God Rescues Lot
19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth 2 and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” 3 But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. 5 And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” 6 Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, 7 and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8 Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” 9 But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. 10 But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. 11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.
12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. 13 For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.” 14 So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
15 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. 17 And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” 18 And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. 19 Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. 20 Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” 21 He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 22 Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.1
Footnotes
[1] 19:22
Zoar means little (ESV)
Category: Scripture
Abram and Lot Separate
13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb.
2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3 And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4 to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the LORD. 5 And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, 6 so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, 7 and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.
8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen.1 9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” 10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. 12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.
Footnotes
[1] 13:8
Hebrew we are men, brothers (ESV)
Terah’s Descendants
27 Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. 28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.
The Call of Abram
12:1 Now the LORD said1 to Abram, “Go from your country2 and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”3
4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,
Footnotes
[1] 12:1
Or had said
[2] 12:1Or land
[3] 12:3Or by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves (ESV)
Categories
Going Deeper
Noah (10.14.23)
Grab your Bibles, and let’s go deeper into the testimony of Noah and study Genesis 6-9.
Read Genesis 6:5-8.
First off, we see here why God decides to flood the earth, and God makes a clear declaration as to what He intends to do about the wickedness of sin.
Read Genesis 6:9-22.
So, God decided to save Noah, and his family, alone. In obedience to God, Noah built a very large boat; and notice how the chapter ends. Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.
Verse 9 tells us that Noah was a righteous man.
Verse 22 gives us the evidence of this fact.
How many of each kind of animal did Noah take on the ark with him?
Read Genesis 7:1-5.
Noah took seven pairs of the clean animals, one pair of the unclean animals, and seven pairs of the birds.
Notice something that is becoming a pattern in verse 5: it reads, “And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.”
When we jump ahead to verse 16, we see the floods start. On the same day Noah takes himself and his family into the ark, God shuts him in. Notice Noah did what he was commanded again, and God sealed him safely in the ark and away from the flood.
Read Genesis 7:21-24.
So, God saw the wickedness of man, and He set forward to pour out His wrath. He found favor in Noah and commanded him to build an ark and take in animals and his family. God followed through with His plan to flood the earth and cleanse it from its sin. God blotted out all the living creatures and mankind except for those in the ark with Noah. The judgment of God is right and good. The wrath of God is right and good. Sometimes we are guilty of thinking that His love or mercy are more important than the attribute of this wrath or justice, but they are not. All of God’s attributes are good and perfect. We must see God’s worldwide extermination as righteous and good, not because the death of many is to be celebrated, but because God did it. William Perkins once wisely said, “We must not think that God does a thing because it’s good and right, but rather the thing is good and right because God does it.”
In Genesis chapter 8, we read that God pulled back the waters and unveiled the land; the storm was over. Noah built an altar and worshipped the Lord.
The Lord’s response is the key for us today.
Read Genesis 8:21-22.
In the beginning of Chapter 9, God gives Noah instruction similar to one we’ve heard before: God blesses Noah and says be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Sound familiar? God then tells Noah that the plants and animal are his to rule over and cultivate. Sound familiar? God is rebooting this creation with Noah and his family. Then, God makes a covenant with Noah and all who will come after him.
Read Genesis 9:8-17.
God commits to never flood the earth again, even though the intention of a man’s heart is evil from his youth. This is His promise of common grace. Common grace is the idea that God extends some of His grace over all men, even though they are wicked in sin and deserving immediate judgment and wrath for their rebellion against Him.
Matthew 5:45 … For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust
Common grace is different than saving grace in that common grace is for all mankind, but saving grace is just for God’s elect.
The sobering reality is that man is still wicked and deserving of God’s perfect and just wrath. Every man will be judged. We will stand before the great Judge and either be condemned for our wickedness because we stand on our own merit and pride, or we will be pardoned for our wickedness because Christ stands in our place; He is our perfect advocate and mediator who took on our sin, and as a result, takes on our wrath. He then gives us His righteousness, allowing us to be accepted by God and brought into His holy presence forever.
2 Corinthians 5:21(NASB) He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Oh, how desperate we are for Jesus alone.
Here is the thing: we truly are a wicked people when we take God’s promised symbol, the rainbow, that He has graciously given us as a promise of His common grace to not send His swift judgment on our sin, and we then, in the very sin for which this grace is promised, use His symbol to represent homosexuality, which He has made clear in His word is sin.
Here is the truth: God will righteously judge, and those who rebel against Him will be condemned.
