A Picture of Salvation in Sodom

In Genesis chapter nineteen, we find the story of Sodom. Most when teaching on this story use it to describe God's merciful destruction of this city overcome by sin. However, let us look at this story under a new light. Jesus spoke of Sodom on multiple occassion in the Gospels, and I think that His style of teaching may be of benefit to us with this story: or parable. In a parable, we see that the characters and objects in the story have a deeper meaning. In the story of Sodom, I believe there are many similarities to the way in which we are saved (and not saved) from destruction. In this parable, all those who live within the city are to be destroyed. Much in the same way, all of us have sinned and are under the consequence of sin: destruction and separation from God. If we remain in this sin, we will ultimately be destroyed both by our sin and the judgement of God.

Genesis 19:4-11 "struck with blindness"
The first of the characters that we find in this parable are the men of the city (young and old, great and small) all of which are so overcome with sin that they can not even sleep before they have done it. They seek sin and pursue it like an unquenchable thirst. Those who pursue sin with such lust will innevitably be blinded from ever seeing the light. They can not come to a knowledge of the truth of salvation from sin, because they are too occupied with the sin. They have become blinded, and therefore can not escape from destruction. This blindness is self inflicted, due to their hardness of heart and rebelion against God.

Genesis 19:12-14 "but he seemed . . . to be jesting"
Next we find those who upon hearing of God's wrath and destruction scoff at it. They think that God is not serious with His commandments and flipently disregard them. This is the deception that was from the beginning when the serpent told Eve that she would not really die: God will not really do what He said He would do. These are carried away with destruction, merely because they do not listen to the warnings. Many today are in this category. They have heard of the consequences of sin, but do not care. They have been told that being a true disciple means persevearing sanctification, and they chose instead a cheap grace that can not save them. They disregard God's command to be holy as He is holy, or they simply do not really believe that He will punish those who disobey.

Genesis 19:15-22 "he lingered... the Lord being merciful to him... brought him out."
With all believers, we linger in our sin. It is only because of the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and His enabling of our ears and eyes, that we obtain salvation. It is not of our own accord that we are saved. God reaches out in His mercy and pulls us out. Once we are saved from the imminent destruction, we must journey on toward the city of refuge. God pulls us out, but then we must make the journey onward. Our savlation is not initiated or sustained through us, but we must walk in accordance to the command of God to obtain it. The city of Sodom was not destroyed until Lot reached the city of refuge. God preserved him and saved Him from the destruction, much in the same way that He saves us from our sin. We are pulled out and told, "walk in this way to the end" and when we continue on that narrow path to the finish line, then we are rewarded with eternal life and escape from destruction.  

Genesis 19:23-26 "looked back"
There are some who having been pulled out of the destruction, before reaching the city of refuge, look back upon their sin and longingly seek to go back to it. Those who are to be saved can not turn back to sin and long for it. It must be turned from and never returned to. This is not a stumbling or a slip, but rather a longing for: that is why Lot's wife was destroyed. We too will be consumed by our sin, if after leaving it behind, we turn again to it. We must not look back and allow ourselves to be overcome by the destruction as if we had never left the city.

A Double Standard

2 Thessalonians 3:6-12

"Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living."

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

"and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one."

Matthew 5:42

"Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you."

