Saturday, October 31, 2020

There is an end to God's Mercy

 Read Genesis 19. 

The two angels who visited Abraham were on a mission to see firsthand if the evil in the valley had reached its end.  When they arrived, their wickedness proved pervasive "to the last man" (19:4).  The area became totally committed to the most heinous behaviors imaginable and God's mercy for these unrepentant rebels had reached its end. 

Lot was far from perfect but he was a "righteous" man (2 Peter 2:7) and these angels had come to rescue him and his family.  The preannounced judgment of God was absolutely certain.  However, the responses to God's coming wrath produced differing results.

1. The sons-in-law laughed (v.14).  When Lot tried to persuade his extended family to immediately leave with him, they considered God's word to be a joke. 

2. Lot lingered (v.16).  The command was to leave immediately, but Lot hesitated to obey.  Perhaps, he realized he would lose some of his family members, his home, and all his belonging which were significant.  He had so many possessions in herds and servants that he had to separate from Abraham in chapter 13.  His heart was tied to temporal things.  

3. Lot's wife longed to go back.

The command was "Do not look back."  She deliberately disobeyed.  Her "look" was more than a curious glimpse (v.26).  The Hebrew word has to do with intently looking with pleasure. Though the environment was irredeemable, she already missed living there.  Her heart was not right with God as was her husband's.  She paid for it with her life.  

The Word of God could not be more clear on the subject of homosexuality.  To this day such behavior is legally referred to as Sodomy.   

The two angels had to physically grab these four and pull them out of Sodom to a new place.  Note verse 22.  The angel stated, "I can do nothing till you arrive there."  God's wrath is never intended for His own.  As 2 Peter 2 underscores, each time God always provides a way to escape His wrath.  This is consistent with the rest of scripture, including the judgments in Revelation. 

The coming earthly and eternal judgments are just as sure.  The responses to God's word concerning these announcements are the same as it was in Genesis.  But God has already provided a singular way of escape.  "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." (John 3:36) 

 

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