2 Peter 2:6, commentary and pictures

God turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemning them with an overthrow by fire and brimstone because their sins brought His wrath. By this He made them an example of just judgment and punishment awaiting all who afterward live ungodly, showing that God as Lawgiver punishes transgressors of His law and executes its penalty. The example stands together with judgment on the angels that sinned and on the old world by the Flood, and with saving Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, and delivering just Lot vexed with the filthy conduct of the wicked, to show the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. It exposes covetous false teachers who secretly bring damnable heresies, deny the Lord, make merchandise of people with feigned words, and lead many to follow pernicious ways, whose judgment does not linger and whose damnation does not sleep but upon whom swift destruction comes. The same immoral practices and wickedness are increasing in the present morally dangerous age nearing its final purification by fire, and are now cherished by many whose names are on the church books, yet God's long-delayed judgments are none the less sure and will soon fall.

The Example of Judgment

God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, turning the cities into ashes and condemning them with an overthrow because their sins brought His wrath. He destroyed them by fire, by fire and brimstone as judgment on ungodliness for wicked practices. Since the Flood He has used water and fire in the earth as agents to destroy wicked cities.

The destruction consumed everything except Lot and his two daughters and declared the inhabitants incorrigible in sin. Lot's wife became a pillar of salt after looking back in disregard of God's command. By this He made them an example of just judgment and punishment awaiting all who afterward live ungodly. As Lawgiver He punishes transgressors of His law and executes the law's penalty, and human beings have no right to take that divine judgment into their own hands.

The example stands together with judgment on the angels that sinned and on the old world by the Flood. It stands together with saving Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, and delivering just Lot vexed with the filthy conduct of the wicked. By these together is shown that the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.

It exposes false teachers who troubled the early church and presents the world's true condition as a warning to Christ's followers. Their judgment does not linger and their damnation does not sleep, but swift destruction comes on them. This falls on covetous false teachers who secretly bring damnable heresies, deny the Lord, with feigned words make merchandise of people, and lead many to follow pernicious ways while rejecting truth and pursuing wickedness.

Warning for Today

The destruction of Sodom stands as a warning example for all who live ungodly, for the immoral practices and wickedness that brought judgment on the antediluvian world and led to Sodom's overthrow are increasing in the present age. Those cities were destroyed by fire as God's judgment on ungodliness, and the same kind of sins that called down that judgment now tempt people away from holiness and from God. The earth is nearing its final purification by fire, and the present age is morally dangerous.

The overthrow is an ensample of sure judgment upon those that live ungodly, whose vile sins are now cherished by many whose names are on the church books. By cherishing such sins they pollute themselves and others and defile the temple of God. God's judgments upon such have been long delayed but are none the less sure, and will soon fall, cutting down those who pollute themselves and others.

Similar conditions to those that caused trouble in the early church must be met today, so all must be on guard. Greater refinement and care are called for in thought, relationships, speech, and conduct. The passage in 2 Peter 2:1-9 sets forth the work, means everything to the believer, and must be understood and kept in view.

Seeking heaven requires seeking with all the heart and understanding, being circumspect and not heedless, and making a business of the work. It requires receiving God's grace and heaven's light to know the Lord's will and not make mistakes, confessing mistakes and becoming overcomers, refusing to practice the world's sayings and customs, and living as a peculiar people showing forth His praises. It requires searching the Scriptures that testify of Christ in whom is eternal life, and coming into sacred relation to God so that by beholding Christ there is partaking of the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world through lust, leaving all without excuse if found deficient at last.

God never forsakes a people or individuals until they forsake Him, so outward opposition will not dim the faith of those keeping His commandments. Neglect to bring purity and truth into practice grieves the Spirit and weakens them, because God is not in their midst to bless. Internal corruption brings God's denunciations as it did upon Jerusalem, and He will work with and for His people only if the sins that brought His wrath on the old world, on Sodom and Gomorrah, and on ancient Jerusalem do not become their own crime. God is the Lawgiver who executes the law's penalty, and human beings have no right to take that divine judgment into their own hands.