Our Role in the Days of Sodom

 

Jesus spoke of a spiritual unawareness and indifference to the judgment of God, especially as His coming draws near:

"Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus it shall be in the day when the Son of man is revealed."   Lk. 17:28-30

Life went on as normal in Sodom, not acknowledging that utter destruction was about to fall.

The days we live in are very similar to the time of the destruction of Sodom-not only because we have followed after their sexual sins, but because our spiritual condition now is very much like theirs then:

"Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom (meaning "burning, conflagration"), pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and 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."   Ezek. 16:49-50

Since we can see how our current condition mirrors Sodom's, what is the role of the Church in these days?

First of all, not everyone is unaware of the real and present danger of impending judgment. The people of God are being warned by the prophetic voices and messengers that the LORD has placed in our midst, according to His specific promise and His foundational precepts:

"Surely the LORD God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the LORD God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?"  Amos 3:7-8

We see this exact principle in the example of Sodom. As the time grew near for Sodom's destruction, the LORD made it a point to appear to Abraham in the form of three men, as Abraham sat in the door of his tent in Mamre (meaning "strength, vigor, the effort needed to hasten one's self or lift one's self up) at the hottest time of the day. As was the custom of that time, Abraham offered these strangers his complete hospitality, and bowed himself to the ground as a servant before them. Abraham then hastened and ran to provide the men with every comfort (Gen. 18:1-8).
At the close of this prophetic visit, the strangers began their journey to Sodom, as Abraham led them on the way. The LORD then asks this question, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" (v. 17). The LORD told Abraham that He had heard the cry from Sodom and Gomorrah, and the grievous sin, and He had come to see for Himself the truth of their sinful condition. Abraham delayed the LORD, and began to intercede with Him, asking Him if He would destroy the righteous with the wicked. As Abraham continued to intercede, he obtained the LORD's agreement down to the presence of just ten righteous in the city. The whole wicked city would be spared if there were ten righteous within it (Gen. 18:23-32).
On the other end of the story, Abraham's nephew Lot ("covering, veil"), living in importance in Sodom, also received the visit of the strangers with the same hospitality that Abraham had shown them. When the strangers had told Lot that he and his whole household must leave Sodom immediately, Lot went to tell his sons-in-law. They treated the urgent news as a joke, and refused to leave with Lot (Gen. 19:14). Even Lot sought to delay leaving the city. When morning came, the angels tried to hasten Lot, lest he be consumed in the iniquity of the city. Lot and his immediate family lingered still, and had to be dragged out by the angels of the LORD (Gen. 19:15-16). He then argued with the angels about how far he should retreat from the doomed city!
Our prophetic voices, and our warning messengers are telling us in the Church, that the day is drawing near when we will see calamity come upon another, modern-day Sodom that is present around us. Our role, like Abraham, is the role of intercessor. The LORD stops at our tent doors to give us just this same opportunity to delay Him, and entreat Him. Others may mock, and continue going about their daily lives as usual, but we should heed the warning, and hasten to enter into intercession with the LORD. Some, like Lot, sit in comfort in the midst of Sodom, not stirring themselves to intercede. They also receive the warnings, and the benefits of the intercession of others, but they do not act upon them with the necessary urgency and obedience.
The LORD knew He could depend upon Abraham, and the promised descendants that Abraham would teach in the ways of the LORD (Gen. 18:19). Is the LORD, with this same confidence, also able to depend upon us with His urgent business? This is our role in these days of Sodom.

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Prayer of Intercession:
Heavenly Father, we reach out to touch Your arm, in order to intercede with You to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Wash us in Your Word, and in Your Spirit. Purify and sanctify us by the blood of the Lamb. You have called us to be the righteous whose presence preserves the city. You have promised us that if we, Your people, who are called by Your name, humble ourselves, pray, seek Your face, and turn from our wicked ways, You will hear from heaven, forgive us, and heal our land.
As the day draws near for the revealing of the Son of man, we, Your people, desire to stir ourselves up, and fulfill the role that You have for us in this generation. In Jesus' name, we bring this intercession to You. Amen.

Prayer of Salvation for all who desire to receive Jesus as their Savior:
Jesus, I want to know You as my Lord, and as my Savior, who covers my sins, and cleanses my heart. Come into my heart, and also fill me with the Holy Spirit, who will lead me into all truth, and will teach me how to follow You. I believe that You are the Son of God, the Messiah, that You were crucified for me, and rose from the dead to give me everlasting life. I believe that You are coming again. Lord Jesus, in Your name I believe, pray, and receive all of these things. Amen.



