The Hand That Pulled Him Out

Lot is not an easy man to admire in Genesis 19. He sits in the gate of a city the Bible calls “exceedingly wicked” (13:13). He does a terrible thing at his own front door (19:8). His family laughs at his warning (19:14). And when the angels tell him to run, he does not run. “And while he lingered…” (19:16).

But God was merciful to a man like that. Three times in one chapter, God gives Lot something he has done nothing to deserve. A way out for his whole family: “Have you anyone else here?” (19:12). A hand to hold when he cannot make himself move: “the men took hold of his hand… the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out” (19:16). And a yes to a weak, frightened request: “I have favored you concerning this thing also” (19:21).

Lot even says it himself. Asking for the little town, he says, “you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life” (19:19). He knows he has been carried. He knows it was not his doing.

That is what mercy is. Not a reward for doing well, and not God pretending the wrong did not happen. Mercy is God choosing not to give someone what they deserve, and giving them what they do not. “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10).

And yet Peter calls him “righteous Lot.” “He delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day…)” (2 Peter 2:7-8). How can both be true? Genesis shows us what Lot did, and much of it was wrong. Peter tells us what was going on inside him: the evil around him grieved him. Both are God's Word, and both are true. A person can be counted righteous by God and still make terrible choices.

Which is good news for the rest of us. Paul says it plainly: “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5). If you are waiting to deserve God's rescue before you accept it, Lot is your picture. He did not deserve it either. He was taken by the hand.

There is a picture the Bible keeps coming back to after Genesis 19. It is a stick pulled out of a fire just before it burns up.

Amos uses it about Israel. God reminds His people of the times He rescued them when they deserved judgment: “I overthrew some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning” (Amos 4:11). Sodom is the fire. Israel is the stick that got pulled out.

Zechariah uses it about a priest. In a vision, Joshua the high priest stands before the Angel of the Lord in filthy clothes, with Satan accusing him. And God answers the accuser: “Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” (Zechariah 3:2). Then the filthy clothes come off: “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes” (3:4). He was pulled out of the fire, and then he was made clean.

Jude uses it about people we know. “On some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire” (Jude 22-23). That is the angels' job in Genesis 19 handed to ordinary Christians: take people by the hand.

And Paul says it is what Jesus has done for every believer. “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Colossians 1:13). Lot was carried out of a burning city. If you belong to Jesus, so were you.

Then Jesus adds a warning. “Remember Lot's wife” (Luke 17:32). She was pulled out too. She was walking away with the angels. And she turned back. Being rescued is God's work from start to finish. Not looking back is how we live once we are out.