They thought he was joking

The account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is one of the most sobering accounts in Scripture. Though Abraham had pleaded for its preservation through the number of righteous persons in it, yet there were not found even ten righteous people in the city. In the mercy of God, He sends "men" to Lot to bring him and his family out of Sodom before it is destroyed, and charge Lot to bring out anyone he has in the city before they destroy it.

So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, 'Up! Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city.' But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting (Genesis 19:14)

In this encounter, there are tremendous parallels to Gospel-proclamation. We are charged with a message like Lot's: Flee from impending judgment! The response of many to the Gospel mirrors that of Lot's sons-in-law: they must be joking.

"Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come" (1 Corinthians 10:11). Our warnings will seem to many as jesting, and yet they are not therefore any less true. Rather, it makes the warnings of the Gospel even more urgent, since they appear less immanent to the hearers.

God give us grace to call others to run to you for mercy, and open the hearts of others to see that we do not jest.