B. Lot, His Family & the Angels in Sodom (Genesis 19)

Angels Appear in Sodom: Two Purposes

Sodom was a huge city with big walls down along the Dead Sea. Now it is covered with a special kind of ash. They have discovered the graves of more than 100,000 so the city was big. We read about the luxurious city,

And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere--this was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah--like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar. (Genesis 13:10)

The Lord had two reasons for sending the angels (in human form) to Sodom.

Steps Down to Destruction (Genesis 18-19) The Story of Sodom & Gomorrah: The Demise of Cultures A) The Appearing to Abraham: Two Purposes (Genesis 18) B) The Appearing in Sodom: Two Purposes (Genesis 19) C). Debate: Why was Sodom Destroyed? (Genesis 19)

1. To Check out the Sin Level of the City (Genesis 19:1-11)

As discussed earlier, God is always just. He cannot judge incorrectly. He has to judge accurately. Of course the angels’ visit was not really for God’s information but for Abraham and Lot. He always knows what is going on.

2. To Deliver a Righteous Man (Genesis 19:12-38)

God was going to deliver the righteous people as He agreed to. Let's look at the heart of the four groups of people mentioned in Genesis 19.

A chance to escape from the world is not always desired.

1) Lot's___________ (19:14) Didn't fear the Lord.

But he appeared to his sons-in-laws to be jesting. (19:14)

If you don't live the life, your warnings will not be heeded!

Lot tried to get his to-be sons-in-law to come with him, but he failed. It appears that these two men just didn't respect him. He was one of the elders of the city; he sat at the gate, but in the end his testimony didn't carry sufficient weight to help the lost gain conviction.

2) Lot's___________ (Genesis 19:26) Loved the world.

But his wife, from behind him, looked back; and she became a pillar of salt.

If you look back, your heart never left!

Lot's wife just couldn't but long for being back in the city. She deserved no escape. Her body might have escaped but here soul was still there and fit to be judged with the city.

3) Lot's___________ (Genesis 19:16) Eased into his comfortable living.

"But he hesitated." (Genesis 19:16)
"Behold this town is near ... and it is small." (19:20)
"God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow." (19:29)
"For he was afraid to stay in Zoar." (19:29)

If you lose all, you still try to preserve some of it!

Some have a problem with seeing Lot as a righteous man. They should realize that righteous did not mean completely holy but a just person. He showed this when he took the poor strangers who were going to stay in the court into his own home. He probably regularly did this, and the men of the city didn't like it. This time they protested. Lot did not abuse people but protected them.

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We should remember that we have discovered documents confirming that it was one of the highest morals to protect anyone who stayed in ones home. Lot did protect their life with his. We see him outside fighting off a crowd of lusty men. He was brave but naive. He just didn't realize how unprincipled the men were.

4) Lot's ____________ (19:31-38) Loved name not the Lord

"Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve our family through our father." (19:32)

"And the first-born bore a son, and called his name Moab." (19:37)
"And as for the younger, she also bore a son, and ... he is the father of the sons of Ammon." (19:38)

If you lose your place in life, you can always improvise!

These two daughters knew how to compromise! Perhaps they learned from their father. Or perhaps, they lost their respect for their father when he offered to give them to the crowd to be raped. It would have been better to die as a family then to compromise a family member like that.

The result of Lot's sin was the birth of two people's that would become enemies to God's people: Moab and Ammonites.

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Compare the end of two righteous men: Noah and Lot

This is a sad, sad story that continues on throughout the Old Testament. Notice that when a man gives to drunkenness, whether it be Noah or Lot, a whole lot of evil can occur in a brief period. There never is time for a little self-pity, even after a horrible judgment. For each pity party, sin leaked out and infected their descendants.

Reflections

Which person do you most resemble? Why?

How has the world influenced your life without you knowing it.

C) The Debate of Homosexuaity and Sodom (Genesis 19)