THE DAUGHTERS OF LOT

©Carlos Padilla. June 2010

When Jesus Christ came to earth in His first coming, he found a corrupted society influenced by pagan Rome and also Israel subjugated and victim of religious tradition, far from being the ideal People of God, most of them lived their lives far away from the Temple. Lot's story shows us, as in Judea in the times of Christ's times, a story that could be our own, anybody's, in any age, who lives in a society that imposes laws and taxes on to people and whose leaders have walked away from the Lord's moral, which is happening in today's world at the speed of light, and that according to the Bible prophecies for the end of times will make the world be a clear reflection of what Lot experimented in Sodom and Gomorrah. Today, just like the kings of those cities, in our societies it is political leaders, in all institutions and to all levels, the ones who are imposing antichrist secularity, with the result of a relativist and materialistic world far from moral and spiritual values of the Judeo-Christian culture.

"The daughters of Lot" is a Bible Study that reflects the result of living integrated in a system that opposes God, where Lot, choosing his own businesses and ideas, surely thinking that he could live with his beliefs without being disturbed, ends up seeing his wife turn into a pillar of salt, and his daughters abusing him. We find a story that reflects the soul and projects of any Christian today who, just like Lot did, thinks that he will be able to live in this globalized world hiding his faith, instead of witnessing his faith in freedom, being the salt of the world, as the Lord instructed us to do: ... And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned... Mark 16:15-16. We will see the deep spiritual symbolic meaning of Lot's story and how he compares to two different types of people of the Lord : Lot and Abraham.

GENESIS 19

DESTRUCTION OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH OR THE FALL OF BABYLON IN REVELATION

¹ Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground.

Throughout the history of Genesis about Lot, we have been following him in his journey prior to his arrival in Sodom and Gomorrah. We have seen him coming out of Ur of Chaldea with his uncle Abraham and travelling with him until the valley of Negev, we have seen him follow Abraham to Egypt and, finally, in the return to the same valley where he was going with Abraham, we see him separating from him for good.

Lot, therefore, represents a prototype of a man or woman whom, although they are Godly people, they live in their own project of life, including their own religious view, although they recognize the things of the Lord. This is why Lot receives the messengers who are sent by the Lord. Those messengers are two of the three men who had met with Abraham who, in turn, represent the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The two angels who come to look for Lot on behalf of the Father, and through Abraham's intercession, are Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ announces Salvation through faith in His work. The Gospel includes repentance from the worldly life, the one Lot is living, which is the conviction of sin that the Holy Spirit transmits to us. To sum up: we must walk on His way, next to Him, in His yoke, and not on our own way, and we must ask Him to bless us, being conscious of the fact that we depend on God.

Sodom and Gomorrah represent the spiritual state of moral and religious tolerance in the world, a state that makes the Christian lose his first love for God, such as the Lord claims from us in Revelation 2:4. We will see all of this further along and together with the Bible Texts.

² And he said, “Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the open square.” ³ But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
 

In principle, Lot seems like a good godly man, hospitable, who offers his house and his food, but Lot does not understand that it is not a casual visit, they are not "just passing by". By wanting to give them accommodation in his house until the following day so that they continued their journey, the Bible tells us how blind Lot was, he does not realize - because he is submerged in his own mind - that those who have been sent by the Lord to his house, society, life and corrupted system, have been sent through the intercession of his brother in the faith, Abraham, through the Lord's mercy, since it is obvious to Lot that the city where he lives is not holy and he knows that the two men of God are. If the are visiting a sinful place it is for a mission of the Lord to save a soul from the eternal fire that is going to be poured over the place very shortly.

Jesus Christ has shown us through His life on earth in the Gospel this attitude from God, looking for the sinner wherever he may be. Let us remember when He agreed to eat with Levi, Matthew, the tax collector, or when He received the prostitute forgiving her when she repented, or the adulterous woman. How can we forget when He receives the centurion, or when He touches and heals lepers, or delivers those possessed by devils, etc, this is what Jesus of Nazareth does, He goes where the children of God are, to the dirt of sin, because His love and mercy shine before Him. As Jesus taught in the Holy Spirit: ... But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. Later, the Lord confirmed through James:  For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. At the end the two envoys, just like Jesus, agree to go into Lot's house, the symbol of Lot's soul, to carry His message, like Jonas, trying to awaken his spirit in repentance, in change of mind.

Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. ⁵ And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.

The men of Sodom, throughout history, as it is well known, are the typical symbol of physical homosexuality, but what is not so well known is to identify this Text with personal religious deviation, which is the deepest understanding of this Word and the one that I would like the reader to keep in mind. Sodom, as well, represents the doctrinal deviation, the spiritual fornication and adultery of a system, church or religion that subjugates those who depend on it, the religious institutions that are deviated from the Word of God and that impose their traditions and dogmas to their parishioners. These leaders are the ones who want to "know" the two men sexually-spiritually.

The Bible teaches us in many occasions that "knowing" in this sense refers to a sexual relationship, as in the case of Joseph and virgin Mary, Jesus' mother, when it is said that: he did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. Matthew 1:25.

Therefore it is spiritual fornication when the men of Sodom want to know the men of God, with the intention of making them become part of their system, to annul the doctrine that is sound, unleavened, and faithful to the Word of God that they are bringing and converting them to theirs with their rules, idols, hierarchies, men's commandments, traditions and dogmas.

We should not be shocked by this episode and this interpretation, since we have another clear example when the devil tempts Jesus in the wilderness offering Him all the kingdoms of this world if He worshipped before him. Luke 4. God's enemy, and ours, does not spare any attempts, and if he attempted it in the times of Sodom and also with Jesus, against the Lord Himself, do not doubt that he continues doing it in these dangerous times we live in, introducing himself as an angel of light to deceive, if possible even the elect. Therefore let us put on the whole armour of God which we find in Ephesians 6:10 to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one that we may be able to stand for the coming of the Lord in the final day.

The man of religion who worships his traditions and dogmas and places them first before God, preferring the fact that he is a member of his specific church, or denomination, or religious system, which he considers as having the one and only truth DESPRECIANDOall the others, he is sectarian and ends up being IDOLATRA of his ideas and opposed to God, and therefore this man becomes a slave of the spiritual Sodom. In his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter one, Paul already taught that we cannot say that we are of Paul, or Apollos or Cephas. But there is a worse sense of belonging, the one we see in Lot: belonging to one's self, being a slave of "I", because the Lord tells us that he who does not hate his own life is not worthy of Him. The conclusion, in the Lord's Word is: ...Come out of her, my people...the Lord cries out for us in Revelation 18:4. "Her", do not forget, is not only if we belong to a congregation that is not following the sound doctrine, but our own self; we must come out of ourselves and leave the place in the throne of our soul to Christ, the King of kings.

So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, ⁷ and said, “Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly! ⁸ See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.”
 

Lot offers Sodom his two virgin daughters, his two projects of life and religion. In this moment, Lot fears God and he tries that his holy guests are not touched by sinners, getting to the point of offering what is really trapping him: his daughters, the symbol of his ideas that have still not materialized. He knows that his ideas are his and that the two men of God bring Christ's pure doctrine, that cannot be corrupted. This is why the sodomites want to pervert and defile the sound doctrine, because it evidences the deviation of their own doctrine. We saw it in the Inquisition, we saw it in the Sanhedrin, we see it in Sodom and we see it today in many denominations that are deviated from the Word of God, which are being disclosed today through the Lord's hand in many scandals of all types, not only sexual and financial ones. All those who fear God: Go back to the Bible, go back to the Word of God!

And they said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them.” So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. ¹⁰ But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. ¹¹ And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.