In our society today, we have an epidemic. Ours is the Entitlement generation. We believe that we should get whatever our heart's desire is, and we should get it now, and we should get it for free. It is a plague that has even found it's way into our churches. It is always interesting to me how the Bible has two sides of the coin, and we always find ourselves on the side that loses our "rights." The Bible says that if someone wants to take us to court and take our shirt, that we should give them our coat also (Matthew 5:40), but also says that we should not take others to court, as we know that God is the ultimate Judge (1 Corinthians 6:1-8). It tells us that we should forgive those who speak ill of us behind our backs, but also that we are not to be those who gossip (Ecclesiastes 10:20, Ephesians 4:29).  Finally, the Bible says, give to anyone who asks of you freely, but also tells us to work hard, as to not find ourselves in need. We know that all things are from God, and that He uses everything in our lives to transform us into His son's image, if we trust in Him. This means that in times of poverty, we are not to be ashamed, for God has placed us in need, maybe to humble us, or maybe to bring us to a dependency on Him. However, this situation could also be self-inflicted. God does not shield us from the consequences of our choices, so if I handle my money poorly (buying things that I do not need), and do not work, I will find myself in a desperate situation. We must work hard, and be frugal with our spending, and in doing so honor God and obey this commandment. When we find that we have an abundance, we know exactly what it is for: to give to those in need. It is not a blessing to be wealthy nor a sign of God's favor, but rather a grave responsibility to bear the load of wealth. Those that have much are in a difficult place of seeking Kingdom matters, because as Jesus said, it is impossible to serve two masters. Those that have wealth, tend to make the business of making money their master, which is why Jesus said it was easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a wealthy person to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. So the double standard, not in the traditional sense of the analogy, but rather in the sense that we have two standards for both situations, and in both, we are the ones responsible: give to any who asks of you, but work hard with your hands, so that you are not dependent on anyone--except God, of course. For when I am wealthy, it is because God has made it so, and when I am in poverty, it is because God has made it so. In both cases, he supplies all that we need, if we trust in Him and seek after His Kingdom first.  Dear brothers and sister, do not make your life about the accumulation of earthly pleasures that will one day decay and that you are unable to bring with you to eternity. However, let us work hard, as if we are working for the Lord, and always be ready to open our hands to those in need. 

Making a Name for Ourselves: Babel

Genesis 11:4

"Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.'"

Genesis 1:28

"And God blessed them (Adam and Eve). And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it..."

The people in Babel were much like us today. If you are much like me, you might read the story of the Tower of Babel, and wonder why God is against the people making this tower. It says in the following verse that God said, "And nothing they do will be impossible for them." Why is this such a bad thing? When we were in Sunday School as children, this story was told as if the tower itself was the people's way of trying to reach God, and so that is why God was against it. As adults, a quick survey of the text does not show this as the moral of the story at all. No, the people of Babel fell into the same trap that we do: making a name for themselves instead of God. Their purpose in building the tower was not to reach Heaven, but rather so that people would look on and ask, "Wow! Who built that!?" As the people of Babel would proudly say, "That was us!" The motive in their heart was to bring glory to themselves. We find in Jesus' teaching that all things that we do should bring glory to God. The people of Babel were not interested in bring glory to their Creator; they were too preoccupied with making a name for themselves. I wonder, dear Christian, if we spend our time making God's name great, or if we are simply going about making sure people know us. Are we always pointing to God for the good things in our lives, or are we quick to point out that we were the ones who did it? Back to Babel, on top of these selfish motives, the people of Babel were in direct disobedience to God's purpose for them: to disperse and fill the earth. Those that have read Job know well that God's purposes will be brought to pass. We may spend years building/wasting our lives the way we want them, but in the end, God will confuse our plans and we will be left only to follow after His purposes. My prayer is that this happens quickly; although, we know that all the years that are wasted, God is able to make up, if only we turn back to Him and quit pursuing our own desires and fixating on making ourselves a great name.

What Is Hell?

2 Thessalonians 1:9

"They [those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus] will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might..."

