In Luke 17:32, Jesus urges us to remember Lot’s wife. The Lord’s point in that instruction was that when judgment is imminent, we cannot be double-minded. Lot’s wife was close to deliverance, but she looked back, in defiance of God’s instruction. Her disobedience of God’s command doomed her.
Today, I invite you to consider Lot, Abraham’s nephew. Lot lived with his daughters in the ancient city of Sodom, a place well known for its godlessness and immorality. As I will unpack in this post, Lot was not immune to his environment; the pagan society in which he lived impacted him negatively. Hence, when we consider Lot, we are in essence embarking on a path of self-reflection where you begin to consider how the world in which you live impacts how you think and what you do. Granted, no one would say that Lot’s example is one that Christians should aspire to; Lot is not a spiritual role-model. However, the fact remains that Lot is a child of God and is counted amongst God’s elect (II Peter 2:7-8). To use modern language for this Old Testament figure, then, Lot is a Christian. Moreover, figuratively speaking, Sodom⎯like Babylon or Ninevah⎯represents secular civilization, whose driving ideology is “We can do this without God.”
You see, on the one hand, Lot never totally identified with the city in which he lived. Yet, simultaneously, as we will read, he was reluctant to let go of Sodom. Consequently, in his commentary on Genesis, the theologian Derek Kidner labels Lot “the righteous man without a pilgrim spirit.” So, as you meditate on Lot’s example, I would encourage you not to cast judgment on him but rather ask yourself, “How does the story of Lot speak to me today? How does the nation, culture, city, town, or village in which I live persuade me to think and act like society at large? How am I like Lot?” I am not questioning anyone’s salvation. But how is it that you and I, like Lot, want God and also to be part of the world? As our text will show us, Lot wanted to maintain dual citizenships: one in heaven and one in the world. He didn’t want to give up his slice of the secular pie because the cost was simply too great to bear. What he ended up doing was his so-called best in a hopelessly compromising situation.
We will begin with the Scriptures. In the verses immediately preceding Genesis 19, God reveals to Abraham that He is going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because “their sin is exceedingly grave” (Genesis 18:20). God then sends two of his angels⎯who appear in human form⎯to go down to the city and destroy it. Abraham knows that Lot and his family are living in Sodom. Consequently, Abraham asks God if He will still destroy the city if 50 righteous people are there. God says no. What ensues is a conversation that tests God’s patience. Abraham asks God if He will destroy the city if there are ten righteous there. Again, God says no (Genesis 18:32). We now arrive at Genesis 19. Verses 1-19 say:
Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.” Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; and they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.” But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof.” But they said, “Stand aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came in as an alien, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door. But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. They struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.
Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place; for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city.” But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, one said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away.” But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die; now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) that my life may be saved.” He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the town was called Zoar.
The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace.
Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.
I do not believe this historical narrative needs much explanation; the story speaks for itself. Thus, I will jump right in and provide ten observations from the text. Recall my suggestion that when the text speaks about Lot, you ask yourself, “How am I like him?” and “How does the culture in which I live influence how I think and act?”
First observation: the world can tempt you by promoting you.
Genesis 19:1 says that when the two angels came to Sodom, Lot was sitting at the city gate. This is not an inconsequential detail. The privilege of sitting at the gate meant that Lot held a position of honor; he was a well-respected member of the community. Additionally, in ancient cultures, legal matters were often settled at the city gate by community elders (cf. Deuteronomy 21:8-21; Amos 5:15). This all means that in Sodom, Lot wasn’t a nobody who simply got by. He was important, and as a result, he had a reason to want to stay in Sodom. If the city was destroyed, he would lose his honorable position. Sometimes the world can tempt you by promoting you.
Second observation: for some people in some situations, success can be a greater trial than poverty.
