Let us go to Genesis 19. I will begin reading in verse 12. This is the chapter that speaks of the destruction of Sodom and the cities of the plain. We read in Genesis 19:12-22:
And 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: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of JEHOVAH; and JEHOVAH hath sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for JEHOVAH will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; JEHOVAH being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
Zoar is a very interesting city. It is interesting how it was one of the five cities of the plain and yet Zoar was not destroyed. The other four cities were destroyed but not Zoar. So I would like to take a look at this a little bit to see if we can understand this account of Zoar.
Over the years, some people have tried to say that when God was commanding Lot to escape to the mountain, the mountain had to do with God and His Word, which is true. They have therefore tried to relate this to Matthew 24 where God says, “Let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains.”
So here we find Lot in Sodom and God commands him, “Escape for thy life…escape to the mountain.” We know that Matthew 24 is dealing with those in the churches who are referred to as Judaea, and God commands His people that when they see the “abomination of desolation” or the “man of sin” or “the beast” or “Satan,” which are all names that he has—they are all synonyms—when they see him “in the holy place” or the church, they are to “flee into the mountains.”
With this knowledge, they have gone to Genesis 19 and said, “God commanded Lot to flee to the mountains but Lot went to Zoar instead.” Then they tried to associate Zoar with fellowships and have said, “Well, you see, when people come out of the church and they form a fellowship or they attend a fellowship then they are not fleeing to the mountain.” But what they fail to do is to take the word “Zoar” and show from the Bible how this would be true.
It is easy to associate words and thoughts with certain Biblical ideas. It is easy to just say, “Zoar, yes that is referring to fellowships. This is talking about when people come out of the church and they then become part of a fellowship.” But where did they get this idea? Where is the Biblical justification for making this kind of statement?
There is none and there never has been. We will see that fellowships are not what God has in view by these people who came out of Sodom, Lot and his family, and went to Zoar.
Let us look first at Sodom because Lot was in the city of Sodom and was fleeing Sodom. God uses Sodom as picture of the end of the world. Turn to Luke 17. We read in Luke 17:28-30:
Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
So just as Jesus uses Noah and the flood and the world prior to the flood as an example of His coming, He uses the example of Sodom in relationship to His return.
If we go to 2 Peter 2:6-7, it says:
And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
So here God is speaking of Sodom and Gomorrha as an example to those who live ungodly.
There is a similar statement in the book of Jude, which is a one-chapter Epistle that is right before the book of Revelation. We read in Jude 1:7:
Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
So Sodom’s destruction was an historical example. It was an historical parable in that it was true history because God did destroy it; however, He destroyed it for the purpose of teaching and instructing us about the end of the world.
As the Bible instructs us, Sodom and these other cities were:
…set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Eternal fire will fall after five months of torment, which begins on May 21, 2011. And God refers to this whole five-month period as a single day, just as He spoke of Israel’s forty-year wilderness wandering as a day in Hebrews 3.
So when Judgment Day comes, five months later on October 21, the Lord will just melt the whole universe with a fervent heat. This fire will eternally destroy the world, the universe, and all of the unsaved people who are left on this earth, which will be an “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.”
The wrath of God that man’s sin has kindled, since God is a consuming fire, will destroy this creation along with all of the rebels forever and ever and ever. This is what the Bible teaches. They are gone, they perish, they cease to exist, and there is no more of any type of existence for these people. As God’s people go into Heaven, even the memory of the unsaved will be forgotten because the Bible tells us, “There is no remembrance of former things.” The unsaved themselves will know nothing anymore because they will be gone.
So we are reading about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. There were two other cities, Admah and Zeboim. Four cities of the plain were destroyed, and we are told that the destruction of these cities by fire and brimstone were an example of eternal fire. But as we have learned and as we know, there is no fire still burning over there, and yet this is our example [of eternal destruction]. God destroyed them and that was it. They were judged. They were wiped out, and so will those be who are left behind, as will this whole earth.
So one way that the Bible looks at Sodom and Gomorrah is as a picture of the end of the world. A second way that the Bible looks at Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities is as a figure of the church.
