There is a common expression that goes like this: “You read my mind!” We use that expression when someone seems to know, or guess, at what we wanted or what we were about to say. Some entertainers possess a unique ability to imagine what people are thinking. When he wasn’t supposedly bending spoons with the power of his mind, mentalist Uri Geller was telling his audience members what they were thinking. Mentalists do so using a combination of psychological observation, suggestion, and guesswork. They can be very entertaining.
But to genuinely know the thoughts of someone else is not a trick or illusion. It can only be accomplished between people who have a deep, intimate relationship. To develop that relationship requires time, conversation, and attentiveness. When I worked as a court-appointed advocate for abused and neglected children, we were trained to listen attentively to the children assigned to us to under what was going on in their minds. We were encouraged to listen with three sets of ears—one set to hear what the child said, a second to listen to what they were not saying, and a third to understand their feelings. This type of listening was used to gain insight into the child's mind.
Our scripture reading today from Genesis Chapter 18 centers on God inviting Abraham into a deep conversation so that Abraham could understand the mind of God. The setting for this conversation was near Abraham’s home by the oaks of Mamre. God and two others, all in the form of men, had appeared to Abraham at the door to Abraham’s tent in the heat of the day. Abraham recognized these men as a visitation from God, and so Abraham invited them to sit, be refreshed with water and food, and have a conversation. The scripture says that after a time, “16 The men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. 17 The Lord said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 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.’ 20 Then the Lord said, ‘Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know’” (Genesis 18:16-21).
This is an important passage because it begins with God’s soliloquy, an act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers. God started with these words, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” (Genesis 18:17a). God had in mind to address an issue. Seemingly, God could choose to invite Abraham to understand how God would decide the matter or exclude Abraham from God’s decision-making process. God continued, “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 18:19). God made clear here that for Abraham to become a great nation, Abraham must understand righteousness and justice. To understand righteousness and justice is to know the mind of God. Therefore, God invited Abraham into a deep conversation about what was about to happen. God shared with Abraham that an outcry had reached Him that the wickedness in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah was great and their sin grave. What was the sin? God does not state the sin because it was irrelevant. The depth of the sin and the level of wickedness were grave. What more needed to be said than that? God promised to investigate the outcry against these cities.
The story continued this way, “22 So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. 23 Then Abraham drew near and said (to the Lord), “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” (Genesis 18:22-23). Here, we learn something about the mind of Abraham. Before the two men with the Lord could even get to Sodom and report to the Lord about the wickedness, Abraham knew what they would report. Abraham knew the report about the sin would be as bad as the outcry and that God would put an end to the wickedness. Abraham knew about both cities. Abraham had rescued the inhabitants of Sodom after they had been captured and enslaved, along with Abraham’s nephew Lot. Abraham was acquainted with the reputation of the king of Sodom and his people because Abraham asked God, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” Abraham envisioned that once the men’s report reached God, the cities would be destroyed because the sin was indeed grave.
Knowing the fate of the cities, Abraham asked God, “24 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?” (Genesis 18:24). Abraham’s question brings into the conversation not just the ideas of righteousness and wickedness but also brings a question about justice and mercy. Righteousness and wickedness are opposing characteristics, while justice and mercy are complementary virtues. Abraham seemed interested in understanding how God balances justice and mercy and began the conversation, suggesting that perhaps as few as 50 righteous people should be enough to offset the wickedness of the city.
God provided no immediate answer to Abraham’s question. So, Abraham pursued God further, “25 Far be it from you (God) 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?” (Genesis 18:25). Abraham was trying to goad God into an answer that showed the balance between justice for the wicked and mercy for the righteous. Many people interpret Abraham’s words as an impassioned plea to God to change His mind. They see Abraham seeking God to behave mercifully and save righteous people from God’s destruction, along with the wicked, who Abraham believes deserve death. They believe Abraham was engaged in the classic Middle Eastern practice of haggling over the price of something. Someone makes an offer below what they know the owner of that item will accept, and then negotiation begins toward a mutually agreeable higher price. Abraham started with what he thought was a low offer. Could God accept 50 righteous people as being sufficient to offset the wickedness of the city?
But to see the exchange as Abraham that way is to ignore the message of God’s opening soliloquy. God wanted Abraham to come to understand God’s mind and for Abraham’s mind to be changed so that Abraham would be equipped to be a great nation. Abraham needed God’s wisdom, including balancing justice and mercy, to be a better father of many nations. God did not need Abraham’s understanding to be a better God. At this point, God chose to answer Abraham and said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake” (Genesis 18:26).
