Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight is study #52 of Genesis, chapter 19. We are continuing to read Genesis 19:34-38:

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. And 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 taking our time and it is really a blessing to take our time when it comes to the Bible. There is no need to rush through things and study an entire chapter in one day. God has given us time. I see it as a wonderful blessing and benefit to go at a slow pace and very carefully study. (I am sure it is too slow for some people.) This is one of the reasons I like to read the passage at the start of each Bible study. If you have been paying attention, we have been reading it again at the start of every study, so we have been reading the same passage a lot. This is one of the ways God can cause it to really “sink in,” as He grants us understanding and opens our minds, according to His will. It is through much reading and prayer.

I will admit that I did not understand what was going on here, even as we were going through the earlier part of the chapter. I thought, “Well, when we get to this passage, we may be stuck on a few things because I do not see anything spiritual.” All I could see was that they thought they were the only ones left alive on the earth, so that is why it happened. But we could not even gather a moral teaching from that. Why would God write of these things in the Bible? What was His point? What was the deeper spiritual meaning?

You are welcome to read theologians of the past and their commentaries, but you will not get any direction. There was no understanding of the deeper spiritual meaning of this passage until now. I am not saying this to say, “Oh, look! EBible Fellowship has come up with something new!” No – I am saying this to highlight that it is all because of our vantage point. This passage has to do with the time after a judgment. And where are we in history now? We are living on the earth in the Day of Judgment. God has let it be known in Romans 2:5 that we are in the day of wrath and the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. And because of our circumstances, we have a vantage point.

By the way, when I say, “vantage point,” just think of someone observing from the top of a cliff and he can see a long way off because of that vantage point. But if he comes down off the cliff and stands behind a rock to look in the same direction, what does he see? He sees nothing but a rock in front of him because of his vantage point. That is how it has been down through history. Since the Bible was compiled, we have been reading “as through a glass darkly,” until the time of the end when the Holy Spirit began to open the Scriptures to reveal these wonderful truths to His people. He does this through a very deliberate process of comparing spiritual things with spiritual and the Holy Ghost teaches as we make sure our conclusions harmonize with the whole of the Bible. We attempt to follow that process and we pray for wisdom.

You know the word “pray” is basically the word for “ask.” We pray to God and we ask Him for help in granting us wisdom and understanding. We go to God and it is amazing how He works. At first, we may be without understanding, but we spend more time looking up the word and reading and studying it over and over. Then, suddenly, the light dawns on one verse and then on another verse. In this case, it had to do with their desire for children. Also, this word “preserve” was repeated twice about preserving seed of their father. We realize it is not the word translated as “raise up,” which had to do with a man dying childless and a brother going in unto his wife to raise up children to his name. It could even extend to a “near kinsman,” like Boaz, who went in unto Ruth the Moabitess to fulfill that Law.

Again, in our verse it is not the word translated as “raise up,” but it is the word translated as “preserve,” which is Strong’s #2421. It is a word that is translated repeatedly in a similar way. We are going to read several verses where this word is used. Let us go to a passage regarding Rahab the harlot, in Joshua 6:17:

And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to JEHOVAH: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.

The word translated as “live” is the word translated as “preserve.”

This word is also found in Psalm 119:144:

The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live.

Again, it is the word “live.”

It appears in Isaiah 55:3:

Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

It is also in Ezekiel 37:10:

So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

It says in Habakkuk 2:4:

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

It is translated as “live” many more times, but we do not have time to go to all the verses. It is also translated as “quicken” many times. If we go back to Psalm 119, it says in Psalm 119:25:

My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.

The word “quicken” means “to live.”

It says in 2Kings 8:1:

Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for JEHOVAH hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.

The phrase “restored to life” is a translation of that same word. In the same chapter, it says in 2Kings 8:5:

And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.

We could go to dozens of verses that are similar and that teach the same thing.

If there is a Hebrew word in the Old Testament that you had to pick that would point to salvation more than any other word, it would be this word, Strong’s #2421. It is only translated as “preserve” a handful of times, but it is most often translated as “live” or “restore to life” or “quicken.” It has to do with God saving sinners.

So, we can see that when one sister says to her other sister, in Genesis 19:34, “Go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father,” she is saying that she wants to “restore to life” or “quicken” seed to their father. Spiritually, Lot is a picture of Christ and Christ is the Word, so this has to do with their desire to save seed of Abraham. They want to quicken or restore to life a seed. It is pointing to those that will not bend the knee to the Word of God; they will not humble themselves before the Word of God and the will of God regarding His determination to shut the door of heaven. They will not humble themselves before God’s judgment program, which is “judgment without mercy” in this day. They are stubbornly and rebelliously refusing to obey His program and they are going about to carry out their own program.