Turn to Deuteronomy 32:30-32, which says:
How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and JEHOVAH had shut them up? For their rock is not as our Rock…
This Rock is Christ. It continues:
…even our enemies themselves being judges. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:
The Lord is referring to Israel, His people, as they represent the church. Their vine is not Christ. God tells us, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.” But this says:
…their vine is of the vine of Sodom…
Their vine is one of wickedness and evil. They do not have the truth. And their fields are:
…the fields of Gomorrah…
So they bring forth these grapes of gall and bitter clusters, and there is no fruit.
By the way, what was the particular sin of Sodom? What was their particular sin?
We read again in Jude 1:7:
Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh…
“Going after strange flesh” is a reference to homosexuality. This is just another way of saying it. It is not proper to say this in the world of our day because the world of our day pushes to make homosexuality very acceptable and just an alternative way of living. They want us to believe that there is nothing wrong with it.
I would never dare point my finger at anyone else; however, the Bible says that homosexuality is sin, just like other sins. We all commit sin and one sin that people commit is the sin of homosexuality.
But when two men or two women get together where today they are even marrying, can they bear fruit? Can they have children? No, they cannot. There is no fruit from this kind of a relationship.
The point is that in Deuteronomy 32, God is likening Israel, the church, to Sodom who went after strange flesh because they could not bear fruit, and the church of our day cannot conceive. They cannot have any spiritual children. There cannot be anyone being born again because God left the churches and congregations.
There is absolutely no way that the preaching in the church of any church in the world today can produce the faith that the Holy Spirit must produce in someone’s life because the Holy Spirit has departed out of the church. Therefore, Sodom is a picture of the churches, especially in their lack of fruitfulness.
Let us go to Isaiah 1. In the earlier verses, this is again speaking of Israel, and we read in Isaiah 1:9:
Except JEHOVAH of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
God is now addressing the leaders of Israel. In actuality, He is speaking to the pastors of our day. We read next in Isaiah 1:10:
Hear the word of JEHOVAH, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
The “people of Gomorrah” are the members of the congregations.
This is a very serious thing that God is saying to the people of the churches. He is telling them that there is no difference between them and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. But in actually, He tells us that there is a difference, is there not? The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were not as great as the sins of the church of our day.
We see the sin of homosexuality in Genesis 19 as the men of the city were pressing at the door and called unto Lot, “Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them,” and yet God tells us in Ezekiel 16 that the sins of the church of today, as well as Israel of old, put to shame the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. In Ezekiel 16:46-49, we read:
And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. As I live, saith the Lord JEHOVAH, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride…
Pride is the number one sin. Is the church of our day proud? Yes, they are so proud that they even refuse to listen to what is coming exclusively from the Bible regarding May 21, 2011. They do not believe that they have to listen to this. They think that they are the pillar and foundation of the truth. But, no; no, they are not. God is and His Word is.
It continues:
Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
If we would examine this, it all points to the failure to bring the true Gospel to the people of the world, to God’s elect who are out there in the world, the poor and the needy. They are not helping them in any way. Rather than the pastor or the shepherd feeding the flock, they are feeding themselves of the flock.
It is easy for people to get offended, “This sin of homosexuality in the world today is very offensive.” Yet God, knowing full well that homosexuality was the sin of Sodom, says that the sin of the church today is worse, far worse.
So do not try to bring up those who practice homosexuality. Do not try to bring up the sins of Hollywood. Do not try to bring up the people of the world and how wicked they are. Instead, the church is to take a look in the mirror because God is telling them that their sins are far worse than what is out there in the world. The institution of marriage is broken and we have a very high divorce rate. These things are not because of Hollywood or the world. They are because of the teaching in the churches; therefore, God repeatedly uses Sodom as a picture of the church.
Turn now to Jeremiah 23:14 where we read:
I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
Another verse to go to is in Revelation 11 where God really spells out that He has our day of the Great Tribulation in view. The two witnesses were slain and their dead bodies were lying in the street, as it says in Revelation 11:8:
And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
Jesus was crucified outside of the walls of Jerusalem. He was not crucified in Sodom. He was not crucified in Egypt. He was crucified outside of Jerusalem.
