Genesis 18:1 ¶
And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the
tent door in the heat of the day; 2 And
he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he
saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the
ground, 3 And said, My Lord, if now I
have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:
4 Let a little water, I pray you, be
fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: 5 And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and
comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come
to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. 6 And Abraham hastened into the tent unto
Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and
make cakes upon the hearth. 7 And
Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto
a young man; and he hasted to dress it. 8
And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set
it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.
Genesis
18:9 ¶ And they said unto him, Where is
Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. 10 And he said, I will certainly return unto
thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.
And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well
stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
12 Therefore Sarah laughed within
herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old
also? 13 And the LORD said unto Abraham,
Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am
old? 14 Is any thing too hard for the
LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of
life, and Sarah shall have a son. 15
Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he
said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.
These
three men are appearances or angels of spiritual beings and one of them is God
Himself, in the form of pre-incarnate Christ; the Word by which all things were
and are created (see Psalm 104:30; Isaiah 48:7; and John 1:1-18).
Abraham
tells Sarah to make three cakes from three measures of meal. It is interesting
to note that three of the world’s great religions will come from Abraham and
Sarah’s offspring; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Note the corrupting
influence of leaven as it is kneaded into three measures of meal in the
following verse. Perhaps God is not impressed with the practices of either of
these “great” faith traditions in their hypocrisy.
Matthew
13:33 Another parable spake he unto
them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in
three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
Luke
12:1 In the mean time, when there were
gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode
one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees,
which is hypocrisy.
As
Abraham has a meal prepared for these men they ask where Sarah is, another
question for which they obviously know the answer and one of them makes an
important statement. He, clearly the Lord, promises to return unto thee according to the time of life which is a reference
to the presence of God’s will in Sarah’s childbirth.
Now
it is Sarah’s turn to laugh, as both her and Abraham are now very old and it ceased to be with Sarah after the
manner of women meaning she was no longer fertile and no longer
menstruating.
The
Lord’s response was to make the claim by way of a rhetorical question that
nothing was impossible with God and to repeat the certainty of Sarah’s
childbirth. Jesus made a similar statement when comparing the difficulty of
becoming a believer if one is possessed of wealth.
Mark
10:25 It is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
God. 26 And they were astonished out of
measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? 27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men
it is impossible, but not with God: for
with God all things are possible.
Sarah,
afraid at being challenged for laughing, denied she laughed but the Lord
contradicted her attempt to hide her doubt. Many conservative Christians will
deny that they have any doubts about God’s promises, about the truth of the
gospel, or even about God’s very existence but God knows what is in your heart.
Don’t be angry at the atheist when you yourself have said in your heart at
certain times, “how is this possible?”
Mark
9:24 And straightway the father of the
child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
We
live in bodies of flesh, assailed by misfortune, disappointments, disease,
fleeting joys and pleasures, and then death. Often, we are overcome by the
apparent randomness and uncertainty of life. And yet, if we belong to God and
are sensitive to His involvement in our moment to moment lives as clearly laid
out in the Bible we are assured that His power is real and His promises are
true.
Modern
Christians have been led to believe by their preachers that if a thing happens
like childbirth it is just by a natural process that God started but is not
really involved in unless He is asked to intervene and wills to do so. Modern
Christians believe that God cannot be involved in the evil that can befall
them. They ignore the lessons of the Book of Job and wrench the promises made
to Israel out of context and apply them to themselves to their eventual dismay.
Or they embrace worldly values, lusts, and pride and insist they have not,
harming their faith when things go wrong.
But,
if you are honest, speaking to God in prayer and opening your Bible inviting
the Lord to speak to you through His words, then you know that nothing is
impossible with Him and He will do and has done what He has promised. Don’t
pretend you’ve never doubted God as Sarah has here.
Genesis
18:16 ¶ And the men rose up from thence,
and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.
17 And the LORD said, Shall I hide from
Abraham that thing which I do; 18 Seeing
that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations
of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19
For I know him, that he will command his children and his household
after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment;
that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. 20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom
and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 21 I will go down now, and see whether they have
done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not,
I will know. 22 And the men turned their
faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the
LORD.
18:23
¶ And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt
thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within
the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty
righteous that are therein? 25 That be
far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked:
and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall
not the Judge of all the earth do right? 26
And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city,
then I will spare all the place for their sakes. 27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I
have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: 28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the
fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said,
If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. 29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said,
Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it
for forty’s sake. 30 And he said unto
him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall
thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken
upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there.
