Bible Lesson: Miracles Of The Old Testament: Sodomites made blind, Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed.
Occasion: Judgment against wickedness.
Location: Sodom and Gomorrah.
Bible Text:
Genesis 19:1-29 NLT (Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.)
1 That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom. Lot was sitting there, and when he saw them, he stood up to meet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed with his face to the ground.
2 “My lords,” he said, “come to my home to wash your feet, and be my guests for the night. You may then get up early in the morning and be on your way again.” “Oh no,” they replied. “We’ll just spend the night out here in the city square.”
3 But Lot insisted, so at last they went home with him. Lot prepared a feast for them, complete with fresh bread made without yeast, and they ate.
4 But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house.
5 They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”
6 So Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him.
7 “Please, my brothers,” he begged, “don’t do such a wicked thing.
8 Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these men alone, for they are my guests and are under my protection.”
9 “Stand back!” they shouted. “This fellow came to town as an outsider, and now he’s acting like our judge! We’ll treat you far worse than those other men!” And they lunged toward Lot to break down the door.
10 But the two angels reached out, pulled Lot into the house, and bolted the door.
11 Then they blinded all the men, young and old, who were at the door of the house, so they gave up trying to get inside.
12 Meanwhile, the angels questioned Lot. “Do you have any other relatives here in the city?” they asked. “Get them out of this place—your sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else.
13 For we are about to destroy this city completely. The outcry against this place is so great it has reached the Lord, and he has sent us to destroy it.”
14 So Lot rushed out to tell his daughters’ fiancés, “Quick, get out of the city! The Lord is about to destroy it.” But the young men thought he was only joking.
15 At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. “Hurry,” they said to Lot. “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!”
16 When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the Lord was merciful.
17 When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, “Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
18 “Oh no, my lord!” Lot begged.
19 “You have been so gracious to me and saved my life, and you have shown such great kindness. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would catch up to me there, and I would soon die.
20 See, there is a small village nearby. Please let me go there instead; don’t you see how small it is? Then my life will be saved.”
21 “All right,” the angel said, “I will grant your request. I will not destroy the little village.
22 But hurry! Escape to it, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” (This explains why that village was known as Zoar, which means “little place.”)
23 Lot reached the village just as the sun was rising over the horizon.
24 Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah.
25 He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation.
26 But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt.
27 Abraham got up early that morning and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the Lord’s presence.
28 He looked out across the plain toward Sodom and Gomorrah and watched as columns of smoke rose from the cities like smoke from a furnace.
29 But God had listened to Abraham’s request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain.
Genesis 19:1 NLT
That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom. Lot was sitting there, and when he saw them, he stood up to meet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed with his face to the ground.
(Be sure to read Chapter 18 of the book of Genesis.)
These two angles with the Lord, had just come from a confrontation with Abraham at Hebron some 35 miles to the north.
We read that the Lord (Theophany: Manifestation of God's Son, Christ was not yet come in the flesh, so this was the Spirit Man, The pre-incarnate Son of God.) and two of His mighty angels had come to visit Abraham. They were on a reconnaissance mission.
Genesis 18:1,2 NLT
1 The Lord appeared again to Abraham near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. One day Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day.
2 He looked up and noticed three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran to meet them and welcomed them, bowing low to the ground.
Lot was sitting at the gate or entrance to the city of Sodom, indicating that he had become a ruling elder in the city. The entrance, or gate to a city is where its leaders conducted commercial or political business.
In deep respect, Lot bowed to his visitors.
Lot was a just witness against the sins of Sodom and surrounding villages. He was an Elder because he was trusted, honest and a moral man.
Some today suffer under the delusion that there may be “morality,” without God!
That would be something akin to having an ocean, without, water.
Psalm 19:8,9 KJV
8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
Psalm 33:4
For the word of the LORD is right; and all His works are done in truth.
The Lord told Abraham....
Genesis 18:20-22 NLT
20 So the Lord told Abraham, “I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant.
21 I am going down to see if their actions are as wicked as I have heard. If not, I want to know.”
22 The other men turned and headed toward Sodom, but the Lord remained with Abraham.
Genesis 18:32,33 NLT (Abraham, interceded for his nephew and his family.)
