The Rescue of Lot and Ruin of Sodom

THE RESCUE OF LOT AND RUIN OF SODOM

An Exposition of Genesis 19:1-29

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: November 27, 2022

Series: The Book of Genesis

Note: Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard   Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Holy Scripture says,

¹ The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth ² and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” ³ But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴ But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. ⁵ And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” ⁶ Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, ⁷ and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. ⁸ Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” ⁹ But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. ¹⁰ But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. ¹¹ And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.

¹² Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. ¹³ For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

¹⁵ As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.¹⁷ And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” ¹⁸ And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords.¹⁹ Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. ²⁰ Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” ²¹ He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²² Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven. ²⁵ And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD. ²⁸ And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

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. (Genesis 19:1-29)

INTRODUCTION

There comes a time in the unfolding story of a city or nation that the end of the story draws near. It’s the end of the road. Time has run out. The whistle is blown. The game is over. Judgment is at hand.

We learned in Genesis 15 that there was an appointed time for the Amorites to be dispossessed from the land of Canaan. From the vantage point of Genesis 15, it was still four hundred years away. But the Word had been spoken, and the clock was ticking. The Lord said to Abraham that Abraham’s descendants “shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” (Genesis 15:16) When the Amorite nation reached the full measure of their sin, then the end would come.

The end already had come for the ancient world back in Genesis 7. Their wickedness had reached a point of no return: “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5) and so, as a righteous judgment upon the unrighteous world, the Lord sent forth the floodwaters and “blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground…. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.” (Genesis 7:23)

The earth was repopulated with human beings through Noah and his three sons, and in due course numerous people groups spread out over the face of the earth. Some people established cities in the Jordan Valley – Sodom and Gomorrah among them. Ever since Adam and Eve fell into sin, every human being is born a sinner. But even though every human being is a sinner, not all sinners are equally aggressive in the nature and extent of their sinfulness. As it happened, the sinfulness of Sodom was especially egregious – and its men were called out all the way back in Genesis 13: “the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.” (Genesis 13:13) Now as we come to Genesis 19, we realize that the final whistle is being blown on Sodom. Sodom and its neighboring cities are ripe for judgment. The Lord comes to execute justice upon the ungodly.

But the ruin of Sodom and Gomorrah is only half the story of Genesis 19. One of the principles of divine justice that we learned in Genesis 18 is that God sees to it that the righteous are not swept away with the wicked. The Lord promised Abraham that He would spare the entire city of Sodom if He found ten righteous people in it. That was a specific promise concerning Sodom, but the fundamental principle is that the Lord makes a distinction between the righteous and the wicked: He preserves the righteous but punishes the wicked; He provides refuge for the godly but brings the ungodly to ruin. As the events of Genesis 19 unfold, it is clear that there are not ten righteous people in Sodom. But there is one righteous man, and the Lord sees to it that this righteous man is sent out of the city before its destruction.

With these things in mind, let’s walk through the passage one section at a time.

LOT SHOWS HOSPITALITY TO THE LORD’S MESSENGERS (v. 1-3)

First, Lot shows hospitality to the Lord’s messengers (v. 1-3). “The two angels” that “came to Sodom in the evening” were part of the threesome that had visited Abraham in the afternoon of the same day (which is recounted in Genesis 18). In the afternoon, the Lord and these two angels had visited Abraham, and Abraham had showed them hospitality and had provided a feast for them.

In Genesis 18:22, these two angels had left Abraham and the Lord, and they “went toward Sodom” (Genesis 18:22) and arrived there “in the evening” (Genesis 19:1). What becomes evident in Genesis 19:1-3 is that Lot has the same disposition toward the two visitors in Sodom as Abraham had toward the three visitors at Mamre. In Chapter 18, Abraham was sitting at his tent, beheld the three visitors, ran to meet them, bowed himself before them, and offered them a time of refreshment, and they accepted. Lot does likewise in Chapter 19: “Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom” (v. 1), saw the two visitors, “rose to meet them” and bowed down before them, and offered them a time of refreshment (v. 1-2). Initially, the two angels declined Lot’s invitation. “But he [Lot] pressed them strongly” and prevailed upon them (v. 3). Therefore, Lot welcomed the two angels into his house and “made them a feast” (v. 3). These two angels ate in Abraham’s presence in the afternoon (Genesis 18:8), and now they ate in Lot’s house in the evening (Genesis 19:3).

