Interesting...

I mentioned this at the Bible reading last night:

Matthew 11 makes a strange and powerful statement. The Lord Jesus is speaking, and He says:

23 And *thou*, Capernaum, who hast been raised up to heaven, shalt be brought down even to hades. For if the works of power which have taken place in thee, had taken place in Sodom, it had remained until this day. 24 But I say to you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in judgment-day than for thee. (Matthew 11:23--24, JND)

Certainly the point the Lord Jesus was making is, His presence in Capernaum robbed them of any excuse before God. God had reached into the world in a way unknown even to Abraham, God's friend. And so even though the sin of Sodom was so great that God rained fire on it from Heaven, the sin of Capernaum was greater. They had rejected the Son of God.

There is a more subtle point: God knew exactly what it would take to drive the Sodomites to repentance, and He chose not to do it. This is worth consideration.

God is sovereign. It is because He is sovereign that He reaches out in love to us. It was an act of sovereignty to send His Son to die for our sins. God's sovereignty extends to His judging the world. He owes us absolutely nothing. God is perfectly within His rights to pour out love on wicked sinners. He is perfectly within His rights to pour wrath on them too.

God has declared that He will judge the earth by raising Christ from the dead (Acts 17:31). It is not our place to judge God, He judges us. We ought not to think that God owes us anything. We would do well to remember the God judged Sodom.