If we go back to Genesis 13, we learn that Lot was wealthy as measured in flocks and herds and tents (13:5). In fact, he and his uncle Abraham had accumulated so much, they had to separate since their land could not support them both. Abraham let Lot chose where he wished to go, and he moved his tent as far as Sodom (Genesis 13:12). This is important because it tells us that when Lot walked into Sodom, he was wealthy. What’s also relevant is that after Lot settled there, there was a war amongst kings that included Sodom. The rival kings ended up taking all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 14:11), including all that Lot had. Then what happened? Abraham and an army of 318 men rescued Lot, all his possessions, all the city’s possessions, and all the women and people (Genesis 14:16). This is pertinent because now, after Lot is returned to Sodom, he will forever be known as the nephew of the hero (Abraham) that saved the city. In other words, Lot would now dwell in Sodom both as a rich man and as someone who came from an esteemed family. What’s the point? That for some people in some situations, success can be a greater trial than poverty. If you have lots of stuff and are in a place where people revere your name, there is an incentive for you to stay where you are. Additionally, success can tempt some people to put their trust in things. This temptation is attractive because for a time, the success will reward your trust. But as the destruction of Sodom preaches to us, nothing of this world will last forever.
Third observation: Lot lived by a philosophy of self-preservation. Fourth observation: Lot also followed a philosophy of man-pleasing.
In Genesis 19:7-9, when all the men of Sodom demand that Lot hand over his two houseguests so that they can commit immorality with the pair, Lot tells the mob:
Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof.”
On the one hand, Lot was the only citizen of Sodom who rescued the angels from the potential dangers of the city by inviting them into his house. Lot soon found himself in an impossible situation where he was conflicted between fulfilling an obligation to protect his guests and fulfilling an even more sacred obligation to protect his daughters. And so, on the other hand, when caught between a rock and a hard place, Lot chose to pursue a course of self-preservation. He would shield two men who could presumably help to defend him inside his house, while sacrificing his only two daughters to the mob outside. Additionally, Lot’s offer of his daughters was not a firm rebuke of the men’s sin; instead, he chose to give them an outlet for their perverse desires. Instead of taking a firm stand on objective moral principles, Lot’s actions revealed that in his heart, man-pleasing was an acceptable course of action. Lot also referred to the mob as “my brothers,” indicating that in some sense, he identified with them. You can please others by reassuring them that, “Hey, I’m just like you.”
This leads me to my next observation.
Fifth observation: Lot was not a man of firm principles; instead, he wavered between opinions.
I just explained that Lot followed a questionable moral code. Moreover, the text tells us that the two angels came to Lot in the evening (Genesis 19:1) and subsequently warned him that the city was going to be destroyed. Despite his hometown’s impending destruction, Lot did not take firm, decided action. Instead, he wavered and hesitated all night — so much so that by the following morning, he still had not left Sodom. This is why at dawn the angels had to urge him again to get up and go (19:15). And once he decides to go, he’s instructed to flee to the mountains but can’t commit to following that command either. He instead implores the angels to let him go to Zoar (19:19-20). The point is that Lot was an unsteady character, wavering between opinions and unable to make up his mind about what mattered most.
To summarize this point, I will quote from Iain M. Duguid’s Living In the Gap Between Promise and Reality: The Gospel According to Abraham:
“Look at Lot: even with the brimstone raining down around him, he was still a reluctant pilgrim. He was utterly unable to fulfill the conditions that the Lord laid down for his salvation. He complained that he couldn’t flee to the mountains, and instead he pled for an extension of God’s grace. Was he reluctant to leave the worldly ways of cities behind completely? Did he still have to have an earthly city, even if only a little one, to make life bearable? What a miserable picture he presents! But see also how patient, how gracious, God is. God held back his entire timetable of destruction so that he could save poor, compromised Lot. For the sake of Abraham and because of his intercession on Lot’s behalf, Lot was not destroyed.”
The sixth observation: Lot was saved but was an ineffective witness.
All the observations thus far undoubtedly contributed to Lot’s lack of success as a Christian witness. Specifically, Lot’s ineffectiveness can be qualified by two events. First, even though he was an important member of the community, he was unable to persuade the mob outside his house to leave him alone. His character and words failed, which is why it took a supernatural act to blind the mob and thus preserve his household. Second, Lot’s witness was compromised, considering that his sons-in-law thought he was joking when he told them about the coming destruction of the city.
Did the two young men think Lot was joking because they knew what type of man he was? Did the wrath of God never come up in conversation, leading them to believe Lot was playing a game? We don’t know why the young men thought Lot was jesting; we do know that his warnings were ineffective.
