Abraham & Sodom:
The Mercy of God
Genesis
18-19
Abraham sends
them off (18:16)
• He doesn’t know they are
headed to destroy Sodom
• Angels discuss, then decide to tell Abraham
about Sodom
Abraham is “the friend of
God” (James 2:23; 2 Chr
20:7) and friends let each
other know what they are
doing (Jn 15:15)
Angels investigate firsthand
• Went to Sodom to find out for
themselves
• “Outcry against Sodom” – who
would have been crying out
against Sodom? (Maybe Lot
or his angel or Abraham)
How did the men
go toward Sodom,
but Abraham still
stood before the
Lord? (22)
The Sin of Sodom
Ezekiel 16:49-50
49 "Look, this was the
iniquity of your sister Sodom:
She and her daughter had
pride, fullness of food, and
abundance of idleness; neither did she
strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
50 "And they were haughty and committed
abomination before Me; therefore I took them away
as I saw fit.
Abraham finds out how
merciful our God is
• Abraham & Lot both had big
families – their herdsman fought
do to lack of space (Gen 13)
• Abraham questions from 50 to
10 and probably stops because
he is sure Lot must have at least
10 believers with him
Gen 19: Angels
check out Sodom
and rescue Lot
• 2 angels came to Sodom
• Lot was sitting in the gate
• Lot imposes on them to spend the night in his
house
• Lot makes a meal for them (no mention of his
wife – cp 18:6 for Sarah’s involvement)
• The men of Sodom, young and old, surround
Lot’s house and want the 2 strangers
Lot protects
the strangers
• Walks out and shuts the
door behind him
• Offers his 2 daughters
to the men – maybe Lot
thought his daughters belonged to Sodom
• Lot feels responsible to protect the 2 strangers
• Men of Sodom are tired of Lot’s involvement in
their actions – acting like a judge
Angels to the Rescue
• Pulled lot back into the house
with their hands
• Strike men of Sodom blind –
trying to reach Lot’s family
• Told Lot about their mission to
destroy Sodom
• Give Lot a chance to gather his
family
– Sons-in-law thought it was a joke
– Lot’s wife didn’t really want to leave
– Daughters came along because of Lot
– Lot himself “lingered” until the morning
• Angels urged Lot to hurry lest he be destroyed too
Decision Time!
• Lot’s family had to decide:
pleasures of sin for a season
OR God’s family forever
• God puts that choice before
us too
• Alcohol, sexual immorality, language, career,
treatment of parents & children & spouse,
unforgiving, proud, lovers of pleasure rather than
lovers of God
What’s your choice when you go home???
Our God is merciful
• Agreed to spare the city for 10
righteous
• Came to rescue Lot & his family
• Angels went to Lot’s house at his insistence
• Pulled Lot into the house
• Gave Lot an opportunity to reach his family
• Waited all night for Lot to get ready
• Took Lot, his wife, his daughters by the hand to
lead them out of Sodom (16) by God’s grace
• Let Lot go to Zoar at his request
Don’t presume on his mercy
or take advantage of it
Escape for your life!
• Angels didn’t do it all – they just
brought Lot’s family out of the city
• Told them not to look back
• Don’t just stay in the plain – escape
to the mountains (whole plain might
be destroyed)
• Lot is afraid of the mountains and
requests safety in the little city Zoar –
angels comply
• Sun rises as Lot gets to Zoar – then
Sodom is destroyed
• Lot now knows they are angels and calls
them “Yahweh” (v.18), but Sopherim
changed it to Adoni as in 18:3,27,30,32
Zoar •
Lot’s Wife looks back
• No mention of her before Lot’s move to
Sodom – she may have lived there
• Started to leave, but had too many
connections she cared about in Sodom
• Salt is a preservative – maybe God tried to
preserve his wife’s error in Lot’s family
And truly if they had called to mind
that country from which they had come
out, they would have had opportunity to
return. But now they desire a better,
that is, a heavenly country. Therefore
God is not ashamed to be called their
God, for He has prepared a city for
them. (Heb 11:15-16)
Leave this world’s evil
& don’t look back!
• We lose our focus moving forward when
we look back
• Looking back indicates where our heart
really is
• Members of God’s family
really do hate the evil of this
world and will rejoice when
it is destroyed
• We can’t help save others
when we are looking back
ourselves
God
Remembered
Abraham
• Abraham looked early in the morning
• God sent Lot out of Sodom for Abraham’s sake!
• Maybe Abraham had been praying that God
would somehow save Lot
Lot retreats to
a cave
• Afraid to live in Zoar after
the destruction of Sodom
and loosing his wife
• Decided isolation was the best thing now
• Lot is probably depressed
• His daughters learned how to get pregnant in
Sodom
• Moabites & Ammonites constantly bothered
Abraham’s descendents through history
Consequences of
Lot’s choices
• Lot was a righteous man, bothered
by the sins of Sodom (2 Peter 2:7-8)
• Lot became cut off from Abraham
(spiritual leader)
• Lot probably married a woman of Sodom
• Lot lost all his herdsman and his family, but God
can still save him
• Lot’s descendents bothered God’s people
What kind of choices will you make
during the next year? Are the pleasures
of this world really worth the cost?