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LUKE 17:32 “REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE.” (KJVK, NKJV, NIV,NASB)
OK, this week we will return to memorizing an easy Scripture. As we have said many times, the work of memorizing Scripture is not an easy one. And, I would never minimize the importance of this task, no matter how long or how short the verse is. But this week, let’s memorize a short one again…three words: Remember Lot’s Wife.
Short though the verse may be, it packs a very important lesson for us to apply to our lives. You can’t move forward by looking backward. The cares of this life can drag you away from God’s will for you. Judgment will come! It is possible to escape God’s judgment, but not if we can’t resist the lure of the world.
Remarkably, it was the Pharisees this time who asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come in Verse 20. He answered very interestingly, “the kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation.” He then explains to his disciples in verse 24, that He would come like the lightning flashing across the sky. Then He equated His coming to two stories they all knew very well…Noah and Lot.
The lesson we were supposed to learn from both was that life is going to be going on just like normal, eating and drinking, marrying and living life, and then judgment would come without warning. Verse 27 warns that “then the flood came and destroyed them all.”
With Lot it was fire from heaven that brought destruction. The lesson again was, when destruction and judgment comes, it is here…there is no time left to change. But Jesus adds an interesting addition to the lesson with three short words of warning: Remember Lot’s Wife! If you try to keep your life, you will lose it. If the things of this world are more important to you, even more important than your own destruction, that you can’t obey but just have to look back one last time, like Lot’s wife, you will be judged and destroyed.
My imagination takes me to the very next minute in the ended life of Lot’s wife. Like all of us, her soul was eternal. What was left of her body remained as a witness to Lot, to their family and to all of us throughout all time…It wasn’t a real good idea to look back. Whatever thrills and pleasures her life in Sodom brought to her memory, looking back to enjoy them just one more time was one look too many.
Or maybe the lure was the excitement and horror of seeing the “fire and sulfur raining down from heaven and destroying them all” (verse 29) that made her just have to get one more look. We can certainly understand that coming from a culture that is constantly looking to be entertained by the “next big thing”; or that just can’t resist looking at horrors that we would never want to happen to us, but can’t resist watching it happen to someone else.
How many today get a thrill out of watching axe murderers dismember people on the big screen? How many can find entertainment in cannibalism, while they’d never entertain the notion themselves? And how many of us watch just a little bit of pornography and wonder why fidelity in our own marriages and families might be a problem?
As much as we want to be entertained, Remember Lot’s Wife! At one moment in the future, the end will come. It will be too late to live right then. We spend so much time saving the things of this life when it can all be gone in a second. Remember Lot’s Wife!
Imagine waiting one second too long to accept Jesus as your Savior because the joys of this world are more important to you to give them up…just one more look! And the next second after our destruction, there is Lot’s wife standing next to us saying, “It got you too, huh?” It will be too late then. Remember Lot’s Wife!
Jesus will come back for his chosen ones very soon. We have heard it all our lives, but life just keeps on being lived like it always has. His return will happen as quickly as lightning passing from one corner of the sky to the other. I plan on being gone when He comes back. And, then all Hell will break loose in a tribulation time that is unlike anything mankind has ever seen.
You won’t escape this judgment by being turned into a pillar of salt. This time, Hell will come to earth for seven years. Having looked back to the world instead of to Jesus, many will Remember Lot’s Wife, and wish they had heeded Jesus’ warnings. “Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” There will be plenty of time to look backwards then…but you won’t like what you see.
Sinner, give your life to Jesus today. He is the only salvation available. Like Lot’s wife, you know it is coming, you know destruction is near. The only thing you have to do is keep looking ahead to Jesus. Yet so many, like Lot’s wife, will follow the world’s allure and realize one second after it is too late that they made the wrong decision. Remember Lot’s Wife!
Questions to ponder: The imminent return of Jesus is a central doctrine to the Christian faith. The angels told the gaping disciples that He would return just like He left. Why is it that delay makes us lose sight of holding onto that truth? How will the wrath of judgment of the Great Tribulation be different than what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? Does it seem like there is less emphasis given to end time prophesies today than there was in the past? Do other prophesies about end time warnings seem to be coming to pass?
Other Scripture Texts to consider: Genesis 19:26, “But Lot’s wife looked back and she became a pillar of salt.” Great epitaph! 1 Peter 4:7, “The end of all things is near…” Matthew 25:1-13, “Watch, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” 1 Thessalonians 5:2, “…as a thief in the night.” 2 Peter 3:10, “…the elements will melt with fervent heat…” (kind of like Sodom).
 
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