The Days of Lot
LUKE 17:28 – “Likewise also as it was in THE DAYS OF LOT; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded”;
LUKE 17:29 – “But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all”.
LUKE 17:30 – “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed”.
The primary Scriptural accounts of Lot’s life are found in Genesis chapters 13, 18, 19.
“Abram” (Abraham) and Sarah came out of Egypt, with “Lot” (Abram’s nephew) and they came out of Egypt with great substance (GENESIS 13:1, 2).
GENESIS 13:3 – “And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, and to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, BETWEEN BETHEL AND HAI”;
* BEING BETWEEN “BETHEL”, WHICH MEANS “HOUSE OF GOD” AND “HAI”, WHICH MEANS “HEAP OF RUINS” – THIS FAMILY WAS IN “THE VALLEY OF DECISION”!
GENESIS 13:4 – “UNTO THE PLACE OF THE ALTAR, which he (Abraham) he had made there at THE FIRST:and there Abram called on the name of the Lord”.
GENESIS 13:5 – “And Lot also, which went with Abram, had FLOCKS, AND HERDS AND TENTS (FOR HIS SERVANTS AND FAMILY)”.
* BUT WHAT “LOT” DID NOT HAVE IS AN “ALTAR UNTO GOD” THAT HE BUILT TO WORSHIP GOD AT – NO WHERE IN SCRIPTURE DO WE SEE THAT “LOT” BUILT AN ALTAR TO GOD!
God had blessed both Abram and Lot so much that both of them could not dwell together, for their substance was great, that they could not dwell together in good relationship, and there was “Strife” between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdsman of Lot’s cattle (GENESIS 13:6, 7). How often has strife between family members occurred, about earthly possessions and wealth?
Abraham gave Lot the choice between what lands, they were to live in separately. Abraham said that he could choose between the “Land of Canaan” and “The plains of Jordan”.
The proposal made by Abram to his nephew was exceedingly generous, and in his greed, “Lot”, took full advantage of it. Instead of leaving the choice to Abram, we read this:
GENESIS 13:10 – “And LOT LIFTED UP HIS EYES, and be held all the plains of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the GARDEN OF THE LORD, LIKE THE LAND OF EGYPT, AS THOU COMEST UNTO ZOAR”.
* “WALKING BY SIGHT” – IS THE CAUSE OF MUCH OF OUR FAILURES IN LIFE – WE REALLY DO NEED TO BUILD AN “ALTAR TO THE LORD”, IN OUR LIVES!
* When “Lot”, lifted up his eyes, this was the commencement, outwardly, at least, of the “Total” decline of Lot’s life, which ended in the utmost shame – IT WAS HIS ”LOT IN LIFE”!
GENESIS 13:11 – “Then LOT CHOSE him ALL THE PLAINS OF JORDAN; and Lot journeyed east:and they separated themselves the one from the other”.
1 JOHN 2:15 – “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him”.
1 JOHN 2:16 – “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and THE LUST OF THE EYES, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1 JOHN 2:17 – “And the world passeth away, and the LUST thereof:BUT HE THAT DOETH THE WILL OF GOD ABIDETH FOR EVER”.
* SO IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING OF MANKIND TO TODAY:“And when the woman (Eve) SAW that the tree was good for food (Lust of the flesh), and IT WAS PLEASANT TO THE EYES (LUST OF THE EYES), and a tree to be desired to make one wise (Pride of life), she took of the fruit thereof” (GENESIS 3:6).
GENESIS 13:12 – “Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plains, AND PITCHED HIS TENT TOWARDS SODOM”.
GENESIS 13:13 – “But the men of Sodom were WICKED AND SINNERS BEFORE THE LORD EXCEEDINGLY”.
Notice, the various steps in the downward course of Lot’s life are plainly marked out:
First, he lifted his “Eyes and beheld”. Second, he chose for him “All the plains of Jordan”. Third, he separated himself from Abraham. Fourth, he dwelled, in the “Cities of the plain”. Fifth, he “Pitched his tent towards Sodom”. Sixth, he dwelled, inside the city of Sodom. Finally we see him administrating government, inside the city of Sodom, as he seated at the “Gate”and his daughters are wedded to the men of Sodom.