Revelation 11 is also speaking of the two witnesses who prophesied “a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.” They were ministering the Gospel to the whole world, and so this has to be pointing to the whole New Testament Era that is in view. Then the two witnesses are slain, which points to the end of the church age in 1988. Then the Bible tells us that “their dead bodies shall lie in the street.” Then God identifies that street as belonging to Jerusalem, “which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt.”
The church of our day is called Egypt because Egypt is identified as the place of bondage. Egypt is referred to as “the house of bondage” because Egypt was where God’s people were in slavery. Egypt is also likened to the kingdom of Satan and the spiritual darkness that men are in. Satan rules over the kingdom of darkness, just like Pharaoh ruled over Egypt, and today the church is as Egypt because there is no deliverance. Everyone in the churches has returned to bondage because they are not being freed from their sins in any way. And the church is called Sodom because of their wickedness. As we have already seen, the church has done far more wickedness than its sister Sodom.
So these are the two ways that the Bible looks at Sodom. Sodom relates to the end of the world and to the church. Therefore, as Lot is leaving Sodom, he hears the warning to escape with his life because the city is going to be destroyed. Then Lot flees and later Sodom is destroyed.
We know that the destruction of Sodom is a picture of the end of the world, as we see the language of “fire and brimstone.” God tells us clearly that they were “set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” Churches are in the world and these churches are going to be destroyed. Anyone left behind in these churches will be bundled as a tare for the burning. This is what the Bible tells us.
But we are wondering about these five cities and why it was that four of them were destroyed while one was not. We find something interesting concerning these cities in Genesis 14. We read in this chapter of a battle going on between kings. There are four kings against five. This is the battle where Abraham’s nephew Lot is taken captive. Abraham then arms his trained servants. He had 318 servants, plus himself, 319. Then he also had three other men who were leaders, for a total of 322 men. This breaks down into 2 x 7 x 23, and we can see how these numbers relate to our day. Notice that it says in Genesis 14:8:
And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim [or the valley of salt];
These five kings lost the battle. Captives were taken, including Lot and others. Then Abraham went and recovered the captives, which is a great picture of God delivering His people who have been taken captive.
But we see here that Zoar was initially called Bela. We see also that Zoar was in league with Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim. Zoar was together with them. They were all allies. They were supporting one another and fought together in battles. There was no difference between Zoar and these other cities.
Why was it that God destroyed Sodom? He destroyed Sodom for their wickedness. Why did He destroy Gomorrah? He destroyed them for their wickedness. We have the same situation with Admah and Zeboiim. He destroyed them for their wickedness.
Was Zoar not wicked? Yes, it was. Actually, the name Bela, which is what it was called at first, means “swallowed up” or “devoured.” It is word that has to do with judgment. They were a people under the judgment of God. God was angry, not only with the other four cities, but also with the inhabitants of Bela or Zoar.
Is God not angry with the wicked every day? Does He make a distinction between one people and another? No. The situation could have been that Sodom or that Gomorrah sinned a little bit more than the other cities of the plain, but sin of any kind brings God’s wrath and His judgment. They were all guilty. Zoar should have also burned with fire and brimstone. It should have also been destroyed like the other cities; however, it was not. This is what is interesting.
Turn to Deuteronomy 29:23 where we read:
And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which JEHOVAH overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:
God was very angry with these five cities, and yet He spared one of them. And He is angry with the world today, without exception, except for those whom He has saved.
As you read through the Bible, except for Genesis 14 and Genesis 10 and here, it is interesting that these four cities that were destroyed are normally not named together. Here is one of the few places where they are all named together; however, normally you find Sodom and Gomorrah joined at the hip—Sodom and Gomorrah, Sodom and Gomorrah. In Hosea, you find just Admah and Zeboim named without the other two. In Hosea 11:8, we read:
How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.
So basically God is saying the same thing as “Sodom and Gomorrah” because He destroyed Admah and Zeboim; however, here for His own reasons, instead of saying “Sodom and Gomorrah,” He used these other two lesser-known cities.
When referring to that particular destruction, so many times I have just said “Sodom.” I have said this so many times, or I have added “Gomorrah.” Occasionally, I have said, “the cities of the plain” because I forgot the other two cities, and yet there were four cities that were destroyed. They were all under God’s wrath. He was angry with each one, and He was also angry with Zoar, which was Bela. It was not until later that Bela’s name was changed to Zoar. It was originally Bela.
