LUKE 17:26-32 BUSINESS AS USUAL: SUDDENLY, JUDGMENT!

BUSINESS AS USUAL:

SUDDENLY, JUDGMENT!

Luke 17:26-32

(See also Matthew 24:37-42)

Luke 17:26-27 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

Susie: The point Jesus was making was that people carried on “business as usual” right up until Noah and his family boarded the ark with all the animals and God shut the door. People were unconcerned about the pending judgment even though Peter tells us Noah had preached to them. Also, it was obvious there was going to be a great amount of water since Noah was building a huge boat!

2 Peter 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

Susan: The people of Noah’s day took no warning from his preaching or the testimony of the ark God had him build. They were swept away not only because of their evil ways but because of their apathy toward God’s voice through His prophet, Noah. Pay attention! Belief and trust in the Lord, submission to Him, matters.

Susie: It is the difference between forgiveness which leads to eternal life with the Lord or judgment—eternal torment and separation from the Lord and all that is good.

Luke 17:28-29 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

Susan: Jesus’s focal point is not on the excessive evil found in Sodom but on their apathy toward God’s mercy of warning them through Lot and their unwillingness to trust in God.

Susie: Even Lot’s sons-in-law would not heed the message Lot brought them from the angels.

Genesis 19:14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.

Luke 17:30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

Susie: Think of the non-believers you know today. Are they concerned about the second coming of Jesus? Or are they scurrying about tending to business as usual and totally ignoring God?

Susan: Jesus has sent out invitations to join His forever family for centuries now through the prophets, the Apostles, pastors, evangelists, teachers, and even laymen (every believer is called to make disciples). However, to those who have never trusted in Jesus, His return will come swiftly and seemingly without warning.

Luke 17:31-32 In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife.

Susan: When Jesus returns, there will be nothing in my house worth returning to. Even my house will be left behind. I need not take the things of this world into Heaven where all I need will be provided by the Lord Himself and all things will be brand new.

Susie: Nothing we have here is fit for Heaven. Our possessions here are always to be held loosely and dropped immediate if the Lord prompts us to abandon them. Only those who do not know our Savior would turn back when He appears in all His glory!

Susan: Lot’s wife was too attached to her life in Sodom and perhaps all her stuff because Lot was successful there. It’s sad that she did not understand that God had something better for her.

Susie: Lot’s wife was on the verge of deliverance but did not obey the angel’s warning. Therefore, she looked back and became pillar of salt or as one of my former pastor’s put it, “God turned her into a giant salt-lick.”

Ponder this and Apply it: As believers, we should live each day as if the Lord’s return is imminent. The hymn “I’ll Tell the World that I’m a Christian” expresses it well in the line, “We must live as if His coming could be tomorrow or today.” Jesus will return suddenly. Will you be found prepared for the kingdom of Heaven, or will you be too absorbed with business as usual on earth?