Sodom: Wrath or Grace? – Part 5

The Lord often gives us specific instructions, such as “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15). This is especially true when it comes to those things that are directly contrary to His will. The example of Lot and his family is an everlasting reminder of many things, especially considering the nature of everything that had transpired. The instructions were detailed, and should have been carried out without question, but not all of Lot’s family obeyed. As they were fleeing, Lot’s wife looked back at the destruction of the cities she had lived in. As punishment she was turned into a pillar of salt. Was it the simple act of turning around and seeing what was happening which caused this kind of sentence to be carried out? Was there something else involved? It was not the act itself which caused her to be turned into a pillar of salt, but her heart attitude which betrayed her;

Luke 17:28-34

“Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”

She was still “in Sodom” and regretted the life she had to give up. She wanted things to stay the way they had been, even in putting up with the surrounding sin and rebellion. She was more content to stay with her stuff than to trust in God and travel with Him to safety. Just as the children if Israel never seemed to “leave Egypt” she never really sanctified her heart to God. That failure ultimately led to her destruction.

In summary, by examining some of the events leading up to and including the story of Sodom, Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, we have seen many actions which displayed the love, justice, mercy and judgment of God. They are;

• God the Son (the pre-incarnate Christ) went to Sodom to verify for Himself that the wickedness reported to Him was truly as great as it had been portrayed. He did not pass blind judgment upon them.
• While God blessed both Abraham and Lot as believers, Abraham continued to trust in God as his source of provision whereas Lot seemed to trust in the material things of life.
• God rewarded Abraham for his continued faith and confidence in Him by using Abraham as a progenitor of the coming Christ.
• God worked through Abraham to deliver Lot – as well as the people of Sodom and the surrounding cities – after a disastrous battle had led to their capture.
• God still counted Lot as a righteous man even though he made mistakes, and even though some of those mistakes were repeated multiple times!
• God often accomplishes multiple objectives through the same activities. Not only did He work through Abraham to rescue Lot (more than once), He also worked through Abraham to establish the future nation of Israel.
• God (through the intercession of Abraham and the reasoning of Lot) gave the people of Sodom many chances at repentance. Since they were not willing to turn from their abominable ways destruction was deemed as the only way to once and for all deal with their rebellious and perverted hearts.
• God saved a city (Zoar) directly because of the presence of a righteous man (Lot).

It’s difficult to see it at first, but even through the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah God’s love, forgiveness and mercy are clearly displayed toward anyone who is willing to repent and believe.