This lesson is compatible with the "Abraham & Isaac" Flash-A-Cards from Abeka Books.
Scripture References: Genesis 19:1-29; Ezequiel 16: 48-50
"Lot, if you have someone you care about in this city, take him and get out of here! God has sent us to destroy Sodom because the cry of the innocent has been very strong, and God will judge it. Get your sons-in-law, sons, daughters, anyone you have in town and go! "
Lot hastened to find his sons-in-law. I believe these are the men who were engaged to marry Lot's daughters. In this time and place, a fiancé could be called a husband, even if they had not yet had the wedding. Lot said: “You have to come with me! God is going to judge Sodom for their sins, and we must get out of here!
The sons-in-law began to laugh. "Hahaha! Lot, what have you been drinking? Are you talking about God now? Listen to Lot! He must have gone to a crazy church, or something. He says God will destroy Sodom because we sinned too much! Hahaha! God has never bothered us before, Lot, why does he bother us now? Is he even real?"
The sons-in-law did not believe Lot. They thought he was joking. How sad that they didn't even seem to know that Lot was a Christian.
Lot went home and slept through the night. At dawn the angels said, “Get up, Lot! Take your wife and two daughters with you and go. Go before you are destroyed with the rest of the city. "
Lot must have been thinking about everything that was leaving. He had such a nice house. He was an important man and he was important enough to sit at the gates of the city and make decisions about the city. He also had a lot of money. He must have regretted leaving, because the Bible says that instead of running out of his house as fast as he could, to escape judgment, he was still waiting there. The angels had to grab his hand, his wife's hand, and his daughters' hands to get them out of the city! God was being merciful to Lot. Lot was still disobeying, but God was good and kind in causing his angels to lead him away from judgment. He also cared for them because of Abraham's prayer. God is very patient with us. But as we see, God cannot be patient forever. He must judge sin, or he would not be a good God.
The angels told Lot "Escape for your lives! Do not look behind you or stay anywhere on this plain. Go to the mountains, to be safe from destruction."
Lot STILL had trouble obeying!
He said: "Oh no! Please gentlemen, you have been merciful to me, but I can't go to the mountains because something bad could happen to me and I will die! Let me go to that nearby little town called Zoar. It's just a little town!"
He was worried that something bad MAY happen in the mountains, but something bad was DEFINITELY going to happen in the surrounding cities.
God was once again merciful. The angel said, “I will show mercy again and let you go there. I will not destroy that city for your sake. Hurry, because there is nothing I can do until you are safe there. "
Lot and his family rushed to the nearby town of Zoar. Along the way, Lot's wife must have been thinking about everything she left behind in Sodom. She had one of the prettiest houses in her neighborhood! She had also become important in the city. I imagine she started whispering to Lot "This is crazy. How can we drop everything we have? What? Are we going to start over? We have nothing! We have no home, no herds, no wagons ...We won't be important in Zoar. Nobody knows us. I can't do this. I'm going back home ... "
Lot and his daughters must have tried to get her to stay with them, but nothing they said would change her mind. She turned and headed for Sodom. When she did this, God judged her by making her into a statue of salt! She never made it back home alive. So, Lot and their two daughters sadly went ahead without her, and when they entered Zoar's gate, God began His judgment of the cities in the plains.
Lot and her two daughters heard a loud thunderous sound. And then another "boom", and another. I imagine the ground began to shake from the force of the explosions. Smoke began to rise from the area. It was as if rockets and grenades were exploding all over the city. But they had no rockets or grenades at that point in history. It was a work of God. He was sending fire and great rocks of sulfur from the sky. When sulfur rocks catch fire, they create smoke that is very poisonous to breathe. Sulfur dust, and dust from the impact of the falling rocks, began to cover all surfaces. The ashes from the fires also began to swirl. People were immediately covered with sulfur dust, earth dust and ashes from the fires.
The destruction was all over Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other cities in the plain. Zoar was safe, but there must have been a panic in the city. Runs! We are going to die! " Someone shouted. "Calm down! We are safe! God will protect us!" Lot yelled, but no one paid any attention to him.
Abraham got up that morning in the tent away from him and walked outside thinking about Lot. He wondered if he was safe. Abraham looked across the land and saw smoke covering a large area where the plain used to be. It looked like a giant furnace with smoke reaching into the clouds. You could probably even smell the sulfur from far away. Do you know what sulfur smells like? Rotten eggs!
I'm sure Lot and his daughters could smell it because they were close. They heard the screams of people far away, and then the burning sounds of buildings and trees. It looked like what we see when there is a war. Buildings falling everywhere and smoke in the air.
God was judging the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other cities. God takes sin very seriously. He is perfect and cannot sin. He cannot be near sin. And the people had sinned very, very wickedly. God knew if he didn't judge it, it would only get worse. Some people think that over time, people can grow to be better and do fewer bad things. They just need time to improve. They can do it on their own, or perhaps with support groups. But the Bible tells us that no one can improve themselves. We need God to forgive us of our sins. That is why Jesus died on the cross. After accepting Jesus, we need the Holy Spirit to change our hearts. We cannot do it ourselves. We cannot follow many rules and automatically be good Christians. (Although rules are not bad.) But the Holy Spirit lives in all who accept Jesus, and He is the one who changes our hearts. He reminds us that when we are doing something wrong, we should not do that. He tells us that we must be nice to others. He uses the Bible to teach us how to be more and more like Jesus. This is what God wants. He wants the Holy Spirit to change us so that we are more loving like Jesus, so that when other people see the change in us, they want to know about HIM.
Then we can tell others about the wonderful forgiveness we have through Jesus!
Let us pray and thank God for sending the Holy Spirit to those who accept Jesus. Let us ask for God's help to listen to the teachings of the Holy Spirit so that we can be more loving like Jesus.