Then of course it will take us
into the New Testament for a few passages, but we begin here in
Genesis 19 verse 15 through 26. You recognize it as the angel
of God hastening Lot and his family out of Sodom. Verse 15 is our text. 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. And while he lingered, the man
laid hold upon his hand, laid hold upon the hand of his wife,
upon the hand of his two daughters. the Lord being merciful unto
him, and they brought him forth and set him without the city. 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, O not
so, my lord. Behold now thy servant hath found
grace in thy sight. Thou hast magnified thy mercy,
which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life. And I cannot
escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die. Behold now, the city is near
unto thee, 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 saying 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. Wherefore the name of the city
was called Zoar, and the Lord reigned upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah,
brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and he overthrew
those cities and all the plain, all the inhabitants of the city,
and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back
from behind him and she became a pillar of Saul. Now there are a couple of New
Testament passages that we throw in here. For example, Luke chapter
17 and verse 30, the admonition of the Lord, remember Lot's wife. And then again in Luke 9 and
verse 62. And Jesus said unto him, no man
having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the
kingdom of God. We are told on several occasion
in and by the New Testament author that certain things that occurred
under the old economy are written and included for our benefit,
that they are types, they are pattern, They are examples and
illustration unto us, that there are lessons there by which we
might learn. And even at times, encouraging
us by the example of the saints long ago to be patient and to
be obedient under the promise of God. Now, Locke's family here,
being delivered from Sodom prior to the reigning, of fire and
brimstone down upon them is an example that is brought before
us again in the New Testament. And the Lord uses it and he makes
it a somber warning to some in that generation to which he appeared
to give them a warning and also to give them a motive that they
might heed the admonition of the Lord, that they might hear
and remember and be obedient to them. Upon this occasion,
he says to them, remember Lot's wife. Now, the connection of
this, we will save for later. And what her experience provided
as an example for us to avoid, we'll raise that question. We'll
seek to tie the knot later in our study between Locke's wife
looking back and the New Testament admonition. First, we return,
however, to Genesis chapter 19, where as Thomas Manton, the old
Puritan, wrote, There are two things here for us to consider
about Ms. Lott. First of all, her sin,
and second, God's judgment against her. My, what a severe judgment
we encounter here. against her breaking the command
of our God. Now the context in Genesis chapter
19 is of this order. God had vowed to destroy Sodom
and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain because of their sin. We read in Genesis 13 and verse
13, the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. And as revealed unto Abraham
in Genesis chapter 18 and verse 20, the cry of Sodom, God said,
is great and because their sin is very grievous. I will destroy
it. Well, Abraham made intercession
to God in behalf of his nephew Lot who had gone to dwell Sodom
and Genesis 18 23 will you destroy the righteous with the wicked
Abraham pleased with his God the Lord agreed to spare the
city for so few as ten righteous persons dwelling in that place
but with not so many as ten righteous dwellers in the city of Sodom
God will destroy it But first, he will deliver Lot and Lot's
wife and their daughters out of that city. And he does it
in the manner that we read. Angels are sent to the house
of Lot. They inform him in verse 12 and
verse 13 to gather his family and to leave the city, quote,
for they are sent to destroy the city and all that dwell in
on account of their sin and because it is a stench in the nostrils
of a holy God. So the next morning as we read,
verse 15, early it was, The angels of God command Lot, get your
stuff together, make haste, get your wife, get your daughter,
and leave. Watch this. Lest thou be consumed
with the wickedness of the city. And the 16th verse tells us that
Lot lingered. for what reason we do not know,
but for some reason he delayed, he was slow, or was it reluctant,
and the angels in verse 15 said, hasten lot, but he in verse 16
lingered. Matthew Henry noted, he did not
hasten as the case required. He did not seem to grasp the
urgency of the situation or what was about to occur. And we're
told that in the midst of this, the Lord was merciful unto him. In that, the angels took them
all by the hand, all four of them, as we read, and led them
out of the city, commanding them not to stay out there in the
desert, but to flee Unto the mountain escape the great judgment
that was about to be poured out now note if you will a part of
the angels command in the 17th verse Look not behind you This
would be one of the hardest thing that anyone had to do in that
situation But the command is clear look not Not behind you. None of you. Do not, any of you,
look back. Don't turn around. Don't cast
your eyes back upon the city that you have left and that I
am about to destroy. Don't see where you left. and where you have come from.