It is unfitting and unseemly to have salvation in the Day of Judgment. They have no idea where they are in history regarding God’s timetable of things. They are walking around blindly, like the men of Sodom that could not find the door. These professed true believers are showing a cause they think is justified at the time of the end, as they try to “raise up” and “quicken” more seed or more elect. Yes – it sounds good and noble, but anything contrary to the Word of God is not anything good or noble. How can you quicken seed of God’s people when there are no more to be found? There are no other names to be found in the Lamb’s Book of Life. If there were any, God would have us to go forth with evangelization, but they have all been delivered from their sins and there are none left. Therefore, it is a vain pursuit. It is a vain gospel that is just as empty as the gospels in the churches and in other religions – there is no power to save.

Again, it says in Genesis 19:36:

Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

Then it goes on to say in Genesis 19:36-37:

And 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.

This is final confirmation that the plan of the two daughters was not of God. The children are evidence of this because the sons born were the fathers of the Moabites and the Ammonites. Let us go to Deuteronomy 23:3:

An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of JEHOVAH; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of JEHOVAH for ever:

It was an eternal curse that was pronounced upon the children of Lot. It is true that this curse came much later, but the entire history of Ammon and Moab is one of ungodly people. They are typifying the unsaved of the world that never become saved. Yes – God saved Ruth the Moabitess and God may have saved some individuals of these nations, here and there. But that is not the point. The point is how God uses these nations to spiritually represent those that never enter into the kingdom of heaven to the tenth generation, which means forever. To say it another way, God adds that they will “not enter into the congregation of JEHOVAH for ever.” It was an eternal curse upon them. This is to let us know that the plan failed. The plan of Lot’s two daughters failed. They were not able to quicken seed or to save elect. They were not able to produce elect people. All they did was produce offspring that would come under the eternal curse of God.

So, too, is the situation today. It is very terrible for some people to go forth in this way today, as some are doing. These people are the most “dangerous” in many ways because they identified with the true Gospel. Up until this final point, they had been following along and they gave every appearance to people that they were real true believers, but the fact is they are not. They are telling people a lie: “God is still saving. It is still the day of salvation. We are saved by the faith of Christ.” They may tell them all these peripheral true doctrines that are surrounding the lie they have developed. They may share true doctrines like the fact that there is no place called Hell; Christ died for sin at the foundation of the word; or God has judged the churches, as typified by Lot’s wife that looked back. Remember, these people “went to the mountains.” They will say many faithful things, like the church age is ended and we cannot go back, but they are going to add their own spin to it, just as Satan always does. Satan will tell some truths, as long as it comes with a lie.

And this is a big lie: “You can cry to God for mercy. Go to the Lord. He may save you – there is still hope. There is hope for you, your children, your friends, the strangers on the street and for the world.” They are lies, lies, lies! The Bible says there is no more hope as far as ongoing salvation is concerned.

But God’s elect people have hope. The great multitude has hope for that last day and the salvation of our bodies, but there is no hope for this world. The day of hope was the day of salvation, but it has ended. The door is shut. All that will be produced by these lies are children of Ammon and children of Moab that will never enter into the congregation of JEHOVAH, the heavenly kingdom of God. They will not enter in unto the “tenth generation” or the completeness of eternity. They are shut out because they came after the fact. The time to seek JEHOVAH was before the day come and before the decree passed.

We will close by reading a couple of verses in Zephaniah. Notice how many times God uses the word “before” in Zephaniah 2:1-2:

Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of JEHOVAH come upon you, before the day of the LORD’S anger come upon you.

Before, before, before! Man had opportunity. From man’s perspective, there was potential for salvation throughout the extended “day of salvation” that lasted for century, after century, after century. There had to come a day when it would end, and it did end. And God proclaimed it. He did not just shut the door quietly and secretly behind everyone’s back. He did it very publicly and very boldly. He shut the door of heaven and He warned everyone that would listen about it. Once the door is shut, the implication is that there is no longer time to seek JEHOVAH or to come to Him for salvation. We must seek JEHOVAH “while he is near,” not after He has shut the door and come as Judge of all the earth. It is too late, no matter how desperately we want it not to be so. It is too late.

Lord willing, in our next Bible study we will move on to Genesis, chapter 20.