Judgement

17
Jan
2022

Why Did God Destroy Sodom?

Destroy Sodom

Why did God destroy Sodom? Here is the simple answer:

But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD. (Gen. 13:13 NKJV)

It really is just as simple as Genesis 13:13 says. The men of that city were great sinners and God will only tolerate so much. The question should not be why did God destroy Sodom, but how did He decide when it was time to destroy the city? To what depths of sin must a society sink before God takes action?

Point of no return

The Bible gives us clues that God delays His judgement until there is no hope that a society will turn away from their sin. A key verse in this regard is found in Genesis 15. This is the chapter where God formalized His covenant with Abraham. In a vision, God told Abraham that his descendants would sojourn in another land, but that they would ultimately return and take possession of the land of Canaan.

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Posted by Eddie Lawrence in Genesis, Judgement
01
Mar
2021

Dying You Shall Die

Dying You Shall Die

God gave Adam and Eve all the trees of the garden to eat from except for one. He told them they must not eat from one particular tree:

“16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”” (Gen. 2:16–17 ESV)

Of course, they did eat from the forbidden tree, but they did not die the day they ate from it. What’s going on here? Why didn’t they die on the day they ate? Did God say one thing and mean another? If God meant what He said, why did He let them off the hook? Wasn’t God’s penalty for eating from this tree capital punishment? 

There are three common interpretations that attempt to reconcile what God said would happen with what actually transpired. 

  1. Adam and Eve died immediately in the sense that they lost their immortality.
  2. Adam and Eve began the process of aging and dying.
  3. Adam and Eve died spiritually. 

I propose that none of these three explanations are correct and that God did indeed mean that He would enact judgement in the form of death on the very day they ate.

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Posted by Eddie Lawrence in Genesis, Grace, Judgement