Day 33 Devotion – The Three Visitors

Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. Genesis 18:1-3

Genesis chapter 18 is an unusual story. It says the Lord appeared to Abraham but there are three men. Sometimes it refers to them in the singular and sometimes in the plural. Jews would just say that the Lord was accompanied by two angels. I do not think that covers everything because the three speak as one and are referred to as one. I believe this is a picture of the Trinity. It shows that God has some singular attributes and some plural characteristics.

As you read the entire chapter you see that two of the three go on down to Sodom and Gomorrah and become the famous spies that we will talk about in the next chapter. The third one stays behind to converse with Abraham. The Lord reveals his plan to destroy these two cities for their wickedness. Abraham shows a lot of nerve by trying to change God’s mind. Of course, Abraham’s nephew Lot lives down there so he has an emotional interest in the situation. He starts out by asking if God would destroy the innocent along with the wicked and they agree that if 50 innocent people could be found God would spare the city. But Abraham doesn’t stop; he whittles the number all the way down to ten. I’m sure Abraham had confidence that ten righteous people could be found. We will find out later that that is not the case.

I see two big lessons from these passages. One is that God listens to our prayers and pleading. Prayer is powerful enough to even change the mind of God. I believe God actually enjoys it when we converse with him and question why. Secondly I see God’s compassion. So many people focus on the wrath of God here but the fact that he would have spared them for ten good people shows compassion.