Genesis 19:1-22 (ESV)

The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door. Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting. As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

Boy, oh boy, sometimes the stories in the Bible can get pretty tricky for us to accept living in the times we live in today. So how should we read this text?

Well, there are a couple of things that we need to notice. Firstly, is that this tale also starts with a very similar kind of hospitality offer in Lot as Abraham had. It opens with Lot urging hospitality. He is inviting these people into his home. And this really echoes what happened for Abraham back in chapter 18.

But the context is now different. We see how Lot urges these men quickly to come into his house. Why? Because he knows the people that are living around him are this kind of predatory mob that want to despoil these visitors. And this contrast shows us a city whose corruption has reached terminal velocity. There's a whole city where everyone seems to have become corrupted by what's happening immorally within the city.

And shockingly, we see that that has also started to affect Lot. So Lot shields his guests from this predatory mob. But what does he do? He goes ahead and offers his own daughters instead of these men for them to know, basically to have sex with and rape as part of an appeasement offering to this mob.

Now we have to recognize that scripture here is not endorsing this offer of Lot. Just because something is in the Bible does not mean that the Bible is saying this is a good thing. And we need to recognize that that's part of scripture is that it will describe things that are sometimes terrible. And in fact, later on in the story, if you continue the story of Israel, you will read in the book of Judges that this almost exact same scene plays out again in the nation of Israel who had become wicked and corrupt. And that a very similar story takes place. And you can read that in Judges 18 and 19.

So scripture here is not endorsing Lot's offer of his daughters to these men of the city to appease them. Rather, what's happening here is, scripture here in this story is exposing how living near and immersed in this culture of wickedness warps our judgment. Even the righteous Lot—you know, Lot was called righteous in 2 Peter 2 verse 7—we see that the righteous Lot here has had his mind shaded, confused by the city that he chose to live in.

Now given that that is the case, we need to recognize that this rescue by these angels is sheer grace on God's side. They did not need to rescue Lot. Lot had already disqualified himself through this warped judgment. The angels pull him aside. They strike the attackers blind. They finally seize Lot and almost force him out of the city. And the text again points us to the fact that deliverance comes to Lot because the Lord was merciful, and the Lord was merciful enough to almost force Lot to leave the city. It's not because Lot was an impressive man, but it was because God was gracious.

What Should We Learn from This Passage?

Well, the first thing I think we need to learn is that sin infects like a parasite. It is a social thing. We should recognize that Sodom's evil here is not a private thing that happens to individual citizens within the city. There is a communal appetite here that is seeking to devour those that are vulnerable. So much of our culture today looks a lot like this. There is this culture of exploitation, whether it is sexual or economic or digital, it shows this same kind of pattern. Sin in this case is communal and it's systemic and it's right throughout the city. And so it is in our culture today. And our place as Christians within the church, within the covenant people of God, is to actually stand against these evils and to work to the best of our ability to bring about God's morality in the world.

The second thing I think this passage highlights is that when we live in a culture that is like that, it can also infect us as covenant people. It can infect us as people who are, like Lot, described as righteous in Scripture. Lot lingers, even though judgment is on the door. He's ultimately almost forced by these angels to leave the city. And I think we too can be a bit like that. We like to toy with destructive habits. We like to, you know, kind of play with sin, thinking that it's not really going to be a serious issue. But Genesis 19 here reminds us that when God says flee, we should really flee. Is that something that characterizes your own spiritual life where you resist and flee from sin?

Finally, I think this passage helps us because it shows us that even when we are compromised, God is still gracious. Our compromise, the sin of our compromise to the culture is still covered by the grace of Christ when he dies for us on the cross. God is able, yes, to even drag us out of the muck and mire that we've created for ourselves. And he still calls us his own. He does so not through these two angels that show up and pull us out, but through the ultimate greater deliverer. These two angels are ultimately going to come and bring fire and destruction on the city. But Jesus enters the fire on our behalf and he takes the judgment on our behalf to pull us out forever and out of God's wrath.

Dear Father, we pray that you will expose in us the Sodom-like corners of our own hearts and our own cultures. Forgive us when we like to toy with sin that you call us to leave behind. We pray that you will take us by the hand and lead us out. Thank you for Christ Jesus, our righteous one, who entered into the flames so that we could escape. In his name we pray. Amen.