Now the text does not indicate at that point what, if any, punishment
would be visited upon them because of their looking back. It is
not said, as in other cases, look not behind you, lest this
or that or the other come upon you. Look not behind you, none
of you, not at all. In fleeing, take no thought for
whatever it is that lies behind. Look forward, cast your eyes
ahead and not behind, how be it in Genesis 19 and verse 26. His wife, that is, Lot's wife,
looked back from behind him, as it said. Perhaps she was lingering
away behind him. She looked back. She cast her
eyes back toward Sodom. And God's judgment was swift. She became a pillar of Saul. And this in one short verse is
summed up for us both her sin, she looked back, and her punishment,
she became instantly a pillar of salt along the way. Now to
carnal and rational reasoning, the punishment may seem to outweigh
the sin and the transgression of the woman. It is not a small
thing when compared to others, but some might say, yeah, it
is a small sin when compared to others. Why such judgment
is visited upon this woman? how she had not lived in sin
all the days of her life. She had been the wife of this
man. However, as Bishop Joseph Hall
wrote in his very good and devotional book, Contemplation. Small precepts
from God are important since obedience is as well tried as
obedience is punished in little as in much." To Adam and Eve
was given the commandment, thou shalt not eat lest you die, shalt
not perform an act of eating. What a far-reaching consequence
for an act of eating a tree that God had forbidden. Naaman was
told to go daze himself. Rather, he was told to go dip
himself in the river of Jordan. Just in a river. Not any river,
but the river of Jordan. And he argued, they're good rivers
at home, why may I not do that? But the prophet said, dip in
the river of Jordan. And the prophet said, not one,
not three, not five times, but seven times in the river of Jordan. Saul was told by Samuel the prophet,
verse Samuel 15, verse 22, when he brought all the spoil back
from the war. Behold, who obey is better than
sacrifices and the fat of ram. Consider the command of the Lord
to Peter in John 21 and verse 6, to cast out his net on the
right side of the ship. Not the front, not the back,
not the left, but the right side of the ship. So God's command
to Lot and his family was this. Simply and put, to comply with
it, don't look back. When you leave the city, do not
look back behind you. Now the question piques our interest. Why did Miss Lott look back? In view of the angel coming,
in view of the threatened judgment of God upon them, why did Miss
Lott succumb and look back? By the way, John Gill wrote that
the Jews say that her name was Edith or Irith, one of the other,
but of course, that is strictly a traditional. She is never mentioned
by a given name in the scripture. Either Old or New Testament never
uses her given name. She is referred to only as Lot's
wife, Genesis 19 verse 26. His wife, Luke 17 and verse 30,
Lot's wife. Some think that this woman had
been an original native of the city of Sodom since there is
no record of Lot having a wife before he entered into Sodom. Not until he is a resident of
Sodom do we read of Lot having a wife. But then, let's go back
to the question, for it's important. Why did she look back? Was it out of curiosity? Was it curious to see the destruction
or exactly what was to fall upon that city according to the announcement
of the angel? Or was it open unbelief? I think this has to be reckoned
as a factor. For it gave rise to the disobedience
in the woman that brought her judgment. And when we remember,
unbelief is not a small thing. Unbelief is what the Puritans
would call a mother sin. Unbelief is usually mingled with
disobedience, another Puritan said. Hear the words of Thomas
Manton, quote, usually disobedience is complicated with unbelief
and men despise the commandment of God because they do not believe
his threatenings, unquote. Miss Lott could have had an evil
heart of unbelief at work in her. It also could be that she
begrudged the loss of all of those material things that she
was commanded to leave behind in Sodom. The loss of her house,
of her furnishing, of her friends, and all that she might have possessed
there. Relatives, social standing, these
things might have been in her mind. It was a well-watered place. It was a garden of the Lord,
it was, and a place desired to dwell in. Genesis 13, verse 20
says so. The climate was good, but her
heart evidently was in Sodom or returned to Sodom. Sodom also
may have been in her heart. As her heart was in Sodom, Sodom
in her heart. She was content there, despite
all of the wickedness, perhaps. Her roots were put down, but
it was a wicked place in the sight of Almighty God, not a
fit dwelling for a righteous man and her family. Her heart
was not exactly as the heart of her husband, for though he
at first lingered, yet when the angels hastened him away, he
looked not back to the city, being obedient unto the Lord.
