Genesis 19:28
And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
Abraham looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain after the cities were consumed by fire from heaven and saw smoke rising from the country like smoke from a furnace as a visible sign of divine judgment, while Lot is also described as the one looking toward the cities and seeing that smoke.
The burning was total, consuming the cities with their palaces, temples, houses, gardens and pleasure-seeking crowds until the entrancing beauty of the vale became bleak, bare and desolate, never to be built up or inhabited.
It came on a bright, peaceful morning of busy business and pleasure after Lot entered Zoar, when mercy had ceased to plead and all but Lot with his wife and two daughters were consumed.
The judgment fell because pride, fullness of bread, idleness and selfish indulgence had degenerated into extreme licentiousness and defiant impurity, and though God bears long with sinners His mercy has a limit beyond which judgment begins.
Sodom's fate stands as a witness to all generations of the certainty of judgment and as a warning that the world and its cities, becoming morally polluted in the same way, face the same visitation if warnings are despised.
The Destruction Witnessed
Abraham looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain and beheld the smoke of the country going up as the smoke of a furnace after the cities were consumed by fire from heaven, a visible sign of divine judgment. In the telling held by some, the onlooker is described as Lot looking toward the cities and the plain and seeing the smoke rising like the smoke from a furnace.
The burning was total, for the Lord rained brimstone and fire from heaven and consumed the cities with their palaces, temples, costly houses, gardens, vineyards and pleasure-seeking crowds, and thick smoke rose as from a large furnace. What had been entrancing beauty in a highly favored city and its suburbs was blotted out, leaving the land bleak, bare and desolate where God had once made it very beautiful. Lot himself escaped under an angel's guidance, led away by an angel's hand while messengers of wrath poured forth fiery blasts, going in rich and coming out with nothing.
The fair vale of Siddim became a desolation never to be built up or inhabited, a witness to all generations of the certainty of judgment upon transgression. The desolate waste left by the cities of the plain later formed part of the wilderness of Judea.
The destruction came after Lot entered Zoar, on a bright, peaceful morning of busy business and pleasure, when mercy had ceased to plead with the guilty inhabitants. All but Lot with his wife and two daughters were consumed by fire sent down from heaven, so that only two or three warned people were saved. Lot was remembered and not forgotten when the judgment came, and was saved because he did not corrupt his way before God.
Sodom's Sin and Judgment
Sodom and Gomorrah stand as examples of extreme moral corruption, licentiousness, sexual immorality and impurity. Their condition is described as want of strict purity, carnality, being sold unto sin, and practicing adultery even among men and women professing godliness. The world marked by widespread sexual immorality is pictured by the same account, and Satan seeks to make it equally corrupt.
Their course degenerated from pride, fullness of bread, abundance of idleness, lightness and frivolity to debasing sins of corrupt passion and selfish indulgence. They failed to strengthen the hand of the poor and needy, inclination and passion bore sway over reason, self was their god, and the knowledge of God was nearly obliterated. Idleness enfeebled the mind, debased the soul, perverted the understanding, and opened the way for vice and crime when men were unguarded in idle hours. Necessary eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building were perverted into gratification of appetite and worldly business occupying thought and time to the neglect of eternal interests, abusing the body, destroying health, unbalancing the mind and strengthening animal propensities.
The inhabitants followed imaginations of corrupt minds, dishonored God by wicked inventions, and indulged destructive lusts and licentiousness until corrupt in body and soul. They hated God, could no longer discern pure affections from polluting lust, walked in bold defiant impurity and crime in the imaginations of their hearts, wanted freedom from restraint and cast aside the law of God, bringing wretchedness and misery. Their corrupt practices spread as they taught them to others until their sins reached heaven, the same crime that existed in Canaan. Wealthy winebibbers openly blaspheming Christ, making money their god and giving tone to public opinion in the highest circles, and the same infatuation over courtship and marriage formed without consulting God and covering lustful abomination, belong to that condemnation.
Though God abundantly blesses, is full of compassion, ready to pardon the returning sinner and heal the bruised, His mercy bears long but has a limit beyond which men may not go on in sin. When rejected warnings are despised He withdraws His Spirit and mercy and the ministration of judgment begins. Mercy ceased to plead with the guilty inhabitants, all but Lot with his wife and two daughters were consumed, proving men cannot with impunity reject His warnings and that He means what He says. The destruction was an act both of vengeance against persistent despisers and of mercy that would no longer perpetuate headstrong wickedness.
The judgment stands in the steady increase of sin after Eden and after the Flood when God destroyed the world saving only Noah and his sons, warning that continued sin brings destruction. The fire that fell was punishment for disobedience and proof that there is no assurance of reaching heaven while transgressing the law. God punishes the disobedient rather than taking them straight into glory while the just Lot was saved, and obedience to all of God's law is absolutely essential to eternal life. Only two or three warned people were saved, illustrating that the majority may perish and few follow the way to life.
Lot's Choice and Loss
Lot chose his dwelling by outward appearance and natural advantage, looking to fertile country and beautiful land and a flourishing city in hope of worldly wealth and honor and greater prosperity. He did not investigate the morals and religion of the people and had no regard to his associations, though the attractive surroundings could appear as the garden of Eden, and appearance did not make the place safe. The smoke going up from the plain is the result and ruin of that choice, when the beautiful city and its suburbs were consumed and left bleak and bare.
He entered Sodom fully intending to keep himself free from iniquity and to command his household after him, but he signally failed. The corrupting influences about him weakened his own faith, and his children's connection with the inhabitants of Sodom bound up his interest with theirs.
