The story of Lot’s being rescued from Sodom and Gomorrah is a well-known biblical story. When you think of the story, what imagery comes to mind? The people of the town banging on the door? Lot running for his life? Lot’s wife becoming a pillar of salt? Lot’s daughters having children by him? Have you ever meditated upon Lot’s sons-in-law? Did you even know that Lot had sons-in-law? There is a very solemn reminder for all people in these two young men.

The angels had warned Lot of the destruction that was about to come. They said, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”¹ Lot obviously got the message, because he immediately went out to his sons-in-law and said, “Up! Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city.”² But what happened as a result of Lot’s urgent pleading? Moses writes, “But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.”³

Have you ever been struck by this response? Lot warns his sons-in-law to flee from the wrath to come, and they simply laugh it off as a joke. Does this strike you as odd? Don’t forget, these are not two random men; they are men who had earned the respect and favor of Lot to have his daughters in marriage. He must have loved them, and they him. They must have spent many hours together, gathered around the table in fellowship. Can you imagine how he must have wept over them? Surely he pleaded with them to be saved, begging them to flee from the wrath of God, and yet, regardless of the intimacy of their relationship, the honor they had given him, or his tears and groaning, on this occasion, they simply chuckled and considered their father-in-law to be making a jest.

The sons-in-law of Lot stand before us as a dead testimony to the foolish unbelief of the spiritually dead. Though the word of God is manifested in their presence through the preaching of Lot, testified to by living angels who strike men blind outside his door, yet these two spiritually dead men are so hardened to the gospel that they laugh it off. They consider the wrath of God a laughing matter and I assume they chuckled all the day long until the fire and sulfur of God rained upon their heads.

These two foolish men also stand before us as dead reminders of the reality of all those who reject the gospel of Christ. Do you not have many around you—loved ones, work colleagues, friends, enemies—that you have urgently warned to take refuge in the Son,⁴ and yet they have ridiculed and mocked you for it? There are millions and millions upon this earth that, just like these two men, consider the ambassadors of Christ to be fancy jesters set up for their entertainment.

Its all very reminiscent of the picture given to us in the book of Revelation. On three occasions we are told that the wrath of God is poured out upon the world.⁵ Yet, John tells us, the people of the world did not repent, but instead gnashed their teeth in anger at the lamb, rather than running to the lamb that would save them. It’s a very solemn reminder that those who perish in their sin do so because they do not want to be saved.

Given that the whole world is filled with those who are just like the sons-in-law of lot, what hope is there? The wonder of the gospel is that he who has sent us to proclaim Christ to the lost of this world is also he who is able to make the spiritually dead come to life. He who sent angels to rescue Lot, his daughters, and you, is the same one who delights to use us to save some. So pray that hearts and minds might be awakened and sinners brought to repentance and cry out like righteous Lot, warning sinners to flee from the wrath to come.

1. Genesis 19:12-13 ↩︎
2. Genesis 19:14 ↩︎
3. Genesis 19:14 ↩︎
4. Psalm 2:12 ↩︎
5. Revelation 6, 9, & 16 ↩︎