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As evil accelerates in the last days, so will divine activity.

Christ mentioned the times of Noah and Lot and compared it to the time prior to His return. The most striking themes that catch the eye is the fact that the circumstances that surrounded Noah and Lot can be described as perilous times and the consequent judgments of God that serves as a warning to a wicked humanity. Most articles in this regard describe all these evils in detail, compare it with our current situation to warn us of the impending end and to cultivate an expectancy in us of the second coming of Christ. This awareness will then hopefully lead to behaviour change or repentance and draw people closer to God and each other.

I agree on most of the statements made above but one of the problems is that to overstate the perilous things at the cost of all the other themes might cause fear, disorientation and unbelief to some people. This could also diminish people’s awareness that God is love, gracious and Almighty. On the other hand one must not lose respect for the dreadful judgments of God and be ignorant of the consequences thereof. a Closer study of the times of Noah and Lot disclose edifying themes which escape the attention of most researchers on this subject. The other side of the story and all the other themes need to be exposed and revealed. It seems that everybody overstate all the bad things that the devil and his troops are doing and going to do as well as the terrifying judgments of God, but omit what the Almighty, Unseen Glorious Lord is doing and going to do in these perilous times to save, assist, protect and provide guidance and plans of wisdom for the survival of His people. In this article I will mention these perilous things, but will also refer to the other side of the story, to build faith, courage and Godly achievements, to cope with, and outshine the challenge of these perilous times.

The book of revelation also stresses the progressive intensification of evil which culminates in entire earthly and cosmic chaos but does not neglect to stress the point that the faithfulness and love of God for His own will preserve, protect and do everything to save them from destruction. The basic assumption in this article is that as evil and demonic activity, as well as God’s judgments accelerate in the last days, we can expect and rely on our loving , graceful and Almighty God to outsmart them all to save, protect and preserve us until He returns and take us up in glory.

Days of Lot.

The focus of this article will be on the days of Lot. The days of Noah will be treated in a following post.

Scripture: Gen.18-19

God’s intimate conversations with Abraham. The Lord’s appearance.

A prominent theme prior to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was the appearance and visitation of the Lord to Abraham. Why are we focusing on Abraham now? The reason is that Abraham is playing a very prominent role in this narrative of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and is part of the “days of Lot”. This fits perfectly in Jesus’s announcement that: “It was the same as it happened in the days of Lot.” (Luke 17:28). There were also wonderful things that happened in the days of Lot and one of the wonderful things was the visitation and appearance of The Lord to Abraham. These events were recorded said Paul, for us, “upon whom the ends of the ages have come, referring to the Scriptures in the Old Testament.(1 Corinthians 10; 2 Timothy 3:16,17.) It serves as examples, to warn us, to equip us and give us hope. Rom.15:4 “For whatever things were written before were written for our instruction, that through patience and encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”  We can learn from that and request these wonderful things from God in the last days.

Lets take a closer look into this appearance of the Lord to Abraham (Gen. 18:1). The meaning of this word “appearance” according to Strong is; to be visible, to present oneself, to be seen, to cause to see, to be exhibited .There is a mystery to this narrative. Abraham was approached by three mysterious “men” which he entertained in hospitality. After reading Gen.19:1 we realize that at least two of the “men” who approached Abraham were angels. The question is what happened to the third “man” seen that only two reached Sodom to save Lot(Gen.19:10). It is also obvious that after their discussions and announcements to Abraham and Sarah by the three “men” that all three of them departed: ” Then the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off” (Gen.18:16.RSB). While walking with them to send them off the Scripture in verse 17 suddenly start to refer to the “man” who engaged with Abraham in a dialogue as “the Lord ( Yahweh) said”.

It seems that the third man was Yahweh Himself for the following reasons:

• Gen 18:1 states it clearly that Yahweh appeared to Abraham
• We notice a distinction made by the writer of Genesis between “they said”(the two angels) in verse 9 and “He said”
• Verse 13 explicitly states “And Yahweh said to Abraham” while all three “men” were in discussion with Abraham.
• While Abraham walked with the men to see them off, the one (Yahweh) entered into a dialogue with Abraham(verse 17). This verse also states that “Yahweh said”. Verse 22 makes it clear that the two other “men” departed to Sodom and Abraham stood before the Lord.
• After the dialogue ended the third “man” (Yahweh) departed. This explains why only two “men”(angels) reached Sodom and the other one(Yahweh) stayed behind to converse with Abraham, and after the dialogue departed on His own way.(Gen.18:33)
• Whatever your explanation of this appearance of the Lord to Abraham is, the least we can say is that the Lord met with Abraham in a very specific way, He conversed with Abraham in a very close and intimate way. Amid the judgments on its way He affirmed His promises to Abraham. If you agree with my interpretation that Yahweh and two of His angels appeared to Abraham in the form of three men we can go further and say that God literally stopped by to sit and converse with Abraham and Sarah, eat with them, had face to face communion with them, and that Abraham literally walked with God to see Him off. He might even have hugged Him good bye. God made time amid perilous times to accompany the angels up to Abraham’s doorstep, delivered firstly the good news and later informed him about the judgment of the wicked cities. God didn’t see the need to accompany the angels to Sodom. God’s primary mission was to stop by Abraham and Sarah’s tent to strengthen them with His presence, and strengthen their faith, repeat His promises and add some detail to the time of Isaac’s birth.