He went into Sodom rich and escaped with nothing, led away by an angel's hand while messengers of wrath waited to pour forth fiery blasts. The destruction ended his worldly gains, took some of his children, and left him saved with little more than his life. His warning was rejected by his sons-in-law, who perished with Sodom.
Choosing a home for temporal advantage rather than first for the moral and religious influences surrounding self and family places children amid temptation and unfavorable associations. The atmosphere of lax morality and unbelief and indifference to religious things counteracts parental influence, while examples of rebellion against parental and divine authority lead youth to form attachments for infidels and unbelievers and to cast in their lot with the enemies of God. Those who secure worldly advantage at the expense of eternal interests see their children ruined, lose their life work in sad failure, and barely save their own souls, losing title to the immortal inheritance.
Modern Cities Warned
The smoke rising like a furnace over Sodom and Gomorrah stands as the comparison for a world morally polluted by sin, a world that is becoming a second Sodom. Satan seeks to make the world equally corrupt in licentiousness, and in Noah's day and in the present it is polluted in the same way by the same desire for freedom from restraint. Those who followed imaginations of corrupt minds, dishonored God by wicked inventions, and indulged destructive lusts became corrupt in body and soul until they hated God and could no longer discern pure affections from polluting lust, and their wicked works brought destruction upon them. Whole families today steeped in the same licentiousness are as sinful as those before the Flood and in Sodom and need to be terribly alarmed.
Cities and towns marked by corrupt training, depravity, cruelty, violence and crime resemble Sodom and Gomorrah, and Nimes is pictured as such a place. Modern cities become like them through excitement and pleasure-seeking that draws people from duty and leads to dissipation. San Francisco and Oakland are becoming as Sodom and Gomorrah and will not long hence suffer the same visitation in wrath under the judgments of God. New York in its wickedness is like Sodom, yet as Sodom still held Lot so New York holds thirsting people panting after pure truth and is ready to be worked.
The wickedness that brought judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah is now repeated in the cities, and this likeness is a sign of the times that must be discerned. To build large plants and establish business interests in a large city like Melbourne without God's counsel ignores that sign and puts out the eyes of the people so they do not see what is coming. Cities becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah are preparing for destruction by fire, for wicked cities which reject God's commandments and warnings face punishment. Cities whose sin provoked God's wrath could be destroyed by divine judgment, as the smoke rising over the plain shows after God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah by fire.
Their fate stands as a warning of the judgment that could befall rebellious Judah. As it was in the days of Lot so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man, when eating and drinking and buying and selling and planting and building, necessary in themselves, are made to occupy thought and time in gratification of appetite and worldly business to the neglect of eternal interests. That course degenerated from lightness and frivolity to debasing sins of corrupt passion and selfish indulgence, where inclination bore sway over reason and self was god, and the same infatuation over courtship and marriage formed without consulting God belongs to that condemnation, calling for temperance and seeking things above.
Because judgment is near, well-equipped tent meetings should be held now in the large cities such as San Francisco to reach the people before those judgments fall. The power of God is to carry the truth to thirsting people in New York through self-denying labor.
Faithfulness and Separation
Even cities steeped in sin still have their Lots, faithful people living within them who can stand for what is right. As Lot was present in Sodom, so wicked cities now hold such persons amid widespread corruption. Reformers are therefore called to uphold God's laws and to promote the right training of mind and heart.
Moral and religious influences surrounding self and family must come first in choosing a home, above a beautiful and fertile country, a flourishing city, or hope of greater prosperity. To look to worldly wealth and honor at the expense of eternal interests ends in terrible loss, as the smoke over the plain shows. Voluntarily placing oneself in an atmosphere of worldliness and unbelief displeases God and drives holy angels from the home. Children surrounded by temptation form associations unfavorable to piety and right character, while lax morality, unbelief, indifference to religious things, and examples of rebellion against parental and divine authority counteract parental influence. Youth are thus led to form attachments for infidels and unbelievers and to cast in their lot with the enemies of God, until parents see their children ruined, barely save their own souls, and find life-work lost and life a sad failure. True wisdom accepts less worldly prosperity in order to make sure of title to the immortal inheritance.
Where duty calls, God will enable standing uncorrupted even in trying positions where surroundings cannot be as desired, through watching and praying and trusting in the grace of Christ. Otherwise the lesson of Sodom's danger is to separate from harmful associations rather than expect to remain uncorrupted amid moral pollution. Young people should guard what they see and hear and keep as far as possible from depraved, ungodly places and associations whose practices stain the soul. Lot's taking his family into Sodom warns against placing young people among worldly influences, as in sending them to live and work at Battle Creek.
The account calls hearers to seek the Lord most earnestly and to take a more decided stand by obedience to all of God's requirements and not by mere profession of truth, leading to heartfelt confession and earnest prayer. It warns those now on the very borders of the heavenly Canaan who with all advantages, light, and evidences of truth fail to purify their souls by living up to them, showing the guilt resting on that choice. Corrupt behavior by those who have received great light but resisted it brings terrible judgments, as the destruction by fire and brimstone from heaven rid the earth of a contaminating influence. That destruction was both vengeance against persistent, headstrong despisers and mercy that would no longer perpetuate bold, defiant licentiousness, impurity, and crime, though God abundantly blesses, is full of compassion, and is ready to pardon the returning sinner and heal the bruised. Christ's followers are therefore called to temperance in eating and drinking and to seek those things which are above, rather than letting gratification of appetite, worldly business, and even courtship and marriage formed without God occupy thought and time to the neglect of eternal interests, abuse the body, destroy health, unbalance the mind, and strengthen animal propensities.