In today's culture, there are many who do not believe in a physical hell. Some say that we have hell on earth, when we have difficult times, and others say that there is no such place, because God is too loving to have created it. In these two statements, we find a fundamental misunderstanding of hell. The first is based on a wrong definition of hell. Those that say we have hell on earth are defining hell as a place of tormenting and punishment. They see hell as only God's punishment on those that disobey Him. However, this is not the sole purpose of hell. The others have the complete wrong view of what loving means. Their view of love is warped and twisted. We find the other purpose of hell, by having a true definition of love. Although hell is a place of punishment for the wicked (which we cry out for, when we see injustice and evil), it is also a place of choice. See, dear brothers and sisters, without choice, there can be no love. This is why, in the garden of Eden, there had to be the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the commandment to not eat of it. Adam and Eve were given the choice to either love God and stay in His presence, or disobey God (which is to not love Him) and not be in His presence, and we have the same choice. Forced love is rape. God will not force anyone to spend eternity with Him, and since we are created as eternal beings (Genesis 2:7), we must have eternal dwelling. The fundamental misunderstanding of hell is the answer to this question: why is hell so terrible? It is not the worms or the gnashing of teeth, or the fire. It is being away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might. This is why it is folly to claim that hell could be on earth, because as dark and terrible as the earth is, the presence of God is here: within those in the body of Christ dwells the Spirit of God. Because of this presence, earth could never be hell. The thought then is in my mind, if earth is this bad, with the presence of God (even on a minuet scale), how terrible would a place devoid of His working presence be? How wonderful would a place completely filled with His presence be? Those that spend eternity separated from God, do so after coming face to face with Him in judgement. They face Him and see that everything about Him is true: His beauty and majesty, His love and power, and all that is our Lord, and they are faced with the fact that they chose to be separated from Him. This is why hell is so terrible. Some may say that God is unfair to force us to make a decision of eternal consequence this side of eternity with no proof, but if it were not by faith, then the blessing would be lessened. When Jesus appears, every knee will bow, but not out of love. We were created for relationship, not for mindless praise. This is why it must be now. It can not wait. Do not put off any longer, because the reality is this: the choice is to spend eternity with God or without God, and it must be made this side of eternity.   

Leviathan and Pride

Job 41:1-10

“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?3 Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you soft words? Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever? Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you put him on a leash for your girls? Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? Can you fill his skin with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? Lay your hands on him; remember the battle—you will not do it again! Behold, the hope of a man is false; he is laid low even at the sight of him. No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?"

Brothers and sisters, may we stay away from pride. It was pride that led Job and his three friends to think that they had a complete understanding of God. Not one of them was able to explain to Job why these terrible things had happened to him. His "friends" scoffed him, and said that he must be wicked--they knew how God worked. They knew the formula exactly: wicked people are punished and good people are rewarded. How short sighted they were to ignore the eternity that follows this brief time on earth. We in the same way think that we have great knowledge of God. We speak on His behalf on many matters. We console others in the faith with explanations for why things happened in such and such a way. I would give a warning to those who always have advice: shut up and let God speak. We are too quick to give an answer without prayer. We open our mouths before we open our hearts and ears to hear what God might have us say. We have such pride in that we think we understand God. Job's pride was in that he thought he could stand before almighty God. However, if we are unable to stand in the presence of one of God's creations, how could we ever stand before Him? If we are unable to harness and grasp the creation, how dare we state that we have grasped the knowledge of God completely. In all reality, we shall never meet the end of God's knowledge. He is so far outside of our understanding. We explore His creation, and cannot find an end to it. We have split the atom, and found even smaller pieces. We have built a larger telescope, and have still not found the end of His universe. How could we ever understand God, when we can not even understand His creation? Let us humble ourselves and come to God as Job does:

Job 42:1-6

"Then Job answered the Lord and said:

'I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. "Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?" Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. "Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me." I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.'” 

Confess that God is almighty, and we are nothing, ask for forgiveness for our careless words, repent and turn from our pride to the all knowing, all powerful living God. 

Thief in the Night

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

"Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing."

Beware of those who claim to know when Jesus will return. I have had many conversations in which the person with whom I was speaking has stated, "I think Jesus is coming back soon." They cite scripture on earthquakes and rumors of war and point out what is happening in the world. Although I pray that they are right, it has been my own observation that in every decade there have been these things, especially if we get out of the ethnocentric mindset, for I do not think that Jesus was referring to wars with the United States, when he spoke on the subject in 30 A.D. Have not the conditions for Christ's return been in full force since the age in which he left? Why else would the Apostles warn in their letters that the time was short? I believe that God, in His infinite wisdom, has set up events in such a way that we always have rumors of war and natural disasters. The reason, some might ask... because only God knows the time of Christ's return, and He wants to keep it that way. Jesus says in the parable of the thief that if we knew when the thief was coming we would be ready and also in another parable He speaks of a servant who was left in charge of other servants and decided since his master was not returning to begin to mistreat the other servants. These parables illustrate to us that if we want to be ready when Christ returns, we must be ready at all times. Like the watchful servants, in the parable of the wedding party, we need to be ready to greet our master as he returns. And in the parable of the groomsmen, we need to have our oil in our lamps. "Be prepared" is the warning, not "Predict the date." 