Jesus Christ has taught us that His message of Salvation for man is presented in parables so that it was understood by those amongst the ones who heard it who had ears to hear and eyes to see. These men in the story with Lot are blinded by the Lord when they are faced with the True doctrine. They pretend to force any member of the institution who has and announces his faith in the Truth, against them, and they threaten him. This is the same scenario suffered by all those who see the Light and explain it to a deviated congregation, they face persecution by the leaders. Finally, they became weary trying to find the door. The door is Christ, but is has been closed to them, they have been blinded because they do not come to God with a clean heart.

¹² Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—take them out of this place! ¹³ 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.” ¹⁴ 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.

The sons-in-law are the alliance that Lot would have made through his daughters with that corrupted society, which the Lord does not approve. They also represent those false brethren who, although they are with us, are not truly converted to Christ, but they are given the chance to convert and come out of the system but we sadly see that their heart belongs to the world, like Lot's sons in law. This is a rule of the love of God to every man, just like he did with Abraham: if we come out of the system and follow God we are saved and blessed. These sons-in-law do not accept and they stay behind to be destroyed. His daughters or ideas and doctrines of his own mixed with the Lord's will become the two projects of life outside Sodom and Gomorrah: the one for life and the religious one. Sodom and Gomorrah would be destroyed just like Babylon. We see it announced in Revelation 18.

¹⁵ 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.”

This paragraph, seen allegorically, can be used to finalize Lot's story, the one humankind will live, and especially the Church in Christ's coming. There are two witnesses of God in Revelation who come to announce the Gospel for the last time, to proclaim the message of John the Baptist for the last time, the well-known "repent", together with the final prophecies of the Bible, Revelation 11. Once the Church is taken out of the world, just like Lot was taken out of Sodom and Gomorrah - don't tell me that the society we live in, the whole world, do not look like them more and more every time - destruction will come upon the whole world as it is prophesized by the Lord: 1Peter 3. There are two types of Christians: the Abraham-type and the Lot-type. The first ones obey the Lord, the second ones don't.

"When the morning dawned" is when a soul comes to the Light of Christ, and it is also the coming of the Son of God in His Kingdom.

¹⁶ 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.

A man who is self-centred finds it very hard to take Sodom and Gomorrah's way of life out of his heart to free his mind and his ideas. The Lord is merciful but, what will happen to a soul where the seed fell on, like in the sower's parable, among the thorns of the false religion and the ideas and projects of life from the world?

¹⁷ 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.” ¹⁸ Then Lot said to them, “Please, no, my lords! ¹⁹ 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. ²⁰ 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.”

Once Lot is safe, even then, he is not going to obey the Lord without complaining, and suggests an alternative, he even begs for it. His heart is hardened, his soul is lukewarm, his spirit is in darkness. Lot, a godly man but who still needs to repent - to change his mind. Lot suggests a new city, in his state of deviation, lack of faith and spiritual courage. Lot does not trust God but his own judgment, that will lead him to spiritual death. A new city is a new church or religion also deviated from the Truth, a smaller one, whatever but obeying the Lord. Lot does not believe that he can live in the mountains, where God dwells in the heights, obeying Him, being part of the true Church, in a church where he can commit himself to serve the Lord and his brethren, his community and country in the Great Commission.

Lot does not understand that God wants him to have a time of reflection and prayer in His presence, with no hurry, in the Lord's patience and under His direction. What happens to Lot is that in the presence of the Lord he has to give up his own ideas and trust Him, obey Him without complaining, wait on Him and live in His time and His ways, which Lot's flesh does not like and Lot does not fight to subdue his flesh to God. The man and woman of the Lord will submit their flesh to the Lord's Spirit with the strength that Jesus Christ provides us, because ...I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me ... Philippians 4:13. A faithful soul of the Lord emanates courage and fire from the spirit, denying oneself. In order to do so, the Word shows us one of the best methods to win over ourselves with the power of the Lord through the gift of Virtue

²¹ And he said to him, “See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. ²² Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
 

God has mercy on Lot, even though he is the stereotype of a soul that does not worship God, who - sadly - does not have a true personal relationship with God in his privacy. God allows him to live in a temporary community that still has not been corrupted by Sodom, but it is a city on the plain, the easier life, with little compromise with God, but with smaller spiritual growth, the mountain. This is what a Lot-type of any age in history thinks. In the city everything is done for me, I don't have to be make an effort, nothing is demanded from me, I don't have to seek the Lord's will, I am told!. Being like Lot is going back to the situation Eve was in, she prefers the knowledge of a code of good and evil rather than asking God personally, rather than repenting and asking God to deliver her from her sins due to the impossibility of fulfilling the Law. This is the original sin.