Showing hospitality to the Lord’s messengers is a big deal – and this is true whether the messengers are angelic messengers (as they are in Genesis 19) or human messengers (as were the prophets and apostles). To receive the Lord’s messenger is to receive the Lord who sent the messenger. To reject the Lord’s messenger is to reject the Lord who sent the messenger. The New Testament calls Lot a righteous man (2 Peter 2:7-8), which means that his heart was right toward the Lord. And one indication that Lot’s heart was right toward the Lord is that he welcomed the messengers that the Lord had sent to Sodom.

THE LORD’S MESSENGERS PROTECT LOT FROM WICKED MEN (v. 4-11)

In comparison to all the other men of Sodom, Lot was in a class by himself. Lot was warm and hospitable to the Lord’s messengers, whereas the other men of Sodom were not only inhospitable but also had abusive intentions toward them – and Lot himself was in danger. This brings us to the next section: The Lord’s messengers protect Lot from the wicked men of Sodom (v. 4-11).

Lot’s warm hospitality to the Lord’s messengers reveals his warm heart to the Lord. In contrast, the other men’s desire to molest the Lord’s messengers reveals an exceedingly anti-god mindset. It is no wonder that we were told that “the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD” (Genesis 13:13, italics added).

At the time of day when men ought to be at home settling in for the night with the wife and the children, the men of Sodom – like wild dogs – were on the prowl hunting for their next victims. These men knew that Lot had received two visitors just a few hours ago, and these men wanted those two visitors. The men wanted to know these visitors (v. 5) in the same way that “Adam knew Eve his wife” which led to the conception of Cain (Genesis 4:1). What is envisioned here is lewd conduct, sexual assault, gang rape. Remarkably, all the men of Sodom were complicit in this indecent affair: “both young and old, all the people to the last man” (v. 4). This explains the exceeding wickedness of Sodom: it wasn’t as if a few odd folks had lost their moral sanity, but instead the entire male population of the city was caught up in moral insanity, insatiable lust, and sexual violence.

As it happens, these wild dogs surround Lot’s house and pressure Lot to release the two visitors who have taken shelter under his roof. This is a high-pressure situation. It’s not as if Lot is sitting in the comfort of a lecture hall responding to a professor’s ‘what would you do in a situation like this?’ question. Instead, Lot has an aggressive mob of unprincipled men outside his house, insisting that he release his two guests. Lot goes outside and pleads with the men to refrain from this great wickedness: “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.” (v. 7) Lot’s attempt to rebuke the men is good so far, but then he makes an unwise overture to appease the mob:

“Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please.” (v. 8)

In light of the overall teaching of Scripture, we must say three things in relation to Lot and his proposed course of action: 1) Lot is righteous (2 Peter 2:7-8); 2) sometimes righteous people do, or think to do, very wicked things; and 3) sacrificing the purity, virginity, integrity, emotional stability, physical health, and possibly even the life of your daughters by throwing them to an unruly mob is an absolutely despicable thing to do.

As wrongheaded as Lot’s suggestion was, remember that he was in the middle of a volatile situation and keeping a level head isn’t so easy to do at such times. Even so, Lot’s desire to prove a trustworthy host to the angels is commendable: “Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” (v. 8) This instinct is right: we want to do everything we can to provide safety for anyone who has taken shelter under our roof. We want to do everything, that is, short of sinning – short of neglecting our other responsibilities. In Lot’s case, Lot should have also desired to prove a trustworthy father to his own daughters who had a natural right to protection under their father’s roof. We ought to be the kind of men who are willing to lay down our lives to protect our daughters, not the kind of men who are willing to sacrifice our daughters in order to placate the mob that is threatening us.

Lot’s offer notwithstanding, the men gathered around Lot’s house were now getting angry. They were prepared to run over Lot, break down the door to the house, and lay hold of Lot’s houseguests. They intended to get what they wanted. What they didn’t realize, however, is that the visitors in Lot’s house were not ordinary men – they were angels appearing in manly form. These angels, having been sent with divine authority, had the power both to protect Lot and to afflict the men of Sodom, which is what they did. They brought Lot back inside, shut the door, and struck the men outside with blindness. Now the men who had wanted illicit pleasure couldn’t even find the door to Lot’s house.

The Wickedness of Sodom

At this point I would like to pause for a few moments and talk about what verses 4-9 reveal about Sodom’s “very grave” sin (Genesis 18:20). We can make at least seven observations about the nature and extent of Sodom’s sin.

First, the men of Sodom grossly dishonored the Lord by their attitude toward His messengers. When the Lord’s messengers show up, a righteous heart welcomes and listens to those messengers. To simply ignore and dismiss the Lord’s messengers would have been bad enough, but their intent to abuse these messengers shows how irreverent their hearts had become.

