DRIFTING INTO A SITUATION WHICH WAS WICKED AND SINFUL BEFORE GOD
Lot drifted into a situation which was wicked and sinful before God (13:11-12). Once you leave the source of spiritual influence, you will automatically go downhill. You will never go upward. Never forsake the proper spiritual influence, for it is your protection. If you give it up, you will lose your protection, and, like Lot, will drift downward into Sodom. In spite of the fact that Lot knew Sodom was wicked in the eyes of God, he eventually entered into that evil place and lived there.
Ur of Chaldea was a place of idols, Egypt was a place of worldly riches and pleasures, and Sodom was a city of sin. These three places form a triangular boundary around the land of Canaan. We, God’s called ones, live within this triangle and must be careful lest we fall back to the city of idols, go down to the place of worldly pleasures, or drift into the city of sin. Although Lot stayed away from the land of idols and the place of worldly pleasures, he drifted, like a piece of driftwood, into the city of sin.
SOVEREIGNLY WARNED BY BEING CAPTURED
Lot was sovereignly warned by being captured (14:11-12). God was merciful to him, not allowing him to live in Sodom peacefully. As a warning and a discipline, God caused Lot to be captured.
RESCUED FROM CAPTIVITY BY THE LORD’S OVERCOMER, BUT NOT HELPED TO COME BACK TO THE WAY OF GOD
Although Lot was rescued from captivity by the Lord’s overcomer, he was not helped to come back to the way of God (14:12-16). For a long time I was troubled by Lot’s not returning to the way of God. He might have been stubborn. Do not think that passive people are submissive. Nearly all the passive ones are rebellious. Lot did not learn the lesson and he did not return to God’s way.
GOING BACK TO LIVE IN THE WICKED CITY WHICH WAS CONDEMNED BY GOD AND WAS TO BE DESTROYED BY THE JUDGMENT OF GOD
Lot went back to live in the wicked city which was condemned by God and which was to be destroyed by the judgment of God (19:1-13). Lot did not go there to visit; he went there to live. When the two angels came to execute God’s judgment over Sodom, Lot was sitting in the gate of the city, in contrast to Abraham who was sitting at his tent door. According to ancient custom, whoever sat at the gate of the city was one of the elders, for only they had the privilege of sitting there. Lot became a leader in Sodom! Suppose the Lord or His angels were to visit you. Where would they find you—sitting at your tent door, or at the gate of the wicked world? Where you are sitting determines whether or not the Lord will come to you.
The angels refused to enter Lot’s house (19:2). Compare this with the visit the Lord and the angels paid Abraham in the previous chapter. When Abraham invited them to stay, they immediately agreed. But the two angels did not want to enter into Lot’s house and stay there, because it was in such a wicked city. After Lot pressed upon them greatly, they went in and stayed with him (19:3).
While the angels were staying in Lot’s house, the Sodomites came to indulge in their sodomitical lust, coming from every corner of the city (19:4-11). A Sodomite is a homosexual. Paul speaks of them in Romans 1:24 and 27. There are many Sodomites today and much sodomitical lust is expressed. Sodomites seem to have no spirit; they are like brutal animals.
Lot was even willing to sacrifice his two daughters to satisfy the Sodomites’ lust (19:7-9). Whether he was forced to do this or not, he never should have done it. This shows that Lot’s sense of morality had been drugged. We may use the smell of garlic as an illustration of this. If we were to eat garlic all day long, our sense of smell would eventually be drugged. If someone having a fresh sense of smell would come into the midst of the garlic eaters, he would immediately notice the scent of garlic. Lot and his children remained in the garlic room of Sodom for years, and their sense of morality was drugged. Lot would consider sacrificing his virgin daughters to save his two guests. How could he consider such a thing! Although he was a righteous man, he had lost his sense of morality and shame.
In order to meet such a wicked situation, the angels smote the Sodomites with blindness (19:11), indicating that all the men in Sodom were blind and in darkness. All Sodomites are blind. If a man were not blind, how could he be a Sodomite? This shows that sinfulness blinds people.
(Abraham—Called by God, Chapter 16, by Witness Lee)
