God’s Longsuffering
“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:28-29)
Genesis 6:5 gives us the world’s condition before the flood: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” God decreed that the world would be destroyed by a flood. Yet Noah had turned to God and “…found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” (Genesis 6:8)
Noah was also “…a preacher of righteousness,” (2 Peter 2:5) He spoke of God’s grace and he warned of God’s judgment. After the ark was done, Noah, his family, and the animals went into it. God shut them in. Those outside the ark, “…the flood came, and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:27)
The story of Sodom and Gomorrha is similar. Abraham’s nephew Lot moved his family near Sodom because it had good farmland. Yet Genesis 13:13 also says that “…the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.” God told Abraham He would destroy Sodom and Gomorrha. Abraham, no doubt worried about Lot, asked God to spare Sodom if righteous people were in it. God agreed to spare it for ten righteous people. Yet it didn’t even have ten.
Two angels went to Lot’s house one night. A group of men in Sodom saw them. They surrounded Lot’s house and demanded he sends them out: “Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them [sexually].” (Genesis 19:5)
Lot was scared. He offered them his two virgin daughters instead. He said, “I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man;…do ye to them as is good in your eyes:” (Genesis 19:7-8) They refused his offer and even tried to molest Lot.
The angels rescued Lot from them and warned him to get his family out of Sodom. Lot went to his sons-in-law who had married two other daughters. He warned them to get out, but they didn’t take him seriously. “But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.” (Genesis 19:14) Eventually, the angels got Lot, his wife, and the two virgin daughters out of Sodom.
The stories of the flood and of Sodom and Gomorrha are tragic stories of unrepentant sin and of God’s eventual judgment. They’re also previews of how things would be before Jesus’ Second Coming. The Lord said, “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.” (Luke 17:26) and “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot;” (Luke 17:28)
Yet in each instance, we also see God gave people the opportunity to turn to Him and be saved. God is “…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) No matter how sin-hardened people are, even today, Jesus wants to forgive them and save them.
Christians also need to be faithful to share the gospel of Jesus with people. Noah was faithful, but was Lot? Did he ever try to talk with people of Sodom about God’s grace? Would his sons-in-law have taken him seriously if he’d been more faithful to teach his family about God and His Word?
If you aren’t sure you’ll be in heaven when you die, please go to www.clevelandbaptist.org, click “Helpful Links,” then “How Do I Go to Heaven?”
Brian Miller 1/10/2022
Cleveland Baptist Church 4431 Tiedeman Road, Brooklyn, Ohio 44144 216/671-2822