… if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
Summary: The example of Sodom and Gomorrah should be studied by all. It details a real-life example of why we should all want to avoid falling under God’s judgment.
What happens to the ungodly? The story of Sodom and Gomorrah stands out in my mind as the ultimate warning of God’s wrath.
After Abraham had negotiated with the Lord to spare the cities if “only ten [righteous] can be found there” (Genesis 18: 32) he went back to his tents.
“Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.” (Genesis 19: 27-28)
The Bible does not say, “Early the next morning Abraham looked and the cities were gone.” Neither does it say that all that was left was a charred ash heap. Instead, the text provides a very clear description of something that actually happened.
The text tells us what God did before Abraham arrived to look. It says:
“By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land.” (Genesis 19: 23-25)
Sulfur is a very appropriate material for destroying Sodom and Gomorrah.
When the sun peeked over the horizon that morning, there may have been unusual clouds high over the cities. God did not go in for a flashy display of his power. Burning sulfur does not give off a bright light. Instead, it burns with a blue glow that is invisible in daylight. In the early morning light, there might have been a slight blue glow from the clouds overhead.
The next thing that would have happened is that burning sulfur would have “rained down.” When sulfur starts to burn, it melts into a blood-red liquid. The townspeople would have seen rain start to come down unlike any rain they had ever seen before. It looked like it was raining blood.
As the liquid sulfur drops hit the ground they would continue to burn with the invisible blue flame. The gasses given off would be overpowering. Do you know the smell of rotten eggs? That is sulfur. It burns the eyes and the skin. Sulfur dioxide combines with water in the lungs to form sulfurous acid. The acid would immediately start to burn the inside of the body as well as the outside.
After the first screams of horror, other people would come out into the streets, confused, coughing, gasping for air. The blood-red droplets of rain stick to everything and continue to burn with an invisible flame. People running in the street would be running in puddles of burning sulfur. There is no escape.
It is hard to imagine a more horrible death.
It is even more horrible to realize that this death is not the end. As the body dies, as the sulfur burns and burns and burns, death does not bring peace.
“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)
The eternal lake of burning sulfur is more of the same. Forever.
What Abraham saw the next morning is exactly what you would expect. There was no flame to see from the sulfur, but he could see the heat, “like smoke from a furnace.” The sulfur would continue to burn for most of the day. Nothing living would survive.
Application: God’s judgment is not to be taken lightly.
Food for Thought: If you were to make a movie about Sodom and Gomorrah, how would you portray the people of the city before God’s judgment rained down?
I would start with what the Word tells us about the people of Sodom. “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundant idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. “ Ezekiel 16:49. Additionally, the men sought after strange sexual perversions (Genesis 19), acts in which Paul describes as “vile affections” from “reprobate minds” (Romans 1).
JEC,
Nice to see you here again!! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
I apologize for the delay in your post appearing. Hopefully that will not happen again.
So it sounds like Sodom suffered from too much of a good thing? (Fullness of bread, abundant idleness) Are you saying that having to struggle a little to survive is a good thing?
Your devotional felt like an apt description of horror appropriate as we approach Halloween. But it is real. As for a movie – I think the people would be involved in their sinful behavior completely unaware of their pending doom. Matthew 24: 38 – 39 May describe it well. It would be healthy for the US to take note.
Rich,
Thank you. Great passage!
“For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew 24:38-39)
10-30-2021, 2 Peter 2:6 — Example 3, Part 3: … If you were to make a movie about Sodom and Gomorrah, how would you portray the people of the city before God’s judgment rained down?
Much like today, the people will be focused on their lives, their things of this world, events of this world and live dedicated to satisfying the desires of their flesh. As we used to say, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” They will measure their self worth by what they posses, who they know, the opinions of others. There will be no regard for, humility or a spiritual relationship with God and this will torment the souls of any Godly remaining on the world.
Jesus tells us, and just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the time of the second coming of the Son of Man: the people were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, “they were indifferent to God” until the day that Noah went into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
It was the same as it was in the days of Lot. People were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building carrying on business as usual, without regard for their sins. Luke 17:26-27, Luke 28
He rescued righteous Lot, who was tormented by the immoral conduct of unprincipled and ungodly men for that just man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by what he saw and heard of their lawless acts,
2 Peter 2:7-8
Ron,
I am so glad you are up and going from your surgery so quick! What a blessing!
Your portrayal of S&G’s people is easy to relate to: “There will be no regard for, humility or a spiritual relationship with God and this will torment the souls of any Godly remaining on the world.”
All of us serve our self-interest in some way. But when God is not in the picture at all, there is no check or balance to the desires of the self. Unchecked self-interest is both dangerous and ugly.
The truth is in both the Old and New Testaments, however, while reading the OT I can easily say, “that’s not me” and in the NT, Jesus explains this in a way I am called to look at myself. Gotta love the way our Bible is written.
Good point, Ron.
In a way, the New Testament makes looking at ourselves possible. In OT terms, it was do or die. In NT terms, we have Jesus’ promise of salvation if we believe. Looking at ourselves, then, is not a matter of ‘do or die,’ but is a loving response to our Savior. How can I be a better person so I can better honor my Lord?
Well I look at some of the people here in Portland and they seem to portray to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah pretty well,..
Would being weird be considered portrayed? There sure are a lot of weird people here in Portland,..
Jeff,..your depiction of the no escape hit me,..because God gave us an escape route through Jesus,..Jesus is the only way out of the mess anyone is in,..getting burned is not a pleasant feeling,..it’s painful and leaves some of the weirdest looking scars,…Jesus is the balm that soothes the spiritual skin,..no matter what kind of mess anyone is in,..
Amen, Brother John!
Jesus is the “escape route!” He is our hope, our healing, our brother, and most importantly, our Savior. He came to save sinners like me. He came so that we might be reborn spiritually and reunited with the Father.
The thing about Sodom and Gomorrah that sets it apart is that they were beyond redemption. (Someone made a comment about this a day or two ago.) Something they did crossed a red line with God. They were not only in sin, they must have been committed to the principle of sin. Not only some of them, but I would expect all of them were of the same mind.
The only other value I see in God doing what he did is to give us a warning, and show us the serious consequences of rejecting Him.
Was that most of his reason? All of it? I do not know. We cannot know. But I will say this; He has my attention!
All great comments. The burning to death hits me hard at a personal level and makes me see what’s at stake.
Ron its is sad to say that members of my family have license plate frames and stickers on their possessions that have the “He who dies with the most toys wins saying on it”. I’ve asked them then what? Trying to get them to understand and think about eternal salvation.
Even if everything is burnt and dead I pray to be able to help plant a seed, that will grow from the destruction and ashes.
Mr. T,
Keep planting the seeds! It is God who makes them grow. 🙂