(Read Gen. 19.)
“REMEMBER Lot’s wife,” is the pointed and solemn commentary, which our Lord Jesus Christ has made on this scene in the 17th of Luke’s Gospel, and I have no doubt why, in speaking to His disciples, He thus addresses them. He does not say, “Think on the sin of Sodom―ponder the iniquity of Gomorrah.” No, but He says, “Remember Lot’s wife.” And why? The reason is on the face of it. When the Lord comes, by-and-by, there will be thousands of people who will have no sympathy with the outward ungodliness of the world, but who are really as unprepared to meet Him, as the most ungodly sinner in Sodom or Gomorrah, for there was no safety but in the spot the Lord had marked out for Lot and his family, and his wife did not reach it.
She comes before us as the illustration of the terribleness of unbelief in the heart, while seemingly believing the gospel.
It might have been said, “Did she not leave the city?” Yes, but she had no faith in what was coming, and though dragged out of the world, her heart was in it. God had said, “The men of Sodom were wicked, and sinners before the Lord exceedingly” (Gen. 13:1313But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. (Genesis 13:13)), and intimated to Abraham (Gen. 18) that He was about to judge them. But that is true of every one of us, by nature. There is not a man that the Holy Ghost would not describe as a wicked person. In Colossians 1:2121And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled (Colossians 1:21) we read, “And you that were sometimes alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled;” and in Jeremiah 17:99The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9) we are told, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” It is no use, my reader, for you or me to think we can elude this statement of the Lord. You have a conscience, and I am sure in your conscience there is the sense that, sometime or other, God will judge wickedness. Still judgment is His “strange work,” and it is blessed to think, that if God has to judge, it is a “strange act” (Isa. 28:2121For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act. (Isaiah 28:21)) to Him, and therefore He lets His people know about it ere it take place, that they may feel with, and witness for Him, and warn the world while mercy lingers.
Lot was the example of a thoroughly worldly Christian, but Abraham knew that deep down in his heart the light of God had shone in, and in the New Testament he is called “lust Lot,” and a “righteous man” (2 Peter 2:8, 98(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) 9The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: (2 Peter 2:8‑9)). In point of fact, he was trying to whitewash Sodom, and utterly failed, at length slowly learning that God was not going to purge Sodom, but judge and destroy it; and if you, my reader, think that God is going to improve the world, you would do well to get hold of this truth, the rather, that He is going to judge it; and therefore, unconverted soul, the next thing before you is judgment. The character of the world’s coming judgment is identical with that of Sodom. “The earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:1010But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10)). Faith can see “Reserved unto fire” (2 Peter 3:77But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. (2 Peter 3:7)), engraved in the most indelible letters, on the finest monuments to human skill, energy, or glory, that man can erect.
In Luke 17 the Lord tells His disciples that “as it was in the days of Noah,” and “as it was in the days of Lot,” even “thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man shall be revealed.” And how was that? It was in a moment. As the lightning flash has taken you by surprise many a day, though you may have watched the gathering storm so shall it be in the day when the Son of Man deals with this world. What were men in Noah’s day? Heedless, careless. And in Lot’s day? Corrupt, and the judgment came suddenly. And what is the world now? Will you deny that it is heedless, careless, and must I not add corrupt? True is this witness, and judgment is the next thing for this poor world.
But before judgment comes, salvation is provided and preached, and I want to show you, in Lot’s wife, how near a soul may be to salvation, and yet not possess it; how near to safety and yet not be saved. If Jesus were to come just now into the air, every soul that had received Him, by faith, would rise to meet Him. But what of those who meant to get ready, who were thinking of it? Left behind, they will have missed their chance of salvation, and missed it forever. Oh, believe it, this judgment of God is real, but there is something else real, and that is the present grace of Christ, that saves the vilest and the worst. In Sodom God offered mercy to those who never tasted it. Will you, reader, let history thus sadly repeat itself in your case?
It was a calm eventide the day before the judgment fell, and no doubt many in Sodom thought they had done well that day, but they knew not what was coming on the morrow. But God knew, and that evening there appeared in the gates of the doomed city two angels, two messengers. They came to Lot, and he brought them to his house. They were rather chary of going in, chary to associate with a man whose ways had been so little to the Lord’s liking as Lot’s had been, but “mercy rejoiceth over judgment,” and they went in, seeking to save, intent on giving Lot the message. The wickedness of the place was thoroughly made manifest. Opposition first to the messengers, and then indifference to the message. But divine power baffled opposition, and they delivered their message. They said to Lot, “Whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring out of this place, for we will destroy this place” (vs. 12). A way of escape was marked out before the tale of corning judgment was told even, and is there no type of the gospel in this?
