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Author: Stephen Weller
638 words, 3 minutes read time

Escape with Urgency

Scripture: Mark 13:15-16; Luke 17:31-33

We spent the previous lesson looking at the abomination of desolation. In this lesson we have more instruction from Jesus about what to do when that time comes.

^{Lk 17:31} “On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down ^{Mk 13:15} to enter his house, to take anything out. ¹⁶ And let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. ^{Lk 17:32} Remember Lot’s wife. ³³ Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.

In the harmonization process, the narrative goes back to Luke 17:31 – 33 to connect with Mark 13:15 – 16. One needs to understand the culture at the time of Jesus to understand why a person would be on the housetop. That expression envisions a Palestinian home with a flat roof and outside stairs, like the house in Luke 5:17 – 19 when some men were bringing a paralyzed man on his bed to Jesus for healing and finding no way to get through the crowd into the house, they go up onto the roof and make a hole big enough to let the man down through it in front of Jesus.

Two illustrations are given of what not to do as each would require some time. If you were going to leave your home and not come back, it would take time to decide what to take and pack up. If you were in the field, it would take time to return to your home to get some things. The two illustrations suggest that it will be urgent to escape in a hurry, so don’t do anything that would delay you. To not come down might mean that one jumps from house top to hours top, until a convenient point of escape into the hill country could be found.

In Genesis 19, God rescues Lot, and specifically in Genesis 19:16 – 17, we find that Lot, his wife and two daughters lingered, so the two angels seized them and set them outside the city and said to them, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” This is the same urgency that Jesus is expressing in his two illustrations.

In the case of Lot, the instruction was given to not even take time to look back and desire to go back to your things, but Lot’s wife could not resist, so she stopped and looked back and when she did she became a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26). This is an example of divine judgment that can come quickly upon a person who does not wholeheartedly obey the commands of the Lord.

The statement Jesus makes about life seems to be a paradox and demands two different senses of the word “life”. The one who “seeks to preserve his life” is one who is self-centered and remains focused on the present world and as a result does not find eternal life, but the one who humbly surrenders his self-centered life of rebellion against God for the sake of Jesus Christ and the gospel will find eternal life.

Conclusion

When sudden danger comes, one must be prepared to escape, perhaps leaving behind one’s personal possessions. Some people today living under severe persecution are leaving their homes and everything in them in an attempt to escape those coming to take them or even kill them. If someone were to come to your door would you deny being a Christian to save your life or would you be an effective witness through your death?