Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight is study #35 of Genesis, chapter 19. We are going to read Genesis 19:23-26:
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. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
I will stop reading there. We have been slowly and carefully going through this chapter, verse by verse, trying to see what we can learn concerning the final judgment, the judgment on the churches and the judgment on the world. I think we have learned a good deal.
We saw in verse 25 that God overthrew the cities, all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities and all that grew upon the ground. We went to Deuteronomy 29:23 that picks up on this idea. In this verse God is speaking about His rebellious people Israel, which would apply, in turn, to the rebellious corporate church. When God judged the churches, it related to language like we see in Deuteronomy 29:23:
And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which JEHOVAH overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:
We see the references to “fire and brimstone” and salt is also in view. We know that Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt. In the Book of Judges there is a record of an individual that took a city and then sowed the city with salt. Why? It is cannot be “sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein.” The land will no longer be fruitful. They will no longer be able to plant crops, grow fruits and harvest them. You cannot do that once the fire and brimstone has fallen.
I also pointed out that God said He has done this to Israel because of their rebellion, but He never did it physically. He did it spiritually when He judged that nation and He did it spiritually to the corporate churches when He judged the churches and congregations of the world. At the point that God brings judgment, nothing spiritual can grow thereafter.
When God brought judgment on the world beginning on the date of May 21, 2011, it is the same principal: nothing can grow spiritually. That is why it is a complete waste of time to continue (evangelization), even though it may sound good. I guess it is comforting to people to talk about going out and sowing the seed of the Gospel. Maybe it makes them feel good and they may think they are doing God’s will and they are loving their fellow man and, yet, it is all a vain show and emptiness. You cannot sow the ground where “fire and brimstone” has fallen upon it. And God has poured out “fire and brimstone” from heaven, spiritually, from His Word, the Bible, since that Day of Judgment day on May 21, 2011 and continuing until the end of the world. The spiritual brimstone comes forth from the breath of God. The consuming fire comes forth from the Word of God. The fire and brimstone has destroyed everything in its path, all the vegetation and the fruits. It will no longer be able to produce. The point is that it is over and done with, just as salvation is over and done with. God’s saving of sinners is over and done with.
However, there is still the salvation of the bodies of those that have already been saved in their souls. That is yet to come on the last day at the time of the resurrection and rapture when the saints will be equipped with their new resurrected spiritual bodies. But there will be no more salvation of souls because there is no one left to save. The whole house of Israel has been found. You know, you cannot get any greater salvation than the salvation of everyone whose names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. It is everyone that had been chosen to become saved and that is all.
Again, if someone wants to engage in “play acting” in their gospels. There are people all over the world that get involved in religions and they are very zealous for their religions and they think they are being a blessing to others and that others will be blessed through their religion. None of it is true.
We have also seen a real “quietness” among the professed true believers. You know, we had a distinction before between “believers” and “true believers,” but now we have to make further distinction because many that called themselves “true believers” are not, even though they have additional understanding of the lingo or language of true believers because of their long association with Family Radio when it was under the teaching of a faithful man, Mr. Camping. But God has tried these people and found them severely wanting, so we have to make an additional distinction between “true believers” that came out of the churches and “elect true believers” that are God’s people. He has opened up their eyes to see and understand that it is a new epoch or new time and season, the Day of Judgment.
The commandments and the task we were given for the day of salvation were completely different than the commandments and the task we were given (to feed the sheep) in the Day of Judgment. People make the same mistake when they see Scriptures that encourage people to cry to the Lord for mercy because it is the day of salvation, but they are misapplying it to the improper season. That is typically what the unsaved will do – they do not change when God makes a major change in program. They stay in the old “location,” like Israel and the Jews’ refusal to receive correction and humble themselves to recognize that their era had ended, and they had been replaced with the New Testament churches. Then when God ended His relationship with the New Testament churches, they refused it. It is the nature of the natural-minded individual not to recognize God’s change of programs because God normally changes things in the spiritual realm and the natural-minded man does not understand spiritual things. So, the natural-minded man that grew up in the churches will stay in the churches.