This sets the stage, for the events that follow in Genesis 18 and 19, where God reveals to Abraham His intention to destroy “Sodom and Gomorrah”, due to their GRIEVOUS SIN. Abraham intercedes for the cities, and God agrees to spare them if ten righteous people could be found.
In GENESIS 13:14 – 18, the Lord says to Abraham, “AFTER LOT WAS SEPARATED FROM HIM”, the Lord says to Abram, to lift up his eyes and look to the north, unto the south, unto the east and the west and that all the land that he could see; God would give to Abraham and his descendants forever. God also says that He will give his “Seed” (His descendants) a inheritance, and they would possess the land forever, and that his descendants would be so numerous, that it would it be impossible to number, because they would be so numerous.
GENESIS 13:18 – “Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the land of Mamre, which is in Hebron, AND BUILT AN ALTAR UNTO THE LORD”.
* THE TIME OF GOD’S JUDGMENT WAS NOW COME BUT “LOT” WAS NO MORE AWARE OF IT – THAN THE UNGODLY WERE!
* GENESIS 19:1 -11 – The name of “SODOM”, has become synonymous with the sin of “homosexuality or Sodomy”. But sexual perversion was not the ONLY cause, of the city’s fall. In EZEKIEL 16:49, 50, the Lord describes the “Sins of Sodom” as:“PRIDE, FULNESS OF FOOD, AN ABUNDANCE OF IDLENESS, AND DID NOT STRENGTHEN THE HAND OF THE POOR AND NEEDY”.
* NOTICE, THE SIMILARITY, BETWEEN “THE LAST DAYS CHURCH (AGE)”, THE “AGE” WE ARE NOW LIVING IN – BETWEEN “THE CHURCH OF LAODICEA” (REVELATION 3:13 – 22) AND THE CITY OF “SODOM”; BEFORE THE “FIERY JUDGMENT” DESTROYED THE CITY:
* REVELATION 3:17 – “BECAUSE THOU SAYEST (OUT OF PRIDE), I AM RICH, AND INCREASED WITH GOODS, AND HAVE NEED OF NOTHING; AND KNOWEST NOT THAT THOU ART WRETCHED, AND MISERABLE, AND POOR, AND BLIND, AND NAKED”;
* LOT WAS MORE CONCERNED ABOUT HIS “REPUTATION”, AND THAT OF THE CITY OF “SODOM”, THAN HE WAS CONCERNED ABOUT THE WILL OF GOD FOR HIM AND HIS FAMILY!
Two angels come to the gate of Sodom in the evening, and Lot meets them there and encourages them not to walk the streets of Sodom but to come to his house to be refreshed and spend the night. In those days, a city’s “Reputation”, in the hope of commerce, to that city, was all due to the reception of strangers that came to the town! However, the “Men of Sodom” surrounded the house; both “Old and young and all the people from every quarter (from all of the boundaries within the city)”; to sexually accost the “Strangers” (Angels). This would have severely damaged the city’s “Reputation” and could be the cause of “REPRISALS”, from where the strangers would come from. Lot then offers his two daughters, to this sexually aroused crowd, but the crowd refuses Lot’s offer of his two daughters because the crowd wanted the two “Strangers”.
Lot’s offer of his two daughters, DOES LOT NO CREDIT, and may have made their later disrespect for their father “Lot”, that less surprising. Then the two angels smite the men, with blindness, both “Small and great”.
* MUCH LIKE “LOT”, IN “THE DAY OF JUDGMENT” AND “THE CHURCH”, IN “THE LAST DAYS”, BEFORE THE RAPTURE” OF THE CHURCH, BOTH “LOT” AND THE “LAST DAYS CHURCH” – WILL BOTH HAVE, “MOSTLY”, A “POWERLESS TESTIMONY”!
GENESIS 19:12 – “And the men (angels) 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 (NOT THINGS) OUT OF THIS PLACE”:
GENESIS 19:14 – “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 THE CITY. But he seemed as one that MOCKED unto his sons-in-law”.
