Ten Righteous Men – D’Author’s Contemplations

Part 1

In Genesis 18-19 we read the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (the home of Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family) and of Abraham’s plea with God that the cities be spared from what we have believed to be God’s wrath against their many sins, including homosexuality. We even hear preachers today denouncing cities like New Orleans and Las Vegas, saying that hurricane Katrina was God’s wrath against the people of New Orleans. I’ve heard more than one minister make statements like this one: If God doesn’t punish America [or a specific city in America], He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.

This is the orthodox concept of the God of wrath and punishment rather than of the Father Jesus made known to us, the Father who judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son (John 5:22), the Father who sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world: but that the world through him might be saved (John 3:17). When confronted with acts of sin which the law (which came by Moses) said must be punished by stoning, we hear this Son saying, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more (John 8:11).

If this God of no judgment and condemnation is in reality the only true God whom Jesus prayed we would know as our Father (John 17:3), then how are we to read Genesis 18-19? As I was meditating recently, I believe the Holy Spirit revealed to me the simplicity of this account. Since man was created in the image and likeness of God (is God in expression) and given dominion over all the rest of creation, whatever is in man’s consciousness (individually or collectively) is what man experiences—good, bad or indifferent. Whatever he believes, he receives. See Consciousness Manifested and Cause and Effect.

We know from Paul’s writings that righteousness is not something we earn by doing right and avoiding wrong, but is rather a free gift given to ALL men (Romans 5:18). Though the gift be given to all, it is experienced only when man becomes aware of his true identity: son of the living God. Men who are unaware of that identity don’t know that God is love and that they are love in expression and therefore commit unloving acts which they term sin and experience the repercussions of those acts (everything negative that they believe about God and themselves in relation to God) and attribute these repercussions to the God of wrath and judgment that they believe in.

I am suggesting that we read the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, not by the letter in terms of a literal occurrence of God’s wrath against sin, but rather by the Spirit (2Corinthians 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.) as an account of what occurs in all our lives when we have in our consciousness (awareness) a belief in two powers, one good and the other evil, a belief that we are separated from God and must continually choose good over evil in order to receive God’s favor rather than having the knowledge that we are His sons and daughters who can never be separated from His love and that all that God has is already ours. When we have that knowledge, we know that we have no lack in our lives, that our every need and desire is fulfilled by the Father within and therefore have no need to engage in the works of the flesh to get those needs and desires met. We understand that our righteousness comes not from any good works that we do, but rather is a free gift from God. We know that it is not our righteousness at all, but rather the righteousness of God:

Romans 10:3: For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
2Corinthians 5:21: For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

In Genesis 13 we read the account of the separation of Abram from his nephew Lot. In verse 4 we read of Abram (not Lot) calling on the name of the Lord, or entrusting himself to God, not to his own ability to make the right choices and do the right thing. In verse 9 Abram allows Lot to choose the land (consciousness) he will live in, thereby allowing God to choose for himself. And what did Lot choose? He judged by the appearance (John 7:24) and chose what looked like the garden of the Lord but was like the land of Egypt (v 10). Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly (vv 12-13). We have already learned that sin is the belief in separation from God (carnal-mindedness) which produces the wicked acts committed in the attempt to get for oneself that which you don’t know that God has already given you (see Belief in Two Powers and One with God). In separating himself from Abram and pitching his tent toward Sodom, Lot is moving into that consciousness and away from the consciousness possessed by Abram. It is interesting to note that after that Lot was separated from him (v 14), Abram is able to hear God tell him of the abundance in store for him, the abundance that he doesn’t earn by his good behavior. No, the Lord says, I will give it unto thee (v 17).

Now let’s return to Genesis 18-19. Here we see Abram again communing with the Lord who manifests Himself as three men. Abram knows that he is in the Presence of God and is able to hear that his desire for a son is going to be fulfilled by God. (Of course we know how later Abram attempted to help God out and all the chaos resulting from that attempt, but that is another story.)

I wish to draw attention to the conversation that the Lord has with Himself (vv 17ff) about revealing to Abraham His plans for destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. Notice that the Lord says that He will be able to bring upon Abraham that which He had spoken concerning him in Chapter 17 about him being a blessing to all the nations of the earth. The Lord is saying that what Abraham is going to experience is dependent upon what is in Abraham’s consciousness and what he will instill into the consciousness of his children: to keep the way of the Lord. In other words, Abraham is dependent upon God for his righteousness, not upon himself.