It is the same thing with verses dealing with salvation. People grew up with salvation and it had been that way, as far as they knew, and it will continue to be the day of salvation to them. They will not allow God and the Bible to ruin their established understanding of things and the way they want things to be. It must be their way, or they will not like it. They will refuse to honestly look at the Bible like Bereans and they will desperately hold onto the Gospel they want. What they fail to understand is that when God makes a change in His Gospel program, the change that God made is the Gospel. It is the true and faithful Gospel. God is the determiner and God is the one that establishes the bounds of the teachings and brings forth the doctrines that are pertinent to His change in program at the proper time and season. And we are just humble servants, if we are truly a child of God and all we can do is say, “Yes, Lord, whatever you have willed. Let it be done and let us go about to do it.” This is the characteristic of the elect true believer.
It is not surprising at all that in this context of judgment on the churches and the command to come out of Sodom (a command to come out of the churches) and the fleeing to Zoar (a picture of God saving the great multitude outside of the churches), then the “fire and brimstone” came. It began to fall when Lot entered into the city of Zoar, pointing to the last of the elect becoming saved. Lot, the righteous, typified all the righteous chosen by God. He was typifying that large group, the great multitude that was saved out of Great Tribulation. Once he entered Zoar, it was like the last person had become saved and the “clock was striking” and the “date was turning” to May 21, 2011 and Judgment Day had come. Then God overthrew everyone in the plain and that which grew upon the ground.
Then it says in Genesis 19:26:
But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
You see, it is God’s wisdom and His foreknowledge of knowing the end from the beginning that He gave us this verse. Of course, God has known the circumstances, events and situations that would unfold throughout history until May 21, 2011 and all history after May 21, 2011, right up to our present time and beyond. We do not know what tomorrow will bring, but God does.
And God has known forever that many would turn back, just like many of the Israelites desired to return to Egypt after being delivered. But it was after that great deliverance in which God finally completed the saving of all the souls of His elect, that instead of His people rejoicing, we did not rejoice because the Lord simultaneously laid a trap or snare. Remember the verse in Psalm 11 that spoke of the cup of the wicked and then went on to say that the Lord would “rain snares, fire and brimstone” from heaven. God laid a snare for all the inhabitants of the earth and the snare was that He set the stage by having His people proclaim in an absolute way that the date of Judgment Day was May 21, 2011. God locked it in to such a degree that we were convinced it would happen and, therefore, being faithful watchmen, we proclaimed it with certainty. This message went all over the world. Remember that verse in 1Corinthians 14:8 where it says, “For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” Typically, the world just shrugs off dates, but this proclamation had such a ring of certainty that it was a reality to them. People were convinced. When the news media would interview someone, they would always try to get them to answer, “What if it does not happen?” When they asked a true believer, the person would say, “It is going to happen.” It was like God’s people could not budge from this absolute assurance that the Day of Judgment would happen on that date. There was an “exclamation point” and it was a certain sound and, therefore, there was a preparation made for the day of battle, Judgment Day, as God moved in His people to will and to do of His good pleasure. It was that crisp, clear and absolute declaration that went worldwide that drew the sheep to the message and God saved them.
So, the world heard the proclamation of Judgment Day in such an absolute manner, like nothing ever seen before, and in a worldwide way. It was unrelenting, day after day, after day. The certain sound of the trumpet served two purposes:
The message was “sure” and the world was watching and waiting, and many were afraid, and most were worried. But when nothing happened physically, they were jubilant, and they rejoiced. They also mocked and reviled: “Those fools! Those morons! Those idiots!” Those that proclaimed that message were “the scum of the earth” and the “lowest of the low.” It was “open season” on anyone that had worn a hat or shirt or put a sign in their yard that May 21, 2011 was the Day of Judgment. And, yet, that was the trap. The association with this message from the Bible became “too hot to handle” and those that were not truly born again fled in terror – they looked back behind Him, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord willing, when we get together in our next Bible study, we will pick up with this verse regarding Lot’s wife. This is very important. God has reminded us in the New Testament to “remember Lot’s wife.”