Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. (Genesis 18:32,33 ESV)
The One
Abraham was arguing with God for the sake of the city of Sodom, or more accurately, for the sake of Abraham’s nephew Lot, who lived in Sodom. God had declared that He was going to destroy Sodom due to the rampant sin and open rebellion against Him that had become obvious there.
God would have been just and right to do so.
But Abraham knew God’s Grace and Mercy, and so Abraham asked God to withhold His anger. Progressively bartering, Abraham asked the Lord to save Sodom if 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, and finally only 10 righteous people were found to be living in sin-engorged Sodom. And God agreed.
But Abraham stopped too soon. And perhaps the Lord knew exactly what He was doing as He agreed with Abraham’s begging and every decreasing number. It was nudging Abraham towards an understanding of how necessary Jesus is.
Abraham could have kept decreasing all the way down to one. Because God does save the world for the sake of one. Not just ANY one. But The One. The Messiah. The Christ. Jesus.
God shows mercy for the sake of His Son.
That One is why the Lord is merciful to us.
We are peculiar, we know the One.