May 27th, 2007     **Abraham and His Nephew LotAnd it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar,   Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations, that they made war with Bera   king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of   Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). All these joined together in the Valley of   Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the   thirteenth year they rebelled. In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings that   were with him came and attacked the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in   Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, and the Horites in their mountain of Seir, as far   as El Paran, which is by the wilderness. Then they turned back and came to En Mishpat   (that is, Kadesh), and attacked all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites   who dwelt in Hazezon Tamar. And the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of   Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and joined   together in battle in the Valley of Siddim against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king   of nations, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar-four kings against five.   Now the Valley of Siddim was full of asphalt pits; and the kings of Sodom and   Gomorrah fled; some fell there, and the remainder fled to the mountains. Then they   took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their   way. They also took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods,   and departed. Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, for he   dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of   Aner; and they were allies with Abram. Now when Abram heard that his brother was   taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were   born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided his forces against   them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as   Hobah, which is north of Damascus. So he brought back all the goods, and also brought   back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people. And the king   of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley),   after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him.   Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God   Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High,   Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your   enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all. Now the king of Sodom said   to Abram, “Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself.” But Abram said to   the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor   of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that   I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’?   except only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with   me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.” (Genesis 14:1-24)   There are times when we find the Bible difficult and bothersome to read because of the   words that are difficult to pronounce. We find such examples in the book of Numbers or   as you read from the first chapter of First Chronicles. As you read, you may even   wonder if it is necessary to know all the details. In Genesis chapter 5, we find a   genealogy starting with Adam, and the genealogy appears again in chapter 10. It is a   record about the descendants of Ham, the descendants of Shem, and the descendants   of Japheth. After the genealogy, we read about the days of Abraham, and that is where   we find the passage we just read today. The difficult names in the passage make it cumbersome to read. It talks about a group   of five kings, and a group of four kings. Their names are not easy. Then it says where   they fought and where they went, and the names of the places are strange. So we are   not all that interested in these first parts. Then, when Abram meets Melchizedek, we   wonder who Melchizedek is. Could this mysterious character really be Jesus? Or, was he   one of the angels, perhaps? We wonder about this, and we are interested because we   do not quite understand it. Such interest is not very different from the way we might   consider the content of a movie where a certain character appears and saves people. Needless to say, the central character in Genesis chapter 14 is Abraham. It is easy to   take the earlier parts of Genesis chapter 14 lightly, until the appearance of   Melchizedek-about whom some of you have been curious and considered to be a   mysterious character while reading the letter to the Hebrews. You might think, “So   what if these people engaged in battles?” When you read that Lot was captured, you   might take it lightly and think, “Lot was captured probably because he left Abram and   lived as he pleased.” In the previous lecture, we studied about the Jordan River. The Jordan River was the   point of separation in the lives of Abram and Lot. Why the Jordan River? The land was   too small for the two to stay together, so Lot could have gathered his belongings and   gone down to Egypt, or he could have gone towards the north. But of all places, why   did he look toward the plains of Jordan? We thought about these questions last time.  We also thought about Abram’s encounter with God after Lot went to Jordan. After   God sent off Lot, God said to Abram, “Lift your eyes now and look from the place   where you are-northward, southward, eastward, and westward ... Arise, walk in the   land through its length and its width” (see Genesis 13:14-17).We also studied how God said to Abram, “For all the land which thou seest, to thee   will I give it, and to thy seed for ever” (Genesis 13:15 KJV). “Thy seed” here does   not refer to a group of people, but rather, to one Person.In Galatians, the apostle Paul clearly states that this “seed” is Christ (see 3:16). The   image of God who will one day appear in the form of a man on that land is revealed in   these words. Just as Abram looked eastward, westward, southward, and northward, God   showed us, through Abraham’s eyes, the Son of God - who would be put on the cross   and die. God tells us about it through Abraham’s life. God also told Abraham to “walk   in the land through its length and its width.” God was giving Abraham a taste of the   blessed world that God will give to us as a gift one day through the cross of Jesus.As we go on to Genesis chapter 14, a completely different scene unfolds. When we read   Genesis chapter 14, a chaotic battle breaks out just as Genesis chapter 1 says,   “without  form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep” (verse 2). What   unfolds here is in sharp contrast with Abraham’s encounter with God in a quiet place.   