Year 2 Day 232

Year 2 Day 232


Pray (ACts)


Read - Genesis 19


Message - Scott Woodburn
Every generation believes that they live in the absolute worst of times and the darkest of days. The reality doesn’t quite match our perception. There is no doubt that we live in a wicked age but humanity has been well versed in wickedness from the start. The Lord is not apathetic about humanity’s evil. He judges it daily and will judge it completely at the last day.


The Lord told Abraham that He was going to bring judgement upon the wicked cities of Sodom and Gommoarh whilst preserving any righteous individuals He found in the cities. He sent two angels to bring about the judgement and they quickly found themselves in the crosshairs of those who lived in Sodom.


Abraham’s nephew Lot met the angels and begged them not to stay in the city square but to spend the night at his home (v2-3). After supper and before the angels lay down to rest, the men of the city came to Lot’s house enquiring about the visitors. Perhaps they wanted to welcome the angels? Perhaps the angels would be taken to meet the officials of the city and a big banquet would be thrown in their honour? Not at all. It was for the purpose of wickedness and great evil that the men of the city came to Lot’s door.


The men of Sodom ask Lot “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” (v5) This isn’t “knowing” in the sense of conversation - the men of Sodom didn’t want to discuss the likes and dislikes of the angels. Instead they wanted the two angels to be brought outside where they would be raped.


Lot courageously urges the Sodomites to reject wickedness (v7) while at the same time offering his virgin daughters to the sexual appetite of the crowd (v8). Some argue that Lot is here trying to use the legal standards of Sodom to diffuse the situation, knowing that if his engaged daughters were to be raped the Sodomites would be held accountable under Sodom’s justice system. I’m not so sure. I suspect we see Lot acting in a righteous manner in one moment and then making rash and foolish decisions the next.


Thankfully the angels intervene and they strike those outside Lot’s house with blindness before urging Lot and his family to flee the city. Despite the warning of impending judgement Lot and his family don’t exactly take off running or act righteously. Lot lingers in the city (v16). His son-in-laws think its all a joke (v14). Lot’s wife rejects angelic wisdom and looks back upon the city. She  immediately turned into a pillar of salt (v26). His daughters worry that they will not get husbands and so they get their father drunk and have sex with him, both falling pregnant (v30-38).


This is a horrendous chapter that reminds me of Psalm 14. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.”


Psalm 14 applies to everyone mentioned in Genesis 19 and everyone alive today in this present evil age. Most look at the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and see it as a tale of fire and brimstone from a bygone era. “God doesn’t act like this anymore” they reason “and even if He did, He certainly won’t act like this with me”. My friends, our God has not changed. If we think the evil of Genesis 19 was great and the judgement of fire was awful then we have no clue what the last day will be like. When Christ returns the judgement delivered upon Sodom will be made to look minuscule by the scale of Christ’s universal judgement.


What should we do? Do not put down roots in this world which will not last, instead repent of your sin and put your faith in Christ. Do not look back for He is coming and coming soon. Flee the wrath to come.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q1 What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.
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