Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #14 of Genesis, chapter 14 and we are continuing to look at Genesis 14:10-12:

And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain. And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

As we discussed in our last study, verse 10 describes the historical defeat of Sodom, Gomorrah and the cities of the plain by Chedorlaomer and the three kings that were with him and, yet, it spiritually points to the defeat of the corporate church that was not able to stand and resist the forces of Satan and his emissaries; God loosed Satan at the time of the end and Satan came against the camp of the saints and overcame them and he then ruled in all the churches and congregations as the man of sin. The language in verse 10 said that the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell there and we saw in our last study that it is similar language to when the Israelites were defeated at the hands of the Philistines. To “flee” and to “fall” is about as bad as things can be because they had been routed and destroyed. Satan won a great victory over the churches and congregations of the world.

The second part of the verse said, in Genesis 14:10:

…and they that remained fled to the mountain.

We saw that the word “remained” is a word that identifies with those that are “left,” the remnant of God’s elect. When we came to the time of the end many thousands of years after this historical battle and the Great Tribulation began with judgment on the house of God, a few years into that judgment process the Lord opened His Word to reveal a command to His people to come out of the corporate churches. The command was given in parabolic language like we found in Matthew 24:15-16:

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

It is the same command found in Luke 21:20-21:

And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.

We were commanded to flee to the mountains. Let us go to Psalm 125 where God is typified by the mountains, as it says in Psalm 125:1-2:

*They that trust in JEHOVAH shall be: as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, JEHOVAH is round about his people from henceforth even for ever.

Who is round about the people of God? It is God Himself, “as the mountains are round about Jerusalem.” So, when God commands those in Judea to flee to the mountains, it is a figure of speech to represent going to God exclusively, without the intermediary of the churches. The people of God had their eyes opened and received the command through the parabolic teaching of the Bible. No one should think that a command is “less” than a command because it is given parabolically for spiritual understanding. The deeper spiritual meaning is the all-important purpose of the Bible and it is the “supreme level” of understanding and meaning. Anyone that receives a command of God on a superficial, plain, literal level misses the supreme meaning. For example, God may command to be circumcised or baptized and the one that receives that command on a natural level may become physically circumcised or physically baptized with water, but the person is still displeasing to God because there has been no change in his heart. The deeper spiritual meaning of those commands is to become circumcised in the heart or to become baptized in the Holy Spirit, having your sins washed away or “cut off” through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The deeper spiritual meaning always carries the greatest meaning and substance.

So, when we find a command that had been hidden for centuries in a parabolic statement (such as Judea representing the churches and the mountains representing God), God opens our understanding to these things at the proper time and season and the people of God see it. They see the “abomination of desolation,” which also requires that spiritual insight have been granted them by God. Then they see the parabolic nature of Jerusalem, Judea or Israel as being representative of the corporate church and they follow God’s command to depart out of the midst, as it says in Luke 21, verse 21. It is very clear when an individual has eyes to see and ears to hear, but the problem for masses of people is that they are natural-minded. They have had no “change of heart.” They may have been baptized in water, but they were never baptized by the Holy Spirit, so they lack spiritual ears and eyes and they read Matthew 24 and they think the entire chapter applies to 70AD or it applies to physical Jerusalem or Judea or to the Jews. They cannot see it because they only have “life” in the physical or natural realm and, therefore, they perceive things in the area in which they have life (in the physical realm). They have no life in the spiritual realm because they are still dead in trespasses and sins; they are dead in their soul existences because they have never been born again. They have no living spirit and no born-again heart, so they lack the indwelling Holy Spirit and it would really be incredible if they did understand something spiritual. Of course, some can “latch on” and for various reasons; they may find a man like Mr. Camping, who was an excellent teacher, and just accept whatever he said, giving an appearance of understanding spiritual truths, but the reality comes when they are tested and they let go of what they had because they never had in-depth understanding.

God’s people possess spiritual life and can “see” or discern on a spiritual level and, therefore, God’s people receive spiritual information such as found in Matthew 24, verse 16. Spiritual truths become extremely obvious to the child of God and that is what has happened with the Lord’s people at this time as we have gone through the Great Tribulation and we are now living in the Day of Judgment. We have been granted discernment and understanding of these things. We hear the voice of Christ. And how did Christ speak? The Bible says He spoke in parables and without a parable He did not speak, so in order to hear the voice of Christ you must be able to understand and interpret parables. That is how the entire Bible was given. We do not hear the voice of a stranger.

