As I have pointed out many times, nearly all the seeds of the divine revelation are found in the book of Genesis. A seed is a primitive form of something. Although its size is small and its form is simple, once a seed has been sown into a field, it will grow. As it grows it takes on another form. First it is a sprout and later it is fully developed. Although the final form of its development is different from that of the seed, all the principles and major aspects of it are found within the seed. If we would understand Genesis 19, we must consider it as a seed which has its growth, development, and harvest in the following books of the Bible. Although the record concerning Lot and his daughters in Genesis 19:30-38 is a negative seed, concerning such an ugly thing as incest, it serves the positive purpose of giving us a strong, sobering warning.
In this message we must see the portrait of a most ugly thing-incest. Genesis 19:30-38, probably the first recorded case of incest in human history, is part of the section on living in fellowship with God. As we consider this matter, we must cover six points: the family, the father, the mother, the daughters, the seed, and the far-reaching and unsearchable mercy of God.
Firstly, we have the family, the group, and secondly, we have the father, the leader of this group. Thirdly, we have the mother who was the leader’s helper. The leader of any group needs help. The proper helper in a family is the wife, and in the Bible a wife is called a helpmeet. In figure, the wife in a family signifies a helper in life. This concept is according to the principles of the Bible. Consider the example of Sarah. Abraham had a family for God’s purpose, for Abraham alone could do nothing for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. He needed a helper in life. Although he turned to Hagar for help, she was not a helper in life but a helper in the flesh. Sarah was the unique helper, the one who had the function in life. Without her, Abraham could never have brought forth Isaac for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. The church today is a spiritual family in which there also is the need of the proper function in life to bring forth “Isaac” for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. As we shall see, at a certain point, Lot’s family group lost its function in life because the wife became a pillar of salt. She should have been salty and maintained a good flavor, but due to her worldliness she lost the function in life. In figure, becoming a pillar of salt indicates the loss of the function in life. Although there was a group with a leader, there was no wife with the function in life, only a pillar of shame. This is true of many Christian groups today. Although these groups have leaders, they do not have the proper wife with the genuine function in life.
Because Lot’s family had lost its function in life, it had improper members-the daughters. I am not happy to call the members of Lot’s group daughters, for the word daughters is a good term. What kind of people were they? Were they daughters or wives or mothers? I simply do not know what to call them. If you call them daughters, you must say that they were incestuous daughters. Although they might have been mothers, they were incestuous mothers. I feel ashamed to even speak of what they did. After lying with their father, the first daughter encouraged the second to do the same thing. How shameful! These were the members of Lot’s group. Many Christian groups today also have such improper members. They, like Lot’s daughters, desire to have the seed but do not care for the proper means. They may say, “Let us go to win souls,” but they win souls through the way of spiritual incest.
In 19:30-38 we have the group, the leader, the helper in life, the members, and the seed by incest. But praise the Lord that eventually the far-reaching and unsearchable mercy of God is seen in one of the descendants who came out of this incest. Ruth, a Moabitess, a descendant of Lot through his daughter, became the great grandmother of David and an ancestress of Christ. Is this not the far-reaching and unsearchable mercy of God? However, when we hear of this, we should not say, “Let us do evil that good may come.”
Home | First | Prev | Next