The Signs of the Times, vol. 13

“Notes on the International Lesson. Abraham Pleading for Sodom. Genesis 18:23-33” The Signs of the Times 13, 5, pp. 74, 75.

THE time had come when Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, had filled up the measure of their iniquity, and like the inhabitants of Canaan afterward, and the antediluvians before, the earth could bear them, and the justice of God could spare them, no longer. Yet they, as all others, were called, and were given an opportunity to escape the impending ruin. The Lord kept it not a secret from Abraham, and sent Lot to call whoever he could induce to escape. The responsibility for every wicked man’s destruction is upon himself; God calls all, and will save all who will give him the opportunity. SITI February 3, 1887, page 74.1

“SHALL I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7. And Abraham was a prophet. Genesis 20:7. He was God’s trusted servant, and the Lord would not destroy that city, so fearfully wicked as it was, without telling Abraham; he would not bring the flood without telling Noah; he would not give up Israel without sending them prophets in abundance; he did not at the last destroy Judah till, in addition to all the prophets, he had sent them his own Son, who, as he beheld the city in her stubbornness of spiritual pride, burst into weeping, exclaiming, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under [her] wings, and ye would not!” “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.” Matthew 23:37; Luke 19:42-44. SITI February 3, 1887, page 74.2

THAT has been and is the trouble with all, they know not the time of their visitation. The people upon whom the flood came knew not the time of their visitation; the cities of the plain knew not the time of their visitation; nor Jerusalem. Felix knew not the time of his visitation, although he trembled at the message of God. Agrippa knew not the time of his visitation, although, by the earnest words of Paul, he was almost persuaded to be a Christian. Nero knew not the time of his visitation, though God called him twice. It is a fearful thing to be so dulled by the influences of sin that we cannot perceive the gracious visitation of the love of God. “To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart.” “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” We beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. SITI February 3, 1887, page 74.3

TEN righteous people would have saved Sodom and the cities of the plain! No community knows, no city knows, no nation knows, the world itself does not know, what it owes to the few humble, pious people of God. They who fear God and walk in the steps of Christ are the salt of the earth. It is they who preserve from destruction the vast multitude of the wicked; they are the light of the world, and God still bears with the wicked in patient waiting that they may in that light see his goodness and glorify him in the day of visitation. The long-suffering of God is salvation. It is the history of the human race illustrated over and over, that as long as there is any possibility of getting any good out of a nation or a people, so long God suffers them to remain, though there be iniquity in them. But when all hope of good is gone, then that people is given over, as were those in the lesson to-day. Sodom and Gomorrah are made an example to all who live ungodly. 2 Peter 2:6. SITI February 3, 1887, page 74.4

BUT in this lesson on Sodom, there is a special lesson for all who live to-day. It is a lesson of the greatest importance. Jesus said, “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 shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17:28-30. The announcement is now being made throughout the land and to the ends of the earth, that the time is at hand when the Son of man will be revealed in a glory that will cover the heavens. Accompanying the announcement is a message of God which will make ready a people prepared for the Lord. If the message is heeded by you, you may be amongst that people. SITI February 3, 1887, page 74.5

THAT message is the Third Angel’s Message (Revelation 14:9-12): “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.... Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” And that which follows closely upon the message is the coming of the Lord. God, “I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.... And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.” SITI February 3, 1887, page 74.6

THOUSANDS of people will study the lesson of Sodom to-day, and will wonder why they and those others listened not to the call of God, and knew not the time of their visitation; and yet will reject the message of God to-day, and will not now know the time of their visitation. It is easy enough now to believe that the flood, or this destruction of Sodom, came and destroyed all but those who believed and escaped. It is easy enough now to express surprise at the people there for not believing the message of God. It is easy enough now to do all this, and at the same time do exactly as they did in rejecting the message of God in our day, as they did in theirs. God has now in the earth a message of warning, of entreaty, and of salvation, as really as he had in the days of Noah or of Lot. It must be believed and heeded as really if we would escape a destruction as real as was then. While the world stands, Paul’s words to the men of Antioch are ever apt: “Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.” Acts 13:40, 41. SITI February 3, 1887, page 75.1