32 Finally, Abraham said, “Lord, please don’t be angry with me if I speak one more time. Suppose only ten (Righteous) are found there?” And the Lord replied, “Then I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”
33 When the Lord had finished His conversation with Abraham, He went on His way, and Abraham returned to his tent.
I Timothy 2:1 KJV
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
Oh the sinful folly of man, to dare to think that God does not see, that God does not know!
I Samuel 2:3 KJV
Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed.
Job 31:4 KJV
Doth not He see my ways, and count all my steps?
Job 34:21 KJV
For His eyes are upon the ways of man, and He seeth all his goings.
Psalm 147:5 KJV
Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite.
Isaiah 40:28 KJV
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding.
Daniel 2:20-22 KJV
20 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are His:
21 And He changeth the times and the seasons: He removeth kings, and setteth up kings: He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:
22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him.
I Corinthians 3:18-20 KJV
18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
Hebrews 4:13 KJV
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
I John 3:20 KJV
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
Genesis 18:20 KJV
And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
God had seen, and God had heard of the sin of the Sodomites, and it was great sin.
Genesis 19:2,3 NLT
2 “My lords,” he said, “come to my home to wash your feet, and be my guests for the night. You may then get up early in the morning and be on your way again.” “Oh no,” they replied. “We’ll just spend the night out here in the city square.”
3 But Lot insisted, so at last they went home with him. Lot prepared a feast for them, complete with fresh bread made without yeast, and they ate.
Lot showed the two men, every accommodation, and yet their wish seed to be to remain among the people of the city. “Oh no,” they replied. “We’ll just spend the night out here in the city square.”
That met with instant protest by Lot, he insisting instead that they go home with him, for a feast.
The young men relinquished.
What was it the Apostle Paul told the Jewish believers?
Hebrews 13:2 KJV
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
These two, appeared in every way to be earthly men, but were far from it, they were the mighty angels of God.
They talked, they ate, they appeared in every respect as new friends, to Lot.
Genesis 19:4,5 NLT
4 But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house.
5 They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”
Lot had not, been thee only one to have seen the arrival of the visitors, the city's residents had seen them as well.
And now, we know one reason why the Lord and His companions had come to see Sodom.
Open militant pederasty, was the scene.
They consisted of the young and the old, and from all parts of the city.
“They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”
What the Bible says concerning “Pederasty/ Homosexuality:
Leviticus 18:22 KJV
Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
Leviticus 20:13 KJV (Capital Punishment for grievous sin.)
If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
I Kings 14:24 KJV
And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.
Romans 1:24-32 KJV
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves:
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Romans 1:24-32 NLT
24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.
25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator Himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other.
27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, He abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.
29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.
30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents.
31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy.
32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
I Corinthians 6:9,10 NLT
9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality,
10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.
I Timothy 1:8-11 NLT
8 We know that the law is good when used correctly.
9 For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders.
10 The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders, liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching
11 that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God.
II Peter 2:6-9 NLT
6 Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people.
7 But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him.
8 Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day.
9 So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment.
Jude 7 NLT
And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.
Genesis 19:6-9 NLT
6 So Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him.
7 “Please, my brothers,” he begged, “don’t do such a wicked thing.
8 Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these men alone, for they are my guests and are under my protection.”
9 “Stand back!” they shouted. “This fellow came to town as an outsider, and now he’s acting like our judge! We’ll treat you far worse than those other men!” And they lunged toward Lot to break down the door.
Lot begged the men “don’t do such a wicked thing,” but they would not listen.
Lot then, offered his virgin daughters to the wicked crowd, but they would have nothing of it.
Why would Lot offer up his daughters?
This monstrous crowd, would have killed to have gotten their way.
That and the fact that Lot, more than likely new that homosexual men, were “not,” looking for women.
The simple fact was, nothing could appease their perverted appetites.
“Stand back!” they shouted. “This fellow came to town as an outsider, and now he’s acting like our judge! We’ll treat you far worse than those other men!” And they lunged toward Lot to break down the door.
