Saturday, October 14, 2017

Genesis 19: 23-29 “The Judgement upon Sodom and Gomorrah”

We have previously  considered, 
(i)  the announcement of the Judgement  of Sodom  and the intercession of Abraham  
(ii) the  personal revelation of the wickedness of Sodom to the 2 messengers of God,  and the rescue mission of Abraham’s nephew  Lot and  his family, and now...  
(iii) we shall consider the actual  destruction of  Sodom and  Gomorrah, along with the tragic incident  involving Lot’s wife.

There are few  more terrible and tragic accounts in the Bible  than this one. Martin Luther   confessed that he could not read the chapter without  being deeply affected (‘Es geht mir durch mein ganzes Herz’- this   story  pierces  my  whole heart). [1]  

23-25. As the sun had  risen, Lot came to Zoar, and  the LORD Yahweh rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah sulphur and fire from  the heavens…  Although only Sodom and Gomorrah are mentioned, we learn from Deut. 29:23[2]  that Admah and Zeboiim were involved as well.  We read of  this group of five towns  in Genesis 14:2,9  and it appears that of  these, Zoar the town to which Lot fled, alone was spared. These towns were communities under the judgment of God.  For many years the LORD God had been patient with them, restraining His anger, giving the people much time to repent and change their ways, but now the time had come when their sin had reached its full measure. This was all confirmed by the two angels of God who had come for that final investigation. It was also these angels  that  were instrumental  in getting  Lot and his family out of these cities of destruction. It was these that told Lot and his family in v.17,  “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in this valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”

The  text tells us  that  the LORD – Yahweh rained  upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire". Nothing points to a volcanic eruption. No volcanic lava remains are found  in the immediate vicinity.  Some have thought   that it was  a violent earthquake, referring to the word "overthrew"(vv. 25,29). There certainly is  seismic  activity in this  area of the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea.  I understand that this is all part of the Rift Valley that runs from the  Middle  Near East down through east Africa into Kenya.    An earthquake occurred when Christ died (Matt. 27:51) and when Paul was in prison in Philippi (Acts 16:25).

However the best explanation given is that  the "fire" which rained down from heaven may have been lightning. The "sulphur" ( Brimstone) , common  in the Middle East  may have been connected to a huge explosion of highly inflammable materials, connected with the "bitumen pits"  mentioned  in   Gen. 14:10   causing a vast conflagration.  The towns were overthrown, and all their   inhabitants, and  even what grew on the ground vanished (v.25)
It happened! It is a fact. It was an act of God.  It happened in history,  like the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in  AD 79,  one of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions in European history. Mount Vesuvius spewed forth a deadly cloud of  gasses to a height of 33 kilometres, ejecting molten rock, pulverized pumice and hot ash at the rate of 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing 100,000 times the thermal energy of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings.  Several Roman settlements were obliterated and buried underneath massive pyroclastic surges and ashfall deposits, the best known cities being Pompeii and Herculaneum.[3]

It happened  like the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake  which caused a  series of devastating tsunamis, killing 230,000–280,000 people in 14 countries, and swamping coastal communities with waves up to 30 metres  high. It was one of the deadliest disasters in recorded history. Indonesia was the hardest-hit country, followed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand. It is the third-largest earthquake ever recorded.  
And it happened like the 2011 Japan earthquake, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan, and the fourth most powerful earthquake in the world, since modern record-keeping began in 1900. The earthquake triggered powerful tsunami waves that reached heights of up to 40.5 metres.   Almost 16 000 people died, apart from huge damage to homes and infrastructure.  The tsunami also caused a nuclear accident at the Fukushima power plant.  The World Bank's estimated economic cost was US$235 billion, making it the costliest natural disaster in history.[4]

And all these tell the same story.  They are acts of God. God is sending temporary judgments  into this fallen world, reminding  the world frequently that  the world as we know it  will  have a  catastrophic ending , followed  by a general resurrection and  a Great White Throne  judgment (Rev. 20:11-15).  Sodom is a foretaste of that day, and these  so called natural disasters, and catastrophes , according to Jesus  are but the beginnings of the birthpains. (Matt. 24:8)  