²³ The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. ²⁵ So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
 

Zoar means "small" and also "brightness". For those who know the Jewish world, the Spanish rabbi and kabbalist Moses de Leon, born in the 13th century in Guadalajara, compiled the mystical version of the Torah, influenced by his studies about Maimonides. His findings about Biblical exegesis in the Misdrah together with his studies became the famous Zohar, the kabbalistic book par excellence. Therefore, we could say that when a Jew, or any individual, tries to look for his own way out before God, whilst - at his own judgment - continue to please the Lord, he thinks that the way he acts is "bright" and also a "small" thing that God will tolerate. At least it is an attitude that acknowledges the authority of the Law of God and is fearful of the Lord, but which ultimately does not show trust on the Lord, and therefore YHWH will not tolerate it at the end.

Lot is the father of kabbalah, as we can see from the Bible, he is an expert in trying to set excuses not to obey the Lord, an expert in trying to look for the alternative to achieve - in his own judgment - what he wants to do but also continue to obtain - so he thinks - the Lord's blessing. Those who practice the Zoar end up, like Lot's wife, with their soul made into a pillar or salt, dead to the Spirit of the Lord, because they come to God through the mind and not through the spirit. Lot's soul longs for the organized system, doing what he wants, the big religion he used to belong to, but which did not force him to walk in holiness; therefore he looks back on it and becomes a pillar of salt. Because God detests people whose spirit is lukewarm, Lot's soul dries and dies because he does not love God unconditionally. We either love God or we don't. We don't reach out to God through the understanding but through loving Him with God's love. ...I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Revelation 3:15b and 16.

²⁷ And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸ 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. ²⁹ 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.
 

God already knew that there was nothing to be done about Lot, who loved his own view of things and belonging to a system that was to his liking; but Abraham, the free man, in his mercy, intercedes for him and God counts with Abraham. Therefore let us be like Abraham and intercede before the Lord for brethren who are like Lot and let's take a look at ourselves, in case the Lord sends us two of his men, in that case we 'd better not have a kabbalistic approach, speculate or take guesses so that we don't lose the salvation of our soul and it does not become a pillar of salt.

³⁰ Then Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountains, and his two daughters were with him; for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar. And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave. ³¹ Now the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man on the earth to come in to us as is the custom of all the earth. ³² Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.” ³³ So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁴ It happened on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, “Indeed I lay with my father last night; let us make him drink wine tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.” ³⁵ Then they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁶ Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.

Lot finally understands that God will not be pleased with him and he hides his ideas, doctrines and beliefs, because it did not go well for him in Sodom. In the cave, a symbol of his inner self, his two daughters or ideas of life and religion, get him drunk and he conceives two new lineages, two new projects that are not the Lord's: the Moabites and the Ammonites. This is the end of Lot. Come out of her my people! says the Lord. Let us come out of all personal stubbornness, of our spiritual blindness and of any fanatic attitude, and let's obey the Lord in His Word and in the love of God, let us make justice and mercy. Let us live like Abraham, not like Lot, like the good Samaritan, helping those in need and in the golden rule, following the example in 1John 3:16-17, building up the Church, taking the Gospel and living in a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ under the anointment of the Holy Spirit.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ABRAHAM AND LOT

Once Abraham has freed Lot from Sodom, as we can read in Genesis chapter 14, once he has been received by Melchizedek - representing Jesus Christ, Hebrews 7 - who brought out bread and wine - a symbol of the Holy Supper - to celebrate Abraham's action, for his mercy towards Lot, and once Abraham has shown that he detests all the riches of Sodom, when the king asks him for the persons - symbolizing the souls - that is when Abraham receives the promise of the Lord that he will have a son, an heir of his own blood.

