The idolatrous people of Babel were the descendants of Cush, the son of Ham (Gen. 10:6-10), whereas the wicked people of Sodom were the descendants of Canaan, another son of Ham (Gen. 10:15-16, 19; 15:19-21). These two groups of people were all descendants who were under a curse (Gen. 9:18, 22, 24-25). Therefore, Sodom was not only a place that brought man under the contamination of sin; it was also a place that brought man under a curse.
Lot followed Abraham and left Babel and the descendants of Cush. Upon arriving at God’s promised land, he should have lived with Abraham a life of pitching a tent and of building an altar. He should not have gone into any city in Canaan, that he might avoid being mixed with the cursed descendants of Canaan. Sodom was a sinful city inhabited by the descendants of Canaan, yet Lot left Abraham and moved into it, mixing with the Canaanites, who were cursed by God. Thus, he caused his whole family to become involved and to come under a curse.
Sinful Sodom was not only a place full of fornication but also a place under a curse. Being wicked to the uttermost, it was judged by God with burning fire. God rained upon Sodom brimstone and fire out of heaven and overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground (Gen. 19:24-25). The descendants of Cain had become so utterly corrupt that they were judged by God by means of the flood (Gen. 6:11-13), whereas the cursed descendants of Noah were so utterly wicked that they were judged by God with burning fire. The judgment of the flood was a destruction at that time mainly for the purging of the human race and the earth. The judgment by burning fire is connected to the punishment of the lake of fire mainly to show that God cannot tolerate the existence of the people of fornication.
In nature, the judgment by burning fire belongs to the punishment of the lake of fire. After the millennium and before the new heaven and new earth, God will execute a final judgment upon man. All the dead will be resurrected to stand before the great white throne (John 5:28-29; Rev. 20:11-12). If anyone is not found written in the book of life, he will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15) and will suffer forever “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48).
The flood is related to God’s care for man, because He caused the rain, by which He cared for man, to become the flood, by which He destroyed man. Fire is related to God’s holiness, because the holy God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). God is holy; holiness is the condition of His nature. Whatever does not correspond with His holy nature, whatever is common, unclean, and sinful, will be burned by the holy God as the consuming fire. After man’s first fall, the way to the tree of life was guarded by a flaming sword; at God’s last judgment, there will be the lake of fire. These are all related to God’s holiness in order to show that God is holy.
When God destroyed the earth by the flood, He was grieved for man (Gen. 6:6); when God consumed Sodom with burning fire, He was angry with man (Gen. 19:15). Thus, in relation to their significance, the judgment by burning fire is more severe than the judgment of the flood. The judgment of the flood, which God executed because of His grief for man, took place only that one time. Afterward, God covenanted with man that He would never again destroy the earth by a flood (Gen. 9:11, 15). However, the judgment by burning fire, which God executes because of His wrath toward man, began with the burning of Sodom; thereafter, the fire of that judgment has continued to burn and will never cease. When the two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, offered strange fire before the Lord, fire went out from the Lord and devoured them (Lev. 10:1-2). When the Israelites complained in the wilderness, God heard it, and His anger was kindled. His fire burned among them and consumed those in the uttermost parts of the camp (Num. 11:1). When Korah and his company gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron, a fire came out from God and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who offered incense (Num. 16:1-3, 35). When Israel’s king Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, sent two captains with their men to fetch Elijah, they were consumed by fire from heaven (2 Kings 1:9-12). During the great tribulation at the end of this age, fire will be cast to the earth and the third part of the earth will be burned up; and as it were a great mountain burning with fire will be cast into the sea and the third part of the sea will be destroyed (Rev. 8:7-8). The judgment by burning fire will consummate in the lake of fire, into which the devil, his angels, the demons, and all their followers, and even death and Hades, will be cast. There they will be burned by the eternal fire unceasingly (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 19:20; 20:13-15; 14:10-11).
Sodom shows the end—corruption—of the fallen men who were not in God’s grace. The judgment by burning fire indicates that God, as the consuming fire, will destroy such corrupted people. Sodom was a place full of fornication. Leaving the natural use of the females, the males craved one another and defiled their own bodies. Thus, they became sinful and wicked. Genesis uses three places to signify the world: Chaldea signifies the aspect of the idolatry of the world; Egypt, the aspect of the material riches of the world; and Sodom, the aspect of the sinfulness of the world. God’s called ones live within this triangle and must be careful lest they fall back to the land of idols, go down to the place of worldly pleasure, or drift into the city of sin. The people of Sodom were the descendants of Canaan, who was cursed. Therefore, Sodom was not only a place that brought man under the contamination of sin, but also a place that brought man under a curse. Sinful Sodom was so utterly wicked that it was judged by God with burning fire. The judgment by burning fire is connected to the punishment of the lake of fire mainly to show that God cannot tolerate the existence of the people of fornication. Moreover, that judgment is related to God’s holiness; whatever does not correspond with God’s holy nature will be burned by the holy God as the consuming fire. The judgment by burning fire began with the burning of Sodom; thereafter, the fire continued to burn. It will burn until the lake of fire, and it will never cease.