Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight is study #31 of Genesis, chapter 19. We are going to read Genesis 19:23-25:

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. Finally, Lot, his wife and his daughters all went into Zoar, as far as we can tell. Zoar is a picture of salvation for Lot. God was clear. He said, “I have heard thee.” Lot was clear in verse 20, where he said, “and my soul shall live.” God responded, “I have accepted thee concerning this thing also.” Lot was the one that was in view because he (alone) is a picture of the righteous.

It is just like when God saved the great multitude. Lot was outside the city of Sodom and he is a representative of those outside the corporate church. God was dealing with individuals one-on-one. All kinds of people were hearing the message that the church age was over and hearing about Judgment Day and all the other faithful doctrines that had been revealed by the Lord at the time of the end, but that did not save anyone. And they were certainly not saved by going to a fellowship group or anything else they might do, but the way God pictures that Latter Rain period is very personal, dealing with this person and that person, one-on-one. That is the reason He was able to purify the sanctuary or cleanse the sanctuary, as it says in Daniel, and to make sure that no stranger could pass through any longer. God would save someone, and that person would be added to the eternal church or the eternal heavenly kingdom of God. We could say that they entered into the little city of the remnant of God’s elect.

The fact that Lot’s wife and two daughters also entered into the city, historically, proves nothing. It certainly does not disprove that Zoar was a figure of salvation for Lot or for the righteous. When we get to the verse that says his wife looked back from behind him, it was just another warning from God to those outside the churches. Perhaps they had been somewhat obedient in leaving the corporate church. I say, “somewhat,” because people came out of the churches for various reasons that had nothing to do with being faithful. Some people were just very independent-minded, and they liked the idea of there being no authority over them and they liked the idea that they do not have to listen to a pastor; they could just develop their own understanding of the Bible and no one could say anything to them. I am not saying that was always the case, but there are many people that are like that. They are very individualistic and very independent and strong-willed because they have never become saved, so they are just as unsaved as anyone still in the churches they left behind. But, again, we will discuss that more when we get to that verse.

Right now, we want to discuss the “fire and brimstone” we read about in Genesis 19:24:

Then JEHOVAH rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from JEHOVAH out of heaven;

He also would have rained it upon Admah and Zeboim, but He is focused on these two cities. When we read about this account elsewhere in the Bible, we primarily read about Sodom and Gomorrah and not about the other two cities. But God rained fire and brimstone down upon them and they were destroyed. The Bible is clear that it was (total) destruction. The fire and brimstone would also have produced much smoke, as it says in Genesis 19:27-28:

And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before JEHOVAH: And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

There would have been an enormous smoke cloud that just covered the whole land of the plain. This would have been frightening to Lot and his family that were in Zoar. They were safe there. Zoar was not destroyed and it did not experience the utter destruction of the other cities. It was standing. It endured the judgment of fire and brimstone.

By the way, individuals that argue these things do not understand what they are arguing about. They are arguing against the fact that God’s elect would be on the earth to go through the judgment. The smoke was so intense and the evidence of the wrath of God was so frightful that, certainly, the smoke would have come through the city of Zoar. They could not have avoided the smoke because that city was near Sodom. The fire and brimstone did not fall on Zoar, but the smoke was the evidence of the judgment and all the inhabitants of Zoar had to go through the smoke. It is just like God’s elect have been delivered from the wrath of God that has been upon the earth since May 21, 2011 (and will continue until this prolonged judgment ends), but we have not been burned up or destroyed. None of the inhabitants of Zoar were destroyed by the fire and brimstone. Even Lot’s wife was not destroyed by the fire and brimstone, but God turned her in to a pillar of salt. But today, we are all going through the same judgment period, just like the ark went through the waters (that destroyed all the earth) for about a year, or so. They were not raptured out of the world during the judgment. They were alive and living on the earth, going through the judgment of the flood, until it ended, and they could depart out of the ark. We have discussed how that was a picture of entering into the new heaven and new earth.

Likewise, regarding the family of Lot, Lot was not raptured out of the plain. Perhaps that is another reason God permitted him not to go to the mountain immediately. You know, the cities of the plain represented the world and if you reached the mountain, you would no longer be in the plain. You have come out of the plain and are on the mountain. But Lot remained in the city of the plain on the day that God rained down fire and brimstone. He was right there. He was not raptured into heaven, as it is a picture God is painting for us of Judgment Day.