Galatians 3:6 Even as Abraham BELIEVED God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

It is BELIEVING, not doing, that brings to us a righteousness consciousness rather than a sin consciousness—and all the benefits of having that consciousness.

We all know the many stories of Abraham’s descendants, many of them laced with deceit and wrongdoing of every description. They were certainly not just and upright in all their behavior. Yet they believed and trusted in the God of their father Abraham. They had a consciousness of a God who loved and protected them.

Now let’s turn to the conversation between Abraham and the Lord about Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:20ff). The Lord says He is going to go and check on the cities to see if it is as bad as He has heard. Of course an omniscient God doesn’t have to check; He is giving Abraham the opportunity to save the cities from self destruction by standing in the gap for those who were ignorant of their true identity. We see this principle again in

Ezekiel 22:30-31 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.

This is said of the bloody city (v 2) full of all the abominations of Sodom and Gomorrah, and then some. God is looking for someone, anyone, with a righteousness consciousness to keep the others from destroying themselves with their sin consciousness. What we have to remember here is that God and man are one (Jesus knew this and prayed in John 17 that we would also know it). Man is God in expression, the very temple where God dwells, who has dominion in this earth. Man is the I who is pouring out indignation upon himself: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD (v 31).

So Abraham begins to plead with the Lord, saying, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? (Genesis 18:23) and Shall not the Judge of the earth do right? (v 24). He first asks that the cities be spared from judgment if there be fifty righteous people in them. As the Lord agrees with that, Abraham keeps lowering the number until he gets to ten and stops.

In Genesis 19 God appears to Abraham’s nephew Lot in Sodom as two angels. Lot honors them and begs them to come into his house (consciousness). God is always standing at the door of all our hearts, asking to be let into our consciousness (Revelation 3:20)—for therein is our protection from what the world calls evil but what God cannot even look upon:

Habakkuk 1:13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.

Though Lot recognizes God in the two angels, he fails to recognize Him in his own daughters and offers them to the wicked men of Sodom to use for their pleasure in his effort to protect the angels from these men. He still doesn’t have a righteousness consciousness which depends entirely upon God and not upon his own efforts. We learn at the end of the story that it was Abraham’s consciousness (which to some degree his nephew Lot was attached to) that was able to save Lot and his daughters:

Genesis 19:29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

Lot was indeed spared, but we can see to what extent he was not dependent upon God. When told that he must leave the city (consciousness) altogether, he lingered and had to be laid hold of (along with his wife and daughters —the sons-in-law refused to leave) and set without the city because of God’s mercy (v 16), not because he was ready and willing to leave.

After he was out of the city, he was urged by God to escape to the mountain (a higher consciousness of God) so that he would not be consumed by the destruction coming to the others. He asked to be allowed to stop in a little city (consciousness) called Zoar, a little bit of what Abraham had—just enough to escape destruction, but not enough for the abundant life of righteousness, peace and joy that comprises the kingdom of heaven.

The angels had said to Lot and his family:

Genesis 19:17 Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

Our very life depends on going forward into the consciousness of God offered to us. Lot’s wife lost her life because she wouldn’t accept that consciousness (v 26).

For whatever reason, Lot began to fear living in Zoar and did go into the mountain, not to the mountaintop of revelation but into a cave with his two daughters. And we know of their descent into sin—not believing that God would satisfy their need and desire for offspring, but taking upon themselves the ways and means, which again led to destruction (Genesis 19:30ff). It is reminiscent of Abraham helping God get himself a child.

The point of this contemplation is twofold. Firstly, it is not sovereign God pouring out His wrath that causes us to experience destruction in our lives, but rather is the sin consciousness which comes from the belief that we are separated from God’s love and have to get what we want and need by our own devices. Secondly, even one righteous man (one with a God consciousness, one who is dependent upon God for his righteousness) such as Abraham, can bring salvation (whatever is needed for a harmonious life in the physical realm) to any and all who are in any way attached to that consciousness. And ten such righteous men can save a whole city from destruction.

What was true in Abraham’s day is true today:

(vv 18-20) And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.

That power or dominion given us in the beginning (Genesis 1:26) is operating in us still. It is my prayer that we recognize this and become the expression of God in this earth who bring salvation to all those ignorant of their true identity as sons of the living God.

