243
2A.'~{For as the Ugktning, SeA In this verse our Lord declares distinctly that His second advent, when it does taKe .place, will he so suaden, so clearly-marked, and so unmistakeahle, that true believers shall at once recognize it as the coming of their King. It will not be a slow, gradual event. It will come on men in a moment.
That our Lord in tins verse meant nothing more than the march of the Roman armies to destroy Jerusalem, is, to my mind, an unsatisfactory and improbable interpretation.
25. — [First must he suffer."] Our Lord here asserts that great truth which His disciples and all the Jews were so exceedingly slow to see. He must nrst suffer and afterwards reign. He must first endure the cross, and afterwards, at His second advent, wear the crown.
[RiQected of this generation.'] I am strongly disposed to think, that both here and in Luke xxi. 32, Mark xiii. 30, and Matt, xxiv. 34, the word translated, " generation," means this nation or people of the Jews, and not merely the men who were living when our Lord spoke. Those who wish to see this view, and the quotations in favour of it, will find it set forth in Eavanelli Thesamnis, under the word '* generatio.'^
LUKE XVn. 26—87.
26 And as it was in the days of Noe, •o flhall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
27 They did eat, they drank, they nuurried wives, they were given in marria^, nntii the day that Noe en- tered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed tiiem all.
28 Likewise also as it was in the day* of Lot ; they did eat. they drank, they bought they sold, tney planted, tJhe^builded;
^ Bnt the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brim- from heaven, and destroyed alL
30 Even thns shall it be in the day nrlieii the Son of man is revealed.
31 In that day, he which shall be Qpon the housetop, and his stnff in tAB bouse, let him not come down to
take it away : and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.
32 Bemember Lot's wife.
83 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it : and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed ; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two ioomen shall be grinding together ; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field ; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him. Where, Lord } And he said unto them^ Wheresoever the body if, thith- er will the eagles be gathered to- gether.
ToB sabject of fhese verses is one of peculiar solemnity.
244 ^BJNmnojLt nfooumsM.
It is Ihe second advent ^f owr Lotd Jesus Christ. Thrik gFeat event, .and the things isufnediately connected with it, are here described by obt Lord's own Kps.
We should observe, for one thing, in these verses, whai a fearful picture mr Lard gwee of the state of the pro* femng Church at Sis second coming. We are told that as it was in the '' days oi Noah,'' and in the '^ days of Lot," *' so shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." The character oi those days we are not left to conjecture. We are told distinctly, that men were ^i- tirely taken up with eatiag, drinking, marrying, buying, selling, planting, building, — and would attend to nothing else. The flood eame at last in Noah's day, and drowned all except those who were in the ark. The fire fell from heaven at last in Lot's day, and destroyed all except Lot, his wife, and his daughters. And our Lord declares most plainly that like things will happen when He comes again at the end of the world. ** When they shall say, Peace and safety ; then sudden destruction cometh upon them." (1 Thess. V. 3.)
It is hard to imagine a passage of Scripture whiek more completely overthrows the commoii notions that prevail among men about Christ's return. The world will not be converted when Jesus comes again. The earth will not be full of the knowledge of the L<yffd. The reign of peace will not have been established. Tk» millennium will not have begun. These glorious thioga will come to pass after the second advent, but not befoiOh. If words have any meaning, the verses before us show that the earth will be found full of wickedness and world- liness in the day of Ohrisfs appearing. 19ie unbeUeireiB
LUKs, CHAP. x;rii. ywoL 36 — 37. 245
ttid fhe anoonvBrted will be fotoid TGry many. The be- lievers and the godly, as in the days of Koah and Lot, miH be found very few.
Let ns take heed to oiuselTes, and beware of the spirit of the world. It is not enough to do as others, and buy^ and sell, and plant, and build, and eat, and drink, and many, as if we were bom for nothing else. Exclusive attrition to these things may ruin us as llioroughly ae op^i sin. We must come out from the world and be separate. We must dare to be peculiar. We must escape for our lives like Lot. We must flee to the ark like Noah. This alone is safety. Then, and then only, we shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger, and avoid destruction when the Son of man is revealed. (Zeph. ii. 3.)
We should observe, for another thing, in these verses, what a solemn teaming our Lord gives us against unsound profession. He says to us, in immediate connection with the description of His second advent, ''Eemember Lot's
f»
Lot's wife went far in religious profession. She was the of a "righteous man." She was connected through hisn with Abraham, the father of the faithful. She fled with her husband from Sodom in the day when he escaped for his life by God's command. But Lot's wife was not really like her husband. Though she fled with Idm^ she had left her heart behind her. She wilfully dis- obeyed the strict injunction which the angel had laid upon her. She looked back towards Sodom, and was at once struck dead. She was turned into a pillar of salt, and perished in her sins. "Remember" her, says our liord, — ^" Remember Lot's wife."
246 xxposrroBT thoxtohts*
Lot's wife is meant to be a beacon and a warning to all professing Christians. It may be feared that many will be found like her in the day of Christ's second adyent. There are many in the present day who go a certain length in religion. They conform to the outward ways of Christian relatives and friends. They speak the " language of Canaan." They use all the outward ordi- nances of religion. But all this time their souls are not right in the sight of God. The world is in their hearts, and their hearts are in the world. And by and bye, in the day of sifting, their unsoundness will be exposed to all the world. Their Christianity will prove rotten at the core. The case of Lot's wife will not stand alone.
Let us remember Lot's wife, and resolve to be real in our religion. Let us not profess to serve Christ for no higher motive than to please husbands, or wives, or mas- ters, or ministers. A mere lean-to religion like this will never save our souls. Let us serve Christ for His own sake. Let us never rest till we have the true grace of God in our hearts, and have no desire to look back to the world.
We should observe, lastly, in these verses, what an awful separation there mil be in the professing Church when Christ comes again. Our Lord describes this sepa- ration by a very striking picture. He says, "In that night there shall be two men in one bed ; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together ; the one shall be taken, and the other left."
The meaning of these expressions is clear and plain. The day of Christ's second advent shall be the day when