Remember Lot’s Wife!

Luke 17:20-37

Key Verse 17:32

In this passage Jesus prepares people against the day of Jesus’ coming again. 

There are two categories of people: non-believers and believers. 

Verses 20-21 are instructions for the unbelievers (such as the Pharisees), and verses 22-37 are the guideline for the believers (such as the disciples or Lot). 

1. Think about the Pharisees’ question in verse 20 and Jesus’ reply in verse 21. What does Jesus’ reply tell us about the Pharisees? If the kingdom of God does not come with one’s careful observation, how does it come (within a man)? (Matthew 12:28; Acts 2:38)

** They did not believe in Jesus. As a result they did not have God’s kingdom inside of them. They were only interested in the time of the political Messiah to come and restore Israel as the superpower nation. In a way they were like a leper trying to live in a mansion. They also tried to save themselves through their own human efforts. 

** It comes when one repents of sins (of unbelief) turns his life over to Christ, and asks for the Spirit to come in and do the work, that is, build His kingdom inside. 

2. Read verse 22. What does this passage indicate about the relationship between Jesus and his disciples during the period of time in which the disciples would be physically separated from Jesus? 

** It is like a bride being separated from the husband for a prolonged period of time. Although the Holy Spirit is going to be with the disciples, still the disciples will long for the time they will be with Jesus Christ face to face. 

3. Consider Jesus’ warning in verse 23. Why would people go “running off after them?” What similar examples do we find in our generation? 

** It will be mainly because of their neglect on their personal walk with Jesus Christ. 

** False teachers (prophets) trying to teach all kinds of unbiblical things about the end times. Some of them present themselves as messiahs. Mostly the false prophets and false messiahs are materialistic and humanistic ideas.  Simply they are self-seeking people, trying to promote their own interests. 

4. What does verse 24 tell us about the way to tell the difference between the true image of Jesus [Messiah to come] and the images which many false teachers might attempt to present? 

** The image of Jesus will be like “lightening” which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. Remember the function of the Savior to return: Light up! [Read Malachi 3:2; 4:1-2; Matthew 24:30; 25:31; 26:64; 2Th 2:8; 2Pe 3:10]

** Local (rather than universal) in impact upon people; weak (rather than strong) in terms of the power to either punish the evil ones and reward the righteous; lukewarm (rather than hot in punishing those who need to be punished  and rewarding those who need to be rewarded); slow (rather than quick) in dispensing his justice. 

5. Compare Jesus depicted in verse 25 and the image of Jesus described in verse 24. How are they different? Why is there a difference?  

** V. 25 - Humble and gentle, who in full submission to God’s will for him to die on a tree, offer himself as a ransom sacrifice. 

V. 24 – Powerful and glorious, who is going to come not as a savior but as the judge. 

Overall, Jesus came first to die as a humble servant, but Jesus will come the second time as the Lord of lords and King of kings, to rid the world of the wicked, and rule over his creation as the King. 

6. Verses 26-37 include expressions like “Just as it was…so also it will be”, “It was the same…” or “It will be just like this…” In what respect will it be “just like this” on the day the Son of Man is revealed? 

** It will be the same in terms of: 1) the way one is saved if he is saved (heeding the message of judgment and salvation, by practically repenting of one’s own way of life and obeying God’s command to work on one’s salvation such as Noah building an ark according to the pattern shown by God); and 2) the way one is destroyed if he is destroyed(i.e., by indulging in or focusing one’s efforts on what is lowly such as eating drinking…). 

7. It has been said, “History repeats itself.” Yet what do the following statements teach us about the way to avoid becoming a statistic like people destroyed in the days of Noah or Lot? 1) “Noah entered the ark”; 2) “Lot left Sodom”; 3) “[On that day] no one should go down … to get them”; 4) “[N]o one … should go back for anything; 5) “Remember Lot’s wife”; 6) “Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it”; and 7) “Where there is a dead body there the vultures will gather.” 

** 1) We need to enter through the gate, that is, Jesus Christ, by repenting and believing in the Lord, confessing him as the Lord, and living under His cover. 

2) We need to leave the life of sin, which involves actually departing from evil environments (people, lifestyles, etc.)

3) Do not be attached to what is fleshly.

4) Do not go backward in one’s spiritual pilgrimage (by going back to the past memories of failures, old relationships that hinder one’s relationship with Christ, etc.) Phi 3:13

5) Lot’s wife loved the world, so she looked back. So be careful about the “cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what one has and does.” 1Jo 2:15,16 

6) Offer one’s life positively to serve God’s kingdom purpose such as feeding sheep. Example: Dr. Luke Lim struggling to serve the poor in Uganda

7) Be spiritually alive, by feeding oneself with God’s word through daily bread words, praying daily. 

In short the overall message is by being a man of other worldliness, rather than this worldliness. We are not of this world although we are still in this world. So we choose to put our hope in what is above rather than what is below. Col 3:1,2

The end

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