Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight is study #9 of Genesis, chapter 19. Once again, I will begin by reading Genesis 19:1-7:
And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
I will stop reading there. We have been slowly and carefully considering what God has written to us in this historical parable. We have seen this has everything to do with the time of the end of the world. We are very interested in this because we are living at the time of the end of the world. No one out there should be under any delusion in thinking that we are living in just any old time in history. No – the circumstances in our day are extremely unusual and out-of-character. The events that have been going on over these last few decades are characteristic of the Biblical descriptions in several accounts that deal with the time of the end of the world.
For example, when men marry men and women marry women and it is considered normal and we become the “oddballs” for bringing up the fact that the Bible is against that practice, then you can be 100% certain that we are living at the end of the world. Just read Romans, chapter 1 where God says He would give man up to things like homosexuality.
So, the situation in the city of Sodom is a historical parable that is pointing to the end-time situation that we find ourselves living in today. God came to the city of Sodom in the form of two “angels” or messengers and He revealed His intention to His servant Lot, who was called “righteous Lot” in the New Testament. It is a picture of God revealing His end-time judgment program to His people at the end of the world. That is exactly what God has done. He has opened the Scriptures to reveal much truth, including the Biblical calendar of history, the timeline for the Great Tribulation, the judgment on the churches and the judgment on the world. And God has continued to open the Scriptures to reveal what appears to be the timeline for the prolonged period of Judgment Day in which we currently live.
This really causes us to “sit up and take note” when we read that God came to Sodom and Lot met Him in the gate of the city. Then Lot said in Genesis 19:2-3:
And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
Lot pressed upon them; that is, he was insistent. He would not take, “No,” for an answer. (We discussed this.) We saw in Revelation, chapter 11 that when the “two witnesses” were overcome, they were killed, their dead bodies lay in the streets of that great city which God identified as “Sodom and Egypt.” Certainly, Lot was correct in imploring them not to stay in the street, but to come into his house where they would be safe and secure. He did convince them to come into his house and then he made them a feast.
The Hebrew word translated as “feast” is a word that is found in some interesting places. It is the same word we find in Genesis 21:6-7:
And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.
Here, Isaac was weaned and Abraham made a great “feast,” which is the same word we saw in Genesis 19:3. In the Bible, God ties being “weaned” to coming off the “milk of the Word of God,” meaning that we are no longer drinking the milk of the Word of God, but we are moving on to the strong meat of the Word. This is really the spiritual picture of being weaned. First, a baby is on the mother’s milk. We can go to the Scriptures where the “milk of the word” is spoken of and it is fine for those that are newly born again. Just as it is in the world when a baby is born, they are kept on milk at first, but then they graduate to stronger food or stronger meat. So, too, it was God’s plan to keep His people on the milk of the Word until the time of the end. Then He would unseal the Word of God, the Bible, to reveal great amounts of (spiritual) truth, which would be the “strong meat” of the Word of God.
The disastrous problem for those in the churches and congregations at the time of the end was their preference for the “milk.” They denied the “strong meat” and they refused to move on, as they insisted, “No – we will stay with the teachings and doctrines we have had for hundreds of years.” There was no growth. There was no maturing in to spiritual understanding of what the Bible taught. The churches were that way for centuries and they continued to insist, “We have all the truth there is to know.” And, yet, it was only “milk.”
However, at the time of the end there was a need for moving on and growing in the grace and knowledge of God, because it said in Daniel 12 that knowledge would increase. And that ties in with the “strong meat” of the Word of God. So, Abraham made a great “feast” the same day Isaac was weaned. And we can see that the “feast” is connected with coming off “milk” and growing. Historically, Isaac was then able to eat the solid food.
What this means is that the “feast” identifies with the time of God’s unsealing of the Scriptures at the time of the end. When God comes to the city of Sodom, it pictures the time of the end. He met with righteous Lot and they entered in to Lot’s house and there is a “feast.” Again, it is connected to the time of the end of the world when God was opening the Word of God, which began in 1988 (the 13,000th year of earth’s history). Remember, there is a timeline from the year Sodom was destroyed in 2068 B.C. to the year 1988 A.D. In that timeline, we see the number “12” and the number “13” twice, if we breakdown the number of years between those dates. The entry by God into Sodom in this particular year identifies with the number “12,” which represents fulness and the number “13,” which represents the time of the end of the world. And it is going to shortly come to pass because the numbers are doubled. At that time, the Lord opened His Word and there is a spiritual “feast” that His people are enjoying at the time of the end, as we learn much more about the Word of God.
It also says at the end of the verse, in Genesis 19:3:
… and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
This is the first time in the Bible that we can read of “unleavened bread.” We are familiar with this because it will later become a part of a major feast in the Bible, the feast of unleavened bread, and it is intricately tied to the Passover. It was at the time of the Passover in Exodus, chapter 12 that the Lord mentioned unleavened bread. It says in Exodus 12:7-8:
And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
In the same chapter, it later says in Exodus 12:37-39:
And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.