I believe God’s answer surprised Abraham that God would spare all the people of Sodom if 50 righteous people could be found in the city. If Abraham was haggling with God, as some believe, then Abraham initiated the bidding process, seeking God to reconsider at a number he deemed unacceptably low. Abraham would have expected God to say, “No, not 50, that is too few.” As such, Abraham would have expected to continue negotiating, suggesting that a greater number of righteous individuals needed to be found to save the city. Instead, God essentially says to Abraham, “If you think 50 righteous people is what I had in mind to save the city, then let it be 50.”
God’s response made it clear that Abraham did not know the mind of God and did not understand how God balances justice and mercy. We see this was true as Abraham returned to God and, uncertainly, asked, “What if 45 righteous are found?” Abraham, instead of increasing the number as would have been expected in haggling, was now decreasing the number needed to save the city. God said, “For 45, I will spare the city.” The haggling process was going in the opposite direction than Abraham initially thought, but more importantly, Abraham was learning the mind of God. Abraham asked, “40?” God said, “I will spare the city.” “30?” God said, “Yes, for 30, I will spare the city?” “20,” asked Abraham. “Yes, for 20 Abraham.” Abraham then said, “What if it were just 10?” God said, “For 10 I would spare the city.” Abraham had learned something about God. Despite there being pervasive wickedness that warranted judgment, God was more interested in balancing the scales of justice towards mercy.
What then do we learn from this exchange between God and Abraham? Let’s consider two things.
First, God is the initiator in the development of the relationship between Himself and humanity. We saw this point last week when God offered an unmerited covenant with Abraham. And we saw that here again, as God, in His soliloquy, spoke His heart, indicating that He wanted Abraham to come to know His mind. God initiates everything for the benefit of humanity. Any relationship you or I have with God, whether you would describe it as deep or shallow, longstanding or new, exists because God sought that relationship with you. God chose to reveal Himself to you because He loves you and wants you to know Him.
Second, God wanted Abraham to know His mind, and God wants you and me to know His mind as well. It is that desire for us to see the mind of God that God caused 40 different writers over 1,500 years to compile God’s story in the sixty-six books of the Bible. Page after page of the Bible reveals to us God’s mind, helping us to understand the virtues of God, his sense of love, righteousness, justice, mercy, grace, joy, patience, compassion, faithfulness, and wisdom. Why does God want us to know Him? He reveals Himself so that we will love Him and we will want to imitate Him in our relationships with each other.
It is to this last point of God revealing Himself that we need to spend a few minutes. God wanted Abraham to know His mind and heart. God spent a day with Abraham to help foster Abraham’s understanding. God wanted the world to know His mind and His heart. For these reasons, God sent Jesus, not for a day but for 30 plus years. The last three years of Jesus’ life were marked by an active and intense ministry to people, aiming to bring a profound sense of God’s mind alive within them. Who was this Jesus? He was the Christ, the Messiah, anointed by God. The Apostle Paul said it this way, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15a). This means to us that to know Jesus is to know God. To know Jesus, and thus know God, is a core belief of Christianity. Knowing Jesus is indispensable to knowing God. I say that Jesus is indispensable to knowing God because Jesus said that:
- “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
- “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7)
- “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9b)
- “3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you (God), the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).
I think we get the point. Knowing Jesus is knowing God, not in the sense that one can say, “I know Donald Trump is the President.” But it is to say, “I know Him because I have had conversations with Him, spent time with Him, and have been attentive to Him.
Abraham had a day with God. Jesus’ twelve apostles had about three years with God. What an incredible experience. And yet, one of the twelve would betray Jesus, God, into the hands of evil men. When I say those words, the enormity of Judas’ betrayal looms larger than I can really comprehend.
On the other hand, the Apostle John said this of three years coming to know God, “1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete” (1 John 1:1-4). And there it is. John came to know God because John came to know Jesus. And there was one and only one thing that would increase John’s joy more than he already was experiencing, and that would be that you and I would come to know God through Jesus as well. That is why the New Testament exists. That is why so much human effort is given over to getting the Bible into our hands, so that we would share in the fellowship with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.
You are here today because God has initiated a relationship with you. He has and is pursuing you so that you will know Him, love Him, and come to know His mind. In coming to know God’s mind, you and I will know God’s will always favors mercy, mercy towards us. Jesus said of God’s will, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day” (John 6:39). Let us honor God and come to know His Word, His Son, and His mind. Amen and Amen.