When Abraham went with the three men who appeared to him (one of them is the Lord) to send them on their way toward Sodom, the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” (Genesis 18:20-21) Where did the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah come from? Certainly not from the people of Sodom and Gomorrah because they all had given themselves to sexual immorality and gone over strange flesh (Jude 1:7). The outcry might have come from the people who had visited Sodom and Gomorrah and had seen the gravity of the sins committed there or it might have come from the lands of Sodom and Gomorrah themselves. Jeremiah the prophet wrote about the land mourning for the wickedness of those who dwell there (Jeremiah 12:4)
John the apostle wrote, “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” (1 John 3:4) Sin is lawlessness and it demands punishment by the law. Every sin cries out to God, demanding punishment from Him. Every sin also produces a terrible sound. The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was very grave that it produced a very deafening terrible sound in God’s ears. He could not tolerate it anymore. Therefore, He wanted to silence this terrible sound that had been deafening His ears.
The outcry against Sodom and Gomorra is like the indictment while the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are the accused in the court of God. The two men who went toward Sodom are actually angels (Genesis 19:1). After they had come to the city, they would appear as witnesses in the court of God to give account of what they had seen there with their own eyes. The judge is God Himself and Abraham is chosen to be like a defense lawyer for Sodom and Gomorrah in this court.
Why did God choose Abraham to be like a defence lawyer in His court? A defence lawyer must know how the justice system works according to the law. God chose Abraham because he had known the way of the Lord, His righteousness and justice. God Himself said about him, “For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord , to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” (Genesis 18:19)
After God made known to Abraham the indictment against Sodom and Gomorrah was great because their crime was very grave, and the two angels went toward Sodom, Abraham began to make his defence for Sodom and Gomorrah before God. He came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:23-25) He asked God to spare the whole city for the sake of the righteous who were in it.
God is the righteous Judge. As the righteous Judge in His court, He will justify the righteous but will punish the wicked. He will preserve the dwelling place of the righteous but destroy the dwelling place of the wicked. What God will do if the righteous and the wicked dwell together in the same place? If the place is good or it has not become so wicked, God will certainly preserve it. Even if the place has become so wicked, still God actually does not want destroy it for the sake of the righteous because He knows the righteous need a place to live. However, He needs somebody who can make a strong defence for the place according to His law. Otherwise, He must destroy the place because He is the righteous Judge. Abraham understood this.
How did God respond when Abraham said to Him, “Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?” God replied, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.” (Genesis 18:24, 26) Then, Abraham asked God whether He would still spare the city if there were only forty-five righteous within it. He answered, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.” (Genesis 18:27-28) Abraham kept asking God whether He would still spare the city if there were forty, then thirty, then twenty, then ten righteous within it. Everytime Abraham lowered the number of the righteous within the city as the condition for the city to be spared God agreed (Genesis 18:29-32). Why would God spare Sodom that had become so wicked for the sake of only a few righteous within it? Not only because the righteous need a place to live but the righteous are the salt of the city. The Lord Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.” (Matthew 5:13) Salt has the ability to preserve food from spoiling as well as gives flavor to the food. The righteous does not only have the ability to preserve the city from becoming more wicked but to change the city to become righteous as well.
The reason why God would not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of the righteous even though their sin was very grave is because God actually did not want to punish the wicked. He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. What He wants is the wicked turn from their wicked ways and live (Ezekiel 33:11) But how will it be possible for the wicked to turn from their sins? Only if there are the righteous among them. Like the Lord Jesus said, the righteous are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13) Like the salt, the righteous can prevent the wicked from becoming more wicked and turn them from their wicked way. If there is not the righteous among the wicked, then there is no hope for the wicked. The wicked will only become more wicked and eventually God will have to destroy them.
Like a defence lawyer in the court Abraham tried to make a defence for Sodom and Gomorrah in the court of God. He asked God if He would spare the city for a certain number of the righteous who dwell in it. From fifty he lowered the number until ten. He was thinking about Lot and his family and may be some of Lot’s neighbors and friends, so there would be at least ten righteous found there. Unfortunately, the number of the righteous found within Sodom and Gomorrah is less than ten. Therefore, God eventually destroyed the city but saved Lot who was righteous and his family.
Abraham as a defence lawyer or an advocate in the court of God is actually a picture of Jesus Christ as an Advocate in the court of heaven. The apostle John wrote, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2) Abraham was qualified as an advocate in the court of God because he himself was righteous and he understood God’s righteousness and justice. Jesus Christ is even more qualified as an Advocate in the court of heaven because He is more righteous than Abraham and understood God’s righteousness and justice more than Abraham.
As an advocate in the court of God Abraham asked God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of the righteous. He tried to save Sodom and Gomorrah to the uttermost by lowering the number of the righteous from fifty to ten as the condition for God to spare it. Likewise, as an Advocate in the court of heaven, Jesus Christ continues to ask the Father to spare the cities of the world that have become so wicked for the sake of the church. He will do His utmost to save these cities from being destroyed. How will He do that? By reviving the church to be the salt there or by sending the righteous to build the church in these cities if there is no church there.