Sermon: Looking Back

Remembering Lot's Wife
#1721B
Ryan McClure
Given 05-Aug-23; 28 minutes 2023-08-05

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There is a saying that goes, "Don't look back, you aren't going that way." My son, Connor, brought this to my mind not too long ago. In our front yard the other day, Connor wanted to show me and Jenny how fast he could run. So he takes off running, and he has to make sure that we continue to watch him run as fast as he can, so he looks back and we invariably yell, "Watch where you're going, watch where you're running, keep your eyes in front of you." Have we not all done that at some point in our lives?

As we get older, many times memories pop up in our mind that make us cringe and think, "Wow, I wish I could forget that ever happened." And other times we can walk down memory lane and enjoy it, thinking about the good times. (I think Joe Baity gave a message not too long ago about nostalgia.) Sometimes the feelings are so powerful, they can still bring tears to our eyes.

For those whom God calls, He instructs us to look and move forward towards the Kingdom. How good of a job are we really doing at looking and moving forward? We are called to be sojourners desiring a heavenly home. But have we become too accustomed and rooted in this earthly home in life that we would have a hard time leaving it all behind?

Now, for the message today, I wanted to take a look at someone who was deeply rooted in their life and location, and see what we can learn from this person who will be remembered throughout history. If you will, let us begin in Luke 17 for our first scripture. This is where Jesus is talking about His second coming.

Luke 17:26-33 [Jesus speaking] "And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will also be in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it."

In these scriptures, Jesus is telling the Pharisees what it will be like when He returns. He states that as it was in both Noah's and Lot's times that His return will be sudden. People will be going about their daily lives, eating, drinking, buying, selling, working, you name it; and His return will catch many unprepared. He speaks of an urgency for those who are alive that there will be a need to flee and not turn back for anything. And He specifically says, "Remember Lot's wife."

If you will, please turn over to Genesis 19 for our next scripture, I know that we all know the story well, but let us go to the story of Lot and his wife to reground ourselves before looking at some of the things that we can learn from this example. And I will warn you, I am going to read a lot of verses here, but I just want to read the story and then get into some of the things that we can learn from it.

Genesis 19:12-29 Then the men said to Lot, "Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in this city—take them out of this place! For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it." So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, "Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!" But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.

When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city." And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. So it came to pass when they had brought them outside, that he said, "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed."

Then Lot said to them, "Please, no, my Lords! Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live." And he said to him, "See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow the city for which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city is called Zoar.

The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew these cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham went out early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. 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 had dwelt.

I know that was a lot, but let us look into some of the things that we can learn here.

First off, in verses 12 through 13, Lot is told that the city will be destroyed. Similar to Noah, what Jesus preaches in the gospels, He tells us beforehand what He is going to do. Now, Noah believed God was going to cause a great flood and he obeyed, he built the ark. It appears that Lot also believed as well because he spread the word to his family. So the lesson that we can learn here is that we also need to truly and deeply believe that Christ is coming and that we need to be spiritually ready. In Matthew 24:36-44, Christ tells us to be ready because we do not know when He is coming.

Speaking of being ready, in verse 16 we see that Lot lingered. That word means "to hesitate," "to tarry or delay." Now, no doubt Lot was trying to convince his family that God was really going to destroy the city. No doubt he did not want those that he loved to die. So he tried to delay a bit, and just to say, we probably would have done the same thing. But remember that God's plan stops for no one. He has a timeline that He is tracking to and we have to diligently follow Him lest we are left behind. In this case, in His infinite mercy, we see there in verse 16 that the angels brought Lot, his wife, and two daughters out of the city.

Continuing in verse 17, the instructions are given to Lot's family about the means of escape. They are to flee to the mountains and not look back, and they are told they will die if they do not follow the instructions. And of course, Lot, being the typical human being, cannot just follow the instructions and have his life saved. He, for some reason, was afraid of the mountains and asked to go to Zoar. And of course, that request was granted.

Then we see in verses 23 through 29 the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. As the fire and brimstone rained down the city, something happened in Lot's wife's mind. Now from Scripture, we see that she looked back behind him. Other translations say that she looked back from behind him. So it is possible that Lot was leading the way and she was behind, or she could have been in front of Lot and he would have witnessed the entire thing, and oh boy, that would have been devastating to see his wife turn into a pillar of salt. Regardless of whether she was in front of him or behind him, in that instant, Lot lost his wife.

Some translations like the New English Translation state that Lot's wife looked back longingly. Now, we do not know why she looked back. Some speculate that she looked back because of her family that was left behind. It is interesting, and I am going to do some guessing here so take it for what it is. But in Genesis 19:8 Lot says to the men, "I have two daughters who have not known a man." Then, if we drop down to verse 12, the men, the angels, mention son-in-law, sons, and daughters. And finally in verse 14, it says that Lot went to his sons, That is plural, sons-in-law who had married his daughters. The two virgins definitely were not married. So it would seem that Lot had children, at least additional daughters, and potentially sons that did not heed his warning and they actually died in the city.

