Yet Death reigned as king from Adam to Moses even over those who had not sinned, as Adam did, against Law. And in Adam we have a type of Him whose coming was still future.
All this kept happening to them with a figurative meaning; but it was put on record by way of admonition to us upon whom the ends of the Ages have come.
For not into a Holy place built by men's hands –a mere copy of the reality– did Christ enter, but He entered Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
And, corresponding to that figure, the water of baptism now saves you –not the washing off of material defilement, but the craving of a good conscience after God– through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
He reduced to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and condemned them to overthrow, making them an example to people who might in future be living godless lives.
So also Sodom and Gomorrah –and the neighboring towns in the same manner– having been guilty of gross fornication and having gone astray in pursuit of unnatural vice, are now before us as a specimen of the fire of the Ages in the punishment which they are undergoing.