WHY ARE SODOM AND GOMORRAH WARNINGS FOR US TODAY AT THE TIME OF THE END? — ?☄️???☄️?

[Bible Speaks]

WHY ARE SODOM AND GOMORRAH WARNINGS  FOR US TODAY AT THE TIME OF THE END? It will be just like Sodom and Gomorrah, Judgement Day. Long but Good!

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Jesus said: “It will be more endurable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on Judgment Day than for that city.” (Mt 10:15; 11:23, 24) Of course, Jude 7 says that Sodom and Gomorrah “are placed before us as a warning example by undergoing the judicial punishment of everlasting fire.” So Jesus’ statement evidently was simply making use of hyperbole to emphasize how unlikely it was that people from certain first-century Jewish cities would repent even on Judgment Day.

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Everlasting Destruction. Sodom, however, persisted in a course in defiance of Jehovah, becoming known for such immoral practices as homosexuality. “The cry of complaint about Sodom and Gomorrah,” Jehovah declared, “yes, it is loud, and their sin, yes, it is very heavy.” God therefore sent his angels to destroy Sodom, with the assurance to Abraham that if ten righteous persons could be found in the place, the whole city would be spared.—Ge 18:16, 20-33.

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The city showed it deserved destruction, for a vile mob of residents of Sodom, including boys and old men, surrounded Lot’s house, attempting to rape his angelic guests. The next day, after Lot, along with his wife and two daughters, left the city, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by sulfur and fire. (Ge 19:1-29; Lu 17:28, 29) Thereafter Sodom and Gomorrah became a proverbial figure of utter destruction from God Almighty (De 29:23; Isa 1:9; 13:19; Jer 49:18; 50:40; La 4:6; Am 4:11; Zep 2:9; Ro 9:29) and of extreme wickedness.—De 32:32; Isa 1:10; 3:9; Jer 23:14; Eze 16:46-56

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SODOM

(Sodʹom).

A city situated along the SE boundary of Canaan. (Ge 10:19; 13:12) Often mentioned along with Gomorrah, Sodom seems to have been the most prominent of five cities, all of which were apparently located at the Low Plain of Siddim. (Ge 14:2, 3) Many scholars believe that the original sites of Sodom and the other “cities of the District” now lie submerged beneath the waters of the Dead Sea, though some others recently have claimed that the ruins of the cities may be identified with sites along wadis to the E and SE of the Dead Sea.—Ge 13:12; see SALT SEA.

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When Abraham and Lot decided to move farther apart, to avoid disputes among their herdsmen, Lot went eastward into the well-watered District of the Jordan and pitched his tent near Sodom. There he found that “the men of Sodom were bad and were gross sinners against Jehovah,” much to Lot’s distress. (Ge 13:5-13; 2Pe 2:7, 8) Sometime later, after a 12-year subjection to Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, the inhabitants of Sodom and the other four cities rebelled. In the following year, Chedorlaomer and his allies defeated Bera, the king of Sodom, and his confederates. Besides seizing possessions and foodstuffs, the victors took Lot and others captive.—Ge 14:1-12.

Abraham’s forces overtook Chedorlaomer and recovered the captives and booty, including Lot and his household. The king of Sodom insisted that Abraham keep the recovered material goods, but Abraham refused, lest Bera should say, “It was I who made Abram rich.”—Ge 14:13-24.

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The city showed it deserved destruction, for a vile mob of residents of Sodom, including boys and old men, surrounded Lot’s house, attempting to rape his angelic guests. The next day, after Lot, along with his wife and two daughters, left the city, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by sulfur and fire. (Ge 19:1-29; Lu 17:28, 29) Thereafter Sodom and Gomorrah became a proverbial figure of utter destruction from God Almighty (De 29:23; Isa 1:9; 13:19; Jer 49:18; 50:40; La 4:6; Am 4:11; Zep 2:9; Ro 9:29) and of extreme wickedness.—De 32:32; Isa 1:10; 3:9; Jer 23:14; Eze 16:46-56.

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Concerning a Jewish city that would reject the good news, Jesus said: “It will be more endurable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on Judgment Day than for that city.” (Mt 10:15; 11:23, 24) Of course, Jude 7 says that Sodom and Gomorrah “are placed before us as a warning example by undergoing the judicial punishment of everlasting fire.” So Jesus’ statement evidently was simply making use of hyperbole to emphasize how unlikely it was that people from certain first-century Jewish cities would repent even on Judgment Day.

The fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the existence of pits of bitumen (asphalt) in that region are described in the Bible. (Ge 14:3, 10; 19:12-28) 

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Many scholars believe that the waters of the Dead Sea may have risen in the past and extended the southern end of the sea for a considerable distance, thus covering what may have been the sites of these two cities. Explorations show the area to be a burned-out region of oil and asphalt. Concerning the matter, the book Light From the Ancient Past, by Jack Finegan (1959, p. 147), states: “A careful survey of the literary, geological, and archeological evidence points to the conclusion that the infamous ‘cities of the valley’ (Genesis 19:29) were in the area which now is submerged . . . and that their ruin was accomplished by a great earthquake, probably accompanied by explosions, lightning, ignition of natural gas, and general conflagration.”

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Fig. 1. Archaeological sites potentially associated with ancient cities recorded in the book of Genesis. Ancient sites are associated with springs or temporary streams which makes sense if the Dead Sea has always been “dead.”

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Fig. 2. A seismite in Dead Sea sediments. The bend layers resulted from the quick side to side motion in shallow waters of the lake which caused the top layers of freshest sediments at the time to fold over. 

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Later new horizontal sediments then were laid on top of them. This image come from the Wooster Geology Dept blog page. Great image and descriptions of a trip to this are can be found at:

http://woostergeologists.scotblogs.wooster.edu/…/dead-sea-…/