The Lord Jesus when asked by Judas, not Iscariot, "how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world?" replied, "If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make our abode with him." (John xiv. 23.) Again, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." (Rev. iii. 20.) Now, Abraham furnishes us with an exceedingly happy exemplification of the truth stated in the above passages. "The Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and He sat in _the tent door_ in the heat of the day." (chap. xviii. 1.) Here we find Abraham again in the full exhibition of his stranger character. _Mamre_ and _the tent_ are associated in our minds with the day of his triumph over the king of Sodom. Abraham is still a stranger and a pilgrim "dwelling in tabernacles." The revelation made unto him by the Almighty God had not altered the tone of his character in this respect, but had rather imparted fresh vigor and energy thereto. A simple dependence upon the promise of the Almighty God was the most effectual means of maintaining him in his stranger condition. Now, it is, in the very highest degree, instructive to see the honor here put upon the character and condition of the stranger. Throughout the wide range of the world there was just _one spot_ in which the Lord could accept the rites of hospitality and make Himself at home, and that was in _the tent of_ "_a pilgrim and stranger_." The Lord would not honor the sumptuous halls and princely palaces of Egypt with His presence. No. All His sympathies and all His affections hung around the stranger of Mamre, who was the only one who, in the midst of an evil world, could be induced to take God for his portion. What a season of enjoyment it must have been to Abraham while those heavenly strangers sat with him and partook of the offerings of his generous heart. Mark how he calls forth into action all the energies of his house to do honor to his guests. He hastens from the tent to the field, and from the field to the tent again, and seems to lose sight of himself in his effort to make others happy. Nor is it merely by partaking of Abraham's hospitality that the Lord gives expression to the high estimation in which He holds him; He renews His promise to him with regard to the son--He opens up His counsels to him with reference to Sodom. "Shall I," says He, "hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? _For I know him_, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him." (vers. 17-19.)