Genesis 18:16–19:29 | Sodom and Gomorrah | God is Holy

LESSON OVERVIEW FOR ADULTS

In Genesis 18:16–19:29, we witness God revealing His plan to Abraham to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their overwhelming sin. Abraham, in his compassion, pleads for mercy on behalf of any righteous people that may be found there. Though God agrees to spare the cities if even ten righteous people are found, only Lot and his family respond. This passage powerfully reminds us that God is both holy and just, and He cannot ignore sin. It also shows God’s willingness to save those who are faithful.

The story also gives us a glimpse into God’s heart through Abraham’s intercession. While God does not tolerate sin, He listens to His people and extends mercy when possible. This lesson reinforces the seriousness of sin and the importance of trusting in God’s ways, especially in a world that often chooses its own path instead of God’s.

OPENING ACTIVITY 6:00–6:15 | Raised Salt Painting

Items Needed

• Salt
• Glue (Bottle)
• Paint Brushes
• Water Colors
• Cardstock

Cover the table in large brown paper for easy clean up. Give each child a piece of cardstock and a glue bottle. Allow them to pour glue all over the paper. Then help them sprinkle salt on their glue and dump it off. Have them use water colors to paint the salt.

Explain that in our story today, we are going to learn about how someone was turned into a pillar of salt.

SONGS 6:20–6:30

PRAYER 6:30–6:40

• Sing “Whisper a Prayer”
• Form a prayer circle.
• Say together: “Dear God, thank You for loving us and helping us know what is right. Help us choose good things and follow You. Amen.”

BIBLE STORY 6:40–6:50

Question 1: What book is this story from? Genesis
Question 2: Old or New Testament? Old Testament

Story Text: Abraham was God’s friend. One day, God told Abraham He was going to check on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The people there were being very bad. Abraham asked, “If there are just ten good people, will you save the city?” God said, “Yes.”

But when the angels went to Sodom, only Lot and his family were good. Lot took the angels into his house to keep them safe. The other people in the city were mean. The angels told Lot to leave quickly with his family. “Don’t look back!” they said. But as they ran, Lot’s wife looked back. She turned into a pillar of salt!

God saved Lot and showed He does not like sin. He wants us to listen and trust Him.

Questions:

• Why does God hate sin? (Because it hurts people and separates them from Him.)
• Who did God save? (Lot and his family.)
• Can we trust God like Lot did? (Yes!)
• What should we do when God says to do something? (Listen and obey.)

Prayer:
“Dear God, help us to listen and obey Your words. Help us trust You with all our hearts.”

BIBLE STORY GAME 6:50–7:00 | Throw Our Sin Away

Items Needed:

• Throw Away or Keep Printout
• Trash bin
• Masking tape

Arrange the pictures upside down on a table. Have kids take turns picking up a piece of paper. If they pick up something good, they go and tape it on the wall. If they pick up a sin, they crumple it up and throw it in the trash. Continue until all the papers have been sorted. Then review the contents of the wall and trash bin together.

“God helps us know what is right and what is wrong. When we choose to do what is right, we are following God. But when we make bad choices, we can ask God to help us stop and make good choices instead. We want to keep the good in our hearts and throw away the bad!”

BIBLE CRAFT 7:00–7:10: Pillar of Salt Craft

Items Needed:

• Cardboard roll
• Google eyes
• Yarn
• Paintbrush
• Glue
• Plate
• Salt.

Cover the outside of the cardboard tube completely in glue. Put salt on a plate. Roll the tube so it’s covered with salt. Have an adult help glue on the hair (short pieces of yarn) and eyes.

SNACK TIME & CENTERS 7:10–7:25

Items Needed

• Coloring Page
• Crayons
• Snack

Children will color, enjoy a small snack, and quietly reflect on today’s story.

BONUS ACTIVITY: Foamy Volcano

Items Needed

• Clear Bottle (optional, use cardstock to make a volcano around it)
• Small bowl
• Cup
• 1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 1 tbsp washing up liquid
• 2 tbsp water
• ½ cup vinegar
• 1 tbsp red food colouring

Create a simple baking soda and vinegar volcano to show how the cities were destroyed.

In a bowl, combine the bicarbonate of soda and washing up liquid. Add the water and mix well. Pour this mixture into your volcano. In a cup, mix together the vinegar and food coloring. When you’re ready, pour the vinegar into the bottle with the bicarbonate. Wait for it to erupt and watch how the lava flows.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE: Genesis 18:16–19:29 (KJV)

¹⁶ And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.

¹⁷ And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

¹⁸ Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

¹⁹ For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

²⁰ And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;

²¹ I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.

²² And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord.

²³ And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

²⁴ Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

²⁵ That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

²⁶ And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

²⁷ And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:

²⁸ Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.

²⁹ And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty’s sake.

³⁰ And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

³¹ And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.

³² And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.

³³ And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.

19 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;

² And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.

³ And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

⁴ But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:

⁵ And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.

⁶ And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,

⁷ And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.

⁸ Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.

⁹ And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.

¹⁰ But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.

¹¹ And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

¹² And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:

¹³ For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.

¹⁴ And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.

¹⁵ And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.

¹⁶ And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.

¹⁷ And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

¹⁸ And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:

¹⁹ Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:

²⁰ Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.

²¹ And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.

²² Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

²³ The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.

²⁴ Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;

²⁵ And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

²⁶ But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord:

²⁸ And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹ And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

PARENT TAKE HOME SHEET

Today’s Key Takeaway: Trust God

What I Learned Today:
God is holy. Sin is anything we think, say, or do that is not what God wants. Lot listened to God, but his wife looked back and became salt!

Questions to Ask Me:
Theological:

1. What is sin? (Something against God.)
2. Who did God save? (Lot and his family.)
3. What happened to Sodom? (It was destroyed.)
4. What happened when Lot’s wife looked back? (She turned to salt.)
5. What does God want us to do when He speaks? (Obey.)

Life Application:

1. Should I listen to God? (Yes.)
2. Can I trust God to help me do good? (Yes.)
3. What should I do when I make a bad choice? (Say sorry and ask God to help.)
4. How can I help others know what is right? (Be kind and tell the truth.)
5. What can I pray about this week? (Ask God to help me obey.)