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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