When God was about to rain judgment down on Sodom and Gomorrah, his angels told Lot to get out of the city. In kindness, the angels also told Lot to tell any of his loved ones, his daughters’ fiancés as an example, to leave the city too. The people of the cities had been wicked, and the wrath of God was on the way.
But when Lot warned people who mattered to him, they did not take him seriously.
Genesis 19:14 – 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.
Why did the young men not take Lot’s warnings to heart? We do not know what about their own lives was right or wrong. But we know that, when they heard the warning of the coming judgment of God, they assumed it to be a joke. They thought Lot was playing some sort of prank. They did not leave the city, though the warning was given. And they perished with the two evil cities.
In truth, it is hard for human beings to hear warnings, especially warnings of supernatural judgment, as real. Part of the sinful nature is to deny the existence of God. Though the Lord has made himself plain to all human beings, though all people have enough evidence of God’s presence as to be without excuse before him, we often fight against that with our hearts. People want to live in a world that is not influenced by God so long as things are going the way that they want. People who do not know God do not want to imagine the concept of God actually judging, at least not of him judging any but the worst of the worst. And even those who do know God can sometimes function as though we do not expect God to play a role in the world we live in. While we pray, read our Bibles, and attend church, many do not live on Monday through Saturday as if God is active.
We need to take a warning from the mistake of the young men in Genesis 19. They heard a warning of judgment from God. They assumed that there is just no way that could be serious. But it was. We live in a world that is far greater than the one we can see with our eyes. The God who made us is real, active, and glorious. God has promised us the return of Christ and real judgment. WE must not pretend such is far-fetched. We must not ignore God’s warnings. WE must become a people who understand that the God we cannot see with our eyes is more important than all the world that we can see. And one day, that God will make his presence visibly known as he judges this world and changes the universe forever.
Pastor Travis Peterson 