The seventh observation: Lot represents a weak Christian who tends to be influenced by the world. In contrast, a strong Christian is an influencer of the world.
As I hope is clear by now, Lot was living in Sodom long enough that Sodom rubbed off on him. Hence, I think is fair to deduce that one explanation for Lot’s ineffective witness is conformity to the godless culture in which he dwelt. If, however, we compare Lot to a titan of faith⎯Abraham⎯ we see that as Abraham grew in his spiritual maturity, he was the influencer and began to have an effect on those around him. (It’s also important to note that up until this point in Genesis, Lot’s story has been characterized by the absence of conflicts and tests of faith, unlike Abraham, whose faith is continually tested. This points back to the second observation that for some, success can be a greater trial than poverty).
So how do we know that Abraham was an influencer? This is evidenced by the exchange Abraham has with a pagan king, Abimelech, in Genesis 21:22-34. There, the king is unprovoked yet initiates a pact of non-aggression with Abraham. Why would a king, who has power, wealth, and an army, enter into such an agreement with a mere sojourner in his territory? Because in Genesis 21:22 Abimelech tells Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do.” The point is that by grace, those who have a mature, well-developed faith will influence those around them to the point where others won’t see us but God working in and through us. No sane person would ever contest God, so even the unregenerate can appreciate the wisdom in blessing those to whom God has demonstrated His favor. The dynamic of Abimelech and Abraham is also a fulfillment of God’s promise to bless those who bless Abraham (Genesis 12:3).
All Christians are ultimately called to be influencers of the world, not influenced by the world. The apostle Paul makes this explicit in the New Testament, where he writes that we ought not to be conformed to the world but rather transformed by mind renewal (Romans 12:2). Now, there may be someone who thinks, “What if I withdraw? If Sodom and its ways of thinking are so persuasive, shouldn’t I flee into the figurative wilderness or to a town that’s culturally Christian?” Beloved, withdrawal from the world to maintain purity is not the biblical model. After all, after he and Abimelech made a pact, Abraham is still traveling in the same geographic area (Genesis 21:34) of which he previously said, “There is no fear of God in this place” (20:11). My point is that the overall biblical pattern is never for Christians to hide in a crevice of the planet to protect our holiness; rather, we are called to sanctify a broken world and spread light where there is darkness.
The final point I will make on this observation is that I in no way intend to beat up anyone over their perceived spiritual weakness. You may identify more with Lot than with Abraham, but my observations thus far are not intended to discourage you. There are no second-class Christians. We are saved neither by the strength of our faith nor by personal holiness. Our faith matters because of its object⎯Christ⎯who is the only One who saves. Be not discouraged because for all of God’s children, “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). Everyone who is justified is also sanctified, and while some Christians may be immature now, God is the agent who will grow their fruit.
Eighth observation: men are responsible to take principled, decisive action. If they don’t, their families suffer.
As I mentioned before, Lot was a man who wavered between opinions. Certainly, this didn’t just happen in Genesis 19 but was already a part of his character after living in Sodom for a time. After Lot and his family escape the city, Genesis 19:30-38 describe one of the hardest narratives to read in the entire Bible. Lot’s daughters engage in immorality because they have no husbands. But why do they have no husbands? Lot is primarily to blame. In that culture, he is responsible to find suitable mates for his daughters. He settles to have them wed two men from Sodom. Strike one. He then offers up his daughters to the lustful crowd, treating his children like flesh objects. Strike two. Then, after he and his daughters escape and are living in a cave, he gets so drunk on two consecutive nights that he is unaware of the immorality committed by his children. Strike three. Because of Lot’s lack of headship, the tendency toward improper decision making and moral compromise trickle down through his family. The important take-home lesson is that when it comes to being the head of a family, bad decisions often are not contained to the one making them. This is why male headship comes with the responsibility of not only following God’s truth but also instilling those objective moral principles in everyone in your household.
All the observations thus far have focused on the deficits of man. The final two observations focus on the Lord and the hope found in Him.
Ninth observation: God demonstrated greater mercy to Lot and his family than He told Abraham.
