Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight is study #41 of Genesis, chapter 19. We are continuing to look at Genesis 19:26:

But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

From this verse, we were led to Luke, chapter 17. It says in Luke 17:30-32:

Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot’s wife.

Here, God calls upon the reader to “remember.” Of course, we should consider that this statement is made in a passage that says, “In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away…” There are people that hear EBible Fellowship speak about Matthew 24 and Luke 17 and as we look at the spiritual meaning and we say, “The house represents the church and we are not to come down from the housetop (a place of intense spiritual activity) to take our stuff (vessel) away. The word “vessel” can relate to a wife who remains in the churches.” These people say, “Oh, you are spiritualizing.” I would be curious to know what in the world they think it means then? Why is the Lord Jesus Christ talking of the day when the Son of man is revealed and likening it to the days of Lot and then He is talking about someone on the housetop not going down into the house for his stuff? What is the point of that? It does not make sense when we look at it in a plain, literal sense. Then it goes on to say, “and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.” Why? Why could he not go back? Go back to where? It does not specify a physical location.

And this is because the answer is not found in the plain, literal statement. The answer lies in the deeper spiritual meaning which can only be uncovered when we search out the words in the Bible. We must look up the word “housetop” and we find spiritual references. We look up the word “house” and we find that judgment begins at the house of God. We look up “field” and according to the parable in Matthew 13, it represents the world. So, is this saying that those in the field are not to return back to the churches? After all, the “house” was a spiritual reference to the churches. Then it is all underscored (with this statement) in Luke 17:32:

Remember Lot’s wife.

You see, it is easy to be a critic and to cast aspersions and to raise doubt. That is Satan’s specialty. “Hath God said?” It requires no study. It requires no diligence. It requires no effort to listen with a critical ear with the intent to find fault, especially if one already has an established bias against “spiritualizing.” They feel justified in making that criticism and the whole corporate church world would be behind those that have that view because the churches all have a different method of Bible interpretation. Therefore, these people feel they are fully justified. They are against “spiritualizing,” so their ears are turned off and their eyes are shut.

Again, that is the lazy man’s way because if they could open their eyes and ears, they would find we are using the Biblical methodology laid out in the Bible. We are studying carefully, looking at the words and seeing how they are used elsewhere (in the Bible) and allowing the Bible to provide the spiritual definitions. Then we come back to the passage with a better and fuller understanding that was derived from the Bible alone, and not from a theology course or from a confession or creed. We are getting it right from the Bible.

Again, we want to look up the words. We did that with the word “remember,” as it says, “Remember Lot’s wife.” We saw that word was used in Mark 8 when the Lord Jesus warned against the leaven of the Pharisees. The disciples thought naturally and since leaven has to do with bread, they thought it was because they had brought no bread. Christ had warned them about the leaven of the Pharisees, so the disciples imagined that since they had brought no bread, they would need to obtain bread somehow and they should not obtain the bread from the Pharisees because they may have poisoned it. They were off track because they were following the modern church’s hermeneutic for studying the Bible, which is to listen for a plain, literal meaning: Leaven has to do with bread, so what does it mean in the natural realm? Typically, this would throw the read of the Bible far off course. It is like sailing for China from the Atlantic Ocean.

We must follow God’s own hermeneutic. We look up the word “remember” and we see that the Lord Jesus is admonishing the disciples. Had they forgotten about the multiplication of the bread? Having ears, do you not hear? It says in Mark 8:18:

Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

Do you not remember? Jesus was calling upon them to remember the historical situation of the multiplication of bread, but He is calling upon them to remember it to help them grab ahold of the spiritual meaning of that event. This is the reason He said, “Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not?” That is what the Lord would say after speaking a parable. It is parable, just like the whole Bible is a parable.

To “remember” in this way has to do with the realization of the hidden spiritual meaning of a verse. The incident of Lot’s wife had been recorded in the Bible for quite a long time, as the Lord moved Moses to write of that account. The first five books of the Bible were the first Scriptures written down. Moses came out of Egypt in 1447 B.C., so it was around that time that he was given that revelation. From 1447 B.C. until Christ spoke of this, it had been in the Bible for over 1,400 years. And, yet, it was not until our day that we could “remember” it in the sense of understanding it fully. That is what God is calling upon us to do.

We also that it said in John 16:3-4:

And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.

When the time would come, we would “remember.” This has everything to do with God’s plan to seal the Scriptures until the time of the end. Up until this time, people could have read these Scriptures and read about the information regarding the end of the world (like the Great Tribulation and Judgment Day), but they would have no full understanding of it and, therefore, would not “remember” these things.

Let us go to a verse in Exodus 20. In Exodus, we are presented with the Ten Commandments, and it says in Exodus 20:8:

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

I will read a couple of other verses to fill out what the Lord is speaking about. It says in Exodus 20:9-11:

Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of JEHOVAH thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days JEHOVAH made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore JEHOVAH blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Remember the sabbath day. Now let us ask the question: Could an Old Testament Jew (like the Pharisees and scribes in the day of Jesus) “remember” the sabbath day by their attempt to do no work on that day? The answer is, “No.” They did not “remember” the sabbath day because they did not understand what God intended by giving this Law concerning the sabbath and what God had in mind with obedience to it. They thought, “I am remembering the sabbath if I do not take up my bed or pluck some ears of corn. If I do no physical work on that day, then I am remembering the sabbath day.” But that was not true. It was not the case. God gave the sabbath from the very beginning after He worked six days in creation and rested on the seventh day. He instituted the seventh day (Saturday) sabbath to teach about “sabbath rest” in regard to salvation. The real teaching of the seventh day sabbath involved the fact that the individual was to recognize that the work of atonement for sin that satisfied the Law’s demand was performed and finished by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. God did all the work at the foundation of the world. God did all the work and because the Lord Jesus Christ (who is God) did all that work, He provided that “rest” for His people and we were to “enter into that rest.” We were not to try to do the work ourselves.

