Before the flood came and swept the unbelieving away, God said to Noah, " Come thou and all thy house into the ark." Ere Jericho's guilty inhabitants-man, woman, young and old-were " utterly destroyed," " Rahab, her father, mother, brethren, and all that she had were taken to a place of safety " (Josh. 6.), for Rahab asked for the lives of her father, mother, brethren, sisters, and ALL THAT THEY HAD! (Josh. 2), and under the shelter of the scarlet line, they were all safe in that day of judgment.
It was to Lot that the word, " Hast thou any here besides? " was spoken. The angels announce to him that the hour of Sodom's destruction is at hand-" Hast thou any here beside? " say they, " son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in this city, bring them out of this place, for we will destroy this place " (Gen. 19.). What could have been more comprehensive than these words " whatsoever thou hast! " Ah, Lot! think over those whom thou hast in Sodom with thee thy wife, whom thou didst marry in Sodom, thy children begotten in Sodom, thy sons-in-law married to thy daughters in Sodom-go to them, plead with them, cry to them that this is their last opportunity: if they refuse thy voice to-night, they will to-morrow be destroyed. But Lot is as one that mocks unto his sons-in-law-his life had been worldly, and so he had no tower to testify to others of the coming judgment, for was he not as one of them, a citizen of their city? He himself is saved so as by fire, the Lord being merciful to him. He leaves the city with his wife and daughters; his wife looks behind her, and becomes a monument to all generations, that to walk towards heaven with the heart and eyes towards the world is utterly vain-that nothing short of a heart turned to God is salvation. When the clear day broke, all were destroyed, burnt up by the fiery tempest.
May we learn the Lord's lesson from these examples!
Jesus is coming-the world will soon be destroyed-for as it was in the days of Lot, so shall the day of the Son of man be. Surely we who believe the Word of God-that we may be called at any moment to meet our Savior in the air-have need of the angels' question being put to our own hearts, " Hast thou any here besides? "