Genesis 17-18 Part 2

Will Not the Judge of All the Earth Do Right?

Genesis 18:25

“Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

Abraham asks this question as he stands before God, as he is now aware that judgment is coming for Sodom and for his extended family and nephew Lot. It is one of the most honest, important and common questions a believer can raise. Is God fair? Is He good? Can He really be trusted?

Notice what Abraham assumes. He does not try to redefine justice, and he does not pretend sin is small. Instead, he presumes on the very character of God. If God is truly the Judge of all the earth, then whatever He does MUST be right.

God’s response is also interesting. He invites Abraham to intercede. Fifty righteous? Forty-five? Forty? Thirty? Twenty? Ten? Each time the Lord shows Himself willing to spare. Judgment is not His impulse; grace is. Yet the tragedy of Sodom is that we know it gets destroyed, highlight: there are not even ten.

This passage changes a belief we naturally carry: that surely people are mostly good, that somewhere there must be enough righteousness to tip the scales.But scripture tells a different story. Left to ourselves, we do not drift toward God; we tend inward. The problem is deeper than behaviour, it is the heart.

But there is hope. One day God will spare us not because He finds ten righteous people, but because He provides ONE. Jesus Christ stands where Abraham stood, between judgment and sinners. Where humanity fails, He succeeds. Where guilt deserves wrath, mercy triumphs through the cross. So when we face questions we cannot answer, be encouraged to return to this truth; The Judge of all the earth will do right.

And in Jesus, we see exactly how.