And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand . . . the Lord being merciful unto him . . . and set him without the city.
Abraham pleaded for the righteous in Sodom, and God was merciful to Lot. (See October 9.) God in mercy forcibly removed Lot from his home, set him outside the city, and told him to run for his life. Lot still tried to find an excuse not to do exactly as God had said. (His faith must have been almost nonexistent.) A lesson here, though, is that before judgment falls on this earth for the last time, all Christians, ready or not, will be removed by the rapture - we will be snatched away.