It is interesting that in Genesis 14, God says, “Bela, which is Zoar,” even though He is not going to change the name to Zoar until Genesis 19. And what happens in Genesis 19? In Genesis 19, Lot is pleading with the Lord to allow him to enter into Zoar. We read in Genesis 19:20-22:
Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.
In the next verse, it is the Lord who is speaking:
And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
So here God changes the name. Even though He made reference to this earlier in Genesis 14, He is God and He knew what would later happen.
So the name Zoar means “a little one.” This is what Lot was saying, “It is a little one,” and then he repeated it, “Is it not a little one?” God heard him in this matter and changed the name of the city to Zoar, which means “a little one.”
If we go elsewhere in the Bible to find references to Zoar, we can go to Deuteronomy 34:1-3:
And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And JEHOVAH showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar.
Zoar was in view with the Promised Land.
If we go to Isaiah 15, we find another reference to Zoar. We read in Isaiah 15:1:
The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence;
Moab is a figure of the church. To be “laid waste” is language pointing to God’s judgment on the churches and congregations. This is what this context is dealing with.
Then we read in Isaiah 15:2-5:
He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo…
If you remember, Moses went up to Mount Nebo. It continues:
…and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off. In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly. And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh: their voice shall be heard even unto Jahaz: therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out; his life shall be grievous unto him. My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar…
Here is some interesting information in Isaiah 15:5:
My heart…
This is referring to the Lord.
…shall cry out for Moab…
Moab is a type of the church.
…his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar…
Remember that Sodom is also a picture of the church and Sodom had some fugitives who were fleeing: Lot, his two daughters, and his wife. They were a picture of those coming out of the church, and where were they going? God told Lot, “Escape to the mountain,” and Lot basically said, “Permit me to go to Zoar.” So Isaiah 15 is using a different country, Moab, to typify this same thing, the church, and yet it is saying something very similar to Genesis 19.
There are a couple of other references. Let us go to Jeremiah 48. We read in Jeremiah 48:28-29:
O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole’s mouth. We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.
What was Sodom’s problem? God said in Ezekiel 16 that Sodom’s number one problem was pride, because this is the problem of the church. When someone just refuses to listen, it is pride. It is nothing but pride and arrogance. Here in Jeremiah 48, God is just emphasizing this repeatedly as we see the words “pride,” “exceeding proud,” “loftiness.” This is what pride is by the way. It means to lift oneself up or to exalt oneself.
When people accept Christ, they are saying that they are saved; but if they are saved, they are immediately transported into the heavenlies to be seated at the right hand of God in Christ, and this is a very high place. When someone says, “I am saved” or “I accepted Christ” or “I brought salvation to myself,” they have exalted themselves unto Heaven like an eagle, and God says of them that He will bring them down.
This is a Biblical principle for those who lift themselves up. What goes up must come down. When God lifts you up, He says, “Take the lowest room.” We are not to take that high room where everyone can see us, the room that we think we deserve. No, we are to take the low room and wait, as it says in Luke 14, “Go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher.”
In other words, this is the Gospel. You know that you are a sinner. The Bible has said it. You have acknowledged it. You realize that you are under God’s wrath and that you are subject to death and to destruction. You know as well that this is coming soon. Okay. This is the very lowest room, a very humble place. Stay there. You can cry to God for mercy. You can beg Him and beseech Him and plead with Him that He might lift you up, but never do anything or take any action to start climbing up yourself. The Bible’s principle is that whoever will humble themselves, God will lift up; whoever will exalt themselves, God will put down.
Continuing in Jeremiah 48, we read next in Jeremiah 48:30-31:
I know his wrath, saith JEHOVAH; but it shall not be so; his lies shall not so effect it. Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres.
Then we read in Jeremiah 48:33-34:
And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting. From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, and even unto Jahaz, have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even unto Horonaim, as an heifer of three years old: for the waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate.