While she, on the other hand, looked back, and in that act
of disobedience, she became a pillar of salt, and actually a standing
memorial to all that passed by on that way and saw. And to all who read the scripture
of an old-time writer mused this, What does it avail to be a pillar
of salt in the plain rather than turned into ashes in the city
of Sodom? What difference is there in the
outcome except that by the first she is a standing monument to
her disobedient and to the trueness of the word of God. There is this testimony in the
New Testament in 2nd Peter 2 verse 6 through 8 of law he is called
just and righteous and also that his righteous soul was vexed
or tormented by the filthy deeds of the people that lived in Sodom
and their lawless, impious, and ungodly way. No thing is said,
however, of his wife. Instead, she is a warning beacon,
as an example of such as neglect the Lord's exhortation and the
Lord's command." So let's go over to the New Testament text
then in the book of Luke and chapter 17 and the 32nd verse. where we read the words of these
words spoken by our Lord unto some gathered together on that
occasion. Remember Lot's wife, with the
exception of Jesus. Well, this may be one of the
shortest verses in the scripture. Remember Lot's wife. Now, let me confess something
about this context, that this whole context puzzles me as to
exactly the event that the Lord is describing. whether it be
the calamity and the judgment to come upon the Jew and Jerusalem,
or a coming, perhaps even the coming of the Lord, or whether
there is an intermingling of the two of them together in thought. Perhaps we ought to use Matthew
24, 16 through verse 21, along with Luke chapter 17. Now, one
thing is certain. The whole discussion is set in
motion by the question of the Pharisees in Luke chapter 17
and verse 20, when the kingdom of God should come. When shall the kingdom of God
come? Now we must always, always be
suspicious of the Pharisee and of their motive and their intent. For often the intent of the Pharisee
and the scribes in asking a particular thing was to seek to catch the
Lord in a trap of some kind, or catch the Lord in his words,
or to catch him in or upon the horns of some dilemma. And so discredit him by that
in the eyes of the Jew that stood by to listen. In other words,
to ask him something that they thought perhaps he could not
answer. But the Lord always foiled them,
for he had every answer. Now at the same time, so are
these here things that are what Thomas Manton called were predictions
of calamities that were to come upon Jerusalem. As we look at
them in the scripture, as Gil said, when he comes to avenge
himself upon Jerusalem and the Jew. J.C. Ryle said, some reference
to the future siege of Jerusalem is evident in these words of
our Lord. Now, it would seem clear that
the great snatching out is not in view in Matthew 24 and 16
through verse 20, in such things as these, if you're there, in
the 16th verse. Let them in Judea flee to the
mountains. Verse 17, let not him on the
housetop take time to take anything out of the house. Verse 18, let
not him in the field go home to get his clothes. Verse 19,
woe to them with child or that are nursing in those day. Verse 20, pray that your flight
be not in the winter. Verse 21, then shall be great
tribulation measured from verse 15, the abomination of desolation
in the holy place. Now both Spurgeon and Gill understand
this to be a reference to the Roman armies. Romans, or rather
Luke 21 and verse 20. When you see Jerusalem compassed
about with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is
nigh. The ruin is at hand. The ruin that John warned about
this morning in Matthew 3, and that the Lord warned about in
his ministry, her ruin was at hand. Spurgeon wrote these words
on Matthew 24 and 15 through verse 28, and I'm quoting, of our Savior's words appears
to relate solely to the destruction of the city of Jerusalem." End
quote. And Gill said it spoke of the
destruction of the Jew and of their nation, their city, their
temple, their priesthood, and their commonwealth. Thus the
question, how is it that the Lord uses the admonition, remember
Lot's wife, and it is particular to this situation? Now the answer
is, she does not seem to provide an example of what to do at the
Lord's event, Advent, or at a snatching out. The instruction do not fit
that situation, a catching away, but at the coming desolation
of Jerusalem and the end of the Jewish commonwealth as long predicted. So let us repeat. These are some
things here that are inconsistent with a rapture, which scripture
says will be in the twinkling of an eye, and it will make no
hindrance if one is with child or if one is nursing or if it
occurs in the dead of winter. nor will any seek to snatch their
clothes in an event like that. And, therefore, such admonitions
as Matthew 24, 15, and 16, when you see the abomination of desolation
spoken of in Daniel, perhaps they refer to Daniel 9, 27, When you see that, stand in the
holy place. Then let them which be in Judea
and Jerusalem and surrounding villages and cities flee unto
the mountain. when Jerusalem is encompassed
around with the armies of Titus, when Spurgeon described the Roman
ensigns with their idolatrous emblems emblazoned upon their
uniform, And Luke 21, 22, these are the days of vengeance, that
all things written may be fulfilled. So the admonition, remember Lot's
wife, for the Lord intends some likeness in her that was pertinent
here to the Lord's warnings that he is giving to these people.
