Even in Judgment God Shows Mercy

What is your instinctual thought about God’s character? What is the first thing that comes to mind? How we think about the character God may reveal important things about our faith and our relationship with Him. Scripture repeatedly emphasizes the mercy of God. Surprisingly, the destruction of Sodom demonstrates this emphasis.

This point was driven home to me recently in our Sunday school class. As we worked our way through the account the striking interplay between judgment, justice, and mercy became increasingly evident. The account of God’s destruction of Sodom begins in Genesis 18. God and two angels show up on the scene to meet with Abraham. In verse 17 God is talking out loud about why He is going to disclose this impending judgment to Abraham. It is an intense object lesson on the importance of obedience to Yahweh. Abraham is God’s chosen leader to teach his children (and the reader too) about the required obedience of the Lord. The text says:

For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.

 

Abraham must teach Israel to keep the “way of the Lord, by doing righteousness and justice.” The nation will be called to imitate God in this way. He takes sin seriously and condemns the wicked. He calls on His followers to do the same.

And yet, as we move forward in the account we see an emphasis not just on justice but on mercy. Consider the way that Abraham emphasizes the justice of God by appealing to His mercy on the righteous in the city of Sodom (v. 25-32). God promises to spare the city for the sake of 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, and even just 10 righteous people. In His justice God will still show mercy.

As we move into the city in chapter 19, however, we find that there are no righteous people. Lot had previously camped outside the city (3:12), but as the chapter opens he is not only within the city limits but sitting at the gate – a place for key learners in the city. And what kind of city is this? It is a city full of wickedness. It is a city so full of wickedness that “all the people, to the last man, surrounded” Lot’s house in order to sexually assault the angels who came to the city (v. 4-5). And Lot, himself, is not so distinct from these men. He seeks to protect these men by offering his virgin daughters to satiate the crowd (v. 8). He is ready to sacrifice them without a second thought. In addition, despite being encouraged to leave the city, the man “lingers” (v. 16). He cannot leave it all behind. Here, the mercy of God goes further than just warning. God grabs Lot and his family by their hands and drags them out of the city (v. 16). He won’t let them stay. He won’t let them resist rescue. In His justice, God shows mercy.

Even God’s willingness to save Lot’s sons-in-law is a display of mercy. These are young men who are among “all the people” who wanted to assault the angels. They do not deserve this offer of rescue, but Lot is encouraged to get them out of the city too (v. 12).

The mercy continues as Lot tries to get out of the city. God commands Lot and his family to leave the valley or be swept away in judgment. But Lot recognizes that in his old age the climb out of the valley will be hard. He begs the Lord to let him escape to a nearby small city, and the Lord “grants him this favor” (v. 21). Grace on grace is evident in this story of judgment.

The text offers us a summary in verse 29:

So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

The rescue of Lot is about God remembering Abraham. It is God’s mercy to His servant. This rescue is not about Lot’s worth. This text is about God’s character. It is about Abraham learning to teach the people the “way of the Lord.” And what is the way of the Lord? Certainly, it is the way of justice. God acts to crush wickedness in Sodom. But it is also the way of mercy. God, in His justice, is always ready to show mercy.

I am so moved by this account. It gives us a picture of God that is repeatedly emphasized in Scripture. This is a God of mercy. In fact, mercy is the characteristic that God most wants to emphasize for us. When He tells Moses who He is he says that He is merciful (Ex. 34:6). When Jesus describes His heart, he tells us that he is “gentle and lowly” (Matt. 11:29). Over and over again the Psalms speaks to God’s mercy as a key descriptor of His identity (Ps. 86:15; 103:8; 111:4; 112:4; 116:5; 145:8). Even when the prophets speak of God’s judgment that point to hope in His redemptive work, and even when God Himself prepares to destroy He finds it bitter (Hosea 11:8). Mercy is a key way that God wants us to think about Him.

This is so important for us. Many of us struggle to believe that in our sin and our sorrow God is not disappointed with us, ready to wash His hands of us. But God is merciful and He delights to relate to us in mercy. Even in judgment, even when we have sinned, God delights to show mercy. This, of course, is the message of the gospel! The Cross of Chris is the place where judgment and mercy meet. In Christ, God offers all sinners mercy. Come, friends, to this God of mercy.