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31 On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32 Remember Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” 36 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.”37 “Where, Lord?” they asked. He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.” Luke 17:31-37
Several times in the Gospels the Lord Jesus speaks of His Second Coming. In our text for today, He focuses on the nature of His next physical coming to the earth. And, it will be the most horrific event the world has ever seen. The Jews didn't understand, they assumed that the Messiah would come and set up His kingdom, and, for them, it would be a time of joy and blessing. But, due to their rejection of the Lord Jesus during His first coming, they will be in no position to be prepared to face His judgement at His Second Coming.
The Second Coming will affect the whole world and when He returns He will come in judgment, then He will establish His kingdom on earth. Believers of every age can take comfort from today's verses, but these words apply in a special way to Israel at the end of the age.
Now, according to 1 Corinthians 15:52, when the Lord Jesus comes for His church and takes us to heaven in the Rapture, it will happen “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” Nobody taking part in the Rapture need worry about being on a housetop or in a field and wanting to get something out of the house!
However, when the Second Coming happens, according to Matthew 24:30-31, the Lord will physically return to the earth. His coming will first be preceded by a “sign” in heaven, and some will try to hurry home to rescue something. The admonition in v.32 to “Remember Lot’s wife” is very instructive.
Genesis 19 chronicles the events of that day. While they were fleeing Sodom, Lot's wife looked back and became a pillar of salt. Before all of this happened, when the angels instructed Lot and his family to flee Sodom they warned them not to look back. It was only after Lot, his wife, and two daughters had escaped and had reached the small city of Zoar that the Lord rained down fire and brimstone on Sodom. Such a wonder would have been hard to ignore.
But, it was not the curious gaze of one witnessing that miraculous destruction that turned Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt. It was the longing desire in her heart that caused her backward look. A coveting of what she had left behind is what ended her life. She looked back because she wanted to go back. She left behind material wealth and comfort. Sodom looked a lot nicer than the way in front of her. She looked back to the world instead of forward to God’s plan for her life. This is a reminder when the Lord Jesus comes on that day, His coming will reveal whether the people's hearts are with Him or not.
There is a good reason why we cannot see into our future. God wants us to walk by faith and depend upon Him, learning to walk closer to the edge of life with Him. Additionally, if He were to reveal His plans for our future, it would overwhelm us! We must live in the moment, as we encounter a life of watching Him work in and through us for the sake of the lost.
If we look to our past with longing, resentment will probably build within our hearts. Bitterness is an ugly root difficult to extract. If our spiritual gaze were frozen at this very moment, where would it be fixed? Each day is a gift and within this gift, there are many choices. Will you decide to live a forward moving life or one that wallows in sorrow over the sin-saturated existence that was once your past? You may call the past your glory days but the truth is you have yet to live them. Your glory days are waiting for you in your eternal home.
By the way, in Matthew 24:15, a parallel passage to today's text, we read, "When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of through Daniel the prophet." Daniel prophesied an event in which the Antichrist will go into the temple in Jerusalem which will be rebuilt and desecrate it and at that moment break a peace covenant that he made with the Jews. This is one of the preliminary judgments to the final judgment three and a half years later at the return of Christ.
The verb "taken" in v.34–36 does not mean “taken to heaven” but “taken away in judgment” as is spelled out in Matthew 24:36–41. The person “left” is the one who enters into His kingdom because they believed. Noah and his family were “left” to enjoy a new beginning, while the whole population of the earth was “taken” in the flood. Lot and his daughters were “left” while the people in Sodom and Gomorrah were “taken” when the fire and brimstone destroyed the cities.
In v.37 we read, "Where, Lord?” they asked. He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather." The last battle is described in Revelation 19:17–21. It describes the image of vultures gorging themselves on the flesh of man and beasts. When the Lord Jesus returns to judge His enemies, there will be a separation of the saved and the lost. Those who are saved will be left to enter His kingdom, while those who are lost will be taken away in judgment.
Nothing is said in today's text about the Millennial Kingdom because there won't be any Millennial Kingdom for people who don't come to faith in the Lord Jesus. The Jews thought they were going to be in the kingdom just because they were born Jewish. But, as the scriptures clearly point out, all must make a judgement about the Lord Jesus and His claim of being "The way, the truth and the life." And, we who believe must be ardent in these last days in helping the lost see the reality of the end and that there is only one way into God's eternal kingdom.
