Sodom and Gomorrah. The very pronouncement of the names of those two ancient cities stirs up deep emotions. We know what this story is about, don’t we?

Or, do we?

As we look at this story again this morning, we do well to keep in mind that we must first approach it in light of all we’ve learned in the Abrahamic narrative to this point.[1] God has entered into a covenant with Abraham, a covenant in which is promised blessings to Abraham and also blessings through Abraham to the whole world. These covenant blessings are also what the New Testament calls the gospel. The good news of salvation. The promise that God will be righteous and just and will set the world right again. And the promise that somehow he will do it through his people.

In other words, this story teaches us that since God will always do what is righteous and just, his people must learn to do the same. We need to keep that in mind as we learn from this story God’s judgment against sin, his expectation for his people, and his mercy for the undeserving.

God’s Judgment Against Sin

First, this story teaches us, quite clearly, about God’s judgment against sin.

God Hears the Cry Against Injustice

Again, keeping in mind that Genesis 18-19 are meant to be read together, it is easy to lose the connection of the first chapter with the second by the first 15 verses of chapter 18. We’ll look at these verses more closely later, but here we should just keep in mind that when Abraham encounters these three strangers, he urges them to receive some refreshment and then be sent on their way (v. 5). These three strangers are on a mission. They are just passing by Abraham’s tent. But their destination is Sodom, as verse 16 says.

And why are they going to Sodom? Verses 20-21 tell us why. “Then the LORD said, ‘Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”

The word outcry is the plaintiff’s cry, the cry for help.[2] It is the complaint of one who has experienced injustice. It is the sound of the suffering, the lament of the abused. Even though so many in a society may be deaf to such cries, the Lord is not.

But what is interesting is that the God of Israel, clearly portrayed here as the one who will adjudicate the situation, is also one who will ensure a fair trial, as it were. He who knows all things is going to Sodom to investigate. He will be sure that he knows the situation inside and out before he acts. Just as he came to Adam and Eve after their transgression, just as he came down to see the tower of Babel as it was being built, so he here sets out for Sodom to know if the inhabitants of that city are guilty of the crimes for which they have been accused.

God Experiences the Injustices Himself

Already we have the sense that God is going to be entirely just in his judgment, whatever it is. But the story invites us to see just how far God is willing to go to see that justice is done.

The story in chapter 19 is well-known. It is also disturbing. You can read it for yourself and see. But viewer discretion is advised.

The point that I want to make here is that the God who is moved by injustice such that he hears the cries of the abused and goes to investigate also experiences the injustices himself. To be precise, it is two angels who experience the injustice of Sodom; the third person who seems to be equated with God has stayed behind with Abraham. But at any rate, what happen to the angels in Sodom is also told in a way that puts God himself in the experience.

Can there be any doubt that the narrator would have us see that this God is one who is himself abused by the injustices of the world? He is not some far-off deity but one who is right in it with the oppressed. From the Christian perspective, we know this is precisely who God is. It’s why Jesus knew his calling would include suffering many things and being treated with contempt (Mk 9:12).

God’s Wrath Against Injustice

So, when God delivers his verdict against Sodom and Gomorrah, it is entirely just. We wouldn’t want him to do otherwise. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, described here in Genesis 19:24-25, is to be understood only as the perfectly just and righteous judgment of God.

You may or may not conclude that. After all, what was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah that deserved such a righteous judgment?

No doubt this story suggests that God is absolutely opposed to homosexuality. But is that the central sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? It’s true that Lot’s failed attempt to appease the men of Sodom with his two daughters makes us even more disgusted with their debased desires, and it’s true that one New Testament text (Jude 7) explicitly calls out the sexual immorality of Sodom and Gomorrah.

However, the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, while not less than this, is much, much more than this. So much so that if we have homosexuality as the main concern, we are going to miss the point. This story has many echoes with another story we’ve already covered in Genesis, the story of the Flood in Genesis 6-9. The two stories are to be seen in parallel, “two cataclysmic acts of divine judgment on outrageously sinful communities, with the only righteous man and his family spared.”[3] So we should approach this story like we are supposed to approach the Flood story. We are not to stand over it, analyze it from a distance. We are supposed to find ourselves in the story.

If God is a righteous and just Judge who will right all injustices, then what about us? Where do we find ourselves in this story?

God’s Expectation for His People

In a world of injustice, we cannot help but be involved. We live in this world after all. The story of the Bible is the story of the world in which we live, the world which God has promised to save. Save from what? From sin, of course. But all sin is injustice. Sin is transgression against the way things ought to be. Sin is not a mistake. Sin is an offense, a crime against God and the world he has made. The question is, will we involved in the saving, or will we be involved in the destruction? This story highlights God’s expectation for us his people to be on the side of justice and salvation.

