In Luke 17, Jesus references two distinct but devastating Bible stories. Jesus refers to the days of Noah and the days of Lot. Often these men are linked to the flood and destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah respectively. So what does Jesus think of these stories? Let’s find out. 

Our passage today covers some ground in Luke, specifically Luke 17:26-37. Jesus refers to the days of Noah and the days of Lot and compares these “days” to the “days of the Son of Man”? So Jesus is comparing the time period of these biblical stories to the time period of another event, the time of the Son of Man. 

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

“It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.

This whole passage comes from a question from the Pharisees, “When will the Kingdom of God come?”. They want to know when God’s kingdom would reign on earth and the oppressive Roman regime would end and the Jews would be liberated in the kingdom God establishes. What Jesus tells them is that it has already come in the form of himself, but they would not understand this since they did not believe he was the Messiah in the first place. Then Jesus turns to his disciples and tells them not to be fooled by those who say the Messiah is here, because the Messiah is right there in front of them! 

Verse 30 gives us some context, Jesus is referring to the day the Son of Man is revealed, the day he is revealed to all on earth and everything is made new. To give them some idea of what it will be like when this occurs, Jesus reaches back in the Torah for some stories in Genesis. The time of Noah and the time of Lot. In both instances, Jesus says people were carrying about business as usual. They were living life. They were eating and drinking, building things, planting crops, everything was usual but none were prepared for the destructive events that were about to take place. They were not prepared for the flood or the fire that would burn the cities. Both of these events have judgment connotations to them and Jesus does not ignore that. 

In the mind of Jesus, these two events were foreshadowing the coming judgment upon Jerusalem, but more importantly, the judgment that would be executed at his second coming. No one will know when he will come so we must learn a lesson from the people of Noah and Lot’s day. We should be prepared and ready for Jesus to return and learn from Lot’s wife, not to be deterred by earthly things and not to doubt. Let us have our minds set on heavenly things as we await the Savior and to not worry about earthly things so we can life in heaven.