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GENESIS 19:1-38 - COMPROMISE - Part 4
Read the previous posts in this series:
Now, here comes the Judgment on these 2 famous cities, picking it up in Vs. 23-29 - “By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the LORD rained down burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah - from the LORD out of the heavens. Thus He overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities - and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.”
So, all of this rescue of Lot is because of the intersection of the man of faith - don’t miss that!
The other important thing here is the word “Look Back.” Lot’s wife “Looked back,” and that word in Hebrew has a number of interpretations. One interpretation is “To look intently.” Another interpretation is “To go back." Yet another is “To lag back.” So it’s possible that as she was leaving the city that she was just sort of dragging her feet and staying behind.Or it could even mean that she did turn back and went back there.
It is interesting that in Luke 17:31-32 Christ refers to this and says: “Don’t return to the things behind, remember Lot’s wife.” So, it seems as if her sin was really rooted in unbelief - she questioned whether Sodom was going to be destroyed and probably because of really bad leadership.
This family had learned, because of Lot’s compromise, not to heed the dude’s word, and they probably did just the opposite most of the time. So while her sin is unbelief, her sin is also a longing for the past.
But men, this is another sobering picture, like the one in the garden, for us and our call to lead our wives well. Eph. 5 says we are too: ‘water them, to wash them in the water of the Word of God Lot did not lead his wife well and he lost her!
Vs. 30-38 - “Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave.
One day the older daughter said to the younger, ‘Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children as is the custom all over the earth.’ (Many versions say “Not a man left on earth!” Come on! They just left Zoar!)
(I want you to notice the repetition of the word “Wine” here over and over!) ‘Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.’
That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
The next day the older daughter said to the younger, ‘Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.’ So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. (Twice now he was not aware! This is Bible speak for “Tanked, Wasted!”)
So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today.The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.” The Moabites and Ammonites are going to be a real hassle to Israel going forward.
I also wish I knew what to do with this text for you! I mean, imagine it! You're running for your life, they are escaping with absolutely nothing. The angels show up at your house and tell you they are going to torch the whole city - get out of here, run for your life, and they take wine with them! This really shows us the priorities of compromise.
Also, isn’t it interesting that the daughters understood that there was a pretty good chance to get dad drunk. They knew it was possible to get their father so stinkin’ drunk that he wouldn’t know what was going on! So this gives us some good insight on some of the private behaviors that was going on with Lot. He was a boozer!
I don’t know what the daughters were thinking when they thought there were no men around to get them pregnant, they were just in Zoar and there were other people there. And you think after what they just went through that wouldn’t be a great priority.
What we do know for sure is the daughters, like their father, did not trust in the Lord and that’s what caused their whole problem. As a consequence of this, we have the Moabites and Ammonites and they are going to be a real pair of thorns in the side of Israel as their history moves forward.
Again, this is the picture of compromise. I want you to catch this - what we’re being shown here is that compromise leads to hassles and grief in the future. And the hassle isn’t necessarily immediate. You don’t see it right away. Listen, Compromise never works! Satan is the god of compromise!
Might be something like becoming a new Christian and telling your friends: “Don’t worry, it ain’t like I’m going to become a fanatic and start carrying a Bible around and talking to people about Jesus! I’m still gonna be cool, but I’ll believe in God too!” You think you can still fit in, but you have to walk away from that old life COMPLETELY (Set Apart).
I know its hard, but now ya gotta completely quit hanging out with your old “friends” and start hanging out with some rather odd people who talk about “Jesus this” and “Jesus that,” and “Bible this,” and “Bible that,” even though that might seem a little too intense for you.
Compromise never works! “Oh, don’t go too far, don’t be so fanatical,” the devil says and we compromise with him. This is what happens to believers. We get into relationships with non-believers. Sometimes it’s romantic, some sexual and they totally compromise their witness. And they know it’s a bad thing and they know they need to break up with this person, so the Christian says to the non-christian, “We need to stop meeting.” And the non-believer says: “Don’t give up on me, pray for me, I’ll get to know this God of yours.”
Know what???? They are not going to come to Christ by you compromising! They are going to come to Christ by you standing up for what is true! That’s how ya do it!
We could go on and on with examples of compromise, but we all know what it is and what we are supposed to be doing and not doing. We know what the Bible says about the life we are to be living and who we belong to, because as Christians we no longer belong to ourselves.
We need to start acting like it and living it out and quit allowing the world and everything in it to taint our witness. Either God is Lord or the world and other people are.
Blessings to you all.
Last Update: Aug 23, 2020 12:01 pm CDT
