We are told in Luke 18:28-32 that another day is coming of which Sodom is just a picture.  There will be a world wide catastrophic event when many are taken out at the rapture.  Now as Lot was saved from the destruction of Sodom, only because of Abraham, does it then not follow that there will be some taken out at the outpouring of wrath on the world because we are friends of Christ (John 15:14) and God remembers us?  Three times in Scripture we are told that Abraham was a friend of God.  One will do much for his friends.

            Does that then work both ways?  Lot’s wife would have felt quite safe because her husband, according to II Peter 2:8 was a righteous man.  But she died in the overthrow.  Luke 18:32 is very important here: “Remember Lot’s wife”.  The angels certainly wanted to do their best for Lot.  They even sent him out to talk to the rest of his family but they refused and died in the overthrow.

            There is something similar in Mark 2:1-12.  Here four men are carrying a sick man on a pallet to be healed.  They encounter a problem; there is such a packed crowd that they can’t get to Jesus whom they trust can heal the man.  So they climb up on the roof, remove some of the tiles and let the man down right at Jesus feet.  He was truly impressed by their faith.

            There were three things needed here on the part of the four:

            1-They must have a personal knowledge of Christ and bring the man to the right person.  (I think that some people supposedly saved today have not met the Christ of the Bible but a christ of someone’s imagination).  Remember, Jesus said there would be many false christs who would deceive many.

2-They must themselves believe that Jesus was able to help the man.

3-They must somehow know that Jesus would not be angry because they interrupted His teaching.

“He seeing their faith”: this can have many applications.

Remember the old story of Ali Baba and the forty thieves?  They discover that Ali Baba is the one who has found and taken their gold and jewels.  The leader of the forty thieves comes to Ali Baba’s house.  He is invited to stay for dinner, but claims that the doctor told him he was not to eat salt for health reasons.  This arouses the suspicions of Marjana, the slave girl who kills the leader of the  thieves and with the help of the other slaves eliminates the forty thieves , too.

            There is a similar story in Genesis 18.  Here three men come to Abraham.  One is the LORD Himself and two angels although at first Abraham does not recognize them as such.  He sees three men and invites them to stay for a meal.  Abraham runs to the herd, picks out the best calf he can find, has Sarah get her women to work on the breads and puts a fine meal before them.  We also read that Abraham stands by and watches them as they eat.  As the host it was his duty to see that they would eat unhindered.  When someone came into your home he came under your protection.  We see another example of the Divine Humility.  The God of Infinite Power places Himself under Abraham’s protection.

            Now as far as commitment was concerned perhaps the most important part of the meal was the salt.  He would be a thoughtless host who did not set a small container of salt within easy reach.  Job, in chapter 6:6 raises the question: “Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt”?  On the other hand, it would be an insult on the part of the guest not to sprinkle the salt on his food.  Ali Baba’s slave girl did right in being suspicious of the guest who did not take the salt.

            Is it possible that there is really an obligation on God’s part?  It would seem so.  From there the LORD and the two angels left to destroy Sodom.  What would be Abraham’s greatest interest there?  It would be the fact that his nephew Lot was in Sodom.  We see in Genesis 19:29 that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out before He destroyed the city.  After all, He had no particular obligation to Lot.  We see that the LORD Himself went back to heaven and sent the two angels on to Sodom to execute His plan there.  It’s not hard to imagine that he left very specific instructions with the two angels to get Lot out of the city in time.

            When the angels came to Sodom it was Lot himself who took them into his house.  Now they were also obligated to Lot.  We see that they then made every effort to get not only Lot but also his sons-in-law out.  In the end, as Lot was lingering, one took his and his wife’s hand and the other the hands of the daughters and took them out of the city by force.  The rest didn’t want to come.  Lot, as a good host tried to protect his guests but failed.  Fortunately, the two angels had a back-up plan.  In Judges 13 there is a case where the LORD would not eat with someone.  We do not read of anything that God had against him, but for some reason did not place Himself under obligation.  Abraham was His friend: James 2:23.  For ourselves see John 15:14 and Revelation 3:20.

            The brothers are sent back with all the good things of Egypt, wagons for their wives and little ones and the news for Jacob.  There was no doubt much discussion on just how they would break the news to their father, especially the part of Joseph being sold into slavery.  Joseph, knowing how delighted Jacob would be just to know that his son was still alive added this wonderful bit of news; “Thou shalt tell my father of all my glory in Egypt”.  Will we ever have an opportunity like this?  Perhaps so.  Remember that Egypt is a picture or symbol of the world.  We read in Psalm 72:8: “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth”.

            We must keep in mind that the redeemed will “ever be with the Lord”.  Will there not be some who will be especially commissioned; to whom He will say, “Thou shalt tell My Father of all My glory in Egypt”?  This could be a few or a multitude.

