Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 11:23

"And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? thou shalt go down unto Hades: for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in thee, it would have remained until this day." — Matthew 11:23 (ASV)

The warning to Capernaum is, if possible, still more emphatic, for Sodom was actually destroyed by fire from heaven. Capernaum, His own city, the headquarters of the army of salvation, had seen and heard the Son of God. He had done in it what even Sodomites would have felt, and yet it remained unmoved. Those foul sinners of the accursed Sodom, had they seen the miracles of Christ, would have so forsaken their sins that their city would have been spared.

Jesus knew that it would have been so, and therefore he mourned to see Capernaum remain as hardened as ever. Because of this rejection of special privilege, the city which had been exalted unto heaven would be brought as low in punishment as it had been raised high in privilege. May none of our favored English people perish in the same condemnation! Alas, how much we fear that millions of them will do so!