THE HASTENING TIME by C. S.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 20, 1900

THE HASTENING TIME.

By C. S.

We are accustomed to speak of the present time in our experience as “the patient waiting time,” the “tarrying time,” the “shaking time,” etc. May it not also be called the hastening time, the time when true Christians will be hastened in their preparation for the kingdom of heaven, even as Lot was hastened out of Sodom, when its destruction was impending?

Studying the incidents that have been held up before us as illustrating the dangers and duties of the people of God in the last days, among them the one already alluded to, we find what may serve the purpose of illustrating such a period in our experience. Our Lord has declared that as it was in the days of Lot, “even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17:30. And we are admonished to “remember Lot’s wife.” Verse 32.

At the time to which our attention is called, when Sodom was about to be destroyed, of Lot and his family we read: “And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.” Gen. 19:15. There is always need of haste in the service of the Lord. But there are often special occasions, and crises, when more prompt and decisive action is necessary than would be imperatively called for under other circumstances.

We take the agencies here brought to view to be literal angels, sent forth to do the Lord’s bidding; and the events to be literal occurrences, recorded for our learning upon whom the ends of the world are come. But without stopping to argue this point, from all the circumstances of the case we can draw lessons concerning the manner in which we should deal with men, in order to arouse and save them:—

1. We must seek them at their homes. So the angels did to Lot: “they turned in unto him, and entered into his house.” Verse 3.

2. We are plainly to state the case to them. Thus did the angels to Lot. They said: “We will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxed great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.” Verse 13. They put in an urgent plea in view of the impending danger. They gave the message, through Lot, to his sons-in-law: “Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked, unto his sons-in-law.” Verse 14.

3. In love the angels resorted to violence: “The men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.” Verse 16. Two angels, with four hands, leading four rescued persons from the city of destruction! But we learn from this that to be started in the right way does not insure deliverance, as the sequel shows. Lot’s wife, turning and looking back, in grievous disobedience to the warning urgently sent them, was changed into a pillar of salt, a witness to after-generations of the truthfulness of God’s word.

In these times of peril, corresponding to the days of Lot, how we need to be hastened!

1. In the matter of general obedience we need to be hastened. How many can say, with David: “I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments”? “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for, and hasting unto the coming of the day of God?” 2 Peter 3:11, 12.

2. In coming out from the world. Lot “lingered.” “His wife looked back.” Some of her loved ones, and all her treasures, were there; and they were more to her than the special command of the Lord. And the words are sounding in our ears, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean; and I will receive you.” 2 Cor. 6:17.

But more than this; we have now reached the time when a special prophetic message calling for the complete separation of God’s people from all unlawful entanglements and impure connections is going forth. It was represented to John as a voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Rev. 18:4. To the same effect, the angels said to Lot, “Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.”

3. We need to be hastened in seeking the good of the families and friends of those in danger. The angels set us the example when they said to Lot, “Hast thou here any besides? son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city.” Gen. 19:12. They desired safety to be secured for all composing, or in any way connected with, the family of Lot.

The words of the angels in speaking of “sons-in-law” (Verse 14) doubtless throw light on the course of Abraham, in being so solicitous for the preservation of the city. He besought the Lord not to destroy the righteous with the wicked, and inquired if he would not spare the city if fifty righteous persons could be found therein; and the Lord promised to spare it for fifty; and Abraham kept on reducing the number till he had brought it down to ten; and the Lord declared that he would not destroy the city if ten righteous persons could be found there. Gen. 18:23–32. Abraham pressed his petition no further. But why did he come down to just ten, and stop there?—The reason, though not stated in exactly so many words, is one which refuses to be set aside. It is that the family of Lot was composed of just ten persons, all of whom he presumed, or at least hoped, would be found righteous; and so the city would be spared. But what reason have we to suppose that there were just ten persons in the family of Lot?—We have this: Lot and his wife and two unmarried daughters, specified in the record, would make four. Then he had more than one son-in-law; for they are spoken of, in verse 14, in the plural, “sons-in-law.” There were, therefore, certainly two. These and their wives would add four more to the family. The angels also spoke of his “sons;” this, being plural, would be at least two. Then we would have the list as follows: Lot, his wife, and two unmarried daughters, would make four; his two sons, and the two married daughters with their husbands, would make six more, or just ten in all.

There must have been some special reason why Abraham was so anxious for the Lord to pledge himself to spare the city if only ten righteous persons could be found there; and as Abraham was such a friend of Lot and his family, and was so solicitous for them, it could hardly have been any other reason than the one here mentioned.

But these ten, alas! were not all righteous; for when Lot went with the warning to his sons-in-law, he seemed to them as one that mocked; and doubtless they tried to offset his words by doing a little mocking on their own account. Thus they showed themselves to be reprobate. It was thus demonstrated that ten righteous persons could not be found in the city; and Sodom was lost.

People in modern Sodom, exposed to its polluting and benumbing influences, have need to be hastened as much as had Lot of old, in quickness of movement in spiritual things. “Escape for thy life” were the words of the angels to him. He had come where his very life was at stake. By settling in Sodom, where the outlook for worldly prosperity was so enticing, he now lost all his worldly property, hazarded his personal safety, lost seven tenths of his family, and fled at last from the place as a fugitive to save his own life. Association with sin does not pay, even in a worldly sense.

Sodom makes perseverance difficult; Lot thanked the Lord for saving his life (verse 19), but he had not enough faith to flee to the mountains, and so he complained, “I can not escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die.” The enemy still tries to harass us with doubts and fears, in the same way. As the old hymn says,—

“The first bold apostate will tempt you to stay, And tell you that lions are found in the way. He means to deceive you, escape for thy life; And look not behind thee—and look not behind thee— remember Lot’s wife.”

Sodom has a sluggish influence. Her iniquity was “pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness.” Eze. 16:49. To be so occupied with worldly things as to have no time to give to religion, is bad; but idle leisure is still worse. It is said that men who have nothing to do, seldom have anything to do with religion. When a certain young man first made an open profession of religion, his father, greatly angered, gave him this advice: “James, you should first get yourself established in a good business; then think of the matter of religion.” “Father,” replied the son, “Jesus Christ advises me differently. He says, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God.’”

Much of the beauty of obedience lies in its being done at once, and without question. This is the way the will of God is done in heaven. How long did Gabriel delay when commanded to visit the prophet Daniel, in answer to his prayer? The prophet began to pray. At the beginning of his supplication the command went forth; and when but a few words had been uttered, Gabriel was by his side, to impart to him the desired information. See the record, Dan. 9:21–23.

“And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot.” Have we not reached a corresponding period in our experience? Is not modern Sodom just now trembling on the brink of the precipice of its final destruction? And has not the message reached us, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee”? Isa. 60:1. Is there any time, therefore, now to linger? Should not the words now ring with tenfold power in our ears: “Up, get you out of this place; . . . escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain”? “Remember Lot’s wife.” “Escape to the mountain” of God’s love and righteousness, “lest thou be consumed.” C. S.