Genesis
19:12 ¶ And the men said unto Lot, Hast
thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and
whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: 13 For we will destroy this place, because the
cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent
us to destroy it. 14 And Lot went out,
and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get
you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as
one that mocked unto his sons in law.
Genesis
19:15 ¶ And when the morning arose, then
the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters,
which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon
his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two
daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and
set him without the city. 17 And it came
to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy
life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the
mountain, lest thou be consumed. 18 And
Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: 19
Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast
magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I
cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: 20 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto,
and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?)
and my soul shall live. 21 And he said
unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not
overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. 22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do
any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called
Zoar. 23 The sun was risen upon the earth
when Lot entered into Zoar.
Genesis
19:24 ¶ Then the LORD rained upon Sodom
and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the
plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the
ground.
Genesis
19:26 ¶ But his wife looked back from
behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Lot’s
daughters were clearly betrothed and not married as we understand it as they
were said to have not known man. To
be betrothed in the ancient world was considerably more of a commitment than
being engaged today. They were, for all practical purposes, married but without
the pleasure of sexual union as that had to wait. It must be understood that
the betrothal was a contract between two families that carried the same weight
as marriage. It wasn’t necessarily a personal, romantic choice as much as it
was a business deal, as binding as marriage and referred to as such.
Leviticus 19:20 And
whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed
to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be
scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.
Deuteronomy 20:7 And what
man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken
her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and
another man take her.
So,
Lot’s daughters were virgins but had husbands who did not possess them
physically yet. Notice also that sons-in-law were considered also to be sons.
The
angels told him to give his daughters’ husbands the warning to get out. Because
of Lot, these wicked people are being given a chance. But, it seems that not
ten good people can be found in this city. The angels declare their intention
to destroy Sodom because of its wickedness. Lot’s sons-in-law, however, think
he’s joking. You can imagine what would happen if you were to tell your
children that two angels visited you and announced that they were about to
destroy your town for its wickedness. They would think you had lost your mind,
would they not? But, this is prepared for them because of how evil they had
chosen to be.
The
day dawns, the time of judgment has come. But Lot lingers. Who wouldn’t with
two betrothed daughters whose husbands were refusing to leave? The angels give
him no choice and removed him, his wife, and his two daughters out of the city.
They
tell him not to look back. That would be very hard for anyone. Lot is afraid to
follow their command to escape to a nearby mountain. Remember the mountain that
the fleeing armies of Sodom and Gomorrah fled to in 14:10? Although afraid of
something about it, some evil perhaps, he will wind up there anyway and great
evil will overcome him. By requesting permission to flee to a small village the
angels agree to spare it for his sake although all of the other towns of the
plain are destroyed as if in a nuclear holocaust we might imagine. Lot’s wife
looked back and turned into a pillar of salt, a part of this judgment. What
sorrow she must have felt. What horror? Everyone you know and everything you
owned is being destroyed.
This
brings to mind that we are not to look back although we do it all the time. We
lament and regret what we did and did not do that has brought us to a place of
loss. We grieve for what could have been. But, we are not to look back. Our
sins are forgiven and we are to look forward and to trust God’s justice and
judgment.
In
the context of deciding whether to follow Him immediately or to take care of
unfinished business first Jesus said;
Luke
9:57 ¶ And it came to pass, that, as
they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee
whithersoever thou goest. 58 And Jesus
said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son
of man hath not where to lay his head. 59
And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first
to go and bury my father. 60 Jesus said
unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of
God. 61 And another also said, Lord, I
will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at
my house. 62 And Jesus said unto him, No
man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the
kingdom of God.
Paul declared his desire
to look ahead this way.
Philippians
3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to
have apprehended [that is to know Christ as Christ knows
him] : but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things
which are before, 14 I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
In
leaving this world behind and escaping the judgment God has planned for this
world Jesus makes this note.
Luke
17:24 For as the lightning, that
lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under
heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. 25 But first must he suffer many things, and be
rejected of this generation. 26 And as
it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
27 They did eat, they drank, they
married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into
the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot;
they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
29 But the same day that Lot went out of
Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son
of man is revealed. 31 In that day, he
which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come
down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return
back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife.
We
are not to look back. Our greatest times, our most perfect joy, is ahead of us,
with Christ. We may not understand now why a child refuses Christ, a parent, a
friend, and we may grieve at their loss, but, in the end, we must keep looking
forward. Too many Christians in America are crying about where their country is
headed, wanting to elect a national messiah or some sort of national pastor,
continuing to look back at some fictitious time when all Americans were
God-fearing and upright. They rip verses out of context in the Old Testament
regarding Israel and keep ranting about “turning America back to God”. They
keep looking back at Sodom.
No comments:
Post a Comment