The Torah reading Vayera (“and He appeared,” Genesis 18–22) aptly describes how the Creator of the Heavens and Earth shows up “in the fullness of time.”

We will see messianic parallels between the “days of Lot” in Sodom, the “days of Noah” and the Day of the LORD preceding the return of Yeshua (Jesus), the Son of Man (Matthew 24; Luke 17).

In Vayera, we see how Abraham and his son Yitzkhak (Isaac), the promised one, trust in God’s promise. In Hebrews 11, we learn that Abraham’s trust was not only in the LORD the promiser but also in the LORD as resurrector. 

We will also see how Abraham has a very eventful lunch date with the Lord and intercedes for Sodom. God never sends judgement without knowing the intricacies of what is going on. We can learn from Abraham’s righteous example and pray for God’s mercy and deliverance for the righteous who live in the most wicked cities. Because of Abraham’s righteous prayer, Lot and his family were saved from the judgement the rest of Sodom reaped. 

When Abraham offered up his “only son” we see that God not only “shows up” at our time of need but that the Lord is prepared to pay the “ultimate price” while we were “yet sinners.” God’s salvation comes with a very steep price. 

Sodom Inc. weighed and sealed

In Genesis 18:16–19:38, Sodom was “weighed in the balance and found lacking,” to borrow words prophet Daniel interpreted about another evil kingdom. Abraham and God bargain over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, which is one of the most consequential bargains in history. 

We learned in the last lesson that Lot “pitched his tent towards Sodom” and eventually moved right into Sodom. Yet Lot maintained his dignity and was distinguishable from the other citizens of Sodom. 

““And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. “It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:26–29 NASB)

Days of Noah = Days of the LORD

Building on what we studied in Parashat (Torah passage) Noach, we will see that Yeshua and later the Apostle Peter both compare the time of the end to the time of Noah and even the time of Sodom and Gomorrah. One pattern they noted was that how unexpected both the flood and the fires of Sodom were. When your community is under stress, that stress will test and reveal the truth under the veneer. 

The description of eating, drinking, buying, selling, plating, building and marrying suggests an obliviousness to the conditions of the world around them. The people were oblivious to the impending judgment. 

Are we so consumed with the busyness of modern life and squabbling over trivialities that we have become a part of the world? 

Why are we going over this again? When God repeats something, it’s because God wants us to make note and pay attention. It means that God is establishing something. 

When we die, that is our Day of the LORD because when we die the next thing we will experience is judgement. 

If we stumble in life, are we learning from those stumbles? When God tests us, do we try to cram for the test to pass by the skin of our teeth or do we study God’s word regularly so that we are prepare to pass the tests He puts on us? 

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called u...