Back when I first started writing about Lot, I mentioned the possibility that the splitting of Lot and Abram was from God. The text itself links Lot’s parting from Abram with God speaking to him, saying, “And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him,” (Gen 13:14)
God had a plan for Abram that required him to be on his own as it were – it’s part of what makes him the father of the faithful. But what about Lot? Did God have a plan for him in the separation? I am convinced of it.
God was sending Lot to the cities of the plain to be His witness – a preacher if you please – as a final call to repentance before divine judgement finally caught up with them. There are two points that will be raised to support this view.
The first one is looking forward to whom Lot is a shadow of. Lot is a shadow of the church in the last days. What is the church meant to be doing? Calling people to repentance – preaching the Word of God! Moreover, Lot is a shadow in the same category as Noah, with Noah preceding Lot in Jesus’ narrative, and note, Noah is described in the New Testament as ‘a preacher of righteousness’.
If Lot and Noah are the same representatives of the ‘shadow’, should not their lives mirror? They most definitely do, for the second point is raised when we look at what happens in the narrative itself. In verse 13, the angels have revealed their mission to Lot and command him to bring out of the city all that he can save. If you read closely, they don’t tell him just to get family – they tell him to get out everyone he knows! It’s important at this juncture to remember – Lot was very wealthy with many servants, influence, etc. Who knows how large exactly his household was at this stage, but it can be stated with certainty that he would have had quite a lot of people that he knew. Let’s take up the text:
Gen 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 this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.
There are those who will later give Lot grief for ‘being of little faith’ when he requests to go to Zoar instead of the mountains. To think Lot of little faith is to fail to consider what has just taken place and Lot’s reaction. Remember that we have no specifics of the blindness that the angels smote the would-be assaulters with. Neither is there any other detail of the angels. For all we know, they were still appearing very much as men. The point being, Lot has not exactly seen any fantastic miracles. Now he’s being told the city is about to be destroyed, get out and tell people to leave. How does Lot react? If he was of little faith, would he have ventured out onto the streets where only minutes ago if not seconds ago a crowd was literally about to kill him? How would such a crowd appreciate his crying out, ‘Sodom is about to be destroyed, leave!’?
Nay, rather, Lot was a hero of faith, for the narrative doesn’t record anything of him balking, doubting, or delaying. He’s out into the streets and now frantically telling his sons in law the Word of the Lord.
It’s important to note how Lot is received by some of those who were no doubt very close to him: they thought he was crazy. This reaction is interesting as it indicates the normality of life in Sodom at that time. It also is suggestive that the incident at Lot’s house was not on a scale large enough to reach them, and that the dissipation of the crowd had been anticlimactic, not a sensation that would make tongues wag.
Gen 19:15 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.
If you recall, the siege at Lot’s would have occurred not long after sundown, including all the events from there up till this verse, only a matter of minutes have passed. Now we find a marking of the passage of time: the morning arose. That is, the day was breaking. The first rays of the sun were beginning to sneak over the horizon. Perhaps you can see the imagery – it’s the end of an age, now the Son is returning. It’s as dark as it will ever get, and here is Lot rushing through the streets with his lamp trying to get people out to safety.
Finally, the time has come, now the angels urgently communicate to Lot, it’s time to get out. It’s interesting to note that when they speak of Lot’s daughters, they mention ‘who are here’. It’s indicative that Lot’s sons in law include other daughters of Lot and very possibly his grandchildren. It’s important to understand that while the text doesn’t specifically mention more than the two daughters, it’s heavily implied that Lot has actual family in the city that he LEAVES BEHIND not including friends, close friends, servants, and more.
The tragedy of Lot’s life is NOT Lot himself, but the fact that on that fateful dawn, as he turned his back on Sodom, he was leaving behind family that refused to listen to his preaching. It was the same tragedy of Noah’s life, that despite all Noah’s efforts, it was but himself and seven people on the ark out of the entire population at that time. It could well be the tragedy of your life, that you will have to leave behind those you love. That tragedy is also Lot’s triumph, for he remains faithful to God, despite the loss. May that be your testimony as well, for did not our Lord say, Whosoever loves their father, mother, or family more than Me, is not worthy of Me?
Gen 19:16 And 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.
Lot lingers . . . Oh my! Look at Lot lingering! If one takes the time to think over the narrative, there are scenes that can fill in between the lines. What would you be doing if you believed judgement was imminent and you had loved ones (remember, Lot probably has daughters and grandchildren in the city still not including his extended circles) present? Would you not spend every last second trying to get them out?
I think Lot’s actions in the coming verses will make clear that Lot wasn’t stupefied with terror or shock, neither was he delaying because he couldn’t bear to give up his riches. He was frantically trying to convince his loved ones to leave! Considering it has been hours since the angels instructed him to get people out, there’s every possibility he’s also exhausted. Considering he was laughed at and ridiculed by his own family, he’s probably severely demoralized. If you will remember Lot, remember him as a man frantically passing through the darkness with his lamp, waking up people in the wee hours of the morning, telling them to get out because destruction is coming, only to be rejected, and yet, he’s still going.
Finally, the time has come. The angels escort him out of the city. They take him by the hand, as though he were a child, for a child Lot was – a child of God. God was being merciful to him.
Some have made the erroneous conclusion that God is merciful to Lot because of Abram’s intercession. That is a load of nonsense. God is merciful to Lot because Lot himself is deemed righteous by God, and the God of all the earth will not punish the righteous with the wicked. What is important to note, however, is that it is only by God’s mercy that Lot is saved, just as Abraham was saved, and David, and every other person, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God! It is by grace that we are saved.
Don’t take the beautiful statement that God was merciful to Lot and turn it into a reproach on Lot’s character. It’s no reproach on Lot. It was because of Lot’s faithfulness that God showed him such favor.
We are now coming towards the end of Lot’s story. In these couple of verses, we have covered more time than the previous verses from the start of the chapter. I believe that it is in these verses that we see the calling that God had placed on Lot – he was the preacher of righteousness to the cities of the plain. As Noah was to the antediluvian world. As Jonah was to Nineveh. As Amos was to Israel. As Jeremiah was to Judah. All those many years ago when Lot saw the plains of Jordan, he probably did not know it then, but God was moving him into position to be the means by which God would call out to a wayward people one last time. Oh that we had the character of Lot, a man vexed by the evil around him, yet striving to pull others out to safety!
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