Genesis 19:24

The Bible says in Genesis 19:24-25, “Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.” An area of the world that was once green and fruitful became a barren wasteland. It is still a wasteland there in the area of the Dead Sea. This happened because of the sin of man and the judgment of God that comes upon sin. God said that He would destroy those cities, and destroy them He did. Despite how serious God takes the sins of man and how certain is the judgment that comes from a holy God, He graciously created a way to be merciful to sinners: through the blood of Jesus Christ.

The Bible says in Genesis 19:26 concerning Lot’s wife, “But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” God had delivered Lot and his wife from the terrible fate that befell Sodom and Gomorrah, but there are always new temptations and new challenges that will arise. The fact that Lot’s wife “looked back” means that she did not learn anything from the experience of being delivered from the sinfullness of the world. By looking back she also demonstrated that her heart was still with Sodom and Gomorrah. When we go the Lord’s way we must jump in with both feet, and be totally committed to His will. We cannot be half-hearted about serving Him. Jesus said in Luke 16:13, “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” The Bible says in First John 2:15, ”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.” And Jesus said to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:4-5, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”

The Bible says in Genesis 19:27-29, “And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.” These verses are a review of the main details of what exactly happened when Lot was delivered from Sodom and Gomorrah. First we see in verse 27 that Abraham “stood before the Lord.” Abraham had a close relationship with the Lord. He talked with the Lord as a man would talk with his friend. It says in James 2:23 of Abraham, “he was called the friend of God.” The reason that God delivered Lot is because “God remembered Abraham.” If you know the Lord Jesus Christ and walk with Him, do not underestimate the power of your prayers. The great all-powerful God answers prayer. The Bible says in James 5:16, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

There is one more incident that shows the terrible influence of Sodom and Gomorrah on Lot’s family. It says in Genesis 19:30-38, “And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our Father. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.” Notice the rationale used by these two young women to attempt to justify incest. They said in verse 34, “that we may preserve seed of our father.” That is another way in which our society is similar to that of Sodom and Gomorrah: human beings trying to justify iniquity. We live in a day in which many people prefer to compromise with unrighteousness, wickedness, and sinfulness, and when people join in with unrighteousness instead of following the Lord. They foolishly think they can justify their sinful actions. Of course, no matter how much humans try to justify their sins, they will not take away the negative consequences that will result from those sins. For example, one of the negative results caused by the sins of Lot’s daughters is that the children who were born from their acts of incest became the Moabites and the Ammonites. The Moabites and the Ammonites were the enemies of Israel throughout much of the Old Testament.

The Bible says in Genesis 20:1-6, “And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife. But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.” Once again we are shown that Abraham was not perfect. No believer is perfect. Every believer still has faults and sins. Every day we rely upon the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Genesis we find that God protected Abraham, God guided Abraham, and God showed mercy when Abraham made mistakes. “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He leadeth me….” God is faithful to us even when we are not faithful to Him. The Bible says in Second Timothy 2:13, “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”

The Lord said to Abimelech in Genesis 20:6, “for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.” Abraham is the central figure in this story, but God was dealing with Abimelech also. Of course, the Lord deals with every person in the world. We are told the details of only a few individuals in the Bible, but everyone has a story: a story about their journey through this world and what God did to work in their life. Not talking about or honoring God, the creator of all life is one of the many shortcomings of Hollywood and the stories they tell in their movies. Any story of someone’s life is incomplete when it leaves out the spiritual aspect of God’s working in that life and when it leaves out that person’s response to God. In many ways the fanciful stories that Hollywood tells are not true because the stories often leave out this most important detail of human life.

God wanted to lead Abimelech away from sin. God wants to do that for all of us, and He will do that. It says in First Corinthians 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” Whenever we sin, it is our fault. There is no excuse. There is always a way to escape temptation, but often people just do not trust in the Lord to help them and thus don’t look to Him for the way to escape. Jesus said, “Seek and ye shall find.” That applies to getting help for many situations, including escaping from temptation.

The Bible says in Genesis 20:7-18, “Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine. Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid. Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake. And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother. And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved. So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.”

Once you become a believer in Jesus Christ and walk in fellowship with Him, God will you protect you in every situation. God will fight your battles. He will touch the heart of your enemy so that things work out just the way that God wants them to work out for you. That is what God did with Abimelech. God made sure that Abimelech did not harm Abraham or Sarah in spite of the fact that once again Abraham did not demonstrate the greatest of faith. Abraham made things worse by his fears and lack of trusting God. But God was merciful to Abraham, and Abraham even learned from his weaknesses and failures.

Notice that Abraham prayed for Abimelech. It says in Genesis 20:17, “So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife.” Of course, Jesus told us to pray for others, even those who are our worse enemies. Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-48, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

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