Sodom
and  
Gomorrah

 
 

 

⚪ Resurrection - Yes   1879 ↔ 1939
⚫ Resurrection - No   1941 ↔ 1964
⚪ Resurrection - Yes   1965 ↔ 1965
⚫ Resurrection - No   1967 ↔ 1967
⚪ Resurrection - Yes   1973 ↔ 1974
⚫ Resurrection - No   1982 ↔ 1982
⚪ Resurrection - Yes   1987 ↔ 1988
⚫ Resurrection - No   1988 ↔ today

 

⚪ Resurrection - Yes

[...] Christ came to 'set at liberty the captives and to open the prison doors' of the grave of Sodom and Samaria. then will I bring thy captives in the midst of them" (These will be raised together.)

Source : 🇺🇸 Zion's Watch Tower, July 01 1879, page 8

Thus our Lord teaches that the Sodomites did not have a full opportunity; and he guarantees them such opportunity.

Source : 🇺🇸 1886 - Studies in the Scriptures, Divine Plan of the Ages, page 110 + Cover

This shows us clearly that the eternal fate of the Sodomites is not sealed. When we turn to the Word of the Lord through Ezekiel the Prophet, 16:46-63, we have abundant testimony that the Sodomites will not only be awakened from the sleep of death, but when awakened will be brought to a knowledge of God and to an opportunity of obtaining everlasting life, through The Messiah, by willing obedience.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watch Tower, 02 01 1913, page 45

The Scriptures distinctly tell us that the Israelites and the Sodomites will be sharers in that work of restoration, restitution.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watch Tower, Oct 15 1920; page 316

Jesus declared that "all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment". (John 5:28, 29) "They that have done evil" here means the entire human race aside from the church. They were born evil, born sinners. (Roman 5:12) They are coming forth to judgment, to a trial; and this is the great trial time spoken of by the de Apostle, in which all men shall have an opportunity. (Acts 17:31) "There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and injuste."-Acts 24:15.
... The people of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire. It does not mean, however, that they went into an endless torture, as we have heretofore been led to believe. On the contrary, the Lord plainly states that they shall be brought back to their former estate; that is, as human beings on the earth, for the purpose of being given a trial.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Harp of God, 1921, page 342, page 344 + Cover (edition 1928 page 350)

Sodom, Samaria and Jerusalem were the captives of the Devil's organization, and all went down into death as such captives. The Almighty God will destroy Satan's organization and will bring the people of those nations, with exceptions, back from that captivity [...] The return of all must take place at the same time, according to the Scriptures. Today all the Sodomites are the dead captives of Satan. Likewise the unfaithful Isrealites are the dead captives of Satan. All these captives must be brought back or returned "in the latter days". (Jer. 49:39) This can take place after Satan's organization is destroyed and Satan is bound [...] Satan dragged them down into destruction and brought them into captivity, and the returning of them from captivity will mean their return unto a condition of conscious existence, freed from Satan's organization, which will then have been destroyed [...] The heathen, such as Sodom, must return, if at all, in order to learn that the name of God has been vindicated. All then must have and will have opportunity to know and obey God's law.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, January 1 1939, page 12, page 13 + Cover

 

⚫ Resurrection - No

Sodom and Gomorrah were reduced to complete desolation, from which there is no possibility of recovery; and so likewise the modern Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites shall be destroyed, and the place where they have inhabited shall be, as prophesied, "even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation." The religious-totalitarian rule and rulers,the commercial robbers and those who have defied Jehovah God and his Theocracy, shall perish for ever at the battle of Armageddon, as the prophecy declares. "

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, Dec 01 1941, page 367

That capped the climax, and the next morning, at sunrise, fire and sulphur rained down upon Sodom, Gomorrah and near-by cities. Lot and his daughters escaped to Zoar just in time. - Gen. 19:10-30.
Like the angels that left their proper habitation in the invisible heavens, the inhabitants of all those burned-up cities went after the satisfaction of the flesh. It brought sudden destruction upon them by means like fire bombs dropped from airplanes in World War II. They suffered the punishment of "eternal fire". Its being called "eternal" does not mean the sulphurous fire still burns at those city sites today. [...] So the meaning is that the fire resulted in eternal destruction to those cities. That is the meaning of the "lake of fire burning with brimstone" described in Revelation 19:20; 20:10, 14, 15; 21:8. The Sodomites, etc., were not tormented eternally in that fire. They are "set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire".-Jude 7; [...] Those Sodomites were destroyed for burning with desire to defile the flesh of Jehovah’s holy angels. So these impious, ungodly persons are under doom to eternal destruction just as complete as if accomplished by fire and brimstone.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, July 15 1948, page 219 + Cover

