How To Avoid Fire and Brimstone
The account in Genesis of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah tells us about the mercy of God. Yes, you read that right. Although these cities faced the wrath of God for their grievous sin (Genesis 18:20; 19:24,25), both Abraham's conversation with God and Jesus' statement in Matthew reveal the merciful nature of our heavenly Father.
When God told Abraham that He was going to deal with Sodom and Gomorrah according to their sins, Abraham said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right” (Genesis 18:23-25 NKJV)? This last question was rhetorical, as Abraham knew the answer.
It has been estimated that the population in that region at the time was between 40,000 and 65,000 (https://armstronginstitute.org/148sodom-and-gomorrah-proved). If we are very conservative and say that the population of Sodom was 3,000 people, then God was willing to forgo punishing that wicked city if less than 1% of its inhabitants were righteous (Genesis 18:32). Indeed, God cares very much for the righteous (1 Peter 5:7). If Lot was vexed every day when he saw and heard all of the evil committed in that city (2 Peter 2:8), then imagine how much more must God have been.
Jesus made a surprising statement about Sodom when he rebuked certain unrepentant cities in Galilee: And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day (Matthew 11:23). The Lord reveals to us that Sodom could have avoided the rain of fire and brimstone if they would have repented. This point is hammered home when Peter later wrote, But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). God cares about the righteous, but He also cares about every soul.
Yes, God is rich in mercy (Ephesian 2:4). But God is also just, as Abraham said (Gen. 18:25), and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire (Jude 7b). May we, therefore, never presume on God's mercy, but let it motivate us to repentance if need be, and to live acceptably before Him, as Paul appealed to the Romans: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (Romans 12:1). But let His mercy also motivate us to behave in like manner toward our neighbors: But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful (Luke 6:35,36).
Brotherly, Jamie
