Abraham Entertaining Angels Unawares

Minister:
Date: PM
Text: Genesis 18:1-8
Psalters: 50, 2, 24, 305
Applicatory to the Lord's Supper
  1. Interesting event.
    1. Abraham was sitting in his tent door when he saw three wayfarers passing near him (1,2a).
      1. He “ran” toward them. He did not wait to be approached, but stopped them; he would have been grieved if they passed by.
      2. Then he, a prince, sees them as of greater importance than himself: “bowed himself toward the ground” humbled himself.
        1. He is obliged to them: “if I have found favor in thy sight,” “I pray thee,” “thy servant” (two times), “wash your feet.”
        2. And he belittles his gifts to them: “little water,” “a morsel (fragment, bit) of bread” (fine flower, fatted calf, butter).
    2. It definitely was the custom of that day to receive strangers, giving them the best and serving them first.
      1. Sin always separates and divides, closing the heart to others, but the Spirit of Christ opens it wide in brotherly love.
      2. This is the fruit of God’s merciful work of regeneration and justification, evidencing the experience of God’s mercy.
  2. The significance of this event is found in the Spirit using it as an powerful example of hospitality (Hebrews 13:2).
    1. God commanded hospitality to the stranger, as that given to family (Ex. 22:21; Deut. 10:18,19; 31:12).
      1. The apostles show that this principle of the O.T. law continues into the New: Rom. 12:13; I Peter 4:9; Heb. 13:16).
      2. Jesus commends hospitality in the judgment day (Matt. 25:35,36,42,43) and shows that it touches Him (Matt. 25:40,45).
    2. This remains our calling, though our circumstances have changed.
  3. God rewards those who reflect Him and He delights in compassion to the stranger, fatherless and widow.
    1. The day that these heavenly guests visited was a day of rich blessing for Abraham and Sarah.
    2. Incentive for real hospitality is the realization that that we are entertaining Jesus Christ Himself.
    3. Jesus does not mean that hospitality is a work which earned one’s way into the kingdom of heaven, but that the love manifested in hospitality evidences the work of Jesus in one.