Luke 17:28-30 So also as it was in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but the day Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from the heaven and destroyed them all. Even so it shall be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
Yeshua (Jesus) gave us some signs and indications of what society would look like just before His return. One sign was the sign of Lot.
In Genesis, we read that Lot decided to reside in Sodom, where society had become so detestable before God that He destroyed that city and the cities of the plain with fire and brimstone. While Lot was ‘vexed daily’ [2 Peter 2:7-8] because of the evil that surrounded him, there is another aspect of this passage that I’d like to expound upon.
When God revealed to Abraham his intention to destroy the cities [Genesis 18:22-33], Abraham interceded with the Lord such that if merely ten righteous souls were found there, God would relent from his terrible judgment.
Just ten souls … and the cities would have been spared. Did Lot allow his community to silence him? This is the question I’d like to explore. While the Scriptures do not allude to it, I can only wonder that if Lot had preached the righteousness which burned in him, he might have preempted the wrath which Sodom’s sins were piling up.
Is one of the signs of this age that we who walk in the righteousness of Yeshua will be silenced by a society growing in evil and iniquity day by day? Apparently, it doesn’t take much these days to be “silenced”, at least not in the vast world of social networking.
We are called to be a light on a hill … not to hide our light under a bushel. It is not a time to be silent, but rather to be ever more resolved to share the good news of the gospel, even as never before, in the spirit of grace and truth!
Don’t be discouraged with the rapid decay of society around you, but realize this is merely a sign of the times. May the Lord continue to speak through you to reach this world around us … for we are not called to be silent!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Yeshua (Jesus) asked this man "Do you want to be made well?" Of course he did! Wouldn't you? Why did Jesus ask a question like this when its answer was so clearly obvious? It seems the Lord wanted to hear him verbalize his need.
When Elijah went up to to heaven, Elisha took up his mantle and walked in the power of Elijah. The Hebrew word for mantle is "aderet". It's root word is "adir", which means excellent, gallant, glorious, mighty, noble and worthy! Elijah was a man with these qualities. The mantle that Elisha received from Elijah meant a calling which was powerful. Elisha had earned it. When the two first met, Elisha had slaughtered the oxen he was plowing with, and burned them on the wood of their yoke as an offering. Then he followed and served the prophet until the day Elijah was taken miraculously to Heaven.
One of the paradoxes of our walk is that God’s gifts often require work on our part. After He delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians, the Lord led them to the Promised land and told them He was going to "give" it to them. It wasn't long before they realized, however, that they were going to have to fight battles and overcome fortified cities in order to inhabit the land. God did promise that they would not have to fight the battles on their own, but even with this divine advantage the Israelites themselves would be required to destroy their enemies – they would still need to fight.
A good pastor friend of ours told us that his congregation was experiencing some hardships and division. How often does this happen among us? It breaks my heart -- and I believe the Lord weeps over this too.
I came across an old article about "fake physicians". According to this article, many American citizens could be receiving medical treatment from doctors who lied on their medical school loan applications and used the money to pay a broker for fake documents. One guy was arrested and later admitted that he was paid beaucoup bucks to hand out approximately a hundred phony medical documents claiming that his clients completed their training! Can you imagine?!
I came across a powerful parable written by a Haitian pastor illustrating to his congregation the need for total commitment to the Lord.
Yesterday, actor Robert Clary of Hogan's Heroes fame passed away at the age of 96. Upon reading his autobiography, Mr. Clary was the youngest of 14 children. However, 10 of his siblings were tragically killed during the Holocaust. He survived his captivity in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in 1942. Upon reading his story, and with thanksgiving coming this week in the United States reminded me of another story by Corrie Ten Boom, a Christian survivor of the Holocaust because of her willingness to protect Jews during World War 2.