We resume our Bible study about Lot living in Sodom and Gomorrah. The evil was so great that today we take the city and use it as a description of gross sexual conduct that we call sodomy. We have a contrast to God’s judgment on the cities and God’s rescue for what was left of his family .
We pick up the report when the two angels agreed to spend the night in Lot’s house. What happens next is appalling. His house was surrounded by various homosexual men demanding that he send the two angels out into the street “so that we may know them.” The scene must have been chaotic. The sick lust of the local men is disgusting. They wanted to gang rape Lot’s guests. We must observe that when evil is left unchecked, it will go to the lowest depths.
Almost as equally profound was the offer that Lot made by offering his daughters as substitutes to the mob that they could do whatever they wanted with them. While evil was having its way, love was dismissed. How could a father provide his daughters to such monsters? It is baffling to me how that the Bible still refers to Lot as a righteous man! This is probably the greatest example of eternal security they could be noted anywhere. In all of his backsliding, God impugned righteousness to one with such carelessness.
Lot wallowed in the deepest muck with his neighbors. Here also is an example for the reason the God expects us to hate evil. If we could only get a vision of the revolting loathsomeness for how God sees evil. We cannot allow ourselves to teeter on the fence between obedience and rebellion. We must recognize that, as we sin, it truly is a sickening state to God. The smallest thought or behavior against God should be repelling to our consciousness.
When Lot tried to negotiate with the mob, they challenged him saying that he was passing judgment on them. Isn’t that one of the accusations of the world when we would have nothing to do with sin? They accuse us of being self-righteous and judgmental. For believers it is not judgmental responses but of discerning good from bad. They threatened to break the door down showing us how determined evil can be if we allow it at our doorstep.
The angels rescued Lot pulling him back into the house. Then the angels afflicted them with blindness so that they tired themselves searching for their whereabouts outside his house. As the chaos occurred, the angels took count of how many family members were available to leave as quickly as possible stating they were there to destroy the city. When Lot tried to convince his sons-in-laws to leave with him, they laughed thinking he was joking. Sin is no joke. God’s judgment is no joke. Punishment is no joke. Then why is the modern Christian so hesitant to make every effort just spread the gospel?
The angels warned him to not allow himself to be consumed in the iniquity of the city. Even a righteous person who tolerate sin in his life will have consequences levied on him by living a lukewarm life. In the Book of Revelation God declared his revulsion to the professed success of the Laodicean church. God showed his mercy through the angels who literally dragged Lot and the rest of his family out of the city. In response, he tried to negotiate with the angels not to go to the mountains by their instructions. He recognized the grace and mercy God had provided him, but like a coward decline the instructions asking to go to another city nearby claiming that it was just a little one. Here again, we must be careful not to fool ourselves from being obedient to God so that we might in some way continue in sin.
We already discussed how pathetic his influence on his family was by them laughing at his warning. Next, we discover the minimal influence he had on his own wife. As they were escaping, she turned back to look at the city in some type of reminiscing or regret losing the companionship she once had with her evil neighbors. She became a pillar of salt. We cannot juggle God’s expectations, his blessings, or the way he rescues us so that we continue to dabble in the smallest type of rebellion. Judgment was delayed while God attended to Lot, but it surely came. Remember the warnings of the Bible that we will all give account of ourselves at God’s throne though doubters claim it’s been such a long time this was originally prophesied.
