The Marriage Supper of the Lamb

Rev 19:6  Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Rev 19:7  Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; Rev 19:8  it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure"— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. Rev 19:9  And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God."

Throughout the Bible God’s people are compared to a bride and the Lord Jesus Christ as our husband.  In the above text we see that the fulfillment of our relationship to the Lord is yet future when we are brought to him without any remaining sin so that we might commune with him and enjoy him perfectly. 

On the one hand we are taught that only those clothed in the garments he supplies will be admitted, Mat 22:11  "But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment.  Mat 22:12  And he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless.  We know that this is the imputed righteousness of Christ given to us so that we are acceptable to a holy God.

On the other hand we are told to be preparing ourselves for our wedding day; to clean up and put on clothes befitting the wife of the Lord.  We see this in vs. 8 above.  As we said the marriage relationship is used from the very beginning to describe the church’s relationship with Jesus and so it is fitting that Revelation shows its fulfillment.

In 19:2 the picture is that of a husband who has defeated those who are trying to defile and destroy his wife, Rev 19:2  for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants."    All that has tried to cause us to be unfaithful to the Lord will finally be gone forever.  The entire plan of redemption has finally come to pass and God has shown himself to be sovereign and gracious and worthy of all praise.  We also see another contrast in that while the marriages and relationships of this world have ended, for the saint the greatest relationship is just beginning.

All this is in keeping with the way the Jews normally arranged a marriage.  The first step was to be betrothed or engaged in which the terms of the marriage were made and announced.  From this point on they were considered man and wife though the relationship was not yet consummated; they live apart.  During this time the husband would pay the dowry to the bride’s father which was sometimes services rendered.  I liken that to the church being promised to the Son from eternity; in this case it was definitely an arranged marriage, so at some point the dowry was to be “paid”.  “From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride, with his own blood he bought her, and for her life he died.”  Someone has said that the entire OT announces the betrothal and when Jesus came the first time the betrothal took place and we are in the waiting interval.

Next, according to custom, on the day of the marriage supper (ceremony) the groom would come to the bride’s house with friends and take her home and they would have a wedding feast which could last for days.  Is that not what we are waiting for and what the text refers to?  Is not the church, the bride of Christ, waiting for him to come and take us back to his house that we might dwell together as we were purposed to live so long ago? 

But verse 8 should not be overlooked, “it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure"— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”   During this time we are to be adorning ourselves with that which would be pleasing to our husband just like a normal bride would, Rev 7:14  I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  Whatever good works we clothe ourselves in it is because they are washed in the blood of the Lamb.  Whatever righteous things we do it is due to the grace of God but fix ourselves up we must.  What would we say of a bride who didn’t try to look attractive to her husband?  In this picture the bride is in her wedding dress waiting for her groom to come get her.  Wouldn’t she make sure to keep her dress white and if it gets dirty to keep it washed? 

We must be careful of using grace to defile ourselves.  Tit 2:11  For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, Tit 2:12  training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, Tit 2:13  waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, Tit 2:14  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Paul tells us in that the grace shown to us in salvation is to make us a perfect bride for the Lord.  Yet sometimes some who call themselves Christians think that they can live for this world and be unfaithful to the One who has already paid our dowry!  In the text in Titus Paul even seems to make an allusion to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in 13-14.  He bought us to be a faithful wife to him, not to give ourselves to the illicit lover of this world. 

It is no accident that immediately preceding Rev. 19 we read of the destruction of this world which is likened to a prostitute.  This motif is laid out throughout the Word so that we are without any excuse to live for this world.  We are betrothed to Christ and our wedding day is fast approaching.  Let us be busy preparing ourselves for that day by removing from our lives anything that dishonors him, 1Jn 3:3  And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Clothed in Someone Else's Clothes

Gen 27:15  Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.

Gen 27:16  And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck….

Gen 27:21  Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not."

Gen 27:22  So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."

Gen 27:23  And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him….

Gen 27:27  So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said, "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed!

There is something in this account that reminds me of my own salvation.  By birth Jacob was not to inherit the blessing; this belonged to his elder brother Esau.  Esau was not only the first born but his father's favorite particularly because Esau cooked a wild game dish that Isaac loved.  Knowing that God had ordained, before they were born, that Jacob was to receive the blessing of the firstborn his mother Rebekah cooks up a rather elaborate plan to trick Isaac into giving Jacob the blessing. 

