IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND HIS ANGELS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”

“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”

So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”

Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.

“Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.

“There, in the tent,” he said.

Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Genesis 18:1-10

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13:2

These words from the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Hebrews certainly in mind had the encounter of Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation, had in the opening verses of Genesis, chapter 18. Look again at those verses now:

The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”

“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”

So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”

Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.

“Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.

“There, in the tent,” he said.

Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Vv.1-10

Now, it’s important to not lose sight of the truth that “the Lord” was making an appearance, a visit “to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day”. We read that when “Abraham looked up”, he “saw three men standing nearby”. And so we know that one of the three was the Lord Himself coming in human form for later in this passage, He definitely identifies Himself by speaking directly to Abraham as one of the visitors. The other two visitors were surely angels who, like the Lord, appeared as men. We will see these two angels dispatched to Sodom and Gomorrah in messages after this one.

The scriptures tell us that when Abraham saw he had company, he “hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground”. This wasn’t customary by any means as a person would typically wait for the visitors to come to them and make a request. Here, we find Abraham taking the initiative. He had been in the presence of God before and it’s believed he felt the Lord was there within the three and so he quickly went to them and said:

“If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”

Going back to Paul’s words, we definitely see Abraham showing hospitality to these special strangers, sensing he was being visited by divine company

After the three visitors accept his offer, Abraham rushes into his tent and tells Sarah to get “the finest flour” to “bake some bread”. He also “ran to his herd” to select “a choice, tender calf” to give “to a servant” to prepare for eating. And with the cooked calf and freshly baked bread, Abraham “then brought some curds and milk” and “set these before them”. We read that “while they ate”, he (Abraham) “stood near them under a tree”.

Now, it would be easy to just move past this meal preparation and onto the ensuing dialogue but it’s important to note how Abraham didn’t just give his visitors leftovers. Rather, he brought the best he could to them when he presented the meal. In the scriptures, these would be referred to as his first fruits.

The flour Sarah used was the finest.

The calf was choice and tender.

Abraham made sure he brought his best to his Lord and reminds us that we need to do the same for the truth is that we are in the presence of our Lord each and every day.

Well, if Abraham needed any further confirmation that he was in the presence of God and His angels, we find it in the final verses of our passage.

First, the trio simply asks:

“Where is your wife Sarah?”

And when Abraham identifies her as being “in the tent”, one of them gave him this promise:

“I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

God has already assured this in the previous chapter (verse 16) and so Abraham had to be ever more sure the Lord was with him.

Every day, we go through life, encountering people we have never met with opportunities to serve them in some way or another. As these come to us, we should never forget Paul’s words from Hebrews and consider that we might be actually showing “hospitality to angels without knowing it”.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.