One righteous man

Contextualisation

You have probably heard, somewhere, somehow, something about Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities are known for their sins in the Bible.

But is the Czech Republic any better? Are we any better?

A couple of weeks ago I read something in the newspaper about child prostitution on the border of the Czech Republic, I heard pastor speak about methamphetamine usage and drugs abuse in Ceske Budejovice, when I walk on the streets I see how people are living and treat each other. We aren’t any better!

And when we go one layer deeper, we ourselves aren’t any better. Our wicked thoughts, acts and speech are most of the time not any better than that of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.

God will punish the cities for their sins. But the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah are not limited to those two cities. There are actually five cities, together called: the cities of the plain. You have Sodom and Gomorrah in the North, Zoar in the middle and two others in the South. All of them are known of their sins.

One righteous man

Lot, Abraham’s nephew, lives in Sodom and two angels give him a warning about the upcoming disaster. Lot flees to Zoar, the city that is located in the middle. And then we read in Gen 19:29:

Genesis 19:29 NKJV

29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.

All the cities of the plain are destroyed (Deut 29:23), with the exception of Zoar, the city where Lot fled to. How is this possible? The city that is literally in the middle is spared, while everything around it is destroyed by raining of fire and brimstone. This has to be a miracle! But why? Because one righteous man (2 Pet 2:7), Lot, enters the city of Zoar, the entire city is spared.

We are like Zoar, we deserve the same punishment as the cities around us. We did not behave any better, we did not earn the right to be spared. But because of the entering of One righteous man into our life, we are saved from destruction. Jesus Christ.

The only right response would be thanksgiving. This, we can do by worshipping Him who is righteous. And one way of doing this is giving ourselves, our time, and our finances.