Now perhaps she looked back because she was mourning her children and possibly grandchildren that remained in the city as the fire in Brimstone descended on the plain. There is a lot of talk about identity these days. Did Lot's wife identify with Sodom and Gomorrah? Were those cities what she wanted to be a part of? Kind of like the Israelites. They wanted to go back to Egypt, they wanted to go back to being a slave, even as the Great God of the universe was bringing them out of bondage and leading them to a land flowing with milk and honey.

Thinking back to what Jesus said in Luke 17 (and I already mentioned this earlier), but remember that He mentioned the urgency of fleeing. When the time comes, will we leave everything behind and go? There is a couple of interesting parallels with Lot and his family leaving Sodom and Gomorrah and Israel leaving Egypt, and I will not hit them all. But I thought it was interesting to highlight because they relate to Lot's wife looking back.

Remember in Genesis 19:15, the angels urged Lot to hurry. They said, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city." There was an urgency to get out. You do not have to turn there, but in Exodus 12 we get a sense of the urgency of Israel leaving Egypt and that is similar to the urgency of Lot and his family leaving.

Exodus 12:33 And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, "We shall all be dead."

Exodus 12:39 And they baked unleavened cakes of dough which they brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.

A very simple conclusion I came to here is that when God calls us, when He calls us out of Babylon and out of sin, out of bondage, we are called to be different, to be children of God, to get to work immediately. And when we are baptized, we are to leave the old man or the old person behind because we have become something new with God's Holy Spirit. Now, this is something that we have to start working on immediately. We cannot wait around for the right time. The time is now!

Speaking of time, it is time to go to Revelation 18 for our next scripture. And while you are turning there, I will read Jeremiah 51, verse 6, where God is telling His people to get out of Babylon as destruction draws near.

Jeremiah 51:6 Flee from the midst of Babylon, and everyone save his life! Do not be cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance; He shall recompense her.

That can also be read as "repay her for her deeds."

Revelation 18:4-8 [This is the fall of Babylon] And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her. In the measure that she has glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, 'I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.' Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.

Last Sabbath Ted Bowling highlighted a phrase that Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, "Believe Me." Ted explained that Jesus was most likely emphasizing these words and really imploring the woman to believe and trust in what He was saying. He wanted her to believe Him. Now, this scripture here in Revelation 18, and really this phrase made me think the same thing. It is like God is saying, "Come on, people, get out, get out of Babylon!" He wants us to come out.

Remember Genesis 19:15. It says when the morning dawned the angels urge Lot to hurry saying, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city." Now God is providing us with the level of urgency with which we should move. Do it now! The alternative is death.

I thought Lot's kids, the ones who did not believe him, may not have been participating in some of the horrendous sins that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were. And I think it is safe to say there were not at least ten righteous people living there, based on what Abraham pleaded with God to not destroy if there were at least ten people. In fact, only four were saved, right? But they did not believe their own father or their father-in-law, and they in turn were included in the punishment of those cities.

Now in Genesis 19, Jeremiah 51, and Revelation 18, the message is, "Get out, lest you share in the pending destruction." Leave behind the physical life and head towards what God wants to give us, which is the Kingdom. Here in Revelation 18, it says her sins have reached to heaven.

Genesis 18:20-21 "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know."

I wanted to highlight this because it had to be pretty bad in Sodom and Gomorrah, I mean, really bad. And God says that it will be just like that in the end times. Ezekiel gives us some insight.

Ezekiel 16:48-50 "As I live," says the Lord God, "neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done. Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit."

I am calling this out because that sounds a lot like the times that we are living in. If it was that bad, why would Lot's family want to stay there surrounded by all of that sin? Why would Lot's wife look back longingly? What would we do if Christ was revealed during our lifetime and it was time to flee to some place? Would we wait around a little bit? Would we drag our feet? Are we so attached to our comfortable lives that we would not want to leave or would we take off running? And if we ran, would we look back?

I found a statistic on Wikipedia that stated there are roughly 170 women mentioned in the Bible by name. Now, Lot's wife simply cannot be one of those because we do not know her name is. We always have to call her Lot's wife. But kidding aside, Jesus chose this woman's example to teach the Pharisees. He said, "Remember Lot's wife." There is something significant in that statement.

Lot's wife's example actually goes a lot further than say, fleeing at Christ's return. I mentioned the Israelites earlier. Slavery was pretty much all that they knew—they knew how to be slaves. They got used to a life of brick laying and building. They got used to food in the morning, a hard day's work, and food in the evening, followed by a bed to sleep in and rest at night. Going out of Egypt changed their lives. It produced some perceived uncomfortableness because the food was different and they were picking up and moving now and then; even fighting and going to war in various nations. How many times did they say "take us back to Egypt" in some form or fashion? Egypt, even though it was terrible, was comfortable to them. It is what they knew.

Now the Bible does not say, but Lot's wife's example is interesting. Sodom and Gomorrah was so steeped in sin that when God, similar to what He did with Israel, was literally trying to provide them with a way to escape, a way out of sin, she did not seem to comprehend what was going on. Did she truly understand what she was leaving? What God was basically dragging her out of? Was she comfortable in her current state and not able to see that God was directing her to safety?

