Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight is study #47 of Genesis, chapter 19. We are going to read Genesis 19:30-38:

And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. nd the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

We have been looking at this from a spiritual perspective that I think is certainly what God has in mind as He is teaching us about events that take place at the end of the world in our present time. We see the command, in a sense, is reissued to the people of God that no longer have the task of blowing the trumpet to warn the people of earth of Judgment Day. We are no longer functioning as “watchmen” today because that time is over. It was relevant to the day of salvation; we warned the people, hoping they would take warning. Of course, the only way people would heed the warning was if God had operated within them to draw them to Himself and save them. Salvation is completely of the Lord and was always by His grace and faith.

You know, this is a different time period. It is now after the fire and brimstone has fallen and there is no more need to warn people, so there is no sense of urgency for Lot and his two daughters to go to the mountain. The first time this command was given, they were still in Sodom, but the Lord brought them out and He told them to haste and flee for their lives and go to the mountain. Now Lot recalled that command as he is fearing the Lord and his desire to do the commandments of God was rekindled in him, but there was no sense of urgency to flee like we saw with the earlier command. In other words, the fire and brimstone were not threatening to fall any longer and the fire and brimstone that had fallen was no threat to Lot and his two daughters. I am sure he realized that since God had protected him from the actual event of the falling fire and brimstone without any harm to him, God would continue to protect him in the aftermath, in the days after that fiery destruction, as he made his way to the mountain.

Also, in the process of fleeing to Zoar, the Lord had hasted him. Remember, it said in Genesis 19:22:

Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

They were commanded to escape to the mountain, lest they be consumed. From the earlier hasting, we can get the idea that there was an urgency to get to the city of Zoar, because Zoar typified salvation. The “fire and brimstone” was almost read to fall, just as we can recall our tremendous sense of urgency (as we got closer and closer to May 21, 2011) regarding the need to get the Gospel out, so people could hear, and God could save the last of the elect. There was a tremendous sense of urgency in blowing the trumpet and warning the people, as faithful watchmen. But, again, that is over and done with and there is no need to warn people about a judgment that has already fallen. It has already devastated the earth and its inhabitants, spiritually.

So, the trip to the mountain from Zoar was a completely different circumstance. There would not have been the tremendous pressure to flee there to avoid destruction. They had already avoided the destruction.

This relates to our time today. God’s elect found refuge in Christ as the Lord saved all His people, so we are not operating with a sense of “haste,” like fleeing to the mountain prior to judgment. But we desire to continue to “go to the mountain,” or to “go to the Bible.” Remember, the Bible is the place where the kingdom of God is found on this present earth. We desire to go to the Bible in the sense of fearing the Lord and keeping His commandments. We want to learn as much as possible regarding the revelation of the righteous judgment of God during this time of Judgment Day, but we are not fearing destruction because we are not getting there on time, or anything like that. So, there is a definite sense of peace with the people of God because we know that the “righteous shall be righteous still.” The whole matter of salvation is over and done with – it is finished, in the sense that everyone to become saved has received a new born-again resurrected soul. It is not finished, in the sense that we are still awaiting our new spiritual bodies and we are waiting to receive the promised inheritance of the new heaven and new earth. But as far as our souls are concerned, it has been completely accomplished.

Again, it says in Genesis 19:30:

And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

Lot dwelt in a cave. Following that, the firstborn daughter hatched her plan and she and her sister carried it out over the next couple of days and nine months later the two babies were born, Moab and Ammon. Then God tells us no more about events related to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Then the historical narrative returns to Abraham. We remember that Abraham had been given a promise by God concerning a seed, a child that would be born to Sarah in the set time in the next year. This would be Isaac. So, there was really no need for God to carry the line of believers through Lot and for that desperation Lot’s daughters felt to preserve the seed of their father.

Some people may say that they had to carry through that line of descendants, but the line of the promise was to go through Abraham and then proceed to Isaac; and at this point, Sarah was expecting a child, as she would give birth to Isaac in the next year. Likewise, in the same year Moab and Ammon would be born, Isaac was born. But the Lord was not concerned with them because they were not the line of believers. Of course, this does not mean there could not have been elect among their generations, because we know that Ruth the Moabitess became saved. But, overall, they were not the line of believers, so we wonder about the significance of telling us these details. And notice that God stops telling us about them as soon as they were born, and the historical narrative switched back to Abraham.

So, we must consider what purpose God had in telling us just the limited information He told us. First, we must ask the question: why did Lot and his two daughters live in a cave? They had gone to the mountain and they lived in a cave and that is all we hear of them, historically. We will not read about Lot again in the historical narrative in the book of Genesis. We do not read about him being part of the emphasis in Genesis – this is where God leaves off with Lot and his daughters. They are left in a cave in a mountain and the daughters give birth to the two children.

We read about a cave several times in Genesis, chapter 23. I am going to read the first few verses where it speaks of Sarah’s death. It says in Genesis 23:1-6:

And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight. And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.

By the way, that term “bury thy dead” is used repeatedly in this chapter. It goes on to say in Genesis 23:7-9:

And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth. And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace amongst you.

Then it says in Genesis 23:11:

Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee: bury thy dead.

Also, it says in Genesis 23:17-20:

And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city. And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.