As the verses above tell us, Jacob gets his father’s blessing by dressing up in Esau’s clothes and making himself feel and smell like Esau and bringing him a meal that tasted like something Esau would have cooked.  One can’t help being reminded that this was the only way that we are accepted by our Heavenly Father.  We must be clothed in righteousness not our own but his.  He receives us based on his love for the Son so that now when he sees us he sees the righteousness of his Beloved Son.  If we come in the righteousness that we are born with, we would be cast out because we are by nature children of wrath.  

The Bible often uses this motif to illustrate this “substitution”.  Isa 61:10  I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Mat 22:11  "But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. Mat 22:12  And he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless.

Eze 16:8  "When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine.

Now some might object with this by saying that they are uncomfortable using Jacob’s deception as a type of our coming to the Father through the righteousness of another; after all we don’t trick the Father; it is his plan all along.  But I see this as an illustration and nothing more and in my mind probably an illustration that God intended by allowing things to work out the way they do.

The OT is full of some rather unsavory accounts all given to teach us about Christ and his work and his people.  I have asked myself why did God cause Jacob to get the blessing this particular way?  Why this sordid account of a wife and son deceiving Isaac and not just have Esau die or accepting the fact that he had given up his birthright earlier so that Jacob would not need to trick his father?  Maybe the answer is that this gives us such a stark illustration of how without being clothed in Jesus’ righteousness we have no hope to approach the Father.  

Hey, if you are uncomfortable saying that out loud, that is fine with me.  But either way it illustrates the way we are saved nonetheless and causes me to rejoice in the glory of the gospel of grace and I hope it does you too.

The Ultimate Answer to Every Question

Rev 12:7  Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back.

Don Carson makes a great point while dealing with chapter 12 in Revelation and I thought I would pass some of it along.  This chapter begins the second major section in the book which gives us a behind the scenes look at the spiritual world which helps us understand what is going on in the physical realm.  I chose vs. 7 because it speaks directly of the war in the spiritual realm and how that affects things on the earth. 

It is essential for Christians to keep in mind that there is more to this world and life than just what they can see and feel.  One way to see this is by pointing out that for every question that has ever been asked from the beginning of time there is always two answers; and this gets back to what Carson said.  If you asked me why I have blue eyes we could answer that it is because of my parent's genes and go into all the biological explanations for how some genes are dominant and others are recessive. 

If we asked how is it that Hitler was able to rise to power in Germany there are plenty of historians who could explain all the politics of the time and the moral vacuum in Europe after WWI, etc.  If someone asked how is it that Jesus came to be crucified one could speak of the political intrigue in Judea at the time and how crucifixion was the form of punishment for sedition, etc.

But on one hand those are all surface level explanations.  At best they are secondary causes but there is a more important and fundamental answer to all questions and that is, “Because God did it”.  The first answer is the means by which he accomplishes his will.  And it is extremely important for us to never approach any question in life or any event or circumstance by merely being satisfied with the first answer.  I would say that if we don’t understand the second answer, the first explanation really doesn’t matter.  If we make everything about the physical world we end up dismissing God and the spiritual as if they don’t matter.

It is how the world lives to only look at surface level explanations for everything and there are two fundamental sins that result in this.  First of all, to look at this world by only being concerned with the secondary causes you have no reason or opportunity to give God glory or thanksgiving in everything.  If I am able to get a better job and I don’t acknowledge God as being behind it, then I might boast on my abilities or how lucky I was but I sin in the most fundamental way by not acknowledging that God is behind the supply of every need I have.  To rob God of the glory he is due is just another reason why we are all born deserving of his wrath.

Secondly, when we only acknowledge the physical realm we assume that there is no higher purpose than our physical needs and this causes us to demean the purpose of everything from something that is to be used to serve the Lord in the Kingdom of God to using everything to serve man.  So, for instance, someone discovers a cure for a deadly disease and it is used to save lives but the lost can see no higher purpose than saving human life whereas they should want to save human life so that those humans can serve the Lord.  It always ends up making man the highest purpose for everything.  (To be honest, there are plenty of people out there who see animals and the planet as more important than human life but that is another subject)

This again is one of the worst sins mankind is capable of because not only do they not give God glory but they don’t even acknowledge him as the ultimate reason for all things and in most cases don’t acknowledge him at all. 