This study really got me. I had to ask myself, "How well am I doing at coming out of sin and coming out of Babylon?" It is a question that we all need to ask ourselves.

Let us go back to Luke 9 for our next scripture.

Luke 9:57-62 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to him, "Lord, I will follow You wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." Then He said to another, Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." And Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God." And another said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who were at my house." But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

Jesus here is teaching that those who want to follow Him need to get their priorities straight. Following God comes first—above all else. He tells us that once you place your hand to the plow, if you look back, you are not fit for the Kingdom of God. Once God calls us, and we make the commitment to follow Him and His way, it requires faith and it requires work. We must be intentional about how we live our lives. A farmer that grabs onto the plow and is directing a team of cattle or horses or donkeys, has to be looking to the end of the field and make course corrections as he goes. Otherwise, the rows will be off, which will make planting, caring for, and harvesting the crop difficult at best. If you look any direction but forward, you are bound to trip and fall.

And speaking about tripping and falling, or getting hung up, consider that if you are plowing a field, what is behind you is done, you cannot change anything that is behind you. The only thing that you have control over is what lies ahead, the next step, the next row. That is where our focus needs to be.

Now, let us see what Paul has to say about this. If you will, please turn over to I Corinthians 9 for our next scripture. It is a different metaphor, but the same principle.

I Corinthians 9:24-27 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

We are all actually running a race. We are running against time, we are fighting against our own human carnality, and against the evils of this world. And how many of us have found it easy to run while looking in a different direction? We probably would not be winners of the race while looking behind us because we would inevitably go off track. You can think of my son Connor tearing through our front yard and looking back. So we have to focus on what we are doing.

What are we doing? What we are doing is, first and foremost, overcoming sin and growing into the image of our Creator. Unfortunately, we all have distractions. We have things that come at us from all sides, and some of them are not our doing and others we actually choose to shift our focus and attention to. I get weekly updates from Apple as to how much time I am spending staring at my IPhone or my IPad. Am I using that time wisely? My wife told me I am not. (chuckles)

Looking back does not have to be an absolute turning away from God and His way. We may not long to go back to a life of crime. Perhaps you have overcome habitual lying. We may not want to look back to those days. But maybe we are getting distracted, even subtly influenced, by the goings on of the world. Maybe your prayer life or study life has slipped or maybe your faith is fading. The past does not have to define you. What you do with the time that God has given you in front of you is where our focus should be. Remember, no one putting their hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the Kingdom. What is behind you is behind you and what you can change is in front of you.

Please turn over with me to Hebrews 12 for our next scripture. I should have had everybody go there already.

Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

We have tremendous examples from those who ran before us. We must cast off the sin that weighs us down and look and move forward in the direction that God wants us to go.

Now, God was saving Lot and his family. He gave them instructions on what to do and what not to do. He wanted them to move on, to get out of sin and out of Sodom and Gomorrah. He did not want them to share in the punishment that He was handing down. Similar to the Israelites, He was calling them out of sin and sending them to a place where they could thrive. Lot's wife could not see what God was trying to work out in their life. She was stuck between what she knew, what she felt, and the safety that lay in front of her.

I think that the example of Lot's wife is powerful, both for those who will be alive at the end and those of us who are living now. God has called us out of this world. He has called us out of Egypt, out of Sodom and Gomorrah. He is calling us out of Babylon. He wants us to be part of His Family. He said,

Ezekiel 33:11 Say to them, "As I live," says the Lord God, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?"

Proverbs 4:25-27 Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil.

There are others who provide a wonderful witness of what we should be doing. Hebrews 11 reminds us of the heroes of faith and the hope that they had. And I would like to key in on one point made in Hebrews 11, verses 13 through 16.

Hebrews 11:13-16 These all died in faith [and these were the heroes of faith], not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

Now, these heroes looked to the heavenly things. They believed God and what He was working out in their lives. They embraced the fact that they were strangers and pilgrims here on earth. And they did have opportunity to return to the country, to the land that God had called them out of. It was their decision. But they were convinced that there was something better, a heavenly country. And so seeing these things afar off, they looked forward to what God was preparing for both them and for us.

As a complete aside, although I thought it was interesting, my mom texted me yesterday while I was working on the message, and she told me (my mom keeps track of all these dates), and she said, "Today marks the 30th year since we left California." Now I am not saying California's Babylon or anything like that, but I also remember my baptism date in September of 2001. Both dates represent to me a time when my life changed. I moved from one coast to the other when we left California and moved to the Carolinas. And when I was baptized, I was no longer the former person. In both instances it was a time to look forward.

What God has planned for all of us—all of mankind—what lies ahead is an awesome opportunity. He has called us to come out of sin, to come out of this world so that we will not share in its punishment. We cannot let what is behind us hold us back or stop us from moving forward.

So much in this life will cause us to look left, right, and even backwards. And that could be our downfall if we allow it. God, through Lot's wife, has given us a powerful example of where we should be focusing and where we should be looking. We must move forward. Focus on what is ahead. Listen to God, have faith, follow His instructions, and press forward to His Kingdom.

Remember Lot's wife!

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