Questions from readers

One of such judgment periods was the flood of Noah’s day, prior to which Noah preached righteousness for some forty or fifty years. (Heb. 11:7; 2 Pet. 2:5) Another was the fiery end of Sodom and Gomorrah, which cities saw warning miracles by angels and heard witnessing by Lot before the rain of fire fell. (Gen. 19:11-14,24) In Jesus’ day it was a time of judgment and he warned certain Jewish cities of a fate like that upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and judged certain scribes and Pharisees fit for the eternal destruction of Gehenna. — Matt. 11:20-24; 23:33־,NW.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, May 1, 1951, page 286 + Cover

Now just a minute, someone protests, are you not forgetting Jesus ׳ words to the rebellious Jewish cities: “It will be more endurable for the land of Sodom on Judgment Day than for you”? Does that not mean at least some of those destroyed at Sodom’s fall will be resurrected and able to successfully endure a future judgment day? We reply that these words have not been forgotten.—Matt. 10:15; 11:24, NW. This is a form of speech-construction common in Biblical times. It is used to emphasize the impossibility of a thing. [...] Sodom and Gomorrah could not endure judgment.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, May 1, 1951, page 287 + Cover

Another was the fiery end of Sodom and Gomorrah, which cities saw warning miracles by angels and heard testimony from Lot before the rain of fire fell. In Jesus’ day it was a time of judgment and he warned certain Jewish cities of a fate like that upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and judged certain scribes and Pharisees fit for the eternal destruction of Gehenna.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, June 1 1952, page 334 + Cover

Our previous consideration of 2 Peter 2:5-9 has shown that those destroyed by God at Sodom and Gomorrah are eternally “cut off”. Corroborating this is Jude 7, which states that these cities are “placed before us as a warning example by undergoing the judicial punishment of everlasting fire” . (NW) “Everlasting fire” symbolizes the same thing as Gehenna, namely, second death. The destruction upon Sodom and Gomorrah must be final, [...] Jude 7 shows that those ancient cities had their judgment day back there at the time of their destruction, since they are spoken of as having already undergone an execution of judgment, “the judicial punishment of everlasting fire.” By no wresting of scripture can this be made to mean a future resurrection for slain of the Lord. [...] If those slain by the Lord at Sodom have no resurrection, then those slain by him at Armageddon will have none, for the former pictures the latter. So in their endeavor to prove their contention that not all slain at Armageddon will remain dead, some seek to show that the Sodomites destroyed by fire will return in a resurrection.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, June 1 1952, page 335, page 336 + Cover

Another judgment period is brought into view when those championing resurrection for exterminated Sodomites quote Jesus’ words on a certain occasion. [...] Consequently I say to you people, It will be more endurable for the land of Sodom on Judgment Day than for you.” [...] From this some argue that there is a future judgment, in the millennial reign, for both Sodom and these Jewish cities. If we take this expression to mean that, then it would contradict Jude’s statement that Sodom had already undergone the “judicial punishment of everlasting fire”. Actually, Jesus was using a form of speech construction common in Biblical times. He used a similar construction when he said: “It is easier, in fact, for a camel to get through the eye of a sewing needle than for a rich man to get into the kingdom of God.” (Luke 18:25, NW) No sane person would believe a camel could squeeze through a needle’s eye.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, June 1 1952, page 338 + Cover

Those whom he slays at Armageddon will remain forever dead, for his prophetic pictures made at the time of the Flood and at the time of Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction say so, along with the parable of the sheep and goats. This view is corroborated by John 5:28, 29 (NW) : “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out.” Note that John 5:28,29 limits resurrections to those “in the memorial tombs” . This means that only those whose existence Jehovah retains in his memory will be resurrected, which remembrance is indicated or symbolized by the expression “memorial tombs” . That is why criminals considered unworthy of a resurrection were unceremoniously tossed into the Valley of Hinnom, or Gehenna, where their bodies were consumed, unlamented, unburied, without any tomb to remind of or memorialize their former existence. So those not “in the memorial tombs” , or not thus symbolized as being in God’s memory, will not be remembered at resurrection time.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, June 1 1952, page 347, page 348 + Cover

