Genesis 19:1-11

The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth, and he said, “See now, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early, and go on your way.”

They said, “No, but we will stay in the street all night.”

He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. They called to Lot, and said to him, “Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them.”

Lot went out to them to the door, and shut the door after him. He said, “Please, my brothers, don’t act so wickedly. See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don’t do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof.”

They said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now will we deal worse with you, than with them!” They pressed hard on the man Lot, and drew near to break the door. But the men reached out their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

It is quite likely that the sins of Sodom had gradually grown over time around Lot in such a way that he had learned how to live around the sin. It is clear to me, however, that Sodom had had an effect on Lot. Notice that the time for negotiation was over from the angels’ perspective. They didn’t say a thing to the men. Lot, however, asked them: “Please, my brothers, don’t act so wickedly.” It seems to me that a gun would have been a much better idea at this point.

God, on the other hand, decided to give Sodom a simple test. The angels wanted to spend the night out on the street. Lot, evidently, knew that that was not a good idea; once again showing that he knew the evil in the city. No matter how hard Lot tried to shield the visitors from the evil, it could not be stopped and was immediately exposed.

Obviously, the visiting angels had nothing to worry about. All they had to do was to strike the men with blindness. Notice that the men didn’t care that they were blind. They were so overtaken in their lust that the groped around for the door. As sin takes over, it rots the mind. No longer do we act like reasoning humans, but we begin to seek out our lusts to the point of self destruction.

I also noticed that the men of Sodom appeared to have the law on their side. Apparently, they forgot that it was this foreigner’s family that saved the entire city from being taken over by another king as we read about earlier. Although it was righteousness and the fear of the God of Abraham that saved Sodom and made it great, they began to convince themselves that the God of Abraham was actually the thing that kept them from what they wanted. They completely lost touch with reality.

All of us are like the men of Sodom before we become Christians. God should have destroyed us but He didn’t. He chose to destroy His Son in our place so that we had an opportunity to be saved from destruction. Those of us who have been saved, need to get out of Sodom. This doesn’t mean that we leave our cities, although that may be necessary, but it does mean that we leave their ways far behind us and allow the Holy Spirit to change our minds and actions. By His power, a Christian can be in the world but not have anything to do with it. We also need to remember that we were not saved by someone telling us to stop lusting, but by the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We can’t convert the world by telling them to stop being sexually immoral. We must show them the way to the cross and God’s Spirit will change their lives.