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Jonathan Griffiths: God’s salvation plan unfolds as human history unfolds. And however messy things look on the smudged and the tattered page of human history, God’s plans, they are in no way disrupted, and they are in no way derailed.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. Jonathan, sometimes it seems as if life can turn so messy and ugly that you think, "Oh man, there's no way that God is going to do anything good out of this," and, "How in the world could he ever redeem a situation like this?" But it's so good to be reminded of that truth that God’s plan is one that even in our sinfulness, we cannot mess up.

Jonathan Griffiths: It is such a comfort to know that God’s plan cannot be undone by human beings, by human schemes and human sin. God is sovereign and God is good and he’s able to overrule even in the messiness of life. And we need that comfort and we need that reassurance because hardly a day goes by when something doesn’t go wrong, and occasionally in life, things go catastrophically wrong. And that will be the case for some listening now who are going through an absolute crisis, maybe a devastating crisis in life.

And you wonder, is there any hope within this? And the answer is God can redeem hopeless situations and bring about his good purposes for the church and for the individual who trusts in him. And we’ll see something of that in the story today from Abraham’s life and in the way in which God causes his good purposes to be fulfilled.

Steve Hiller: Well, we’re going to look at that today in the book of Genesis. We’re in chapter 14 as we begin a message called "Battle and Blessing." Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: One of the perplexing things about the salvation plan of God, about the history of the Lord’s people in the Lord’s world, one of the perplexing things about the onward march of God’s plan and God’s purposes, one of the perplexing things is that progress rarely seems to be very smooth. I wonder if you’ve noticed that. How many pages of the Bible can you find where there is no trouble whatsoever, no threat, no opposition, no difficulty? How many chapters are there where it’s just plain sailing?

Here we are in Genesis chapter 14, three chapters into the story of the history of Israel, three chapters into the story of the life of Abram, and already, consider it with me, there has been an environmental crisis, there has been a political crisis in Egypt, there has been a spiritual and a moral crisis, there has been a potential family crisis, and now here in this chapter, in chapter 14, there is a military crisis to add on top of all those crises, a regional multi-national war of fearful potential.

In these early chapters of the story of Israel and the life of Abram, in these early chapters of the foundational salvation promises of God, we are learning together how it is that the salvation plan of God will move forward in God’s world. And chapter 14 has rich lessons for us in this, lessons that will translate forward to our own day as we live today as the people of God.

The first of those lessons, the first thing we’re going to observe here is this: Genesis chapter 14 shows us that the saving purposes of God move forward in the midst of the messiness of life. I don’t know if you’ve ever gone away to a Christian camp or a Christian retreat center for a few days and you’ve just enjoyed that feeling of stepping away from the real world. You have time with other believers, you have lots of teaching from the Word of God, you’re able to switch off just a little and for a little while to all the brokenness of this present world. It can be like a little taste of heaven sometimes. Maybe you’ve experienced that.

I think that sometimes we can imagine that the characters in the Bible lived that kind of retreat experience all the time. They were living the Bible story, after all. They were experiencing God in real time. They were at the very center of the action of the plan of salvation. But by stark contrast, here we are now today, having to grapple with the real world, having to grapple with this very complicated world of the 21st century in all its profound messiness, and sometimes we can feel like we’ve sort of got the raw end of the deal.

One of the questions we should ask when we come to Genesis chapter 14 is why it is that God through his Word gives us so much of the detail of all the history here. It’s quite striking, isn’t it? As we sort of stumble through the abundant challenges of pronunciation in this chapter, we observe that much of it is taken up with recounting endless unfamiliar names, names of foreign kings and of places that we can’t really pinpoint on a map. We get Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, and plenty more names besides. We get some background about these kings and what they’re up to.

They decide to make war, we read there in verse 2, and they join forces to do that in a place called the Valley of Siddim. Some of these kings had served Chedorlaomer for 12 years, we read in verse 4, but in the 13th year they rebelled, and so now comes a battle, some movement, and some results. Now as we pay close attention to the text, we do discern a basic narrative here, a flow of events. The little kingdoms of the region of Canaan have been under the thumb of a coalition of foreign powers from Mesopotamia for a dozen years. This coalition was led by Chedorlaomer.

The Canaanite kings eventually get a little bit tired of the situation, and we could understand that, and they rebel. It doesn’t go well for them, however, and the Mesopotamian kings led by Chedorlaomer come back and they crush them. And the Canaanite kings, they flee, and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are left to be plundered.

I don't know if you’re into military history at all. I have a nephew actually who just loves military history, and ever since he was quite a little boy, he was able to read through these great tomes on the history of the First World War or the Second World War, and he could just absorb all the details. Perhaps you’re a little bit like that. I’ve never quite had a mind for all the details of battle myself, but that’s the kind of information we’re being given here in the first half of Genesis 14.

