When God overthrew Sodom, He remembered Abraham and heard his intercession. Hence, Lot was saved from the destruction of the burning fire (Gen. 19:27-29). His wife, however, became a pillar of salt (Gen. 19:26), which is a sign of shame, and his two sons-in-law also were destroyed in the burning fire (Gen. 19:14-15).
Although God rescued Lot because He remembered Abraham’s intercession (Gen. 19:29), Lot, after being rescued, did not go back to Abraham to be helped again to follow God by faith. He acted on his own and, still exercising his own choice, he begged the angels to allow him to flee to a small, nearby city named Zoar. Eventually, he took his two daughters with him and dwelt in a cave in a desolate mountain. There, in a cave, where he was separated from his brother and was alienated from God, he became drunk under the manipulating of his two daughters, who had been influenced and corrupted by the wickedness of Sodom and thereby had lost their sense of shame. Hence, he committed incest and brought forth two sons, who were cursed by God to such an extent that even to their tenth generation they were not allowed to enter into the congregation of Jehovah forever (Gen. 19:30-38; Deut. 23:3). This was the issue of his taking the way of alienation from God, after having been warned twice and still not coming back to Abraham.
Lot was a righteous man who believed in God, and he was also oppressed by the licentious manner of life of the Sodomites (2 Pet. 2:7-8). However, he could not do anything about it; moreover, he had lost his position to help them. This is proved by the fact that his sons-in-law considered his word as mockery (Gen. 19:14). Even so, he still was not willing to depart from the evil place of fornication and come back to the place where he could have fellowship with Abraham, bear God’s testimony with him, and be kept and blessed by God. These various aspects of his life, on both the positive side and the negative side, all have become a model, serving as a warning to those who would later take God’s way of life by faith.
Abraham and Lot represent two categories of people who answer God’s calling, and the two ways that they take with the two kinds of results. Abraham was the father of the new, called race. Because God appeared to him, by faith Abraham accepted God’s calling and obeyed God to go out from his country, his kindred, and his father’s house. When he arrived at the place that God had promised to show him, he could not immediately possess the land. So, by faith he dwelt in the land as a foreigner, and he believed God’s word of promise: that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. Thus he was justified by God and became the father of all who are justified by faith. Abraham took the way of faith and lived the life of faith. The way he took was the way of faith, and the life he lived was the life of faith. Furthermore, he lived in fellowship with God, and God considered him His intimate friend and supplied his need in a timely manner. Abraham overcame the striving of his brother and gave in to his brother, and he fought and interceded for his brother and was heard by God. As a person who lived by faith and in fellowship with God, he was favored by God with the promise that all the families of the earth would be blessed in his seed and that he also would become one who would be blessed and not be cursed. Although he was a great man who had faith in God, he still had defects and weaknesses and was not fully mature in the spiritual life. Hence, he cannot signify a complete, spiritually mature person; he can signify only the initial stage of the experience and life of a spiritually mature person. Isaac and Jacob with Joseph were still needed to complete the latter stage in the experience and life of a complete, spiritually mature person. In spiritual significance, these three represent the three aspects of a spiritually mature person.
Lot was never clearly called by God, but he participated in God’s calling simply because he was willing to follow Abraham. However, he took the way of going back to the world, and he entered into Sodom, a city that was extremely wicked and sinful. Later, although he was rescued twice through Abraham, he did not go back to him to be helped again to follow God by faith. Instead, he took his two daughters with him and dwelt in a cave, where he was separated from his brother and was alienated from God. There he became drunk under the manipulating of his two daughters, who had been influenced and corrupted by sin and thereby had lost their sense of shame. Hence, he committed incest and brought forth two sons, who were cursed by God. These aspects of his life became a model, serving as a warning to those who would later take God’s way of life by faith.