* LOT WAS “MOCKED” BY HIS SONs-IN-LAW BECAUSE BY THIS TIME LOT HAD A “POWERLESS TESTIMONY” WITH THEM, AND THE SAME HEBREW WORD FOR “MOCKED” IN GENESIS 19:14 IS ALSO FOUND IN JOB 12:4.
JOB 12:4 – “I am as one MOCKED of his neighbor, who calleth upon God, and He answered him and THE JUST UPRIGHT MAN IS LAUGHED TO SCORN”.
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; least thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city”.
GENESIS 19:16 – “And while he LINGERED, the men (angels) 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 (LOT AND HIS FAMILY):and they brought him forth and set him without the city”.
GENESIS 19:17 – “And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he (one of the angels) said, ESCAPE FOR THY LIFE; LOOK NOT BEHIND THEE, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed”.
GENESIS 19:18 – “And Lot said unto them, oh, NOT SO, my Lord”:
GENESIS 19:19 – “Behold NOW, THY SERVANT HAS FOUND GRACE IN THY SIGHT, and thou has magnified thy MERCY, which thou has shown unto me in SAVING MY LIFE; and I cannot escape to the mountain, LEST SOME EVIL (OVER)TAKE ME, AND I DIE”:
GENESIS 19:20 – “Behold now, the city (Zoar) is near to flee unto, it is a little one:oh, LET ME ESCAPE THITHER, (is it not a little one?) AND MY SOUL SHALL LIVE”.
* WHY DID LOT WANT TO GO TO THE CITY OF “ZOAR”?
LOT SAID TO “ESCAPE THERE” AND “THAT HIS SOUL MAY LIVE”.
In my opinion, I think that the problem that Lot and his family had in the city of Sodom was that their “SOUL WAS LIVING (PROSPERING) TOO MUCH!”
* LOT AND HIS FAMILY NEEDED TO “DIE TO SELF” AND PLACE THEIR LIVES ON AN “ALTAR”, “OF HIS BUILDING” AND TO SACRIFICE “SELF” (ROMANS 12:1, 2), FOR THE TRUE AND ENDURING BLESSINGS OF GOD BUT ALSO, TO BE CALLED NOT ONLY “A SERVANT OF GOD” BUT EVEN BETTER, “A FRIEND OF GOD” (JOHN 15:14 – 16)!
The word “LIVE”, here in verse in GENESIS 19:20, is the Strong Hebrew word # 2421 and means:“TO REMAIN ALIVE, TO LIVE PROSPEROUSLY.”
* When Lot was first offered the choice, of where he was to live, it says that he “Lifted up his eyes”, unto the “Plains of Jordan” and he compared “The Plains of Jordan” to three places (1). Like “The Garden of the Lord”(The Garden of Eden), (2). Like “The Land of Egypt” (Where it was luscious and well watered) and (3). “AS THOU COMEST UNTO ZOAR” (GENESIS 13:10). Lot was hoping to gain back the “Prosperity and prestige”, that he lost in Sodom, in the city of Zoar!
* Like later, when the Hebrew people came out of Egypt, when the “Trials and the Tribulations”, of the “Wilderness of Sin”, came upon them, they wanted to go back to the land Egypt (EXODUS 16:3).
GENESIS 19:26 – “But his wife LOOKED BACK from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt”.
LUKE 17:32 – “REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE.”
“THE PULL OF THE WORLD” – FOR LOT’S WIFE, WAS GREATER THAN OBEYING THE COMMANDMENT TO:“LOOK NOT BEHIND THEE” (GENESIS 19:17)!
* All “Born Again” believers should heed this commandment, and to not “LOOK BACK” in their lives of what God had judged to be “SINFUL AND UNDER “THE FIERY JUDGMENT OF GOD”, and especially not to look back with “FONDNESS”, when we were under the “Judgment of God” and needed to flee from “Sodom”!
* LET YOUR “SINFUL, UNBELIEVING, REBELLIOUS PAST, BE PAST AND DON’T “LOOK BACK” AND LET THE “FIERY JUDGMENT OF GOD”, BE YOUR PRESENT AND EVERLASTING FUTURE!
GENESIS 19:27 – “And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord”:
GENESIS 19:28 – “And he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, Lo, the smoke of the country went up as the SMOKE OF A FURNACE”.
