A year before Isaac was born, the One who later became Jesus, came to visit Abraham and Sarah, as a human with two angels looking like men as well. (Genesis 18:1-2)

Abraham and Sarah prepared a fine meal and made the 3 men feel welcome to their home.

After the meal the men told Abraham and Sarah they would have their son Isaac born within a year.

They also told them they were going to see the people in Sodom to see if they were so wicked, that God might need to destroy them.

This worried Abraham, who was concerned for the life of his nephew Lot and his family, who lived in Sodom. Lot should never have gone back to Sodom with his family, after Abraham had saved him from captivity.

“So it was, that the lot around Lot’s lot had become a bad lot”, says Grandad.

Abraham was wise and respectful, so he asked: “If you find 50 good people there, will you spare Sodom from destruction?”

Jesus answered that He would spare it, if there were 50 faithful people to God.

Abraham continued to ask respectfully: “What if you find only 45, or 40, or 30 or 20 or only 10 good people?”

Jesus said He would save Sodom if only 10 faithful people to God, were there. (Genesis 18:23-33)

Jesus sent his 2 men on to Sodom where they found Lot, who invited them home for a meal. (Genesis 19:1, 2 Peter 2:7-8)  

They peacefully enjoyed a “feast” meal with unleavened bread, so this could have been during God’s Holy Days of Unleavened Bread. (Leviticus 23:6-8)

After their meal, as they were getting ready to go to bed for the night, a large crowd of evil people gathered outside Lot’s home, They demanded that he release his 2 male visitors, so they could party and do evil things with them. (Genesis 19:3-4)

Even though Lot was a faithful man to God, he was affected by bad thinking, from the wicked society of Sodom he lived in.  So, Lot wrongfully offered his 2 young daughters to the evil crowd, in place of the 2 men (who were angelic messengers from God).

That was just too much for the 2 men, so they pulled Lot back inside his home, shut the door and then God gave them the power to blind the crowd, so they couldn’t find Lot’s door, and kept stumbling over each other, like blind fools.

The 2 angelic messengers then told Lot to hastily find his 2 prospective son in laws who were betrothed to be married to his 2 daughters, because God was going to destroy Sodom.

Lot ran to them and pleaded with them to flee with the rest of his family. But, his betrothed sons in laws just laughed at Lot, and would not go. (Genesis 19:14, Josephus, Vulgate, Keil & Deilitzsch Bible Commentary)

“Lot was vexed”, says Nanna. "His good was mixed with evil.”  (2 Peter 2:7-8)

“Too true.  We need to be careful that we don’t see the evil customs and things of this world as being good”, says Grandad. (Isaiah 5:20)

Just before sunrise the 2 angelic messengers said: “Arise! Take your wife and your 2 daughters and flee Sodom, immediately!”

But Lot lingered, because his thinking was wrong and was affected badly by the comfortable, but wicked satanic way of the world he lived in.

So the 2 messengers grabbed the hands of Lot and his wife and his 2 daughters and pulled them out of their home and then along the streets, to the outside the city of Sodom. (Genesis 19:16)

There, they told Lot to flee to the mountains, and do not look back, but he argued with them that he wanted to go to the little city of Zoar and not the mountains. 

So God mercifully allowed them to flee to Zoar, as long as they did not look back to Sodom or the other evil city of Gomorrah, which God was now destroying with fire from heaven. (Jude 1:7)

Sadly, Lot’s wife disobeyed God and looked back, and she was instantly turned into a pillar of salt.

Lot finally learned to have deeper respect for God and left Zoar, to live in a cave in the mountains with his 2 daughters. (Genesis 19:30)

Meanwhile Abraham, in the mountain place where Abraham prayed each morning to God, watched the terrible flames flashing from heaven, destroying the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. (Genesis 19:27-29, 2 Peter 2:6)

Abraham gave thanks to God, that even though there weren’t even 10 faithful people, as he had bargained for in Sodom, God had mercifully saved even 3 people alive.  Lot and his 2 daughters. (Luke 17:29)

Of course death is no barrier to God.

“God is also very loving and merciful, and do you know what God is going to do for those people who died in Sodom and Gomorrah, our child?” says Grandad.

God is going to resurrect them back to physical life once again, in the 2^nd Resurrection, at the end of the 1,000 years of Christ’s rule on this Earth with His faithful people of the 1^stResurrection. (Revelation 20:6 “the rest of the dead lived…”)

The people of Sodom and Gomorrah will be given a period of time to live once again, and to come to know and love the true God, our Father and Jesus Christ, His Son. (Matthew 11:23-24, Mark 6:11, Luke 10:12)

During the 2^ndResurrection judgment time, when they repent of their sins of breaking God’s laws, God will give grace to them and forgive them. (1 John 3:4, 1 John 1:9)

They will then need to show to God, during that 2^ndResurrection period of time, that their repentance is genuine, by loving God and living by God’s Commandments, laws, statutes, ordinances, precepts, principles, judgments and by God’s Word.

Then God in His love, will allow them to be in his Family, just like Abraham and Sarah and Lot (who finally learned to turn away from the world of Satan and follow God with more respect). (2 Corinthians 6:17-18, Ephesians 3:15, 1 John 3:1-3)

“Isn’t it better for us now, to learn to love God and to respectfully live God’s right way of life, rather than be like the wicked people of Sodom, who rebelled against God and God’s Way of life?” says Nanna.

How much better off Lot would have been, if only he had lived with his family, like Abraham and Sarah, away from these evil cities, with their bad customs, pagan festivals, and wicked ways.

“The lesson for all of us, is that even though Lot was a faithful man of God, he failed to use wisdom, and he made some bad decisions to live amongst worldly sinning people who did not love and follow God”, says Grandad.

God is good. God is kind. God is merciful. God is generous. The closer we are to our loving God, the better life is for us.

To be continued with Chapter 9...