Though we are in a judgment period, we need not view as finally destroyed all who die from various causes prior to the execution of judgment at Armageddon. Some in the preflood world who died before the deluge may be resurrected; some Sodomites who died before fire and brimstone rained down may return; some Jews of Jesus and the apostles’ day not destroyed by the Roman executional forces may live again. But not those slain by the Lord in the Flood, or in the fiery rain on Sodom, or in the judgments executed A.D. 70, or during Armageddon.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, June 1 1952, page 349 + Cover

The instructions Jesus gave to his disciples add weight to the truth that the ransom would not apply to all men individually, for, said he, “wherever anyone does not take you in or listen to your words, on going out of that house or that city shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, It will be more endurable forthe land of Sodom and Gomorrah on Judgment Day than for that city.” (Matt. 10:14, 15, NW) He was pin-pointing the utter impossibility of ransom for unbelievers or those willfully wicked, because Sodom and Gomorrah were irrevocably condemned and destroyed, beyond any possible recovery.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, February 1 1954, page 85 + Cover

The judgment day for Sodom and Gomorrah was another destiny-making time. [...] "Lot went on out and began to speak to his sons-in-law who had taken his daughters, and he kept on saying: ‘Get up! Get out of this place, because Jehovah is destroying the city!’ They thought Lot was joking! [...] So the sons-in-law abandoned themselves to their self-chosen destiny of everlasting destruction. For “Jehovah made it rain sulphur and fire from Jehovah, from the heavens, upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah.” Scoffing laughter ceased forever in Sodom; its judgment day had been no joke. - Gen. 19:24, NW.
The fate of all the people who failed to flee Sodom was alike, whether it was men, women or children. They paid the penalty of everlasting destruction, because it was a judgment day. Sodom and Gomorrah, says the Bible writer Jude, “are placed before us as a warning example by undergoing the judicial punishment of everlasting fire.” — Jude 7, NW.
[...] In Lot’s time some of Sodom’s citizens thought that their judgment day was just a joke. They had a good laugh but it was cut short by their everlasting destruction.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, April 1, 1955, page 199, page 200 + Cover

Regarding Sodom and Gomorrah we are told that they “are placed before us as a warning example by undergoing” judicial everlasting punishment. At Revelation 21:8 we read that all the wicked will have their portion “in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur. This means the second death.” Nothing is said about a redemption or a resurrection from this second death. — Gen. 3:19; Jude 7, NW. Yes, Christ will “destroy the one having the means to cause death, that is, the Devil.” The wicked are as “vessels of wrath ade fit for destruction.” Their name “shall rot.” The “goats” are told to depart “into everlasting cutting-off.” According to the dictionary, to destroy means to bring to nought, to put out of existence, and destruction means extinction, extirpation, annihilation.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, November 15, 1955, page 676, page 677 + Cover

Wickedness and violence made it necessary that God again take action. That this likewise was a time both of executing justice upon the wicked and showing mercy to the righteous can be seen from Peter’s words that God “did not hold back from punishing an ancient world, but kept Noah, a preacher of righteousness, safe with seven others.” That the destiny of those antediluvians was everlasting destruction Peter also makes clear.—See 2 Peter, chapter 2, NW.
And since Peter also includes Sodom and Gomorrah in the foregoing reference, we know that those who perished by Jehovah’s fiery judgment in Lot’s day also had their eternal destiny sealed.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, November 15, 1956, page 678 + Cover

DIVINE JUDGMENTS ARE FINAL

Since the supreme Judge never makes a mistake, there is no need for him to take under review any judgment that he has passed. His judgments are final. That means the people who perished in the flood of Noah’s day will never be resurrected to stand trial again. The same is true with the people of Sodom and Gomorrah as well as Adam and Eve. All had their judgment day before the great Judge of the universe and all were sentenced to destruction. They will never have a conscious existence again.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, January 15, 1960, page 53 + Cover

The number of those who selfishly let themselves be misled is left as indefinite as the sand particles of the seashore. All such will be destroyed so completely that it will be as if they were plunged into a lake of fire and sulphur, as if fire came down from heaven as it once did upon Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed them irrecoverably. They will suffer the “second death,” a death that Jesus Christ will not destroy. (Rev. 20:7-9, 14, 15) Then, too, Satan the Devil and his demons, having served the purpose of their being let loose for only a “little while,” will themselves be forever consumed in that same lake of fire and sulphur, “the everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.” (Rev. 20:10; Matt. 25:41) Hallelujah! The Serpent and his seed visible and invisible are thus at last bruised in the head to their eternal destruction. Heaven and earth are free of them forever!