GENESIS 19:29 – “It came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that GOD REMEMBERED ABRAHAM, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt”.
GENESIS 19:30 – “And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; FOR HE FEARED TO DWELL IN ZOAR and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters”.
* LOT’S NAME IS NOT FOUND IN THE HEBREW “HALL OF FAITH” – IN HEBREWS 11
LOT is a witness of those who are “JUST” but who are not living by “FAITH”. Zacharias and Elizabeth were “JUST” also, AS MENTIONED IN LUKE 1:6:
LUKE 1:6 – “And they were both RIGHTEOUS BEFORE GOD, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless”.
“ZACHARIAS” WAS “RIGHTEOUS BEFORE GOD”, JUST LIKE “LOT”, BUT ZACHARIAS WAS UNABLE TO SPEAK FOR NINE MONTHS BECAUSE HE WAS DOING THE WORK OF A “PRIEST” IN THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM (BEING A SERVANT OF GOD) BUT WHEN THE ANGEL “GABRIEL” APPEARED TO HIM AND SPOKE OF WHAT WOULD COME TO PASS, AND THAT HIS WIFE, AT HER OLD AGE, WOULD GIVE BIRTH TO THEM, A SON – JOHN THE BAPTIST – WHO WOULD MAKE READY “THE WAY OF THE LORD” – BUT HE DOUBTED IT AND WAS NOT THEREFORE, “A FRIEND OF GOD” AND GOD “TESTED” HIM, WITH THE LACK OF ABILITY TO SPEAK FOR NINE MONTHS!
LUKE 1:18 – “And Zacharias said unto the angel, whereby shall I know this? For I am an OLD MAN, and my wife WELL STRICKEN IN YEARS (WELL PAST THE YEARS OF GIVING BIRTH TO CHILDREN)”.
LUKE 1:19 – “And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show the these GLAD TIDINGS”.
LUKE 1:20 – “And, behold, thou shall be DUMB, AND NOT ABLE TO SPEAK, until the day that these things shall be performed, because THOU BELIEVEST NOT MY WORDS, but shall be fulfilled in their season”.
2 PETER 2:6 – “And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemn them with an overthrow, making them an EXAMPLE under those thereafter should live ungodly”:
2 PETER 2:7 – “And delivered JUST LOT, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked”:
2 PETER 2:8 – “(For that righteous man dwelleth among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds)”;
2 PETER 2:9 – “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of temptations, and a reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished”:
* HOWEVER, NO WHERE DO WE SEE “JUST LOT”, BUILDING ANY ALTARS TO WORSHIP GOD!
“Lot”, was into the “Politics”, of the city of Sodom. In the times of the Bible, a city’s government would be “Administered”, at the gates of the city, so anybody entering into the city, would be subject to the government of the city.
* In the “Parable of the Sower of the Seed”, look what happens when the “Word of God”, is sown among the “Thorns” that grew up:
MARK 4:18 – “And these are they which are sown among thorns; SUCH AS HEAR THE WORD (OF GOD)”,
MARK 4:19 – “And the CARES OF THIS WORLD, and the DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES, and THE LUST OF OTHER THINGS ENTERING IN, CHOKE THE WORD, AND IT BECOMETH UNFRUITFUL”.
MARK 4:20 – “And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as HEAR THE WORD, and RECEIVE IT, and BRING FORTH FRUIT some thirtyfold, some sixty and some an hundred”.
* The narrative of “The Days of Lot”, serves as a cautionary tale, about the consequences of MORAL DECAY and the importance of RIGHTEOUSNESS BEFORE GOD. Lot’s account, is often interpreted as a call for “Believers”, to remain steadfast in their faith and to live righteously, even the midst of a corrupt and sinful society. The destruction of “Sodom and Gomorrah”, is seen as FORESHADOWING, of the final judgment by God, emphasizing the urgency, of REPENTANCE and the need to be prepared for “Christ Jesus’ Second Coming”.
* THE “DAYS OF LOT” POINTS OUT AND HIGHLIGHTS, THE DIVINE JUSTICE AND MERCY OF GOD!
