THE SMOKE OF THEIR TORMENTS – Charles Spurgeon
THE SMOKE OF THEIR TORMENTS
Scripture Reference
“And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the country went up like the smoke of a furnace.” — Genesis 19:27-28
Introduction
Early in the morning, Abraham sought that favored spot where, the day before, God had been pleased to manifest Himself, and where Abraham had been blessed with extraordinary communion. Where should the believer go but to that cherished place, dear to his heart, where he has communed with the Lord? It is a high privilege, the highest which mortals can enjoy, to talk with God, to plead with Him, to use arguments, and to prevail. Abraham had experienced such divine grace, so it is no surprise that he returns to the place where God had drawn near to him. Certainly, one reason for his early departure to this spot was his anxious desire to know how his prayers had been answered.
The Prayer of Abraham
Abraham had interceded for the city of Sodom, asking God to spare it if ten righteous people could be found there. He likely felt a sense of hope, believing that there were indeed ten righteous people in Sodom. As he turned his eyes to the horizon, he hoped not to witness destruction but to see a city spared by God’s mercy. Just as Elijah instructed his servant to “go and look towards the sea” when praying for rain, so too should we look for answers to our prayers with expectation.
However, God’s answers are not always as we desire. Sometimes, His children are slack in asking, and as a result, they do not receive what they desire. When Abraham looked towards Sodom, he did not see the green, well-watered plains nor the roofs and spires of the city. Instead, he saw only black smoke and a fiery glare rising to heaven like the smoke of a furnace. This rapid destruction of the cities indicates how swiftly and decisively God’s judgment can come.
The Wrath of God
It is remarkable that Abraham does not appear to have witnessed the storm as it descended from heaven. The cities were destroyed in a moment, and all that Abraham saw after his rise at sunrise was the smoke that followed the conflagration. This serves as a picture of how God drives His enemies away. As wax melts before the fire, and smoke is driven before the wind, so too will the enemy perish before the breath of God when He punishes sin.
Reflection on the Scene
Imagine Abraham standing in that sacred place, leaning on his staff, looking at the terrible scene before him. What must have been his thoughts as he gazed upon the smoke of the destroyed cities? It is significant that he looked upon the devastation from the place where God had spoken to him. Standing in that sacred space, Abraham felt safe, secure in the presence of the Lord, and was able to endure even the sight of the gruesome destruction.
This scene prompts us, dear Christian friends, to reflect upon our own most cherished moments of communion with the Lord—the times when His grace has been clearly shown to our souls. From this place of grace, I urge you to look upon the smoke of the torments of lost souls. Look upon that place “where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.” Yet, I caution you to stand in the place where God has communed with you—beneath the cross, where the blood of Jesus cleanses you and pardons your sin.
The Christian’s Response
Only from this place of grace can we view the wrath of God with proper perspective. When we stand there, our souls will be chastened and comforted. With tears of gratitude and contrition, we will be able to look upon that terrible gulf where the wicked are condemned. It is through this lens of grace that we gain understanding from the wrath of God.
I. The Emotions We Should Feel When Viewing the Torments of the Ungodly
Certainly, when gazing upon the torment of the lost, we must do so with humble submission to God’s will. The assurance that God is just, even in His anger, must be upheld. The Judge of all the earth will do what is right, even when His judgment is terrifying. Although God’s anger is a consuming fire, He remains our God, full of goodness and truth.
There is a troubling unbelief among some Christians today regarding the eternity of future punishment. While it is not always openly spoken, this unbelief often disguises itself in a desire to deny the doctrine of eternal punishment. Underneath it lies a rebellion against the sovereignty of God, and a suspicion that sin is not as severe as Scripture teaches. Some may even see sinners as objects of pity rather than as those deserving of the wrath of God. But we must not let this subtle disbelief undermine the certainty of hell. The Bible speaks clearly of both eternal punishment for the wicked and eternal life for the righteous. If one is not eternal, then neither is the other.
