SURPASSING SODOM

“The punishment of my dear people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant without a hand laid on it.” (Lamentations 4:6 HCSB)

Sodom is a name synonymous with excessive sin that was practiced by its residents and an extreme sentence that was passed on them. Yet, the wickedness of Jerusalem and the wrath of Yahweh resulting was even worse!

We are judged according to the amount of light we have. The more we know, the more responsible we are. Jesus echoed Jeremiah’s words:

“Then He proceeded to denounce the towns where most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent: ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago! But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until today.

But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.’" (Matthew 11:20-24)

I recall reading a book by Leonard Ravenhill years ago called, “Sodom Had No Bibles.” In its pages, he made the point that those wicked people who dwelt in Sodom didn’t have the Scriptures as we do. They had no churches. There was only one preacher and he was a backslider named Lot. Still, the city and its inhabitants were incinerated because of their iniquity. It was total—but it was quick. The fire fell and so did the city. That message by a prophet to our generation has haunted me ever since. What about America? How will God judge us?

Jerusalem is a solemn signpost. The people had received the Word of God in a clear and comprehensive manner. The House of God held the prominent place in the city. Men of God had preached—prophet after prophet sent to call them to repentance. Yet, they treated them with disdain. It had been Jeremiah’s experience. He recalls some of that rejection:

“You defend my cause, Lord; You redeem my life. Lord, You see the wrong done to me; judge my case. You see all their malice, all their plots against me.

Lord, You hear their insults, all their plots against me. The slander and murmuring of my opponents attack me all day long. When they sit and when they rise, look, I am mocked by their songs.

You will pay them back what they deserve, Lord, according to the work of their hands. You will give them a heart filled with anguish. May Your curse be on them! You will pursue [them] in anger and destroy them under Your heavens.” (Lamentations 3:58-66)

Because of the gracious opportunity they had, the accountability the Jews had was greater, and thus the gravity of their sins was more grave and severity of their punishment befitting.

If you are seated on death row, you do no look forward to execution. However, if it is swift, it is not as bad as it would be if prolonged. Sodom was “here today, gone tomorrow” tuned to ashes overnight.

That was not the case with Jerusalem. They slowly starved to death. Besieged by the enemy, it was a torturous end.

“Those slain by the sword are better off than those slain by hunger, who waste away, pierced [with pain] because the fields lack produce.

The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children; they became their food during the destruction of my dear people.

The Lord has exhausted His wrath, poured out His burning anger; He has ignited a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.” (Lamentations 4:9-11)

They thought that the city could not fall. In their pride, they believed that things would turn around—a new ruler, an economic recovery, they would soon be singing, “Happy Days Are Here Again.”

“The kings of the earth and all the world's inhabitants did not believe that an enemy or adversary could enter Jerusalem's gates. [Yet it happened] because of the sins of her prophets and the guilt of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous within her.” (Lamentations 4:12-13)

They had degenerated to the point where those who should have been calling them to fall on their knees in humility were preaching for them to stiffen their necks in haughtiness. The priests and prophets who ought to have been shining lights were leading the people into darkness—blind guides of the blind.

“Blind, they stumbled in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments.” (Lamentations 4:14)

That is what is heard more and more from America’s pulpits today. Happy boys give people a pat on the back on their way to hell. The call to repentance has been forgotten. A message of judgment and warning of the end of the age has been shelved. Words like “sin” and “holiness” are no longer found in the vocabulary of many “Christians.” Hell is taboo. The cross has been removed from the sanctuary and steeple, and the references to the blood banned from the hymnbook—all too offensive to contemporary culture.

A few lone voices cry out like John the Baptist in the wilderness, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!" (Matthew 3:2). The reaction of the audience has changed over the last decade from a hand covering a yawn in apathy, to fingers stuck in the ears in mockery, and increasingly to a fist raised in hostility.

How much longer can this go on?

I remember some occasions of showing up at school unprepared for the test that was placed on my desk. The teacher had given an assignment. There were pages in the textbook to read. A warning of a coming test was given. But, I had rather play and goof around. I would study later. Suddenly, I was staring at a test, with a blank look on my face that matched the empty space between my ears. “You’ve got thirty minutes!” she said. The hands of the clock began to move toward the inevitable deadline. All too soon, the teacher said, “Time’s up! Turn in your papers.” It might be a few days before I got mine back, but I knew what was coming, marked up with red ink—a big “F” on the paper. F is for failure. Usually, there was an addendum in the teacher’s handwriting, “You are capable of better work than this.”

There is a day for the final exam. We must be prepared. There will be no retaking the test. Failure will be fatal. The Teacher has given the warning. Yet, as we look about us, few seem to take it seriously.

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man: People went on eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah boarded the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It will be the same as it was in the days of Lot: People went on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building. But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed.” (Luke 17:26-30)

In America, God expects better of us. We have Bibles by the millions. We have myriads of churches and multitudes of preachers. The Gospel is proclaimed twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, year after year. It is accessible in our cars, our homes, everywhere and is delivered in a plethora of ways—radio, TV, CD, MP3, podcast, print, and so forth.

Like ancient Jerusalem, when judgment comes to America, it will surpass that of Sodom—and none can say God would be unjust to do so, with the darkness we have chosen despite the light we have been given.

“Why should [any] living person complain, [any] man, because of the punishment for his sins?” (Lamentations 3:39) We cannot say that we have not been warned.