This is where the churches have fallen because they cannot hear the voice of Christ because the whole Bible is a parable and they lack the ability to hear. When you do not hear, you cannot hearken or obey. They hear the voice of a stranger. They hear the grammarians. They hear the historical aspects of Bible teaching that theologians present. They hear moral teachings by their pastors. The historical, grammatical or moral teachings are acknowledged, but they leave out the dimension of spiritual meaning, but God’s people hear Christ’s voice and they do not follow the voice of a stranger.

Today we have individuals that want to disavow previous teachings such as the timeline of history or the doctrine of Christ being slain from the foundation of the world or salvation by the faith of Christ or the doctrine of annihilation versus a place of eternal suffering in hell. And they wish to return to previous teachings that are less controversial or less divisive and teachings that do not result in our being in our present situation. And, yet, what they fail to recognize is those same teachings they wish to return to are the very ones that brought down the wrath of God upon the churches and congregations. God, in furious anger, began judgment at the house of God for their unfaithfulness and for their disobedience and their uplifting of the corporate church as the “pillar and ground of truth,” rather than God and His Word, the Bible, as being the “pillar and ground of truth.”

It is nothing more than “history repeating itself.” As Israel experienced extreme testing under the “hot sun” in the wilderness, so, too, the people of God have experienced extreme spiritual testing in these days after that Tribulation. As a result, some wish to return to the corporate church, a church that God calls “Egypt” and “Sodom,” in Revelation, chapter 11. It is a place akin to the house of bondage, a place of spiritual captivity where there is no longer any deliverance and, yet, some people want to return. When we read the historical account of the Jews that had been in bondage all their lives but were finally delivered by the mighty hand of God, but after a short while of a blazing, “hot sun” and the lack of assurance regarding where their next “food and drink” might come from, they turned and wanted to return to Egypt and desired a captain over them to lead the way. What a horrible testimony to the nature of an unsaved individual. How foolish! How wicked it is for people that had been delivered with a great deliverance, but after some relatively minor setbacks (compared to being in bondage for centuries), they were ready to run back (to Egypt) for some melons and leeks and cucumbers. Never mind the whip of the cruel taskmasters in Egypt. They forgot all about that and they forgot about being under the evil Pharaoh, but they concentrated on a couple of minor things and blew them out of proportion. No – God’s true people (like Moses and Joshua and Caleb) do not return to Egypt and the house of bondage.

God’s true people understand that when God gives a command and He says to flee to the mountains and depart out of the midst, there is no turning back. If you are turn back, you are dead. You are destroyed like Lot’s wife; you will turn to a “pillar of salt,” spiritually; that is, the wrath of God will be upon you and that will be the evidence that you have miserably failed the test. You have failed as badly as anyone could fail to want to return to a place of such awful bondage and to prefer it to being a “free man” with God as your ruler and guide to feed and nourish you. You know, God has said He will feed His sheep in these days. That is the number one command for His people and that is what He tells His elect to be involved with doing: “Feed my sheep.” We can see “wilderness.” We can see that there is no ready “bread” and ready “drink.” It requires going to the Bible anew and searching the Scriptures to find truth regarding what God is doing in these days of judgment. God’s people have done that and the Lord has been faithful and He has provided food and drink, the spiritual nourishment for His people that continue to wait upon Him as we press toward the mark, as it says in Philippians 3:14: “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” That would be the crown or reward of eternal life that will come to each one of God’s elect very soon, once we complete this prolonged Day of Judgment.

We see in Genesis 14 in the second part of verse 10 that those remaining fled to the mountains. By the way, once you flee to the mountain in Matthew 24, verse 16, it goes on to say in Matthew 24:17:

Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:

On the house top is a place of intense spiritual activity during the Great Tribulation and in this present day that we are to be continually involved in, like praying and seeking the Word of God, but we do not go back into the house, which are the churches. You stay involved in spiritual activity, but you do not take anything out of the house. Then it says in Matthew 24:18:

Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.

The “field” is the world, as Babylon and the world are one and the same. We have gone into the world, which is the field. Do not go back. Do not return. It is not that any of us can harm God; it will not do Him any damage, but it is our own soul and our own spiritual condition that would be damaged or destroyed if we go back. If we turn to look back at “Sodom” (which the churches have become) or if we seek to set captains over us to return to Egypt (which the churches have become), you can be sure no good will come of it. There will be no good. Yes, you can join in the church’s barbecue and have a nice little social gathering, but what a price you will pay – just as much as Esau paid for his bowl of soup.