There was a distinction between an elect Jew of old and a Jew that was not elect. There was the spiritual Jew and there were those that were merely physical descendants. There were those that were born again in their souls and counted for the seed in Christ, but the non-elect Jews were physical descendants only and they would look at the Law that said, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” They saw that God said to do no work, so they attempted (and were even zealous, in some cases) to do no physical work. At the end of the day, they would think, “I kept the Sabbath.” They would do this the next sabbath day and the next. They thought they were keeping the sabbath day holy and it was pleasing to God and, therefore, they thought they were pleasing to God. But they were completely wrong every step of the way. None of that was pleasing to God. God commanded, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy,” to cause the elect to think: “The Messiah is my Saviour. The Messiah has paid for my sins. The Messiah has done all the work on my behalf and I am to do no work to try to get right with God. Therefore, I do not want to work on the sabbath day to obey God’s command that illustrates that deeper spiritual truth.” That is the deeper meaning of the commandment and in their realization of what it truly meant, they were “remembering” the sabbath and keeping it holy. However, just to read the command and proceed to misunderstand it and then attempt to do your own work is not “remembering” the sabbath day.

So, this is what the Lord meant when He said, “Remember Lot’s wife.” He wants us to go back and look at the deeper spiritual meaning, which we have been doing. We have seen that Sodom is a picture of Israel, as God said to Israel in Isaiah 1:10: “Hear the word of JEHOVAH, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.” In turn, Israel is a picture of the corporate church, as we see in Revelation 11, where the two witnesses are laying dead in the streets, which is spiritually called Sodom. I did not say that. It is a quote from the Bible. Let me just read it to bring to “remembrance” how God stated it, in Revelation 11:7-8:

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

The Bible is amazing in its consistency and harmony, is it not? Christ spoke in parables and without a parable He did not speak. So, we can go here and there and over there. And God speaks of Sarah and Hagar being an “allegory,” but we are not told that in the book of Genesis when we read the historical account. And in Revelation 11, the Lord is speaking of Jerusalem where our Lord was crucified, and He says it is spiritually called “Sodom and Egypt.” Would that not be sort of a “tip” for the reader of the Bible? You know, it is like when police receive a call “tipping them off” and warning them about someone and then they act upon it. Is this not a tip to the reader of the Bible not to be so arrogant and set in your ways to think that everything in the Bible is plain and literal? As a matter of fact, you would be completely wrong and as wrong as anyone could be. You have come to the wrong book, if that is your mindset. God even says it outright here, that it is spiritually called “Sodom and Egypt.” Certainly, when we see God Himself giving that spiritual identification it should open the eyes and ears to the possibility of spiritualizing. But, tragically, their eyes are shut and their ears are closed because they are “blind and deaf.” And no one can open their own eyes and ears. And even more tragic today is the fact that God is no longer opening the eyes of people as He did for centuries in the day of salvation. That is what would happen when someone became saved; their eyes and their ears would be open, and they would “hear the voice of Christ” on the pages of the Bible and see and understand the things God has written on that deeper spiritual level. You know, it is sorrowful. We do not deny that, and God does not hide the fact that it is tragic and grievous. It is a terrible “day” because of this, but it is to be expected since it is Judgment Day. We should not think God will continue business as normal in saving people when the season has changed from the day of salvation to the Day of Judgment. Now it is His program to punish the wicked and pour out His wrath and that is what He is doing.

Let us look at one more verse concerning “remembering.” It says in Luke 24:6-8:

He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words,

Jesus told them directly and matter-of-factly that the Son of man must be killed and the third day He would rise again. He told them more than once. But, you see, they lacked understanding when He said it before, but now He had been killed on the cross. Some of His disciples had gone to the tomb and His body was not there because He was risen. At that point, they remembered His Word. Do you see how “remembering” is connected to a (spiritual) realization?

It is kind of like when we study a Bible verse or passage and we just do not understand it. We go over it and over it and over it. I would have this experience often with Mr. Camping when I would hear him do a Bible study. God opened his understanding. Mr. Camping was diligent in study and he sought the Lord and asked for His guidance. It was also the time of the end and God was opening much truth and the Lord had given Mr. Camping a platform to declare these things and it would help the people of God. Often, I was helped that way. Mr. Camping would go through a verse and show the spiritual meaning that God had shown to him and I would literally catch myself saying, “Oh, yes! Now I see it.” You see how it was “hidden” and there is a word or a phrase in another verse that was the key to unlocking it and you would bring it back to the difficult verse; it would act as the “key to the lock” and the door of understanding would open. That is what the Lord has in view by “remembering,” and that is what the disciples went through when they “remembered” His words about His death and resurrection. And now they understood. It had been acted out and accomplished right before their eyes. He had risen and they remembered the statements He had made in the fullest sense or in the Biblical sense, as they “saw” with understanding. That is what is in view when the Lord Jesus said, “Remember Lot’s wife.”

Of course, we have to remember the warning related to Lot’s wife. Do not look back from behind Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. When you put your hand to the plow, go forward. Do not look back.