The principal concern of this present discussion is to take up the Biblical account of the judgment and destruction of Sodom where we left off in our previous article. As God’s angelic messengers had accomplished their mission of mercy by delivering Lot and his family, it now falls to the subjects of that mercy to respond in obedient action by boldly and gratefully fleeing to the greatest distance provided by God’s grace. We must also prayerfully consider the affect worked upon these children of mercy by the defiling atmosphere of the doomed cities of the plain, while weighing the responsibility of their rational wills, and also considering our own. This is the very crossroad where we find father Lot at this moment.
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. And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: 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. – Genesis 19:17-19 (KJV).
What a perverted sense of grace and mercy, along with a profound lack of judgment that the same God who delivered him from Sodom would not or could not then complete the saving work by empowering him to reach the safety of the mountain! We ourselves are encouraged by the voice of God in Philippians 1:6 that, “He that hath begun a good work in you, shall perform it unto the day of Christ Jesus”. Yet another witness cries out to us through Jude 24 with the promise, “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy”. Not trusting in the unshakable power of God to save to the uttermost, Lot continued on his path of self-generated escape; betraying his ill-affected heart and mind with each successive step.
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. 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. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou become thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. – Genesis 19:20-23.
The sun which rose that day was not one of healing, or of new beginnings, but rather wrath and divine justice.
Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. – Genesis 19:20-23.
Oh the sad end of the defiled human will! Even after being borne (or rather dragged) out of harm’s way by God’s goodness and charity, her double-minded heart could not muster the resolve to fix its eyes on the blessed prize which lay ahead, but rather like the proverbial dog, returned to the vomit of yesterday’s defilement. Our minds are recalled to the sad account of Demas, the companion of the Apostle Paul: “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world” (2 Tim 4:10). We are all well reminded that even in this blessed age of grace we must check our motives and affections, arming ourselves against potentially eternal loss.
By way of contrast, the Genesis narrative returns us to faithful Abraham who, being fully persuaded of God’s goodness, still occupied the strong and secure position of an intercessor and co-labourer in the grace of the Lord. This is not the same act of militant rescue undertaken in Genesis 14, but rather now that of a hopeful watcher, searching the horizon for a happy result to his petitions.
And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: And he looked toward 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. And 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 the which Lot dwelt. – Genesis 19:27-29.
God’s remembrance of Abraham’s faithful prayers confirms to us what we know of His promise in James 5 that, “the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (v16). Availeth yes, but “controleth” nothing! The uncle had begun his intercessory bargaining with the greater number of fifty and concluded with ten; not knowing that the result would eventually be only three. May we likewise continue to labour faithfully in God’s presence as true ministers of grace, crying out on behalf of our families, cities, and all the world; leaving the end of the matter to Him who judges justly and doeth all things well.
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. – Genesis 19:30.
Now begins the progressive degradation of Lot’s posterity. What began as a fear of failing to reach the mountains has now festered into a paralyzing phobia which poisoned his requested refuge of the “small place” of Zoar. Compromise is a demanding master which appears at first to grant one’s desire, only to later turn it into a threatening shadow of deeper dread. Luke 15 contains the parable of the prodigal son which holds the answer to Lot’s self-imposed exile. In the moment of fear when all temporal hope faded from mind, the prodigal son came to himself. Instead of filling his belly with the putrid pods of the pig pen, he was filled rather with memories of the house of his father; a sufficient motivation which gave rise to immediate repentant action. If only Lot had chosen the same redemptive course! The consequence of his decision however, would come to fruition through the warped reasoning and tragic actions of his poorly left daughters.
And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. – Genesis 19:31,32.
