Abraham’s nephew Lot first became interested in Sodom following a difficulty that arose between the herdsmen of Lot and those of Abraham over pasture for their flocks. To resolve the problem, Abraham graciously offered to Lot a portion of the plain—any choice part of it that he wanted for his cattle. Abraham would take the rest.
Up to this point in his life Lot had leaned upon Abraham, living with his household and under his guidance. In material things, Lot had prospered, having now herds and servants of his own. He would separate from Abraham and live on his own.
During his years with Abraham, Lot had the opportunity to learn from him the importance of maintaining communion with God, for without it, nothing but ruin lay ahead. Abraham had his altar, enjoying communion with his God, and he had a tent, which tells us he was a pilgrim. He was prospering in his soul. We are not told that Lot had an altar. He did have a tent, but he soon lost it in Sodom.
Lot’s Choice
Lot looked out over the valley by the well-watered plain of the Jordan and at the luscious grass on the surrounding hills. What pasture this would make for his flocks! This sight and the lust for material wealth in his heart led him away from dependence upon God and from the land given to Abraham, which Abraham was willing to share with him. So he left Abraham and pitched his tent toward Sodom. Later, he gave up tent life and built his home in the city.
Not walking in communion with God, he had to pass through the trials that would teach communion. Lot had ignored God in his choice. He had gone with his wife and children, down from the mountain where he had lived with Abraham, into the wicked city of Sodom. He was tempting God, casting himself down for angels to catch (Psa. 91:11-1211For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. (Psalm 91:11‑12); Heb. 1:1414Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? (Hebrews 1:14)).
He began to reap what he was sowing, for he lost some of his children to the ungodly world in Sodom, and his righteous soul was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. God in mercy sent two angels who appeared at the gate of Sodom to snatch away Lot, before God’s wrath fell from heaven on the city.
Lot did not recognize the two men as angels, only as travelers. Yet, among the elders who sat at the city gates, only Lot was attracted to these strangers. He spoke courteously to them, and showing hospitality he invited them to tarry all night as his guests. They replied, “Nay; but we will abide in the street all night” (Gen. 19:22And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. (Genesis 19:2)). But, after he pressed his offer, the two strangers turned in to his house, and Lot prepared a feast for them, baking unleavened bread.
Natural Senses
Governed by his natural senses and feelings in a city outwardly peaceful and calm, Lot, unlike the angels, does not see things as they really are. On such a night the natural man would suggest a quiet evening at home surrounded by ease and pleasure with a climate that is soothing, thinking that the present is all that there is. While Lot knew better, he was not walking in communion and he acts like a natural man rather than as a godly one. Angels see the passing of time in the light of eternity, while the natural man walks blindly, not realizing that he may be just one step from the awful abyss of death.
The inhabitants of Sodom would not allow the thought of responsibility to God and His claims to enter their minds. Being governed by cares and pleasures, being occupied with only what passed before their eyes and being full of idleness, they were not aware, as were the angels, of what was ahead for Sodom.
We are continually surrounded by, and the innermost part of our being may be affected by, Satanic influences—influences that are incomprehensible, clothed with seemingly unlimited power and that use man’s mind as a plaything. Such are the demons of the abyss. The only deliverance for man from such creatures and their influence is Christ, the master over all creation. All deliverance for fallen man is dependent upon the death of Christ and our believing and owning Him as the Son of God, our Saviour (Luke 8:26-3326And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. 27And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. 28When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. 29(For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.) 30And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. 31And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. 32And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. 33Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked. (Luke 8:26‑33)).
The Sins of Sodom
“Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before Me” (Ezek. 16:49-5049Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. (Ezekiel 16:49‑50)).
Think of Sodom at the time of her judgment. She is situated like a garden with security, beauty and fertility. From the north a lake-cooled breeze caresses the city and its people. Shepherds graze their flocks and bed them down on the hillsides for the night. The air in this land of the olive and the vine is filled with perfume from the perpetual blossoming of flowers throughout the year. The fair city revels in the profusion of everything that nature and art can produce. But God is left out.
Fullness of riches, together with idleness, stimulate the appetite for pleasure and the indulgence of voluptuous passions. The people have given their lives over to the call of their natural senses, debasing their souls and leaving God out of their lives.
Twilight
Who would think of danger at such a time? Only Lot. For the rest there seems to be no omen of danger. The sun on Sodom’s last twilight casts its rays among the shadows of the hills. As it sinks quietly from sight, a youth enticed by the siren of pleasure comes to the house of death, setting his feet on the way to hell with a smile.
Can you imagine what it was like for that young man to suddenly step from a life with every pleasure, idleness, abundance of food, wine, fragrant flowers, cool breezes, hills full of cattle, luxurious grain fields—into hell, into the place where the worm of conscience dies not and the fire of constant want and lack of solace burns forever, where past pleasure is remembered without satisfaction, while writhing without hope for eternity, never to know relief of any kind, with none to hear his cry or help assuage his unquenchable pain? (Mark 9:43-4843And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 44Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 45And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 46Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 47And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: 48Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. (Mark 9:43‑48); Prov. 1:24-2824Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 28Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: (Proverbs 1:24‑28); Isa. 66:3-43He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. 4I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not. (Isaiah 66:3‑4)).