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, May 15, 1960, page 317 + Cover

The torment and restlessness of false worshipers will continue on without interruption until they are destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah, and the smokelike evidence of this utter destruction that was preceded by such continual torment will ascend forever. [...] If we desire to avoid drinking the undiluted wine of God’s anger in the cup of his wrath, if we want to escape from the tormenting fire and sulphur that result at last in destruction forever, we must turn to the worship of God the Creator.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, October 1 1963, page 595 + Cover

 

⚪ Resurrection - Yes

Today you can become his followers too, true Christians, and share in the preaching of God’s kingdom. Read the account in Matthew 11:20-24, and you will see what Jesus said about consequences. There he said that in the resurrection it will be much better for the people of Tyre, Sidon and Sodom, to whom Jesus never preached, than for those persons to whom Jesus did preach in Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. It was in these cities that Jesus did many of his powerful works, but they did not repent and followhim. Now, when the resurrection takes place for all these people, as it will for the thief who heard Jesus say, “You will be with me in Paradise,” what is going to happen? Jesus gave the answer to those of Chorazin and Bethsaida: “It will be more endurable for Tyre and Sidon on Judgment Day than for you.” And to those in Capernaum: “It will be more endurable for the land of Sodom on Judgment Day than for you.”—Matt. 11:22, 24.
It appears from Jesus’ statement that those of Tyre, Sidon and Sodom will repent and accept the provisions to gain life more quickly than will the Jews who had seen the powerful works that took place in their cities when Jesus was there with them.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, January 1 , 1965, page 25 + Cover

Therefore, they repented of their evil ways and turned around. They do not want to be like the people of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, whose reforming after their resurrection will be more difficult than that of those coming back from Sodom and Gomorrah. Maybe, because of their stubborn disposition then when Jesus was on the earth nineteen hundred years ago, they will show an even worse disposition when raised from the dead and they will be more resentful of what is taking place. That will not be disturbing to those who want to do good things so as to have their resurrection, when they are brought forth from the memorial tombs, prove to be one of life.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, January 1, 1965, page 26 + Cover

Jesus said that many will be resurrected: “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28, 29) He tells us that even the people of such wicked cities as Sodom and Gomorrah, Tyre and Sidon, Nineveh, and the Jewish cities that did not like Jesus’ preaching, namely, Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, will come back for the great Judgment Day. (Matt. 10:15; 11:20-24; 12:41)

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, February 1, 1965, page 87, page 88 + Cover

Questions from Readers

Since Jude 7 shows that Sodom and Gomorrah became a “warning example by undergoing the judicial punishment of everlasting fire,” does that not bar the inhabitants of those cities from a resurrection? [...]
Then the next verse refers to the Judgment Day, saying: “Consequently I say to you people, It will be more endurable for the land of Sodom on Judgment Day than for you.” (Matt. 11:24) Similarly, at Matthew 10:15 are recorded Jesus’ words: “Truly I say to you, It will be more endurable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on Judgment Day than for that city” where the people would reject the message carried by Jesus’ disciples. For it to be “more endurable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah”than for others, it would be necessary for former inhabitants of that land to be present on Judgment Day. It is not the literal raised from the dead who will stand “before the throne.” Nor will judgment be passed on them as groups, as former inhabitants of certain lands, but they will be “judged individually according to their deeds” during the time of judgment. So apparently individuals who used to live in that land will be resurrected. — Rev. 20:12, 13.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, August 1, 1965, page 479 + Cover

 

⚫ Resurrection - No

Will they be killed and buried in Hades or Sheol, which is the common grave of dead mankind, from which resurrection is possible? No, these political organizations are slated to be “hurled into the fiery lake that bums with sulphur.”This the Bible describes as the “second death.” (Rev. 20:14) It means the death from which there is no resurrection. They will be burned up root and branch, as completely gone forever as the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which Jehovah God burned up by a rain of fire and sulphur from heaven, never to be rebuilt. It is destruction in Gehenna in which God destroys both body and soul (any right or possibility of living). — Matt. 10:28; Gen. 19:23-29; 2 Pet. 2:6-9; Jude 7.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, July 1, 1967, page 409 + Cover