So for us saints it is imperative that we never look at anything only as how it affects us or as if it was just a coincidence or as if there is anything that really has no meaning or purpose.  We must always understand that God is behind everything, the good and the bad, the painful and the pleasant because there is nothing that happens apart from his eternal counsels.  Even when the wicked rebel against his revealed will, it is merely because he has allowed it to serve his eternal purposes.  This will cause us to worship him in faith and thanksgiving and also cause us to use everything as an opportunity to serve him and not just ourselves and it will certainly help stop us from complaining about the providential workings of the Lord.

Aaron's Rod That Budded

Num 17:8  On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. Num 17:9  Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the LORD to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff. Num 17:10  And the LORD said to Moses, "Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die."

The occasion that brought about Aaron’s rod that budded is one of the most tragic in all the years of Israel’s wilderness journey.  It begins in chapter 16 where the sons of Korah decide that they are just as holy as Moses and Aaron and should be able to be priests also even though they were not of Aaron’s line but instead only from Levi.  They served as Levi’s but were not priests.  We can hear their arrogance in Num 16:3  They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, "You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?" 

There are two problems with their attitude.  First of all they have no regard for the God ordained authority in their lives.  This is something I have seen over and over again in my years of ministry.  People, both men and women but usually men, who decide that they are as qualified as those ordained into the ministry and called by the church to lead  because they cannot submit to God’s way of doing things.  But the men of Korah’s problem was that God had already chosen a leader and priest and so whether they could do the job or not was not the issue.  In rebelling against Moses and Aaron they were in direct opposition to God.  They tell Moses and Aaron that they have “gone too far” in taking upon themselves the leadership roles which of course was not true as Moses tried to get out of it but the Lord made it clear that he and Aaron were the men to do this work.  Moses later turns it around and tells them that in fact they have gone too far in usurping the authority that God had ordained.

The second issue here is that they were challenging the typology of the priests under the Old Covenant.  Two hundred fifty of these self-ordained leaders brought their own censors to burn incense before the Lord at the Tabernacle which was something reserved only for the priests.  So over the next couple of days the Lord deals with these rebels by swallowing up the men and their families and their possessions.  Their rebellion had destroyed their families as well.  I have seen this also when men who feel they must be the sole authority in their own life and cannot submit to the church and certainly their wives cannot submit to the elders of the church so take them away that they can be their own “priests” for their families and rule them in their arrogance.  Often they destroy any healthy spiritual atmosphere.

The next day we see that even watching the earth swallow up all these people isn’t enough of a warning for some.  The congregation accuses their leaders of killing the people of Korah as if it was Moses and Aaron and not the Lord that opened up the earth and sent fire down to consume the rest.  The influence of the malcontents has rubbed off on them and the Lord almost destroys them all but stops through Moses’s intercession.

And so in chapter 17 God proves once and for all that Aaron and his family alone is to be priests by having leaders of all the tribes bring their walking sticks and lay them up before the Tabernacle and the one that buds the next day is to be considered proof that that family alone is to be the priests. 

It is here that we see how all this points to the importance of the type of the High Priest.  It has always been a temptation for some to think that they can come before God and do the work of atonement and intercession on their own.  But Act 4:12 says, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."  Just as God said only Aaron was to be the High Priest so Jesus was proclaimed to be the only savior.  The budding rod shows why Jesus alone is our Redeemer.  We are all dead in trespasses and sin but only One was sinless and died and came back to life and that was Jesus Christ.  Just as there was only one rod that had life in it so Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. 

There were three objects placed in the Ark: the tables of stone, the bowl of manna and Aaron’s rod that budded.  It wasn’t the stone tablets first given to Moses as he broke them to symbolize the people breaking the Law even as they were being given.  This was the second copy which speaks of Jesus perfectly obeying the Law when we could not.  He is also the heavenly manna, the Bread of Life come down from Heaven.  And the rod speaks of his identity as the only High Priest. 

It is a tragic sin to reject any authority that God ordains but when you reject the One ordained from all eternity to take your place under the judgment of God, you “go too far” and you have only the judgment of God to look forward to.  May the Lord give us hearing ears to understand and obey his Word.

We are Either a Jacob or an Esau

Gen 25:29  Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. Gen 25:30  And Esau said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!" (Therefore his name was called Edom.) Gen 25:31  Jacob said, "Sell me your birthright now." Gen 25:32  Esau said, "I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?"

Gen 25:33  Jacob said, "Swear to me now." So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Gen 25:34  Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

I find this account very interesting in that it puts before us two types of people.  One can make a case that the Bible contrasts these two types throughout its pages.  In this case we have Jacob who is concerned for his future and does what he can to secure it and Esau who lives for immediate satisfaction with no regard to his distant future.  He is like the worldling who lives for the next “fix” or pleasure.  They will do anything to have it and will sell their own souls to get it.  Implicit in the text is that the birthright isn’t just concerned with their inheritance from their father Isaac but their connection to the Messiah and ultimately their salvation.