                                       PROVERBS 11:3: “THE INTEGRITY OF THE UPRIGHT SHALL GUIDE THEM”. 

It is certainly true that the Word of God is our guide, as we see in many places in the Scripture.  We are told in Proverbs 3:6: “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths”.   The important point here is that we not only are to hear or read the Bible but also that we carefully “observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you”: Matthew 28:20.  God not only wants me to be a student of the Bible but he wants to see the Bible change me into being a righteous person; the kind of person He has in mind. 

            Proverbs 2:1-7 brings this out.  It begins by encouraging me to search the Scriptures with the same eagerness that I would have if I were digging for hid treasure.  I am assured that if I will do so He will give me wisdom and understanding.  But here is the point.  I do not automatically gain wisdom and understanding because I work so hard for it.  It is just that God promises that if I study His Word diligently He will  give to me His wisdom.  Everything is based on faith in the statements and promises of God.  Because I believe God I obey His commands  to study His Word.  Because I believe God I trust Him to fulfill His promises: “For the LORD giveth wisdom”.  The rest of the verse tells us where wisdom can be found: “out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding”.  The one, given the gift of righteousness knows in each situation the right thing to do.  Therefore: “The integrity of the upright shall guide them”.  I must always keep in mind that everything I have or ever will have is God’s gift to me, earned by the blood and death of Christ.

THE   BOOK OF WISDOM

            Proverbs 30:4 raises a different type of question.  In Proverbs Two we are told what we must do to please God, in Proverbs Thirty the man is really asking: “Who is this God”?  Can you imagine One coming to the man and telling him: “I Am the One Who created all this?  Not only that, here is a book which tells you how you are to live successfully.   Here I will quote the entire verse: “ Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? Who hath gathered the wind in His fists? Who hath bound the waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is His Name, and what is His Sons Name, if thou canst tell”?

God created the first man and the first woman, placed them in a beautiful garden and freely gave them all they needed.  Although they sinned against Him, He took on Himself the punishment for their sin and grants them all that is needed not only for this life but also for the endless life to come.  And all this, too, is free

The picture here is that God has provided for man a way from earth to heaven.  But Jacob, waking up sees something else.  To him this is a dreadful place.   As he says: “How dreadful is this place; this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven”.  Jacob met God. He found it to be a fearful thing.  He was face to face with One Who had all power in His hands, including Jacob.  We find in the Bible that it is the unbeliever who does not fear God.  Jacob calls the place  Bethel which means “house of God”.

Twenty years later Jacob returned to the promised land.  God told him to take his family and to dwell in the area of Bethel. It was there he had the dream and met God.  It was the “dreadful” place.  Jacob lived here with his family for a number of years.  Then he moved out of the area.     

It was after Jacob’s family moved out of Bethel that Jacob’s oldest son, Reuben, fell into a very serious sin.  And not only Reuben but Judah, too.  When in Bethel God appeared again to Jacob and he was richly blessed.  When he left the place of Bethel his sons caused him no end of problems.

Remember, Bethel was the “dreadful” place.  Once they moved away from Bethel there was the sense of being where God was not.  They lost the fear of God.  Fear is often a very good thing.  An absence of fear can be destructive for an individual or a society.   Has this not happened when we removed the ten commandments from our schools?

I know this idea is, to most people, hopelessly out of date.  The historical accuracy of the Bible was generally believed until the last 150 years or so,  The Bible itself predicted that people would stop believing this and other teachings of the Bible (particularly that of the flood of Noah) at the end of world history just before the Lord’s return to earth.  We find this in II Peter 3:3-7: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.  For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water; Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same Word are kept in store, reserved unto judgment against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men”.

God has recorded this in a Book.  This book gives to me the history of the world from creation not only but also considerable detail regarding future events and the end of the age.  The highly relevant thing to me is that God has given me this book.  This book  tells me of the history of the human race and therefore how I came into being.  Even more important I am told how to prepare for the endless life to come.  II Peter 1:3 explains this: “According as His divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life and holiness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue”.

There are two very important points here, made in the last few words.  The word glory speaks of heaven, the land of everlasting glory.  God has given us a book which tells us what we must do to ensure our entry into heaven.  The word virtue is simply an old English word for goodness,. In the Book God tells us His will to not only prepare us for heaven but also gives detailed instruction in this life; “which I command thee this day for thy good”: Deuteronomy 10:13.  We se the same thing in Psalm 84:14 which speaks of giving us “grace and glory”.  In other words; grace or help from God Himself to live in obedience to His Book amd glory when we die.

There are many things to say but I want to mention two:

1=God has given us the Book whioh we ignore at our own peril

2=God has given us a mind so that we are able to understand this Book: Isaiah 1:18: “let us reason together”

There are also two very important things in the last five verses:

1= Be careful to change nothing written in this book

2=Regardless of who you are “Come, its free”