just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Some things were created to be an example for us. When Paul was explaining the sovereignty of God in salvation to the Christians at Rome, he said this:
Romans 9:22-23 (ESV)
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—
We don’t like to put much thought into things that make our heads hurt. But this truth might be one of them. We have this vision of God that He is the God of love. That would be a proper vision. When studying the truths theses above verses speak about, we must never forget the following:
John 3:16 (ESV)
For God So Loved the World
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Those who believe in John 3:16 have eternal life and experience the blessings of His divine love. However, there is more to the story. In God’s sovereign rule, He has created vessels to receive His love (those who believe in His Son, Jesus) but He has also created vessels who receive His wrath, because they don’t believe in His Son. The peoples of Sodom and Gomorrah (and the surrounding villages) all underwent punishment for their rejection of God and divulging in acts of gross sin. These people rejected the God of the universe and He gave them over to their own devices of sin. Note:
Romans 1:24-28 (ESV)
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
Those who reject God will be rejected by God. These serve as an example for us and the world around us. God will punish sin. He gives people over to their own desires because they reject Him. Therefore He rejects them and they become examples of His divine wrath rather than His divine love.
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