Night
As the shadows of night deepen in Sodom for the last time, she is engaged in mocking divine wrath. The mob of the city treat the two strangers with rudeness and contempt. They are ready to subject them to the outburst of passion that has left Sodom indelibly inscribed over and over again in the Scriptures with an infamy throughout all generations. This treatment of God’s servants is the final sin, the final drop of iniquity, which openly invites the fiery wrath of destruction about to engulf the wicked city and all in it.
Had the city not been warned? Yes, some time before, Abraham had come to rescue Lot, saving also Sodom and her king. When the surrounding kings made war against the King of Sodom, Abraham defeated the enemy and restored to Lot and the city all that had been taken from them.
Finally, Lot begins to realize the awful situation, and says to the strangers, “Tarry all night.” They enter his house and during the night these angels tell Lot, “Escape for thy life; look not behind thee... escape to the mountain.” Lot hurries to his sons-in-law with an urgent warning. But it only brings smiles to their faces as they listen to the distraught old man.
The Morning Breaks
The morning sun climbs up over the hills, bringing with it a new day. The cry of Sodom’s sin has reached unto heaven, but before judgment, God comes down to check and make sure that the evil state of the city is as bad as the report (Gen. 18:20-2120And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 21I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. (Genesis 18:20‑21)). God is patient and slow to anger, but there is a boundary between His patience and His wrath. Evil must mature before He judges it to show that His mighty power is greater than the evil that is before Him.
The angels take Lot’s hand as he lingers and pull him, together with his wife and daughters, out of the city before the storm strikes (mercy comes before wrath), and so they deliver “just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds)” (2 Peter 2:7-87And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) (2 Peter 2:7‑8)).
Jesus recounted what happened to his disciples this way: “In the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone [sulfur] from heaven, and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:28-2928Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:28‑29)).
The Storm Strikes
Perhaps the city was planning for new pleasures, even as the unleashed storm struck. Fire and brimstone fell from heaven, leaving, as it were, the acrid smoke of a furnace heated seven times hotter with its suffocating fumes (Dan. 3:19-2319Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. 20And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 22Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. 23And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. (Daniel 3:19‑23)).
“And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly” (2 Peter 2:66And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; (2 Peter 2:6)). “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange [other] flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 77Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Jude 7)).
Scripture says, “Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:3232Remember Lot's wife. (Luke 17:32)). She did not perish in the city, but outside by a singular judgment—she became a pillar of salt. Lot’s household was a household of favor to be governed by faith, but Lot’s wife, in her heart, belonged to a wicked city. In unbelief she “looked back” to see going up in fire and smoke all that controlled her heart—her daughters, the favorable circumstances and the pleasant land (Matt. 10:3737He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:37)).
What a warning for us who have had higher privileges than Sodom’s. Let us be sure that by faith we pierce through the wall of Satan’s deceit to walk the path of faith as Abraham did with a tent and an altar.
The Warning of Sodom
Sodom, a garden that the Lord had made, was, in a moment, turned into a city of jackals and birds of prey—a haunted city, never again to be rebuilt. Such will be Christendom.
The people of Sodom refused to heed the still small voice of conscience that reminded them of God and His claims. Now they have nothing but a bad conscience to plague them every moment forever. For two thousand years already they have been undergoing in their spirits the judgment of eternal fire. Later their bodies will be restored to them, and at the great white throne they will be sentenced—spirit, soul and body—to eternal judgment and fire.
Sodom’s history is left as an example for all to remember—a warning to all mankind. How do we live each day in view of eternity, considering our responsibility to God and His claims? Did not God delight in man, in us (Prov. 8:3131Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men. (Proverbs 8:31))? Had He not prepared the beauty and the plenty of the city of Sodom for man? Then why the awful carnal destruction of man and beast? Because they had left God out of their lives, taking their blessings for granted—unthankful. Is it so with us?
When the fear of poverty and the necessity to work are gone, pride takes their place as the great passion of man’s natural heart. Pride coupled with wealth and leisure become his sin to drag him down the path of Sodom and its abominations. Man is not sufficient for himself—he either turns to God or his lusts. A deep sense of want often brings desire toward heavenly things in the soul. See, for example, the prodigal in Luke 15:16-1916And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 17And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. (Luke 15:16‑19). But in Sodom, leisure was the occupation of the affluent masses. It was the sin which led them into wickedness.
Universal Warning
The explosive flame of divine justice on Sodom has sent a warning down through the centuries to remind man that there is a God in heaven. He, in His Word, has set forth His mind for us, not only to follow, but to enjoy. If we believe in Jesus as the Son of God and our Saviour, we have a new life that loves God and desires to walk according to His precepts.
Lot’s loss of most of his family stands as a warning to every parent. Judah said to Joseph, who was going to put Benjamin in prison, “How shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me?” (Gen. 44:3434For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father. (Genesis 44:34)). This question should ring in the ears of every parent.