Genesis 19:13, commentary and pictures

Angels sent by the Lord declare to Lot that the outcry of wickedness has come up great before Him and that they are commissioned to destroy the place, even as they promise to rescue him and those of his household who will flee. The sins of the city had spread and corrupted until they reached the limit of divine forbearance, so judgment could no longer be withheld. God sends a definite warning before destroying the wicked, and Lot was allowed to warn his family and gather them out, but they mocked the warning as fanaticism and perished unprepared. The same angels who execute destruction lead righteous Lot safely out, making his escape a pattern of marked separation from sin and sinners to be repeated when God's people must come out of Babylon before her plagues. Sodom thus stands as a warning that the present world, casting aside God's law and growing in moral corruption, is repeating the days of Sodom toward coming destruction.

Speakers and Setting

The speakers are angels sent by the Lord with a commission to destroy the place, and their words make that mission known to Lot. The outcry against the city had grown great before the face of the Lord, and He sent them to execute its overthrow. Their announcement disclosed the coming destruction and carried at the same time the promise to rescue Lot and the family members who would flee with him. They commanded him to gather his wife and household and the sons and daughters married among the wicked Sodomites and flee, so that he would not perish in the overthrow, for the Lord's anger was kindled against the wicked inhabitants.

The destruction they came to bring was by fire from heaven. As messengers of wrath they waited to pour out fiery blasts that would consume all the inhabitants. Those blasts blotted out the entrancing beauty of that highly favored city and its suburbs, leaving bleak and bare a place God had once made very beautiful. They were sent both to accomplish that fiery destruction and to rescue righteous Lot from its doom before it fell. That judgment came because sin kept growing worse after the flood, proving that God means what He says when He warns, and it stands with the flood as an example of what persistent sin brings.

The purpose to destroy Sodom was also made known to Abraham. The city was destroyed after Lot left, as a judgment on the corrupt and debasing conduct that had spread through it and brought God's wrath. Only a few were saved when the destruction came, though they had been warned, warning against following the majority.

The place destroyed was a beautiful and fertile country, a land God had made very beautiful but which its inhabitants had defiled. Evil practices had spread as people taught them to others until Sodom was known for its pollution, and its sins had become so widespread and corrupting that their cry reached the Lord. The destruction therefore struck not only the people but the beautiful land itself. Lot had chosen his residence there without reference to his associations, looking only at outward appearance and apparent advantage, and he who went into Sodom rich was led out by an angel's hand with nothing, warning against choosing a home or a place for God's work where evil associations will undermine piety and devotion.

Cause of Judgment

The city is destroyed because its wickedness produced a great outcry that came before the Lord, and He sent messengers to execute the judgment. The outcry had become great before Him, and the messengers bore His commission to destroy the place while bringing Lot and his family out. That destruction stands as the consequence of a world given over to sin and lacking self-restraint, a warning of what such a world becomes.

Its sins had become so widespread and corrupting, spreading as people taught them to others, that they reached the limit of divine forbearance and God would no longer bear with them. The evil practices spread until the city was known for its pollution, and even the beautiful land was defiled by its inhabitants and struck with them. The cries reaching heaven prompted the angels' visit to determine whether there was any hope of redemption, and judgment followed because the corruption had spread so deeply that God could not let it continue.

That corruption included pride, abundance, and idleness that weakened the mind, debased the soul, and distorted judgment. It was marked by depravity, cruelty, violence, and crime, and by a persistent corrupting of the way in disobedience and dishonoring of God that brought judgment. It included debasing sins and extreme licentiousness with want of strict purity, widespread sexual corruption and moral degradation that God abhors, with adultery and carnality. It held the same wicked practices of communion with evil spirits found among the Canaanites, for which destruction came as a warning against falling into those abominations and facing similar judgment.

The same judgment falls where wealthy revelers openly mock Christ, shape public opinion in the highest circles, and make money their god. God does not forget such blasphemous revelry but is present as an unseen witness, hearing the words spoken and recording them in the books of heaven for final account.

The destruction shows a God who abundantly blesses, is full of compassion, pardons, meets the returning prodigal, humbles Himself to meet fallen man, and heals the bruised and smitten, yet in mercy shows Himself strong to punish persistent, independent despisers of grace. In mercy He showed Himself a God of vengeance in destroying a headstrong, independent, wicked life that could not be allowed to continue.

Judgment and Deliverance

God gives a definite warning before destroying the wicked, leaving all who hear it to receive or reject it, and he warned Lot and brought him out before Sodom was destroyed. Lot was permitted to warn his wife, daughters, sons-in-law and family and to gather those joined by marriage to the Sodomites and flee, because the city was to be overthrown. They counted his faith as raving enthusiasm, mocked and rejected the warning, and perished unprepared when destruction came.

Angels were sent to execute judgment and at the same time to rescue righteous Lot from the doom, bringing him and his family out so he would not perish in the overthrow. They protected him, led him safely out and delivered him from danger even while judgment fell around him. The overthrow was real punishment for disobedience and transgression, not a carrying of the wicked by fire into glory. It proves God means what he says when he warns, and with the flood it stands as an example of what persistent sin brings after sin kept growing worse from the flood onward.

