It has been often pointed out how Jesus said that the world at the time of his return would be like the world before the Flood, where people were doing what they wanted until the watery judgment came (Luke 17:26-27). In the experience of this child, teachers tend to just touch on the following verses about Sodom. There are some similarities, however, there are important differences.
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| Lot and his family leaving Sodom, Peter Paul Rubens, 1625 |
The world before the Flood was full of evil. Later, Sodom and the cities of the plain were full of wickedness as well, including sexual sins. Today, people are increasingly callous to their wretched behavior and are proud of their perversions. Interestingly, some people appeal to cherry-picked verses to say that the sins of Sodom had nothing to do with sex. These instances of eisegesis and scripture twisting are handily eliminated.
We have two judgments that Jesus used as instructions and warnings for us today. People need to repent for salvation, and professing Christians need to repent and draw closer to God.
Although critical scholars, because of their naturalistic mindset, view the account of Sodom’s destruction as just another legend or folk tale, the Bible clearly teaches it was a genuine historical event. Just as Jesus and the apostle Peter pointed to the flood as a guarantee of future judgment, so they both also pointed to God’s judgment of Sodom by fire as a guarantee of future judgment. . .
Just as with the days before the flood, Jesus spoke of the days before the destruction of Sodom as a time when people were indifferent and solely concerned with the things of this life: eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. In other words, people were caught up with material things of life, which caused them to have a lack of concern for the things of God. Then the destruction by fire and sulfur came quickly and unexpectedly, destroying them all.
Likewise, when Peter spoke of the judgment that took place at Sodom and Gomorrah, turning it to ashes, it was to foreshadow the coming future eschatological judgment by fire (cf. 2 Peter 3:7). This final eternal judgment, however, will not engulf everybody. Just as God preserved Noah and seven others in the judgment of the flood, and Lot in the judgment of Sodom, he will also spare the godly while judging and destroying the ungodly (2 Peter 2:9).
Given the significance that both the Old and New Testament place on the destruction of Sodom as a warning of future judgment, it is important to understand this event.
You can take pride in reading the entire article at "The Destruction of Sodom and the Future Judgment". Also, you may like to see "Geology and the Doomed Cities of the Plain".