This chapter introduces material which is not particularly welcomed or believed in this world. There is, of course, God’s condemnation of the sins of Sodom. And it’s not just that the city was destroyed for its homosexual immorality, but it’s that Jehovah has the authority to judge people for their sins. Human society wants the right to determine what is wicked and immoral. Many people think that even if we disagree with someone’s lifestyle, if it is okay with him, then it should be okay with us. But God says homosexuality isn’t okay. Also, people don’t like the implication that God actually controls disastrous weather, earthquakes, wildfires and volcanos. But this implies that He does, and He controls much, much more. Then incidentally, this chapter introduces us to the existence of angels. The world has mixed opinions about angels, demons, spirit-guides and other non-physical forms of life. And that is foundation for my lesson this evening.
I hope you know that I believe every letter, line, thought and precept in Bible is true. O Lord, “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous (statements) endureth for ever.” That means that Genesis 19 is as true as it is true that the earth spins. And that means this reference to angels is true as well; the Bible declares their existence. The words “angel” and “angels” are found almost 300 times in God’s Word. If we cut “angels” out of Bible, we are going to nick at least one vital vein somewhere. Angels may not be the heart of the scripture, but they run throughout the scriptures from Genesis to Matthew, to Acts and into Revelation. If we take our rusty knives out to remove them, the body of the scriptures will bleed to death. Paul asks about them: “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Shall not God give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways?
Angels are well worth a thorough study, but my purpose tonight is only to borrow a couple of God’s angels and use them for an illustration. These two messengers of God should be a picture of us – you and me – as servants of the Lord. Right now, God’s angels are of a higher power, knowledge and position than we are. But one of these days we shall be made higher than all the angels including the Seraphim and Cherubim. We will sit in the upper seats while they will be serving our Saviour and us. Our greatest privilege is that of redemption, but no angels have ever been redeemed and therefore they can’t glorify the Lord in the same way we can. And the angels which fell – the angels which followed Lucifer – they will never be forgiven. God’s saints have been forgiven, justified, regenerated and adopted into the family of God. Angels are servants to every member of that family.
We can learn from the angels in several ways. And one is that they were created to serve and to glorify the Creator in that service. And to that end, there is little difference between us and them. “For we are (God’s) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” We may not be Seraphim, whose name has some reference to fire or light. But the Lord wants us to “let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.” One of our prime responsibilities as Christians is to shine a light on God’s grace throughout the world.
One of the lessons is not to let your good works be confined to non-specific, worldly, any-body can do them, sort of good works. Usually when we read of God’s angels, we see them doing specific things, according to the will of God. They closed the mouths of Daniel’s lions and comforted him. They weren’t just standing in the lion’s den intimidating them; daring them to bite the prophet. An angel came to Peter in prison, slapped or kicked him on the side and then guided him to safety. One of them went to Paul in the midst of a Mediterranean storm with a message from God.
Similarly, the Lord does would like us to be more like angels in our service. By that I mean, He has specific things that He has commissioned us to do. Yes, He wants us to reflect His glory in a general sort of way in everything we do. But He may want us to specifically repair something at the church, or to study a particular Biblical subject with the intention of sharing it with the congregation at some point. It may be to witness to some specific person, or it might be help some individual financially. He may say, I’d like you to study piano so that you can assist others their singing and worship of me. You and I are like God’s angels: messengers and servants.
There once was a city with what is now an infamous name.
Sodom is the epitome of wicked cities. New York, San Francisco, Calcutta, Hong Kong, can’t hold a candle to Sodom for its infamous sin. My National Geographic Atlas doesn’t show any town or city in world with name “Sodom.” It was not only whiped off the face of the earth 4,000 years ago, but so was its name to some degree. There have been a few wicked men, who thumbed their noses at God, calling their mining communities and hamlets “Sodom,” but those places never came to anything. No major city mayor has ever had a desire to reuse that name. “Sodom” may be mentioned in Bible-believing churches, and it is whispered in back alley’s and dens of iniquity. However Sodom was not originally founded as a center for sin. Some experts say that the name means “City of Lime,” and may have begun as a mining community. It then branched out into the center of farming for those well watered plains along the Jordan.
And the point is: any community, anywhere in the world, has the potential of become a Sodom. They may not change their names to “Sodom,” but their communal souls have taken up that moniker. Post Falls has its wicked element, and there is more than enough crime here. Spokane its share of prostitutes and homosexuals, and Coeur d’Alene is no better. Like Lot, you and I are worshipping Jehovah in a city, a valley and a state ripe for wrath of the Almighty Judge. Because there is no fear of God before the citizen’s eyes, there are few who understand their situation. And there is therefore none that seeketh after God.
It may not not be with fire and brimstone, but God will one day vent His wrath upon our Sodom. It is as sure as the coming of Spring or the visit of the tax man, or the death angel. “Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”
But there are angels in our city of sin, and their name is us.