We must humbly accept that God’s judgment is just, even if it is fearful. The reality of hell should stir us, and Christians should not preach on these topics lightly. It is not that we delight in the punishment of the wicked, but that we understand it as a necessary consequence of sin.
Gratitude for God’s Mercy
Another emotion that should arise when we look upon the suffering of the lost is deep gratitude. We must ask ourselves, “Why am I not in that place of torment? Why have I been spared?” The answer is grace. Those who once lived in sin, far from God, are now washed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. In reflecting on what others deserve, we are reminded of what we deserve—and how only grace has spared us from that same torment.
Humility Before God
This leads us to a sense of humility. We were once just as lost as those who now suffer. We had no claim to salvation, but everything to lead us to hell. We were brands plucked from the burning, and the only reason we are not there is because of God’s mercy. Standing in this truth, we can never boast of our own righteousness. Instead, we are humbled, filled with gratitude, and motivated to extend the same love and mercy to others, seeking to guide them to salvation.
A Holy Jealousy Over Our Own Souls
When we consider the fate of the lost, we should also feel a holy jealousy for our own hearts. A glance at the smoke of hell should prompt us to examine our own walk with God. Professing to be a Christian is not the same as being truly converted. Beware, Christian, lest you also fall. If your faith is weak or hypocritical, you may end up in the very place you fear. Let this thought encourage self-examination, not just for others, but for yourself.
II. The Evil of Sin
Looking at the destruction of the wicked, we are confronted with the evil of sin. Sin, when fully grown, brings forth nothing but death and destruction. It is easy to dismiss sin as harmless in its infancy, but we must realize that even the smallest sin can grow into something terrible. Hell is the full-grown fruit of sin, and if we indulge sin, we are playing with fire.
The consequences of sin are severe and eternal. Sin does not bring happiness; it brings torment. The pleasures of sin are fleeting, but its consequences are eternal. May we never forget this lesson, and may we see sin for what it truly is—an offense against a holy God, deserving of His wrath.
III. The Justice of God
God is not only merciful, but He is also just. We must admire and respect His justice. God is severe in His judgment, and He will punish sin with the full force of His wrath. He is a consuming fire, and when He executes judgment, He does so with absolute righteousness. His justice will be glorified in the destruction of the wicked, and His holiness will be vindicated in the eternal torment of those who have rejected Him.
Conclusion
In reflecting upon the doom of the lost, we are reminded of the cost of our redemption. Christ endured the punishment that we deserved, not in the exact sense of suffering the same torment, but by taking upon Himself the weight of our sin. Through His sacrifice, we have been redeemed from destruction, rescued from hell, and granted eternal life. This is the precious price of our salvation.
May we look upon the smoke of the torments of the wicked, not with complacency, but with a deep sense of gratitude, humility, and reverence for the grace that has saved us. Let us never forget the eternal cost of our salvation and live lives that honor the One who redeemed us.
The Torment of the Lost Soul
Who can form an idea of what the torment of one soul must be that is cast away forever? Not, remember, the torment of an hour, a day, a month, a year, a century, a thousand years, but forever—FOREVER! You cannot measure that; but you will have to multiply that by ten thousand times ten thousand when you remember that Jesus laid down His life for many, and gave Himself a ransom for His sheep. Nor are these a few, but a great multitude which no man can number.
Well did the psalmist say, as he typified the Messiah, “All Your waves and Your billows are gone over Me.” One soul that is lost cannot feel all the waves and billows, but Jehovah Jesus did! None but a God could bear what He endured. Beneath that ocean of tremendous fire, the mighty substitute bowed His majestic head—that very head which heaven worshipped, and which is crowned with everlasting splendor—bowed Himself in the great baptism of Almighty wrath that the waves of swelling grief might roll over it. Yes, every wave and every drop of every wave of divine wrath that was due to His people!
Think, think, Christian, as you hear that solemn trampling, as you hear the wailing of the lost, as your eyes seek to penetrate that land of death, as your whole soul is alarmed with gloomy forebodings of that wrath—think what must have been in the tremendous cup—the hells of all His people, not actually, but virtually condensed into the pangs of an hour! He did but drink it, and all His veins were flushed with hot blood. Every nerve became a high road for the hot chariots of pain to drive along. He cried, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me.” It was not possible; He set it to His lips, He drank, He drank right on.
