As it was in the days of Sodom, homosexuality is prevalent in contemporary society…by God’s ’letting.’ The reprobate practice is not new…..but came into the world in the heart of Lucifer. But whether in early Sodom or in Sodom of today…the Christian response must be the same as that of Lot. The Genesis 19 record shows the fruit of love in Lot’s gentle response to the homosexuals who would rape the angels sent from God. The record focuses on the real agape love which is the visible fruit of a heart regenerated like unto that of Christ.
Those who believe the Bible are familiar with *(Romans 1:26 ‘ For this cause God GAVE THEM UP unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO A REPROBATE MIND, to do those things which are not
Lot delivered out of Sodom's destruction.
convenient; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents 31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION, implacable, unmerciful: 32 Who KNOWING THE JUDGEMENT OF GOD, knowing that those who commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them who do the same.’
Genesis 19: 1 begins the account of the last reprobate act of evil in Sodom. Reprobate …because as is always the case, evil is attempting to violate the innocent. News of the arrival of the two angels sent from God and who were at Lot’s house…spread quickly throughout the city. The Biblical record affirms that the ‘roving ‘ band of homosexual men came to Lot’s house for the specific purpose of ‘knowing’ the innocents of God. Yet in the face of such depravity, Lot did not accuse, rant, rave, nor
Delivered 'in the twinkling of an eye.'.
condemn the band of men. Instead, he offered them his two virgin daughters and gently pleaded, ‘do not do this wicked’. But the vile band, driven by their father’s violent hatred for things pure…while attempting to break down the door to rape the angels….were smitten with blindness to prevent the evil act.. The main point of the Genesis record is not homosexuality and its degenerative and progressive evil….but the main focus is the POWER AND PURPOSE OF GOD’S LOVE IN THE HUMAN HEART……..and the behavior/fruits of that Love…in all circumstances.
During the depraved and violent event..Lot’s concern and grief was not for himself….nor for his daughters since they were safe in God. His compassion was for those who had damned themselves. Lot’s heart could NOT rant, rave, accuse, …nor damn…because his heart did not practice ‘judgement’ . He saw the reprobate men for what they were…creation of God who had made the deadly and deliberate choice to serve sin and death. Who could rant and rave against the damned…especially while knowing they are forever separated from Life. I believe Lot felt the same awe…the same ‘silence’ of heart… recorded in the Seventh Seal of Rev. 12:1….’and there was silence in heaven for the space of half an hour’. In the verse all of heaven is paused in extreme ‘silence’…a space in time which cannot be described…only felt. The last space in measured time..’half an hour’…where all of heaven grieves over the impending and eternal doom of those who have chosen sin and death….those men and women who will bear eternal consequences of their evil…. the plaques of the Seven Trumps and Seven Vials contained in the Seventh Seal.
Within the traditions of American Christendom, Satan deceives and compels many to war against evil….though God compels Christians to ‘turn the other cheek’…according to Lot’s example. In California during the many events about legalizing same-sex marriages,… Christians and homosexuals engaged in hateful and sometimes violent confrontational assemblies. Perpetrators of hate, such as those of Westboro Baptist Church, came out of the woodwork as ‘transformed angels of light’…with posters screaming hate! Nowhere in the Bible does it give the children of God permission to spew judgement and wrath against the enemy. ALL judgement is left to God…for good reason…..since He alone can know a heart….and He alone…has the power to dispense sin’s penalty…DEATH. God has ordained man’s national and local government for the ‘good’ of the people…and to dispense ‘wrath’ against its lawbreakers. But the soul …wherein life resides…is accountable only to God.
Matthew chapter five reminds ‘resist not evil, turn the other cheek, if a man takes your coat…give him your overcoat also, if a man asks you to go a mile…go two, give to him that asketh, lend to those who need to borrow, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them which dispitefully use you…and persecute you….’That ye might be the children of your father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth his rain on the just and on the unjust. Matt 5:45.’
A second perfect example of agape behavior against evil is the record of Jude 1:9 which records a ‘contention’ between Michael the archangel and Lucifer as they resolved conflict over the body of Moses (the ‘contention’ allowed only to teach and remind man of God’s power over Lucifer’s); ”Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.’ A third example of Godly compassion for the damned ….Mark 5: 9-13 … records Christ’s gentle but authoritative encounter with the evil spirits named Legion who possessed the man among the tombs. Legion requested that Christ not send them out of the country….but that they he send them into the herd of two thousand swine on the hillside. A deep Truth about Life and Death is glimpsed through the event about ’why’ Legion requested to enter the swine.
The whole of scripture uses natural things to reveal or make known spiritual truths. One such ‘natural’ thing is water to represent or explain spiritual Life. As water is necessary for physical life…spiritual water through Christ is necessary for spiritual Life. Just as Christ represents the extreme fulness of ‘water of Life’…so, too, does Lucifer represent the extreme fulness of ‘the dry places.’ (Mt. 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.) Understanding that ’dryness’ is representative of evil and its vile desolation, death, and absence of anything ‘alive’…one can better have compassion for those who have damned themselves to its confines. Also…one can better understand why the damned spirits continually seek or desire water… life……KNOWING they will never find it. The Christ who is LOVE…could do nothing else ….out of His heart of compassion…than to grant the request of Legion…and allow them the small comfort of the swine. Of course…since the nature of the damned is always fully destructive and self-serving….Legion drove the herd of swine into the ‘water’….where they drowned. How very sad….spiritual death… ultimate ’dryness’…and its combustible fire of hell. A last example of how followers of Christ are to treat evil is recorded in Christ’s rebuke of Satan’s influence in Peter.
As the time is nearing for Christ’s descent into the vile and horrible terror of Death, Christ begins to discuss it with the disciples. Deceived into thinking the thoughts are his own…Peter grabs hold of Christ and fervently rebukes Him about the death He will die….saying, ‘…be it far from thee, Lord: this shall NOT be unto thee. Mt 16:22.’ Recognizing Satan’s plea through Peter, Christ rebukes the evil…rather than the ‘flesh and blood’…saying, ‘….get behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Matt 16:23.’ God’s Word is endowed with evidence that LOVE is capable of loving the wicked, the damned, those who are the greatest examples of the ‘unlovely.’ Thus Lots response to the roving band of homosexual men…bent on devouring the innocents…who themselves were likely Legion in an earlier time… is not at all surprising and is actually EVIDENCE of Lot’s RIGHTEOUSNESS…evidence of his worthiness to escape destruction of the wicked.
Some years ago during my methods courses while obtaining an education degree, I met the following phrase, “NOTHING RINGS MORE LOUDLY THAN A WORD SOFTLY SPOKEN.’ I was touched by the truth of the phrase that I kept it in a notebook…along with other morsels of wisdom which I passed along to student educators who crossed my path. ‘NOTHING RINGS MORE LOUDLY THAN A WORD SOFTLY SPOKEN’ is another way of affirming the character of true and genuine LOVE.
Matt 22:37 ‘Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’
Matt 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
John 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the WORD that I have spoken, the same shall JUDGE him in the last day.
A good word ‘in season’…nice!
irishanglican…thanks for visiting. Nice to hear from you.