(Pardon the horrible grammar.) God’s angels may not be a large percentage of the population here, or anywhere, but they here never-less. There were only two angels in Sodom, and Lot wasn’t one of then, though he should have been. The number two was sufficient. In fact, two seems to be one of God’s preferred numbers when it comes to His evangelistic work. How did he send out his twelve and His seventy? Just two sticks rubbed together can make a spark. One Moses and one Aaron can bring down an Egyptian house of cards. One Paul and one Silas can turn the world upside down. It has been said that the world has never yet seen what a man totally surrendered to the Lord could do. What could two surrendered people do?
The margin of my Thompson Chain Bible makes a slight editorial error at verse 1. It calls these two visitors to Sodom “Angels of Wrath.” BEEEEP, Wrong! I know that verse 13 puts in their mouths the words, “We will destroy this place.” But why were they in the city on that first night? Were they reconnoitering and spying for the best means of destruction? Were they planting incendiary devices with timers set to detonate at 9:00 a.m? No, those angels were on a mission of mercy. The Lord is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.”
In the preceding chapter, three “men” met Abraham up on the plains of Mamre above the Jordan valley. One of those “men” was the preincarnate Christ, and Abraham worshiped Him. They came to visit and to bless God’s man with information about what was going to take place. As Abraham fellowshipped with the Lord, the two others turned and went toward Sodom (Genesis 18:22). I am convinced, without direct scriptural evidence, that those angels who came to be a blessing to Abraham where the same who visited Lot. They were Ambassadors with Christ and for Christ, just as Paul, Peter and you and me. They were commissioned by the Lord, just as we have been commissioned by the Lord. Their authority was His, their responsibility was His, their power was His. The child of God can do great things for Christ through the power and authority God invests in them. Why can’t the child of God assault today’s Sodom and plunder it of the people that God chosen?
The first purpose of these angels was rescuing Lot. Verse 15 – “And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.” Isn’t that the ministry of John the Baptist, John the Apostle and you and me? “Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” What the angels did that morning was a viable Christian duty. We will never usher in world peace as some denominations and theologies teach. But our ministry and message can be about personal peace in the midst the coming judgment of God.
Post Falls, “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” “Tribulation and anguish is determined upon every soul of man that doeth evil.” “Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.” The message was sent to some of Lot’s in-laws, but they thought that it was a jest. “Some more convenient time,” answered the Roman governor. But the warning was to be made, and it was made whether people wanted to listen or not. Angel, “your labor is not vain in the Lord,” assuming you are laboring in the Lord’s vineyard.
These angels were involved in slapping down the rebellious sinners, but not, initially, destroying them. Unless the Sodomites see their wretchedness, they will not leave the doomed city. At times the Christian has to be mercifully violent, because the sinful are slow to obey. The angels grabbed Lot and his family and virtually dragged them out of the city. The word “brought” in verse 16 can carry the idea of physically carrying them out. Sometimes only Christian zeal can over come the blindness and buffoonery of the wicked. Our Inland Empire needs men and women of zeal. Not just orthodoxy, piety and knowledge, but zeal. Our Sodom needs to know that we know there is a hell looming in the future for all of us. Our Sodom needs to know that God’s grace has touched us, and it can touch them as well.
Those angels were willing to camp on one man’s door-step in order to get his attention. They are an illustration of “stick-to-a-tiveness.” Our enemy, the Devil, doesn’t give up. He is struggling to rule the universe, overturning Biblical values and morality. He visits and revisits, until he wins the friendship of a soul, then he dashes him to pieces. Why is it the children of God give up after a couple of short visits?
These angels cared nothing for the luxuries of the city. But we gather precious bobbles around us as if they are all eternal. Where is the sacrifice necessary for the salvation of souls? Where, today, are the tears of the Apostle or of the Lord Jesus?
May I say that through their efforts, those angels saved someone?
As the Lord said to Paul, “Christian I have much people in this city of Corinth for whom I have died.” And there was one of God’s chosen people even in Sodom. I have confidence that it could also be said to us about our community.
We have been sent like these angels, not for destruction, but for salvation, and time is running out. Did you see the verse which said that these angels called down God’s fire upon Sodom? I didn’t either. Verse 24 – says “Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.” These weren’t “Angels of Wrath,” and neither are we. They were angels of mercy.
I know that it’s a hypothetical question that I shouldn’t really be asking, but I will anyway. What would have happened if those two angels hadn’t done what they were sent to do? Is it conceivable that an angel of God can refuse to obey His divine command? I suppose if they had disobeyed, the Lord would have sent other angels to rescue Lot and to destroy the disobedient and negligent angels.
Of course, you and I cannot loose our salvation for any act of disobedience or neglect. But we can loose the smile of the Saviour. We can loose our reward. We have a job to do in Sodom. We are the angels in today’s Sodom.