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Author: Stephen Weller
697 words, 4 minutes read time

Like In the Days of Lot

Scripture: Luke 17:28-30

In the previous lesson we considered the days of Noah, compared them to today and to the time of the return of the Son of Man. In this lesson we will look at another example that speaks of conditions to be found at the return of the Son of Man; the example of Lot and the destruction that occurred at that time.

^{Lk 17:28} Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, ²⁹ but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— ³⁰ so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 

“Just as it was in the day of lot” reminds me of a passage in 2 Peter 2:4 – 10 ESV: ⁴ “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; ⁵ if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶ if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; ⁷ and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked ⁸ (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); ⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, ¹⁰ and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.”

I chose to include this text because it reaches back to our last lesson which shows God bringing judgment against the unrighteous and rescuing Noah and seven others. Just as the days at the time of Noah were normal days, so they were at the time of Lot, and again God brings judgment against the unrighteous but rescues Lot and his wife and their two daughters. However, during the rescue, Lots wife disobeys God and loses her life. In our next lesson we will look at another ungodly time and witness God bringing judgment against the unrighteous and rescuing the righteous.

Once Lot and his wife and their two daughters were out of harm’s way, “the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven” (Genesis 19:24 ESV), “so it will be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” (verse 30).

In the event with Noah the entire world came under judgment whereas with the event with Lot the judgment was confined to a region. As we look ahead, we find in Revelation 11 the resurrection and rapture of the two witnesses from earth and then in Revelation 14:14, we find a description of the Son of Man seated on a white cloud with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. At the given hour he is instructed to reap the harvest from across the earth. All remaining believers are gathered up and are safe with the Son of Man as he brings judgment against the unrighteous in the form of a great winepress.

Conclusion

We have now looked at God’s rescue of the righteous and judgment against the unrighteous in the case of Noah and Lot. The topic of the next lesson was introduced which will be the rescue and judgment at the time of the return of the Son of Man. My time spent with people who have been persecuted for their faith and my study of such people along with a continued study of the Scriptures has caused me to push back some against the passion for the pre-tribulation rapture. More about this in the next lesson.