GOD Announces The Coming Destruction Of Sodom And Gomorrah

   January 18, 2020
GOD ANNOUNCES THE COMING DESTRUCTION OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH

Up to this point, the Lord has not revealed to Abraham what He is going to do with Sodom and Gomorrah.

Genesis 18:17-33 KJV

[17] And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

[18] Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

[19] For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

[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.

[22] And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.

[23] And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

[24] Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

[25] That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

[26] And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

[27] And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:

[28] Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.

[29] And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty’s sake.

[30] And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

[31] And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.

[32] And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.

[33] And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.

Genesis 18:17

And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

  • The Lord is going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.
  • Notice now the reason that God is not going to hide it from Abraham.

Genesis 18:18

Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

  • Abraham is going to have a tremendous influence. He is going to influence multitudes of people, including the succeeding generations.
  • That is true right now today. As you read this information, Abraham is influencing us—we cannot avoid it.

Genesis 18:19

For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

  • God says, “I’d better not hide it from Abraham because he will get a wrong impression of Me.”
  • Notice by the way, that this man Abraham had discipline in his household.

Genesis 18:20

And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;

  • It is a good thing that God told Abraham He was going to destroy these cities, because otherwise Abraham would have gotten a wrong impression of God.
  • He would have thought that God was rather dictatorial and vindictive and that He was One who apparently showed no mercy for or consideration of those who were His.
  • Abraham would really have had a distorted and warped view of God, and so God lets him know what He is going to do.

Genesis 18:21

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.

  • In other words, God is saying to Abraham, “I know the situation there, but I’m going down to investigate.” God never does anything hurriedly or hastily.
  • Abraham now has time to turn this over in his mind. It is also a good thing that God told him because he did have a wrong idea of God and of Sodom and Gomorrah—he was wrong about many things.
  • This is one of the reasons that God is telling us as much as He is.
  • There are a lot of things that He does not tell us, but He has told us enough so that though a man be a fool and a wayfaring man, he needn’t err therein.

Genesis 18:22

And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.

  • Abraham is now waiting before the Lord.

Genesis 18:23

And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

  • What is the first thing that enters Abraham’s mind?
  • The first thing that enters his mind, of course, is Lot. He had rescued Lot once, and now Lot is again in danger down there.
  • I think that Abraham had wondered many times about Lot and his relationship to God, but at least he believes that Lot is a saved man.
  • He is asking God, “What about the righteous?” I believe that Abraham would have told you that he thought there were many people in the city of Sodom who were saved.
  • He could not understand why God would destroy the righteous with the wicked. What a picture we have here!

Genesis 18:24

Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

Abraham begins with fifty. He says to the Lord, “Lord, suppose there are fifty righteous down there in Sodom. Would You destroy the city if there were fifty righteous?”

Genesis 18:25

That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

  • That is still a question that many people ask: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
  • And there is an answer to it. The rest of the Bible testifies to the fact that the Judge of all the earth always does right.
  • Whatever God does is right, and if you don’t think He is right, the trouble is not with God, but the trouble is with you and your thinking.
  • You are thinking wrong; you do not have all the facts; you do not know all of the details.
  • If you did, you would know that the Judge of all the earth does right. We are wrong; He is right.

Genesis 18:26

And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

  • And Abraham thinks this over.

Genesis 18:27

And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:

 

Genesis 18:28

Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.

  • In other words, Abraham says, “If there are forty-five righteous left, would You destroy the city for forty-five?” And God tells him, “If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.”

Genesis 18:29

And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty’s sake.

  • This makes the man a little bit bolder, and he says to the Lord, “Suppose there are forty?”
  • The very interesting thing is that God says, “I will not destroy it for forty” And Abraham keeps on bringing the number down.

Genesis 18:30

And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

  • He says, “How about thirty?” God says, “If there are thirty there, I still won’t do it.”

Genesis 18:31

And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.

  • Abraham says, “Suppose there are twenty there?” God says, “I’ll not destroy it.”

Genesis 18:32

And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.

  • Abraham is overwhelmed now, and he takes another plunge: “Suppose there are ten righteous there. Would You destroy it if there are ten?”
  • And God says, “If there are ten righteous in the city, I will not destroy it”

Genesis 18:33

And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.

  • Now the question arises: Why didn’t Abraham come on down below ten?
  • I’ll tell you why: At this point he is afraid that Lot is lost, and this disturbs him a great deal; so he is not going to come down any further.
  • But he could have come down to one. He could have said, “Lord, if there is one in that city who is righteous, would You destroy the city?”
  • Do you know what God would have said?
  • He would have said, “If there is one who is righteous in that city, I am going to get him out of that city, because I would not destroy a righteous man with the city.”
  • How do I know that is the way it would have been?
  • Because that is the way it worked out.

There was one righteous man there—Abraham didn’t believe it, but God knew him—and that one was Lot. God said to Lot, “Get out of the city. I cannot destroy it until you are out.”

Do you know that the Great Tribulation period cannot come as long as the church is in the world?

It just cannot come, my friend, because Christ bore our judgment, and the Great Tribulation is part of the judgment that is coming. This is the reason that the church cannot go through it.

This is a glorious picture of that truth. We are going to see that Sodom and Gomorrah are a picture of the world—and what a picture!

What a condition the world is in today—it is very much like Sodom and Gomorrah.

That does not mean that the Lord is going to come tomorrow. I do not know—and no one else knows—when He will come. But He could come tomorrow, and it certainly would be in keeping with the carrying out of the picture which is before us here in Genesis.

I hope that you have really enjoyed this post,

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