the law.” But genuine faith will be manifest in obedience. Said Christ to the
unbelieving Jews, “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of
Abraham.” John 8:39. And concerning the father of the faithful the Lord declares,
“Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes,
and My laws.” Genesis 26:5. Says the apostle James, “Faith, if it hath not works, is
dead, being alone.” James 2:17. And John, who dwells so fully upon love, tells us,
“This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” 1 John 5:3.
Through type and promise God “preached before the gospel unto Abraham.”
Galatians 3:8. And the patriarch’s faith was fixed upon the Redeemer to come. Said
Christ to the Jews. “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he should see My day; and he
saw it, and was glad.” John 8:56, R.V., margin. The ram offered in the place of Isaac
represented the Son of God, who was to be sacrificed in our stead. When man was
doomed to death by transgression of the law of God, the Father, looking upon his Son,
said to the sinner, “Live: I have found a ransom.”
It was to impress Abraham’s mind with the reality of the gospel, as well as to
test his faith, that God commanded him to slay his son. The agony which he endured
during the dark days of that fearful trial was permitted that he might understand from
his own experience something of the greatness of the sacrifice made by the infinite
God for man’s redemption. No other test could have caused Abraham such torture of
soul as did the offering of his son. God gave his Son to a death of agony and shame.
The angels who witnessed the humiliation and soul anguish of the Son of God were
not permitted to interpose, as in the case of Isaac. There was no voice to cry, “It is
enough.” To save the fallen race, the King of glory yielded up his life. What stronger
proof can be given of the infinite compassion and love of God? “he that spared not his
own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us
all things?” Romans 8:32.
The sacrifice required of Abraham was not alone for his own good, nor solely for
the benefit of succeeding generations; but it was also for the instruction of the sinless
intelligences of heaven and of other worlds. The field of the controversy between
Christ and Satan—the field on which the plan of redemption is wrought out—is the
lesson book of the universe. Because Abraham had
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shown a lack of faith in God’s promises, Satan had accused him before the angels and
before God of having failed to comply with the conditions of the covenant, and as
unworthy of its blessings. God desired to prove the loyalty of his servant before all
heaven, to demonstrate that nothing less than perfect obedience can be accepted, and
to open more fully before them the plan of salvation.
heavenly beings were witnesses of the scene as the faith of Abraham and the
submission of Isaac were tested. The trial was far more severe than that which
had been brought upon Adam. Compliance with the prohibition laid upon our first
parents involved no suffering, but the command to Abraham demanded the most
agonizing sacrifice. All heaven beheld with wonder and admiration Abraham’s
unfaltering obedience. All heaven applauded his fidelity. Satan’s accusations were
shown to be false. God declared to his servant, “Now I know that thou fearest
God [notwithstanding Satan’s charges], seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine
only son from Me.” God’s covenant, confirmed to Abraham by an oath before the
intelligences of other worlds, testified that obedience will be rewarded.
It had been difficult even for the angels to grasp the mystery of redemption—to
comprehend that the Commander of heaven, the Son of God, must die for guilty man.
When the command was given to Abraham to offer up his son, the interest of all
heavenly beings was enlisted. With intense earnestness they watched each step in the
fulfillment of this command. When to Isaac’s question, “Where is the lamb for a burnt
offering?” Abraham made answer, “God will provide himself a lamb;” and when the
father’s hand was stayed as he was about to slay his son, and the ram which God had
provided was offered in the place of Isaac—then light was shed upon the mystery of
redemption, and even the angels understood more clearly the wonderful provision that
God had made for man’s salvation. 1 Peter 1:12.
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Chap. 14 - Destruction of Sodom
This text is based on Genesis 19.
Fairest among the cities of the Jordan Valley was Sodom, set in a plain which was
“as the garden of the Lord” in its fertility and beauty. Here the luxuriant vegetation
of the tropics flourished. Here was the home of the palm tree, the olive, and the vine;
and flowers shed their fragrance throughout the year. Rich harvests clothed the fields,
and flocks and herds covered the encircling hills. Art and commerce contributed to
enrich the proud city of the plain. The treasures of the East adorned her palaces, and
the caravans of the desert brought their stores of precious things to supply her marts of
trade. With little thought or labor, every want of life could be supplied, and the whole
year seemed one round of festivity.
The profusion reigning everywhere gave birth to luxury and pride. Idleness and
riches make the heart hard that has never been oppressed by want or burdened by
sorrow. The love of pleasure was fostered by wealth and leisure, and the people
gave themselves up to sensual indulgence. “Behold,” says the prophet, “this was
the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness
was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and
needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before Me: therefore I
took them away as I saw good.” Ezekiel 16:49, 50. There is nothing more desired
among men than riches and leisure, and yet these gave birth to the sins that brought
destruction upon the cities of the plain. Their useless, idle life made them a prey to
Satan’s temptations, and they defaced the image of God, and became satanic rather
than divine. Idleness is the greatest curse that can fall upon man, for vice and crime
follow in its train. It enfeebles the mind, perverts the understanding, and debases the
soul. Satan lies in ambush, ready to destroy those who are
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unguarded, whose leisure gives him opportunity to insinuate himself under some
attractive disguise. He is never more successful than when he comes to men in their
idle hours.