Have you, reader, never heard how God loved the world, and sent His Son to be the Saviour thereof? And that Son did a work on the cross, whereby God can now righteously send out His message of mercy to guilty sinners? And the message is this, God has a way of salvation, and that way of salvation is only through Jesus Christ, His Son. Oh, wake up from your heedlessness and carelessness! “Escape for thy life.” Think how you can meet God. There is only one spot where you can meet Him, without judgment, and that is the cross of His own Son.
God never judges without giving a warning note first. He did it in Sodom, and Lot believed, and acted on it. Profoundly impressed himself, Lot tells others, but alas, he seemed to them “as one that mocked.” He told his sons-in-law that judgment was coming, but judgment seemed far off. His words had no effect on them, and he leaves them. They are left behind to the judgment they dared, perhaps even denied. Oh, my young friend, be warned now, turn to God now. God is calling, God is blessing, let Him bless you. Give Him your young life.
Heed His word. Do not let Satan deceive you. Be not like these young men. Is it true that you must meet God? It is true. Is it true that God will judge sin? It is true. Is it true that you must give an account of yourself to God? It is true; and this is true also, that He sent His Son into this world to be a Saviour, ― your Saviour if you will have Him. Oh, receive Him now, lest judgment fall and overtake you, lest the Lord come and find you unprepared.
Procrastination is a terrible snare to souls. It is the devil’s most potent agent in hindering salvation. Lot was not free from it, for we read, “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.” It is all of grace; salvation is of the Lord. Every believing heart knows that. How God’s heart lingers over souls! As those six went through the gate of the city that day, no doubt many laughed at them, but I would rather be laughed at by man, than be damned by God. Don’t you be hindered or deceived by the devil, reader; don’t refuse or resist the gospel because you may be laughed at tomorrow. Many a man has lost heaven forever because afraid of a comrade’s sneer.
“Escape for thy life,” say these angels to Lot. “Escape for thy life,” cry I. Do you say where? To Christ, ―to Christ, the sinner’s friend, ―to Him who bore the judgment of God upon the cross, that you and I might never bear. There is no way of escape but by getting to Him. There is a heavenly Christ now, and the Spirit of God has come down to turn your heart to Him, and there is no safety for you until you reach Him. You may be baptized, be a Sunday-school teacher, a so-called church member, and yet be lost. You must be assuredly lost forever if you have not Christ.
Lot and his family all made a good start, but the start is not the end of the course. The word of instruction was, “Escape for thy life, look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.” Three of the four made good their escape, and none too soon. Sodom might be reflecting on the folly of the fugitives, and Lot’s sons-in-law narrating to godless companions how their father-in-law had that night aroused them from sleep, and told them such a monstrous and foolish story of coming judgment, that they thought him demented, for “he seemed as one that mocked to his sons-in-law.” All seemed going on as usual. “The sun was risen;” his rays illumed and cheered the scene; there was no warning, all seemed bright and fair; “but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.” Such is ever the end of unbelief.
But look at Lot’s wife. Was she overwhelmed in the city? No; she had been dragged out of the city; but she is the picture of a mere professor of Christianity, without any living faith in the heart. Reader, if you are only half-hearted, “remember Lot’s wife;” and if you are only thinking about your soul’s salvation, and meaning someday to be ready, “remember Lot’s wife.” She is God’s beacon to every half-hearted soul. You be ready, be really prepared, be real, be out and out. The gospel is preached for the obedience of faith; and in her heart there was no faith in the certainty of the judgment God’s word had warned of. She was within sight of the mountain, but she never touched it,—within sight of safety, but not saved. Let her be a beacon to you. The only place of safety is to reach the side of Christ. It was not her ungodliness invoked God’s judgment on her; it was her unbelief in declared truth, which she had an “if” about in her heart. She turned back to see “if” it were true. God will judge every sin, but there is, in this day, one sin that caps all others, ―it is the sin of unbelief.
There are multitudes of souls like Lot’s wife in this day, ―influenced by surroundings, but not convicted of the truth as given of God. Impressed, but not decidedly converted, they follow in her steps, and eventually must share her fate. Let me beseech you, my reader, if yet undecided and consequently unsaved, turn to the Lord, and get from Him salvation first, and let this word come to you as a warning from Himself, “REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE.”
W. T. P. W.