Now, we’re not going to try and pull up a PowerPoint map here and picture little soldiers moving around the battlefield map. I don't think that we need to do that in order to follow the chapter. I don't think the point here is that we get all the details precisely straight. I think the significance of what’s going on here, what we’re being told, I think it’s broader. It’s as though in this first half of the chapter, the Word of God is holding up a newspaper page in front of us, giving us the report of what’s going on.

Here is the front page of the Times of Canaan, of the Sodom Gazette, giving the history of the battle so far, the summary of what’s going on in this great confrontation that has consumed the region. In giving us the summary of all this mess, I think Genesis is showing us something basic and something fundamental. It’s showing us that the plan of salvation unfolds not in the Christian campground, not in the spiritual retreat center tucked away from all the messiness of the world. No, it unfolds in the middle of, in the midst of, the mess and the seeming chaos of human history.

Abram and his family are buffeted here by the very real storms of life and the very destabilizing currents of geopolitics. The fighting has evidently been going on at some distance from Abram and his immediate clan for much of the duration of the crisis, but his nephew Lot has been uncomfortably close, perilously close to the action. You may remember that Lot had taken that fateful decision to settle in the vicinity of Sodom back in the previous chapter. And it turns out that Sodom really wasn’t such a great place to be.

Verse 11, just notice it with me there: So the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their provisions and went their way. They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions and went their way. Now at this point in the Bible story, with the covenant promises of Genesis 12 ringing in our ears, we might have assumed that the family of Abram are meant to be enjoying the blessings of God in a kind of uninterrupted and peaceful way by this point. They’re meant to be settling down in the land of promise.

But now in this unfolding crisis, the closest thing that Abram has to an heir, his nephew Lot, is captured by the enemy forces and his very survival is now in serious doubt. And we might protest at this point that this is not really the way things are meant to be. This is not how things are meant to unfold for the family of God. This is not how the life of faith is meant to go. But Genesis 14 has a bit of a wake-up call for us. Genesis 14 paints a rather different picture for us.

Genesis 14 is here to show us that God’s salvation plan unfolds as human history unfolds. And however chaotic things look, however chaotic things seem in the cut and thrust of geopolitics and world events and all the rest, however messy things look on the smudged and the tattered page of human history, God’s plans, they are in no way disrupted, and they are in no way derailed.

Now, I think we need to take that simple insight, that simple observation, that simple truth, and we need to pick it up from ancient Canaan in Abram’s day and we need to land it here quite firmly in our day. We need to remember that the mess of life in this world, the apparent chaos of pandemics, financial meltdowns, political upheavals, wars and rumors of wars and all the rest, none of that has the capacity to undermine the plans and the purposes of God.

And for the people of God who have to live through such things and who have to trust God in the midst of such things, I think the reminder is simply this: Such things are actually quite normal. It is not strange or surprising that you and I should have to face such things in our day, that the church of today should have to endure such things. This is how things have always been ever since the departure from the Garden of Eden. And it is in the midst of the seeming chaos of life and the messiness of history that God does his work and furthers his plan of salvation.

As a global community, we find ourselves today in the midst of a great pandemic, we see signs, don’t we, of tremendous political turmoil. We are living through days of great social and economic upheaval. And however the messiness of this world, the chaos of our age, the carnage of sin is impacting your life, however it is impacting the ministries with which you are involved, is impacting your discipleship of your family, your outreach to your friends, is impacting your own growth as a Christian, here is the encouragement: It is in precisely such situations that God’s people live and grow and serve. It is in precisely such situations that the salvation plan of God moves forward and he does his powerful work.

This isn't strange. This isn't new. This is the way it’s ever been. The smudged and the tattered page of human history is the page upon which God writes the story of his saving work in the world. God’s saving purposes, they move forward in the messiness of history.

Steve Hiller: You’re listening to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths, and a message called "Battle and Blessing." Well, I hope you’re enjoying this broadcast and that you’re able to listen regularly. And as you do, I hope it’s helping you grow in your knowledge and understanding of God’s Word. If that’s the case, we’d love to hear how God is using Encounter the Truth in your life. You can always give us your feedback through our website; that’s encounterthetruth.org.

While you’re there, not only can you give us some feedback, you can also listen to broadcasts online that you may have missed. You can connect with our social media channels, you can find our newsletter, as well as our weekly e-devotional. There’s that and a lot more at the website, encounterthetruth.org. Well, if you happen to join us late, we’re in the book of Genesis chapter 14 as we get back to the message. Again, here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: God’s saving purposes, they move forward in the messiness of history. Next, they move forward by a gracious rescue. The government of the Bahamas has recently indicated that it wants to move forward with a long-discussed plan to remove the Queen as head of state. That’s been in the works for a long time. It’s no surprise to anyone. Many former colonies have taken the same path. But just imagine for a moment if a month or two after separation, the Bahamas came under military siege by a hostile foreign power.

