Sodom

 Ecclesiastes 1:9
That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.

 There is a theme running throughout the Scriptures which says…

 “What happened before will happen again.”

The first time it happens is a shadow or picture of the second time it happens. And the second time always takes place on a much grander scale than the first.

The first and second coming of Jesus is the most obvious example and there are many others including the Temple, Solomon, Elijah and Jonah who were all shadows or pictures of Jesus who was to come.

Luke 17:28-30
“It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.”

The destruction of Sodom is a shadow or picture of the destruction of Babylon which will happen just prior to the return of Jesus.

Genesis 18:20
And the LORD said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.”

Revelation 17:4, 5
The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

The Babylon of Revelation is the Sodom of Genesis only on a much grander scale.

And what will happen to God’s Elect - the Lord’s people - those of us who believe that Jesus is the Messiah - when Babylon is destroyed?

Genesis 19:15, 16
When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the LORD was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city.

Revelation 18:4, 5
I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.”

Angels were sent into Sodom to rescue Lot and his family before Sodom was destroyed - they brought him out, and put him outside the city.

Mark 13:27
“And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.”

1 Thessalonians 4:17
Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

Revelation 14:14-16
Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Lot is a picture or shadow of the Elect (you and me) and we will be spared the destruction of Babylon just as Lot was spared the destruction of Sodom. The angels will gather together His elect and we will meet the Lord in the air.

And not only will we be put outside the city and meet the Lord in the air but we will attend the marriage supper of the Lamb while the destruction of Babylon takes place on earth…

Revelation 19:9
Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”


So…

Will you be put outside the city?

Will you be invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb?
NOTE: The motivation that the Lord had for saving Lot was that His compassion was upon Lot. And the same compassion that the Lord had for Lot He has for you and me.