V. 26.  But Lot’s wife, behind him  looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. What did the angel of God say in v. 17?  “Don’t look back!”, and yet  she did  (v.26).  Here she  is.  She is fleeing with her husband and her daughters but her  heart was in Sodom. She had left Sodom, but Sodom was still in her heart. If she had her way she would have stayed behind like her prospective sons in law. The world was in her heart, and her heart was in the world. In this state she lived, and in this state she died. She followed, not because of personal conviction. She followed because it was her duty to follow her husband.  Oh how many there are in our churches like that.   There are so many people in the world that follow Christ out of duty and not out of delight.  You may have spiritual advantages of every description. You may belong to a good family of Christians. You may be in a church where  the Word of God is faithfully proclaimed and where many are devoted to following the Lord Jesus.   All this may be, and yet you yourself may remain without a true desire to love and follow Christ.  And so when  ‘push comes to shove’, and  when you are called by Jesus  to  make choices that  take you away from the world, taking steps like Christian in Pilgrims Progress towards heaven, you look back  and wish that you  could  enjoy  more of this Sodom.   

Now remember the words of the Lord Jesus in  Luke  17:28-33 . In that context, with reference to the days of Lot, He says, “Remember Lot’s wife.” ….whoever seeks to preserve his life (in Sodom) will lose it, but whoever loses his life (to Christ)  will  keep  it” (v.33). 
 
"She looked back.”  This might seem like a small insignificant thing, but it spoke volumes of what really mattered to her. Little things will often show the state of a man’s heart and mind more accurately than great ones. Little symptoms are often the signs of a deadly disease. Cancer starts with a little cell.  A virus and bacteria are invisible to the naked eye. But they have powerful effects. This backward look showed what was first in her life. 

So many have shown promise in spiritual matters. They started well. They followed the Lord Jesus zealously for a while, but when it really mattered, they loved the world more than Jesus. They followed Him no longer (John 6:66). Their love grew cold (Rev.  2:1-7). They became lukewarm  (Rev. 3 :14-22). They have tasted of the goodness of the  word of God and  the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away….” (Hebr. 6:5,6).   Remember Lot’s wife, says Jesus! She is  a warning  to all who do not make a clear-cut break with the world.  

Vv.27, 28. Abraham goes back to the place where he had "stood before the LORD Yahweh"- where he had interceded for Sodom  and Gomorrah. What he saw down below in the valley must have been gut wrenching.   He saw vast volumes of smoke rising from in all the land of the valley . If you remember Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991)  the response   to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait  on 2nd   August 1990 and the burning oilfields of Kuwait , then you will get an idea  of what Abraham  would have seen here.

The expression used here, literally translated here as  "smoke of the earth"[5], seems to suggest that the very ground burned.  Again,  this points to  the possibility that  oil deposits near the surface may have been ignited to cause  this  enormous conflagration.

V.29. “So it was that when God  destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot  out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew  the cities in which Lot had lived”. The primary thought of the verse is: God remembered Lot for Abraham’s sake. Abraham’s prayer, although it was not answered in the way he had wished, resulted nevertheless   in Lot’s preservation.  But Lot was not delivered for his own sake but for Abraham’s. "The  prayer of a  righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:16)  

REVIEW  AND APPLICATION
This text which we have considered is no fairy tale, and Luther’s reaction to it, should be ours. It is a terrible thing to see sinners falling into the hands of an angry God.  This is a reminder of the final judgment.  It appears that people in our day are just as cynical and unbelieving about the fact of that coming judgment, just as they were in the days of Noah. Jesus said so! (Lk 17:26). And in all this we must remember that God is not slow to judge.   “He is patient… not wishing anyone to perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

The  lesson of Lot’s wife  is  a particular warning for those that associate  with Jesus and His church , but  who remain fundamentally attached to this world . In the  NT she is a standing warning against worldliness. Jesus will tell you,   “remember Lot's wife”!  

Abraham, the intercessor, reminds  us  that Christians have a duty to pray  for  their   world and to be exercised over its ungodliness, whilst at the same time  pleading with God for His mercy. There is a great promise here for those of us  with unconverted families. God hears our prayer  for their sake. We are told that God spared Lot because of Abraham's intercession.

One last thing : Jesus said  to His disciples in Matt 10: 14-15 , "And if  anyone will  not receive you, or listen to  your words,  shake the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly I say to you, it will be more bearable in the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town." Jesus is saying that those who reject the gospel message are liable to a more intense judgment than Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgement.

And where will you be in that  day? Where is your heart rooted? Remember  Lot’s wife. She had experienced many spiritual privileges, but  ultimately  she would  experience the same judgment as  did the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. She was so  close  to the gates of Zoar and yet so far away.

THE LORD’ SUPPER
An invitation  to come to  Jesus  your Zoar, your Redeemer,  your   Deliverer, the One who has  facilitated  your great escape.  

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