Just as it was in the days of Noah ...

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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. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.”

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Interesting to note that Jesus uses two events where God directly intervened in judgment to compare with his return. In each case a friend of God was forewarned of the event. God spoke to Noah of this judgment but no one would listen to his witness as he built the ark. Before fire and sulfur rained down on Sodom God stopped and spoke to Abraham and his nephew Lot was saved. It helps to know that God will once again speak to his friends before he comes again.

In graphic terms Jesus speaks to us of Lot's wife who disobeyed angelic commands and turned to a statue of salt as she looked back. He likens her action to those who seek to live only for themselves. He speaks in paradoxical language of keeping our lives only when we lose our lives. This speaks to me of the friend who God talks to and one he does not. Like Lot and his wife, one will be saved from judgment and the other with not. It is an issue of friendship.

Lord, you have called me friend. Help me to honor that friendship today.

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