...A Pillar Of Salt
On the western shore of the Dead Sea, on Jebel Usdum (the Hill of Sodom), is a salt pillar known as Lot's wife. Is it her? I don't know. What I know is that there is a lesson about faith and obedience to learn from her.Lot's family was warned,
Escape for your life! Do not look behind you... (Genesis 19:17)
Why Lot's wife looked back, we can only speculate. Did she longed for the life she had enjoyed in Sodom? Was she was just curious about what was happening behind her. Whatever it was, she disregarded God's word and was destroyed for it.
She Didn't Know The Penalty
Some might think it was unfair, since Mrs. Lot did not know what would happen if she looked back. If she had been told that she would be turned into a pillar of salt, surely she'd have obeyed.
Must God tell us what will happen if we do not obey Him? Is He wrong simply to expect us to heed His word? Do parents tell their children what the punish will be for every disobedience? Should a child's obedience depend upon knowing what happens if he chooses to disobey? It is neither unjust for a parent or for God to not disclose what the punishment for disobedience will be. It is right for children to obey their parents in everything (Ephesians 6:1; Colossians 3:20) and for all humanity to obey God in all things (Acts 5:29; Hebrews 3:18).
Flee Fornication!
I have on my shelf a book called Bible Trvia & Fun Facts. In it, the question is asked, "What's the smallest sin in the Bible?" The answer: "Flea fornication!"
All joking aside, the Bible in many places commands us to make haste to depart from sexual immorality. Notice just a few:
Flee sexual immorality. (fornication, KJV) Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. (1 Corinthians 6:18)
...flee these things (foolish and harmful lusts, v 9) and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. (1 Timothy 6:11)
Flee youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Timothy 2:22)
In addition to these direct commands for us to stay away from sexual sins, God has given examples of such in the Old Testament: Joseph fleeing Potiphar's wife; David's failure to turn away when he saw Bathsheba bathing; and yes, Lot's family fleeing from the sexual wickedness which characterized the city of Sodom.
It can be at times that God's people get too comfortable with sin. Had Israel purged the land of Canaan of all the wicked nations whom they were to destroy and displace, we might read a much different history for God's people in the Old Testament. They permitted the wickedness of the nations to remain, and eventually began to intermarry with them and worship their gods. Israel was guilty of spiritual fornication and would suffer the consequence of such.
We must be careful too, that we do not become at ease with sin. We must be in the world, but not of the world (1 Corinthians 5:9-10). We must interact with folks if we are to affect them for the gospel's sake, but must distinguish ourselves from them in how we walk (1 Thessalonians 4:1-5). Watch, not only the company you keep, but also the media you allow in your home. Many TV shows, movies, magazines, books, songs, etc. have no rightful place in the Christian's home.
“Why Lot's wife looked back, we can only speculate. ...Whatever it was, she disregarded God's word and was destroyed for it.”
Lot's wife failed to flee from sinful Sodom as she ought to, even Lot and his daughters did not leave with urgency. Let us not make the same mistake.
Remember Lot's Wife!
Jesus warned an audience that the impending judgment will be like the days of Noah (Luke 17:27). Life continues as it had always, until after the door of the ark was shut. Then the Lord opened the windows of heaven and the fountains from below, and the entire world was destroyed in a flood.
He gave yet another illustration He said,
...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. (Luke 17:28-30)
He would then compel us to not have a longing for the things of this life, but to prepare ourselves for the day of the Lord and to stand in judgment. The Lord spoke:
...he who is on the housetop, and his good 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. (Luke 17:31)
Lest we be captivated by the fancies of the world, the Lord, upon warning us to not turn back gives three simple words:
Remember Lot's wife! (Luke 17:32)
The tragedy of turning or looking back, even for a moment, was capsulized and crystalized in Lot's wife forever. Why she looked back is really not important - that she did is all that we need focus upon. She was told not to, but she did. Friend, we need to heed the Lord when He speaks!
The apostle John also cautions us about having undue desire for things of this world. He said:
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15-17)
Let us learn the lesson of Lot's wife. The pillar of salt was a temporal judgment - destruction in hell is the eternal judgment. If we want no part in the devil's hell, then let us have no desire to look back or grope for the thins of this world. Eyes straight ahead, friends!
Article Navigation:
Answering The Atheist
Complaint:
In 1 Samuel 15:3, God orders the slaughter of men, women and children, including infants. Isn't that a contradiction to the fact that God is reluctant to punish the innocent with the guilty (Genesis 18:23-33), especially infants and innocent children that can't make moral choices. How is the killing of innocent children and infants justified? Is there a contradiction?
Response:
Abraham plead for Sodom before the Lord, asking if there were even ten righteous, that God not destroy it (Genesis 18:23-33). The Lord told Abraham that if ten righteous were there, He would not destroy the city. In the next chapter, Sodom is destroyed. There were not ten righteous in the city. Those who were righteous were told to leave (Genesis 19:12-16).
It is hard to fathom that Sodom had fewer than ten children in it. But, if there were more than ten children, why was it destroyed? Search the Scriptures, I do not believe you will find "righteous" ever used to refer to young children.
Paul said, "I was alive once without the law" (Romans 7:9). When he was a child, he had "no knowledge of good and evil" (Deuteronomy 1:39). He refers to that time as before "the commandment came." The righteous are those who walk lawfully, the unrighteous do not. Until one is accountable to God's law, neither word applies.
Children killed in Sodom or Amalek were not righteous or unrighteous. Their death was a consequence of their parents sins. However, it is important that we consider the big picture. Though the lives of these young ones were cut short in this life, since they were without sin, they would be received into eternity by the Lord. Children are spiritually alive (Romans 7:9), for they have not transgressed God's commandments. Had they continued in this life, they may have followed the way of their parents, and heaven would not be their eternal abode.
There is no contradiction.
This article is in response to a submission by a web site visitor.