Tension:
The smoke rose from the place where Sodom had once stood. The whole valley was set aflame. This is a sobering picture of God’s judgment on sinful people. Yet from the ashes of judgment we see the light and hope of God’s grace.
We may ask, where is God’s grace in judgment? Throughout this chapter, we see God’s judgment raining down on the wicked city of Sodom. God’s judgment can make us uncomfortable. There is such finality in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The whole valley is wiped out. We may wonder, is God justified in such destruction?
We beg for God’s grace. That’s understandable. His grace is beyond our understanding. The Old Testament, in general, and this story in particular, drips with God’s grace. We must see God’s grace in balance with God’s judgment. You can’t have one without the other. God’s justice and grace are in perfect balance.
Perhaps it is because we see our brokenness in God’s judgment. We see our deservedness of judgment. That is why there is tension in the text when we see God bringing destruction. We worry about what is due to us for our sin. That is why Jesus is a breath of fresh air. We were lost in our sin, hopeless and helpless. Jesus’ blood grants us access to the grace of God we so desperately need. God’s grace is displayed as He acts to save wicked people and redeem them for His glory.
Text:
We meet Lot, as he begs two visitors to stay with him. These visitors came for one purpose: to test and judge. God, true to His Word to Abraham, seeks out any righteous in the city. By the end of the chapter, we realize there are none.
The whole city comes out to abuse the guests. Lot, who seems good at first, offers his daughters up to the town. The angels beg Lot and his family to leave. Yet, Lot and his family struggle with the reluctance to leave such a broken city.
The drama continues to worsen. The angels must move them out by force. Lot argues about where the angels want them to go. The angels agree to let Lot settle in a little town instead of the mountains. As they are leaving Lot’s wife does the one thing she was commanded not to do. She looks back longingly toward the wicked city, and she dies for it. Lot ends up not going to the town he had argued to go to. He and his daughters go to the mountains. Lot’s daughters, who were also saved by the angels, are not righteous either. They hatched a plan for incest, fearing no other way to have children.
We may ask why God spared wicked Lot and his family. The answer is at the end of the chapter. The reason Lot was spared was God’s grace through a promise to Abraham. Though there was grace in the sparing of their lives, their sin still brought on judgment. Moab and Amon, the sons born to Lot’s daughters, were thorns in Israel’s side and wicked nations. Moses’ audience would be very familiar with those names.
Takeaway:
This is a story where there are no human heroes. The city was wicked, Lot failed, his wife looked back, and his daughters failed. The takeaway for us is the same as it was for the original audience. God’s mercy outlasts His judgment. God gave Sodom a chance. He saved a wicked Lot and his family. He fulfilled a promise to Abraham.
To Israel, wrought with complaining and failures in the wilderness, this was a breath of hope. God had judged them by having them wander for 40 years. The grace is that this time of judgment was also a time of preparation for them to enter the Promised Land. God was not finished with them. He preserved a sinful people and was molding them into His people.
We fail, sin, and disobey God, too. We receive judgment, but God’s mercy, displayed through Christ, moves us into His promised presence. God has mercy and grace on sinners such as you and me. For those who persist in sin, who turn down the way of Jesus, there is judgment in the form of eternal destruction, like Sodom.
But see the warnings too. Like Sodom and Israel, we are prone to wickedness. If this is not by action, it is at least by heart. Let this story cause us to search our lives and rid them of any wickedness. Let us search our hearts and rid them of evil as well.
Like Lot’s wife, we are prone to look back at where we have been rescued. We have been brought out of the sin which formerly ensnared us. Oh Beloved, do not look back on such sins longingly or nostalgically. Flee from them. Look ever ahead. Don’t look back, don’t go back, for it is deadly to do so. Instead, may we look to Christ.
For those who follow Jesus, there is temporal judgment, but we will enter God’s eternal Kingdom. Jesus will carry us in. Let us live as a loving people following our Savior. God is redeeming us for His glory. Therefore, when we sin, let us repent and grow more in Christlikeness. Let us take hope in the reality that God’s grace has carried us through His judgment and into His presence.