“The two angels arrived in Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he got up, went out to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. Then he said, ‘My lords, please come into your servant’s house, spend the night there, and wash your feet; tomorrow you will get up early and continue on your journey.” “No,” they replied, “we will spend the night in the street.” 

But Lot urged them until they came and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baked unleavened bread, and they ate. But before they had gone to bed, the men of the city—the men of Sodom, both young and old—surrounded the house; the whole crowd rushed in from every direction. They called out to Lot and said, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them.” Lot went out to them at the door, locked the door behind him, and said, “Brothers, please do not do such a wicked thing! Behold, I have two daughters who have never known a man; I’ll bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you please. Just don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” They shouted, “Get out of here!” And they said, “This man came here to live as a foreigner, and now he wants to act like a judge. Well, we’ll treat you worse than them.” And, pushing Lot aside by force, they moved in to break down the door. But the men reached out, pulled Lot inside with them into the house, and locked the door. And they struck the men at the door of the house with blindness, from the youngest to the oldest, so that they struggled in vain to find the door. Those men said to Lot, “Who else do you have here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, and everyone else in the city—get them out of this place. For we are going to destroy this place, because the outcry against its inhabitants has become great before the Lord. That is why the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters: “Get up,” he said, “get out of this place; for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.”^[1]

     God was about to judge the entire city for the sins into which it had fallen. All around the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were oil wells that could explode at any moment if they came into contact with fire, and research conducted in these areas has confirmed the truth of this account. Unfortunately, in our day we have become enslaved by the same sins as those of Sodom and Gomorrah. When sin reached its peak, God brought His judgment. Great complaints against the sins being committed in these cities reached God, and God, seeing that sin had reached its peak, brought the righteous out of there—for He does not punish the righteous along with the guilty—and caused fire and brimstone to rain down upon the two cities.

The greatest sin into which the people of these cities had fallen was pride and arrogance because of their prosperity. When people’s wealth increases, they become proud: “This was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: she was haughty, lived in abundance and in complacent ease, she and her daughters, and she did not support the hand of the poor and the needy. They became haughty and committed abominations before Me; therefore, when I saw this, I destroyed them.”^[2] All their riches were of no use to them because they were destroyed in a single day.

When you think you possess everything, when you have no problems or wants of any kind, you will no longer need God. This peace is a false one because it leads to destruction. God hates it when people are indifferent to His Word. He wants all people to seek to draw near to Him and repent of their sins. We may live in prosperous cities, in a complacent tranquility, but the Lord’s judgment will fall upon these people.

The second great sin was the sin of the flesh. “Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which just as they did gave themselves over to sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desires, serve as an example to us, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.”^[3] Here we learn not only that fire fell upon the cities, but also that the souls of those people ended up in the eternal fire that is hell. Sin drags people’s souls into hell. When a person dies without being reconciled to God, they go to eternal punishment. The sins of the flesh exist even today and have likely come to surpass those of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The third sin in which the inhabitants of these cities lived was drunkenness. We know this because Lot’s daughters gave their father wine to drink, after which they committed a very grave sin with him. They had grown up surrounded by people who committed sexual immorality and got drunk. “It is enough, indeed, that in the past you followed the ways of the Gentiles, living in sexual immorality, lust, drunkenness, orgies, revelries, and lawless idolatrous practices.”^[4] Fornication, wine, and strong drink cloud a person’s mind. We must guard against anything that can lead us into sin, for we will end up being controlled by these things.

The fourth sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was a naturally cheerful disposition—foolish laughter at bad jokes. These things are very widespread in our day. This was one of Sodom’s sins: when Lot went to tell his sons-in-law that God’s judgment was coming, they thought he was joking, because it was Lot’s habit to joke. This caused his sons-in-law not to take God’s judgment seriously, and because of this, they died. We must not play around with our words. People seek to live in entertainment, jokes, and recreation, but this was the sin of Sodom, which brought destruction upon it. God is patient and gives time for repentance, but we must not push the limits of His patience. He can send the sword of judgment all at once, which is why we must repent now while there is still time. In Noah’s day, God did not send the flood immediately, but allowed time for people to repent; yet they did not do so. When God closed the door of Noah’s ark, they realized that Noah had spoken the truth. God allowed seven more days to pass before sending the flood, and it is likely that some of them repented before it came. In the city of Nineveh, when the people asked for forgiveness for their sins, God had mercy on them and did not bring judgment upon the city. “The people of Nineveh believed in God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth—from the greatest to the least. The news reached the king of Nineveh; he rose from his throne, took off his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he sent word throughout Nineveh, by order of the king and his nobles: “Neither people nor livestock—cattle nor sheep—shall eat anything, nor shall they graze or drink any water at all! Instead, both people and livestock must put on sackcloth, cry out earnestly to God, and turn from their evil ways and from the acts of oppression with which their hands are full! Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and whether He will not turn away His fierce anger, so that we may not perish!” God saw what they were doing and that they were turning from their evil ways. Then God relented from the disaster He had planned to bring upon them and did not carry it out.”^[5]

The Lord Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem, which refused to repent even as the Lord urged them to do so. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing! Behold, your house is left to you desolate; for I tell you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’^[6] God pronounced judgment on the city, and within thirty-eight years, millions of Jews were killed by the Romans. They were persecuted for two thousand years because of their disobedience. The Lord also weeps for those who do not want to be reconciled with Him, but His judgment is drawing near for them. With sorrow, He will have to judge those who refuse to repent. God will spare from judgment and wrath only those who have renounced their sins, who have mourned over them, and who have ceased to fill up the measure of their iniquities. “God does not take into account the times of ignorance, but now commands all people everywhere to repent; for He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice, through the Man whom He has appointed for this purpose, and of whom He has given all people undeniable proof by raising Him from the dead…”^[7] Let us not wait for God to bring our sins to our attention, but let us draw near to Him in repentance, confessing our sins ourselves, for only in this way will we be forgiven, and all our sins will be blotted out in His goodness.

^[1] Genesis 19:14.

^[2] Ezekiel 16:49, 50.

^[3] Jude 1:7.

^[4] 1 Peter 4:3.

^[5] Jonah 3:5–10.

^[6] Matthew 23:37–39.

^[7] Acts 17:30, 31.