The Abuse of Power

The Bible is not telling us random stories from the ancient world. It is telling us stories—real stories, of course—but stories that carry significant theological weight.

We’ve already been told this is a story about injustice in God’s world. God sends his messengers to Sodom to investigate the accusations against that city that have come to him (Gen 18:21). At first, they are treated well, as Lot imitates the hospitality of Abraham, throws them a feast, and invites them to rest in his house.

But when the men of Sodom come seeking to abuse them, we must see that more is going on here than simply an act of kindness on the one hand and an act of bullying and aggression on the other. More is going on here than simply the question about what the Bible says about homosexuality. In fact, it would be wrong to conclude that the demand of the men in Sodom demonstrates that they are all gay. The emphasis is elsewhere. The emphasis is on the desire of these men, representing the entire city of Sodom according to verse 4, to exercise power over the angels, and therefore over God himself.[4]

In other words, this is primarily what we might call a spiritual warfare story. This is the desire for evil and injustice to suppress justice and goodness. The men of Sodom do not have their sights set on Lot, who has been living there for some time already. They have their sights set on God himself. This is what sin and injustice are at the root: the abuse of power. Instead of using the power God has given us as his image bearers to bring justice and goodness into his world, we turn on that image and devour it. Sin and evil cannot tolerate any representation of God.

Withholding Hospitality

Let’s look at this from a different perspective. We can’t help but notice the contrast in the way the angels are treated, by Abraham and Lot on the one hand, and by the people of Sodom on the other. And this contrast is central to the meaning of the story.

The injustices of Sodom stem from the abuse of power. The prophet Ezekiel describes the guilt of Sodom this way, in Ezekiel 16:49, “She . . . had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy” (Ezek 16:49). I bet most of us did not see that in the story. Sodom’s guilt is not primarily in what they did to the angels but also in what they did not do. They did not “aid the poor and needy” even though they had plenty of aid available.

Because the visitors to Sodom are angels, we probably do not think of them as “poor and needy,” but they are known to the participants in the story as men who, like the rest of us, depend upon food and shelter for survival. This they get from Abraham and from Lot, but this they did not get from the men of Sodom, just to state the obvious.

What does the contrast show us? It shows us that of central concern here is the issue of hospitality, or the lack thereof. When we hear the word hospitality we tend to think of inviting friends, or at least acquaintances—people we know at some level—over for a meal in our home. That’s good. But in this story, hospitality is not a kind gesture. It’s more like giving First Aid to an injured person. In the ancient world, a traveler to a city depended upon the hospitality of its citizens for survival, and common courtesy was expected. To be abused by the people whom one depends on for survival is shocking and horrifying news. It’s like assaulting and robbing a person who is panhandling on the street corner.

Now, surely none of us would do something like that. It’s unlikely most of us will easily see ourselves acting like the men of Sodom in this story. Yet we can be more easily convicted by the words of the Apostle John: “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” (1 Jn 3:17). Do you have something your brother or sister needs? How can you say you love God and withhold it from him or her?

Unaware of Angels

I know, I know. I feel the tension, too. “Does this mean I have to give everything I have to anyone who needs it?” I understand the objections. I have plenty of them myself. So what are we supposed to do with this?

We find ourselves implicated in this story in all kinds of ways. But that’s because the God whose way is righteous and just expects his people to learn his way and promote his righteousness and justice in the world.

God is a God of justice, right? His ways are righteous and just, yes? So ours must be, too. Not because God won’t accept you until you get it all straightened out but because this is how God plans to bring his justice into his world, through his people who walk in his ways.

So what does righteousness and justice look like in the world today? Depends on if you are a Republican or a Democrat. And whichever side of the political aisle you are on, you can be sure of this: the other side must be on the wrong side of righteousness and justice.

But, brothers and sisters, we don’t get our directions from Donald Trump nor from Kamala Harris. Our sacred text is not the Republican or Democratic platform. We learn the way of God from stories like this.

So, let’s let this story do its work on us. The author of Hebrews, obviously reflecting on this story, draws this conclusion, this way forward for us who take the Scripture seriously. “Let brotherly love continue,” he says, and “do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Heb 13:1-2). He is thinking about Abraham’s hospitality in the first 8 verses of chapter 18, but the surprise in the story comes in verses 9-15 when Abraham goes from host giving gifts to his guests to the recipient of gifts from his guests. This is the surprise of hospitality, when “mysterious strangers” have become guests and the host becomes the recipient of a blessing.[5] This is why hospitality is so important to justice. It is at a table, when strangers eat together, that we may well encounter God’s presence and receive his blessings.

What if Christians today, in the midst of the world’s heated debates about what is right and what is just, became preoccupied with and devoted to brotherly love, to hospitality? Not simply to one another, but to the stranger, to the prisoner, to the immigrant, to our neighbor whose worldview is so incredibly different from our own? I mean think about it: what if we were the ones who actually loved and welcomed those whose way of life and whose politics make no sense to us? It just might be our way of life and politics make no sense to them, and perhaps we could learn something from each other.

