Leave Everything…Gain Everything.

In Luke 17:31-35 Jesus tells His disciples that there will be some incredible things that will happen when He returns. All the normal course of life will stop, people will be judged, and the righteous will be gathered to Him.

The interesting thing is that in this narrative, Jesus tells His followers to leave everything behind in that day and go to Him.

Luke 17:30–33 (NAS): 30 “It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.
31 “On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back.
32 “Remember Lot’s wife.
33 “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

This is a statement that Jesus makes to teach and exhort His followers concerning that day. In that day, that day when Jesus appears in the sky with His saints, which will include the church, and walks into the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem, after having split the Mount of Olives into two parts, the follower of Christ must leave everything and go to Him in Jerusalem. Whether one is brought there miraculously, or is brought there after securing transportation themselves, is hard to say. I favor the former, a miraculous gathering of all nations by the power of God to Jerusalem for Jesus to judge some and reward others (Matthew 25:25-46). It must be a kind of a reversal of the Tower of Babel wherein God separated the nations miraculously.

But think about this. Followers of the Word of Christ will be urged to leave behind all their possessions, including all their personal belongings deep inside their homes, and simply walk away from them. Think about the safe in your closet, your checkbook, your cell phone, your computer. Leave it all where it stands and never return to it, or long for it (Remember Lot’s wife-Luke 17:32).

What this tells me is that we will have all that we need in that day that God’s people enter His Millennial Kingdom with nothing from this world in our possession. He will provide all of our needs and there is no need to covet this world’s possessions since they will not be necessary there. How wonderful!