Notice some things in the above verses.  In vs. 30 Esau models an example for us that we must be careful to reject.  A Christian is to be moderate in all things so that nothing holds such power over us that we cannot serve God.  It would appear Esau was not used to saying no to himself.  He could have eaten a lot cheaper if he had waited a few minutes.  The writer of Hebrews bears this out when he states that Esau sold his birthright for a single meal.  His lack of discipline is amazing in that he didn’t even take the time to compare the value of one meal with his natural and spiritual inheritance.  But how many do this today?  For a fleeting moment of pleasure they will trade their family, job, and even their souls.  It is an investment in which there is no return.  The name Edom was a derogatory name which means red.  For some red stew he sold his inheritance.  It is foolish to live for that which you cannot take with you.

In vs. 32 we see his lack of control and rashness by him overstating his condition.  We should be careful of overstatement.  He was not about to die.  We sometimes use similar phrases, “I am starving to death”, “It was the worst thing that ever happened to me”, “I hate him”; “I love that more than anything”.  It is a sinful flaw in us when we overstate the importance of temporal things.  Even if he was about to die he shows his disregard for the promises made to his grandfather concerning the coming Savior.  When we Christians use such over statements we are in a sense denying our faith; certainly our faith in the Lord.  Such temporal things are not the “worst” thing that ever happened to us; we are not to love temporal things that much.  How different are the glorified saints in Revelation described, Rev_12:11  And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

Christianity is not putting the flesh first but our God; it is not being rash, uncontrolled and overly emotional and unthinking but bringing every thought captive to Christ.  Notice vs. 34, once he gets his fix, he is off again like nothing happened.  What a cheap price for his inheritance.  How animalistic; how ungodly; how sad is his life.  It is one of the saddest verses in the Bible.

I mentioned that the Bible contrasts these two types of people throughout its pages; those that live for eternity with God and those that live for the momentary, passing pleasures of sin.  We see this in Revelation 13.  In that chapter there are those that worship the Lamb who was slain and those that worship the Beast who slays.  Of the first group we read, Rev 13:9  If anyone has an ear, let him hear: Rev 13:10  If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.  Earlier Jesus tells those who will not love their lives unto death but instead live for eternity, Rev 2:7  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.'  Jesus says in chapter 13 that the suffering for living for the future and not the immediate is going to come and so it is a call to persevere.  We only need persevere in things that are difficult, not easy.  Perseverance is living in the opposite way Esau lived.  It is to accept hunger for future reward.

It is said of the other group, Rev 13:15  And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Rev 13:16  Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, Rev 13:17  so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. 

The world will do whatever it must to survive until the next day, to have as much fun as it can from day to day.  This is what it means to receive the mark of the beast.  Being able to buy and sell and keep this body alive is more important than thinking about where their souls will spend eternity.  And so we see Jacob and Esau contrasted in Revelation 13 just like we do in Genesis 25.

Do You Believe in Karma?

Rev 20:11  Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Rev 20:14  Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. Rev 20:15  And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

The above passage sets forth the basic biblical teaching of the general judgment that awaits all mankind when Christ comes back.  It is pretty plain that those saved by the grace of God in Christ Jesus will live forever with God and those whose names are not found in the Book of Life will spend eternity in the fires of Hell.

Unfortunately America has become thoroughly secularized so that if you ask people on the street if there is a judgment or hereafter or any accountability after death by far the answer you will get the most will not be based on the Bible at all.  Listening recently to just such a survey all the answers either brought in a sense of Karma or just a sappy, “If I do more good than bad, I will be Okay”, or both. 

It is amazing how even those who call themselves Christians will refer to Karma as how life and death generally work.  They assume that what goes around will come around when it comes to the hereafter.  Of course, they have neither studied Karma nor the Bible and so even though they are nominal Christians, their doctrine of the judgment is thoroughly pagan because humanism and paganism is allowed to be taught in the schools and airwaves but not the Bible.

The next time you hear someone say they believe in Karma ask them to explain Karma to you.  You can pretty much be sure you will hear an Americanized form of it that isn’t biblical and isn’t Hindu either.  The fact is that Karma teaches that one pays for past life’s sins in the following life until you finally are freed from earthly existence entirely after countless life cycles.  But here is the kicker.  If one is suffering in this life it is because of something they did in a previous life and so to be relieved of suffering means that you will have to suffer at some point in the future or you will never move to a higher level of existence. 

