What does Sodom mean to you? Probably, a wicked city in an obscure place, in the very remote past. A city noted for its sexual perversion, that the Lord destroyed suddenly, by fire and brimstone. (Gen 19:24; Luke 17:29 AV/KJV)

1. Sodom – a world like ours!

But – a thousand years after that event – one of the prophets, Ezekiel, comparing the Jerusalem of his day unfavourably with Sodom – portrayed Sodom more prosaically, but in more realistic terms than we might expect: She and her daughters [– that is, her neighbouring towns, like Gomorrah] were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty, and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them... (Ezk 16:49-52)

That makes the cities of the plain sound much more like our world – doesn't it? So much the more so, when our Lord speaks about the state of the world when he returns – he likens it to the ordinary day-to-day goings-on in Sodom: It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulphur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:28,29)

Let's put what God said through Ezekiel, into today's language. Sodom had an arrogant disregard of human rights, treating the poor and needy with disdain, denying them justice – including, no doubt, any share in the abundant food supply they themselves enjoyed – displaying a cynical insensitivity to the suffering of others. Clearly, social immorality played as large a part in their condemnation, as did the immorality of the detestable things, that is so evident in Gen 19.

Does this bring to mind our Lord's words in his terrifying parable of the sheep and the goats? The king speaks to those on his left, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me. I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me... Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. (Matt 25:41-45)

With such words the world of Sodom comes right into our time. Its judgement is no longer a remote event – it impinges on our conscience – I know it does on mine – for we too are sinners, not loving our neighbours as we love ourselves. It is in the awareness of this – and of the holiness of God – that we should approach chapters 18 & 19 of Genesis.

2. Light and darkness – and God's justice.

The one begins in the brilliance of noon-day light – but the other takes us into midnight darkness. This contrast is deliberate – and consistent with the use of light and darkness throughout Scripture. But we also know the weakness of our own spiritual sight – so we often do not clearly see the difference – or want to see it. We shrink from the thought of judgement – because conscience tells us of our sin, and we fear the justice of God.

As well we should, before we discover God's mercy and love in Christ. For God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5) If God doesn't hate the darkness of sin – and doesn't intend to punish it, and banish it forever – then our concept of justice owes nothing to him. In which case, there is no pardon for sin, no mercy – and no love.

Abraham doesn't query the right of God to punish the wicked – and neither should we – if we have any sense of God's utter holiness – if we share with him his hatred of the injustice and evil in this world – and if we long for right to prevail, and the innocent to be vindicated.

But Abraham clearly has a problem with God's temporal judgement of Sodom – and so do we, when it comes to catastrophes that overwhelm the innocent along with the wicked. So we do well to pause – ask God to open our eyes to what he was, and is, doing – and what he will eventually do – and come reverently to this passage and its teaching.

In fact, there are two themes there. God and Abraham express mutual concerns – [1] Can God trust Abraham? [2] Can Abraham trust God? As we shall see, the answer to both is, Yes.

3. Abraham – intercessor and instructor.

We overhear God talking to himself like a man does. Does God – who upholds the galaxies of stars and, at the same instant, every creature on earth – think as we do? He who numbers our hairs, and is aware of every sparrow that falls? Surely not. Yet for a while he accommodates himself to Abraham's comprehension. Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? The answer is, No. As the prophet Amos said, Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7; Psa 25:14) – and still less to one he calls his friend. (John 15:15)

God gives as his reason, Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation – and all the nations on earth will be blessed through him. This conversation is surely intended to give Abraham the immediate opportunity to be a blessing – by making him an intercessor.

Of course, the best example for us, of someone who prayed for others – is the Servant of the Lord, who bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors (Isa 53:12) – and now always lives to intercede for them. (Heb 7:25; Rom 8:34) As we heard in the second reading – Jesus now expects us to do the same. (Matt 5:44; Luke 6:28; 1 Tim 2:1)

God continues, For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him – to keep the way of the LORD, by doing what is right and just. What is the way of the Lord? It's the way of life the Lord wants us to follow. This is spelled out often by his spokesmen, the prophets. It means behaving uprightly oneself, obeying God's laws and worshipping him. And – we are to seek justice for the oppressed and encourage them. Defend the cause of the fatherless, and plead the case of the widow. (Isa 1:17; 58:6-10,13; Amos 2:4,6-8,12; 5:7,11-15 etc)

In other words, we are to support by our actions, prayers and giving – such causes as ACAT, Tearfund and Barnabas Fund – who strive to bring an end to poverty, injustice, exploitation and persecution – and to do our best to encourage others to do the same. This then is the role of God's people – to be salt and light in a corrupt and dark world – preserving it and bringing the light of God's truth and love into it.