And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake. 32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry,
and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And
he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake. 33 And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had
left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
First,
God acknowledges that Abraham will become a mighty nation, a people, he will
command his family to faithfulness to the Lord, and he and his family will be
faithful to God. Through the people that come from Abraham the entire world
will be blessed. As we know, through Abraham the entire world was given the
opportunity to know the God who created them even most chose instead a mythical
god or gods to worship who reflected their own morality, their own political
views, their own culture, fear, paranoia, and bigotry. Many who worship in
churches, mosques, temples, and synagogues today are simply worshipping a
reflection of themselves rather than the God who actually created them and all
things.
God
here gives Abraham an opportunity to plead for mercy for the small number of
people who may not deserve the judgment Abraham knows Sodom so richly has
earned.
Sodom
is guilty of great wickedness.
Ezekiel
16:49 Behold, this was the iniquity of
thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her
and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and
needy. 50 And they were haughty, and
committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.
We
will be shocked at the homosexual gang rape threatened by the men of Sodom
coming soon but the Bible shows this wickedness was not unique to Sodom. The
men of Gibeah, Israelites of the tribe of Benjamin, will threaten the same and
then commit heterosexual rape and murder on a Levite’s concubine in Judges 19.
We must understand that this world’s religious and social system was fraught
with sexuality and power/domination rituals such as gang rape to enforce the
power of a group of people over even a stranger passing through.
From
Sodom we get the word sodomite for a
male temple prostitute in contrast to a whore
which denotes a female temple prostitute.
Deuteronomy
23:17 There shall be no whore of the
daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.18 Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or
the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even
both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.
Even
today, in some quarters, a male prostitute is called a dog in slang.
Men
would enter a pagan temple in the Ancient Near East and toss a coin into a
temple prostitute’s lap to have sex with them as part of their worship of Baal
and Ishtar. Greek writers, Herodotus and Lucian, tell us of this practice as a
symbol of Ishtar’s union with Tammuz. It is evident from the Bible that this
was the form of worship that God abhorred and wanted erased.
So,
Sodom was proud, rich, lazy, and without compassion for the poor, passing on
the perverted religious practices of the age that probably started at Babel or
even more likely from the fallen sons of God in the Pre-Flood world who found
the daughters of men desirable. It is even noted in some sources that every
woman who came of age was expected to visit a temple to act as a religious
prostitute at least once.
Temple
prostitution even plays a part in the Greco-Roman world of Paul and the early
Christians. Certainly, the thousand short-haired temple prostitutes at the
Temple of Aphrodite in nearby Acro-Corinth had an impact on the Corinthians
church’s requirement that their women have long-hair so as not to be confused
with a temple prostitute. Read 1Corinthians 11:1-16 but pay attention to verse
16 that shows this was not necessarily an issue with other Christian churches.
Abraham
pleads with God most likely for the sake of his nephew, Lot, and God promises
that if there are just ten righteous men in this city he will spare it.
Apparently, even that is too much to ask of Sodom. Lot, who it is later
revealed is disgusted by the behavior of the people of the city he has chosen
to abide in, will be saved from its judgment.
2Peter
2:6 And turning the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample
unto those that after should live ungodly; 7 ¶
And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the
wicked: 8 (For that righteous man
dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day
to day with their unlawful deeds;) 9 The
Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the
unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
Genesis,
chapter 19
Genesis
19:1 ¶ And there came two angels to
Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to
meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; 2 And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I
pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet,
and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we
will abide in the street all night. 3
And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and
entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened
bread, and they did eat.
The
two angels that were with the Lord went on to the city. Angels are not a
strange manlike creature with wings. They look like men when not representing
the church or something else.
Revelation
21:17 And he measured the wall thereof,
an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
Daniel
9:21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in
prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I
had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched
me about the time of the evening oblation.
Luke
1:26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God
unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
Lot sat in the gate indicating that he had
become a judge in Sodom to judge disputes and help manage the city’s affairs.
Sitting in the gate as a position of judgment is defined in the Bible. It was a
place to meet with the elders of a city.
Deuteronomy
21:19 Then shall his father and his
mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto
the gate of his place;
It
was a place of the king’s authority.
2Samuel
15:2 And Absalom rose up early, and
stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man that had a
controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and
said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes
of Israel.
