THURSDAY 22 July 2021 “Sodom & Gomorrah” Genesis 19:15-29

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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,

Are you old enough to remember when the atomic bomb was first dropped or have you seen the pictures of what Hiroshima and Nagasaki looked like after the bomb obliterated those cities?

Do you recall the pictures of Banda Aceh, Indonesia after the Tsunami wave of Christmas Eve 2004? Widespread devastation is not unknown to humanity and our planet. But what is it like when God pours out His great judgment upon profound wickedness? Join me today in Genesis 19 as Sodom and Gomorrah experience their doomsday judgement.

Yesterday we saw that God had sent two angels to investigate these two cities for the purpose of discerning if “what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached God in heaven.” (Gen. 18:21) The angels were met by Lot who invited them to stay the night in his home, telling them it would not be safe for them to stay anywhere else in Sodom. Genesis 19 describes a horrific homosexual appetite and attack on Lot’s home which resulted in the angels striking those men blind, and urging Lot to quickly prepare to leave the city for surely God’s judgment was coming.

The record says: “With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying ‘Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters, or you will be swept away when this city is punished.’ When Lot hesitated, the angels grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them. “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain. Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” (Genesis 19:15-17) I wonder what you see here my friends? Do you see the outrageous love and mercy of God? Is this the love and mercy God has poured out on you and me in our lives as He has NOT punished us as our sins deserve? What do you think it means that Lot hesitated and it required the angels taking Lot’s four family members by the hand and rushing them out of the city? May I suggest this is a picture of every city in the world, every family, even every person. Sin has a strong hold in our world and in our lives. Only the power of the risen Jesus Christ can break that stranglehold on us!

This vivid scene is a clear picture my friends of what happens when a person cries out for God’s help, repents of their sin and experiences the rescue, the Redemption of Jesus Christ! The death payment of Jesus is accepted by Holy God as atonement payment sufficient for their sin condemnation, and the resurrected Jesus rescues the repentant sinner from the stronghold of sin bondage in the kingdom of darkness, and brings us into the kingdom of God! (Colossians 1:13) The Holy Spirit then powerfully begins to work cleansing the repentant sinner from all the wickedness and evil in their life (1 John 1:9) and births a new spiritual nature in that repentant sinner (John 3:3-7). Almighty God then adopts that repentant sinner into His family as a son or daughter with a heavenly inheritance that will never perish, spoil or fade. (1 Peter 1:3-5) And finally the Holy Spirit takes up residence in the life of that repentant, rescued sinner, fully defeating the stronghold of Satan in their life!

Sadly, Lot and his family were NOT repentant of their sin. They had NOT asked to be rescued. The angels were attempting to help them escape the wrath of God, but they were so attracted to the darkness that they resisted leaving Sodom. Lot’s wife looked back in her desire to return, and she became a pillar of salt! (Gen. 19:26) “Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah – from the LORD out of the heavens. Thus He overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities, and also the vegetation in the land.” Do you see WHO rained down the burning sulfur? “The LORD”, the One who had come with these two angels, had eaten a meal at Abraham’s tent, had allowed Abraham to negotiate for even 10 righteous people to be found… this LORD then returned to heaven and rained down God’s wrath on those cities and all who lived in them. God’s judgement on sin is final and complete my friends. That is why the death and resurrection of Jesus for the atonement for repentant sinners is so important. I find it interesting that in Revelation 20:10 there is a description of the ultimate, eternal destiny of Satan to be a “…lake of burning sulfur, where they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

The record says: “Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah…and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.” (Gen. 19:27) Let’s just stand there with Abraham my friends. Of course Abraham did not know the angels had rescued Lot and his daughters. Looking at the smoke, I imagine Abraham thought all was lost. I wonder if Abraham stood there a long time reflecting on the journey he had lived, especially in the past 50 year or so. He had moved with his ageing father Terah, his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot from their home in UR, traveled 600 miles north to Haran and lived there till Terah died. Then they’d moved 400 miles southwest to Canaan, where God had promised them that land. Then their time in Egypt and Hagar joining their servant corps. Then Lot moving away from Abraham and making his home first near, and then IN Sodom. Then the plan of Sarai to have a child through Hagar, and finally God’s promise that Abraham and Sarah would have a son within the year…but also God’s judgement on the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah!

I imagine Abraham wept and prayed as he watched the smoke rise. Oh how Abraham longed for God’s blessing on his life and his family, but oh the painful price of sinful living! What Abraham was watching is what your city and mine and every city in the world deserves, do you agree? Romans 1, which I quoted earlier, continues with a graphic description of how mankind has turned away from God and immersed themselves in decadent sin, and that wickedness earns the destructive wrath of God. The ONLY escape is Jesus, for HE took our sin upon Himself as He hung on the cross, and God poured out HIS wrath on His Son Jesus.

That is why our full trust in Jesus to be our Savior can be accepted by Holy God and He will pardon us from our sin rather than pouring down burning sulfur upon you and me! Oh my friends, I urge you to spend some time talking with Jesus today, making sure you have repented of your sin and trusted fully in Him for your Salvation from God’s justice wrath for sin. Thank God for His mercy! Thank Jesus for His full death payment for your sin!

There is only one great song that seems to fit today my friends, I’m sure you know it, but here it is from the lips of children. . .

Today’s Scripture is Genesis 19:15-29.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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