What if this kind hospitality is just what the world needs right now? And what if we who say we are Christians were to practice this kind of hospitality? Who knows? We might end up entertaining angels without even knowing it.

Actually, if we take Jesus seriously, we might end up entertaining someone much more important than angels. Remember what he will say to the righteous, who seem completely unaware that they have fed him when he was hungry, welcomed him when he was a stranger, clothed him when he was exposed to the elements? “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me,” so “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom”! (Matt 25:31-40).

God’s Mercy for the Undeserving

In our day the question before us is not so much which politician do you support but what kind of people are we becoming. God is just. He expects us to be, too. But the key to the justice of God is what is sometimes thought to be the opposite of justice: mercy. Yet this story shows us that the two go together. If the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is about God’s judgment against sin it is just as much about God’s mercy for the undeserving.

Abraham’s Intervention

Before God’s messengers arrive in Sodom, we encounter the remarkable verses at the end of chapter 18. Verse 16 says that Abraham’s guests set out for Sodom. In verse 20, God tells Abraham why he’s going there. But verses 17-19 are key verses to the entire story in these two chapters.

The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

Here we see God’s intention to bring Abraham into the secret council of God himself. And the reason he has done this is because, as verse 19 says quite explicitly, he and his descendants will “keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice.”

And then, in verses 22-33 we have this interesting dialogue between Abraham and God about the fate of Sodom. Abraham begins by saying to God, in verse 25, “Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you!” he says, rather passionately. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”

In the unfolding of the Abraham story, we must see this scene in its covenantal context. God is going to bless the world, indeed save the world, through Abraham, through a covenant with Abraham. Abraham (and Sarah) must believe this, and they must step into it. How do you read verse 25? Are we to worry that God will be unjust? Is Abraham more merciful than God? No, God is doing something in Abraham. When we keep in mind verses 17-19, it becomes rather clear what is going on here, even if this surprises us a bit. The way of the Lord is righteous and just, so he demands us who would belong to him to be likewise. But how can we be?

Only by buying into God’s way, which is what Abraham is doing here.[6] Abraham pleads for mercy from God because he believes God must be merciful.

God Remembered Abraham

The chapter ends with the hope that the city will be spared on account of there being 10 righteous people in it. Evidently, there are not 10 righteous people in it, since the city is destroyed. But it would be a mistake to conclude that this story is not a story of mercy after all.

Go down to verse 15 in chapter 19. The angels urge Lot to get out of the city. “But he lingered,” verse 16 says. “So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand,” and the narrator adds, “the LORD being merciful to him.” So Lot’s life was spared even though this was not the agreement at the end of chapter 18. Why?

Because, we are told in the summary statement in verse 29, that “when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.” God remembered Abraham is covenantal language, meaning that Lot was delivered because of God’s covenantal obligation to Abraham.[7] God showed mercy to Lot because God was fulfilling his covenantal promises to Abraham, promises of mercy and blessing and salvation.

God Knows How to Deliver

The rescue of Lot is surprising, then, on the one hand, and not surprising on the other. Lot is undeserving, but that’s precisely the point of mercy and grace. God knows how to deliver and rescue the undeserving from his righteous wrath.

And that’s precisely the point of this story, a point you and I must never forget if we are going to learn the righteous and just way of the Lord. Justice, always. But “in wrath, remember mercy” (Hab 3:2).

You and I who are equally undeserving of rescue and salvation as Lot, you and I who are equally deserving of God’s righteous wrath as the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah—you and I who are spared only by the mercy and grace of God—we must remember mercy, and we must learn to show it to the world.

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[1] As Gordon J. Wenham (Genesis 16–50, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 2, ed. Bruce M. Metzger, David A. Hubbard, and Glenn W. Barker [Dallas: Word Books, 1994], 62) reminds us.

[2] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, ed. Johann Jakob Stamm, trans. M. E. J. Richardson (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1994), 277.

[3] Wenham, Genesis 16–50, 64.

[4] Tremper Longman III, Genesis, The Story of God Bible Commentary, ed. Tremper Longman and Scot McKnight (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 239.

[5] William L. Lane, Hebrews 9–13, Word Biblical Commentary, vol 47B, ed. Bruce M. Metzger, David A. Hubbard, and Glenn W. Barker (Dallas: Word Books, 1991), 513.

[6] Peter J. Gentry and Stephen J. Wellum, God’s Kingdom through God’s Covenants: A Concise Biblical Theology (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015), 125.

[7] Kenneth A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27–50:26, The New American Commentary, vol. 1B, ed. E. Ray Clendenen (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005), 242-43.