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In Genesis 18 & 19 we read of events leading to and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham had done some negotiating with God and God had agreed not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if just 10 righteous people could be found in those cities.
Unfortunately only four could be found; Lot, his wife and their two daughters. It would be a mistake however to equate their righteousness with faultlessness. Lot doubted God’s instruction to leave Sodom and wanted to stay. Lot’s wife violated the angel’s instruction not to look back and was turned into a pillar of salt. The two daughters got their father drunk and got pregnant by him so they could have children.
Lot and his family were righteous and were saved by God from destruction in spite of their weaknesses and that should be very comforting for people like you and me. God isn’t going to rain “fire and brimstone” upon us for the occasional weakness that might sprout up in our lives. Try to be righteous. All God has ever wanted from us is our best effort and the right attitude.
God did two really big things that he set aside days of the week to commemorate. He created the earth and set aside the last day of the week, the Sabbath day, to celebrate that event. He set rules for how to celebrate the Sabbath day and punishment (death) for violating those rules.
The other huge thing God did was to give up his only son as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind and set up the first day of the week, the Lord's Day, to celebrate that event. Like the Sabbath day there are rules and punishments for not believing in Jesus Christ and not celebrating his day.
The Sabbath day commemorates God’s creation of earth and all its peoples. The Lord’s Day commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let’s not forget either day.
Hebrew 7:19. (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
A concept is stated here that we have the ability to become very close to God. The question arises… why would we want to be close to God. The answer? Because he can do things for us.
That was especially true of primitive people. They had limited food storage abilities (refrigeration, food preservation, etc.) and could quickly run out of food and starve. They had limited ways of having access to water (no reservoirs, water pumps, etc.) for their crops and had to rely upon timely rains. Locusts could strip their fields. Disease could ravage them because they had no vaccines or effective medications. Other nations could attack and exterminate them.
So, not having the ability to help themselves they had a very real need for a God to intervene and worked hard to build a relationship with one. The Israelites could come closer to God than any of the other people because God gave them commands to follow to make them “acceptable”. In addition, he set up a system to repair the damage to the relationship when Israel could not keep the commands perfectly. The offering up of sacrifices, specifically, the blood of animals.
Even pagan peoples recognized the need to seek help from their Gods and offered up the most precious things they had… their children.
As a society we have advanced greatly but we still need God. We still have times of great need.
The above scripture indicates that we can come closer to God than ever before. That’s possible by accepting the free gift of the greatest sacrifice ever… Jesus Christ and by following his example and living sacrificial lives.
All people can claim God as their father and receive a superficial level of blessings, but true Christians are closer to God than anyone else and as a result live lives that are continually blessed by God until the final blessing comes… eternal life in the very presence of God. God takes care of his people.
