f the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of us, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah. Listen to the Lord, you leaders of “Sodom.” Listen to the law of our God, people of “Gomorrah.” “What makes you think I want all your sacrifices?” says the Lord. “I am sick of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle. I get no pleasure from the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.”
Isaiah 1:9-11 NLT
Sodom and Gomorrah were two towns in the region around the Dead Sea, but because no conclusive evidence of their existence has been found, their exact locations are unknown. In Genesis 18, we read how Abraham interceded for Sodom, but not just because his nephew, Lot, lived there with his family. We read about the problem in Genesis 18:20, “So the Lord told Abraham, “I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant”. What was their sin? As we see in subsequent verses, it was sexual immorality, particularly of a homosexual nature, and a word in the English language is “sodomy”, describing such evil behaviour. But the Lord was not specific about the type of sin in His conversation with Abraham, and there could have been more. Faced with the prospect of Sodom’s destruction, “Abraham approached [the Lord] and said, “Will you sweep away both the righteous and the wicked? Suppose you find fifty righteous people living there in the city—will you still sweep it away and not spare it for their sakes? Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked. Why, you would be treating the righteous and the wicked exactly the same! Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”” (Genesis 18:23-25). The two angels, now in Sodom, were going to spend a night in the city square, but Lot persuaded them to be his guests for the night, and then we read, “But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”” (Genesis 19:4-5). Lot subsequently escaped the destruction with his daughters, thanks to the angels, and we then read, “Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulphur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah. He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation” (Genesis 19:24-25).
But back to our verses today from Isaiah, where we see that the Lord could see a link between the sin of the Israelites and the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. This was really serious stuff, and Isaiah recorded in his vision that the Lord would only spare a few of the Israelites, wiping out the rest like Sodom and Gomorrah. Were the Israelites guilty of the same sins as Sodom? This vision of Isaiah’s came at a time when the Israelites in the Northern Kingdom were increasingly being harassed by the Assyrians, who were taxing them heavily. In Israel, there was political instability and religious corruption, and, worse, idolatry was common. Over the next few years, the situation worsened, and Assyria utilised a policy of mass deportation to break the spirit of the people, with many inhabitants from the northern territories of Israel (east of the Jordan) captured and deported to Assyria, effectively stripping the country of its population and resources. Isaiah’s vision probably immediately preceded this situation and was an effective warning of what could be about to happen in Judah, the Southern Kingdom. By 722 BC, Israel in the North had been destroyed.
So what do we pilgrims learn from these verses today? One message for us is to emphasise the destructive nature of sin and how it can lead to the destruction of a nation. In Abraham’s intercession for Sodom, he asked the Lord if He would destroy the city if there were 50 righteous people inside, pleading “Surely You wouldn’t do such a thing …”. Abraham then worked his way down the numbers, 50, 45, 40, 30, 20 and then we read, “Finally, Abraham said, “Lord, please don’t be angry with me if I speak one more time. Suppose only ten are found there?” And the Lord replied, “Then I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten”” (Genesis 18:32).
We pilgrims are the “salt and light” in our communities, and we are holding back the forces of darkness and the judgement of the Lord through our prayers and witness. Jesus said early on in His Sermon on the Mount, “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavour? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father” (Matthew 5:13-16). Jesus didn’t just say that because the message sounded good or because it fitted an evangelistic agenda. We are perhaps the fifty or the ten who are protecting our communities from judgement.
God is gracious and merciful, and He will do as Abraham pleaded, “Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?” God is righteous as well as loving, but He is comfortable waiting for the time when He can judge each person for how they have lived their lives here on Planet Earth. So we pilgrims must be diligent in doing our righteous deeds before men and women everywhere. Do our neighbours know about our faith? Do we care for them in the way that Jesus ordained? I’m sure that we do, and we thank God for His patience and mercy, giving us the time we need to follow the Lord and pass on our faith to the next generation.
Dear Father God. We thank You for Your grace and love, but knowing that one day Your righteousness will be seen. Please help us to be diligent in doing the things You have asked of us as we continue to be “salt and light” in our communities and families. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 