While God’s judgment on “Sodom and Gomorrah” was severe, His willingness to spare the cities for the sake of a few righteous individuals, underscores His mercy and the value He places on “Righteousness”.
* THE “DAYS OF LOT” PROVIDES A VIVID ILLUSTRATION, OF THE “MORAL AND SPIRITUAL CONDITIONS”, THAT CAN LEAD TO DIVINE JUDGMENT FROM GOD AND PROVIDES A PROPHETIC WARNING, FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS!
* THE “DAYS OF LOT”, IS “A CALL TO RIGHTEOUSNESS BEFORE GOD”, “BUILDING ALTARS” BEFORE GOD”, WHEREVER GOD LEADS US TO AND TO BE READY FOR THE “RAPTURE” OF THE CHURCH, AS JUDGMENT FALLS ON “THE HOUSE OF GOD FIRST”! THE “DAYS OF LOT”, ULTIMATELY, IS MORE ABOUT THE STATE OF “RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE “GODLY” – THAN IT IS ABOUT THE “JUDGMENT UPON THE UNGODLY”!
LUKE 18:8 – “….NEVERTHELESS WHEN THE SON OF MAN COMETH, SHALL HE FIND FAITH ON THE EARTH”?
* AS WE ARE APPROACHING THE “LAST DAYS”, THE APOSTLE PAUL TELLS US THAT THOSE IN THE “CHURCH”, THAT THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT “BUILDINGS” – WITH TWO DIFFERENT RESULTS – BUT ALL ARE FACING A “FIERY JUDGMENT”:
1 CORINTHIANS 1:10 – “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a WISE MASTER BUILDER, I have laid the foundation, and another BUILDETH THEREON. But let every man take heed how he BUILDETH THEREUPON”.
1 CORINTHIANS 3:11 – “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus”.
1 CORINTHIANS 3:12 – “Now if any man build upon this foundation Gold, Silver, Precious Stones, Wood, Hay, Stubble”;
1 CORINTHIANS 3:13 – “Every man’s work shall be made manifest:for the day shall declare it, because it shall be REVEALED BY FIRE and the FIRE shall try every man’s work of what sort it is”.
1 CORINTHIANS 3:14 – “If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, HE SHALL RECEIVE A REWARD”.
1 CORINTHIANS 3:15 – “If any man’s work shall be BURNED, he shall suffer LOSS but he himself shall be SAVED; yet so as by FIRE”.
* THE APOSTLE PAUL WAS SPEAKING TO THE CHURCH IN “CORINTH” WHO HAD “WORKS”, LIKE LOT, AND WHO WAS “RIGHTEOUS” BEFORE GOD, BUT WHO HAD “WORKS” THAT WAS “WOOD, HAY AND STUBBLE” – “RIGHTEOUS LOT”, SERVES AS AN EXAMPLE TO THE CHURCH IN “CORINTH”, AND EVERYONE ELSE THROUGH THE AGES; THAT HAS A SIMILAR “WALK WITH GOD”, AS LOT DID, THAT WHEN “THE FIERY JUDGMENT OF GOD” CAME, HE WAS “SAVED” BUT ALL OF HIS “WORKS” AND HIS WIFE, WERE DESTROYED!
* LOT DIED A MISERABLE MAN. IN THE END, HE FATHERED TWO SONS, BY HIS TWO DAUGHTERS. LOT’S TWO GRANDSONS WERE, “MOAB”, WHICH WAS THE FATHER OF THE “MOABITES”, AND “BEN-AMMI”, WHICH WAS THE FATHER OF THE “AMMONITES”. BOTH OF THESE GRANDSONS, AND THEIR DESCENDANTS, WERE ENEMIES OF GOD AND HIS PEOPLE (GENESIS 19:38) – ALL OF WHICH, WOULD HAVE NEVER EVEN EXISTED – IF IT WASN’T FOR ABRAHAM’S PERSISTENCE IN “BUILDING ALTARS” TO GOD, WHEREVER HE WENT, AND FOR ABRAHAM’S INTERCESSORY PRAYER FOR “THE RIGHTEOUS”, AND MOST OF ALL, FOR THE GREAT MERCY OF GOD!