This was no idle threat by the men, the meant business.
In Sodom, there was no law and order, only mass perverted craze.
Genesis 19:10,11 NLT
10 But the two angels reached out, pulled Lot into the house, and bolted the door.
11 Then they blinded all the men, young and old, who were at the door of the house, so they gave up trying to get inside.
Judgment had begun to fall on the wicked men of Sodom.
The mighty angels pulled Lot to safety in his home, while blinding the eyes of the Sodomites. They could no longer find the door.
In this story we see the mercy of God keeps His children, amidst judgment of the wicked.
Genesis 19:12,13 NLT
12 Meanwhile, the angels questioned Lot. “Do you have any other relatives here in the city?” they asked. “Get them out of this place—your sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else.
13 For we are about to destroy this city completely. The outcry against this place is so great it has reached the Lord, and he has sent us to destroy it.”
If Lot had had any questions before just as to who these men were, he didn't any longer, for he realized that these were the very angels of God, come to destroy wicked Sodom.
And what was their message?
It was that of warning others!
Judgment is coming, warn them, warn them.
Ezekiel 3:16-21 NLT
16 After seven days the Lord gave me a message. He said,
17 “Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel. Whenever you receive a message from Me, warn people immediately.
18 If I warn the wicked, saying, ‘You are under the penalty of death,’ but you fail to deliver the warning, they will die in their sins. And I will hold you responsible for their deaths.
19 If you warn them and they refuse to repent and keep on sinning, they will die in their sins. But you will have saved yourself because you obeyed Me.
20 “If righteous people turn away from their righteous behavior and ignore the obstacles I put in their way, they will die. And if you do not warn them, they will die in their sins. None of their righteous acts will be remembered, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths.
21 But if you warn righteous people not to sin and they listen to you and do not sin, they will live, and you will have saved yourself, too.”
(Verse 13)
“The outcry against this place is so great it has reached the Lord, and he has sent us to destroy it.”
Genesis 18:20,21 KJV
20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto Me; and if not, I will know.
Sin was the “norm,” in Sodom, but to Almighty God, with who we have to do, it was a screaming in His ears, that something was wrong, terribly wrong! If for no other reason, the innocent little children that were there, to say nothing of their evil influence on others, surrounding them.
Genesis 19:14 NLT
So Lot rushed out to tell his daughters’ fiancés, “Quick, get out of the city! The Lord is about to destroy it.” But the young men thought he was only joking.
Isaiah 58:1 KJV
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
Luke 17:26-37 NLT
26 “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.
27 In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 “And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business—eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building—
29 until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
31 On that day a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return home.
32 Remember what happened to Lot’s wife!
33 If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it.
34 That night two people will be asleep in one bed; one will be taken, the other left.
35 Two women will be grinding flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.”
37 “Where will this happen, Lord?” the disciples asked. Jesus replied, “Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.”
II Peter 3:3,4 KJV
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
Genesis 19:15,16 NLT
15 At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. “Hurry,” they said to Lot. “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!”
16 When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the Lord was merciful.
“the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the Lord was merciful."
“Lot still hesitated” friend, what a danger it is to hesitate, when God says to hurry!
Mark 4:19 KJV
And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
I John 2:15-17 KJV
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
As in verses 10,11, the mercy of God, kept Lot and his family!
The Angels, yanking them out of their house by hand, to a place of safety.
What a wonderful place to state the proof of a pre-tribulation rapture of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Remember well the promise of the Lord!
Revelation 3:10 KJV (Christ's promise to the Philadelphian church.)
Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Praise the Lord, judgment could not come, until, Noah and all his family were safe on board the Ark, and until Lot and his family was out of the city!
Tribulation judgment, can not come, until the Lords family of believers are out of the earth!
I Corinthians 15:51-58 NLT
51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!
52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.
53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.
57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.
I Thessalonians 4:13-18 NLT
13 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.
14 For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with Him the believers who have died.
15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet Him ahead of those who have died.
16 For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died[h] will rise from their graves.
17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.
