Schoolmaster to Christ
GENESIS CHAPTER 19
Schoolmaster to Christ
GENESIS CHAPTER 19
Scripture Reading: Genesis 19 (KJV)
In order to draw the heart away from this present world, there are two methods which the Lord has graciously adopted. The first is by setting before it the attractiveness and stability of "things above." The second is by faithfully declaring the evanescent and shakable nature of "things on the earth." The close of Hebrews 12 furnishes a beautiful example of each of these methods. After stating the truth about the attendant joys and privileges of coming to Mount Zion, the apostle says, ‘see that ye refuse not him that speaketh: for if they escaped not, who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven; whose voice then shook the earth, but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once I shake, not only the earth, but also heaven. Now this word Once signifieth the removal of the shakeable things, as of things that are made, that the unshakeable things may remain.’
It is much better to be drawn by the joys of heaven, than driven by the sorrows of earth. We should not wait to be shaken out of present things. We should not wait for the world to give us up, before giving up the world. We should give it up in the power of communion with heavenly things. There is no difficulty in giving up the world when, by faith, we have laid hold of Christ; the difficulty is holding on to Christ. If a scavenger were left an estate of fifty thousand a year, he would no longer seek the spoils of the streets. Likewise, when we realize our portion in the unshakeable realities of heaven, we shall find little difficulty in resigning the delusive joys of earth. Let us now look at the solemn inspired history before us.
In it we find Lot "sitting in the gate of Sodom," the place of authority. He has evidently made progress. Purely from a worldly point of view, his course has been successful. At first, he "pitched his tent toward Sodom." Then, no doubt, he found his way into it; and now we find him sitting in the gate – a prominent, influential post. How different this is from the opening scene of the preceding chapter. But, the reason is obvious. "By faith Abram sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles." We have no such statement in reference to Lot.1 It could not be said, "By faith Lot sat in the gate of Sodom." No; he gets no place among the noble army of confessors – the great cloud of witnesses to the power of faith. The world was his snare, present things his curse. He did not "endure as seeing him who is invisible." He looked at "the things which are seen, and temporal:" whereas Abram looked at "the things which are unseen and eternal." There was a material difference between those two men, who, though they started together on their course, reached different goals, as far as their public testimony was concerned. Was Lot saved? If so, it was "by fire," for, truly, "his work was burned up." On the other hand, Abraham had "an abundant entrance ministered unto him into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
We do not find that Lot is permitted to enjoy any of the high distinctions and privileges with which Abraham was favored. Instead of refreshing the Lord, Lot gets his righteous soul vexed; instead of enjoying communion with the Lord, he is at a lamentable distance from the Lord; and, lastly, instead of interceding for others, he finds enough to do, interceding for himself. The Lord remained to commune with Abraham, and merely sent angels to Sodom; and their response to Lot's hospitality was: "Nay, but we will abide in the street all night." What a rebuke! How different from the willing acceptance of Abraham's invitation, as expressed in the words, "So do as thou hast said."
There is a great deal involved in the act of partaking of one's hospitality, when intelligently looked at. It expresses full fellowship. "I will come in unto him, and sup with him, and he with me." "If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide." If they had not so judged her, they would not have accepted her invitation.
Hence, the angels' word to Lot contains a most unqualified condemnation of his position in Sodom. They would rather abide in the street all night, than enter under the roof of one in a wrong position. Indeed, their only object in coming to Sodom seems to have been to deliver Lot and that because of Abraham; as we read: "And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt." In other words, it was simply for Abraham's sake that Lot was allowed to escape. The Lord has no sympathy with a worldly mind; and it was just such a mind that had led Lot to settle down amid the defilement of that guilty city. Faith never put him there; a spiritual mind never put him there; "his righteous soul" never put him there. It was simple love for this present evil world that led him, first, to "choose," then to "pitch his tent toward," and, finally, to "sit in the gate of Sodom." What a portion he chose. Truly it was a broken cistern that could hold no water; a broken reed that pierced his hand. It is a bitter thing to seek management of ourselves; we are sure to make grievous mistakes. It is infinitely better to allow God to order our ways, committing them to Him in the spirit of a little child. Our Father is willing and able to manage us; so, let us put the pen, as it were, into His blessed hand, and allow Him to sketch out our entire course, according to His own unerring wisdom and infinite love.
No doubt, when Lot moved to Sodom, he thought he was doing well for himself and his family; but the sequel shows how completely he erred; and it also sounds in our ears a voice of deepest solemnity – a voice telling us to beware how we yield to the incipient workings of a worldly spirit. "Be content with such things as ye have." Why? Is it because we are so well off in the world? Because we have all that our poor rambling hearts seek after? Because there is not so much as a single chink in our circumstances, through which vain desires might escape? Is this to be the ground of our contentment? No; what then? "For he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Blessed promise! Had Lot been content therewith, he never would have sought the well watered plains of Sodom.
