The Price Lot Paid

Because of a conflict between their herdsmen, Abraham and his nephew Lot decided to part ways. The grazing land just wasn’t big enough for both tribes. Lot could choose where to go; in Genesis 13:9, Abraham said is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.

Then lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was watered every where…then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other (verses 10, 11). Lot saw the greenest pastures in the Jordan valley, near the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Surely this would be the best land for his herd. But just like material possessions of this world, grass is only temporary. Lot was blind to what he was getting himself into. This is a classic trap of the devil; he was so focused on the beautiful land he didn’t realize the wickedness it concealed. And he would pay a terrible price for moving his family here.

No matter how righteous you are, when you live long enough in worldliness, it will eventually take over you and your family.

Three messengers appeared to Abraham. Two of them were angels, but one turned out to be the Lord Himself. The angels departed for Sodom while the Lord revealed His plans to Abraham; He was going to destroy the city. Realizing his nephew was in the crosshairs of God’s wrath, Abraham bargained with the Lord to spare the city if at least ten righteous people could be found. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake (Genesis 19:32). America is fast becoming as wicked as Sodom, and many Christians wonder why God has not brought judgment to it like that terrible city. Although the number ten is arbitrary, this story demonstrates that as long as there is a minimal remnant of righteous people, He will hold back His wrath. I believe God is holding back from destroying the United States because there are still enough righteous here. For now. But with Christianity in decline in America, and churches increasingly willingness to compromise with the world, I shudder to think what will happen when that number gets below His minimum requirement.

The angels went to Sodom, but Lot was the only righteous one there. But if you study closely, you’ll see that even he had been in the city long enough to be infected its sinful spirit. Fearing for these visitors, he took the angels into his house. An angry mob appeared at his door. And they called unto Lot and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them (Genesis 19:5). Lot’s response was unthinkable: behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring the out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof (verse 8).

The Lot who had shepherded with his uncle years ago would probably never think of giving his virgin daughters to be gang-raped by this perverted mob. But the Lot who’d been living in Sodom for years was slowly being taken over by a spirit of compromise. But compromise with sin never works out well, because sin, like these wicked men, can never be satisfied. If you give in an inch, it will take a mile. We might look down on Lot for his willingness to throw his daughters to the wolves. But how different are parents today who let sin take over their children’s lives while they sit back and do nothing, not wanting to upset anyone?

The angels warned Lot the city would be destroyed by fire from heaven. They told him to go out and gather as much family as possible. But the closest relatives he had were his daughters’ fiancés, and they only laughed at him. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law (verse 14).

Despite the urgency, Lot hesitated to leave. He knew he was leaving his sons in law to their doom. He knew all his wealth and possessions would be destroyed. He would have to start over again. The angels had to drag him by the arm out of the city. 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: (verse 16). They were warned not to look back or they would perish. Likewise, we can’t afford to look back on our past lives of sin after we’re born again; to do so can lead to eternal destruction.

Verse 26: But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. Lot’s wife didn’t heed the warning. Notice a pattern here. Lot’s family was slowly being destroyed. He had moved them to Sodom, the wicked place, and sin had taken them over. Now they were paying the price for his poor decision. First his sons in law stayed died in the flames. Now his wife had turned into a pillar of salt. His family was getting whittled down before escaping. Think of Lot fleeing Sodom as the Rapture and the destruction as the Tribulation period. The Lord is getting ready to take us out of this sinful world before unspeakable horrors are unleashed on planet earth. But the Bible tells us for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first (II Thessalonians 2:3). Like Lot’s family, Christianity in America is falling away as it embraces worldliness and compromises with sin. In the end, only a faithful remnant will be taken away while the rest are spewed out of the mouth of God into great tribulation.

