Genesis
19:15-16, “As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Up! Take your
wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the
punishment of the city." (16) But he lingered. So the men
seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being
merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.”
Genesis 19 is a sobering reminder of
God’s holy and just wrath against sin. It is a reminder that God will not
contend with the evil and sinful ways of mankind forever, but a day of
judgement is coming, one from which there is no escaping. We need to keep in
mind that we are only in the 19th chapter of the Bible and this is God’s fourth
act of mass judgement against sin. There has been the curse of Genesis 3
against all mankind, the flood, the dispersion of people at Babel and now the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. All this gives evidence of the fact that man
has a love affair with sin, one that continues through the generations, even
though God reveals Himself to be patient, merciful, and gracious and forgiving,
man pushes that to its very limits in the hardness of his heart. We seem unable
to grasp the holiness and goodness of God and of living in obedience to God; we
fail to understand the gravity of sin and its consequences both in this life
and in eternity.
Lot, while his actions and help towards
to the two visiting angels are commendable, not even he seems to grasp the
danger and imminence of God’s judgement. Even after the numerous warnings of
the angels, urging Lot to leave, we are told Lot lingered, in fact he lingered
so long that the angels had to take him by force out of the city. We cannot
know for certain the reasons for which Lot lingered, was he reluctant to leave
his property and possessions? Did he love the people of these two lewd cities
and therefore did not want to see them destroyed? Did he linger in the hope
that his sons-in-law might come with him? We are not told. But it is very
apparent that Lot did not understand the peril he and his family was in, God
judgement was about to descend and it would be devastating. Lot escapes this
judgement through the active hand and mercy of God. The angels take Lot and his
family out of the city and their lives are spared.
We see in these verses a picture of our
salvation, for we like Lot have all lingered in the world and in sin. We may
have heard the Gospel many, many times, heard the warnings of God’s judgement
against sin and the punishment stored up for those who refuse to believe in Him
and live in obedience to Him. We may have heard that all, to the point that we
can recite it, but we have remained unmoved, we have continued to linger in a
most dangerous place, failing to take seriously the warnings of God’s
judgement, that will come swiftly, with finality. There will be no grace, or
second chances to be found on that day. It took the work, the hand of God to
move us from that place, it took the power of God to pluck us up out of the
path of danger and His judgement and set us down in the place of his mercy,
grace and salvation. Had God not been merciful to us and brought us out of that
place, we would still be lingering there! How grateful we should be, that we
like Lot, have been actively rescued by the merciful and powerful hand of God,
rescued from our sin and God righteous judgement against that sin. God has set
us down in a new place, in His place, His Kingdom. Let us linger in the Kingdom
of God, let us let our hearts and minds linger in the things of God, the Word
of God and the ways of God today.
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