Part 2

I feel I mustn’t leave this discourse without looking at the references to Sodom and Gomorrah made in the New Testament and used by modern-day orthodox preachers to justify their judgment and condemnation against the people and cities of our day.

It is in Matthew 11 that we read of Jesus’ references to these cities. The chapter begins with John the Baptist’s disciples coming to Jesus to ask if He is really the Messiah or are they to look for another. Jesus bids them to relate to John …

Matthew 11:4-6 … those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

As they depart, Jesus says to the people

(vv 11,15): Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
(vv 20,23-24): Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.
Matthew 11:25-30: At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

We can (and most orthodox Christians do) look at the above account and see the God of wrath and judgment believed in by most everyone before the coming of Jesus into this world to reveal to us the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent (John 17:3). Jesus indicates this when He says that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist who had no understanding of the righteousness freely given to all by God Himself, the only true God. In verse 27 Jesus says that this Father God cannot be known by the human mind, but must be revealed to us by the Son. For that to happen, we must have ears that can hear what the Spirit is saying (v 15).

In this chapter Jesus is lamenting the fact that the people of His day who saw the love He poured out on all mankind (through his mighty works which brought into physical manifestation the love of the Father for His children, love which was not based on their behavior)—Jesus was grieved that the people were still not able to see that true God and receive that love. Jesus said that had the people of Sodom seen what they were seeing, they would not have self-destructed but would have repented—or changed their thinking about God which would have led to their depending upon God and not themselves to get their needs and desires met.

The people of Capernaum, in seeing those works, had been exalted unto heaven (offered a higher consciousness of God and their relation to Him), but, because they rejected that offer, would find themselves brought down to hell—the hell of our own making where we experience the manifestation of all our false beliefs about God and man, the hell wherein we run our lives by listening to the wisdom of men which is foolishness to God. But we can take heart because God is still there for the recognition even when we make our bed in hell (Psalms 139:8). The day of judgment referred to in verse 24 is not some future time when God will pour out His wrath, but rather to the harvesting of what has been sown in the consciousness of man. The more light we reject, the more darkness we experience, but it is not from God. For God is light, and in him is no darkness at all (1John 1:5). We are merely reaping what we have sown (Galatians 6:7) or having given back to us (pressed down and running over) what we have given (believed about our relation to God) (Luke 6:38).

Immediately after his reference to Sodom, Jesus thanks His Father that what He just said can be understood only by those who are as little children or babes (Mark 10:15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.) This is to say that we will never figure it out by human reasoning since the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1Corinthians 2:14). We cannot know this loving Father except He be revealed to us by the Spirit.

If we read Jesus’ words by the letter that killeth (2Corinthians 3:6), we will see only the God of wrath and judgment which can only strike fear into our hearts, fear for ourselves and all of mankind lest we displease this God. But if we read them by the Spirit that giveth life (2Corinthians 3:6), the perfect love that God has shown to us in Jesus will cast out the fear that hath torment (torment we believe is coming from God’s judgment of us) and we can easily receive the soothing balm of Jesus’ next words:

Matthew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

I would so love to end this contemplation here, but I know I must speak to those who will even now begin quoting Peter’s reference to Sodom and Gomorrah to prove to me that I am misinterpreting God’s revelation of Himself in His Word. We can read 2Peter (as I myself have also done in the past) and see nothing but damnation and destruction coming from this God of wrath and judgment. But before we tackle that subject, let’s look at both the beginning and ending of Peter’s epistle:

2Peter 1:1-4: Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
2Peter 3:18: But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Everything which Peter says that might frighten us is sandwiched between these verses which have all the emphasis on the grace and peace that come to us when our faith is in God’s righteousness rather than our own. This is ours as we increase in our knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord. We become partakers of the divine nature (knowing that we are Spirit being, or God in expression) and thereby escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. This is the world that Jesus said He was in but was not a part of, the world that is always lusting for what Jesus knew He already had (and we can know that too).

