Remember Lot’s Wife!

Luke 17:20-37

Key Verse 17:32

Remember, Lot’s wife!

In this passage Jesus prepares people against the day of his second coming.  

First, repent and believe the good news

Look at verse 20-21. “Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." Turn to your neighbor and say, “the kingdom of God is within you.”  

Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees’ question indicates that the Pharisees did not have God’s kingdom inside of them. Had they understood what God’s kingdom is all about, and had they had God’s kingdom inside of them, they would not have asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come. 

Why did they not have God’s kingdom inside of them? We already know the answer: they did not have God’s kingdom because they did not listen to the message of Jesus. When Jesus began his public ministry he said, “The kingdom of God is near; repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:15 In Luke 4:43 Jesus said, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also. This is why I was sent.” Then throughout his public ministry Jesus kept preaching the kingdom of God. Here the good news refers to Jesus Christ himself. But most of the Pharisees did not believe in Jesus as the Savior of the world. 

As a result they did not have God’s kingdom within them. They were interested in improving external conditions such as securing political freedom from Roman rule. They endeavored to save themselves from their fallen conditions through their own efforts. But no fallen man can save himself on his own. Only Jesus, the Son of God, can do that. 

So, Jesus’ reply, “The kingdom of God is within you” is a reminder that the Pharisees did not do their homework, that is, repenting and turning to Christ for salvation. And this is the first thing everyone must do to prepare oneself against the day of judgment. 

Second, wait patiently for his second coming

Look at verse 22. “Then he said to his disciples, "The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.”” Here the expression “you will not see it” does not mean that the disciples would be separated from Jesus for good; it does not mean that Jesus is not going to come back again. Rather it means that it is quite likely that the time of Jesus’ second coming might not come while one is physically alive. In fact this happened to many believers. It happened to Jesus’ 12 disciples. It happened to many who had already fallen asleep in the Lord. And it might happen to you and me as well. All this means to us then is that we need to wait for his second coming patiently.  

Third, watch out for false messiahs

Let us consider Jesus’ warning in verse 23. “Men will tell you, 'There he is!' or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them.” This is a warning against false messiahs. So far we have seen a lot of false messiahs appearing and disappearing. Once upon a time Sun Myung Moon maintained and is still maintaining that he is the messiah. In America, if you go to Utah, you will see tons of people following Joseph Smith thinking that he is the messiah. But we should not run off after them. 

Rather we must secure personal fellowship with Jesus Christ by keeping His word close to our hearts, following the guidance of the Holy Spirit put in our hearts. 

Fourth, have the glorious vision of Jesus returning with power and glory

Look at verse 24. “For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.” This passage shows us the difference between the true Messiah and false messiahs. First of all the image of Jesus the true messiah will be like “lightening” which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. 

According to the reports made by the magazine, National Geographic, lightning strikes somewhere on the surface of the earth about 100 times every second. Lightning comes with different strokes of flashes, and each flash contains about one billion volts of electricity. That's enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for three months. The flash of a bolt of lightning can happen in half a second. In that instant, the lightning flash superheats the surrounding air to a temperature five times hotter than that on the surface of the sun. The nearby air expands and vibrates, forming the sound of thunder that we hear after seeing lightning. Sound travels slower than light, so it seems that thunder occurs later. 

“The Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.” 

This passage indicates that Jesus will return with great power and glory.  The fact that Jesus comes with great power and great glory shows us that when Jesus comes again he is going to come with the power to remove what needs to be removed and establish what needs to be established: he is capable of punishing those who need to be punished and rewarding those who need to be rewarded. 

Speaking of the same truth, the Prophet Malachi says Malachi 3:2, “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap?” In Malachi 4:1-2 he continues to say, "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the LORD Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.”

More directly than these, Jesus says in Matthew 24:30-31, "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” The promise of Jesus coming again with great power and glory comforts us that we should run the spiritual race bravely and manfully. 

Fifth, never forget the sacrifice Jesus made for our salvation

Look at verse 25. “But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.” Here “many things” refers to all the trials and hardships Jesus had to endure for our sins. Ultimately Jesus was crucified for our sins, that through his blood sacrifice, all of our sins must be forgiven, and thereby we can be qualified to receive a permanent position in God’s kingdom.  

Remembering the sacrifice Jesus made is the key to maintaining the joy of salvation, and enduring hardships in sharing the gospel with many who are yet to be saved into His kingdom. Speaking of this truth, Paul says in 2 Co. 4:17, “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” 

After the World Mission Report 2006, Korean UBF put over 500 missionaries through a missionary seminar. I also attended the seminar. They assigned me to a study group. After the Bible study we had fellowship where everyone shared a testimony in small groups. Then in a plenary session missionaries from different continents shared their testimonies. Their testimonies showed us that a lot of them suffer so many things all for the sake of the good news of God’s kingdom. Despite their many sufferings however none of their faces were dark. Rather, their faces were shining like heavenly angels. Why is this so? It is because they all remembered the sufferings Jesus made. As they remembered Jesus’ sacrifice, their hearts were filled with thanks. Then the Holy Spirit working in them empowered them with heavenly comfort and glory. 

Sixth, have a clear sense of history

The promise of Jesus’ second coming, especially the promise for him to come back with power and glory, sounds like a fairy tale. Thus many do not believe in the promise of Jesus’ second-coming.  Categorically those who do not believe in Jesus’ second coming do not believe in God’s promise of salvation, nor do they believe in the promise of judgment. In addition some people believe in the promise of salvation but they do not believe in the promise of judgment.

But when one does not believe in the judgment coming what will happen to him? He will become a statistic just as the people of Noah’s day, or the people living in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. With this in mind let us read responsively verses 26-32. In this passage the word “destroyed” is repeated twice (27,29). We also see three dreadful expressions, “Just as it was, so also it will be”, “It was the same in the days of Lot”, and “It will be just like this in the day the Son of Man is revealed.”  These expressions tell us that unless we live today and tomorrow with a clear sense of history we will end up becoming statistics. So we must wake up from the numbing reality and live as holy pilgrims heading for His kingdom. 

Seventh, practical wisdom

In view of the judgment coming how should we live? There are several expressions that give us a clue. 

1) Noah entered the ark. People were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage “up to” the day Noah entered the ark… Noah also ate and drank. He also married and was given in marriage. But this is not all Noah did. He did something else, that is, he made an ark. In fact he ate and drank. He married and was given in marriage for a bigger purpose: to build the ark, not for anyone else but first for himself and his family members. 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) Lot left Sodom. We need to leave the life of sin, which involves actually departing from evil environments (people, lifestyles, etc.) Do you have any issues like those of Lot’s wife? Then, think about “leaving” or “departing from” your old ways of life, into the way of life found in Jesus. 

3) “[On that day] no one should go down … to get them.” Do not be attached to what is fleshly.

4) “[N]o one … should go back for anything; Do not go backward in one’s spiritual pilgrimage (by going back to past memories of failures, old relationships, or bad habits that hinder one’s relationship with Christ, etc.) Phi 3:13

5) “Remember Lot’s wife”; 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) “Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it”. Here Jesus calls us to serve God’s kingdom purpose such as feeding sheep even to the point of death. Dr. Luke Lim struggling to serve the poor in Uganda serves as a good example. 

7) “Where there is a dead body there the vultures will gather.” This exhorts us to be spiritually alive, by feeding ourselves with God’s word through daily bread words and 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, fixing our eyes on what is unseen rather than what is seen. Col 3:1,2

One word: remember Lot’s wife

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