EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/22/2025 9:27 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “Sodom
and Gomorrah”
Bible Reading & Meditation
Reference: Jude 7
Message of the verse: “7 Even as
Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves
over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an
example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
Now
as I begin this first SD on this subject I want to point out that both Peter
and Jude state that God made these cities an example to warn the ungodly that
God does indeed judge sin. Let us look
also at 2 Peter 2:6 “and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an
example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter.” Now when you combine their descriptions, you
will discover that the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah (and the other cities
involved) were the following: ungodly,
filthy, wicked, unlawful, unjust, and also given over to fornication. Now this was not something that was done
occasionally that is committing these unnatural sexual sins; they indulged in
them and gave themselves over to the pursuit of lust. Now I want to look at the Greek verb here
which according to Dr. Wiersbe is intensive:
‘to indulge in excessive immorality.’
So we see that this was their way of life, and also their death!
Dr.
Wiersbe explains “Strange flesh means
‘different flesh.’ The bent of their
life was constantly downward, indulging in unnatural acts (see Rom 1:24-27).” “Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of
their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them”
(Rom. 1:24). Dr. Wiersbe goes on “Those
who hold the ‘fallen angels’ interpretation of Genesis 6 make the ‘strange
flesh’ refer to angels in human form; but when did the angels invade Sodom and
Gomorrah? And, if fallen angels are
meant, how can their sin and the sin of the Sodomites apply to us today, for we
have no fallen angels to tempt or seduce us?
Indeed, the men at Lot’s door did want to engage in homosexual activity
with his angelic guests, but the Sodomites did not know they were angels. Another possibility is that the Sodomites
were guilty not only of unnatural sex with each other, but also with animals,
which would be ‘strange flesh.’ Both
homosexuality and bestiality are condemned by God (Lev. 18:22-25).” We will now look at these verses: “22 ‘You shall not lie with a male as one
lies with a female; it is an abomination. 23 ‘Also you shall not have
intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand
before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion. 24 ‘Do not defile
yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am
casting out before you have become defiled. 25 ‘For the land has become
defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed
out its inhabitants.”
“The
cities were set forth by God as an
example and warning to ungodly people today.
The verb set forth means ‘to
expose openly to public view.’
(Interestingly enough, the word was used to describe a corpse lying in
state!) But the cities of the plain are not today
in public view. It is generally
agreed among archeologists that Sodom and Gomorrah are buried under the
southern end of the Dead Sea. How, the,
do they serve as an example? In the pages of the Word of God. No one can read Genesis 18-19 without clearly
seeing God’s hatred for sin and, at the same time, His patience and willingness
to postpone judgment. This certainly
ties in with Peter’s explanation for God’s seeming delay in fulfilling the
promise of Christ’s return (2 Peter 3:8ff).
Those
verses at the end of 2 Peter 3, which ends that letter are very interesting to
me, but I don’t think that tonight is the time to go over them as there are
different things in them that would have to be explained. Perhaps tomorrow!
6/22/2025 9:57 PM
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