Matthew 11:23-24 If the mighty works,
which have been done in you [Capernaum], had been done in Sodom, it would have
remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it will be more tolerable for
the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.
Sodom and
Gomorrah were given an opportunity. Read the story in Genesis 19. But consider
what the names of these cities suggest to us; Sodom has become a symbol of
everything that is false and ugly in man as the result of the Fall. Sodom and
Gomorrah suggest profligacy, born in the very gutters of sin, with marauders
walking the streets with eyes that stand out in lasciviousness—those were the
characteristics of the life there. Now what our Lord said in Matthew 11 was
that the case of Capernaum and Chorazin and Bethsaida was worse than that of
those Old Testament cities.
Now this
can mean but one thing, which is that the judgment of all men and women is
ultimately going to be in terms of their relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are not told that the moral life of these cities was the same as that of
Sodom and Gomorrah. We can be perfectly certain it was not; there were none of
those evil men roaming the streets in their lusts. There was nothing like that at
all, and yet they were worse than Sodom and Gomorrah! Why?
Here is
the answer: He had lived in Capernaum; He had walked its streets and made it
His headquarters. Not only that, it was there that He had worked some of His
most mighty and marvelous deeds. It was out of these cities that people like
Peter and Andrew and Philip had come, and where our Lord had manifested His
glory in a most signal manner. Yet these people went on living as if He had
never come at all; that is the source of judgment.
No comments:
Post a Comment