Dear girls... how could you conclude that there was not a man in all of God’s wide world who could raise up a righteous seed through you? What so affected your judgment? Pause now, and reflect back upon the passage telling of “Father Lot” offering these self-same daughters to the ravenous, licentious mob which was pressing against his door. What devaluation and loss of future hope can set in at such a moment? When the espoused sons-in-law were lost to the destruction of the city, perhaps all their hopes of fruitfulness was also consumed, leaving a worldview completely bereft of perspective and propriety. If only the maids could see beyond the littleness of their father’s cave of compromise to behold the bountiful tents of Abraham – filled with the promise of joy, love, and a fruitful future. In fact, a pitiful parallel is found in some recent news headlines from my own community. While all America debates the empty virtue of changing the divine definition of God’s institution of marriage (in this once Christianised country), this once blessed land takes upon itself the very guilt of ancient Sodom. And why? For the same polluted promise of compromised conception sought by Lot’s daughters! The Mayor of a local municipality commented (in one of the aforementioned news reports) that to take a principled stand against the abuse of God’s institution of marriage would place an “unwelcome mat” at the door of his town for the bulging money purses of valley dwellers who, promising a future as green as “the garden of the LORD”, have not the wherewithal to deliver anything but ash. As our Lord Jesus Himself stated in Matthew’s Gospel chapter 6:33,
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Therefore, if we betray God’s Kingdom (rule and lordship) for the sake of things, we will eventually lose both.
And they [Lot’s daughters] made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day. – Genesis 19:33-38.
This shameful and tragic scene is played out under the cloak of drunkenness and deception, inspired by the desperate and visionless sin of Lot’s daughters. The act of generation, created by God to bring joy to mankind and the yielding of a most happy result, brought nothing but incestuous shame and perpetual apostasy. Our Lord Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding of Cana, demonstrating His miraculous virtue while adding His personal blessing to the occasion and what it stood for. On the Day of Pentecost the 120 saints were accused of being drunk with wine when imbued with the Holy Spirit. That mistaken accusation was justly rebuked by the Apostle Peter and made right through the sober interpretation of Scripture; resulting in a bountiful harvest of spiritual children! Is this not the true picture of God’s joyous and fruitful blessing? I believe that it is! Paul, when writing through the Holy Spirit to the Church of Ephesus, urged them to “not be drunk with wine, wherein is excess (debauchery) but rather be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Eph 5:18). Too often in our modern era we have had too much wine in the name of “revival”, only to find out upon delivery of the child that it was born of self-indulgent religious incest instead of by a genuine move of the Holy Spirit resulting in the joyous birth of true sons of God (John 1:12-13).
We, as gratefully redeemed children of God, see our own houses and children assaulted by the same ancient foe which vexed Lot and his children, merely wrapped in a more modern and deceptive cloak. As parents and spiritual leaders who have the charge over God’s inheritance, may we not be found as Lot was; as one who appears to be joking when proclaiming the double edged truth of both salvation and judgment present in the Gospel of Christ. The Apostle Peter records that God’s mercy did win out in the deliverance of Lot’s house (2 Peter 2:7-8), but nowhere does New Testament writ exhort us to imitate his example. May the Bride of Christ in this hour not pitch her tent in the direction of the verdant (fertile) valleys of vice, but rather seek refuge in the caravans of covenant and faithfulness, leading toward a city “whose maker and builder is God” (Heb 11:10).
Jeffrey L. Whittaker grew up in Niles, Michigan USA and is a 1981 graduate of Niles High School after which he attended Western Michigan and Indiana Universities at South Bend as music, theatre and communications major. From 1983 to 1985 he travelled in music ministry with The Spurrlows , ministering throughout the United States and appearing on Christian Television. In 1989 he graduated from North Central Bible College in Minneapolis, Minnesota while working for the Billy Graham Association. In 1994 he and his family returned to Niles to lead the Michiana Christian Embassy after six years of pastoral ministry at the Assembly of God in Luck, Wisconsin. JLW's calling has led him to 16 countries, ranging from Haiti to China, as a revivalist and crusade speaker, where he and the people witnessed the power of God demonstrated through the preaching of the incorruptible Word. He has also been published in several domestic and overseas magazines as well as on the internet. Jeff served the Assemblies of God as a Michigan District Presbyter for 5 years and in several other capacities, before severing his links with his denomination based on their perceived passive endorsement of false teachers and false teachings. He is an adjunct Professor at South Western Michigan College and is the co-sponsor of the Alpha Kappa Omega campus Bible fellowship. Jeff has been married to Doreen for 28 years. They have five children and one grandson.
God willing Jeffrey, Doreen and their 11 year old daughter, Sophia will be guests at our CWM-INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE at the Tweed Heads, Gold Coast, NSW, Australia holiday resort, September 14 to 20, 2014. This will be Jeff's third visit “down-under” he is available for additional ministry on invitation during the days before and/or after the Conference
