Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight is study #27 of Genesis, chapter 19. Again, we are reading Genesis 19:17-25:

And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then JEHOVAH rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from JEHOVAH out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

I will stop reading there. In our last study, we were wondering about some things. Why did God command Lot to escape to the mountain, but Lot responded that he could not escape to the mountains, lest some evil take him and he die? Then Lot pointed out to God that there was another city that was near and it was a little one; and he made his case to escape to that city. God accepted what was really an intercession on Lot’s part. One thing is for certain: if Lot had gone straight to the mountain as he had been directed, Lot would have survived but that city would have been destroyed. But he protested to the two men (God), as it says in Genesis 19:18: “Oh, not so, my Lord,” and he also said in verse 19: “and I cannot escape to the mountain.” Then he introduced an alternative plan, suggesting that he go to the little city Zoar that was near.

What happened as a result? We know that God destroyed four cities of the plain: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim. However, there were five cities. I think I mentioned it earlier, but let us go back and look at Genesis, chapter 14 where we read of a battle, and it says in Genesis 14:1-4:

And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations; That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea. Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

There were five kings of five cities and they were all together. They were allies. They were unified against these other kings and Chedorlaomer (whom they served during that time). I am going to this passage to point out how Zoar was a city of the plain, like the other four, and Zoar had been marked for destruction with the other four. As a matter of fact, there was no difference between Zoar and the other cities, except it was a little city. It was apparently the closest to Sodom and it was a very little city. Lot had said, “Is it not a little one?” That was Lot’s emphasis. Perhaps Lot was saying to the Lord, “I understand you are very angry with Sodom and Gomorrah and these cities of the plain. I understand they have offended you; they have done wickedly. They have committed terrible sins and, yet, I am pleading with you and asking you not to destroy the littlest one of all the cities of the plain. Could it be that you would not destroy this little one, that I might flee there and live?”

Then it said in Genesis 19:21:

And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.

Remember that back in Genesis 17, Abraham had made intercession for the righteous souls in Sodom. We went through that countdown: “Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?” God said He would not destroy it for fifty. Then the countdown went to forty, then thirty, and all the way down to ten. You see, Abraham was interceding for the righteous ones in Sodom because he knew Lot was there. But Abraham made no intercessory prayer for Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim or even Zoar. He was concentrating on the city where he knew his nephew Lot lived and he knew Lot was a righteous man.

In not immediately fleeing to the mountain, Lot is looking at a portion of that which was under the wrath of God. All the cities of the plain were under the wrath of God. All were marked for destruction and would certainly be destroyed, but Lot began to get the idea to flee to the one little city that was nearby. As we discussed in our last study, historically it was probably all that was in his mind. He may not have wanted to travel that distance, only to get caught in route to the mountain by the fire and brimstone falling from heaven. That is, perhaps, why he felt the evil would overtake him and he would die. The city Zoar was closer and he wanted that to be the place of refuge and shelter and a safe city, if God would not destroy it.

We can see the spiritual implications. If we just “transfer” this idea of the five cities of the plain as a picture of the whole world, what do we find? In the world God had a corporate church, as represented mostly by Sodom in this case. God’s people were within the churches, but out in the world were others of God’s elect people that the Bible refers to as a remnant. What is a remnant? It is a little portion of a large total. There were about seven billion people populating the earth when God brought Judgment Day on the world. The Bible speaks of the Lord saving the great multitude, which might have been 150 or 160 million (we do not know exactly). However, that number is very small compared to six billion and 800 million that would remain under the wrath of God and marked for destruction.

The spiritual picture is that Zoar was delivered along with Lot. In making intercession for this little city, Lot is really standing in the place of Abraham in the previous chapter. Abraham had made intercession for the righteous and now Lot was making intercession for the little city Zoar. Therefore, he becomes a type of Christ and a picture of God’s people who have the same desire as Christ and that is that the elect people of God would become saved. Spiritually, it then becomes an unselfish act. The command to Lot was to personally flee and escape to the mountain and he would live. Again, Lot is not just thinking of himself, spiritually, as he pictures the elect: “Not so, Lord. There is a world out there in which you said there would be a great multitude (saved) and there must be deliverance for them as well. There must be salvation for at least a little portion of mankind – just a little city, O, God.”

