Is there any reason for us to accept that Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt? Should we believe that this story is true, or laugh it to scorn like atheists?
God does not lie.
If there is anything in the Bible (the Word of God, the Truth 1 ) that is not true, God is a liar. Revelation 21:8 says that all liars will be in the lake of burning sulphur. Scripture tells us that God will be on the new earth in the company of His people. 2 That means He is not a liar.
Lot’s wife thought of saving her life and lost it.
Lot’s wife (she is not identified by name like Sarah) did not believe God. She obviously glanced back to her nice comfortable home, and most probably her friends. Fleeing to the hills looked bleak to her and nothing compared to what she had. So she turned to take a last look.
Lot’s wife is a picture of the message that Jesus later echoed, ‘…whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good does it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?’ 3
The devil is the liar
The devil indirectly acknowledges that God speaks the truth. If God told lies, the devil would not be afraid of Him, because then he will never go to eternal hell (a liar cannot condemn a liar). However he knows that everything in Scripture is true, and directs all his efforts to ‘prove’ to men that it is a lie.
Actually the devil is the liar 4 and he uses it to great advantage in his war against God. By his efforts to disprove the Bible he testifies that the Bible is the supernatural Book of God. We can have confidence that Lot’s wife did become a pillar of salt, and archaeologists won’t find any evidence of her. Salt pillars don’t last that long, but the Word of God does: it is eternal.
References
- John 17:17
- Revelation 21:3
- Mark 8:35-36
- John 8:44
