Abraham, Father of a Nation of Priest

The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, 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 to Abraham what he has promised him. Genesis 18:17-19

The LORD visited Abraham and had lunch with him. After telling Sarah what she needed to know, He set out for His next task: deciding the future of Sodom and Gomorrah. A very grave judgement was about to come upon the wicked cities. Yet, the all-knowing Judge of the Earth stopped for a very strange gesture. The LORD was contemplating: Should Abraham know what I am about to do?

The judgement for the cities were about to be severe. Lives were at stakes here. But what God was really doing here was to see the response of Abraham in the light of what was about to happen. The LORD said He had chosen Abraham. For what?

I believe the ultimate purpose of the chosen nation of Abraham is to be a nation of priests. These priests are to be righteous and perfect examples of life in God's way and through them, all the nations will be blessed. In v19, the LORD said that the descendants of Abraham may keep the way of the LORD so that God may bring to Abraham what He has promised him. So then, it is about fulfilling promise to Abraham, which in Genesis 12:2 we see that it is about Abraham being a blessing to all the people of the Earth. The promise, is salvation.

In short, Abraham's calling was probably to be a priest to intercede for sinners. And indeed, the next part of Genesis 18, we see Abraham interceding for Sodom and Gomorrah:

Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” 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.” And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. Genesis 18:23-33

Abraham intercedes for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. If we look back to Abraham's story, we know Abraham had a close relationship with the people of Sodom. He may have friends that he cherished. In that burning urgency, he asked God not to destroy them if 50 righteous were found. He persisted to ask for God's mercy upon 45, 40, 30, 20, 10. And in His gracious mercy, God agreed to all of Abraham's requests. Abraham stopped at 10, because he understood that God knows best. 

It seemed that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was inevitable. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah was doomed for certain. Yet, Abraham's intercession for the cities was not left unheard.

So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. Genesis 19:29

The end of Sodom and Gomorrah was in sulphur and fire, but not for Lot and his two daughters. God said He remembered Abraham and He spared Lot. Abraham's persistence made a difference for Lot and his daughters.
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In the light of all the events in our nation, how are we playing our roles of priesthood for our nation? How persistent are we in our prayers for Malaysia and for our people? How persistent are we in our prayer of repentance that we may stand as a group of righteous people for whose sake God would spare our destruction?

We can speak all we want, protest all we want, but this nation will not be saved by the works of our hands alone. It shall be saved through persistent prayer for the righteous and our repentance.

God's Character, My Encounter.