Second, the men of Sodom dishonored Lot, which is to say that they dishonored the one righteous man in the city. They dishonored Lot by pressuring him to cooperate with their wicked plans, by pressuring him to be unfaithful to his guests, by resisting his plea, and by pressing hard against him in order to break into his house.

Third, the men of Sodom had unruly and unnatural sexual desires. An unruly sexual desire is a desire that is inordinate, excessive, without proper restraint. An unnatural sexual desire is when a man, who was made for sexual union with one woman, turns his sexual desire toward someone or something other than a woman – whether a man, an angel, a beast, or some other object. In the case of Genesis 19, these men exhibit unruly and unnatural desire on at least two levels.

On the level of ultimate reality, they exhibit unnatural desire for two angels. It is interesting to note that one of the big sins that precipitated the global flood is that fallen angels copulated with human women (Genesis 6:1-4). Now we see that one of the big sins that precipitated the localized decimation of Sodom is that the men of the city had such a wayward heart that they lusted after angelic beings. That is on the level of ultimate reality, because the two persons that the men wanted to molest truly were angels. But the men didn’t know they were angels.

So, on the level of their experience, the men of Sodom were lusting after men, because the angels appeared as men and, as far as the men of Sodom knew, the men in Lot’s house were simply men.

On both counts, the men of Sodom were craving strange flesh. The New Testament Letter of Jude says that “Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities… indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire” (Jude 7).

Fourth, the men of Sodom intended to implement their unruly and unnatural desires in a violent manner. When unruly and unnatural sexual desires are enacted among consenting adults, that itself is an egregious violation of God’s perfect moral law. But when someone is willing to force their unruly and unnatural desire upon someone else, that compounds the already egregious sin with the sin of violent assault.  

Fifth, the men of Sodom had made a mockery of marriage. Men who are doing what these men are doing are obviously not living in accordance with God’s good design for marriage. These men have clearly rejected the good gift of marriage: they have either refused to get married, or they are actively committing adultery against their wives.

Sixth, the men of Sodom had corrupted the next generation. Instead of drawing their descendants into wholesome living and moral uprightness, the older men had paved the way for the younger men to join them in acts of wickedness. 

Seventh, the men of Sodom had buy-in from all the men of the city. Sodom is the picture of a lawless and unprincipled city: if every man “to the last man” gives approval to lewd conduct, violent assault, breaking and entering for the purpose of stealing and abusing men, then what does that say about the condition of the city? If every man is in on it, then that would include the elders, the judges, the law enforcement officers, the religious gurus, and all the rest.

A Brief Word about America

It is easy to trace our own country’s descent into moral insanity: our nation has become inhospitable to the Lord and His people, has spurned God’s law and thrown off moral restraint, has despised marriage and promoted many forms of sexual deviancy, has corrupted so many among the younger generation, and has gotten buy-in from an increasing number of people across all sectors of society. Unless America repents, its wicked inhabitants will meet the same end as the people of Sodom.

As for Sodom, it had become a cesspool of widespread and rampant wickedness. It is no wonder that the time of their overthrow was at hand.

At the moment, the men’s wickedness has been temporarily restrained by the angels, but their wickedness is about to be permanently abolished. But before that can happen, Lot needs to get out of the city.

THE LORD’S MESSENGERS PROTECT LOT FROM THE LORD’S IMPENDING JUDGMENT ON THE WICKED (v. 12-22)

In the third section (v. 12-22), the Lord’s messengers protect Lot from the Lord’s impending judgment upon the wicked. The Lord’s messengers aim to protect Lot because doing so is the Lord’s will (see v. 29). One way or another, the Lord rescues His faithful ones when He brings retribution upon the wicked. In Genesis 7, the Lord secured Noah inside the ark (Genesis 7:16). In Ezekiel 9, the Lord had a mark put on the foreheads of the godly ones, and then instructed the executioners to kill everyone “but [to] touch no one on whom is the mark” (Ezekiel 9:6). Here in Genesis 19, the Lord’s angels rescue Lot and his family members out of Sodom.

The rescue operation begins with instruction. The messengers instruct Lot to bring any family or household members out of the city (v. 12). Then comes the reason:

“For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.” (v. 13)

At this point we get another indication of Lot’s righteousness. Earlier I said that Lot demonstrated his righteousness by warmly receiving the Lord’s messengers. Now Lot demonstrates his righteousness by believing their message. The Lord does not destroy cities on a routine and frequent basis – if He did, we probably wouldn’t be here. Cataclysmic judgments are few and far between; they are not an everyday occurrence. And yet, Lot believes the word that the messengers have spoken. We know that Lot believed their word because he relayed the message “to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters” (v. 14). The idea here may be that these men were betrothed to Lot’s daughters and thus were already regarded as sons-in-law, even though the marriage had not yet been finalized and consummated. Lot told his sons-in-law, “Up! Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city.” (v. 14) Tragically, his sons-in-law thought that Lot had simply had too much to drink, and they didn’t take Lot’s words seriously (v. 14).