This is what God granted and this is the reason God did not reject Lot’s idea, like he rejected Peter’s in Acts, chapter 10 where God was making a major change in doctrine to include the Gentiles as fellowheirs with the Jews. He illustrated this by giving Peter a vision of unclean animals and commanding Peter to rise, kill and eat. And Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.” God rebuked him: “What God hath cleansed, call not thou common.” It was done thrice to indicate it was the purpose of God So, God has no problem rebuking someone, even if it is someone He has saved. God has no problem doing that. It was not as though God allowed a special situation for Lot as an elect person and that whatever he desired had to be done.

But when Lot said, “Oh, not so, my Lord,” he then began to focus attention on the little city: “I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.”

Then it said in Genesis 19:21-22:

And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

Again, in the last study I brought up the fact that some people try to make Zoar a picture of “fellowships.” They try to insinuate that Lot was rebellious against God. God had commanded him to go to the mountain, but he, instead, wanted to go to Zoar or a “fellowship.” In other words, they are saying that since God has ended the church age and we are to go to God (in the Bible), but if people attend fellowships they are in rebellion against God. Of course, that idea does not fit at all and you will never hear them explaining this in Biblical detail, because they cannot. Why did God accept Lot in this thing? How could it be that when people came out of churches that God would accept that they have made some kind of sinful substitution of fellowships in place of churches? Of course, God would not do that. And how can it be that God would say he would not overthrow Zoar or He would not overthrow fellowships, and then God is waiting to bring His destruction? The destruction of Sodom was spiritually pointing to May 21, 2011. That is when the churches were destroyed. Up until then, the command to come out of the churches was in effect, but when May 21, 2011 came the command of God to flee out of the midst of the churches was deactivated because spiritual destruction had come.

So, these people are saying that God waited for Lot and his family to come out of the corporate church and then God waited until Lot set foot in a fellowship before He would rain down fire and brimstone from heaven. Do you see how ridiculous and foolish this idea is? It is so obviously wrong. Unfortunately, some people are so blinded by their desire to have their own doctrines; they are so intent on having a gospel that they can accept and approve, rather than accepting what God has done in this end-time judgment period. This was all according to the judgment plan of God that He ended the church age and commanded His people to come out; then at the end of the Great Tribulation He shut the door of heaven and ended His salvation program.

Who would have thought of these things? It was certainly not Mr. Camping or me or any of God’s people. These are not things we thought up. If you think about it, who would develop a Gospel in which there is no more salvation and then years would go by in which we must tell people that they cannot be saved, as they were bringing up children and babies were being born. Who would think up that kind of a Gospel program and then expect to attract and draw people to their fellowship? It would be ridiculous. It is not “our” Gospel program. It is God’s end-time program for Judgment Day, which began at the house of God and is now continuing on the entire world.

We are not to make ourselves “holier than God,” just because we do not like the idea of a few people or 100 people gathering together for a fellowship. We are not to search the Bible and try to find something to disprove fellowships just because we may not like that idea. Well, you may not like it. We are certainly not trying to get people to go to fellowships. The majority of God’s elect out there in the world have no fellowship except with God and the Bible. But if God has not said anything against it and He permits it, then so be it. He allows it (and He does). So, the whole idea will not stand up to the light of the Bible when you look in to it. It is a foolish idea that has nothing to do with Zoar.

So, what does have to do with Zoar? This is not the same Hebrew word for “little one,” but it is exactly what Zoar is picturing, in Ecclesiastes 9:13-16:

This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me: There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.

The little city with few men in it points to God’s elect. The city was delivered by the poor wise man, a type and figure of the Lord Jesus Christ who delivered the city. That is the reason Lot is a picture of Christ and through his intercession Zoar, a little city with few inhabitants were spared the wrath of God; they were delivered from the wrath of God. They are not destroyed like the inhabitants of the other four cities of the plain. That is what Zoar is picturing. It is picturing the eternal, heavenly city of the kingdom of God that is made up of the remnant of the whole of mankind. This is the reason God had to wait until Lot had entered the city. You know, the way this reads, the moment Lot’s feet entered the city limit, God rained down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed them. In other words, the moment God saved the last of His elect, then God brought judgment upon the world.