3 – Insincere Worship

Before He called on heaven and earth but, now He is directing the message to the sinful people themselves. He begins by calling them rulers of Sodom and rulers of Gomorrah. This comparison is attesting to the spiritual status of the ancient Israelites at this time (Revelation 11:8).

Sodom and Gomorrah were evil wicked cities that the Lord destroyed. The Bible tells us that "The men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against Jehovah exceedingly (Genesis 13:13)." The men of Sodom were exceedingly outwardly wicked. Now in the previous section we saw that a remnant of the Jews would be spared in the future judgments on the nation Israel. Sodom and Gomorrah were complete and not one was spared except righteous Lot, Abraham's nephew. God granted a much more benevolent judgment to Jerusalem than to the cities of the plain. That was not because there was any merit found in Jerusalem, for she was a city of hypocrites. This is all because the sovereign God who controls the destinies of cities and nations in His own goodness had chosen not to destroy Jerusalem utterly. He promised to provide a future to His chosen people (Romans 11:26) all because of His promises to the patriarchs.