Then the chapter ends there. Repeatedly, we saw that it said, “bury thy dead.” They were referring to giving Abraham a sepulchre. It was customary for them to use that language, but there was really a sales transaction taking place. It is a very delicate time when someone has died, and they did not want to give the appearance of wanting money at such a time. So, they said, “We will give it to you,” but, apparently, it was customary when this was said to offer a certain amount. Abraham bought the field and the cave in which Sarah was buried. What does this make the cave? It makes it a sepulchre or a grave. The cave was where the dead body of Sarah was buried.

We also read in Joshua 10 about five kings that were hiding in a cave. They were discovered and killed. Then it says in Joshua 10:27:

And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun, that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and cast them into the cave wherein they had been hid, and laid great stones in the cave’s mouth, which remain until this very day.

When we read a statement that something “remains until this day,” it is really establishing an eternal principal. In this case, it was the death of the five kings; they were killed, and their dead bodies were thrown into the cave and then they placed a great stone in the cave’s mouth. This reminds us that the burying place of the Lord Jesus Christ had a stone upon it. It was apparently typical to bury someone in a cave instead of building a monument or building a stone sepulchre of some kind. They would find some rock formation with an opening and, perhaps, they even dug it out further to make it a burying place; they would place the body inside and then they would place a big rock to seal it up. That was the tomb. So, this word “cave” is a word that identifies with a tomb, a buryingplace or a grave.

We also see this word used in the New Testament in John, chapter 11 regarding Lazarus. Lazarus had died and had been dead four days already. We read that Jesus wept, in verse 35. Then it says in John 11:36-38:

Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.

Lazarus’ grave was a cave. And it is referred to as a grave here. What have we learned in the Bible concerning the grave? In the Old Testament, we know that the word translated as “grave” is equally translated as “hell.” It is the same Hebrew word and, depending on the context, the translators translated it as either “grave” or “hell.” Likewise, the Greek word for “hell” can also be translated as “grave.” We have learned that this is because God’s judgment upon the unsaved is death: “The wages of sin is death.” The payment for sin is death. When you are put in the grave, it is because you have died. You have paid the price for sin. Of course, there will still be total annihilation on the last day. But in death, the demand of the Law is satisfied, as the Law requires death in both body and soul. The complete and ultimate satisfaction of that requirement is annihilation on the last day, but a big part of paying that penalty is to die. The day that a man dies, he ceases to exist and only his lifeless, physical body is remaining.

You see, when God brought to pass the Day of Judgment and ended His salvation program, He had made the determination that there would no longer by any more salvation. He would no longer save anyone else because He had already chosen whom He would save in the counsels of eternity. Before the foundation of the world, He paid for the sins of a set number of individuals, which may have been two hundred million, but it was a definite number from the whole of mankind. God’s program was to apply the blood of Christ through the hearing of the Word of God to the hearts of those individuals throughout time, until the last one to become saved had become saved. Thus, God completed the salvation of the souls of everyone whose name was recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Since this was accomplished, God shut the door of heaven. He has caused the sun to be “darkened” because there is no need for it to shine upon the sinner in salvation. And, spiritually, this has brought the world into the condition of “hell” or death.

Let me just back up and say this. In the day of salvation when God was still saving people, people had the potential (from man’s point of view) to become saved until when? It was up to the point of when they would die physically, and their bodies went into the grave. It was well known to the Reformed Churches that often had a much better understanding of the Bible, but there is one church denomination that tried to appease people…you know, just like some people today that insist there cannot be a “shut door” and that there must be salvation available at this time. That same mindset was in the Catholic Church during the church age, because they would not admit that all possibility of salvation ended for a person at the point of death. They “ran a pretty big business” by selling “indulgences” to (supposedly) get dead people out of purgatory; these people had physically died, but this church claimed these people were in a place of torment and if their loved ones paid enough money and offered enough prayers for them, their spiritual condition could change, and they could go to heaven. You see, mankind likes to fight against God’s sovereign right and power to judge a sinner and to remove all possibility of salvation when He would take a person in death. God did that throughout history whenever He took a person in physical death.

Well, that is the same mindset we see in some people today as they “kick and fight” and bang on the door, saying, “Lord, Lord, open to us! You cannot end your salvation program.” What God has done in bringing the condition of “hell” to all the world is basically what He had done with individuals as they died throughout history. He was sovereign when He did so with any given individual and He is sovereign when He does so with all the people of the earth. It is just a matter of “degree.” When God would take the life of an individual and end the possibility of salvation, most people would say He had the right to do so. Therefore, why cannot God do this with billions of people, all at the same time? Then people say, “No! No!” But, really, they are fighting against the sovereign will of God to be the sovereign Lord and King, doing what He deems to be right and just in His judgment program.

I do not think we have time to get into this now, but in our next Bible study, Lord willing, we will look at how God has brought the entire world into the condition of “hell” or the grave. That is why it is so appropriate that Lot is dwelling in a cave. As we saw in several verses we looked at, a cave is often used as a grave. Lot is dwelling in a “grave,” as God’s elect are alive and living on the earth in the Day of Judgment. It is as though we are living in the grave. It is as though we are in “hell,” waiting, just as when Sarah was placed in a cave. Her body is waiting for that last day, is it not? We will look at this in our next study.