Yesterday’s sermon touched on the imagery Paul is using in 1 Corinthians 5:6-8. He recalls when the Israelites left Egypt – the land of slavery and idolatry – in haste. There was no time for bread to rise, so unleavened bread was used. The Lord then instituted the Passover feast and the Festival of Unleavened Bread to include this imagery. The purging of leaven (a rising agent for dough) from the house came to symbolize the purging of sin – the removal of anything that should rightfully be left in the land of slavery and idolatry.
In Scripture, Egypt isn’t the only historical place used as a metaphor for our need to flee sin in haste. There’s also Assyria: “Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you bear the vessels of the LORD” (Isaiah 52:11). There’s ancient Babylon: “Go out of the midst of her, my people! Let every one save his life from the fierce anger of the LORD!” (Jeremiah 51:45). There’s also Babylon used as symbol for the worldwide spirituality of illicit pleasure and cruel luxury: “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities” (Revelation 18:4-5).
But the first picture in the Bible of fleeing from sin in haste is the departure of Lot’s family from Sodom, just before its destruction (Genesis 19:1-29). It’s no accident that this passage mentions – seemingly insignificantly – that when the two angels arrived at Lot’s house, he fed them unleavened bread. They then tell him, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city….Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”
The drama in Lot’s escape from the city of evil climaxes when “Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” Here, toward the very beginning of God’s word, we’re given a concrete picture of the need for total obedience and great haste in fleeing from sin. We see the terrible danger of loving comfort and earthly pleasures more than our God, who sometimes requires jarring separation from that which would replace Him in our hearts.
If you’re looking for a quick verse to put to memory, can I suggest this one? Luke 17:32. Jesus simply tells us, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Friends, I don’t know what temptations are calling you this week, what urges feel uncontrollable or desires seem undeniable. But remember Lot’s wife. Sin is nothing to play with. It’s no place to set up tents and get comfortable. May God strengthen you this week to cleanse out the old leaven, that you may be unleavened, as you truly are in Christ.