Incarnation of Jesus. God became flesh.

We can not end this discussion here without mentioning the incarnation of Jesus. What a privilege for the human race that God became flesh through the Lord Jesus Christ and dwelt among us. The disciples also literally walked with Him and talked with Him conversed with Him and ate with Him. It even might be Him that visited Abraham. He also told them about the promises and judgments of God in the last days and He also strengthened them in faith and promised us that He will be with us till the end of time. John even leaned against His chest and Jesus whispered secrets in his ear. When we reflect on the incarnation of Jesus, God appearing to Abraham in the image of man, shouldn’t be too much of a strange idea. We are fortunate that they have recorded His sayings, teachings acts and miracles in the form of the written Word. We are also fortunate that we can read the Scriptures and have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Let us be assured of the presence and assistance of our heavenly Father in the last days and not loose our focus on all His promises of protection, the assurance that we will escape the judgments, Him granting us divine plans of wisdom to survive and shine for His Name. Some might say Abraham was more privileged than us because The Lord appeared so many times to him. In fact we are living in better times than the Old Testament. Scripture repeatedly reminds us that we are living in a time of a better covenant, with better promises( book of Hebrews), the favorable year of the Lord ( Luke 4:19) and things that now has been announced to us…. into which angels long to look (1 Peter 1:12)

God will still fulfill His promises

Another striking observation from the text is how differently God deals with His people ( Lot and Abraham ) from His dealings with Sodom and Gomorrah. Before God Informed Abraham about His plans with Sodom and Gomorrah, the angels of God on their urgent and serious mission to warn Lot and save him from the destructive judgement of God over the wicked city, made time to sit down with Abraham, to break very good news to him and Sarah as in previous chapters to re-confirm his previous promises. Amidst the perilous atmosphere of judgement and destruction of a city, hanging in the air, the angels and the Lord broke the news to Abraham and Sarah that the long awaited promise of a descendant is about to be fulfilled within a year. This appearance or visitation of God is one of the privileges to expect and pray for in times like these. Such a visitation of God or closeness with God brings with it good news. God is about to do a miracle. Sarah past her childbearing age shall have a son in a years time. We can expect and understand Sarah laughing after she overheard the announcement. We might also want to laugh as Abraham also laughed at this promise, or even get annoyed in perilous times like these when we hear good news. But let us stand still and listen what the Lord is saying to us through this scripture: Gen.18:14: ” Is anything to difficult for the Lord.”(RSB) “Is any thing too wonderful for Jehovah? “(YLT) God comes to us to do things we cannot imagine can be done, especially during the last days, and especially during dark and perilous times.

The Lord will inform us about His plans

Before Abraham knew about the impending judgment and on his way sending them off the following breaking news reached him: This appearance of the Lord was characterized by God making a decision not to hide from Abraham what He is about to do (Gen 18:17). It is so important that in times like these that we walk close to God and seek His face to inform us of what He is about to do. To walk close to Him to hear what He wants us to do. We can take this example from Abraham, he was a man who walked before the face of God or we can call it to walk with God as Enoch and Noah. Such a person will get visitations from God and be informed by God. Abraham was very fortunate to get an appearance from God. We, in the New Testament time, on the other hand, are very fortunate to have the written Word and the Holy Spirit to inform us of what the Lord is about to do. The main point here is the close relationship and communion we have with God which will put us in the position to know the plans, purposes and will of God for our lives and the world. The closer the believer walks and has communion with God, the more he will know of God’s mind and secrets about important events to happen. We will also be prepared in advance to take precautionary measures or awakened by certain events to take necessary actions for survival. In perilous times we have access to God to know what He is about to do, not only concerning the judgments in the last days but also the good news, proper action to be taken and what to expect from the Lord, for them that walk with Him.

