God’s Longsuffering, Man’s Duty

“The Lord is…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

   Ruth Graham, wife of evangelist Billy Graham, once said, “If God doesn’t punish America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” (Graham, Billy “Billy Graham: My Heart Aches for America,” 7/19/2012 billygraham.org) Sodom and Gomorrha were two wicked cities that God destroyed by fire and brimstone. No doubt Mrs. Graham meant well by her statement, but in truth, God never has to apologize to anyone because“The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.” (Psalm 145:17)

   God’s judgment can also come in other ways. In his second inaugural address, President Lincoln said he believed the Civil War was God’s judgment on America for the slave trade:

   “Fondly do we hope ~ fervently do we pray ~ that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’” (Scripture quote from Psalm 19:9)

   As for Sodom and Gomorrha, archaeologists found ruins of the city of Tall el-Hammam in the Jordan Valley. It may or may not have been the site of Sodom and Gomorrha. Experts say it was destroyed by

   “…an airburst created when a meteor or comet traveled through the atmosphere at high speed. It would have exploded about 2.5 miles above the city in a blast 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb used at Hiroshima, writes study co-author Christopher R. Moore, an archaeologist at the University of South Carolina, for the Conversation.

   “Air temperatures rapidly rose above 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit,” Moore explains. “Clothing and wood immediately burst into flames. Swords, spears, mudbricks and pottery began to melt. Almost immediately, the entire city was on fire.”

   Seconds after the blast, a shockwave ripped through the city at a speed of roughly 740 miles per hour— faster than the worst tornado ever recorded. The cities’ buildings were reduced to foundations and rubble. “None of the 8,000 people or any animals within the city survived,” Moore adds. “Their bodies were torn apart and their bones blasted into small fragments.”

   (Gershon, Livia “Ancient City’s Destruction by Exploding Space Rock May Have Inspired Biblical Story of Sodom” 9/22/2021, smithsonianmag.com)

   Our nation has a huge sin problem, and God can and does judge nations for sin: “He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.” (Psalm 107:33-34) Yet as long as there is life, there is hope: “For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope:” (Ecclesiastes 9:4)

   If you are a Christian, think of people around you: family, friends, neighbors, co-workers. Do they know Jesus as Saviour? Have you ever asked them? God is not willing that any of them should perish, but that they should come to repentance. Jesus said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) If you know Jesus as Saviour, that command is for you.

   If you have never seen from the Bible how to have your sins forgiven and have eternal life, please go to www.clevelandbaptist.org, click “Helpful Links,” then “How Do I Go to Heaven?”

Brian Miller 7/7/2024