But Abraham still has to pass more tests, and so do we. The next one is doing with Egypt the same thing that God does with Sodom: get rid of everything he has from Egypt, from Sarah's stay there: Hagar and Ismail, in order to keep Isaac who is the fruit of the promise, the fruit of Sarah under God's powerful hand and blessing. Abraham's soul - Sarah - originally also had his fancies and weaknesses in the world, just like we all do, but faith and trust in the Lord make us see the Lord's blessing in our lives. We see that Abraham says again to the king of another city where he lived or a short time that Sarah was his sister, just like he did in Egypt he does it again in Gerar. This is why the Lord did not give him Isaac until he obeyed and trusted Him with all his heart.

Once Abraham has seen how he has lost Lot, even though he has interceded for him, Sodom and Gomorrah have been destroyed as corrupted systems of life, which every Christian will have to reject from his life, together with the riches that they offer, once that he has also dismissed his own son with the Egyptian servant, because he was a fruit of Egypt, and project of life of the world, now he faces the last and most important test, which we find in Genesis 18. Once that the Lord makes the circumcision covenant with him, out of which Isaac would be born, the son of Sarah, by the Lord's will, not by Sarah's faith, once He has given him the great blessing, the Lord's true project, it is then when Abraham must give up Isaac, his beloved son, the Lord's promise, the Lord's true project. Yes, also the Lord's blessing. Isaac is, for any of us, the blessing of the lord that we have awaited for as a life-long dream, whether it may be a child, wife or husband, personal recognition or professional success, or even Christian ministry. Once the Lord has granted us that blessing, having learnt to give up all other projects in which our heart was filled with due to lack of faith, thinking that the Lord would not give them to us...when He finally gives it to us we have to offer it to God in sacrifice.

Why does God make Abraham go through such hard tests, makes him give up projects that are obvious at first sight, Egypt, like Sodom - what Lot, symbol of our flesh, chose, and Ismail, what Sarah chose, symbol of our soul - and finally He also asks Abraham, like He asks any of us, descendants of his faith, to take Isaac out of his heart - the fruit of our spirit with the Lord - the blessing from the Lord?

The answer is the key of our lives. ... And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Mark 12:30. Everything that we love must be placed second, including the Lord's things, because our heart belongs to the Lord, He died for us, He came down from heaven to this world to rescue us from sin and eternal life delivering us from eternal hell, He is our beloved bridegroom. Jesus confirms it: ... He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁸ And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁹ He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 10:37-39.

The example of Abraham, in terms of the obedience he showed the Lord, resulted in a blessing, likewise it will be for us if we obey the Lord. Abraham started the journey of his life, obeyed God and got out of his country, from his family and from his father's house to a land that He would show him, just like each and every one of us must do in our spiritual journey, because: ... I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” ⁴ So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵ Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. Genesis 12.

SODOM AND EGYPT IN JERUSALEM

The society of Sodom and Gomorrah shows us what it would be in each of us the attachment to any pre-organized system which we may belong to that is contrary to God's holiness. The sense of belonging to what is already established, to what is already known, accepted, without taking Christ's moral into consideration, that is the spirit of Lot. Abraham's obedience to God getting out of everything he previously knew is the spirit of he who is called "the friend of God" by God himself, Isaiah 41:8. Abraham is the man who makes the true Church in obedience to God, and this is why He calls him His friend, just like He will call us if we imitate Abraham.

...In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice. Genesis 22:18.

Abraham is the prototype of the entrepreneur, on a spiritual level as well as in a personal and professional one. Lot is the opposite of Abraham, he prefers the ready-made, without realizing that he will have to stand all the mistakes of what is already established, whether it may be a traditional church or false doctrine, a degrading or corrupted company or job, or any relationship under submission without any dignity, like the victims of abuses do - physical and emotional ones. They never get out of the system due to their lack of courage, because they do not seek the Lord and His guidance.