Luke 17:31-37 Vultures Gather Where the Corpse Is
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: October 17, 2018 Luke 17:31-37
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
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.” And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
(Understanding the Text) This is confusing to me because the context seems to indicate Jesus’ second coming and the second part about people being taken makes sense with that, but the first part about going down to get goods or turning back in the field seems to indicate something else like the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. However, I wonder if this is a similar structure to some parts of the scripture where there is parallel meaning. If Jesus is talking about two different events in the part about Noah and Sodom, maybe here He is also talking about two different events.
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. . . . 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.
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. . . . 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.”
If I read the verses this way, Jesus is saying in the first part that during His time as the Son of Man, life would remain normal for the Jews, of Jerusalem especially, until the Romans came and destroyed them all. He warns that if they want to be saved that they cannot stop to pack or go back into the city if they are already out. They have a short time to get to safety. On the other hand, Jesus says that in His final revealing at the second coming, life will seem to be going along normally until the destruction starts to happen. Here He talks about a separation of the wheat and tares where one is taken while the other is left. This way of interpreting these verses may be right since I have seen it demonstrated that the Bible uses this structure elsewhere and Jesus tends to use the Bible’s structures in His messages, like the woes and blessings in the Sermon on the Mount.
This passage is similar to Matthew 24. “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:36-44). However. in Matthew 24, the Noah part refers to the coming of the Son of Man. Instead of making this clearer, it made it mixed up again in my mind.
Finally, they ask Jesus where these things would take place. What place would be destroyed? Jesus does not answer them directly but with a saying that indicates that if they look for the right evidence, they will easily know where. The saying indicates that the signs would be clear.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is not to try to preserve this worldly life, but instead count it as lost in order to preserve my heavenly life. I need to focus on Jesus and His kingdom instead of the pleasures of this world or even the cares of this world. I need to not be like Lot’s wife looking back at what I have left behind, but instead I need to look forward to my reward in heaven and look at now with my walk with God. Help me to always look towards You and not back to the world and its ways.
(Revelation of God) Jesus understands how easily distracted we are by life and how is it is for us to forget to watch and wait for Him. He gave us warnings to remind us of the urgency of staying awake and watching for His coming.