And imagine if the Prime Minister of the Bahamas sort of picked up the phone to London and said, "You know, it turns out we’re in a bit of a pickle here, we’re in some trouble. Perhaps you might consider sending over some help. It’s a dangerous situation, we’ve got enemy ships just surrounding us. Could you send some Royal Navy ships over here to assist us, please?" And I don’t know how these things work, but you could imagine the British government at this point thinking, "Hold on here, we’ve just had a rather awkward separation. This part of the family, if you like, have now moved on. But now we’re being asked to put our forces in danger to rescue them. Do we want to do that? Is this operation actually in our interest?"

Abram and Lot had a rather awkward separation back in chapter 13, perhaps you remember. Their respective entourages and business operations were growing. They were running out of room for all their flocks and herds in one place. They needed to go in different directions. And when it came to it, Abram took the gracious and the generous approach and he said to Lot, "Look, Lot, you go choose the land, the territory you want. You choose what you would like, and I’m going to fit in around you."

And Lot, as we remember the story, he didn’t hesitate to take Abram up on the offer. And as Lot made his choice and took his land, we saw how he headed for the territory that seemed pleasant and prosperous. But he didn’t take much account of the Lord’s provision. He moved to the eastern edge of the promised land, he moved probably beyond the border of the promised land, and he settled near a city that became known chiefly for its sin, the city of Sodom.

Now Abram could well have looked on Lot as being selfish, silly, particularly unwise. Abram could have been insulted and disappointed. He could have been offended and he could have been hurt. Maybe he was, we don’t really know. But now Abram hears that Lot is in big trouble. And to help him, it’s not only going to be costly and inconvenient, it’s going to be positively perilous.

But this becomes a moment of distinction, a moment actually of triumph for Abram. Just notice it with me, verse 13: Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner; these were allies of Abram. When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went as far as Dan. And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. Then he brought back all the possessions and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his possessions and the women and the people.

Abram heard the call, and rather than nurse his wounds about Lot’s previous behavior, rather than wag his finger and enjoy an "I told you so" moment, what does he do? Verse 14, it’s so gracious, it’s so kind, it’s so full of sheer goodness: When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit.

Isn't that a wonderful response? Yes, he and Lot, they’d separated. Yes, Lot seemed to have little regard for the promises of God. Yes, Lot had grabbed the best territory for himself without much thought for his uncle. But Lot was still Abram’s kinsman, and he wasn’t about to let him perish at the hands of his enemies.

Now, we could look on Abram here as we think about the application of this story to us. We could look on him and we could move directly to drawing a moral lesson from him. Abram was gracious to the undeserved; we should be the same. Certainly that’s a very good moral lesson for us to take home. But before we go there, before we rush to the moral lesson, I’d like us to slow down a little bit and see here a gospel pattern.

Remember who Abram is. He is the recipient of the salvation promises, the covenant blessings of God. The Lord has promised that he will bring blessing to the nations through Abram. The very salvation promises of God, the very salvation blessings of God are going to flow through this man and through his family. And so what do we see here? We see God using Abram to bring deliverance to an unworthy man, to an unwise and even wayward nephew who got himself into a dangerous place through worldly thinking and behavior.

As God’s chosen servant, as Abram looks on the situation, he responds in a way that is actually right after God’s own heart. He doesn’t look for an easy excuse just to ignore the situation as others might well have. Business is just, it’s crazy just now. The staff, they’re taking up so much of my time. I’ve got to focus on things at home and just give attention to my family. The situation, it looks dangerous. The operation, it looks just far too costly. No, none of that. He enters right into the fray and he resolves to bring a deliverance.

When the Lord looked on his wayward children, when he looked on you and he looked on me, when he looked on us in our foolishness and our sin, when he looked on us perishing because of the choices that we had made, the choice to rebel against him and to go our own way, when he looked upon us in our distress, what did he do?

Titus chapter 3 and verse 3: At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

Romans chapter 5 and verse 6: For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows, God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God looked on us in our misery and our weakness and our sin, and he caused his lovingkindness to appear in the world, to appear in the person of his Son, who came to be our rescuer. He didn’t stand far off from us in our distress. He didn’t hesitate to help. No, he came near, he showed his love, he entered the mess, he entered the battle, and ultimately he died in our place that we might live. In Abram here, I think we see the heart of God. We see a gracious gospel pattern.

Steve Hiller: Jonathan Griffiths here on Encounter the Truth and part of a message called "Battle and Blessing," and we’ll continue this look at Genesis 14 next time, so I hope you make it a point to join us. If you ever miss a broadcast, come and listen online. Our website is encounterthetruth.org. And while you’re there, I hope you’ll consider a gift of support because Encounter the Truth depends on your generosity to keep Jonathan’s teaching on this station.

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You can give online at encounterthetruth.org or call us at 1-833-99-TRUTH. That’s 1-833-998-7884, or encounterthetruth.org. You can also write us at Encounter the Truth, 2176 Prince of Wales Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2E 0A1, or in the US at Encounter the Truth, 215 North Arlington Heights Road, number 102, Arlington Heights, Illinois, 60004. For Bible teacher Jonathan Griffiths and our producer Mark Brudett, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time.