Here once again we find Zoar and we also find this reference to “an heifer of three years,” which relates to Genesis 15 when God had Abram (Abraham) cut up the animals for sacrifice, because one of them was a heifer of three years. Therefore, this relates to God’s covenant. And, again, Moab is a picture of the church that has a relationship to God’s covenant and to His Word.
Let us return to Genesis 19. Again, Lot pleaded for Zoar and God says in Genesis 19:21:
And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.
This shows us that it was God’s intention to overthrow the city of Zoar. Why did He not do this? Zoar was just like the other four cities, and yet Lot’s intercession for this “little” city that was very near to Sodom saved the city. God spared this city. This is the reason that He says:
…I have accepted thee concerning this thing…
This is just as God had said to Abraham when Abraham was pleading for Ishmael, “And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee.” So Lot’s prayer was heard and God did not overthrow Zoar.
Then He says in Genesis 19:22:
Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither…
What did God mean by saying, “I cannot do any thing”? He meant that He could not destroy Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim. He could not do it.
Could God have brought the flood if Noah and his family were not in the ark? No. He would not destroy the righteous with the wicked. Far be it from the Lord to do this.
So when Noah and his family got into the ark and God shut them in, it was then that God could act. It was then that He could bring the flood and destroy the world.
So what does this begin to make us think about Zoar? It is a city where God cannot do what He wants to do in pouring out fire and brimstone upon it until Lot and his family enter into it.
Then it says in Genesis 19:23-24:
The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then JEHOVAH rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from JEHOVAH out of heaven;
God waited at the boundary of the city for Lot to get himself and his family across that boundary, then fire and brimstone rained down.
This was not completely due to the safety of Lot and his family. It was also a picture that God was painting to teach us something about Zoar, and not that it represented fellowships. Zoar does not represent fellowships, does it? If you enter into a fellowship, is this going to save you? Far be it, right? Being part of a fellowship is not going to spiritually help anyone in relation to salvation, except that they might hear the Word in a fellowship just like they might hear it on the radio or over the Internet or any other place.
So what is it that God is waiting for regarding May 21 in 2011? May 21 is Judgment Day. We could say that this is the day when fire and brimstone is going to fall, even though this is not going to literally happen. That is not going to literally happen until five months later when the world will be destroyed by fire.
What God is waiting for is for each and every one of His elect to become saved. Once they are saved, they have entered into the ark, they have entered into Christ, and they have entered into Zoar. They have entered into safety, and it is “a little one”; it is a few; it is a remnant.
He is not saving great numbers out of the world, even though it looks like He is saving about 200 million at this time. Even so, 200 million out of 7 billion would still leave 6,800,000,000 who will not be saved. So it is a remnant. It is a small percentage of the world’s population. It is “a little one.”
Let us look at Ecclesiastes 9 in closing. We read in Ecclesiastes 9:13-15:
This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me: There was a little city, and few men within it…
This is because “many are called, but few are chosen.”
…and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: Now there was found in it a poor wise man…
Who is this “poor wise man”? This is the Lord Jesus. He is wisdom. He is wisdom and redemption. He is a poor wise man, “Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”
He is a poor wise man:
…and he by his wisdom delivered the city…
What kind of city was it? It was a little city. How many people did it have? It had few. It was a little city and a poor wise man delivered it:
…yet no man remembered that same poor man.
We can see how this relates to Zoar, “Is it not a little city?” Lot kept saying, “Is it not a little city?” What did this mean? I do not know. Historically, what was he trying to say? Maybe he was indicating, “It is only a small patch of ground. There are only a few people there. I know that You are very angry, but can I not enter into this city and find safety and refuge?”
This is like the plea to enter into a “city of refuge.” If you remember, the man who had slain someone accidentally would have to be on the run because the revenger of blood would have been chasing after him. He was allowed to run to a “city of refuge.” Once he crossed the boundaries of the city, the one seeking revenge could not harm him. The revenger would have to wait. If the slayer ever came out of that city, the revenger was allowed to kill him. The slayer would have to wait for the death of the high priest [to be restored to his own city], just like God’s people wait. If we do not yet know whether or not we are saved, we are waiting to know if Christ the great High Priest has died for us and for our sins.
We will stop here.