October 29
“God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds),” 2 Peter 2:4-8.
God’s hand always finds those who are guilty of ungodly deeds. To prove the certainty of God’s judgment upon the wicked, the apostle Peter gives a few examples. First, he mentions God’s judgment upon the evil angels or devils. All of the angels were created holy during the six-day creation at the beginning of the world. On the seventh day, God rested – that is, He ceased creating.
Sometime after the seventh day, a great number of the angels sinned. Scripture does not record what their sin was or exactly when they sinned. The impression is given that it was not a lengthy time afterward. Jesus said, “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him,” John 8:44. Some of the ancient church fathers wrote that the angels were guilty of sinful pride. They wanted to be like God! However, all we can say is that they sinned, and, “(God) cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment.” They are limited by God’s power, and they are eternally condemned and reserved under God’s judgment.
A second example is the Flood in Noah’s day. Noah, his wife, their three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives, were the eight people who were saved in the ark during the Flood. The Flood came upon the world of the ungodly who rejected God’s call to repentance through the preaching of Noah.
The third example referred to is the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire. The ungodly people in Sodom and Gomorrah were condemned to destruction. They were an example of God’s judgment upon the male sexual perverts. Day after day, Lot had lived in the territory and contended with those living as sexual perverts. Only Lot, his wife, and their two daughters escaped out of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. They were told not to look back, but only hurry and escape. However, Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah reminds us of the sexual perversion of our day among both men and women who want to live in what is called same-sex marriages. Morally, our society is going corrupt through all of the sexual perversion outside of marriage, which God ordained between one man and one woman to live as husband and wife. Each husband should have his own wife and each wife should have her own husband.
Our call to the people throughout the world today must be a call for true repentance of sin and a change of life. We must invite and urge people to turn from sin to the Savior, whose blood has cleansed us from all sin. We must call sin by its name, the breaking of God’s Law, and direct people to the only Savior for sinners one and all. Let us be faithful to our calling and faithful to our Lord.
“O Jesus, Lamb of God, Thou art
The Life and Comfort of my heart.
A sinner poor I come to Thee,
And bring my many sins with me.
O God, my sin indeed is great;
I groan beneath the dreadful weight.
Be merciful to me, I pray;
Take guilt and punishment away.
Help me to mend my ways, O Lord,
And gladly to obey Thy Word.
While here I live, abide with me;
And when I die, take me to Thee.” Amen.