I want to point out also that Peter himself knew all too well that what he had received from God was not a result of his righteous behavior. He was so devastated by his denial (three times!) that he even knew Jesus (Matthew 26:69ff) after boasting that he would die before denying Him (v 35) that he went out, and wept bitterly (v 75). He had been rebuked by Jesus earlier for saying that Jesus should not go to the cross. Jesus had strong words for Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me (Matthew 16:22-23). And Peter suffered Jesus’ rebuke again when he cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest in his attempt to keep Jesus from the cross:

(v 11) Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

Peter was so crushed by his own unrighteous behavior that he was ready to give up preaching and go back to his old fishing job that Jesus had called him from. But Jesus showed him that it is not one’s behavior but rather one’s consciousness of God’s love that determines if we are able to feed my sheep or stand in the gap for all those ignorant of this love. We see this in the interchange between Jesus and Peter after the resurrection of Jesus:

John 21:15-17 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

We must keep this in mind when we are tempted to read Peter’s epistle as a discourse on God’s wrath and punishment for man’s unrighteous behavior.

In this epistle, Peter refers to Noah as a preacher of righteousness and Lot as that righteous man whose righteous soul was vexed as he dwelt among the men of Sodom. We’ve already seen that Lot was not that righteous in his behavior, but that he did indeed have a God consciousness to some extent (enough to invite God into his house or consciousness), though it was actually Abraham’s consciousness that saved him from destruction. Since righteousness is a free gift, not based on works but rather comes to us by the grace of God, every man has a righteous soul which should be vexed when seeing our fellow men living in ignorance of their rightful inheritance as sons of God.

That is what we see as we read this book, the vexation of Peter’s righteous soul on seeing the ignorance of the truth exhibited by false teachers (2Peter 2:1) who are supposed to be leading the people into the truth of the Gospel. Because Peter knows that his departure from this realm is imminent, he is even more vexed to see that the very men who are promising the people liberty are themselves servants of corruption (v 19). Their indulging in all these works of the flesh tells us that they do not truly understand the righteousness which comes from God and the love that God has for them. Consequently, they shall receive the reward of unrighteousness (v 13). Peter compares them to Balaam who loved the wages of unrighteousness (v 15)—who was paid to say what man said rather than what God told him to say (Numbers 22). Yes, indeed, Peter’s righteous soul is very vexed because this is his last opportunity to warn his people about listening to and following those who lead them out of liberty and into bondage.

In the third chapter of this book Peter talks a lot about the day of the Lord (v 10) or the day of His coming (explained in Listening to the Holy Spirit) and about heaven and earth being destroyed by fire. Many a frightening sermon have come from this chapter in the attempt to scare men into repentance, or accepting Jesus as God’s blood sacrifice for their sins so they won’t have to spend eternity in the lake of fire. (See Christ Jesus, the Mediator and God Is One for a treatment of this subject.) As I pointed out in Baptism by Fire, our God is the consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24, Hebrews 12:29) whose love consumes all the works done in our humanity, but never the one doing the works (1Corinthians 3:11-15). This subject is also treated at length in The New Jerusalem, where we see that the fire of God’s love must burn all our false concepts of God and hell so that we can experience the new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness (2Peter 3:13) and be found of him in peace (v 14).

As long as we have the concept of God as judge, tormentor, and dispenser of His wrath rather than the Father who doesn’t condemn the world and judges no man whom Jesus presented to us, we will never know the perfect love of God which casts out the fear of God that torments us. We will continue in our wicked works because we feel alienated from God. But our alienation is only in our minds, not in the mind of God.

Colossians 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet NOW HATH HE RECONCILED.

This is one of those great and precious promises that Peter refers to in the beginning of his epistle (1:4):

2Corinthians 5:17-21 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

As long as our feeling of alienation persists, we can never accept the righteousness of God freely given to us and be one of those ten righteous men who through the righteousness consciousness is able to save those around us from the self destruction which always comes because they have not grown in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as Peter admonished us to do (2Peter 3:18).

But we do know the love that God has for us, the love from which we can never be separated (Romans 8:39). We do know that our righteousness comes not from what we do or don’t do but is a gift given to us by God. It is indeed God giving Himself to us to live His life through us:

Galatians 2:20: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
John 3:17: For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

That Son was Jesus, but Jesus has now departed from this realm and come again to take up His abode in us (John 14:23). We are now that Son:

1John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

And it is through us, the sons to whom He has appeared and who are aware of our sonship, the sons who know that all that the Father has is ours (Luke 15:31), including His righteousness—it is through these sons that the world will be saved, saved from its false beliefs about God so that the old concepts of heaven and earth can pass away and the new heavens and earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, can appear.

We know this because Jesus said it:

Matthew 10:41 he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.