Lot
“Behold now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your kindness and mercy to me in saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest the evil overtake me, and I die. See now yonder city; it is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh, let me escape to it! Is it not a little one? And my life will be saved! And [the angel] said to him, See, I have yielded to your entreaty concerning this thing also; I will not destroy this city of which you have spoken. Make haste and take refuge there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” - Genesis 19: 19-22a, Amplified
This month in our series Lord, Get Me Outta Here!, we're going to take a look at Lot. Lot was Abraham's nephew and tagged along when Abraham left Haran under the Lord's direction. After moving around in the desert for a while, Lot took his family to live in Sodom. After they had lived there for a time and had established themselves in the business community, Lot and his family were visited by two angels. The angels warned Lot of the coming judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. After the angel agrees to Lot's choice of destination, the angel also agrees not to destroy the city Lot has chosen. Then the angel tells Lot to hurry and get to his chosen city of refuge. Why? Because the angel can't begin to carry out God's judgment until Lot and his family are safe in their new city. In other words, God's judgment could not be poured out until His people were safely out of the way. Is this the only place we see this sort of thing happen? No, it isn't.
Noah and his family were warned prior to the flood and were then safely inside in the ark before God's wrath was poured out upon the inhabitants of the earth. Besides the account of Noah there are numerous references in Scripture to being protected from or sheltered from the day of God's wrath. One such passage that I find interesting is in
Zephaniah 2:1-3:
“Gather together, gather together, O shameful nation, before the appointed time arrives
and that day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord comes upon you,
before the day of the Lord 's wrath comes upon you. Seek the Lord , all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord 's anger.” (italics mine)
One of a number of phrases that are used in Scripture to speak of what we call the tribulation is the Day of the Lord's Anger. Is this Scripture then giving us another hint that there will be those who are sheltered during the final seven years of this age? It just might be.
There are also passages in the New Testament that allude to the body of Christ being absent during the tribulation period. We'll be taking a look at these and more in the months to come.
It is also interesting to note that the vast majority of Scripture that speaks of this time is found in the Old Testament. Many people believe that Revelation is the only book in the Bible which tells of the end of this age. This is not true. While it does give us some information that is not found elsewhere in Scripture, without an understanding of the full counsel of God - the Scriptures in their entirety - we simply aren't getting the full picture and will end up dazed and confused.
I pray that these Scriptures will pique your curiosity and give you that little nudge you might need to dive headlong into the Word of God to find these things out for yourself. May God bless you as you do so!
9/02