Abram's Divine Visitors

REVIEW

Acts 19:9–10 reveals that Paul “met separately with the disciples, conducting discussions every day . . . for two years.” If Paul could do this daily, and we have the same Holy Spirit, we can do this! Remember, the goal of Revive School is not to consume what we’re learning but to share it. The whole intent is to apply this and live this out. We need to be telling these stories! We need to point others to the only Seed, Jesus Christ, who can truly change lives.

In Genesis 1–17, my prayer has been that you see that this Seed has been literally interwoven throughout it. Matthew 5:17 says, “Jesus said, ‘Don’t assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.’” In this entire study, we will see the fulfillment of the Messiah. Matthew 5:18 says: “For I assure you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass from the Law until all things are accomplished.” Until all the things that God promised in Genesis 12:1–3 come to fruition, Christ isn’t coming back. Romans 9:10–11 assures us that God’s not done with the people of Israel, His chosen people. He wants to use them to point people to the Messiah. Never forget—Jesus is Jewish.

TEACHING

Genesis 18:1–2: “Then the Lord appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting in the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day.” Who were these three guys who approached Abraham? From verse 3 on, there was a whole conversation between them. In Genesis 16, we talked about whether it was the pre-incarnate Christ who interacted with Hagar. Could this really have been Jesus before He was born? While I can’t prove this was Jesus, I think we can show there is a really good chance that it was. In Scripture, theophany is a term used to denote an appearance of God. Likewise, the term Christophany denotes an appearance of Christ. Let’s look at three reasons why this might be an appearance of Christ:

1. “No one has ever seen God", but Jesus “has revealed Him” (John 1:18). Jesus later said, “The Father who sent Me has Himself testified about Me. You have not heard His voice at any time, and you haven’t seen His form” (John 5:37). If no one has seen God, then who was this person who appeared in human form to Abraham?

Jesus existed before all things (Colossians 1:16-17). Jesus was with God in the beginning (John 1:1–3,14). Jesus was part of creating everything. He is the glue who holds all things together (Colossians 1:17b). In John 8:58, Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am.” Consider also Genesis 1:26: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man.” “Us” could be God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit (the Spirit hovered over the waters in Genesis 1:2).

Jesus “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Colossians 1:15). This goes back to Cain and Abel. Jesus is the firstborn, the firstfruits. In John 14:9, Jesus said to Philip, “Have I been among you all this time without your knowing Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father.” Every time you see Christ, you see the Father. In 2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul said Christ is the image of God.

Throughout the Old Testament, if no one saw God, whom did they see? If Jesus is the image of the invisible God, and He was there from the very beginning, Jesus could have been the pre-incarnate Christ. Walter Kaiser did a study of the 214 times the Hebrew term for “angel” was used in the Old Testament. He found that theologians considered about one-third of those occurrences to be a Christophany, a time when Christ appeared in the Old Testament.1 What does pre-incarnate mean? In Genesis 18, the visitor actually ate with Abraham. Jesus’ words in John 5:39 really puts all of this into perspective. Jesus said the Scriptures (Old Testament) testify about Him.

Genesis 18:2: Notice that Abraham ran to these men he had never met and bowed down. Would Abraham have done that if it wasn’t the pre-incarnate Christ? Then again, maybe he had already seen this person in Genesis 12 or in Genesis 16 when the Lord appeared to Abraham. Maybe he did recognize it was the Lord he had seen before! Keith Krell, in an article written for

www.bible.org, said Abraham always used speed (v. 2—ran, v. 6—hurried, v. 7—ran) as he rushed, three different times, to respond to these visitors. Why? Because he knew he was in the presence of someone really special.2

Genesis 18:3–5: The phrase, "My lord," is a bad translation. The Hebrew language indicates that this should be a capital “L” for Lord implying God. Abraham said, “My Lord, if I have found favor in your sight” (v. 3). You don’t use this phrase unless you are in the presence of somebody of high rank, and Abraham knew he was. Abraham just wanted them to rest and be strengthened (vv. 4–5).

Genesis 18:6–8: Remember those three words that described how Abraham used speed to respond to these men? Abraham was giving his best! The measurement of fine flour was almost 30 quarts of flour. He was having a party for just three people. Most commentators would say the whole tender choice calf could guarantee at least 100 pounds. Abraham had 30 quarts of flour for bread, 100 pounds of meat, and curds and milk. He gave his very best for these three men!

Remember Abraham had 318 men in his house who had to be circumcised (Genesis 14:14). Yet, Abraham did everything himself. He saw that serving these men was so important, he did everything as he served these men, selecting his best, and running all over the place. I believe one of these men was the pre-incarnate Christ and the other two were angels. I think this is an awesome picture of Jesus being the image of the invisible God in Genesis 18. He’s the One who existed in the very beginning, before all things. And Abraham ran out to Him and bowed down and said, “My Lord, let me serve you!”

Genesis 18:9: Remember, in this culture, they didn’t always welcome the women. Then, He reiterated the promise that Abraham would have a son. And He gave the specific details.

Genesis 18:11–12: Sarah had already heard this promise multiple times, so why did she laugh? She was well past the age of childbearing.

Genesis 18:13–14: If you believed this was the pre-incarnate Christ, wouldn’t it have been awesome to hear Him say this? “Is anything impossible for the Lord?” Over and over and over, the prophets talked about this. In Jeremiah 32:17: “Oh, Lord God! You Yourself made the heavens and earth by Your great power and with Your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!” Again, in Jeremiah 32:27: “Look, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?” In Mark 10:27, Jesus said to the disciples: “With men it is impossible, but not with God, because all things are possible with God.” I believe Jesus showed up with two angels and spoke life into Abraham and Sarah and said it was happening. “The Seed, Christ, has been promised to you; it’s going to happen.” In Luke 1:37, the angel told Mary: “For nothing will be impossible with God.” This was in reference to Mary’s virgin conception of Jesus! You know why this is cool? Because “the Seed of the woman” that was prophesied in Genesis 3:15 appeared here in Genesis 18.

Genesis 18:15: Sarah laughed because she was afraid. Despite Sarah’s laughter and doubt and fear and lying, God remained faithful. In 2 Timothy 2:13, Paul wrote: “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” Despite our faithlessness, God will remain faithful. And what He has started, He will always finish. He promised Abraham and Sarah that He would be back a year from then.

CLOSING

I’m excited to dig in next week because in Genesis 21, the Angel of the Lord came back. He honored His promise to Abraham and came back a year later. From the Seed of the woman to the Seed of Abraham, the story continued to the Seed of Isaac.