Escape from Sodom means a marked, decided separation from sin and sinners, with no compromise between God and the world, no turning back to secure earthly treasures, and no making a home there. Obedience to the voice warning to flee requires repenting, confessing and forsaking sins, arousing the will while relying wholly on the strength of Jesus to overcome, and separating entirely from corrupting associates, since carrying unsubdued appetite and passions into such a place keeps God from prospering and blessing. This pattern is to be repeated in the last days, when God's people must come out of Babylon before her destruction and plagues.

Cities and Last Days

Sodom stands as a warning of what a world given over to sin and lacking self-restraint becomes, and its destruction came because its great wickedness produced a cry that reached the Lord, who sent messengers to destroy the place. Its morals were so corrupt that its society itself warns against following the majority, for only a few were saved when it was destroyed though they had been warned. Sin kept growing worse after the flood until bolts of fire from heaven fell, proving that God means what He says when He warns of judgment. The present world, casting aside God's law and growing in moral corruption, is repeating the days of Sodom and the days before the flood toward coming destruction.

Present cities and towns absorbed in excitement, amusement, and dissipation are becoming as Sodom and Gomorrah, growing worse and worse. They are steeped in sin and moral corruption, with the poison of sin at work at the heart of society. This condition is a sign of the times to be discerned. It warns not to settle families in such cities and not without God's counsel to build large plants or establish business interests in cities such as Melbourne.

God's long forbearance will not continue forever, and terrible judgments apply especially to those on the very borders of the heavenly Canaan. That guilt rests on those who with all advantages, great light and evidences of truth walk in the imaginations of their own hearts and do not purify their souls by living up to them, like the inhabitants of Sodom and the world of Noah. In mercy God showed Himself strong to punish persistent, independent despisers of grace when their headstrong, independent, wicked life became such that He could not let it continue.

The rejection of warning at Sodom is the same as the antediluvians laughing at Noah and the Jews rejecting warning about Jerusalem. Lot warned the members of his family that Sodom was to be destroyed, but they would not heed the message, counted him as a raving enthusiast, and were unprepared when destruction came upon them, for God sends a definite message of warning before destroying the wicked and leaves those warned to receive or reject it. It foreshadows how it will be when the Son of man is revealed, with farmers, merchants, lawyers and tradesmen wholly engrossed in business, men at ease absorbed in eating, drinking, marrying, buying and selling and amusement. The day of the Lord will come upon them as a snare, with stealthy tread like a prowling thief.

Even in places steeped in sin and moral corruption there are people like Lot, and Lots in every Sodom are to be sought out and helped. God had Lot in Sodom, and likewise He has a people in wicked modern cities such as New York who pant after the pure waters of truth as the hart panteth after the water brooks. Such cities are therefore ready to be worked rather than left untouched, and the power of God is to carry the truth there. This calls for reformers to enter these doomed places to stand in defense of the law established to govern the physical system, to learn and teach how to battle disease and show the value of nature's remedies, and to maintain an elevated standard in training the mind and culture of the heart, that the Great Physician may cooperate with the human helping hand in a work of mercy and necessity in the relief of suffering.

Home Choice and Separation

Lot chose his dwelling without regard to moral associations, judging by outward appearance and by temporal advantage, worldly wealth and honor, a beautiful and fertile country, a flourishing city, and apparent promise for prosperity and even for God's work. He went into Sodom rich but was led out by an angel's hand with nothing, losing his possessions, some of his children, and his wife, and escaping himself only with difficulty. He had entered intending to keep himself free from iniquity and to command his household rightly, but he signally failed and his life work was lost as a sad failure. The corrupting influences around him weakened his own faith, his children's connections bound up his interest with the inhabitants, his children were ruined, and he barely saved his own soul.

God would have moral and religious influences considered first in choosing a home, for voluntarily placing oneself in an atmosphere of worldliness, unbelief, lax morality, indifference to religious things, rebellion against parental and divine authority, and attachment to infidels and unbelievers surrounds children with temptation and unfavorable associations that counteract parental influence. Such a choice casts in the lot with God's enemies, undermines piety and devotion, stains the soul, prevents right character, displeases God, and drives holy angels from the home. Lot's taking his family into a place marked for destruction makes Sodom an example of the danger of placing youth in a corrupting environment and of establishing a religious institution amid corrupting surroundings, for outward beauty does not make it safe. Bringing young people to live and train among worldly people in Battle Creek is like bringing them to Sodom, and youth should be guarded from corrupt places and associations.

Sodom's atmosphere and association was dangerous to one weak in moral power, and carrying unsubdued appetite and passions into such a place prevents God's prospering and blessing. Wherever duty calls, those who watch and pray trusting in Christ's grace can stand uncorrupted, but the lesson is to heed the voice warning to flee, repent, confess and forsake sins, arouse the will while relying wholly on the strength of Jesus to overcome, and separate entirely from corrupting associates. Lot's voice was heard in that wicked and polluted city giving warning and instruction, yet his presence exposed his family to many evils they could have avoided by living elsewhere. Though he stood uncorrupted amid moral pollution, becoming a Sodom through a society sunk in wickedness remains a danger that distinctive clothing for men and women is said to help prevent.