SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5
Scripture: Genesis 18:16-26

The Key of David in Revelation 3 has a picture in application that comes out of this passage. In Isaiah 9 we find that God’s intent for us is to be the initiators and establishers of His Kingdom. But it can only be established with mish-pawt and tsed-aw-kaw. And tsed-aw-kaw is conformity to a biblical and moral standard. Because we need mercy, we can become a people of mercy and we only move over into the judicial when directed by the Holy Spirit as a last resort. The Key of David means that we have a say in where God’s Hand falls. That is what we see in Genesis 18. It is interesting to find the words mish-pawt and tsed-aw-kaw in verse 19. But it is also interesting to find mish-pawt in Abram’s prayer and intercession for where the Hand of God was going to fall in Sodom. Abram’s intercession in verse 25 says, “Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” When Abram prayed, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”, the Hebrew word translated “right” is mish-pawt. Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right? Abram, in intercession, determined where God’s Hand fell. It is very clear that this is an assignment the church has neglected to teach. In the establishing of the Kingdom, it is our job not only to represent mercy, but also to woo people away from a lifestyle that violates God’s moral code. Abram is demanding that the Hand of God not fall on Lot. He is asking for God’s protection. What does that mean concerning the cities and regions in which we live? If we are to follow this pattern, according to Revelation 3, the concept is as New Testament as it gets. What does a harvest from our region look like when we have a say in where the Hand of the Lord falls?