Beyond Sodom and Gomorrah – “God’s Judgement on a Nation”

While Christians Watched in horror from their pews

Background on Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18)

• Three Angels as men appear to Abraham and Sarah and prophecy Isaac within a year
• The angels look toward Sodom as they leave and God reveals His plan to Abraham.

“And the LORD said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.  I will go down now and see whether they have done entirely as the outcry, which has come to Me indicates; and if not, I will know.” Genesis 18: 20-21

• Because his nephew Lot lives there, Abraham pleads for the city.

“And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” Genesis 18: 32

That sets up the story of the angels going to Sodom to save Lot and his family and what transpired. (Genesis 19: 4-5, 9)

“Before they lay down, the men of the city—the men of Sodom—surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter;  and they called to Lot and said to him, Where are the men (angels) who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them…But they said, “Get out of the way!” They also said, “This one came in as a foreigner, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them!” So they pressed hard against Lot and moved forward to break the door.”

When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”  But he hesitated. So the men grasped his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, because the compassion of the LORD was upon him; and they brought him out and put him outside the city. Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the LORD out of heaven,  and He overthrew those cities, and all the surrounding area, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot’s wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.  Genesis 19: 15-16, 24-26

God’s Chosen People

“Worse than I could have ever imagined…”  Those are not my words. They are God’s words paraphrased from the prophet Jeremiah. He spoke them three times against His own sinful, disobedient, debauched people. The third passage follows:

“For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been doing only evil in My sight since their youth; for the sons of Israel have been only provoking Me to anger by the work of their hands,” declares the LORD…They have turned their back to Me and not their face; though I taught them, teaching again and again, they would not listen to accept discipline.  But they put their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it.  They built the high places of Baal that are in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them, nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination…”  Jeremiah 32: 30-35 

“As I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done!  Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, plenty of food, and carefree ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.  So they were haughty and committed abominations (homosexuality as in Leviticus 18:22) before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it. Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half of your sins, for you  have multiplied your abominations more than they. So you made your sisters appear innocent by all your abominations  which you have committed.”  Ezekiel 16: 49-51

The last two weeks we examined the words of Jesus and their context when He referred back to the “days of Noah” twice. In the Luke 17 passage, He also made the same reference to the “days of Lot”.  In all three passages, it seemed curious to me that Jesus did not talk about the heinous, licentious, perverse behaviors. Why? My thought is those were known by all who heard Him speak because His audience was Jews who would have heard those stories throughout their education in the Torah. He had a different lesson for them.

You are not paying attention to the “signs” all around you.

In all three, Jesus told us what the people were doing up to the time they were utterly destroyed.

“people were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, and they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, and they were building … until it rained fire and brimstone and destroyed them all.”  Luke 17:27-29

He told those who kept demanding signs that God sent many prophets as signs from Him to warn them of imminent destruction for those who did not repent.  But they did not listen or pay attention; they killed some of them. Instead, despite the perversion and abominable behaviors that had become norms or were no longer concerning enough for anyone to speak up or out against it, they went about their daily activities of what had become “normal” life. Self-absorbed at worst; minding their own business at best. THEN ALL WERE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!

We will finish this message next week.

For Christ’s sake,