Life of Abraham Series: Abraham And The Favor Of The Lord
April 2025
“And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.”
—Genesis 18:1-8
There is no greater honor than to have the favor of the Lord upon one’s life. The word favormeans “acceptance” or “grace,” with Genesis 6:8 standing as the fundamental application of this word: “But Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord,” meaning unmerited favor or regard in God’s sight. In a broader sense, one could say that the favor of God toward humanity is Jesus Christ, His Son and our Savior.1
The Lord desires to show favor to all who follow Him, and Genesis 8:1-8 shows us the steps that we must take to have God’s favor.
The first thing that Abraham did was to show hospitality to the Lord. He made the Lord feel welcomed. He desired fellowship with Him. So too must we desire constant fellowship with the Lord. That is done by one’s prayer life and one’s study of God’s Word. The Lord desires to commune with us, however, the impetus is upon us—we must desire it; we must seek Him and fellowship with Him.
Then the text says, “He bowed himself toward the ground.” In doing this, it implies worship upon Abraham’s part.
He then washed the Lord’s feet. There is a great spiritual truth in this. As the patriarch washed the feet of the Lord and the angels, such proclaims the fact that all believers need their feet washed daily, speaking in a spiritual sense, which would be typified by Christ washing the feet of the disciples, as it involves our daily walk before God. The world that we live in is a world of corruption and filth. Therefore, we need constant cleansing.
Then Abraham invites the Lord to rest. As the Lord rested, this portrays the rest afforded to all whose faith is anchored in Christ. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Abraham then offers the Lord bread. Bread symbolizes our Lord, for John 6:35 says, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”
Then Abraham had Sarah make three measures of fine meal (meat offering), which was meant to represent the perfection of our incarnate Lord (Lev. 2:1). We understand that Abraham would have little knowledge of this as the law had not yet been given. Yet the Holy Spirit guided him in all that he did on that glorious day of visitation.
Abraham then prepared a tender calf for the Lord to eat. This was something that was not normally consumed by the people of this region in that day. It speaks of Abraham giving his very best to the Lord. As well, we should, every day, give our best to the Lord. Of greater note, Christ was the tender calf offered up on Calvary’s cross that we might be saved and have eternal life.
The text then says, “They did eat.” In John 6:53-56, it says, “Verily, verily I say unto you, Exceptye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.” These words from John 6 portray the offering up of Christ on the cross, and the eating part is us placing our faith in Him and His finished work.
The final ingredient in finding favor with God is faith. Genesis 15:6 says, “And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” Abraham’s faith was in a Redeemer to come, and our faith is to be in a Redeemer who has come and completed the work of redemption.
The favor of God comes to us when we have our faith properly placed, and we desire fellowship and hospitality.