And this role must be passed down from one generation of God's people to the next. How important and responsible in God's sight is the work of the godly parent! (Eph 6:4; 2 Tim 3:15; Matt 19:14; Deut 4:9, 11:19, 32:46; Prov 22:6; Psa 78:4; 1 Chr 28:9,19 etc) And God makes it plain, that only in this way of obedience will God's promises to his people be realised (Gen 18:19b).

4. Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Now the Lord shares with his friend the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah, that has come to his ears. He proposes to investigate this, as a man might do. So that, in terms Abraham – and we – can understand – he and we can be assured that God does not act hastily or without explicit knowledge of the situation.

And Abraham is dismayed! We have spoken about what Sodom means to us. To Abraham it meant a city of living people – the city where his nephew Lot lived. Abraham knew Sodom. He had met its king and personally rescued many of its citizens, taken captive in war. (Gen 14:14-17)

Now God was proposing to blot out the city and all its inhabitants. Some have held that Abraham was only concerned for Lot and his family. But, if so, I think he would have worded his prayer differently. Abraham knew that there were wicked people in Sodom, as in any city. Surely there were others that were better. Was God intending to destroy everybody?

Abraham's prayer wasn't vague – as many of ours are. It wasn't, Please bless Sodom – or even, Please save Sodom. Amen. He knew God meant what he said. If God would promise to spare the city for the sake of some – he would keep his promise. Abraham stood in awe of God – but he had the boldness to plead in specific terms for the people of Sodom.

Abraham trembles before God – but he wants the truth. Some think of this prayer as a piece of Oriental bargaining. But what could Abraham offer God? Abraham is not haggling – he's desperate to understand the character of God.

There is some evidence – see the footnote in the NIV Bible – that originally verse 22 read, The LORD still stood before Abraham. Was he waiting, wanting a response from Abraham? In effect he was, whatever the reading [and the present text is supported by Gen 19:27]. We see Abraham step forward to speak – not so much horrified by God's judgement itself – as by the apparent injustice of it. Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?…Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating them alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?

What has Abraham built his life upon? Isn't it the kindness, justice and faithfulness of the God he has learned to trust and serve? Now they stand face-to-face – and God has become a stranger to him. It looks as if it would be easier to be his servant than his friend. God, how can you be like that? Abraham is torn between terror and a longing that the Almighty should prove to be the merciful God he has known so far. The longing wins. What if there are fifty righteous…?

Have you ever stood where Abraham stood? Has some story in the OT affronted your sense of what God ought to be? Or has some present-day disaster or state-of-affairs similarly shocked you? Before you criticise – bow in prayer before God and ask him to reveal the truth to you, as he did to Abraham. No other course is correct, if you are to be in a right relationship with him. Truly this prayer of Abraham's has more to do with the character of God than with the fate of Sodom.

Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the LORD, I who am but dust and ashes. Abraham realised how incongruous his position was – but his prayer was genuine. He was dealing with God as he is – and not with a god after our own imagination and pleasing. It is true prayer when we respond to the true God – as he reveals more of himself to us – by his Spirit, from his Word. Such a prayer can be a terrifying experience: Woe to me! For I am ruined!, cried Isaiah, as he saw God's majesty and holiness. (Isa 6:5)

Abraham didn't dare ask what he really wanted to know. The apparent haggling – the step-by-step descent in 5's and 10's – is the progress of one who fears every step will prove his last. May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more…

We don't know why Abraham stopped at 10 – but clearly he had been reassured. As the LORD had replied, For the sake of 40 I will not do it…I will not do it if I find 30 there… For the sake of 10 I will not destroy it, - so Abraham's understanding of God must have changed. Here was no monster – but the merciful God he believed he already knew.