The Lord will reaffirm His promises.

In times like these we learn that God reaffirms his promises and will not alter His plans. He is not suddenly going to stop doing good to His people and forget His promises. Judgments do not alter Gods plan with his children, we may still stand on His promises. He is not suddenly going to alter His plans and stop fulfilling His promises, or stop being our God. Gen 18:18 confirms this assurance to Abraham “…, since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.” God will not stop using his people to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. The question is how many will listen to the warnings of the judgments, and turn to God to be drawn into His fatherly protection..

Blessing to nations and doomsday preparations.

In the assurance given in verse 18 the scripture touches also on the subject of our responsibility towards the nations , to be a blessing to them. Verse 19 elaborates further on the blessing to His people ” I have chosen him .” We know that election is by grace and a highly prized privilege, that we are justified and reckoned righteous by grace, but we must remember that attached to the privilege is a responsibility. Let the Scripture speaks for itself: ” For I have chosen him, that he will command his children and his household after him that they will keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice, so that Yahweh may bring upon Abraham that which he said to him.” (LEB) Other Scriptures confirming the election of Abraham. (Neh. 9:7; Isa. 41:8) This confirms the fact that believers reconciled through faith by grace in Jesus must practice righteousness and justice and be a blessing to the nations. Part of this responsibility is to remind the nations about the righteousness that is a gift from God on the one hand and a demand on the other hand. The word righteousness implies on the one hand, grace, compassion fairness and goodness from God, on the other hand it also implies the right behavior, conduct, accountability, justice and and judgement.

To be a blessing to the nations and to practice righteousness might also include very practical suggestions to people for survival in difficult times. We can also call it “doomsday preparation”. We must be prepared, not asleep and be ready for difficult times. Depending on every person’s situation it can include growing vegetables, small scale farming, stock of canned food and medicines, making bottled food, alternative energy like solar panels, water purification, alternative ways for additional income, barter might be a solution to some circumstances, it is also very important to stay out of debt as far as possible and paying off debt as quickly as possible. To be in excessive debt gives other people power over your life. To be a rich man with a bulging wallet might even be of no use in the last days. Another area to focus on is shelter in times of violent outbursts and vandalism, topping up of security for protection of your life and the lives of your family and property. It includes to be aware of evil, pests and economic troubles, and to walk safely. It is also important to take precautionary measures to protect us from harm. Some situations might demand social distancing and wearing masks during outbreaks like covid 19. It might be wise to become more self sufficient. On the one hand we trust in the Lord and pray, on the other hand we must act wisely.

We can trust the Lord for our daily living and decisions to make in a rapid changing world. Everything is changing; the way we socialize, the way we work, the economy, politics and church life. This demands rapid decision making and a close relationship with the Lord. Church attendance might become a risk in times of pandemic and also during violent protests of lawless people plundering property with no respect for law, authority and order. Churches have to take rapid decisions to go virtual. On the lighter side I have even heard of Drive-in Churches.

The Righteous will not perish with the wicked

Only after the appearance and visitation of God to Abraham, all the good news and reassurance of God’s promises, did God inform him concerning plans with Sodom and Gomorrah. God is just in His judgments. Those who believe in the atoning sacrifice of Christ will find themselves in the right relationship with God and will be equipped to practice righteousness in the sight of God. They will escape His judgments by grace. This we learn from Abraham’s strong conviction about the character of God. In his bargaining and intercession for the righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah hoping for at least ten righteous people there, as good reason to spare the city, he made the following declarations in Gen. 18:23-25:” …Wilt Thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?…Far be it from Thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from Thee! Shall not the judge of all the earth deal justly.” What a comforting assurance we get from the scripture that we will escape the judgments of God and that God deals differently with His people. Like Abraham, we who have faith in God can rejoice with humble thankfulness in the declaration that the scripture make over his life and his descendants (all the believers in Christ) See Gen. 15:6. ” Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

God’s dealings with Lot

The Sodomites

The Scriptures sketches a grim moral picture of the inhabitants of Sodom, Gomorrah and 2 other cities in the region. Gen. 13:13 “But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.” In Gen 18:20 the Lord said to Abraham “their sin is exceedingly grave”. Isaiah 3:9 said they display their sin and do not even conceal it. Typical of the wicked in our days as well, they boast in their evil ways and seem to be proud of their alternative lifestyles, they even want to force it onto other people and the church, and even wanted to force it onto the innocent and holy angels of God. In Romans 1:32 Paul warns: Although they are fully aware of God’s laws and proper order, and knowing that those who do all of these things deserve to die, yet they still go headlong into darkness, encouraging others to do the same and applauding them when they do!”(TPT).