Any further ground of inducement we might need, to the exercise of a contented spirit, we find in this chapter. What did Lot gain in the way of happiness and contentment? Little indeed. The people of Sodom surround his house, threatening to break in; he seeks to appease them by a most humiliating proposition, but all in vain. If we mingle with the world, for the purpose of self-aggrandizement, we must make determine to endure the sad consequences. We cannot profit by the world, while, at the same time, bearing effectual testimony against its wickedness. "This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge." This will never do. The true way to judge is to stand apart, in the moral power of grace, not in the supercilious spirit of Pharisaism. To attempt to reprove the world's ways, while profiting by association with it, is vanity; the world will attach little weight to such reproof and testimony. Thus it was with Lot's testimony to his sons-in law; "he seemed as one that mocked." It is vain to speak of approaching judgment, while finding our place, our portion, and our enjoyment in the very thing to be judged.
Abraham was in a far better position to speak of judgment, because he was entirely outside of its sphere. The tent of the stranger at Mamre was in no danger, though Sodom be in flames. Oh that our hearts longed more after the precious fruits of a realized strangership, so that instead of having to be forcefully dragged out of the world, and casting a lingering look behind, we might, like a racer, go forward with holy alacrity, toward the goal.
Evidently, lot longed after the scene which he was forced by angelic power to abandon; for not only did the angels lay hold on him, to hasten him away from impending judgment, but even when exhorted to escape for his life, and flee to the mountain, he replies, ‘Oh! not so, my Lord: behold, now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me and I die: behold, now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: oh! let me escape thither, (is it not a little one) and my soul shall live.’
What a picture! He seems like a drowning man, ready to reach out to a floating feather. Though commanded by the angel to flee to the mountain, he refuses, and still fondly clings to the idea of "a little city" – some little shred of the world. He feared death in the place to which God was mercifully directing him – he feared all manner of evil, and hoped for safety in some little city, some spot of his own devising. “Oh! let me escape thither, and my soul shall live." How sad. There is no casting himself wholly on God. He had walked too long at a distance from Him; too long breathing the dense atmosphere of a "city," to appreciate the pure air of God’s presence, or lean on the arm of the Almighty. His soul seemed completely unhinged; his worldly nest had been abruptly broken up, and he was not able to nestle himself, by faith, in the bosom of God. Obviously, Lot had not been cultivating communion with the invisible world; and, now, the visible was passing away from beneath his feet with tremendous rapidity. "Fire and brimstone from heaven" would soon fall on that in which all his hopes and affections were centered. The thief had broken in on Lot, and he seems entirely divested of spiritual nerve and self-possession. He is at his wits' end; but the worldly element, being strong in his heart, prevails, and he seeks his only refuge in "a little city." Yet he is not at ease even there, for he leaves it, and gets up to the mountain. Through fear, he does what he would not do at the command of God's messenger.
And, then, see his end. His own children make him drunk, and in drunkenness he becomes the instrument of bringing into existence the Ammonites and the Moabites – determined enemies of the people of God. What a volume of solemn instruction as to what the world is. Can we not see what a fatal thing it is to allow the heart to go after it? Lot's history is a commentary on that brief but comprehensive admonition, "love not the world." The Sodoms and Zoars of this world are all alike. In them we can never find true security, peace, rest; no solid satisfaction for the heart. The judgment of God hangs over this world; and, in long suffering mercy, God holds back the sword, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Let us seek to pursue a path of holy separation from the world. Let us be found cherishing the hope of the Master's return. May its well-watered plains have no charms for our hearts. May its honors, distinctions, and riches, be surveyed by each of us in the light of the coming glory of Christ. May we be enabled, like the patriarch Abraham, to get up into the presence of the Lord, and, from that elevated ground, look by faith’s anticipative glace forth upon the scene of wide-spread ruin and desolation – to see it as it truly is, a smoking ruin. Such it will be. "The earth, also, and the things that are therein, shall be burned up." Everything that the children of this world seek; everything they are so intensely anxious-after; everything they are so eagerly grasping-for and so fiercely contending – all will be burned up. And who can tell how soon? Where is Sodom? Where is Gomorrha? Where are the cities of the plain? – those cities which were once full of life, and stir, and bustle! Where are they now? All gone! Swept away by the judgment of God; consumed by His fire and brimstone. In like manner, His judgments now hang over this guilty world. The day is at hand; and, while judgments impend, the sweet story of grace is being told and made available to many an ear. Happy are they, who hear and believe that story. Happy are they, who fled to the strong mountain of God's salvation! Who take refuge behind the cross of the Son of God, and therein find pardon and peace!
With a conscience purged from sin; with our heart's affections purged from the defiling influence of the world, may God grant us patience, strength, and wisdom to wait for the Son from heaven.
Footnote:
1In reference to every undertaking, it would furnish a very searching question for the heart, if we were to ask, "Am I doing this by faith?" "Whatever is not of faith is sin;" and, "Without faith it is impossible to please God."
