Do Not Go Out or Follow Them

And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:22-30)

In the days of Jesus, the hope of the Messiah’s coming was strong. However, last week we saw that the teachers of the day were setting the expectation of Messiah based on misinterpretation of Scripture and their own desires for a political leader to rise up and free them from the rule of Rome. We know that Jesus truly is Messiah and He did come and fulfill hundreds of prophecies concerning the long-awaited Messiah. But the Jewish people largely did not accept Him as Messiah. However, this passage doesn’t only concern His first coming as the suffering servant that He is, but also refers to His second coming as well. That is important to note because it doesn’t only relate to the Jewish people, but to everyone.

Charles Feinberg, a Jewish man born in 1909 and who came to faith in Christ at the age of 21 and began teaching at Biola University in 1948, said that since Jesus’ time, there have been 64 different individuals who have claimed to be the Messiah. And considering Charles died in 1995, there are likely way more than that by now.

David M. Levy, the former director of International Ministries for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, noted that, “Modern Judaism (Reform) has reinterpreted the messianic hope. Instead of a “personal Messiah”, [they believe] there will come a messianic age which is brought about through the humanist progression of world leaders negotiating for peace.”

Isn’t that interesting, especially in light of the days to come that read about in Revelation. Jesus warned his disciples then and warns us now because He knew other false Messiah’s would rise up, and He knew the tendency of the people to recreate and interpret Scripture to fit their own idea of how things should go. How gracious of Jesus to give us this warning and help us be mindful to keep our eyes on Him and Him alone!

As It Was in the Days of Noah

We have an account of the days of Noah and Sodom, which Jesus references here, preserved in the pages of our Bible. If we look back at what the days were like back then, we see this:

• These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. (Genesis 6:9-12)

• The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. (Genesis 20:1-7)

In our current days, is it really any different than those days? In fact, I’d say we’re probably worse. The very things that God has spoken against are the very things our culture tends to elevate as good. Paul warned about this in his day as well when he wrote to Timothy saying, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

Applying the Lesson to Ourselves

So where does that leave us as followers of Jesus in this current era? What can we take away from this? The church in Thessalonica had concerns about the end times, the rapture, and second coming of Jesus too because false teachers had been saying that the second coming had already happened. But Paul wrote this to them:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

Jesus warned us, Paul reiterated, and we encourage one another with the truth that while we don’t know the day or hour Jesus is coming, we do know that He’s coming for us and He’s coming soon. So, don’t focus on the world or the world’s claims about Jesus’ return, that will only lead you astray. Instead focus your attention on the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, not worrying about when Jesus comes back, but walking in the good works God has prepared for you with the knowledge that Jesus is coming back soon and desires to find that you have been a good and faithful servant.