As we come to verse 15, the night is now past. During the night, the mob outside had been held at bay, and Lot’s sons-in-law had been unpersuaded by Lot’s appeal. Now morning comes, and the hour of destruction draws near. Now the angels give a direct order to Lot:

“Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” (v. 15)

The instruction is clear, but the moment is heavy. The first few words of verse 16 are telling: “But he lingered.” Or he hesitated. Although we don’t know exactly what was going on in Lot’s mind, it is not difficult to imagine that there might have been a great feeling of heaviness upon him. Think about it: the chronology of Genesis 14-19 shows us that Lot had settled in Sodom at least fifteen years ago, and perhaps longer. That’s a long time, more than enough time to put down roots and call a place home. This life that he had built, and most of the people that he had built it with, and his house and land and possessions and servants (remember, Lot had his own entourage of servants, see Genesis 13:7), were about to be swept away. Further, his sons-in-law were about to swept away in the destruction. On top of all this, it is possible that Lot was painfully self-aware at the lack of influence he had wielded all these years: Lot was righteous, but his wife’s heart was still in Sodom, his daughters’ maturity level left much to be desired, his sons-in-law were dismissive, and his servants had apparently not become followers of the Lord, and now all the men of the city were against him. Perhaps Lot even had a tinge of conviction that he never should have settled in Sodom in the first place. I don’t know if all of these things were on Lot’s mind, but my point is that it’s not difficult to imagine a profound sober-mindedness descending on Lot in this moment. And “he lingered”, he hesitated, his feet were stuck in place. Lot was characterized by heavy-hearted dullness when he should have been characterized by sharp-hearted obedience.

But the same Lord who was gentle with Sarah in Genesis 18 when Sarah denied that she had laughed (Genesis 18:15) is now merciful toward Lot when Lot unwisely lingered. Verse 16 continues:

“So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.” (v. 16, italics added)

Mark those words: “the LORD being merciful to him”. Of course, the Lord is merciful to us even in giving us life-giving instructions. But here we see that the Lord sometimes displays His mercy toward us by dragging us to the place where we should have willingly walked. Aspire to walk willingly where the Lord directs you. But if you linger, give thanks to the Lord when He appoints messengers to seize you and bring you out and set you where He has directed you to go.  

Getting Lot out of Sodom was only the first step. The Lord’s intent is to get Lot to a secure location. So after Lot and his wife and daughters are “outside the city”, they receive additional instruction:

“Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” (v. 17)

Sodom is not the only place that is destined for imminent destruction. Gomorrah is also destined for destruction, along with the entire valley. So, Lot had to get somewhere that was completely outside of the judgment zone. In response to the latest instruction, Lot continues to show his spiritual dullness. Instead of making haste to obey the Lord and run for the hills, Lot wants to negotiate his final location. Escaping to the hills doesn’t seem doable in Lot’s mind. Thus he expresses disagreement:

“Oh, no, my lords. Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die.” (v. 18-19)

Does Lot know better than the angels who just dragged him out of Sodom? Lot continues:

“Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there–is it not a little one?–and my life will be saved!” (v. 20)

Who does Lot think is in charge here: Lot or the Lord’s messengers?

Even so, the Lord will continue to show mercy to whom He had decided to show mercy. And so, the mercy – this undeserved kindness – continues:

“Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” (v. 21-22)

Lot’s request is granted, and the city to which he flees will be safe. The first half of verse 22 is remarkable: “Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” The Lord’s plan is that the judgment will not descend until Lot is safe. First the righteous are secured, and then the wicked are overthrown.

The second half of verse 22 tells us that the little city to which Lot fled was named Zoar, which sounds like a Hebrew word that means ‘little’, and it was so named because it was the little city to which Lot fled. And Lot did indeed make it to Zoar, as verse 23 indicates.