We were incorrect in thinking that all the elect would be raptured out of the world before God brought Judgment Day about. We thought we would not be a part of it. It was a big error that had been taught down through the centuries of the church age and we, ourselves, believed it and taught it. None of that makes it right, just because a doctrine has had longstanding support by the theologians for centuries. That means nothing. It does not mean it is true or correct according to the Word of God, the Bible. Many theologians thought (and many still think this today) that the elect would not go through the Tribulation and that God would rapture the elect before the Tribulation. But the book of Revelation is clear that the elect would be alive and present during the Great Tribulation, as seen in that wonderful verse from the Lord in Revelation 13, where He says, “Here is the patience and faith of the saints,” in a chapter that describes the Great Tribulation. Then in the next chapter it describes the “second Tribulation” of Judgment Day on the world and the Lord makes a similar statement. After referring to the cup of His wrath being meted out and the ungodly would drink it, it says, “in the presence of the holy angels,” or holy messengers, those that God has saved and made holy. God has purified His people by washing their sins away and, therefore, judgment can take place in the presence of the people of God. But in case we missed that, God says, again, in Revelation 14:12:

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Here, in the context of Judgment Day, is where our patience will be put to the test, as our faith is tried. It is here in the Day of Judgment. Just as this statement was made in Revelation 13 to guarantee that the elect would be present upon the earth in the Day of Judgment, it is stated again in Revelation 14 to assure us of this fact. God’s people will not go anywhere during Judgment Day – we will remain. This is the reason we read in 1Thessalonians, chapter 4 that the Lord twice refers to those that are “alive and remaining” on the earth. We were not raptured before the Tribulation and we were not raptured before the final judgment began on mankind. The correction is that we will be raptured (if we are alive at that point) on the very last day of earth’s existence after the prolonged Day of Judgment has worked itself out. The Bible seems to be pointing to the year 2033. The Biblical evidence is mounting that the last day will take place in that year. The elect will remain on the earth until then and then we will be raptured out of this world at the same time as the resurrection, and then this world will end.

So, again, it said, “Then JEHOVAH rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from JEHOVAH out of heaven.” Let us turn to Psalm 11:5:

JEHOVAH trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

God will try the righteous. Now listen to the next statement about the wicked that God hates. It says in Psalm 11:6:

Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

You see, both groups are together. One group is tried, like when Lot, the righteous, was in the little city Zoar. He was certainly going through a trial. It was a horrible ordeal. It was not a pleasant thing at all. How grieved he would have been. He would not have been thinking, “I told you so, all you wicked sinners of Sodom!” Lot would have been extremely sorrowful because his other daughters, his sons in law and maybe even grandchildren were still in Sodom. There were family and friends. Even among those that were vexing his righteous soul, he may still have had love and concern for some of those people that were not saved. He would have felt sad for those people and to see the fire and brimstone coming down would have been a “blow” to him, as he understood they were dead. All that were left behind in Sodom were dead, along with all the cities of the plain. They had been destroyed by fire and brimstone. Then there was the unrelenting smoke. If they had gone outside, it probably would have turned them black in no time as the thick clouds of smoke came rushing through the streets of the small city of Zoar. There would have been no way to escape the smoke of the destruction because they were right there in the plain where it was all happening. They had not been removed from there. They were not watching from some distant mountain – they were right there. So, they had to endure, by the grace of God, and they had to pass the test. It was a definite trial for Lot. He would have had to get hold of his senses and try to figure out what to do next, and so forth. Finally, after a little while, he took his wife and two daughters and started for the mountain and his wife looked back and turned in to a pillar of salt. He took his daughters to the mountain and they were the only ones that made it there.

But let me just mention this before we close this study. Again, it said in Psalm 11:6:

Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone…

It is the same word for “rain” that was found in Genesis 19 where the Lord rained brimstone and fire from heaven. It is the same word used in Genesis 7:4: “And yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights.” It has to do with coming down from heaven and falling from above, whether it be hailstones or fire and brimstone or water. It comes down from above and, therefore, the picture is that it comes from God.

But notice that it also says, “Upon the wicked he shall rain snares,” as well as fire and brimstone. We tend to think that “fire and brimstone” is always literal. Historically, it was literal for the city of Sodom, but Psalm 11 is referring to Judgment Day at the end of the world and it has to do with the final judgment of mankind, but God is letting us know by using the word “snares” that we are not to take this literally. Why would God rain down “snares” from heaven upon the wicked? How can you rain snares? No matter how you think of a snare, whether it is a cage or a trap to catch an animal. What kind of snare would God have in view? Are they falling like literal “fire and brimstone” from heaven? When God says it is “raining” these things, it is coming down from Him. It is just like when we read of the beast coming up out of the sea in Revelation 13; no one expects a literal beast to come up out of the sea. We understand this to be parabolic, or as theologians like to say, “It is hyperbolic language.” It is a parable. So, too, God warns us when He adds the word “snares” to the “fire and brimstone” that we are not to look for literal “snares” and, by extension, why would we look for literal “fire and brimstone”?

We will look at this some more, Lord willing, when we get together in our next Bible study.