Noah and Lot. In Luke 17:26-32, Jesus connects the days of Noah and Lot together as picturing end-time conditions and the return of the Lord. Noah was taken into the ark BEFORE the floods of tribulation came, and was LIFTED UP above the waters, even as the firstfruits will be “lifted up” by translation before the tribulation. Mt. 24:39 says that the people in Noah’s day “knew not “that Noah had been taken into the ark until the floods came. In other words, it was a secret maneuver and secret departure. The name Noah means “rest” and speaks to us of the rest obtained or entered into by a small elect body by means of the mystic “marriage” to the Lamb of God. Like unto Enoch, Noah “walked with God” (Gen. 6:9), and was called “a just man and perfect in his generations.” Thus he types those who are now “following the Lamb” (Rev. 14:4), waiting and expecting to be secretly taken. On the other hand, Lot did not live a separated life like unto Noah, but in the midst of Sodom and its wickedness (and this was something that he decided).


Gen. 13:10-11. Sodom means “scorched”, whereas her sister city, Gomorrah, means “submerged”. Lot lived in Sodom, not Gomorrah. Thus he pictures those Christians who have lived free enough from the world so that they are not submerged in its sin and ways; but they have lived in close enough proximity to its ways that they have been scorched by it. Lot chose to live in Sodom even though his righteous soul was vexed by its wickedness (II Pet. 2:8).
Delivered from wrath. Compromising Lot thus represents that group of Christians who must go through the tribulation, and be received of the Lord at its close. Note that it is clear from Luke 17:29 that Lot and his family were delivered out of Sodom JUST BEFORE God rained fire on the city to destroy it. Then verse 30 says, “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is REVEALED.” Jesus is not revealed “in flaming fire” to take vengeance (II Thess. 1:7) until the very close of the tribulation. When He comes at the beginning of the tribulation it is as a “thief”, unseen except by that small group that he takes. Some quote I Thess. 1:10 as evidence that Christians cannot go through the tribulation because they have been “delivered from wrath to come.” However, it must be seen that the tribulation is not God’s wrath, but rather Satan’s wrath (Rev. 12:12). Only at the very close of the tribulation, in the 7 Vials of Wrath of Rev. 16:1-21, is the “wrath of God” poured out on the earth. This corresponds to the “fire” that was rained on Sodom AFTER lot was delivered. Also in Rev. 15:2-4 we see saints who are obviously in a glorified estate in the heavenlies just BEFORE the vials of wrath are poured out. That they had gone through the tribulation is evident by the fact that they “had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name” (15:2). So shall the “Lot” group go through the tribulation, in victory over the beast and his system, and be translated to glory just BEFORE the vials of wrath are poured out.   [Whole book and others may be found at Joel Jones' blog http://bible-based-studies.blogspot.com/ ; more of J. Leland Earls teachings may be found at www.wordoflifefellowship.com ... and that organisation has the technical copyright.]