But God was also greater than he had known. A righteous God whose judgements are beyond our understanding. A God who wants us to plead with him for the lost – and to trust him when we are in the dark.

This prayer had also changed Abraham. He had grown in maturity, and in boldness, before his God. The LORD's purpose had been accomplished and he drew the meeting to a close.

5. Do we care about those lost in darkness?

Now this record is for us. God has plainly told us that this world is under judgement – and, as a God of holiness and justice, he will bring it to an end. (John 5:22,28,29; Matt 25:31-46) He is waiting for our response, for our plea. Does our silence signify our indifference? Do we care about others perishing? Or are we unbelievers in the utter holiness of God?

When Daniel prayed for his people, after judgement had fallen on it, he identified himself with their sins, We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled...We have not listened... Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame... (Daniel 9:5-7)

Do we pray, Have mercy on them, Lord – or, Have mercy on us? Do we object to identifying ourselves with unbelievers? Or do we mentally separate ourselves from them as being ourselves more deserving of God's mercy? Did he choose us because we are more saintly? We know he did not! We also are sinners – and still part of the human race.

But it also means – if we are to pray like that – that we take God seriously. Do we share God's perspective on the men and women we meet every day? Do we see them – like we were – as under judgement? We are reluctant to accept that, aren't we? But if we will not get involved – we are loving neither men nor God. I prefer the challenge of Charles Kingsley, who wrote: Each word we speak has infinite effects; Each soul we pass must go to heaven or hell... Be earnest, earnest, earnest – mad an thou wilt: Do what thou doest as if the stake were heaven And this thy last deed ere the judgement day.

Praying for others can be a great joy and privilege – but we know it can also be costly. Early in the morning after that meeting between the Lord and Abraham, he walked back to the spot where they had talked together. Abraham looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah – some 30 miles away to the south-east – towards all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. (19:27,28)

Abraham must have known then that his prayer for the cities of the plain had been unsuccessful. We're not told his feelings – but he must have felt devasted! We are told, God remembered Abraham and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities (19:29) – but it must have been some time before Abraham found that out.

6. But the 'righteous' do die with the wicked!

That leaves us, doesn't it, with the fact that God may not answer our prayers in the way we would wish – but, perhaps more urgently, with the problem that so often the 'righteous' do perish with the wicked. There are several ways in which we may reply to that. First we should remember our Lord's words about those who died when a tower collapsed, Do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. (Luke 13:4,5)

When we die is no indication of our guiltiness in God's sight. He may well be giving us more time in which to repent! (2 Pet 3:9) But we are all members of a rebel race; all are guilty and all of us must die – there are none exempt from that. (Rom 5:12-19; 3:23; 6:23)

We are told explicitly that the destruction of Sodom is a picture or pattern of God's final judgement. (Jude 7; 2 Pet 2:6) Then it will be absolutely true that God will not destroy the righteous with the wicked – for there will then be a complete and final separation. (Matt 25:46) But the righteous then will be those who are saved because Christ died for them!

Finally, our Lord's words indicate that, in the meantime, disasters should be considered as warnings – to repent and believe! And that surely is how we should regard all temporal judgements, even if the 'righteous' are caught up with the wicked. Perhaps, as the Day of the Lord approaches, these warnings may become more pronounced. How shall we respond to them?

7. Those in the light must share their sure hope with those in darkness.

Perhaps we need to see again our Lord weeping over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41) – praying for us on the night of his betrayal – and dying for us on the cross – and not for us only, but for all those who will put their trust in him. We have a sure hope – we must share it! In Paul's words:

You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep... For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that.. we may live together with him. (1 Thess 5:5-10) An encouragement to Christians who were a model to others, because the Lord's message rang out from [them]. (1 Thess 1:8)

Let's ask therefore for the sort of maturity that God brought Abraham to – a deep caring for our fellow men and women, that brings us to plead with them, and before God for them – for the honour of God's name. Let's pray therefore that God will deepen our friendship with him.

                                                                                         Amen.