18 So encourage each other with these words.
Genesis 19:17-22 NLT
17 When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, “Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
18 “Oh no, my lord!” Lot begged.
19 “You have been so gracious to me and saved my life, and you have shown such great kindness. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would catch up to me there, and I would soon die.
20 See, there is a small village nearby. Please let me go there instead; don’t you see how small it is? Then my life will be saved.”
21 “All right,” the angel said, “I will grant your request. I will not destroy the little village.
22 But hurry! Escape to it, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” (This explains why that village was known as Zoar, which means “little place.”)
Don't look back!
It is the desire of our wicked enemy, to get us to look back, i.e. desire the things which we have left behind in following the Lord Jesus, things which lead to death.
Genesis 19:26 NLT
But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt.
Lot's wife, looked back, and fell under judgment.
We can not look forward, following the Lord's command, while looking back at the sinful things of earth. To repent of sin, is to do an about face, traveling in a new complete and opposite direction than before.
Instead of running to the mountains, Lot pleaded to go to the village of Zoar. And the angel replied....
21 “All right,” the angel said, “I will grant your request. I will not destroy the little village.
22 But hurry! Escape to it, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.”
Praise the Lord!
We have seen in verses 10, 11, 16, and now in verse 22, judgment of God, cannot come------
judgment of God, cannot come until God's children are removed!
Read that a few more times.
Genesis 19:23-24 NLT
23 Lot reached the village just as the sun was rising over the horizon.
24 Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah.
The little village, was the village of Zoar, the city of refuge.
Dear one, in these last dangerous closing days of time, where, oh where is your place of refuge?
Psalm 9:9 KJV
The LORD also will be a Refuge for the oppressed, a Refuge in times of trouble.
Psalm 46:1 KJV
God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present Help in trouble.
Psalm 46:7 KJV
The LORD of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our Refuge. Selah.
Psalm 57:1 KJV
Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.
Psalm 62:7 KJV
In God is my salvation and my glory: the Rock of my Strength, and my Refuge, is in God.
Psalm 62:8 KJV
Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him: God is a Refuge for us. Selah.
Psalm 91:2 KJV (Be sure to read the whole chapter.)
I will say of the LORD, He is my Refuge and my Fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Psalm 94:22 KJV
But the LORD is my Defense; and my God is the Rock of my Refuge.
Proverbs 14:26 KJV
In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and His children shall have a place of Refuge.
Hebrews 6:18 KJV
That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for Refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Notice that the judgment, came down from heaven, it was “not,” some earthly catastrophe of earth!
This was the judgment of God!
Psalm 140:7-10 KJV
7 O God the Lord, the Strength of my Salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.
8 Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; lest they exalt themselves. Selah.
9 As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.
10 Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again.
Genesis 19:25-29 NLT
25 He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation.
26 But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt.
27 Abraham got up early that morning and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the Lord’s presence.
28 He looked out across the plain toward Sodom and Gomorrah and watched as columns of smoke rose from the cities like smoke from a furnace.
29 But God had listened to Abraham’s request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain.
II Peter 2:6,7 KJV
6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7 And delivered just Lot..."
Intercession, praise the Lord, intercession, had been one reason, Lot and his family had been saved from judgment!
The intercession of uncle Abraham. (Genesis 18:16-33 KJV)
I Timothy 2:1 KJV
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
Are you interceding for someone?
Your family, your pastor and his family, your deacons, your members of your church?
Your city and its officials, of state and government.
Your president, vice president and their cabinet/ government representatives, etc.
Whether we all think the same, or not, we are to pray for one another.
Was this situation of homosexuality one of a kind? No, it was an outcropping of sin, that God dealt with severely, time and time again.
Read of another like situation in the book of Judges chapters 19, and 20.
Is homosexuality beyond forgiveness? Never, it is as other sins, when confessed and forsaken, forgiven.
Proverbs 28:13 KJV
He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
I John 1:8-10 KJV
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
John 3:14-18 KJV
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
The prophet Ezekiel, closes this lesson with a warning from God, to your country and to mine.
Ezekiel 16:49,50 KJV (7 Indictments of sin.)
49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, 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 good.
Salvation Prayer
