![]() Thoughts on the Gospel for Last Week. See our page on Spiritual Coaching. Luke 17:28-37 The central theme of the portion for last week is the Second Coming. Here in Luke it is recorded as "the Day of the Son of Man". But in Isaiah it is referred to as "the Day of Jehovah". John calls it "the Day of the Lord". All of these terms refer to the same event or series of events when God's judgments are poured out on the wicked and the righteous are saved. We'll consider some of the specific details that accompany the great Endtime Day of Jehovah in this review. The primary details in the 17th chapter of Luke when discussing the Second Coming include: The Day of Jehovah is like the days of Noah. (v. 26,27) The Day of Jehovah is like the days of Sodom. The Righteous Few are gathered out at the Day of Jehovah Isaiah's Day of Jehovah Before we get to Luke, let's see what Isaiah says about this Great Day. Commenting on Isaiah, Dr. Gileadi said, Whether they lived before or after Israel’s exile from the Promised Land, the Hebrew prophets predict a great future “Day of Jehovah” or “Day of the Lord” upon all nations (Isaiah 13:6, 9; Jeremiah 46:10; Ezekiel 30:3; Joel 2:1, 11, 31; Amos 5:18, 20; Obadiah 1:15; Zephaniah 1:7, 14, 18; Zechariah 14:1; Malachi 4:1, 5). This Day of Judgment upon a wicked world will come “as a violent blow from the Almighty,” “as a cruel outburst of anger and wrath to make the earth a desolation, that sinners may be annihilated from it” (Isaiah 13:6, 9). Precedents from the past—such as Assyria’s world conquest in Isaiah’s day—typify that great and dreadful end-time event. John’s vision of “the Lord’s day” or “Day of the Lord” (Revelation 1:10) depicts the same events. Whereas Isaiah encodes his end-time vision in the historical events of his day, John encodes it in imagery. When you match up the characters, you see that both describe the same end-time scenario. The “great whore” that “corrupts the earth with her fornications” (Revelation 19:2) is the harlot Babylon who rules as “Mistress of Kingdoms” (Isaiah 47:5–8). The woman who flees into the wilderness for three and a half years (Revelation 12:6) is the Virgin Daughter of Zion who flees destruction in an exodus out of Babylon (Isaiah 52:1, 11–12). And so forth. The Days of Noah Luke gives us more information about how this destruction looks by referring us to the Flood. When we consider the biblical account of The Flood, the important points that are clear include wide spread wickedness, wickedness was now generational, God destroys the wicked including men, women and children and a salvation for only a few righteous people God provide an escape. God saves Noah and his family because of Noah's righteousness. This is what Luke records about Noah: “And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all." View this brief trailer from the recent NOAH movie. The Days of Sodom In the account of Sodom, we see the same elements: wide spread wickedness, wickedness is now generational, God destroys the wicked including men, women and children, and only a few righteous people escape. Lot and his daughters are saved because Abraham ask God to spare them in a proxy-savior role in Abraham. This is what Luke records about Sodom: “It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all." Most prevalent in the prophecy of Isaiah that correlates to Luke is likening the Endtime destruction of the wicked to Sodom. Again, commenting on Isaiah Dr. Gileadi says, Of the thirty end-time events Isaiah predicts that resemble past events, Babylon’s violent overthrow—“as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah” (Isaiah 13:19)—is the most condemnatory. And yet it implicates most of the earth’s population. In his oracle addressed to “Babylon,” Isaiah defines Babylon as both a people and a place—the “sinners” and the “wicked” of the “earth” and the “world.” He predicts that God “will make the earth a desolation that sinners may be annihilated from it.” God has “decreed calamity for the world, punishment for the wicked.” He “will put an end the arrogance of insolent men and humble the pride of tyrants” (Isaiah 13:1, 9–13). Part IV of Isaiah’s Seven-Part Structure (Isaiah 13–23; 47) additionally provides a structural definition of Babylon. That literary device defines Babylon as a multinational conglomerate of nations and peoples that opposes Zion. Even God’s people who refuse to repent ultimately become an integral part of this Babylon as the world polarizes into two opposite camps. In that end-time context, God even calls his own people by the names “Sodom” and “Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:10), signifying that in that day their wickedness resembles ancient Sodom’s and Gomorrah’s. Their fate, too, therefore, is that of Sodom and Gomorrah in all its damning finality. An Endtime Exodus In both accounts - the Flood and Sodom - only a righteous few are saved. Likewise, only the Endtime righteous God will protect and prepare for the Millennial Age. He does this by executing an Endtime Exodus out of Babylon on the eve of the destruction of the wicked. Luke refers to this Endtime Exodus when he writes, “I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. “There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left." Like ancient Israel was lead out by Moses, so also will this Endtime Exodus be lead out by God's Endtime Servant. Dr. Gileadi explains, As Lot was led out of Sodom, so are participants in the new exodus: “The righteous disappear, and no man gives it a thought; the godly are gathered out, but no one perceives that from impending calamity the righteous are withdrawn” (Isaiah 57:1). “Come out of her and be pure, you who bear Jehovah’s vessels. But you shall not leave in haste or go in flight: Jehovah will go before you, the God of Israel behind you” (Isaiah 52:11–12). “I will bring your offspring from the east and gather you from the west; I will say to the north, ‘Give up!’ to the south, ‘Withhold not! Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth’” (Isaiah 43:5–6).
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