His back was scourged, but still He drank. His head was pierced with the crown of thorns, but He took not away His lips. The spittle flowed down His cheeks; they were black with the bruising of mailed fists. Reproach had broken His heart, and shame had covered His face—but on, still on He drank. They pierced His hands and His feet; they offered Him vinegar to drink; they tore away His clothes; they stripped Him naked; they left Him without a comforter. Devils surrounded Him with mockery, and men with scorn; but on, still on, He drank.
The Full Payment for Sin
O blessed Savior, till at last He had swallowed every bitter drop—and turning the chalice upside down, not so much as one black drop trembled on its brim, for—
“At one tremendous draught of love, He drained destruction dry.”
For every one of His people, He exhausted the cup, and there was not a pang, nor a grief, nor a penal groan left for any one of His elect. He suffered, the just for the unjust, that He might bring them to God. Here is a plummet to fathom the depths of the Savior’s griefs; but who can throw the lead, and who can tell when it strikes the bottom? God only knows the griefs of His dear Son. Even lost spirits can scarcely guess it; and oh, as you look into that smoke, ascending forever and ever, say, “Hallelujah, Jesus! For You have redeemed us unto God by Your blood, and we shall reign with You forever and ever.”
The Solemn Responsibility of the Gospel Ministry
That fearful vision which tears my eyes and makes them feel heavy, at the same time presses upon me with a tremendous weight, while I mention another truth of God. Behold here the solemnity of the gospel ministry, the responsibility of those who listen to it, and the need there is for earnestness in handling divine things.
Have I to deal with immortal souls? Then let me not trifle. Have I to talk with men who must spend eternity in heaven or in hell? Then wake up, sluggish flesh, and bear not down my spirit; and you, my soul, be stirred up to the highest degree of intensity of love, and of earnest devotedness, that men may be, by some means, or by any means, brought to escape from the wrath to come!
The Example of Baxter’s Earnest Preaching
I would to God I could preach as Baxter did. That man, the victim of many diseases, but sane and healthy in his mind, said he never came to his pulpit without tears and his knees knocking together, for he had to speak for God with men who must soon appear before His bar, and he, himself, must appear there, too, to give an account of his preaching to them.
O sirs, it is perhaps but a matter of amusement for some of you to come on a Sunday evening into this place, or any other; but believe us, it is no matter of amusement for us who have to preach to you! We would not have accepted our office if it had not been thrust upon us. Woe is unto us if we preach not the gospel! But if we do preach the gospel, still terrors seize hold upon us, for our heart is ready to break when we think how the multitude reject that gospel, and go their way to their farms and their merchandise, and will not come to the gospel-supper to be fed.
The Seriousness of Preaching
Preaching will seem dreadful work to the preacher when he comes to die, if he has not been faithful; and it will not seem slight work to you when you come to die, if you have heard in vain! What would you give for another Sunday, for another invitation to hear those faithful sermons once more—to be moved by divine love once more? What would you give when inexorable death shall tell you that your hour-glass is empty, that your candle is burnt out, and that your soul must speed its way to stand before God?
The Urgency of Evangelism
My brothers in the faith, with what earnestness should this alarm you! You are dealing, remember, again, with souls that must sink to hell unless they find mercy in Christ Jesus!
It is said that when Michelangelo painted his celebrated picture of the resurrection, he went by permission to the graveyard, and took out the newly-buried dead, and piled up the corpses by his bedside. He then slept in the midst of them, that he might get his mind into something like a proper frame for picturing the horrors of that tremendous day.
I would not have you do such a thing as that; but living as you do in the midst of lost souls, I pray and beseech you to realize the prospect of their speedy perdition as a vivid fact.
A Wake-Up Call for Christians
As you go to your bed, remember the despair and the dismay of those who dared to live in sin, and have already died without hope, and I think you will, then, be in a proper frame to paint that life-picture which I hope each and all of us have set our hearts upon—of the conversion of the souls of many by our means.
