2021 04 04

Sodom & Gomorrah

Psalm 71:18 (NKJV) ¹⁸  Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come.

 

Proverbs 30:11-14 (NKJV)
¹¹  There is a generation that curses its father, And does not bless its mother.

Deuteronomy 27:16 (NKJV)  ‘Cursed is the one who treats his father or his mother with contempt.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

Ephesians 6:1-3 (NKJV) ¹  Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ²  “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: ³  “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

¹²  There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, Yet is not washed from its filthiness.

Deuteronomy 27:26 (NKJV)  ‘Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

James 1:21-22 (NKJV) ²¹  Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. ²²  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

¹³  There is a generation–oh, how lofty are their eyes! And their eyelids are lifted up.

1 Corinthians 1:18 (NKJV)  For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

¹⁴  There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, And whose fangs are like knives, To devour the poor from off the earth, And the needy from among men.

2 Timothy 3:1-7 (NKJV) ¹  But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: ²  For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³  unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ⁴  traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵  having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! ⁶  For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, ⁷  always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

The Seed of the Word of God

Mark 4:26-29 (NKJV) ²⁶  And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, ²⁷  and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. ²⁸  For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. ²⁹  But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The earth brings forth the plant whose seed is planted.

It then bears fruit.

It is automatic, does not know how.

James 1:21 (NKJV) ²¹  Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

The heart brings forth the seed of the implanted word of God.

It then bears fruit.

It is automatic, does not know how.

Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV) ²⁸  Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

It is effortless, it is easy.

The outcry against Sodom & Gomorrah

Genesis 18:20-21 (NKJV) ²⁰  And the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, ²¹  I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”

What is this sin that is very grave?

Genesis 19:4-5 (NKJV) ⁴  Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. ⁵  And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.”

From this passage, we understand that homosexuality was prevalent there.

This is confirmed in the New Testament also.

Jude 1:7 (NKJV)  as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Homosexuality is the result of God giving man up.

A result of man follows his foolish heart of flesh.

Romans 1:20-32 (NKJV) ²⁰  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, ²¹  because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²²  Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³  and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man–and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. ²⁴  Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, ²⁵  who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. ²⁶  For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. ²⁷  Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. ²⁸  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; ²⁹  being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, ³⁰  backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ³¹  undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; ³²  who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

God’s attitude toward homosexuality is portrayed in the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah.

The Bible does not say that sex in the context of marriage is sinful, dirty, or wrong.

It’s only the misuse of sex (when it is experienced outside a loving, intimate commitment between a husband and wife) that get’s God angry.

There is a reason for this.

Before Adam and Eve fell, God instituted marriage as a covenant.

This was to be the basis on which all regulations are to be framed.

The marriage relation is used to represent the union between God and his people.

Isaiah 54:5 (NKJV)  For your Maker is your husband, The LORD of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.
Jeremiah 3:1 (NKJV)  “They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, And she goes from him And becomes another man’s, May he return to her again?’ Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me,” says the LORD.
Hosea 2:20 (NKJV)  I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD.

In the New Testament the same figure is employed in representing the love of Christ to his saints.

Ephesians 5:25-27 (NKJV) ²⁵  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, ²⁶  that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷  that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

With this idea rooted in our mind, the us continue studying this event further.

Sodom and Gomorrah along with the cities of Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar (Bela) constituted the five “cities of the plain.”

Genesis 13:10-11 (NKJV) ¹⁰  And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. ¹¹  Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other.

Genesis 14:1-3 (NKJV) ¹  And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations, ²  that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ³  All these joined together in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).

Social Injustice

I thought to myself “I wish the judgment would have been complete”, but then I read what the Lord revealed through Ezekiel the prophet.

Ezekiel 16:49-50 (NKJV) ⁴⁹  Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. ⁵⁰  And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.

Here social injustice rather than sexual perversion is highlighted. Judah was called the “sister” of Sodom since both Israel and Judah had followed the same course as Sodom in pride and perversion.

Three things are mentioned here as iniquity

1. Pride

• Proverbs 16:5 (NKJV) Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; Though they join forces, none will go unpunished.

2. Fullness of food

Speaking of a just man, the Lord says in

• Ezekiel 18:7 (NKJV) If he has not oppressed anyone, But has restored to the debtor his pledge; Has robbed no one by violence, But has given his bread to the hungry And covered the naked with clothing;
• Isaiah 58:5-8 (NKJV) ⁵ Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the LORD? ⁶  “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? ⁷  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? ⁸  Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

3. Abundance of idleness

• First mention is in Joshua 11:23.Here and elsewhere, it is mentioned as a blessing. “So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had said to Moses; and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land rested from war.”
• Judges 18:27 (NKJV) So they took the things Micah had made, and the priest who had belonged to him, and went to Laish, to a people quiet and secure; and they struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire.

So from this we know that they had a rather comfortable life without no obvious threats from anywhere.

They thought highly of themselves, had plenty of food to throw way, and have no lack.

They have plenty of free time for seeking their pleasure, perhaps on Facebook, YouTube or on WhatsApp groups.

I realized then that what Sodom and Gomorrah had was not a localized problem.

• They were not infected with homosexuality by a mosquito bite or some virus.
• They were not genetically predestined by God to be sexual perverts, if so, God would not have judged them.

They failed to remember the Lord, that He was their God, and that it was He for gave them the ability to make their money.

Like Sodom and Gomorrah, we are blessed with plenty of pursuits that bring pleasure to our life on earth. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with living a good life, what God hates is a life lived forsaking God.

Psalm 14:2 (NKJV)  The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.

Luke 16:13 (NKJV)  No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

1 Timothy 6:10 (NKJV)  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

There is nothing more desired among men than riches and leisure, and yet these gave birth to the sins that brought destruction upon the Sodom and Gomorrah.

Their useless idle life made them a prey to Satan’s temptations, and they defaced the image of God, and became satanic rather than divine.

Proverbs 10:4 (NKJV)  He who has a slack hand becomes poor, But the hand of the diligent makes rich.

Idleness is one of the greatest curses that can fall upon man, for vice and crime follow in its path. It enfeebles the mind, perverts the understanding, and debases the soul. Satan lies in ambush, ready to destroy those who are idle.

Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV)  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

The heart brings forth the seed of the implanted word of God.

It is automatic, does not know how.

It then bears fruit.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV) ¹⁶  All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, ¹⁷  that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.