THE LORD POURS OUT JUDGMENT ON SODOM AND GOMORRAH (v. 23-26)

This brings us to the fourth section (v. 23-26): the Lord pours out judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah. With the morning sun shining in the sky and Lot safe in Zoar (v. 23), the Lord’s judgment is about to go forth. We have been prepared for this moment. The angels had told Lot that the Lord had sent them for this very purpose, to destroy Sodom (v. 13). The angels had told Lot to escape, “lest [he] be swept away” (v. 17). And verse 22 had indicated that the judgment wouldn’t happen until Lot was safe in Zoar. And now, as the sun rose one final time upon the wicked cities of the valley, Lot had arrived in Zoar (v. 23). Thus the moment of judgment arrived:

“Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.” (v. 24-25)

In a single moment, the cities of the valley became smoking ruins: the cities overthrown, the people destroyed, all their buildings and projects turned to ash, and plants and trees incinerated. What had once been prosperous cities became a testimony to the fact that God is righteous, and His righteous judgment shall come, and the wicked shall be brought to ruin. And when the day of judgment comes, all the accumulated wealth and all the established institutions and all the fine cultural creations won’t do you a bit of good.

Of course, it’s no good to get physically out of Sodom if spiritually Sodom hasn’t gotten out of you: “But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” (v. 26) Where the eyes look is a manifestation of what the heart desires. With her heart still in Sodom, Lot’s wife shares in its destruction.

THE LORD REMEMBERED ABRAHAM (v. 27-29)

Finally, we come to the final section (v. 27-29): the Lord remembered Abraham when He carried out judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Verses 27-29 take us back to the sobering conversation that Abraham had with the Lord just a day earlier (Genesis 18:22-33).

Abraham returned to the same place where “he had stood before the LORD” less than twenty-four hours ago (v. 27), “[and] he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah” and the surrounding valley (v. 28). Back in Genesis 13, Lot had looked upon this same area and he “saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the LORD” (Genesis 13:10). Now Abraham saw that it had become a smoking furnace, with smoke rising from the earth. Thus Abraham knew that ten righteous people had not been found in Sodom, and that the wicked had been swept away (see Genesis 18:23-32).

But the Lord did not forget His conversation with Abraham when He carried out judgment upon “the cities of the valley” (v. 29) Instead, “God remembered Abraham” (v. 29). God remembered His conversation with Abraham. God remembered His promise to spare Sodom if He had found ten righteous people there (Genesis 18:32), but of course He didn’t find ten. God remembered Abraham’s appeal for justice, namely, that the righteous not be swept away with the wicked, that the righteous not be put to death with the wicked, that the righteous not be treated like the wicked (Genesis 18:23-25). God remembered these things and took them into account when He brought judgment on Sodom. “God remembered Abraham” in this way: He made a distinction between the righteous and the wicked, and He brought the righteous to safety before bringing ruin on the wicked. As verse 29 concludes: “God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.” The Lord preserves the righteous when He punishes the wicked; the Lord sends the righteous into safety before He destroys the wicked.

APPLICATION: AN URGENT MESSAGE TO EVERY SINNER

The apostle Peter teaches us that the Lord’s judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah is meant to be a preview of the final judgment that the Lord will eventually bring upon the whole world. Peter writes,

“… by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly” (2 Peter 2:6).

So, the Lord’s judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah is an urgent message to every sinner on the face of the earth: flee the judgment to come, flee the city of destruction, flee the way of the world! How so? By fleeing from your sin and entrusting yourself to the Lord’s mercy. Genesis 19 is a clear word to this corrupt world: Stop disregarding the Lord and the Lord’s messengers and the Lord’s message. Stop rebelling against the Lord’s design for marriage and sexuality. Stop making demands and threats against the righteous. Stop pretending that your urban projects are safe spaces.

Save yourselves from this crooked generation! Unless you repent, you all likewise are going to perish in the same way that the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah perished.

The good news of God’s grace is that the Lord Jesus Christ came into this Sodom-like world, and was crucified and killed by lawless men, all in accordance with the Father’s perfect plan. On the cross, our Lord willingly experienced the judgment of God upon humanity’s sin, so that any person who trusts in Him would be forgiven of sin and saved from the wrath to come.

Flee from the coming judgment. Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere else where the world might tempt to allure you. Escape to the hill called Calvary, and take refuge under the cross, which is foolishness to the world but the saving power of God for those who believe.

If you have already fled to Jesus, then be encouraged that the One who preserved Lot will also preserve you until the very end.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Assohoto, Barnabe and Samuel Ngewa, “Genesis.” In Africa Bible Commentary: A One-Volume Commentary Written by 70 African Scholars. Tokunboh Adeyemo, General Editor. Zondervan Edition (first edition published in 2006).

Fruchtenbaum, Arnold G. The Book of Genesis (Ariel’s Bible Commentary). Fourth Edition. San Antonio: Ariel Ministries, 2020.

Steinmann, Andrew E. Genesis (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2019.