Do you see the relationship? God came to His people when they were bondservants or slaves in Egypt and He commanded Pharaoh to let them go. Pharaoh refused. Then the Lord brought to pass plagues upon the house of Egypt until they were forced to let the Israelites go. It was in a certain night that God brought the judgment of the death of the first born upon Egypt. The blood on the doorposts (of the Israelites) was an indicator of the blood of Christ that covered the sins of His people and none with blood on the doorpost would perish. But for those that lacked the blood on the doorpost, the firstborn in their house died. So, the Israelites ate the Passover with unleavened bread and they ate in haste that night and the next morning they departed.
What is the situation in Sodom? God had come to destroy the city of Sodom, as well as the other cities of the plain. He had come at night. And in that night, He had a feast with His servant Lot who represents God’s people in the wicked city of Sodom. (The Israelites that came out of Egypt also represented God’s people.) God met with Lot that night and they had a feast of unleavened bread and the next day Lot would depart suddenly out of Sodom, just as the Israelites ate unleavened bread and the next day departed out of the land of Egypt. We can certainly see the connection.
Spiritually, the Lord gives us a good understanding of what unleavened bread represents. He defines it for us in the New Testament in 1Corinthians 5:5:
To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh…
This speaks of a man that had been involved in fornication with his father’s wife, “and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles.” This man was a picture of the corporate church and that is the reason God said, “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh,” just as God later gave up the corporate church to Satan. For what purpose? It was for the destruction of the unsaved that were left in the congregations, as they were a type of those in the flesh. Whereas the spirit was delivered because God brought His people out of the congregations after He delivered the corporate body over to Satan. This is why it goes on to say, in 1Corinthians 5:5:
…that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Verse 5 is basically a description of the wheat and the tares. Then it goes on to say in 1Corinthians 5:6-8:
Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Here, the keeping of the feast with unleavened bread points to keeping in Christ in sincerity and truth. That is the picture in Genesis 19 where God is having a feast with Lot, representing the righteous elect in the world at the time of the end as the Lord is opening the Scriptures, and this is the “banquet table.” The word “feast” is also translated as “banquet” in the book of Esther several times. And that is another interesting parable because it was at Esther’s banquet that it was revealed that Haman was the adversary and enemy that was trying to kill all the Jews and the king rose up against him in wrath and Haman was hung at the time of Esther’s banquet or feast. This word “feast” ties in with 1988 and the entire judgment period, as Haman was hung on “the seventeenth day of the second month,” the underlying Hebrew calendar date for May 21, 2011.
Anyway, the two messengers and Lot were partaking of unleavened bread (sincerity and truth). It is the time when God purified the Gospel and sent it forth outside of the churches during the Latter Rain period to save the great multitude. The Word of God was greatly purified as God opened up doctrine, after doctrine, after doctrine and corrected the doctrine concerning “Hell” and the doctrine of when Christ paid for sins and the doctrine of the faith of Christ and the doctrines of the church age and the timeline of Judgment Day. It is all “unleavened bread” that identifies with the “feast of the Word of God.” I think the Feast of Tabernacles could also be in view here, as the Feast of Tabernacles in the end time is really a “feast of the Bible.” That is what is being pictured, as well as the Feast of Passover, which identifies with Christ’s atonement and with sincerity and truth.
Then it says in Genesis 19:4-5:
But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
There is a Scripture that says, “The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.” (Psalm 37:32) The wicked had their eye on the righteous, but they did not have their eye on the gate, which would point to the Word of God, the doorway between heaven and earth. They had their eye on Lot. Lot brought the two messengers to his house to enjoy a feast of unleavened bread, but before they lay down the wicked men of Sodom compassed the house round. They had their eye on Lot, just as the world has its eye on God’s elect. They are always watching, whether it be to find fault or to criticize. It is never because they want to grow in the grace and the knowledge of God. Unfortunately, they watch for negative reasons. The men of Sodom kept their eye on Lot and they saw that Lot had brought strangers to his house and was entertaining them. Then they compassed the house round.
We do not have too much time to get in to this, but I want to start off by looking at Luke 19:41-44:
And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
Again, Sodom ties in with the apostate, fallen churches at the end of the world, according to Revelation 11 and God likens the street to “Sodom and Egypt” in the time when the two witnesses lay dead in the streets of that great city. It is the corrupt and wicked church of our day at the end of the world. They are “Sodom” and the enemies of God compassed Lot’s house round and his house was in Sodom. Here, God says, “thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side.” And then He says, “and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another,” which ties in to Matthew 24 and some other verses. It is language to describe the end of the church age and the final judgment of God which began at the house of God. In Genesis 19, it is the house of Lot and God is within the house with Lot – He is not with the people of Sodom. It was a personal visit to the righteous within the “church” and it points to the elect that were still within the churches and congregations at the beginning of the judgment upon the corporate church.
Lord willing, we will look more at this statement about Lot’s house being compassed round and how that ties in with the final judgment on the corporate church.