Oh, we are not alive, we are half dead! Whitefield could say, “When I think of these things, I wish I could stand upon the top of every hackney coach in London, and preach to the passersby.” We do not preach as if we meant it! I am afraid that we make infidels by our lethargy, and that you Christian people help to prevent the usefulness of the Word of God by the apparent indifference with which you treat eternal things.
The Urgency of Proclaiming the Gospel
If hell is a fiction, say so, and honestly play the infidel; but if it is real, and you believe it, wake up, you that so believe, and leave no stone unturned, no means untried, by which through the power of the Holy Spirit sinners may be saved! Pledge yourselves this night, as with your hands upon the horns of the altar; pledge yourselves as you sit in the place where God has often met with you, that from this hour you will seek, God helping you, to love your neighbor as yourself, and prove your love by pitying earnestness in seeking his salvation.
That truth seems to be written clearly enough in letters of fire in the midst of the smoke that comes up from the desolation of lost souls.
The Responsibility of Christians to Pray
And yet, it is not merely preaching, important as that is. It is not merely warning our friends and our neighbors, though we should never lose an opportunity of telling them of their danger with more feeling than mere fidelity can inspire—yes, with that repeated earnestness which deep convictions from the very Word of the Lord, and strong affection for the souls of men, alone can prompt.
Let me entreat you—consider the use that Abraham made of that extraordinary revelation, “Shall I hide from Abraham,” said the Lord, “the things which I do?” “And shall I cease to use the precious opportunity of pleading for my neighbors?” appears to have been the old patriarch’s spontaneous thought, “My poor brother! Ah, poor Lot! His wife! His daughters! The city with its inhabitants!”
A thousand thoughts of melting pity come rushing up at once. He does not stand mute with astonishment. He immediately opens his heart with intercessions, and fills his mouth with arguments.
The Urgency of Intercessory Prayer
Oh brethren! That is just such a response to the secret of the Lord which He shows to His servants, as you should have always ready at hand. You need not wait for an opportunity. You have it now! Pray, pray, pray—pray without ceasing. Let the breath of prayer be fervent with heat. Let the prayer be so eager that it repeats itself, as Abraham’s did, each time waxing hotter, drawing nearer, growing bolder—till, you verily tremble at the venture.
“Who can tell?” This we know, we are in no danger of offending God by crying for mercy, even when we see the two-edged sword flaming from His mouth! You have no cause to lay limits upon your importunity, or to check the rising passion of your vehement desire. Prayer is a fire that needs stirring. And intercession is a holy wrestling in which practice alone can make you adept.
The Example of Abraham’s Intercession
Christians! Some of you may look at a doomed Sodom with other eyes than Abraham did. Lot is called a righteous man; and he was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. He frowned at the men of Sodom, and expostulated with them, and wished that sinners would restrain their follies, and not go to quite such lengths in sin. That is the sort of man Lot was.
Have I not many a Lot before me now? The father of the faithful went a great deal beyond this. He lived far away from the scenes of vice, and the haunts of impiety. I suppose he did not think it necessary to sleep a night in that cage of uncleanness, that he might familiarize himself with the profane customs of the people. But he stood on hallowed ground, and prayed with a tender heart. He interceded with God; he multiplied his intercessions. Every time he prayed, and with each fresh note of prayer, his spirit grew more ardent.
The Courage of Abraham’s Prayer
Impressed with God’s severity, he takes courage from His goodness. Here is a fitting example for us. It is an example which I know will not be lost on some of you. The courage that can rebuke man, must come from the strength that takes hold upon God. When your face shines like an angel with the radiance that the mercy seat reflects upon it, then it shall come to pass that the scorner will not be able to resist the wisdom or the spirit by which you speak!