When we read carefully from Genesis chapter 12, we can see that we should not glance   over the content in chapter 14 just because it is bothersome.There is some repetition in chapters 15, 16, and 17. There is an order in which the   events recorded in the Bible unfold. A certain order has been determined.The stories in Genesis chapter 12, 13 and 14, are about one person’s journey and his   experiences. He had an opportunity to interact with God. We should put ourselves in   these situations and think about the state in which we are. Abraham left his country,   his family, and his father’s house to the land of Canaan. He went down to Egypt and   returned to the land of Canaan. Clearly, these events foreshadow what the Israelites   would have to go through in the years to come. However, we need to realize that there   lies within this story the path that we, as human beings - as individuals before God -   follow. That is why the Bible was written and that is the reason you read the Bible. In   the grand scheme of history that God has determined and in the experiences of these   people in history, we find that the order of events that we experience as individuals, as   we keep close to the Bible, has been determined.Last time, we studied about how Abraham left his father Terah and went to a land that   God showed him. There was someone that always followed Abraham. It was his nephew   Lot. Lot shows us the reality of our flesh, which comes in conflict with the thoughts of   the spirit. In some ways, he was burdensome and bothersome to Abraham. This nephew   even followed him to Egypt, but when he acquired wealth, he left Abraham. After he   left, he was taken captive in a battle. Abraham takes the army of men he trained and   rescues Lot. Then, God tells Abraham that a great plague will come upon the city of   Sodom where his nephew lives, and Abraham goes on to speak about his nephew. How   bothersome Lot is to Abraham! This nephew, who followed Abraham, is the reality of our lives. In Romans chapter 7, it   says that in our hearts, we have the desire to live for God but there is another law   within our bodies that prevent us from doing so (see verses 23-25). In our hearts, we   want to keep close to the Bible, and we want to meet brothers and sisters, but in   reality, another thought catches us by the ankle. “What’s the use of going to these   meetings? I won’t die from not reading the Bible for just one day.  It’s okay as long   as I’m saved. I won’t go to hell.” Such thoughts are in us. In Romans chapter 7,   there is an exasperated cry. Through the relationship between Abraham and Lot, God is   clearly telling us about the two streams of thought lurking in our hearts.   **God Speaks to Us through HistoryWhile Lot was living on the other side of Jordan, he encountered a problem. The events   in Genesis chapter 14 do not take place in the area that was referred to when God told   Abraham, “look from the place where you are-northward, southward, eastward, and   westward ... walk in the land through its length and its width.” Rather, they happen   on the other side of Jordan, the land which borders that area. There is a great   difference. If you read chapters 13 and 14, it may seem like all the events take place in   the same area, but that is not the case. There is a clear boundary.  First, we studied about Moses, who could not set his foot on the land of Canaan, which   is on the west side of the Jordan. When Jesus came to the world and began His work,   the first place He went to was the Jordan River. He was baptized there by John and He   began His work. It is actually a small river, but it is like a deep abyss that is extremely   difficult to cross. Genesis chapter 14 explains the events that took place in the area   that includes the east of Jordan and the south of the land of Canaan - the area that   curves in one direction. What is extraordinary is that later, when the Israelites leave   Egypt enter the land of Canaan, they could have crossed the wilderness of Sinai and   gone straight across Palestine. However, their path was set so they would go around   that land; they went around this area that we are studying about and crossed the   Jordan River. This area bears tremendous significance. In the book of Judges, we encounter many judges. Gideon and the three hundred men,   and judges like Ehud and Jephthah led the Israelites to fight against foreign forces.   Men like Ehud and Gideon fought against the people from the east side of the Jordan   River. In the days of King David, they also fought against the Philistines in the south,   but Israel’s relationship with the people living on the east side of the Jordan was   quite delicate and ambiguous. Judges chapters 6 through 8 explain it and it is   fascinating. In First Chronicles, we read about the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. The nation is   divided into two; it was divided into the kingdom of Judah in the south and Israel in the   north, and they stood face to face with each other. At the time there was, among the   kings of Judah, a king named Asa. When he was in conflict with Israel in the north, he   asked an Aramite, King Ben-Hadad, living on the other side of Jordan - in the Syrian   region - to come and trouble the northern kingdom of Israel. King Asa told that king   that their fathers were close in the old days, and King Asa caused the people from the   east of Jordan to attack the northern kingdom of Israel. At the time, God severely   rebuked King Asa. This was because he acted foolishly without consulting God. There   was a warning against not relying on God and acting on his own; this was also a stern   warning against bringing in a Gentile nation to strike Israel, which was also part of God   ’s chosen nation although it had been divided (see 2 Chronicles chapter 16).   Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous,   and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if   the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do   you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this   life? If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you   appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? I say this to your shame.   Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to   judge between his brethren? But brother goes to law against brother, and that before   unbelievers! Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law   against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let   yourselves be cheated? No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things   to your brethren! Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of   God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor   homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor   extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were   washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus   and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:1-11)   The apostle Paul asked the church in Corinth if a brother went to law against brother   and they were being judged before unbelievers because there was no one among them   that could judge.Today, I would like to discuss, through the content in Genesis and through the events in   history, the way in which God explains through historical events how we should live our   lives. I would like to explain how God arrives at the answer through the Bible. There is a difference between how Abraham saw Lot and how the people of Judah   brought in the people from the other side of Jordan in their conflict against the   northern kingdom of Israel. As if to describe these events in the Old Testament   concisely, the apostle Paul pointed out if it was because there was no one to judge   amongst the born-again Christians

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