2Samuel
19:8 Then the king arose, and sat in the
gate. And they told unto all the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in
the gate. And all the people came before the king: for Israel had fled every
man to his tent.
1Kings
22:10 And the king of Israel and
Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their
robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the
prophets prophesied before them.
The
mention of the gate is equivalent to the deciding of judgment.
Amos
5:15 Hate the evil, and love the good,
and establish judgment in the gate:
it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of
Joseph.
So,
in the following, often misunderstood verses because Christians are not taught
to cross-reference verses anymore due to the proliferation of humanistic Bible
versions that eliminate cross-references, the gates of hell is a reference to the judgment that casts one into
perdition. This judgment will not affect the true church of Christ. The church
is established upon Peter’s confession of faith, upon Jesus Christ, the Rock
(1Corinthians 10:4).
Matthew
16:15 He saith unto them, But whom say
ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter
answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven.18 And
I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
church; and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it.
Lot’s
concern for these foreigners is quite apparent. They must not lodge in the
street, for we know that it was a dangerous place, probably no less dangerous
than a street in Baltimore, The Bronx, or Chicago today. This type of thing is
shown again in Gibeah in Judges 19 as I’ve already mentioned.
Genesis 19:4 ¶
But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom,
compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every
quarter: 5 And they called unto Lot, and
said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them
out unto us, that we may know them. 6
And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,
7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not
so wickedly. 8 Behold now, I have two
daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto
you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing;
for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. 9 And they said, Stand back. And they said
again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now
will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the
man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. 10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled
Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. 11 And they smote the men that were at the door
of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied
themselves to find the door.
Compassed means
to encircle, to surround, which is obvious from the phrase compassed the house round.
Joshua
6:11 So the ark of the LORD compassed the city, going about it once:
and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.
All people from every quarter doesn’t
necessarily mean every single person in the city. Common sense tells us this
but also the Bible itself uses two definitions of all. There is all without exception as in the following where it is
God’s desire that all humanity be saved but we know that many reject Him.
1Timothy
2:4 Who will have all men to be saved,
and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Then,
there is all without distinction. Instead of saying men came from every
quarter, as we would, Moses writes it the way he did. Notice a similar passage
in that regard here as we doubt that every single person in Judaea came to the
Jordan so that the land itself was empty of people. It is simply not to be
understood that way;
Mark
1:5 And there went out unto him all the land
of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of
Jordan, confessing their sins.
Or
here next we don’t expect that every single person in the village or town was
at the door but that people came from everywhere.
Mark
1:33 And all the city was gathered
together at the door.
We
use this type of hyperbole when we say, “everyone,” often meaning not that
there is no one who doesn’t but simply referencing many.
These
people want to know Lot’s guests,
clearly demanding that they be delivered to be gang-raped as in the later case
where a gang of thugs representing the town of Gibeah of Benjamin behaved
badly.
Judges
19:25 But the men would not hearken to
him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the
night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.
To
our amazement and disgust, Lot offers his two virgin daughters instead. This
reflects the baseness of this ancient culture, certainly not reflecting well
upon Lot. We get an idea of the degeneracy of Sodom’s culture in this scene and
the careless value placed on the sex act and the worth of women. But, we also
get a glimpse of the importance and the honor placed on hospitality and how one
felt responsible for the welfare of the stranger one took into his house. The
example of depravity only gets worse.
The
mob rejects Lot’s offer and casts disparaging comments on his time as a judge,
sitting in the gate, obviously resenting his, a foreigner’s, presence. They
promise to do worse to him for not complying with their collective will than
with the men they want delivered to them. This is about power and domination,
not sexual desire. Rape, heterosexual or homosexual, is unfinished murder, an
exercise of power and domination over another, not simply out-of-control lust.
Before
things get bad for Lot the angels, the
men, rescue Lot and strike the crowd
blind but they are in a full fury and rage now and still try to get at the door
through which Lot has been saved. This suggests that the blindness affected
their ability to see the door, not that all their vision just went black, as
they are still trying to force the door, apparently, and just can’t find it
now.
In
verses 4 and 9 we have examples of how the word even is used for two things that are the same thing in the phrases the men of the city, even the men of Sodom and the man, even Lot. Remember a past
example of this type of the use of even.
Genesis
6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy
all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing
that is in the earth shall die.
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.
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