This helps explain why social conditions in a place like India have always been so deplorable and continue to be so.  Karma works well with the caste system or we might say the caste system is a result of Karma.  Charity work was pretty much unheard of before the English brought Christianity and reform to India.  That is because if you see people who are suffering you mustn’t give them relief because you aren’t allowing them to pay for their sins.  On the other hand if you are born into wealth, you must have deserved it and so it is perfectly acceptable to look down on the less fortunate. 

In other words, what forms the basis for western civilization when it comes to human rights and charity is turned on its head in societies that hold to Karma or a system of judgment similar to it.  So the next time you hear someone say they believe in Karma find out if they do or not and you have an opening to give the gospel of grace.  Karma is just impersonal law keeping in which grace has no part.  Some mindless, nameless force makes sure that every bad thing we do will be paid for with no hope of escape.  Grace is God paying the price for our sin so that we can escape the punishment. 

And by all means let’s make sure we don’t use terms like Karma that just causes more confusion and darkness in a world that is too dark to begin with.

The Controlling Nature of Sin

Gen 19:9  But they said, "Stand back!" And they said, "This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them." Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down.

Gen 19:10  But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door.

Gen 19:11  And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.

Perhaps no passage in the Bible depicts the controlling nature of sin like the account of the homosexuals of Sodom.  As the two angels come into town to rescue Lot and his family the entire male population, “down to the last man” saw the visitors as merely sexual objects.  It didn’t matter that they were human being created in God’s image, as they would have assumed they were human; they saw them only as something to use and discard.  And of course, this is common with all sexual sin. 

But it is the above text that is truly hard to believe.  As they are trying to beat the door down to get at these men, they are struck blind.  Now you have to put yourself in their shoes.  It is dark and perhaps they had torches but all of the sudden you can’t see anything.  You might at first think that someone put out the torches but in a second or two you realize you can’t see.  You yell for help, telling anyone who will listen that you can’t see.  At the same time everyone else is relating the same thing. 

Now I am pretty sure that as a Christian who is pretty familiar with biblical morality; if I found myself engaged in a questionable activity with some others and we are all struck blind at the same time that the first thing I would think is, “maybe someone is trying to tell us something”.  But these men obviously didn’t have the Holy Spirit indwelling them and their conscience had been seared long ago in all likelihood. 

Being struck blind is merely seen as an inconvenience in their attempt to commit sexual perversion.  Instead of trying to make it home safely they actually wear themselves out looking for the door.  This has to be one of the starkest accounts of sinfulness that is found in the Bible.  It should remind us of how sin can control us and dupe us into thinking that what we want is more important than anything or anyone else no matter who we hurt. 

Unfortunately the controlling nature of sin is something that Christians must be aware of and do battle with.  I can think of plenty of times in which I wanted something so badly, whether it was my way or some object, that I had little regard for Christ’s will or how others were affected.  While it is easy to point a judgmental finger at these guys, it is easy to see that I sin in similar ways all the time. 

In fact, in this account we see righteous Lot showing a rather unbelievable lack of faith in verses 16-20.  He sees how wicked these guys are first hand, he is reduced to offering his daughters in exchange for the angels, he sees the angels strike the men of the town blind and yet he is hesitant to leave. 

Then apparently after being miraculously lifted and carried outside of the city he then proceeds to argue with the heavenly messengers that he knows best where he needs to flee.  Evidently God was smart enough to save him from Sodom’s destruction but not able to take care of him in the place where he tells him to flee.

But that is what sin does; it has us believing that we know better than the Lord.  I have had people come to me for help with the results of years of sin in their lives but when I direct them to church and to listen to what God tells them to do, they want none of it.  They might be miserable in their sin but one thing they know is that they are not going to give up their sin and certainly not submit to God.

And it is particularly sad when Christians’ pride and lusts have such control over them that no matter who they hurt and how much their lives fall apart they only get angry if you try to direct them back to where the Lord would have them.  They will argue with you and tell you that your theology is wrong but their view isn’t helping them at all!  

Yes, this chapter teaches a lot about sexual perversion but it teaches more about the deceitfulness of sin that we all are only a step or two away from.  May God grant us a tender conscience and a repentant spirit so that we can recognize when our sin is controlling the way we are living.  I think too often I see myself in this chapter more than I see the sin of homosexuality.