When the angels arrived to rescue Lot from destruction, they came with a plea. “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.” Despite this urgent appeal, Lot and his family continued to linger in Sodom.
Like the angels, it is our duty to prevail on lingering souls to escape impending divine wrath on the earth and on the final day. We must not adjust or modify God’s word, but flee to the “mountaintop” of righteousness and separate themselves from others who are on the “plain” where Christianity is mistaken to be an easy life without self-denial, sacrifice, consecration and absolute surrender.
We must earnestly heed as well as preach the gospel message to lingering souls, so, they can escape damnation. If we hear about repentance, restitution, righteousness and regeneration and fail to give heed, “how shall we escape” the consequence of disobedience to the word of the Lord? Some believers know they are called to win souls, but remain lukewarm and do nothing to rescue them. We must persuade these lukewarm saints to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to other people. If we do not rise up to perform this assignment, we would be sinning against the Lord. He wants us to “repent” fromour lukewarm and “do the first works” of evangelism the way souls were won to Christ in the past.
Some servants of God are “standing idle” while souls perish. We must entreatingly prevail on lax Christians to engage in soul winning with passion. Some of them once zealous in declaring God’s word, but are now lax; therefore, we should re-engage them to reach souls for Christ with zeal and consecration.
Also, we must purge out all self-centeredness and lame excuses that kept us from becoming effective messengers of Christ. Lot was self-centred and had many excuses, which he learnt from his society. His servants, cattle and the riches that made him separate from Abraham were all lost. His decision and way of life made him to lose everything.
It is important to: (i) remember Lot’s will. When God instructed him on what to do, he found it difficult to obey. “And Lot said unto them, ‘oh, not so, my Lord.’” Such self-will, wherever it is found, is set against God’s will. We must learn to obey whenever His message comes to us. (ii) Remember Lot’s ways. Lot always wanted to have his way. However, it cost him dearly. And today, “there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
(iii) Reverse Lot’s weakness. The destruction of Sodom is for the purpose of deterrence and of “making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly.” Despite the fact that Lot was vexed and tormented daily in that city with sin, he remained there. Where we find ourselves among people whose character, habit and influence discomfort and vex our souls, we should not remain there, but “go from the presence of (that) foolish man (community, congregation or society)” to avoid losing our character of holiness and our place in heaven.
(iv) Remember Lot’s wife. Lot ought to have held his wife to walk by his side as they fled the city. But he left her to herself. The woman willfully chose to trudge along behind Lot. Sadly, from behind her husband, the woman “looked back… and she became a pillar of salt.” If we look back after “having put (our) hand to the plough” and surrendering our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ, we become “(un)fit for God’s kingdom.”
(v) Refuse Lot’s wine. “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”After escaping Sodom, Lot’s daughters reasoned that they needed children and that there was no man to marry them. Therefore, they made their father drunk, so, they could be pregnant by him. The Lord wants us to beware, watch and refuse Lot’s wine, the enticement that led him back into evil. (vi) Reform Lot’s widowhood. Lot became a widower following his wife’s death, and lived with his daughters and never thought anything would happen. But he soon became a victim of his daughter’s machination. If you are a widow or widower, learn to readjust, set boundaries and restructure how you live, so that, you will not repeat Lot’s mistake by allowing immorality and incest between you and your daughters or sons.
(vii) Repudiate Lot’s wisdom. Lot thought he was wiser than Abraham and the angels, but that landed him in more trouble and he lost everything. Like him, some believers are full of themselves; they do not listen to anyone because they feel that what befell others cannot happen to them. “Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him.” (viii) Relinquish Lot’s wealth. After Lot’s exit from Sodom, God “rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”
• Further reading (King James Version): Genesis 19:15-17; Revelation 11:8. Genesis 19:12-14. Genesis 13:5-7,12,13. Ezekiel 16:49,50; Romans 1:24-28,32. Isaiah 1:4,10,18. Genesis 19:15-17. Numbers 32:6,23; Revelation 2:4,5. Matthew 20:6,7; Galatians 4:15,18,19. Genesis 19:18-20; Luke 17:32.Genesis 19:18.Proverbs 16:25. Genesis 19:26; Luke 9:62. Proverbs 20:1. Proverbs 26:12.Luke 17:28-30.
