Remember Lot's Wife
Armando reflects on wise words from JC Ryle
There are few warnings in Scripture more solemn than that which heads this page. The Lord Jesus Christ says to us, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Lot’s wife professed religion. Her husband was a “righteous man” (2 Peter 2:8). She left Sodom with him on the day when Sodom was destroyed. She looked back toward the city from behind her husband, against God’s express command. She was struck dead at once and turned into a pillar of salt. And the Lord Jesus Christ holds her up as a beacon to His church. He says, “Remember Lot’s wife.” It is a solemn warning when we think of the people Jesus names. He does not bid us remember Abraham or Isaac or Jacob or Sarah or Hannah or Ruth. No, He singles out one whose soul was lost forever. He cries to us, “Remember Lot’s wife.” It is a solemn warning when we consider the subject Jesus is upon. He is speaking of His own second coming to judge the world. He is describing the dreadful state of unreadiness in which many will be found. The last days are on His mind when He says, “Remember Lot’s wife.” It is a solemn warning when we think of the person who gives it.
The Lord Jesus is full of love, mercy, and compassion. He is one who will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax. He could weep over unbelieving Jerusalem and pray for the men that crucified Him. Yet even He thinks it good to remind us of lost souls. Even He says, “Remember Lot’s wife.” It is a solemn warning when we think of the people to whom it was first given. The Lord Jesus was speaking to His disciples. He was not addressing the scribes and Pharisees, who hated Him, but Peter, James, and John and many others who loved Him. Yet even to them He thinks it good to address a caution. Even to them He says, “Remember Lot’s wife.”
❖From the sermon “A Woman to Be Remembered" JC Ryle
When we remind people of Jesus’ words and acts we tend to forget moments like this. We also tend to not give the proper weight to words like this. Jesus wanted His hearers to remember the consequences of disobeying God's words. Jesus wanted to remind the hearers not to look back at the things of this world with yearning when God is delivering us from our sins and freeing us. We would do well to remember Lot’s wife. We would do well to remember the cost of loving the things of this world more than our Deliverer.
We tend to make excuses for why it's natural to long for the things of this world we are “giving up” for God. But there is nothing we give up for God that is worth comparing to what He has given us in His Son. Lot's wife was leaving her home, but that home was a place of wrath. Because she longed for it, she received the same. What do you long for?