10-20-2025 PART 3: “Until You’re Safe”: Mercy, Judgment, and the Call to Run

Section 1

As the final moments tick down over Sodom, the angel’s command to Lot is blisteringly clear: run, don’t look back, and don’t stop in the plain. Lot hesitates, bargains for a small refuge (Zoar), and astonishingly the messenger concedes—then adds the line that frames the whole scene: “I can do nothing until you arrive there.” Judgment holds its breath until the rescued are secured. The sun rises as Lot reaches the village; only then does the Lord rain down fire and burning sulfur. The narrative puts mercy in the driver’s seat of timing: deliverance dictates when judgment begins. Lot’s pace may be “molasses,” but God’s protective purpose isn’t. Even when human caution, fear, or second-guessing tugs at the sleeve, heaven’s priority is unmistakable—get the people of God out, then proceed. That order is not a proof-text for every eschatological position, but it’s a powerful window into God’s heart: He does not confuse the righteous with the wicked, and He does not miss those who belong to Him.

Section 2

Sodom’s ruin isn’t pinned on mere “inhospitality”; Scripture paints a comprehensive corruption that left not “ten righteous” to spare the city. The story echoes an older pattern—after Noah, here again is judgment restrained until salvation is secured. Jesus Himself leverages Sodom as a sober benchmark for accountability, not a quaint moral footnote. Threaded through is the insistence that God’s wisdom outstrips human calculus: He protects, He times, He reigns. Leaders who serve (rather than rule) under that wisdom are rare but right; “Bible people” are needed precisely because human wisdom keeps mistaking delay for safety and negotiation for prudence. Importantly, the angel’s concession to Lot doesn’t dilute God’s sovereignty; it displays it. The Lord folds even our imperfect requests into His perfect plan without surrendering His purposes. “I can do nothing until you arrive” is not divine limitation; it’s divine prioritization. Mercy schedules the alarm clock. Only after the refuge is reached does judgment fall—total, targeted, and just.

Section 3

The takeaway lands where life is lived: when heaven says “Run,” don’t bargain—run. Obedience outruns analysis. And while you run, pray. Abraham’s intercession didn’t rescue a city, but it did clear a path for a nephew. That’s the map for families we love: keep petitioning, keep believing, keep standing in the gap. Pride resists grace; God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble—so ask Him to break pride and soften hearts. Scripture’s cadence is consistent: before wrath, a door; before ruin, a refuge; before the hammer drops, the redeemed are accounted for. Even Passover—one night of judgment against centuries of oppression—was calibrated by mercy as firstborns fell only where blood wasn’t applied. Revelation will later show prayers shaking the earth; Genesis already shows prayer shaping who escapes the quake. So refuse delay. Trust God’s timing more than your fears. And never stop praying for those still in the plain—because mercy waits, but not forever. Run, and don’t look back.