the men of the city

the men of sodom

both young and old

all the people

to the last man

surrounded the house

Not just some. Not just a little bit of sin. No isolated incidents. Sodom was full to the brim with wickedness. Overflowing. Young and old. All the people. Sexual sin.

Not a lack of hospitality. Sexual sin. As a writer, as a lover of God’s Word, as a Christian, I cannot talk about Genesis 19 and gloss over the sin of Sodom. It was sexual sin in the form of homosexuality. 

But I don’t want that to be the whole point. I don’t want to just stare at the sin of chapter 19. That’s not why I’m here.

I want to stand on a hill and watch what is actually happening for just a moment.

“Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.”

I’m a little in awe of the God that holds that kind of power. This God is real, and He has the power to rain down fire on a wicked city, anytime He feels like it.

He also has the love to come down from heaven and die on a cross so that our wickedness will not keep us separated from Him.

He is kind and He is fiery. There is no end to His love, but there will be a stopping point to His grace. He is all powerful and we should look upon Him with fear and awe. He is all loving and we should look upon Him with deep, overflowing gratitude for the price He paid for our sins. 

He is not one or the other. He is not fierce without love. He is not love without a fierce hatred for sin.

He is not just full of grace, He is full of power.

Mountains melt like wax before Him. All of creation obeys His will, except one. Only mankind stands in defiance to this great, powerful, fire raining God who loves us. We are the only ones who shake our fists, refuse to acknowledge Him and have no awe of His power. We are the only ones who look upon Him who was crucified, and refuse to let go of our sin.

We remember that He is love and forget that He is fire.

That’s what I saw when I stood on a hill and watched Chapter Nineteen.