I liken Jesus' second coming to His first. There were many in that time (the Pharisees) who thought they knew how the Messiah would come. They thought they had everything figured out, and then God threw them through a loop, when He sent a baby instead. And not only a baby, a baby who's mission on earth was to die innocently. Not even the disciples, whom Jesus told, understood God's plan of salvation, until after Jesus rose from the dead and taught them. In the same way, I believe that no one will understand how the events of Jesus' second coming will unfold, until after it has happened. And we will look on the scriptures, and Jesus will so graciously say to us (as He did to those on the Emmaus road), "Oh you fools, did you not understand the scriptures that this was the only way it could have happened."   And we will see how it was plain in our faces the entire time, and yet we did not see it. One thing is for certain, brothers and sisters, Jesus will return. And when He does, those that He has chosen will not be caught up in wrath, but in salvation. And those that Jesus has chosen will be busy about His work now, until he returns. Only those that continue to the end will have the reward. Only those who run the race to the finish line will have the reward. What is the reward, one may ask? Eternal life. So be ready, friends. Stand firm in the faith, and know for certainty that our King will come back for us, and even if we have fallen asleep, He will awaken us. Be prepared. 

Useful Scripture

2 Timothy 3:12-17

"Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."

1 Timothy 4:8

"For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."

The word value and profitable in these two passages of scripture come from the same Greek word meaning to have value. To have value, something must be useful or rare. There are many alive today, who value scripture, but only because of the "rareness" of it. By this I mean that they value scripture as being like a nice painting to be placed over their mantel. To take the words and put them in nice picture frames, because the words are a "rare" find. However, to be valuable means much more than just rarity. I believe in these two verses, we see that the value of Scripture comes from its usefulness in training us in righteousness and godliness. If we limit Scripture to only being nice words of encouragement to us, then we misuse it. The same scripture spoken of here, is also the one that cuts us deep. The same scripture spoken of here, is what the Holy Spirit uses to reveal sin in our lives. This scripture is useful! We read it far too often to get good feelings deep inside, but this is idol worship. The scripture has a purpose, and it is to a) reveal sin in our life and b) teach us how to live. Of course it is also the story of God's love and a sacrificing Savior, I am not trying to demean this. But the Savior was sacrificed, so that we could have the grace to practice righteousness--the righteousness that we learn from studying the Scriptures, which are the Word of God, Himself. Also, this Jesus said that anyone who listened or read the Word of God and did not do what it said is like a man who built his house on sand, and in the verses that precede this parable we find the illustration explained. There are two types of "Christians" that approach the throne of Judgement. There will be many who approach proud of what they have done, and Jesus will look upon them and say "I never knew you. Away with you, you workers of lawlessness." Lawlessness means to have no law, meaning to not do what Scripture says to do. To know it and not obey it. We have many today who find security in the fact that they go to church, read their Bibles everyday, serve at the soup kitchen, and this or that. A person can read their Bible everyday, and not do a single thing it says to do. A person can go to church every Sunday, and the words from the preacher have no effect on their life. There is no change. Even serving at the soup kitchen could be done only with the poor motives that someone will look on and think "how holy he/she must be." Jesus says that we have our reward, if we do things to be seen by men. Scripture is useful. We must read it, and be changed by it. We must study it, and apply it. We must be quick to quote it, in times of temptation, as Jesus our example did. To leave it on the shelf in our bedroom, or in the shelf of our heart and not use it, is a disgrace. Let us instead, spend daily time in it, and not only look for nice comforting words, but ask the Holy Spirit to cut and break us, by it, if necessary. Here is a prayer that I pray, every time I approach the word of God. I shouldn't say every time, but when I was a little boy, I did pray it every time. 

Father God,
As I read your word today, please give me understanding. Show me the places in which I fall short. Speak to me through Your word, today. Help me to read it, not selfishly or with poor motives, but to genuinely seek You in it. Change me by Your word, today, and give me the grace to do what it says. 
Amen.

May God's Word be useful and valuable in our lives!