham acknowledged that God had every right to do what He deemed proper. Thus, effective intercession comes from those surrendered to God's will. In 1 John 5:14, we are taught, "And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us."

After we pour out our hearts to God in intercessory prayer, we acknowledge our willingness to accept whatever answer He gives.

Occasionally I have run into people, as perhaps you have, who are extremely angry with God because He did not answer their prayers in the way they desired. I suggest to you that such a selfish, presumptuous attitude is the very opposite of what it takes for effective intercession. That sort of angry person will never know the joy of answered prayer until he or she repents.

Jesus showed us what is required. In the garden, facing the cross, He prayed, "Yet, not my will, but Thine be done." (7) When we learn to pray that way, our effectiveness at intercession will go up.

Of course Abraham knew that such a number as fifty righteous in Sodom was highly unlikely, so his intercession continued.

A third principle of intercession is contained in these verses: Effective intercession comes from those who are humble. Abraham admits in verse 27, "I am but dust and ashes."

In the New Testament, both James and Peter tell us that "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (8)

If you have ever been confused by those TV evangelists who claim special powers of healing and knowledge and present themselves as those who have special position with God, listen to their prayers. Who is at the center? The way that some so called "televangelists" on American TV boss God around with their presumptuous prayers, it's a wonder to me that God puts up with them at all. When is the last time you heard one of them acknowledge that they were "but dust and ashes?" On the contrary, they bill themselves as "The Right Reverend So-and-So," I see a great difference between that kind of chicanery and what we see here with Abraham. He was a humble intercessor.

Abraham knew that the presence of forty-five righteous people in Sodom was still too unlikely, so he continued his intercession.

There is a lot of speculation among Bible students as to why Abraham stopped at ten. Had he continued, and gone to five righteous, or perhaps four, would God have spared the city? There is no way for us to know. But why ten?

Careful reading reveals what is probably the answer. Ten is the number of people in Lot's family. Abraham thought he knew at least ten righteous people in Sodom. There was, of course, Lot and his wife, their two sons, (9) two married daughters and their husbands, (10) and two unmarried daughters, (11) a total of ten. Yet Abraham didn't really know their spiritual condition. It had likely been some time since he had seen lot and his family, so this was, at best, an uncertain request. Had Lot's family, raised amid the extravagant vice of the Sodomites, remained righteous? Only the result of Abraham's intercession would tell.

Do any of you know how many were ultimately saved from the city? Three! Lot and his two daughters. (Remember that, though four came out of the city, Lot's wife looked back and was turned to salt.) The rest were destroyed.

At that point, Abraham's prayer ceased. He stopped pleading for Sodom.

Having laid out his request to God for sparing the city for the sake of the hoped for ten righteous, Abraham rested his intercession. He would now trust "the Judge of all the earth to deal justly." (12)

That brings up what I believe to be a fourth principle of effective intercession revealed here: Effective intercession comes only from those who are confident in God's character.

It takes courage to trust God – especially when we don't know what the outcome will be. Yet the effective intercessor knows, once he or she has laid out the case before the Judge of all the earth, all that can be done has been done. The matter has been put into capable, trustworthy hands. God will do what will ultimately be proven as right.

Do we have that kind of confidence?

Let's draw these various lessons we have learned about intercession together.

If we want our intercessory prayers to be heard, we must keep our lives right with God. If I may address our elders for a few seconds, I wonder sometimes, guys, if we shouldn't have a session of silent confession of sin at the beginning of our Wednesday evening prayer meeting, before we take the requests. Can we count on people to remember to consecrate themselves with confession of sin on their own? Maybe such a time of confession would increase our effectiveness.

If you are the type who gets angry with God when a prayer isn't answered the way you thought it should be, then you're probably not a good intercessor. (I probably won't ask you to pray for me!)

Intercession is really a study in contrast. Dust and ashes addressing deity dwelling in unapproachable light. It's a ridiculous picture, really, in any other context than that of the grace of God. What a privilege! Yet it is a privilege granted only to those who recognize the contrast – only to the humble.

When we have confessed our sins and fulfilled our responsibilities we have to God on our part, and we lay our requests before the Judge of all the earth, we can trust Him to do what is right. What a liberating truth! So often we stew and fret, wondering if we have done all that can be done. Understand that in those areas where human ability is limited, when we have interceded, we can rest our case and trust Him to do right.

Heavenly Father, what a marvelous privilege you have given us to come before You to pray. We realized that there are requirements if we are to be heard, requirements of right living, surrender to Your will, humility, and trust. Help us, we pray, in this. Thank you again, for the rich truth that comes from Your word. May we always appreciate it and act properly with it. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Footnotes: Use your "back" button to return to your place.

1. James 5:16
2. James 2:23
3. Isaiah 59:2
4. Ray C. Steadman
5. Genesis 15:16
6. Matthew 28:18-20
7. Luke 22:42
8. James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5
9. Genesis 19:12
10. Genesis 19:14
11. Genesis 19:8
12. Genesis 18:25

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

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All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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