Ezekiel 16:53

"And I will turn again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them; that thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be ashamed because of all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them. And thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate; and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate; and thou and thy daughters shall return to their former estate. For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride, because thy wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, that do despite unto thee round about."

"I will turn again their captivity ..." (Ezekiel 16:53). The simple meaning of this is that God will rescue them from the captivity of sin. That is the meaning of the term when Jesus used it in Luke 4:18, and that is the meaning of it here. There was never any captivity of Sodom.

This promise of restoration for apostate Israel is here projected as including also the restoration of Sodom and Samaria, with Jerusalem mentioned last, indicating that racial Israel will be on the level with all the rest of mankind, even with the Gentiles, and even be of lesser importance in the kingdom of the Messiah. Such a promise could not possibly have satisfied the ego of Israel. "Yes, Israel would again be restored, but only along with Samaria and Sodom."[32]

"Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former estate ..." (Ezekiel 16:55). How could such a thing be? Sodom had been totally destroyed; how then would God restore them? The meaning here is that, "The spiritual descendants, or successors, of Sodom, the people of the same character as the Sodomites would, under the New Covenant in Christ, enjoy the privileges of forgiveness and salvation."[33]

In fact, this indeed happened at Corinth (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Paul noted that the very worst sinners, including drunkards and Sodomites, were saved, cleansed, sanctified, and justified, not as continuing practitioners of their vile sins, of course, but, as in the case of every other Christian, upon the prior condition of their repentance and turning away from their wickedness. Christ did not come into this world and die in order to save men in their sins but from their sins. In the very passage, cited above, where Paul told of the redemption of these Sodomites of his generation, he also stated that practitioners of such gross sins, "cannot inherit the kingdom of God." Of course, they can be saved, all right, but upon the same terms under which anyone else may be saved, namely, upon the condition of their unqualified repentance and turning from their wicked ways.