¶ Sodom and Gomorrah
Sodom and Gomorrah were the cities of the plain that the Lord destroyed by sulfur and fire because of their great wickedness.
Abraham interceded for them; Lot was rescued; the cities became a standing warning of sudden judgment.
Jesus, the prophets, and the apostles all point back to Sodom and Gomorrah as a sign of what comes upon those who refuse righteousness.
The same God who judged the cities is the God who still delivers the godly from trial.
Genesis records that the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah was great and their sin was very grave. The Lord came down to see. Abraham pleaded that the cities be spared if righteous people could be found; there were not ten. Angels brought Lot and his household out, warning them not to look back. Then the Lord rained sulfur and fire from heaven and overthrew the cities, the valley, and all the inhabitants. Lot’s wife looked back and became a pillar of salt. Later Scripture treats this event as a pattern: Judah is compared to Sodom when she multiplies transgression; Jesus says it will be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment than for towns that rejected His works; Peter and Jude use the destruction as an example of what is coming upon the ungodly. Sodom and Gomorrah therefore stand as both history and warning—real cities, real judgment, and a lasting call to flee from wrath and to live as those who have been delivered.
- The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is presented as a historical act of divine judgment.
- The outcry against the cities reached heaven; their sin was very grave.
- Abraham’s intercession shows both the mercy of God and the necessity of righteousness.
- Lot was rescued as a righteous man distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked.
- The cities became a proverb and a sign for later generations.
- Jesus and the apostles use Sodom as a warning to those who reject the gospel.
- God knows how to rescue the godly and to keep the unrighteous under punishment.
¶ Key Aspects of Sodom and Gomorrah
- Cities of the Plain – Located in the well-watered valley that Lot chose, near the Dead Sea.
- Grave Sin – The outcry was great; Scripture names pride, plenty, neglect of the poor, and sexual perversion.
- Abraham’s Intercession – He asked whether the Judge of all the earth would spare the city for the sake of the righteous.
- Rescue of Lot – Angels seized Lot and his family and led them out before the judgment fell.
- Fire and Sulfur – The Lord overthrew the cities from heaven; smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace.
- Lot’s Wife – She looked back and became a pillar of salt—a warning against clinging to what God is judging.
- Standing Example – Later Scripture points to Sodom and Gomorrah as a type of sudden, righteous judgment.
- Genesis 13:10-13 – “And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord… So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley… Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.”
- Genesis 18:20-32 – “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…’ Abraham said, ‘Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?… Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?’”
- Genesis 19:15-17, 24-26 – “As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot… ‘Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.’… Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities… But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”
- Genesis 19:27-28 – “And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.”
- Isaiah 1:9-10 – “If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!”
- Ezekiel 16:49-50 – “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.”
- Jeremiah 23:14 – “But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing… They are all like Sodom to me, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
- Amos 4:11 – “I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me.”
- Matthew 10:14-15 – “And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.”
- Matthew 11:23-24 – “And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”
- Luke 17:28-32 – “Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed… Remember Lot’s wife.”
- 2 Peter 2:6-9 – “…if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked… then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.”
- Jude 1:7 – “Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.”
- Romans 9:29 – “And as Isaiah predicted, ‘If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.’”
- Revelation 11:8 – “And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.”
- Deuteronomy 29:23 – “…the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing… like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and in his wrath.”
- Isaiah 13:19 – “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.”
Sodom and Gomorrah are not a myth. The Lord rained sulfur and fire from heaven and overthrew the cities. Abraham stood in the gap. Lot was pulled out. Lot’s wife looked back. Jesus said it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for those who reject greater light. Peter said God made them an example of what is coming upon the ungodly—and that the same Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials. Remember Lot’s wife. Do not cling to what God is judging. Flee to the One who delivers. The Judge of all the earth will do what is just. The God who overthrew the cities is the God who still saves those who call on His name.
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