God's Grace

In Genesis 19:1-11, the story shifts to the two angels' arrival in Sodom. Lot greeted them at the gate, offering overnight accommodations in his own home. His strong urgings (19:3) indicate Lot knew what awaited the angels if they spent the night in the city square. The subsequent events bear this out. The men of Sodom surrounded Lot's house and demanded to have sex with the two angels (19:5). When the men of Sodom tried to force their intentions, the two visitors pulled Lot into the safety of his home and blinded the would-be perpetrators. This brief episode foreshadowed the foreboding things to come.

V. 12: Then the angels said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here: a son-in-law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of this place...”

In the midst of impending judgment, God demonstrated His unmerited grace. The angels were the two who had previously visited Abraham. The word angels (HCSB) is an interpretation of the Hebrew word for “men” (KJV, ESV, NIV). Either rendering is acceptable, these “men” were messengers from God.

The angels' question to Lot was a reminder that God would spare the righteous. Included in the list of possible righteous people were Lot's son-in-law, sons, daughters, and anyone who belonged to him. In His grace, God had instructed His messengers to evacuate Lot's family before judgment came to Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet Lot's family had no time to spare, the time for judgment had arrived. The phrase “anyone else in the city who belongs to you” extended God's preserving grace to any righteous associates of Lot, perhaps friends and servants.

The message began with a terse command: Get them out of this place. The imperative form of the verb indicates Lot was charged with the task of making sure his family, friends, and servants left Sodom before judgment fell. The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah had been verified through the actions of the men of Sodom (19:1-11). Judgment was on the way. The angels' inclusive form of questioning whether Lot had anyone else (used twice) depicted the thoroughness of their effort to spare every righteous person.

V. 13, “for we are about to destroy this place because the outcry against its people is so great before the Lord, that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

Sodom's doom, and by extension Gomorrah's was imminent. The angels declared, “We are about to destroy this place.” The angels would be agents of death and devastation. The emphasis on this place focused God's wrath on two particular cities. Thus divine retribution was experienced in human history. Sodom and Gomorrah were to be wiped out.

God's judgment was deserved because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah was great “before the Lord.” The phrase, “before the Lord” is important. Abraham had stood “before the Lord” to intercede (18:22). Now the outcry against Sodom had come “before the Lord,” inviting His judgment.

God always judges sin. He judged the sins of Adam and Eve (Gen. 3), Cain (Gen. 4), Noah's generation (Gen. 6-9), and the people of Babel (Gen. 11). In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, the outcry against their sin had become so great as to invite judgment. Sin is wrong even if seemingly isolated and insignificant. However, the emphasis here is that the sin of Sodom was not small and insignificant, but rather it had grown to the point that it could no longer remain un-judged.

The angels proclaimed to Lot, “The Lord sent us to destroy it.” All earlier allegations against Sodom's citizens had been proven true. The agents of investigation became the agents of destruction.

V. 14,  So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were going to marry his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

Lot was not unaware of sin's grave consequences, but his hurried reaction indicates the day of reckoning took him by surprise. He “went out and spoke to his sons-in-law.” (Note the plural, sons-in-law, here specifically indicating both Lot's daughters were engaged to be married, whereas the singular, “son-in-law,” in 19;12 was used as a general classification.)

The notice that Lot's sons-in-law were going to marry his daughters addresses the inconvenient truth that the Lord's timing is not determined by people's calendars. The Lord poured out His judgment once repentance was no longer a possibility because of the spiritual insensitivity of Sodom's people.

Lot's commands appear one after the other in the Hebrew text: Get up..Get out. Their juxtaposition added grit to Lot's instruction. The appearance of the phrase “this place” for the third time in three verses marked Sodom as a doomed city. Lot stated the reason for this urgency: The Lord is about to destroy the city! The Hebrew verb rendered destroy is the same word as found in the previous verse in reference to the angels' mission. A righteous God was about to judge an unrighteous city. His judgment would be administered and executed by His angels.

Lot's sons-in-law had a radically different response than Abraham or Lot had when they learned of Sodom's certain ruination. Abraham felt compelled to intercede for his family and other righteous people (18:23-32). Lot felt compelled to obey the angels' command to warn his family and any associates to exit the city (19:14). Yet, when Lot warned his sons-in-law, they thought he was joking. Their inability to detect the seriousness of Lot's commands was indicative of their spiritual insensitivity.

V. 16, At daybreak the angels urged Lot on: “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” 

The dawning of a new day often symbolizes new hopes and new opportunities. But not for Sodom. At daybreak, the angels urged Lot on. The Hebrew verb means “to hasten”; there was no time to spare. The angels used double imperatives-Get up! Take-to move Lot along. He was to take his wife and daughters. The phrase “who are here” renders a Hebrew participle meaning “the ones being found.” No other relatives, not even the sons-in-law Lot had warned, had come to his house to flee Sodom's destruction.

The hastening tone of the angels' commands to Lot and his family were an act of grace. If Lot and his family tarried any longer, they would be swept away in the punishment of the city. God's judgment would be like a flood sweeping through Sodom and overflowing in Gomorrah. The Hebrew word translated punishment derives from one of the most common words for sin in the Old Testament. The term can refer to the iniquity itself, the guilt resulting from committing the iniquity, or to the punishment produced by the iniquity. To stay in Sodom was tantamount to choosing Sodom's unrighteousness and sharing in the city's judgment.

V. 16, “But he hesitated. Because of the Lord’s compassion for him, the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters. Then they brought him out and left him outside the city”

Lot's response seems unthinkable, he hesitated. Why? Did he hope his sons-in-law would appear at his door ready to evacuate? Did he have lingering doubts as to the angels' message of imminent judgment? Did his wife or daughters express doubts? Perhaps his thought processes were too confused to make wise choices at this point; possibly he was paralyzed by panic.

In any case, Lot, his wife, and daughters had to be grabbed by the hands and brought out of Sodom. God's agents of judgment against Sodom and Gomorrah were also agents of salvation for Lot and his family. Abraham's intercession had stopped with the request to spare the city if 10 righteous people could be found. The city was not spared and only four people escaped, until Lot's wife cast a longing glance back toward Sodom (19:26).

Why were Lot and his family spared when the rest of Sodom's citizens died in judgment? Was it because he was a righteous man (see 2 Pet. 2:7)? Though he was far from perfect, he was still under Abraham's blessing. Probably the best answer, however, is that Lot's family was spared because of the Lord's compassion for him. The Hebrew term rendered compassion appears only three times in the Old Testament-here, Isaiah 63:9, and Ezekiel 16:5. All of these texts emphasize life as the result of the Lord's compassion. Even in the face of executing judgment, God offered grace to Lot and his family.

In summary, sin brings judgment on those who continue to rebel against God. God listens to the prayers of His people, allowing them to ask about His plans. Being consistent with His character, God extends grace even in the midst of judgment.

Applying the Scriptures:

Having studied the themes of sin, judgment, and grace, would you say you do an adequate job of interceding on behalf of others as Abraham did? What measures could your church take to pray for God to change sinners' hearts?