REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE by J. N. Loughborough

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 10, 1857

"REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE."

By J. N. Loughborough

Thus says our Saviour, as Luke records. Chap. xvii, 32. Solemn injunction—Lot's wife escaping in haste with her husband and two daughters from impending ruin, presumed to disobey the instruction of the Lord through his angels, and was turned into "a pillar of salt." What made her look back? Either she had doubts whether the Lord would fulfill his word, or else her mind began to run back to what she had left, and she began to desire it, and looked back to see if God had actually destroyed it. What horror, and anguish must have seized that company as they beheld that companion and mother suddenly arrested in her course, and standing before them a solemn warning for the disobedient, a cold and lifeless "pillar of salt."

"Remember Lot's wife." O! says one, if I had been she I should have expected something would befall me if I disobeyed the Lord; for she had such good evidence that these angels came from the Lord. As good as the evidence was, she seemed to find a chance to doubt, (and "unbelief can always find a handle," is in most cases, perhaps, a true saying.)

We consider this caution before us of great importance to those who live at the time when it was intended to apply. It must apply to a people who are fleeing (spiritually) from destruction which is impending over them, as she was fleeing literally from the destruction of Sodom. It must also apply to a people who are exposed to the judgments of God as she was, (although the judgment may not be the same,) if they pursue a similar course. In looking at this matter briefly, the first question before us is, to whom does this testimony apply? Did it apply to those to whom Christ was speaking? or does it apply to another class who should afterward exist? We think by examining the connection it will be clearly seen that it did not apply to those to whom Christ was speaking, but that it has its application to a class of people that should live in the last time. We find by looking at verse 20 that the subject introduced is respecting when the kingdom of God shall come. Christ shows them it will be (as recorded in Matt. xxiv) sudden and visible to all. No time then to say, "Lo here! or Lo there?" but the kingdom of God will be "among you." Margin. They will not have opportunity to say he is in the desert, or in the secret chamber, (that he has come in a secret manner, as Spiritualists now claim. One said to me in South Barre, N. Y., about one year since, "I believe Mr. Miller was right in preaching the definite time for the Lord to come, but he was mistaken in regard to the manner of his coming. His coming is now manifested through this spirit manifestations,") he will come "as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven."

The text before us, "Remember Lot's wife," has its application in a time when the world is as it was in the days of Noah and Lot. Not the day destruction had overtaken the world, and Noah was borne above the destructive element by the ark; or when Lot and his daughters were safe in Zoar, and the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah were writhing in fire and brimstone; but as it was in the days when Noah and Lot were bearing their testimonies to the people. How was it in the days of Noah? Those that heeded the testimony he bore, were preparing

for deliverance, while those who rejected it, "ate, drank, married wives, were given in marriage, until the day Noah entered into the ark, and knew not till the flood came and took them all away." We see by carefully looking at this testimony why it was that "they knew not." It was because their minds were so filled with thoughts of this earth that they took no time to know. We do not argue that it was a sin to eat and drink in the days of Noah, nor that it is a sin to eat and drink now. The sin then was in having the mind so absorbed with the things of earth that no heed was given to the testimony of Noah. Christ's testimony to those who live just prior to his coming is, "Take heed lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, (eating,) drunkenness, (drinking,) and the cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares." Christ would not give such a caution unless the mass were going to be all absorbed with the things of this world. It will be as it was in the days of Noah. While Noah was teaching the people that there was a flood coming, they were so absorbed with their cares that they had no time to heed his testimony; they were overcharged with their cares, and died in the sin of unbelief.

Verses 28-30. "Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all; even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. We see also that Lot's testimony was disregarded because they were busy with their cares. We do not understand that Christ means only, that when he makes his actual appearance, men will be overcharged, but in the time when a preparation is being made for Christ's coming, this world will be their theme; and because of its alluring charms they will have no time to heed the testimony that would prepare them for Christ's coming.

Verses 31, 32. "In that day, he which shall be upon the house-top, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife." An understanding of what "day" it is that we are not to "return back," if we are "in the fields," must settle our minds as to when it is that the Church of God are to "Remember Lot's wife." Verse 31 has been commonly supposed to have its application at Christ's second coming, but, we ask, how will this idea harmonize with Paul's testimony in 1 Cor. xv, 51, 52, where he shows that at Christ's coming the saints will be changed "in the twinkling of an eye," and in 1 Thess. iv, he shows that they will be "caught up to meet the Lord in the air." Is it consistent to suppose that the saints of God, after they are made immortal, and are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, need a caution, to "not return back" to take their clothes? It would seem more consistent to suppose that this testimony had its application just prior to Christ's coming, when testimony is being proclaimed concerning his coming. If the testimony applies here, it must be considered as a caution in regard to entangling ourselves with the cares of this world. The Lord's work in this time requires haste. There is no time for God's people to load themselves down with the perplexing cares of this life, but whatever they have to do with earth, their spirits should be free from its perplexities, and they occupy such a position that they can feel that God approbates them, and that whatever they do is with an eye single to his glory. If then we apply verse 31 to the time in which testimony concerning Christ's second coming is proclaimed, then those "on the house-top," and "in the field," must represent those who have cut loose in their affections from earth and earthly things; for they are represented as away from their stuff. Is not this the position God's faithful children occupied when the burning notes of the first and second angels' messages were sounding? If I am rightly informed concerning that time, there was a general cutting loose from the world. Those who had of this earth's substance, and felt the spirit and power of the message, laid their all upon the altar of the Lord. They occupied positions then that are fitly represented by persons "in the field," or "on the house-top." He that occupies this position, "let him not return back," or "come down to take his stuff." This testimony applies to a time when there is opportunity to turn back to the "stuff in the house," and not only opportunity, but danger of the things "in the house" overcharging us, so that Christ's coming will come upon us unawares. Is it not in this time in which we are living, when the coming of Christ to many seems to tarry? I think the candid reader will be satisfied by reading carefully Luke xxi, that we are in the time when Christ's charge will have its application, "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares."

As we see the spirit of worldlymindedness gradually stealing over the church of Christ, we see occasion for such testimonies as this, "Take heed lest ye be overcharged." O yes, say you, it is wrong to be overcharged; but you see I am in debt. I am owing, and must labor and pay my debts. This is the reply and excuse often made for indulging in the spirit of hurry! But let us reflect a moment here. Have we any right to place ourselves in a position where our mind and body must be on the rack from dark to dark six days in a week, and we have scarcely a moment to serve God? There may be cases where persons are unavoidably brought into debt and must labor to extricate themselves, and in such cases God's grace will be manifest if they trust in him; but if we rush headlong into debt, simply to increase our worldly treasure, how can we expect the blessing of God upon us? Better dispose of some that we are striving thus hard to pay for, than ruin our own souls by being overcharged with worldly cares.

"He that is on the house-top, let him not come down to take his stuff." If you have got the world under your feet, or in other words, have gotten the victory over the love of the world, you had better stay where you are. It is dangerous business to launch deeply into the world at this late hour; if it was not so we would not hear such language as the following from the lips of the Saviour, "Take heed," don't "be overcharged." If you are "in the field," away from your home, (this seems to be the position God's servants are called to occupy,) "let him likewise not return back." If God has called you to labor in his vineyard, you cannot turn back and settle down at home; into the vineyard you must go. We shall have a home soon if faithful, an eternal home, thanks be to God. To make this testimony (if possible) have a lasting impression upon us all, Christ adds, "Remember Lot's wife."

Dear brethren and sisters, is not this a solemn admonition to us? Are not we exposed to the awful judgments of God, if we come short of living as we should in this solemn time? We have been admonished by the faithful and true Witness. We have been shown our forlorn condition. We have perhaps made a few feeble efforts to arise, but where is our zeal, our untiring efforts in the cause of God? There is yet cause for the admonition, "Be zealous." If when we look at the Advent movement as a whole, we can see a declension from its original zeal and devotedness, we ought to bestir ourselves and be zealous in the cause of God, inasmuch as we profess to have light to show us where we are. But do we not see a declension among ourselves, since the note of the Laodicean testimony was sounded to us? Or shall we take the position that we never fully heeded it? I believe the latter is true. We felt perhaps that we would arouse, that we would "be zealous and repent," and live more faithful; but the cares of the world have checked these resolutions. Has this message accomplished all God designed it should for us? I think not, and my prayer is that God by his Spirit may set it home in greater power upon our hearts. Oh! the world, its pride and pleasures, how easily they find a place in our hearts! how liable we are to be charmed by them! We have been called upon to leave the world in our affections, ("Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John ii, 15,) we have professed to renounce the world, and is it so that we are looking back to its charms? Let us "remember Lot's wife."

In our profession we have separated ourselves from the world; but if we do not live out that profession we are tarrying on the plain with the world, although we may have stepped out of modern Sodom. God calls on us to take a position far above the world. "Ye are the light of the world. A city set on an hill cannot be hid." When Lot and his companions were out of Sodom, they were not safe yet. Said the angels as they laid hold of them to hasten them, "Stay not in all the plain." "Escape for thy life. Look not behind you." Brethren and sisters, shall we linger here? Shall we be satisfied while on a level with the world? The Lord help us to escape for our lives, and "Remember Lot's wife."

Battle Creek, Nov. 17th, 1857.