In Sodom there was mirth and revelry, feasting and drunkenness. The vilest and
most brutal passions were unrestrained. The people openly defied God and his law
and delighted in deeds of violence. Though they had before them the example of
the antediluvian world, and knew how the wrath of God had been manifested in their
destruction, yet they followed the same course of wickedness.
At the time of Lot’s removal to Sodom, corruption had not become universal,
and God in his mercy permitted rays of light to shine amid the moral darkness. When
Abraham rescued the captives from the Elamites, the attention of the people was called
to the true faith. Abraham was not a stranger to the people of Sodom, and his worship
of the unseen God had been a matter of ridicule among them; but his victory over
greatly superior forces, and his magnanimous disposition of the prisoners and spoil,
excited wonder and admiration. While his skill and valor were extolled, none could
avoid the conviction that a divine power had made him conqueror. And his noble
and unselfish spirit, so foreign to the self-seeking inhabitants of Sodom, was another
evidence of the superiority of the religion which he had honored by his courage and
fidelity.
Melchizedek, in bestowing the benediction upon Abraham, had acknowledged
Jehovah as the source of his strength and the author of the victory: “Blessed be Abram
of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: and blessed be the most high
God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.” Genesis 14:19, 20. God was
speaking to that people by his providence, but the last ray of light was rejected as all
before had been.
And now the last night of Sodom was approaching. Already the clouds of
vengeance cast their shadows over the devoted city. But men perceived it not. While
angels drew near on their mission of destruction, men were dreaming of prosperity
and pleasure. The last day was like every other that had come and gone. Evening fell
upon a scene of loveliness and security. A landscape of unrivaled beauty was bathed in
the rays of the declining sun. The coolness of eventide had called forth the inhabitants
of the
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city, and the pleasure-seeking throngs were passing to and fro, intent upon the
enjoyment of the hour.
In the twilight two strangers drew near to the city gate. They were apparently
travelers coming in to tarry for the night. None could discern in those humble
wayfarers the mighty heralds of divine judgment, and little dreamed the gay, careless
multitude that in their treatment of these heavenly messengers that very night they
would reach the climax of the guilt which doomed their proud city. But there was
one man who manifested kindly attention toward the strangers and invited them to
his home. Lot did not know their true character, but politeness and hospitality were
habitual with him; they were a part of his religion—lessons that he had learned from
the example of Abraham. Had he not cultivated a spirit of courtesy, he might have
been left to perish with the rest of Sodom. Many a household, in closing its doors
against a stranger, has shut out God’s messenger, who would have brought blessing
and hope and peace.
Every act of life, however small, has its bearing for good or for evil. Faithfulness
or neglect in what are apparently the smallest duties may open the door for life’s
richest blessings or its greatest calamities. It is little things that test the character. It
is the unpretending acts of daily self-denial, performed with a cheerful, willing heart,
that God smiles upon. We are not to live for self, but for others. And it is only by
self-forgetfulness, by cherishing a loving, helpful spirit, that we can make our life
a blessing. The little attentions, the small, simple courtesies, go far to make up the
sum of life’s happiness, and the neglect of these constitutes no small share of human
wretchedness.
Seeing the abuse to which strangers were exposed in Sodom, Lot made it one of
his duties to guard them at their entrance, by offering them entertainment at his own
house. He was sitting at the gate as the travelers approached, and upon observing
them, he rose from his place to meet them, and bowing courteously, said, “Behold
now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night.”
They seemed to decline his hospitality, saying, “Nay; but we will abide in the street.”
Their object in this answer was twofold—to test the sincerity of Lot and also to appear
ignorant of the character of the men of Sodom, as if they supposed it safe to remain in
the street at night. Their answer
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made Lot the more determined not to leave them to the mercy of the rabble. He pressed
his invitation until they yielded, and accompanied him to his house.
he had hoped to conceal his intention from the idlers at the gate by bringing the
strangers to his home by a circuitous route; but their hesitation and delay, and his
persistent urging, caused them to be observed, and before they had retired for the night,
a lawless crowd gathered about the house. It was an immense company, youth and
aged men alike inflamed by the vilest passions. The strangers had been making inquiry
in regard to the character of the city, and Lot had warned them not to venture out of
his door that night, when the hooting and jeers of the mob were heard, demanding that
the men be brought out to them.
Knowing that if provoked to violence they could easily break into his house, Lot
went out to try the effect of persuasion upon them. “I pray you, brethren,” he said, “do
not so wickedly,” using the term “brethren” in the sense of neighbors, and hoping to
conciliate them and make them ashamed of their vile purposes. But his words were
like oil upon the flames. Their rage became like the roaring of a tempest. They mocked
Lot as making himself a judge over them, and threatened to deal worse with him than
they had purposed toward his guests. They rushed upon him, and would have torn him
in pieces had he not been rescued by the angels of God. The heavenly messengers
“put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.” The
events that followed, revealed the character of the guests he had entertained. “They
smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great:
so that they wearied themselves to find the door.” Had they not been visited with
double blindness, being given up to hardness of heart, the stroke of God upon them
would have caused them to fear, and to desist from their evil work. That last night was
marked by no greater sins than many others before it; but mercy, so long slighted, had
at last ceased its pleading. The inhabitants of Sodom had passed the limits of divine
forbearance—“the hidden boundary between God’s patience and his wrath.” The fires
of his vengeance were about to be kindled in the vale of Siddim.
The angels revealed to Lot the object of their mission: “We will destroy this place,
because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath
sent us to destroy