Westminster Bookstore is running a “best of” sale from now until August 14 on their biblical theology books. The featured book looks like a must-have for pastors and serious teachers. In Preaching Christ from Genesis, Sidney Greidanus “addresses various issues encountered when preaching Christ from Genesis, including literary and historical interpretation, the narrative sermon form, and the common lack of preaching on this foundational Old Testament book. He delves into the genre of Genesis narratives and presents seven ways of preaching Christ. The bulk of the book takes up the text of Genesis broken into twenty-three sections, applying Greidanus’s redemptive-historical Christocentric method. Including helpful appendixes — “Ten Steps from Text to Sermon,” “An Expository Sermon Model,” and three of the author’s own Genesis sermons — Preaching Christ from Genesis will be an invaluable resource for preachers and Bible teachers” (from the publisher description).

I am not a pastor nor a Bible teacher so I probably won’t be buying this book, however, I do enjoy studying with and learning from those who take the time to utilize resources like this one. Furthermore, I am in the congregation each week. I can share from the perspective of a lay person the wonderful privilege it is to sit under Christ-centered, expository preaching through Genesis!

I am relatively new to the truth that Jesus is all over the Old Testament. I’ve known and understood the prophecy for Eve regarding her seed (found in Genesis 3:15) for several years now, and Jesus is obviously talked about in OT books, such as Isaiah, but as our pastor has preached expositorily through Genesis I’ve been shown so much more. For example, just this past Sunday I saw Jesus in the events surrounding the Lord’s visit with Abraham and Sodom & Gomorrah. There is treasure to be found if we are willing to dig, or at the very least find a good teacher who does the digging.

In Genesis 18, God tells us about his meeting with Abraham. This chapter is about so much more than hospitality, which is on what most of the sermons I’ve heard from this passage center. Abraham serves his three visitors a feast. They enjoy conversation, have a few laughs (at least Sarah does), then, just as the Lord is leaving, he decides to tell Abraham something that He is about to do.

“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 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, he has promised him.” Then the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, 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.”

So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 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? Far be it form you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the LORD said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake” (Genesis 18:16-26).

And we know that Abraham continues to intercede for the righteous living in those cities until he wears God down, so to speak, to sparing the whole cities even if there are only ten righteous people living in them. “He [God] answered, ‘For the sake of ten I will not destroy it’” (Gen. 18:32).

Our pastor (Cameron) shared so much from this passage (it is rich), but I’m going to try to focus only on how this relates to Jesus. As usual, I took copious notes, but I’ll spare you and try to stick to the most important points.

God is showing Abraham more of his character. Abraham knows that God is righteous and a just judge, and he is about to learn of God’s great mercy. Indeed, the mercy of God is greatly magnified when we first consider His righteousness. If you place this passage in the context of God’s justice and mercy, then it is easy to see. When Cameron said that, I knew exactly where he was going and I had such a wonderful time of worship just hearing it preached! And from Genesis!

First, God is not capricious. He went down to see the sin of S & G. He bases His judgments on evidence, executing judgment when it is right to do so. However, that does not mean that he didn’t already have full knowledge of the goings-on of S & G. This is yet another incidence of God condescending to man to demonstrate His character to us.

Second, Abraham drew near to God and interceded for those wicked cities. We can be sure that S & G were not the only wicked cities around. Just a few chapters ago, God had to pass judgment on the whole earth because “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). Perhaps Abraham considered himself living among wicked people. So he pleads for God’s mercy. “Far be it from you…” he says to God.

Third, only God can perfectly balance justice and mercy. In his judgment on S & G, he upheld his righteousness, but he also upheld his mercy (and word to Abraham) by rescuing Lot and his family.

God demonstrates his mercy and justice to us perfectly balanced in the transactions that took place when Jesus was on the cross. God’s justice and righteousness are upheld because our sins were put on Jesus, who took our punishment for sin. God’s mercy is upheld because we are given Christ’s righteousness and, thus, rescued from God’s wrath.

The final point that spoke deeply to my heart was that God doesn’t answer our prayers in the ways we always expect. He still destroyed those cities even though Abraham asked him spare them, but, at the same time, He didn’t destroy the righteous with the wicked.

Only God can perfectly balance the demonstration of His mercy while executing His righteous judgment. He showed Himself in that way to Abraham by rescuing Lot from His wrath poured out on Sodom, and He did that for us through His son on the cross.

That’s the kind of preaching that makes my heart race with praise to God for who He is!