Let me show you an interesting passage in 2 Peter that brings light to God’s judgment:
2 Peter 3:5-7 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
“For they deliberately overlook this fact.” In other words, they shut their eyes to the facts.
The old King James says, “They are willingly ignorant of …” This is speaking of the false teachers who are not of God’s people and are deserving judgment and wrath.
Heretics and false teachers choose to ignore the truth to form lies that suit their needs. It might be right in front of them, but they don’t want to see the truth!
Why do they do this? They love their evil. They love their sin. They love their lust. They don’t desire truth. They don’t want a judgment, and they don’t want Christ to return, so they develop a system that says He won’t.
Peter speaks of two great, historic, game-changing events here:
The first is creation! He says they willingly shut their eyes to the fact that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water, and by water. Peter is saying creation was a cataclysmic act of God.
The false teachers who don’t want a God—who don’t want a God who is going to judge their sin—teach a big bang theory and a system of evolution that is absent of the need for God.
Peter says they forget willingly. Now look at this detail he adds:
2 Peter 3:5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God
You might be saying, “That sounds off.”
So, to jog your memory, read Genesis 1:1-2:In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
In God’s original creative action, the earth was without form. The darkness was over something God made. What was it? “The face of the deep” What is“the deep?”
Look next: The Spirit of God was hovering over what? The face of the waters! Ahhhhh!
So, it wasn’t nothing and then light. The darkness hung above a watery formless mass that God made first.
In Proverbs 8:27, God says He inscribed “a circle on the face of the deep.”
Read Genesis 1:3-10.
Then God made light, then a separation between the waters below and the waters above, and then a separation of the water below to determine ground from rivers or oceans.
And do you know what He said about it? What God said about it is in verse 10, “it was good.”
But it isn’t very long before man sins and multiplies, and the multiplication of that sin equals mass judgment. God looks at the world in Genesis 6:5-7: The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land …
How’s He going to destroy it? With Water!
Go back now to 2 Peter 3.
2 Peter 3:5-6 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.
Back to Genesis:
Genesis 7:11-12 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
Read again Genesis 7:19-24.
So, you can’t say, “All things continue as they have from the very beginning.” No, they haven’t. There was devastating, total judgment on the whole world, and there will be in the future.
Look at 2 Peter 3:7: But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist …
This means the world was different after the flood. No one lived 900 years after the flood. Things were different. A new kind of judgment was at work in the post-flood earth. God’s symbol of promise, the rainbow, was given as a symbol that He will never destroy the world again by water.
But we know worldwide judgment is coming again. Why? Because God’s Word tells us so! But it won’t be by water, because God promised to not flood the earth again. So, by what will the judgment be if not water? Fire!
2 Peter 3:7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
Kept for the judgment, the day of judgment, and the destruction of ungodly men.
God is the creator, and He is the destroyer. Only the next time He brings global judgment, He’ll do it by fire—it is reserved for fire. The word “reserved” in the Greek is where we get the word “treasury.” It means “to store up.”
Isaiah 13 says, “When the final Babylon is destroyed it will be destroyed as were Sodom and Gomorrah.”
How were they destroyed? By fire and brimstone.
The promise of God’s judgment coming in fire is all over the word of God: Malachi 4:1 fire; Micah 1:4 fire; Daniel 7:9 and 10 fire;
Matthew 3:11 and 12, John the Baptist said He’s coming, and He’s coming with fire.
2 Thessalonians 1:7-8 is so graphic. It says when Jesus comes, He’ll be “revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire.”
And in 2 Peter 3:12: waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
Wow! This is a sobering reality. Jesus is coming! God will judge and execute His wrath; the Bible tells us that this is good and right for God to do.
Romans 2:5 … because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
Beloved, this is why we take full advantage of the common grace that God has given to those who are unrepentant, wicked, and deserving death. God has sent us into a sea of darkness to testify of the only One who can save condemned, guilty people from the fire of God’s wrath—Jesus. This is why we ride, why we testify, and why we serve in Jesus’ name!
Come Lord Jesus; and in the meantime, help us be bold in our testimony of your saving grace in this season of patience that You show for all those under your common grace.
By His grace and for His glory
Joshua “Shepherd” Kirstine
Soldiers For Jesus MC
Chaplain Council
SFJbible.com
Noah’s Descendants
18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.1
20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.2 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”26 He also said,
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.
27 May God enlarge Japheth,3
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant.”28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.
Footnotes
[1] 9:19
Or from these the whole earth was populated
[2] 9:20Or Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard
[3] 9:27Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for enlarge (ESV)