 

⚪ Resurrection - Yes

PERSONALITY CHANGES NOT BY DIVINE MIRACLE

Even a resurrection from the dead will not—of itself—change people. We know this because of Jesus’ saying to the people of certain cities of Israel: “It will be more endurable for Tyre and Sidon [and the land of Sodom] on Judgment Day than for you.” (Matt. 11:20-24) Why? Because these people in ancient Tyre, Sidon and Sodom had not had the benefit of the preaching, teaching and performing of powerful works that these first-century Jews were receiving through God’s Son. So, Jesus was saying that when the residents of such cities as Capernaum, Chorazin and Bethsaida returned in the resurrection during his thousand-year reign they would return with the same proud, stubborn personalities they were then manifesting. Though clearly unrighteous, the people of Tyre, Sidon and Sodom had not manifested such traits and so would be in better position as to accepting truth and instruction in God’s righteous principles. — Compare Matthew 21:31, 32.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, June 15 1973, page 366, page 367 + Cover

God’s dealing with Sodom and Gomorrah shows that he takes no pleasure in the death of anyone, but wants all to live, if they will just live respectfully toward their fellowman and in obedience to righteous principles. (Ezek. 33:11; Mic. 6:8) Moreover, God’s undeserved kindness and care are so great that he will bring back the people of Sodom by a resurrection, with opportunity to learn and turn around to the way of life, even as his Son stated. —Luke 10:11, 12; Matt. 11:24.

Source : 🇺🇸 Awake, October 8 1974, page 20 + Cover

 

⚫ Resurrection - No

Yes, for their excessive immorality the people of Sodom and of the surrounding cities suffered a destruction from which they will apparently never be resurrected. - 2 Peter 2:4-6,9,10a.
Jesus too indicated that the Sodomites may not be resurrected.

Source : 🇺🇸 1982 - You can live forever in paradise on earth, page 179 + Cover

 

⚪ Resurrection - Yes

Condemning Capernaum, which apparently has been his home base during his ministry, Jesus declares: “It will be more endurable for the land of Sodom on Judgment Day than for you.”
What does Jesus mean by this? Evidently he is showing that, during Judgment Day when proud ones in Capernaum are resurrected, it will be more difficult for them to admit their mistakes and accept Christ than it will be for the resurrected ancient Sodomites to repent humbly and learn righteousness.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, January 15 1987, page 25 + Cover

Of a city that rejects their message, Jesus says: “It will be more endurable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on Judgment Day than for that city.”This shows that at least some unrighteous ones to whom his disciples would preach will be present during Judgment Day. When these former citizens are resurrected during Judgment Day, however, it will be even harder for them to humble themselves and accept Christ as King than it will be for resurrected persons from the ancient immoral cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower, July 15 1987, page 9 + Cover

It will be more endurable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on Judgment Day than for that city. Sodom and Gomorrah were everlastingly destroyed as cities, but this would not preclude a resurrection for people of those cities.

Source : 🇺🇸 1988 - Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2, page 985 + Cover

 

⚫ Resurrection - No

What, then, about the inhabitants of “the land of Sodom on Judgment Day”? The mere fact that Jesus paralleled Sidon with Sodom does not establish the future prospects of those wicked ones whom God destroyed with sulfur and fire. But let us see what else the Bible says on the question.
One of the most pointed comments is in Jude 7. Jude had just spoken of (1) Israelites destroyed for lack of faith, and (2) angels who sinned and are ‘reserved with eternal bonds for the judgment of the great day.’ Then Jude wrote: "So too Sodom and Gomorrah... are placed before us as a warning example by undergoing the judicial punishment of everlasting fire.” This tex has been applied to the actual cities’ being destroyed everlastingly, not the people. However, in view of Jude 5 and 6jikely most people would take verse 7 to mean a judicial punishment of individuals. (Similarly, Matthew 11:20-24 would be understood as criticizing people, not stones or buildings.) In this light, Jude 7 would mean that the wicked people of Sodom/Gomorrah were judged and destroyed everlastingly.

Source : 🇺🇸 The Watchtower June 1, 1988 (Questions From Readers), page 30, page 31 + Cover

Jude 7 states that those Sodomites underwent "the judicial punishment of everlasting fire," meaning eternal destruction.

Source : 🇺🇸 1988 - Revelation Its grand climax at hand, page 273 + Cover