The Sodomites were very privileged to live in one of the most beautiful regions in Canaan, a fertile crescent. Gen. 13:10-12 compared it to “the garden of the Lord” One supposes that this was an area of prosperity and natural beauty. Irrespective of these privileges they were constantly at war, didn’t attend to their poor , were very proud and boastful. They were also known for their sexual perversions and brutality. They were overtaken by their unnatural lust to such an extend that they wanted to force entry into Lot’s house to sexually assault the angels, instead of showing hospitality to strangers like Lot and Abraham.

Lot and the Sodomites

To add to above mentioned wickedness, 2 Peter 2:4-10 stated, that Lot was oppressed and his righteous soul tormented by their sensual, unprincipled and lawless conduct. To be expected, their sins culminated to a point where God decided to draw the line. From this scripture we learn that God will punish those who torment, oppress and procecute the righteous. This also serves as a warning for governments, groups and individuals who oppose the true Gospel. “… the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment.” ( 2 Peter 2:9).

God and the Sodomites

The Lord sent two angels to Sodom and Gomorrah, but he himself did not go with them. God’s primary mission was to meet with Abraham and Sarah announcing good news and strengthen them with His presence, conversations and promises. His secondary mission was to let His angels observe the situation, save Lot and his family, and destroy the Sodomites for their utter wickedness. How different God’s dealings with the Sodomites from his dealings with His people. Some will be judged and other be saved during the last days.

The Angels and the Sodomites

The angels didn’t show the same patience towards the Sodomites than towards Lot and his family. It is also true that the Sodomites didn’t show God’s messengers the same respect and hospitality than Lot and Abraham. What we can expect from wicked people during the last days is antagonism against God’s visitations and his messengers and also against His people. During the time of Lot they were struck with blindness when they have gone too far. Lot and Abraham received God’s visitations with hospitality, respect and enthusiasm. Let us focus on calling in prayer to God’s gracious visitations to us and not be ignorant concerning the significance of the signs of the times we are living in.

Lot and the Angels

As already mentioned, Lot treated them with hospitality and respect. On the other hand they have shown much patience towards Lot and his family. It is difficult to understand Lot’s reluctance to leave the city to such an extent that they had to drag them out of the city by hand. The sons in law of Lot made fun of the angels’s warnings and didn’t grasp the seriousness of the moment, sad for them, so they perished and missed an opportunity to be saved. Let this also be a warning to people who don’t grasp the seriousness of the moment.

We also learn from this that as the angels were patient towards Lot in his delay to leave the city, the goodness, patience and grace of the Lord to save those who are His own.

WE can make the following conclusions from this section:

• It is comforting to realize that in the times of Lot another figure like Abraham features and serve as an example how God will deal with us in the last days. He appeared to Abraham, visited him, made time for him, conversed with him in an very intimate and close way. Whether we will be so fortunate as Abraham to see Him in human form is another question, but we can at least rely on God to be present in our lives in intimate relationship through the Holy Spirit and His Word.
• In the conversations God had with him, God added detail to His promises by telling him that Isaac will be born within a year’s time. God also reaffirmed the promises He had made previously. Amid the judgments on it’s way, Abraham is still going to be a strong nation, still be a blessing to the nations and righteousness still to be practiced. All of these can also be expected and petitioned for from God in the last days.
• Another striking verse(Gen.18:17) where the Lord stated that He will not hide from Abraham what He is about to do. Those who walk with God in these perilous times will get to know His plans.
• The righteous( those who have been justified by faith in Christ) will be dealt differently by God in the time of his judgments in the last days. As Abraham said, they wouldn’t be slained with the wicked.
• From the narrative of Lot we are amazed that God sent angels to go through all the troubles and enmity with the sodomites, just to save one righteous man and his family. The celestial visitors were willing to subject themselves to so much trouble, they even have to deal with the unbelief of Lot’s sons in law.
• The angels even had to deal with a hesitating Lot which they had to drag out of the place by the arms.
• The angels had to accommodate Lot not willing to flee to the mountains immediately but to Zoar. They even delayed the judgement just for his sake declaring that ” we can do nothing before you are out of the city”.

We have enough evidence from Scripture that the Lord will take the uttermost care to preserve those that are His. We understand that the believers will have hardship and resistance from the wicked, but He will not let the righteous (them that have been reckoned righteous through faith by His grace on the ground of the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus our Lord) perish with the wicked. He will come to save you, doing good to you and even let you flourish amid perilous times. Even if you are the only one walking with Him amid a wicked society.