Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight is study #43 of Genesis, chapter 19. We are going to read Genesis 19:26-29:

But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 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. And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

I want to make one more point concerning Lot’s wife becoming a pillar of salt. When we search the Bible for the word “salt,” we find that salt has everything to do with sacrifice. We read in Leviticus 2:13:

And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.

All sacrificial offerings were to include salt. Of course, this links “sacrifice” and “salt,” spiritually. We then have to ask the question: what was a sacrifice? What would Lot’s wife have to do with a sacrifice? To answer the question about what the sacrifices were in the Bible, it was God’s commandment to His people to sacrifice and, in every case, it was an illustration that sin was the transgression of God’s Law and that it aroused the anger of God. Because man transgressed and offended eternal God, there must be satisfaction performed; that is, the Law demanded that justice be done. “The wages of sin is death.” The thing that satisfied the Law’s demand for justice was death. This is why so many sacrifices involved the death of animals; animals were slain, and their blood was shed; the animal carcase was burnt. This pointed to the appeasement for an angry God. It pointed to that which atones for sin.

Of course, the sacrifices pointed to the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the sacrifice for the sins of His elect people. Christ did not die for the whole world or for every human being. This is falsely taught by many in the churches today. Christ died specifically for a limited number of people that the Bible identifies as those that were chosen before the foundation of the world. They are known as God’s elect; they are the remnant out of the whole and the few out of the billions of mankind. The Bible does mention 200 million, which may be the literal total of the number of God’s elect. And that would be a remnant because there were many billions of people that have lived upon the earth at one time or another. Even today there are more than seven and a half billion people, but only a tiny remnant was saved. Christ died for the remnant or the few.

But what about the rest of mankind? They also have transgressed the Law of God. The Bible is clear that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Word of God is clear that the wages of sin is death. For the few, the elect, Christ paid that penalty. He died on our behalf and satisfied the Law. And now the Law looks at the whole company of the elect and can find nothing against them. It sees no fault. We are washed from our sins and cleansed from all iniquity. There is no angry God waiting to destroy us. God is pleased with us because the terrible thing that stood between God and us has been settled by Christ’s atoning work at the foundation of the world. That atoning work was applied to the elect at some point in their lives through the Word of God.

So, you see, this is the problem for the unsaved individual because his sins have not been removed and remain upon him. And this time of final judgment is really one big “sacrifice.” God is offering up the wicked of the world as a burnt offering. The wrath of God is upon them to satisfy the Law’s demand. And the Law’s demand will be satisfied with their total destruction and God will be appeased. Every unsaved person in the world will be required to offer up themselves as atonement for their sins. Of course, God is making sure that this is accomplished. Their atonement (the sacrifice of themselves) will be accepted by God and the Law will have nothing more to say against them. But, of course, the enormous and insurmountable problem that an unsaved individual has is that once they have been offered as a burnt offering, they have no power or ability to come back from it and rise from the dead. Christ had the power as eternal God to rise again and, by His resurrection, to justify all those for whom He died. All the elect will also “rise from the dead” on the last day, but this will not happen for those that are in their sins; they will make final payment for sin and they will never live again. Their lives come to an end when God is finished with this world.

So, Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt in a historical parable. It happened in history, but it is representing the Day of Judgment at the end of the world when mankind is judged and become a sacrifice before God. Every sacrifice was offered with salt, so Lot’s wife is like the salt that accompanies the sacrifice. It points to the final sacrifice of unsaved mankind.

We could go to many places in the Bible that show it is God’s intention to receive the destruction of the wicked at the time of the end as a sacrifice, but Isaiah 34 is a good example. It says in Isaiah 34:2:

For the indignation of JEHOVAH is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.

Then it says in Isaiah 34:5-10:

For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. The sword of JEHOVAH is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for JEHOVAH hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. For it is the day of the JEHOVAH’S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

This is language of the final judgment of the world. Notice how God speaks of lambs, goats and the sacrifice of Bozrah. Then we read of fire and brimstone and smoke ascending, just as we found in Genesis 19. You see, the final judgment is likened to an ultimate sacrifice of the offender. They did not have Christ as their sacrifice. He did not die for their sin, so they must be their own sacrifice and die for their own sins. That is where the salt comes in because every sacrifice was to be salted with salt.

It says 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 the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:

Fire and brimstone and salt do go together because they all relate to the payment for sin, which has to do with sacrifice.

Let us look at one more verse in the New Testament in Mark 9. I will not read the entire passage because it is repetitive as God is driving home a point. It says in Mark 9:46-50:

Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.

Here, God is speaking of the eternal fire, which has often been misunderstood as burning forever more in a place called Hell. That is not true. It just means that the final fiery destruction that will destroy this world, along with unsaved mankind, will be an eternal destruction of the corrupt creation. In that sense, the fire is not quenched because the effects of it goes on for all eternity as unsaved man is forever destroyed.