Behold, the Lamb of God!

                                                       

This time of year sees the world celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.
The Gospel of John opens with both a declaration and a depiction that reminds us of the purpose and identity of Jesus:
"The next day John (the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!...Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"                                                                             John 1:29-36

The New Testament also closes with both a declaration and depiction of Jesus as the Lamb of God. The angels, elders, and creatures of heaven are declaring loudly:
"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!"           Rev. 5:12

"Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready."                                  Rev. 19:7

"The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light."                               Rev. 21:23

The name of "Lamb" is given to Jesus because on Passover, He was the sacrifice for sin on the cross, and our Father's provision for our deliverance from death. He rose from the dead on the third day after Passover. His association with Passover has a deep importance for His acceptance by the Jewish people, as well as a contextual and spiritual meaning for Gentile people. God decreed the blood of the Passover lamb thousands of years ago in the Torah as He delivered His people from the bondage of the Egyptians. He revealed Passover's prophetic significance in the New Testament/Covenant with Jesus' death on the Passover feast. The term "Passover" in Hebrew includes the meaning of "a sacrifice made that provides a sparing immunity from penalty and calamity". Yet centuries ago, the Church, as a whole, made a decision to separate the sacrificial Lamb of God from the Passover, and instead to calculate the date of His death and the celebration of His Resurrection each year from the date of the Vernal Equinox, the arrival of spring.
This would be error enough, but in addition, by making this change, the Passover Lamb of God has become associated with the goddess Ishtar, with Easter becoming the name given to His day of resurrection. This day is celebrated with new spring outfits, elaborate bonnets, and with cartoonish depictions of bunnies and eggs. While these springtime activities seem harmless enough and pleasant, and provide "fun" for our children, the goddess Ishtar, was a vile, destructive creature. She was the Assyrian/Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sexual promiscuity. Those whom she chose to "love", were eventually reduced to slavery, and then destruction. Her worshippers would construct tabernacles, or booths (Succothbenoth), of idolatrous prostitution. In her various identities, depending upon the culture, she was considered the personification of the planet Venus. She was not just associated with carnality, but she also carried weapons of war.
Her legend also includes an account of her descent into the Underworld, that should give all Christians serious pause. Ishtar's plan was to violently storm the gates of the Underworld in order to bring the dead back to earth to kill and consume the living. It would be a counterfeit, demonic version of resurrection. Why would we, as Christians, want to be any part of that? Why would we want to associate our Savior with that?  In the beginning, this mixing of Jesus' greatest gift to us with pagan worship was a decision made by the Church that may even have been done with good intentions. However, man should not think that he can change and "improve upon" the will and word of God, especially regarding His beloved Son. Now the tradition is continued perhaps in ignorance. However God gives a strong warning in His word that His people are destroyed from their ignorance and lack of knowledge (Hos. 4:6).

If we remove Jesus, the Lamb, from the delivering power, timing, and deeply prophetic meaning of Passover, which was commanded by God to be taught to all our generations as an everlasting ordinance (Ex. 12:13-14), we lessen the meaning of His resurrection.

The Apostle Paul also exhorted the New Testament Church to observe the true meaning of the Passover:
"Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.                                    1 Cor. 5:7-8
 

If we associate Jesus' death and resurrection with a pagan goddess instead of the Passover, we have placed a barrier to faith and knowledge of Messiah before the Jewish person, and robbed the Gentile of the full meaning of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. We have created a spiritual mixture that does not bring the Lamb the glory He deserves. 
In past examples, as God's people mixed His name with the names of idols, He delivered them into the hands of their enemies, and they suffered the consequences as He removed them out of His sight (2 Kings 17 and 18). By continuing to manipulate the date of the Resurrection, and celebrate it as Easter, we do the same thing, creating the same mixture, by joining the sacred with the profane. 

Jesus certainly did not separate Himself from the Passover. On the night He was arrested:

"... He said unto them, "With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not anymore eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God."                                                        Lk. 22:15-16

With His suffering, death, and resurrection, Jesus fulfilled the Passover, as He, the Lamb of God, was purposed to do. Let us connect the Lamb again with the Passover in our understanding, and in our hearts. He desired and suffered so much to fulfill it on our behalf.

 



                                                                                   

                                             Above: Matza incl. Afikomen, Unity Bag, cup of wine  

                                                        

 

                                                      

                                                            Above: Seder plate with lamb shank

 

 



 

Above Depiction: Blood of the Passover Lamb applied to the doorposts and lintels