What would the Lord have them remember about Lot's wife? What feature from her history
provided a suitable example unto them? Obviously, it was her looking
back being turned back and then being turned into a pillar of
salt, not fleeing as she should, and being suddenly overtaken
and destroyed, killed, crystallized, I guess we could say, made a
pillar of salt. Now the Lord uses two actual
examples from their Old Testament scripture. In Luke 17, 27, the
generation in the days of the flood. What'd they do? They ignored
Noah, a preacher of righteousness, 2 Peter 2 and verse 5, and mocked
and ignored his building of the ark. They carried on in their
living as if there would be no flood and no judgment of God. eating, drinking, marrying, giving
in marriage, and so forth, which things were lawful in themselves,
but in that situation was a foolish thing for them to do, but that
it was a very sinful generation as well. Genesis 6 and verse
5, 11 through 12, Genesis 8 21 they were ungodly 2nd Peter chapter
2 and verse 5 and when Noah entered the ark the flood came and Destroyed
them all those who had taken no heed to the warning of Noah
the second example in Luke 17 verse 28 and verse 29 is the account of Lot and his family
fleeing out of Sodom. They too, the inhabitants of
Sodom, gave themselves to the indulgences of the flesh and
an ungodly way, and thought nothing of their impending destruction. They considered it not that destruction
was about to come upon them. But when lot was led out of the
city a safe distance, fire and brimstone came down from God
out of heaven and destroyed them. Now take a close look at Luke
17 and verse 30. See a like sentiment back in
verse 24, the last part. And at first glance, one might
assume this to be a reference to the Lord's last great coming,
especially if it stood alone. Then see the opening words of
verse 31, in that day. Now what day? In the day when
the Son of Man is revealed, which John Gil, Matthew, Henry took
to be the time when the Lord comes in judgment upon or against
Jerusalem and the Jew. See the words of John the Baptist
again in Matthew chapter 3, verse 10 through 12. When arrives that
day, when judgment begins against Jerusalem and their house left
under them desolate, trodden underfoot by the Gentiles as
was predicted. It will come so quickly. It will
be so severe. The believers are to flee the
city, which is to be laid about in waste. and taking no time
to retrieve their treasure, or their valuables, or their clothes,
or their other goods out of their house, but to flee out of the
city, not taking time to do what other men might do. By the way,
note in both the flood And in the fire and brimstone, that
in each of them a day is mentioned. A day set by the providence of
God. Verse 27, the day that Noah entered
the safety of the ark. And in verse 29, the same day.
that Lot went out of Sodom. In each case, a judgment came
in relation unto those days. So note this, in exhorting them
to flee the coming judgment, the Lord would exhort them by,
remember Lot's wife. And we could ask, what has the
action of Lot's wife to do with these things, or what is it to
do with a snatching out? What has the action of Lot's
wife, looking back, to do with a snatching out? It has more
pertinence here to the coming destruction of Jerusalem at the
hand of the Lord. being a warning when they see
it beginning to flee from the wrath that is to come. As John
warned in our text this morning, Lot's wife lingered looked back,
halted, and became a pillar of Saul. So the application is the
generation of Noah and of Sodom, the generation of the Jews in
our Lord's day on earth have at least three things in common
in closing. Number one, each was exceedingly
sinful and wicked and vile and corrupt. Genesis 6 and 5. Genesis 13, 13. They were wicked
exceedingly. Now, the second thing in common,
in each case, there was great destruction and judgment from
the hand of God. Severe judgment. and one in the
whole world. Not in the whole world, but in
several cities and appointed places that God had judged. One in Sodom, one in Jerusalem,
one in the temple of the priest. Much people were marked for destruction
in that day. And the third thing, finally,
The manner of their destruction was unique and awful in all three
cases, a flood, fire, and brimstone, and the complete utter destruction
of the temple and of their city, the murder of their priest, and
the slaying of thousands upon thousands. Remember Lot's wife. Now, remember the words of our
Lord, One puts his hand to the plow, stops to look back. He's not fit for the kingdom
of God. This answers those excuses in
verse 57 through verse 61 of Luke chapter 9. Oh, I can't go
now. I bought a farm. I can't go. Let me bury my father.
Well, whosoever puts his hand to the plow, stops to look back,
is not fit for the kingdom of God. Exhortation to persevere
in the things of our God and in the things of Christianity
in the faith.