Evils of City Life

 

Lot’s Choice

 

When Abraham told Lot to choose that part of the country that he preferred, what choice did Lot make?

 

“Lot looked up and saw the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:” Genesis 13:10,11.

 

Where did Lot dwell?

 

“Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom”. Verse 12. 

 

Sodom and its Citizens

 

What was the character of the inhabitants of Sodom?

 

“Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.”

Verse 13. 

 

What further description is given of this city?

 

“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me.” Ezekiel 16: 49,50. (See Genesis 19:1-9.)

 

How did their conduct affect Lot?

 

“And if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard).” 2 Peter 2:7,8. 

 

The Warning of the Angels

 

Before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, whom did the Lord send to deliver Lot and his family? 

 

“The two angels arrived in Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here – sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone left in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.” Genesis 19: 1, 12, 13.  

 

What did Lot do, and how were his efforts rewarded?

 

“So, Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about tot destroy the city!” But his sons-in-laws thought he was joking.  Verse 14.

 

What did the angels say to Lot the next morning?

 

“With the coming dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and led them to safety out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” Verses 15-17.  

 

What then took place?

 

“Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah – from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities and also the vegetation in the land. Verses 24,25.

 

Because she disregarded the instruction given by the angels, what became of Lot’s wife?

 

“But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” Verse 26.

 

Note – As a result of choosing a city life, Lot lost nearly all of his family.

 

Lessons for the Day

 

Foretelling the condition of the world previous to His second advent, to what did Christ liken it?

 

“It was the same as in the days of Lot.  People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.  But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. Luke 17:28-30.

 

Note – The cities of today are like Sodom and Gomorrah – centers and sinkholes of vice, pride, violence, confusion, and crime. The cities of the United States furnish most of the nation’s crime. The numerous holidays, whirl of excitement, pleasure, and sports, theatergoing, gambling, liquor drinking. And reveling in the cities, attract thousands from the sober duties of life, and stimulate every evil passion to activity. What a poor place, therefore are the cities of today in which to rear a family! Too many, like Lot, have pitched their tent toward Sodom.

 

Of what type is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah a type?

 

“If he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly.” 2 Peter 2:6.

 

Note – The destruction of such cities as Sodom and Gomorrah, Babylon, and Jerusalem is set forth as a type of destruction awaiting the world. Says on writer” “The time is near when the large cities will be visited by judgments of God. In a little while, these cities will be terribly shaken. No matter how large or how strong their buildings, no matter how many safeguards against fire many have been provided, let God touch these buildings, and in a matter of minutes or in a few hours they will be in ruins. The ungodly cities of our world are to be swept away by the besom of destruction. In the calamities that are now befalling immense buildings and large portions of the cities, God is showing us what will come upon the Earth.” “Improved nuclear bombs” will be “ideally suited to sudden unannounced attacks in which a country’s major cities might be destroyed overnight by an ostensibly friendly power.” – General H. H. Arnold, quoted in Questions and Answers About Atomic Energy, p. 4.

Terrible as the nuclear bomb was to contemplate when it was first produced, it is small by comparison with the hydrogen bomb. It has been estimated that the explosion of only 250 such bombs strategically placed could blot out all life on the earth and make it uninhabitable for years to come.

 

What is to take place under the seventh plague?

 

“The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne saying, “It is done!” Then came flashes of lightening, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cop filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.” Revelation 16:17-19.  

 

[TOP]