Will you sweep away the righteous?
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. Edward Mote
Read Genesis 18:23—33
The search is on to find any righteous in the city, but it is not pursued to the very end. Only ten need be found. Just ten. That would avert the disaster. But the disaster of Sodom is not averted. There is none righteous, no, not ten. I will find in my Bible, from time to time, a man or a woman who is declared righteous, or some psalmist speaking of himself in this way. Yet the final conclusion is global: there is none righteous, no, not one.[1] What gives me hope, then? It is that this is not God’s final conclusion! There is one righteous! There is one! And he represents us all, the true man for all, for me, for Sodom, before the Father. Knowing him I can now go into the city with hope.
Dear Father, you have sent your Son to be the true hope, the true man, the Adam, rather, the new Adam. The righteous one has finally been found! Even for this one, especially for this one righteous one you will not destroy the city. Thank you for his faithfulness. I am found in him. The church, the whole community of poor sinners who look upon Jesus, this is found in him. Thank you that in him I see my own humanity restored. In him I see humanity welcomed into your presence. In him I can go into the community where you have placed me, into the city, even when it is unlovely, and in him I can love it well.
[1] Psalm 14:3; Romans 3:10