Mrs. Lot was not a spiritual lady. Her mind was not in the kingdom of God. She was not interested in obtaining the assurance which we must all have and which even atheists seek at the end of their journey in this world - the assurance of our acceptance before God. She did not take time to open her eyes and look to see light at the other end of the tunnel between life and death. In her life there was no room for serious thoughts about eternity. She was satisfied to live only for this world.

Of course, Mrs. Lot was free to choose her destiny, as freedom of choice is granted to every intelligent being. If, instead of choosing eternal life, she wanted to choose eternal death, God would honor her choice. And, consciously or unconsciously, she made the wrong choice. Therefore, her negative experience, the fruit of wrong wisdom, contains a warning to all generations until the end of the world.

“The wife of Lot was a selfish, irreligious woman, and her influence was exerted to separate her husband from Abraham. But for her, Lot would not have remained in Sodom, deprived of the counsel of the wise, God-fearing patriarch. The influence of his wife and the associations of that wicked city would have led him to apostatize from God had it not been for the faithful instruction he had early received from Abraham. The marriage of Lot and his choice of Sodom for a home were the first links in a chain of events fraught with evil to the world for many generations.

“No one who fears God can without danger connect himself with one who fears Him not. ‘Can two walk together, except they be agreed?’ (Amos 3:3). The happiness and prosperity of the marriage relation depends upon the unity of the parties; but between the believer and the unbeliever there is a radical difference of tastes, inclinations, and purposes. They are serving two masters, between whom there can be no concord. However pure and correct one’s principles may be, the influence of an unbelieving companion will have a tendency to lead away from God.

“He who has entered the marriage relation while unconverted, is by his conversion placed under stronger obligation to be faithful to his companion, however widely they may differ in regard to religious faith; yet the claims of God should be placed above every earthly relationship, even though trials and persecution may be the result. With the spirit of love and meekness, this fidelity may have an influence to win the unbelieving one. But the marriage of Christians with the ungodly is forbidden in the Bible. The Lord’s direction is, ‘Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers’ (2 Corinthians 6:14).”1

Women who want to be saved together with their husband and children will heed the warning: “Remember Lot’s wife.” They will be very careful not to follow in her footsteps. Rather than exerting a wrong influence on her children, a mother will, by precept and example, do her best, with the help of God, to show them the way to the kingdom. But what about those not interested in their own salvation? They, too, should “remember Lot’s wife.”

Lot’s wife, though indifferent concerning her future in eternity, had no right to be instrumental in the perdition of her daughters through her wrong attitude. If misery loves company, as it is known that it does, it will find plenty of fellow-travelers among its own peers on the downward road; it should not look for victims among those who are walking along the upward road.

The oft-repeated warning - “Let no man deceive you” - means that, in case of deception, both parties (the deceiver and the deceived) are responsible before God. In this sense, the procedure of Lot’s wife was a deception which tended to lead the whole family into perdition. The mother was the culprit, and the daughters were the victims.

Lot’s wife despised God’s mercy, ignored His instructions, and presumed to disobey the Lord. She stopped, turned around, and cast a look backward to the doomed city. To her, the material things that she had left behind were worth more than her views about eternity. She did what every individual who chooses self-deception will do - she reversed values. The warning given by the heavenly messengers - “Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed” (Genesis 19:17) - was despised by her. She acted as if she knew better than God.

“While [Lot’s wife] body was upon the plain, her heart clung to Sodom, and she perished with it. She rebelled against God because His judgments involved her possessions and her children in the ruin. Although so greatly favored in being called out from the wicked city, she felt that she was severely dealt with, because the wealth that it had taken years to accumulate must be left to destruction. Instead of thankfully accepting deliverance, she presumptuously looked back to desire the life of those who had rejected the divine warning. Her sin showed her to be unworthy of life, for the preservation of which she felt so little gratitude.”2

Was Lot completely without fault in his wife’s apostasy? Evidently not. The pen of Inspiration brings us still more insight on the matter:

“If Lot himself had manifested no hesitancy to obey the angels’ warning, but had earnestly fled toward the mountains, without one word of pleading or remonstrance, his wife also would have made her escape. The influence of his example would have saved her from the sin that sealed her doom. But his hesitancy and delay caused her to lightly regard the divine warning.”3

Thus, when we “remember Lot’s wife,” we need not only to view her as a culprit, but also as a victim - a victim of her husband’s failure to take a firm enough, clear enough, timely enough stand for the right in leading his household. One moment’s worth of influence at a key opportunity can speak volumes.

God has endowed every human being with the power of discernment between right and wrong wisdom. Then why do many people repeat the mistake of Lot’s wife in the reversal of values? And why are we - you and I - in danger of making the same mistake? If we kneel down before the Lord with this question in our heart and on our lips, we will know the answer.

As the Lord called Lot and his family to flee from Sodom in order to escape the impending destruction, He is calling His people to get out of Babylon.

“Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).

It is not enough for us to leave the fallen denominations, whose “sins have reached unto heaven” (verse 5), if our hearts are still there. The call to come out of Babylon means much more than that. We are called upon to forsake the sins of Babylon. The spirit, the ideas, the ways of Babylon must be abandoned before we can be assured of the protection that we must have before the seven last plagues begin to fall. We need deliverance from the coming destruction. Therefore, let us “remember Lot’s wife.”

Lot’s wife perished in the destruction of Sodom. It is not a great loss to die the natural death which all must die. But Mrs. Lot died without God and without salvation, as a candidate for the second death, which means extinction, at the end of the millennium. This was her greatest loss. And the impact of her materialistic influence upon her children - and of course the fruit, in turn, of their progeny which followed - makes her guilt very serious indeed.

The story of Mrs. Lot was included in the Bible for our admonition. There is a lesson in it for individuals and for families. If we want to be wise, we will heed the warning.