In the end, only Lot and his two daughters escaped unscathed while the city was incinerated. But not all of them were pure in heart. Let’s compare this to the exodus. The saying goes, You can take the Israelites out of Egypt but you can’t take Egypt out of the Israelites. Ultimately, God had to sentence them to wander for 40 years in the desert to purify the spirits rebellion, complaining, and idolatry out of them. Likewise, you could take Lot’s family out of Sodom but you couldn’t get Sodom out of Lot’s family. His daughters still had the vile spirit of sexual immorality in them. Realizing their fiancés were dead and they had no heirs, the girls conspired to commit unspeakable atrocities with their father by getting him drunk. Genesis 19:36: thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

The elder gave birth to Moab and the younger Ammon. Anyone with even a little familiarity with Bible history knows that these two would grow up to be fathers of two nations that were bitter enemies of the Israelites. The Moabites and Ammonites were steeped in idol worship. The spirit of Sodom somehow survived the destruction of the city itself, possessing Lot’s daughters as they escaped then being passed on to future generations. They hated God’s people with a passion and attacked them regularly. Centuries of war, death, and suffering all stemmed back to this one sin. The consequences of disobedience on our families, especially our children, can be catastrophic but not always immediately obvious. It can continue long after we’re gone, multiplying ferociously and making the world a bloodier place.

Lot had decided to go to Sodom for greener pastures. But in the end, what was he left with? His wife was destroyed. His sons in law were consumed in the flames. His daughters were sexual deviants. And from then onward, his descendants were wicked and godless people. Like a parasite, immorality attached itself to Lot’s future even long after he was gone. And the green grass he had in his sights was now burning with the fires of hell, the smoke ascending like a furnace into an uncaring sky.

“Think of Lot fleeing Sodom as the Rapture and the destruction as the Tribulation period. The Lord is getting ready to take us out of this sinful world before unspeakable horrors are unleashed on planet earth.”

Jesus did make a clear comparison between the last days before His return and the days of Sodom and the time of Noah:

Luke 17:26-32
And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife.

I believe this is one of the distinctions between the Tribulation and the Day of the Lord. Daniel’s seventieth week begins with a time of deception and false peace, probably based on disarmament and gun control. It is followed by war, famine, disease, and natural disasters. But Christ called these the “beginning of sorrows” with the “great tribulation” to follow.

But none of these things depict fire being reigned down from heaven by the holy angels in a fashion like the destruction of Sodom. When we read Revelation, these things begin in chapter 8. In fact, there are four angels in chapter 7 who are restrained from pouring out destruction until 144,000 faithful Jews are sealed for protection from these events, AND the uncountable multitude from every nation, tribe, language, and ethnicity appear in the throne room of Heaven.

I believe there is strong historical and Biblical evidence that the Church will face the worst persecution of her history by the antichrist just before the rapture. Then, when Christ returns in His glory, Christians who survive this perilous time will be rescued and raptured out. After this, the judgement of the earth by fire begins.

This is the only chronology I believe is consistent with all of scripture on the timing of the rapture. Consider this passage from Paul’s second epistle to the Thessalonians:

2 Thessalonians 1:7-8
[It is righteous for God] to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Contextually, I think the rest spoken of here must be of raptured saints because those who have already died have already entered into rest. But the passage clearly connects this event and the return of the Lord with the simultaneous judgment of the inhabitants of the earth (particularly the tormentors of Christians) by fire administered by angels.

We see an exact parallel between the Olivet discourse and the opening of the seven seals in Revelation. The Olivet discourse discloses the timing of the Great Tribulation as beginning at the abomination of desolation in the exact middle of Daniel’s seventieth week. This is a time of antichrist reigning in terror, persecuting followers of Christ, forcing all of the world into complete subjection to his rule, even to the point of demanding to be worshipped and all to receive his mark.

This reign of terror will be worldwide in scope but will never completely succeed because God will end it with the shaking of the powers of heaven. The darkening of the sun and moon (apparently simultaneously) will mark the end of this most terrible time of trouble. As massive meteors fall to the earth, everyone will be forced to hide underground. Then Christ will rapture His followers, and the Day of the Lord judgments by fire will commence.

Peter also made this connection. In Acts 2 he quoted Joel in regards to the coming of the Holy Spirit and the subsequent Day of the Lord in which the world would be judged by fire. He also spoke of this in his epistles:

2 Peter 3:10, 12
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up... Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat....

Christ will return and the Day of the Lord will arrive like a thief in the night. He will rescue His bride from the antichrist who will be attempting to force us to worship him and receive his mark. Re-reading the Olivet Discourse it will be found that the likeness of the days of Christ’s return to the days of Noah and Lot are in reference to the time during the Great Tribulation, with the destruction pictured by Noah’s flood and Sodom’s destruction by fire occurring AFTER the Great Tribulation.

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