But in this passage which has everything to do with the final judgment, God ties the fire with salt and with every person: “For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.” This confirms that when God destroys the wicked throughout this judgment period and then annihilates them on the last day that they will be as a sacrifice that has been salted. Their eternal death will stand as a memorial of salt, in the sense of Lot’s wife, to their utter ruin forever more. That is the idea. By turning Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt, God is indicating she was her own sacrifice for her own sins. Therefore, salt is in view.

We also see further confirmation that the whole destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain being burned by fire and brimstone is a sacrifice. Where is that confirmation? It is found as we continue reading in Genesis 19:27:

And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before JEHOVAH:

This refers back to chapter 18 when he stood before JEHOVAH interceding on behalf of the righteous in the city of Sodom, when he asked, “Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” So, Abraham returned to that spot. Then it says in Genesis 19:28:

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.

Abraham is at a distant location and, yet, it was such a terrible and devastating destruction for the four cities and the plain (except for Zoar), that he could see the smoke. Abraham had a vantage point, which we can understand because Abraham was at the place where he had interceded, so it as though God and the Lord Jesus Christ are watching from heaven what transpires on the earth as it is set on fire in the Day of Judgment, as the cities and the plain picture the entire world. They are looking down upon the earth and all they can see is the smoke of a furnace rising up. Of course, as they are looking upon the area of the plain, the destroyed cities and the smoke ascending, the righteous are still in that location, are they not? Where was Lot? He was in Zoar, another city of the plain. As we continue to study this, we will see that Lot feared to dwell in Zoar, perhaps because of the thick smoke and the terrible heat and the total ruin of all the cities surrounding that little city. This tells us that God is watching and looking on the inhabitants of the earth. Even though it is a spiritual judgment at this time in our present day, the unsaved are “good as dead” because God has shut the door of heaven. The only “living” on the earth are the elect, just as Lot was in Zoar. Abraham probably could not see Zoar because the smoke was so intense, and he could not see Lot. That is where this historical parable falls short because God can see all of His people that are still living on the earth at this time. He knows us intimately and He knows everything about our struggles as we go, day by day, through this time period.

But, there God is watching. No wonder we read this in Isaiah 24, a chapter devoted to the destruction of the earth, in Isaiah 24:5-6:

The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

The inhabitants of the earth are “burned,” just like all the inhabitants of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim. There were few men left, just like Lot was left and they are in the place where the burning took place. No wonder God says in Isaiah 24:15:

Wherefore glorify ye JEHOVAH in the fires, even the name of JEHOVAH God of Israel in the isles of the sea.

The “isles” are the continents because the continents are all like big islands. We are to glorify JEHOVAH on the earth which has been lit on fire, spiritually. To emphasize that truth, the Lord kept Lot in Zoar in the plain while all this was happening.

And, here, Abraham is going to the place of his intercession where he had interceded on behalf of the righteous. As a type of Christ, he had a great concern for the righteous. Abraham had great concern for his nephew and his family in this fiery destruction: “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.” The smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace and the word “smoke” is found twice in verse 28. The word “smoke” is Strong’s #7008. It is only found four times in the Old Testament, twice in this verse. Once it is also translated as “smoke” in Psalm 119:33. The fourth time it is translated as “vapour” in Psalm 148, a wonderful passage in which God calls upon everything to praise His name. It says in Psalm 148:5-8:

Let them praise the name of JEHOVAH: for he commanded, and they were created. He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass. Praise JEHOVAH from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:

The word translated as “vapour” is the word translated as “smoke.” That is interesting, but I do not know if I fully understand that. You know, there is another Hebrew word for “smoke,” which would be like the smoke of a chimney; it would have more to do with fire as when a whole city is burning. But God does not use that word. He uses this word that is only found four times and this word is from another word, Strong’s #6999. The word used twice in Genesis 19:28 is pronounced “kee-tore,” and Strong’s #6999 is pronounced “kaw-tar,” so you can hear how similar these words are, but they have different vowel pointing. They are basically the same word, with different vowels. (The vowel pointing was added. It is only the consonants that were inspired.) So, this word, Strong’s #6999, is a word that we find in Leviticus 1:9:

But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto JEHOVAH.

It is also found in Leviticus 1:13:

But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring it all, and burn it upon the altar: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto JEHOVAH.

It is the same thing in Leviticus 1:15:

And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn it on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar:

In all these verses our word was translated as “burn.” It is the same word found in other places in regarding to burning incense. We will look at that when we get together in our next Bible study. But keep in mind that Strong’s #6999 is used over 100 times in the Old Testament and, in every case, it has to do with sacrifice. It is not a word you would use for burning logs on a fire, for instance. It is a word related to the fire of sacrifice.