The Jeopardy of Souls
Oh, how dreadful the jeopardy of the souls of unconverted men and women! Jonathan Edwards was once called upon to preach a sermon quite unexpectedly. I believe he had the habit of holding his manuscript close to his eyes, a most ungainly and apparently most inappropriate mode of uttering a discourse. He read it word for word; but as he read it, terror took hold upon his congregation; weeping and sobbing were heard on every side, for the Holy Spirit was with him, and each word came with power upon their souls.
I cannot speak such language as he used; but if I could, I might be the means of making some feel in what a state of jeopardy they now are. You stand over the mouth of hell upon a single plank, and that plank is rotten! You hang over the jaws of hell by a solitary rope, and the strands of that rope are snapping, one by one! Frailer than the spider’s web is your life, and yet that is the only thing which divides you from a world of despair!
The Sword of Damocles
The slightest insect commissioned by God’s providence may end your unhappy life. You know not where, or when, or how disease may overtake you. Death often floats in the atmosphere of the house of God. He may be looking through those stony eye sockets now! The skeleton monarch may be looking at, and marking you, as his prey.
Could Xerxes stand here tonight, could he have a little Christianity mingled with his philosophy, then doubtless the tears he wept as he saw his army, and remembered that in 50 years all would be dead, were nothing to those he would weep as he remembered that thousands this day found within the walls of churches and chapels, and tens of thousands who are not found in any sanctuary, within less time than that, will not only be dead, but damned! Here is, indeed, subject for mourning, lamentation, and woe. You stand upon the brink of that precipice, and yet you play!
The Sword of Damocles
You have heard the story of the monarch tyrant who invited one to a feast. When he came, the table was loaded with dainties, and there was his chair on which he must sit, but just above him hung a sword suspended by a single hair. “Why do you not eat, man? Is not the wine rich and rare? Fill your bowl, and drink it merrily.” But he looks up. “Why do you not help yourself to all those dainty cakes which make the table groan; why, man, what ails you?” He looks up. And right wise is he in looking up, for on that hair his life depends.
Would that you were as wise as he, for you will go your way and eat the fat, and drink the sweet, but you forget that hair, that sword. The sword of Damocles could only kill the body, but this sword will kill both soul and body, and kill them both forever—and but a hair keeps it from you now.
The Salvation of Christ
I am weary with my picture; I am weary with looking into that thick darkness. Let me turn your eyes another way. Would you be saved? See yonder little hill outside Jerusalem’s streets? God has become Man. He is bearing sin upon His shoulders. Here He comes, all faint and weary with a ponderous beam upon His back. He struggles on. They remove the load a moment. But they force Him on with spears and goads, and He, all willingly, leads the procession.
They come outside the city, and while the sobbing daughters of Jerusalem stand looking on, they fling Him back upon the transverse piece of wood. I see the rough executioners, each man taking hold of a hand or of a foot, holding the nail in his mouth a moment till he gets that blessed palm all ready, and then with his hammer driving in the nails through the hands and feet of the Son of God! He is fastened to the wood. They roughly lift up the cross. A place has been dug for it. They dash it down. That jar has dislocated all His bones! What pain He endures in that moment when He is lifted up between earth and heaven! And now He has a long season of suffering before Him.
They sit down; they mock Him; they point to His wounds, scoff at His prayers, gloat their eyes upon His miseries. It is the Son of God suffering there. He shrieks, “I thirst!” and they give Him vinegar to drink. He cries, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Heaven is black above His head; fever comes on—His tongue cleaves to the roof of His mouth—that mouth becomes hot as an oven; blood comes streaming down from all His pores.
Your Salvation
Why do I picture this? Why, here is your salvation! You must have an interest in the sufferings of that Man, or you must suffer for yourself forever! Would you not desire to have Him as your substitute? Then remember, whoever believes in Him is not condemned. Can you believe in Him now? To believe on Him is to trust Him. Will you trust yourself with Jesus?
Now, if you do trust, your sins are forgiven, your soul is accepted, your eternal state is blessed, and you are delivered from the wrath to come! Go your way at peace with God, and at rest in your conscience, and rejoice forevermore!
Conclusion
May the Master bless even my feebleness tonight to your profit, and may we meet in heaven to His praise. Amen.