LESSON XVI.—THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM.
1. What subjects are discussed in the seventeenth chapter of Genesis? 2. About this time, as Abraham was sitting in his tent door in the heat of the day, who appeared to him? 4. What did he do when he saw them? 5. What did he ask them to do? 6. What hospitality did he offer them? 7. While eating dinner, what assurance did they give him? 8. What did Sarah think of this? 9. What did the angels give her to understand? 10. As Abraham accompanied them on their way, what did they reveal to him? Gen. 18:17–22. 11. What plea did Abraham make for Sodom? 12. With what success did he meet? Verse 32. 13. How did Lot receive the angels when they arrived at Sodom? Gen. 19:1–3. 14. Give an account of the manner in which the Sodomites treated the strangers that night. 15. How was Lot preserved from the cruelty of the men of Sodom? Verse 10. 16. How did the angels put an end to the riot? Verse 11. 17. What message did the angels give Lot for his children that dwelt in the city? 18. How did they receive the message? Verse 14. 19. What was the fate of the city? Verses 24, 25. 20. How were Lot and his family saved? Verses 15, 16. 21. What charge did the angels give them? Verse 17. 22. What brief history is given of Lot's wife? Verse 26. 23. What sad sight met Abraham's gaze, as he looked toward Sodom the next morning? Verses 27, 28. 24. What first induced Lot to choose the plain of Jordan and pitch his tent toward Sodom? Gen. 13:10. 25. What was the character of the people that dwelt in Sodom at that time? Gen. 13:13. 27. Do you think that any of his family were saved? 28. What do you think, then, of the wisdom of his choice in selecting such a place for his home? 29. Do people ever make such mistakes now? 30. What comparison does our Lord make between the days of Lot and the days of the Son of man when he shall be revealed in the clouds of heaven? Luke 17:28, 30. 31. What similar comparison is made between the days just before the flood and those just before the coming of our Lord? Luke 17:26, 27. 32. Were the people warned of coming destruction in the days of Noah and Lot? 33. Then will the world be warned of the coming of Christ? 34. Would the wicked heed the warning then? 35. Will they heed it now? 36. Did the people in those days continue their wicked practices to the end? 37. Will the wicked people of this time go on in their evil ways till the Lord comes? The seventeenth chapter of Genesis tells how the Lord appeared to Abraham when he was ninety-nine years old, renewed his covenant with him, and changed his name and the name of his wife; how he gave him the rite of circumcision as a token of that covenant, and how Abraham and all the males of his family were circumcised. About this time, as Abraham was sitting in his tent door in the heat of the day, the Lord appeared to him; and looking up he saw three men. He ran to meet them, and bowing himself to the ground before them, begged them to stop, and wash and rest themselves, and take some food. While they were eating dinner, they assured Abraham that the promise which God had made in regard to Isaac should certainly be fulfilled. Sarah thought this impossible, but the angel gave her to understand that nothing is too hard for God. As Abraham accompanied them a short distance on their way, they told him that, on account of the great wickedness of the people of Sodom, the Lord had sent them to destroy that city. Abraham pleaded with the Lord to spare the city, and finally received the promise that if ten righteous men could be found in it, his request should be granted. When the angels came to the city of Sodom, there were only two of them; and Lot, who was sitting in the gate of the city, rose up and bowed to them, and persuaded them to go home with him. That night the wicked Sodomites gathered around Lot's house, and demanded that the strangers should be brought out to them. Lot went out and tried to pacify them, but they pressed so hard upon him that, to save him from the most cruel treatment, the angels reached out and drew him into the house. They then smote the men with blindness, so that they could not find the door. After this, the angels instructed Lot to go and warn his married children and their families, and bring them out of that place; for God had sent them to destroy it. These wicked children would not heed what Lot said, for he seemed to them as one that mocked. Early the next morning the angels hurried Lot and his family out of the city, telling them to make haste and flee to the mountain, and not to look behind them. As soon as Lot had departed, the Lord rained brimstone and fire upon the cities of the plain, and destroyed them. But Lot's wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. When Abraham gave Lot his choice in the land, Lot chose the plain of Jordan, because it was so beautiful and fertile, although the people of that country were exceedingly wicked at that time. As a consequence of this unwise choice, Lot was continually vexed with the wickedness of the people of Sodom, and barely escaped with his life at last. It is altogether probable that he was the only one of his family that will be saved. The Scriptures tell us that, as it was in the days of Lot, and in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days when the Son of man shall come. As the people of those times would not heed the warnings given them, but continued their wicked practices till the very day that destruction came upon them; so will the people that are living upon the earth when our Lord shall be revealed in the clouds of heaven. This is made plain by our Lord's interpretation of the parable of the tares. Matt. 13:24–30, 36–43. This leaves no room for a temporal millennium, and shows that doctrine to be untrue.