As we all know we are living in the last days and end of all things are near. In this context when we read Luke 17:32, “Remember Lot’s wife”. This is one of the shortest verses, but here Jesus is speaking to His disciples to take heed. But why should we remember Lot’s wife? What happened to her? What does the spirit of God wants to convey to us through Lot’s wife in the context of end times? We see also in the same chapter in verses 28-32, it clearly mentions about Lot’s time in the context of end times. It says one who is in the field should not turn back and whoever seeks to gain his life will loose and whoever loses will preserve it. When we read the Bible we can see that Lot was a righteous man and he was unaffected with what was happening in his city. In 2 Peter 2 :7,8 we read, “if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds).”
In Genesis 19:12-17 we read, “Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place; for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city.” But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be jesting. When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, one said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away.”
The Lord gave a strong warning to Lot and his family and it was told that “don’t look back”. We can see that Lot’s wife was so much attached to Sodom and Gomorrah and she was influenced by it. She clearly ignored Lord’s warning but Lot followed it. Here we need to take heed not to get influenced by the world and we need to be attached to Jesus. Like we read in the Bible “I am the wine and you are the branches” (John 15:5). We should abide with Christ. Like a fish living in a salty sea, though the fish is in salty water they do not become salty. In the same way God wants to keep us in the wicked world as a living testimony in this world. In Mathews 6:21 it says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be.” In 1 John 2:15-17 also we read like this. “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”
In Gen 19:15 onward we see how God asks Lot to get out of that city with the family. God really wanted to rescue them from the city that was going to be destroyed. But we know what happened to Lot’s wife – she became a Pillar of Salt. Here we see that we need to run a race that God has set for us. We have to finish it properly as per the will of God. The cross is before us and world behind us. In Philippians 3:13,14 also we see what Paul is saying about forgetting what is behind and reaching forward for what is ahead and to run the race (upward call) which God has kept for us. Luke 9:62 also we see that the man looking behind is not for the kingdom of God. So let us take heed and always remember this warning what happened to Lot’s wife. God has shown mercy on her to know that the city is going to perish and gave a way of escape and God had given yet a righteous husband but yet she looked back and perished on the way. In the same way God has shown mercy over us and he has given the salvation and given everything what we needed. He has blessed us beyond measures, but God is expecting us not to get influenced by the world. God wants us to finish the race properly. He doesn’t want us to have a tragic end. The coming of the Lord is very near and everything in this world is going to be destroyed. In 2 Peter 3:11-14 we see clearly what is our real expectation and what we look forward to. In order to reach that goal, we need to be spotless and blameless in the sight of God and we should be ready for His coming. We are not of this world, the world is for destruction. As written in Hebrew 10:38,39 “But My righteous one shall live by faith and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”
We need to finish the race looking unto Jesus. May God help us to run the race in diligence.
