“Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city-take them out of this place!” (Genesis 19:12 NKJV).
When God was set to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, He showed great mercy to Lot, Abraham’s nephew. God sent His angels to bring Lot and his family out of the evil city before raining brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah.
While bringing Lot out of Sodom, the angels asked Lot a very crucial question and also gave him a wise counsel which is still very relevant to us today.
The crucial question is, “Have you anyone else here?”
The wise counsel is, “Take them out of this place!”
Genesis 19:
12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city-take them out of this place!
13 “For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.” (NKJV).
Knowing the fierce wrath of God that was about to befall the ungodly people of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot immediately went out to warn and rescue his sons-in-law.
This is also what is expected of the believers today who know the fierce wrath of God that is about to fall upon the ungodly in this generation.
Paul said, “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…” (2 Cor. 5:11 NKJV).
If you also truly know the terror or fierce judgement of God that is reserved for the ungodly men, you will passionately warn them to flee from the wrath to come (Luke 3:7).
How could you claim to love your family and friends and yet not passionately warn and persuade them to flee from the wrath of God that is coming upon the sinners who despise, ignore and reject the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ?
Sadly, all the sons-in-law of Lot didn’t take his warning and persuasion serious, for they thought he was merely joking. So, they all perished with the rest of the ungodly people in the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The Scripture records, “So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.” (Gen. 19:14 NKJV).
Similarly, there are many scoffers in the world today who jeer, mock or treat the Gospel of Christ and the warning about the coming judgement of God upon the world with contempt. They will weep, mourn and perish with the rest of the ungodly men, just as the sons-in-law of Lot.
Solomon warns, “Judgments are prepared for scoffers, and beatings for the backs of fools.” (Prov. 19:29 NKJV).
Peter speaks of the coming of scoffers in the last days.
2 Peter 3:
3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,
4 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 creation.”
5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water,
6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.
7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. (NKJV).
After Lot and his wife and two daughters had been brought out by the angels of the LORD from the city, the LORD unleashed His fierce judgement upon the ungodly people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Genesis 19:
17 So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed…”
24 Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens.
25 So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. (NKJV).
Likewise, after the rapture of the saints from this world at the return of the Lord Jesus, God will begin to unleash His fierce judgement upon the ungodly people and everything in the world.
According to God’s Word, the vegetation will be struck by a torrent of hail and fire mingled with blood, thereby burning up all green grass and a third of the trees (Rev. 8:7). The seas will be struck and a third of all the living creatures in the sea will die (Rev. 8:8-9). The waters also will be struck and made bitter, and many men will die from the water (Rev. 8:10-11).
The heavens also will be struck; a third of the sun, a third of the moon and a third of the stars of heaven would be darkened (Rev. 8:12-13). Terrible and poisonous locusts will also be released from the bottomless pit to invade the earth and torment men. Their torment would be like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.
Paul writes, “For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.” (1 Thess. 5:3 NKJV).
John also writes, “In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.” (Rev. 9:6 NKJV).
Finally, after the great tribulation, the unrepentant sinners who shunned the free gift of eternal life God offered them in Jesus Christ will appear before the Great White Throne of God, not for them to state their defences, excuses, or apologies, but for them to be sentenced to everlasting torment, pain and sorrow in the furnace of unquenchable fire. (Mark 9:46. Matt. 22:13).
Revelation 20:
11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.
14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. (NKJV).
Unfortunately, many ungodly people in our cities and communities today are totally oblivious or unaware of God’s fury they would experience after the rapture of the saints, just as the ungodly men in Sodom and Gomorrah were totally unaware of the fury of God that was about to be unleashed upon them until Lot went out to warn them.
Who can warn or alert sinners today about the imminent fierce judgement of God if not the believers who know the terror of God?
Paul said, “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…” (2 Cor. 5:11 NKJV)!
Without any doubt, if sinners or the ungodly truly know and understand the fury of God that awaits them in the near future, many of them would cringe and run to the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy and salvation before it is too late.
The truth is this, it will also take your lifestyle, character or conduct as a believer to convince or persuade sinners of the certainty and imminence of rapture and God’s judgement.
God is not slack concerning His promise to punish and overthrow the ungodly in this evil world, but He is longsuffering towards us, not willing that any man should perish but that all men should come to repentance. But, it is certain that one day God will pour out His fury upon this world.
Romans 2:
4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds” (NKJV).
Beloved, as the day of revelation of the righteous judgement of God against the scoffers and sinners draws near, just as the angels asked Lot before destroying and overthrowing Sodom and Gomorrah, the Holy Spirit is asking and instructing you today, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city-take them out of this place!” (Gen. 19:12 NKJV).
Therefore, as Lot did, you also must go out now to warn and persuade them to believe, receive and surrender to Christ Jesus and thus escape the impending fierce judgement of God.
Don’t postpone this!
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor. 6:2 NKJV).
Friend, it is not good enough that you escape the coming judgement alone; your loved ones should also escape with you. Therefore, you must persuade and pull them out at all costs.
Give it all that it takes!
Your spouse, children, relations and friends must not perish with this evil world, but must escape with you.
Have you anyone else here?
Go out now and get them saved before the coming Great Tribulation and revelation of God’s fierce judgement!
Prayer: My Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for saving me from the wrath to come. My Dear Holy Spirit, teach and help me to warn and show others how to escape from the impending fierce wrath of God upon the world, in Jesus’ name. Amen.