In the Scriptures immediately preceding the Sodom narrative (Genesis 18:22-33), Abraham intercedes for the city before it is annihilated. Abraham also tries to gain insight into divine justice, and after a series of questions, he finally asks the Lord, “If you find 10 righteous people in Sodom, will you still destroy it?” (18:32). God says no. But then what happens? God does not destroy the city on account of four people who were allowed to escape: Lot, his wife, and his two daughters. The point? God demonstrated greater mercy to Lot and his family than He told Abraham. Because God’s mercy is unmerited, the Lord is free to demonstrate mercy as He sees fit. He isn’t held to a formula that can either predict or make demands of His unmerited favor; thus He is at liberty to show mercy to whom He will show mercy. Praise God for that.
Tenth and final observation: there is great hope for all of God’s elect: because He is charge of our deliverance, there is nothing we can do to mess it up!
I do not believe that the story of Sodom in Genesis 19 should provoke us to despair because despite all his faults, and despite his attempts to frustrate his own rescue, in the end, Lot was delivered because the Lord had decided to deliver him. And because a sovereign God chose Lot, there was nothing Lot could do to stop his rescue. What a hope-infusing, gratitude-growing, God-exalting truth for you and I to know: that the God we serve will never fail us, even if we fail Him.
The two angels were said to have seized the hands of Lot, his wife, and his two daughters (Genesis 19:16). This seizing wasn’t hurtful but a gesture of love to bring one of God’s own to safety. This reminds me of Psalm 37, whose theme is the security of those who trust in God. Verses 23-24 say:
The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.
As my pastor always preaches, we are not safe because of our grip on God; we are safe because of His steadfast grip on us.
The final point I will make on this observation is that Genesis 19:10 tells us that when the mob was trying to storm Lot’s home, the two angels brought Lot into the house and shut the door. This door separated the wicked from the righteous. Elsewhere in Scripture, being behind a door has often provided safety for God’s people in times of judgment. Other examples include the Lord shutting the door of the Ark (Genesis 7:16), the door covered in lamb’s blood in the tenth Egyptian plague (Exodus 12:23), and Rahab finding safety behind a door during the siege of Jericho (Joshua 2:19). Jesus is the ultimate door, who will provide refuge and safety for the righteous when the Lord returns to judge the world (Matthew 25:10-13). As Christ says in John 10:9, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”
Conclusion
I will again quote Iain M. Duguid from Living in the Gap Between Promise and Reality:
“It’s tempting for us to be arrogant and to think that we are so much better than Lot, but are we really? Are we less compromised than he was? Are we less attached to the things of the world? We are not saved because we are wiser or holier than others, or because God considers us to be above-average human beings. Like Lot, we don’t even have the strength to escape in the right way! Only God’s grace, extended to us because he had decided to save us, is enough. Knowing our weaknesses, Jesus Christ has interceded for us, just as he did Simon Peter, so that our faith may not fail us (Luke 22:32). God will not allow that intercession to fail, nor will he allow his intention to save a people for himself to be frustrated … How was Lot saved? [He was saved] by God providing a place of refuge for him. So it is also for you and me. We too are not saved by own goodness and wisdom, but by taking refuge in the goodness of Jesus Christ, given to use as we trust in him. There is no other hiding place, no other safe refuge from the final outpouring of the wrath of God against sin.”
Beloved, when we consider Lot, let us then consider that God is the agent that delivered him. Considering Lot, then, ought to persuade us to focus not on the failings of man but on the glory of God. For who is like Him, who needs nothing but ⎯out of love⎯condescends to our level? I will end by quoting the Puritan John Flavel. Here, although Flavel is commenting on a different passage of Scripture (Psalm 8:3-4), God’s character remains the same and is equally applicable in all situations. Flavel writes:
“I desire you to stand with me in holy amazement, and wonder at the dealings of God with poor worms as we are! Surely God deals familiarly with men, and his condescension to clay is astonishing.
The holiest of men add nothing to him, and yet see how great account he makes of us! His electing love speaks of the dear account he made of us. How ancient, how free, and how astonishing is this act of grace! This is the design of his providence, which will not rest until it is accomplished. Consider the gift of his Son out of his bosom that God has made for us in a state of enmity with God. Consider his providential care for us. He keeps us night and day; no not a moment does he withdraw his eyes, or a thousand mischiefs in that moment would rush in upon us and ruin us!”
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal