“Remember Lot’s Wife”

Issues – May 2025 – Grace & Truth Magazine

“Remember Lot’s Wife”

About Lot’s Wife
“Remember Lot’s wife” (Lk. 17:32 KJV ) is the Lord’s solemn comment on Genesis 19. We may ask, “What about Lot’s wife?” She stands as the everlasting witness of the folly of not fully obeying the word of the Lord, when God’s word has declared what is coming on this scene. Lot’s wife is a picture of many souls: they would like to be saved, but they have not reached the point of safety. The Lord says to those ones, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Did she want to be saved? Yes. Did she desire to escape destruction? Yes. Did she make a show of escaping it? Yes. Did she escape it? No! She could have been saved, but she was not saved, even though she was not overtaken by the judgment on the cities. Not one tiny bit of brimstone or fire fell on Lot’s wife, but she was cut off.

Two points, I believe, come out about Lot’s wife: she was unbelieving, and she was disobedient. Dear unsaved reader, is not this what you are? Have you believed God? Have you obeyed the gospel? You know you have not! “Remember Lot’s wife.”

Because of her indifference, because of her coldheartedness, she was turned into a pillar of salt (v.26). She was a hypocrite: she appeared to leave the city, she appeared to be going to the mountain, but her heart was in the city. Lot’s wife did not really believe a judgment was coming. She said in her heart, “I see no sign of it; I will look back and see if what those men said is true.” Lot’s wife looked back and died there.

The Coming Judgment
Did the judgment come? Yes! Lot’s sons and the cities of the plain were all destroyed. God is not mocked; He does what He says! The Lord said, “As it was in the days of Lot … thus shall it be … when the Son of Man is revealed” (Lk. 17:28,30). This is not the Lord’s coming into the air for His followers, but His coming with them to the earth before the premillennial judgments.

The last act of the world toward Christ was to nail Him on a cross between two criminals. The last the world saw of Christ was Him dead between two thieves. Did they see Him when He rose from the dead? No! Did they see Him in resurrection? No! Have they seen Him in glory? No! Faith sees the Christ, but the world saw Him last on the cross, to which, with wicked hands, they had nailed Him. The world will see Him next in the day of which Luke 17 speaks, when He comes again and puts His hand to “His strange work” of judgment (Isa. 28:21).

Do you know, my friend, there is judgment coming? The world is like a murderer between the passing of his sentence of death and the execution of it. Condemned, he waits for the moment when he will pay for his crime. The world is like that; its condition is fixed. But what comes for individuals between the sentence for the world and its execution? A way of escape! You who have not taken that way of escape, “remember Lot’s wife.” She was one who knew there was a way of escape and did not take it! The angels dragged her out of Sodom, but that did not save her from the judgment of God, for she never reached the mountain. Halfway will not do; there is no safety halfway. We bring the message of coming judgment, but before it falls there is a way of escape for you, if you will take it.

You may say, “I do not think I shall live to see the world judged.” Very likely not, because the Lord may cut you down before the greater judgment comes. The Lord did not say, “Remember Sodom,” but “Remember Lot’s wife.” The woman might have been saved but for her awful folly. She was very nearly saved, but she was not saved! Lot’s wife was cut down by God’s hand in judgment because she did not believe the message. How solemn is the word, “Remember Lot’s wife.”

“Get Out!”
Genesis 19:12 says, “The men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? Son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place.” Are you the only one of your family? Have you any still unsaved? “Bring them out,” says God; “get them out of the world; break the fatal spell that binds them to the world of the dead, loose the chain that holds them; bring them out to Jesus.” God’s desire is for all to come to Christ.

“Out of the world?” Yes, right out, for if your heart is out of the world you are morally outside of this scene. A Christian brought to know Christ, having the joy of the Lord’s love in the heart, is entirely outside the present scene. If he is occupied in it, it is to get souls out of it.

How do I get my heart out of the world? I get a glimpse of Christ. I see Him doing a work on the cross for me whereby I can escape from the coming judgment. After rising from among the dead, He then went back to the glory. My heart will be attracted to Him there, where He is, and drawn completely away from the world. Home, then, is the place where He is who has won my heart, and this scene becomes a wilderness to me because He is not in it.

Fully Heed
Before God judges He always warns; and haven’t you, my friend, heard many warnings? Look at the grace of God in Genesis 19. The angels found their way to Sodom and were, so to speak, evangelists to the house of Lot. While declaring what would come, they pointed to the place of safety.

Consider what God has done! Before the day of judgment falls on the world, His own Son has stepped in and done a work on the cross, whereby the sinner may escape. There is a way of escape, and God works, the Holy Spirit works, and the Lord’s servants work to try to get us on the road that leads to a place of safety. The very fact of God’s sending a Savior is the irrefutable proof that we need salvation, and how will we escape if we make light of Christ, if we “neglect so great salvation?” (Heb. 2:3).

Have you not heard the message often, and yet you are unconverted? I would be willing, like the angels, to lay hold upon your hand and bring you forth, for you are like Lot, a lingerer still. You do not deny that judgment is coming, and yet you linger. Why be so careless about your soul? You might say you read the Word of God, you believe Scripture, you believe the truth of the shed blood and death of the Son of God, you believe the day of judgment coming. If you merely say you believe Scripture, you are in the world and of the world. The world knows very well who belongs to it, and God knows. God knew that Lot did not belong to that defiled scene – Sodom – and He “delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked” (2 Pet. 2:7). The angels said to Lot, “Up, get you out” (Gen. 19:12). And to you, unsaved soul, I say, “Up, get you out.”

Men talk of the progress of the world. Where is the progress? “Oh,” you may say, “look at science, the inventions, the improvements.” But, are children better behaved? Are workers more faithful? Are bosses more considerate and careful? Are husbands more tender? Are wives more prudent? No! The world is making great progress, but to what? To judgment! Did not Sodom progress? Yes, and all of a sudden it was judged. “As it was in the days of Lot … thus shall it be in the day that the Son of Man is revealed” (Lk. 17:28,30). In Lot’s day, people lifted their heads proudly and defied God, as they do now. Judgment came then, and it will surely come on this scene too. But that judgment is not what I press so now. Lot’s wife never experienced that judgment; she was cut off. “Remember Lot’s wife.”

Lot’s sons-in-law did not believe the word about coming judgment; they seemed to say, “If you are going to leave the city – give up the world – we are not.” They remained and fell in the judgment they courted. “Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city,” said Lot (Gen. 19:14). But what did the sons-in-law think? They thought he was a fool and was playing the fool for their amusement. They did not mock him, “but he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law” (v.14). The very idea of their city being overthrown was ridiculous; there was no sign of coming judgment. They refused the message that told them of the way of escape and perished in its overthrow. It was sheer unbelief. Has the gospel seemed to you as one who mocked? Search the Scriptures and see if these things are true.

I am not mocking you; I am warning you and delivering my own soul too. If you sink into the lake of fire – you will, if you do not come to Christ – you can never say in its depths that you were not warned. Oh, flee to Jesus, flee to the mountain, “Escape for thy life!” (v.17).

Perhaps you say, “I would rather stay where I am.” Very well, but you can never say you were not warned. Do you say, “Christians are not consistent”? I own it; but are God’s words true? It will be no consolation to you by and by that you did not believe because Christians were not consistent. Arise! Flee for your life; flee to the Lord now lest you never have another opportunity.

“Oh, but,” you say, “you do not expect the Lord so soon, do you?” I expect Him every moment, and I will tell you what, if He comes tonight, tomorrow you will believe. What will you believe? You will believe the Devil’s gospel. You will be a believer, but you will believe a lie. To all here after the Lord comes for His followers, “God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” (2 Th. 2:11). I have no doubt that part of the Devil’s gospel to you will be, “You are all right.” Satan will say, “You are getting on all right, now that you have gotten rid of the troublers.”

Those so-called troublers will have been taken up to be with Christ. The world will go on without the followers of Christ. Sons and daughters will be no more troubled by converted parents, brothers will be no more troubled by converted sisters. The troublers will be gone. If you are here then, you will be left to enjoy a satanic, balmy calm, untroubled by anything about your soul, until one day the bubble of fancied security bursts, and swift destruction falls, and there is no escape.

Oh, arise! Flee now while you may! Have you lingered long? Delay no longer. The Lord would lay His hand on you and bring you forth. You who have hesitated – have not decided – have not been in earnest about your soul until now, oh hesitate not, linger not, lest you enter judgment. “Remember Lot’s wife” lest the mercy of God be too long disregarded, and He shows no longer mercy but judgment.

Thank God you are still in life, here where the gospel is preached. If you had died yesterday you would be in hell! You who are half-decided, “remember Lot’s wife.” Will you refuse God’s hand that would touch you and lead you now to Jesus?

The angels dragged Lot’s family outside the city, but outside the city is not safety, out of the world is not safety. To have broken with old habits is not safety; to make good resolutions is not safety. You must get to the mountain – get to Christ!

The mountain, I take it, is the same place where Abraham had communion with God. The mountain typifies Christ – the only place of safety, God’s salvation, risen from the dead, the sinner’s friend. Listen to God’s exhortation to you: “Escape for thy life” (Gen. 19:17). Hear also God’s warning, “Remember Lot’s wife.” The Lord bids you to be warned by her and her solemn end.

She started on the road, but she never reached the mountain. Nothing can save your soul but Christ; anxiety will not save you, desire to be saved will not save you. Lot’s wife got out of the city, but she never got to the point of salvation. She turned around to see if there was any truth in what she had heard and if she might not yet get back to Sodom. Now she is a witness of the righteous judgment of God on a soul who was not real, was not true, did not with her heart believe the message. Tell me, shall it be the same with you? Will it be Christ and the mountaintop and safety, or judgment on the plain, meaning eternal judgment? Do you say, “I will think about it, I will think over what you say”? Then to you I again say, “Remember Lot’s wife,” one who turned aside when God said, “Escape to the mountain” (v.17).

Reach Christ you must. It is not how near have you gotten, but have you gotten to Him? I do not know how near Lot’s wife was to Zoar; she might have been just outside the gates and her husband going in, but she never went in.

I do not know where you are. You may be inches from Christ, but let me tell you, if you are but one hair’s-breadth from Christ, that hair’s-breadth will ensure your eternal damnation. You and Lot’s wife will be in the same case, eternal monuments of the righteous judgment of God on outrageous folly. You could have accepted salvation, but you did not.

God lingers over you, calls you, would drag you forth, points you to the mountaintop, points you to Christ. “Stay not,” He says, “do not stop or hesitate, there is no place of safety, peace or security, until you have got to that spot, the risen Christ in glory.”

You ask, “Didn’t Lot get to Zoar?” Yes, and he got safety there, but he did not get tranquillity. He had security, but he did not have peace. He had doubts and fears in Zoar, and soon he went to the mountain.

Going into Zoar is like people who desire to be saved but who want a little bit of the world too. “Is it not a little one?” said Lot, being half-hearted (v.20). Must I make a clean cut? It is a sorrowful thing to be in Zoar, for it is a kind of ditch into which the Devil likes people who are really converted to fall. He likes them to take a bit of the world with them. “It does not do,” he tells them, “to be too true, too out-and-out for Christ.”

O, my friend, escape for your life and flee to the mountain; never rest until you reach Christ. Look not behind, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Smoking corpses, a burning city and ashes throughout all the plain were things that remained to speak of the utter folly of disbelieving the warning of God. There was yet another thing, too. Had a traveler drawn near to Sodom that day, a strange sight would have met his eye – a pillar of salt! Charred? No! Blackened? No! There was no sign that the fiery judgment which fell upon the cities had touched the pillar of salt. But, it stood as the witness of the folly of going halfway, of being half persuaded, almost decided, but only almost. “Remember Lot’s wife.”

Decide Now
Whoever you are, decide for Christ now! Suppose the Lord were to shut the door tonight, where would you be? You, who think you would like to be a Christian some day, think it is a good thing to be a Christian, “Remember Lot’s wife.”

You who are hesitating, who are undecided and know the claims of the world, think of Lot’s wife – on her way to salvation but never reaching it, having her back for a moment turned on the world but turning around again. Let me beg you to decide now. The way is open; the Lord is calling you; the evangelist implores you. God urges you, and the Church would welcome you. Turn around; own your sin; confess your guilt; acknowledge your danger. Come to Jesus!

He will receive and pardon you. You will know His salvation, security and tranquility. There remains but one thing for you to do: get to Christ, reach Christ, believe on Christ.

How could you bear through the long morningless night of eternity to be the counterpart of Lot’s wife? And what is that? A person who was lost within sight of salvation, who went down to the pit bypassing the open door of heaven. Oh, do not risk such a fate! Come now – turn now!

Remember Lot’s wife so you will never be like her. May the Lord give you to hear God’s word to you and to believe on His Son.

For us who are Christians, if there is but one day more before the return of our Lord, may we know what it is to do as these angels, to seek to drag, by the message of salvation, those whom we know out of the world and to draw them to Christ.

“Remember Lot’s wife.”

By W. T. P. Wolston