WEEKEND RECHARGE!

September 13, 2026

Monday-September 7-Luke 15:11-32
Tuesday-September 8 Luke 16:1-13
Wednesday-September 9-Luke 16:14-31
Thursday-September 10-Luke 17:1-19
Friday-September 11- Luke 17:20-37

FOLLOWING THE REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS, BE SURE TO CHECK OUT UTLEY’S WORK ON “FOUR TERMS RELATED TO THE AFTERLIFE” AND SPROUL’S HELPFUL COMMENTS ON LUKE 17:37.

Below are reflective questions for you to prayerfully consider; choose one or two to focus on this week. 

1. PRAY: Ask God to open your heart so you can hear him speak to you about the issue.
2. RESPOND: Confession. Repentance. Surrender. Thanksgiving.
3. ACT: Take the steps to do what God is calling you to do.

Questions for Reflection:

1. Are there areas of your life where you are more like the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son—keeping score, holding onto resentment, or struggling to celebrate God’s grace toward someone else? What would repentance look like there?
2. How does knowing that God welcomes repentant sinners with compassion, forgiveness, and restoration change the way you approach him—and the way you respond to people who need his grace?
3. What good thing in your life is most vulnerable to becoming an idol—money, comfort, success, possessions, relationships, security, or control? How can you surrender it to God?
4. Jesus says we cannot serve both God and money. Who or what is calling the shots in your life right now? What is one definite step you can take this week to place God back in his rightful position as Lord of your life?
5. The rich man in Hades became deeply concerned about his brothers only after it was too late. Who in your life needs to hear about Jesus from you, and what steps will you take this week to lovingly point that person toward him?
6. Gratitude: Like the one leper who turned back, do you regularly stop to recognize and thank Jesus for what he has done in your life—or have you become more focused on the blessing than on the One who gave it?
7. If the kingdom of God means living under the rule and reign of Jesus, what area of your life are you still trying to control rather than surrender to him?
8. Since Jesus could return at any moment, what would you want to be doing differently—not out of fear, but because you genuinely desire to be found faithful to your King? 

THIS IS FROM ROBERT UTLEY’S COMMENTARY ON LUKE, WHERE HE OFFERS SEVERAL “SPECIAL TOPIC” SECTIONS. 

WHERE ARE THE DEAD? (Robert Utley)

There are four terms in the Bible which relate to the afterlife:

1. In the OT the dead are gathered to a conscious but silent and inactive holding place
called Sheol. The Greek counter-point to this was Hades, the place of the unseen.
In both the OT and NT all humans at death went to this holding place. The rabbis
asserted that it was divided into a section for the wicked (Tartarus) and a section for the
righteous (Paradise). There may be evidence for this in Luke 23:43 (but to be fair, Paul
uses the same term for heaven in 2 Cor. 12:4).

 2. In 2 Peter 2:4 (and possibly referred to in Jude 6) the term Tartarus is used for the
holding place of rebellious angels. In Greek mythology it was a prison under Hades for
the half-human, half-divine Titans. In Jewish inter-biblical apocalyptic literature it was a special holding place for the rebellious angels (possibly related to Gen. 6 according to I Enoch).

3. The third NT term is Gehenna translated into English by the KJV as Hell. The Hebrew
term is a contraction of the Hebrew phrase “valley of the sons of Hinnom.” This valley,
south of Jerusalem, was where the Phoenician fire god, Molech, was worshiped by child
sacrifice. Even King Manasseh participated in this idolatry. The Jews of the first century had turned this area into the garbage dump for Jerusalem. Jesus used the metaphors associated with a garbage dump (fire, smoke, smell, worms) to describe eternal punishment. The term Gehenna only occurs once outside of the words of Jesus (i.e. James 3:6). This place was prepared for the Devil and his angels but rebellious, unrepentant humans will share their isolation. No one is in Hell (Gehenna) today. It will only be occupied after Judgment Day.

 4. The last term is heaven. It is described in beautiful and expensive metaphors from the
earth. The only vocabulary that biblical authors had was earthly. The Bible does not
discuss or describe the afterlife, either heaven or hell, in specific terms, probably
because they are beyond our ability to comprehend. The best thing about heaven is not
its splendor but the presence of the Triune God and the possibility of fellowship with
Him. 

“WHERE THE CORPSE IS, THERE THE VULTURES WILL GATHER” (LUKE 17:37). 

R. C. Sproul
This text has been interpreted in two different ways historically. On the one hand, the view favored by most commentators is that Jesus gives a negative answer—that the judgment will fall where Christ appears and finds people opposed to his kingdom. Those who are in a state of spiritual death will be like those exposed to the vultures.

The other interpretation is more positive. Where the body is, or where Christ appears, there the vultures will gather around him. That is, people will fly up to meet him. This may be a cryptic allusion to what the New Testament elsewhere describes as the ‘rapture’, when Christians will be caught up to meet Christ in the air at his return.

But whichever interpretation is correct, we must not miss the note of earnestness and urgency in Jesus’ words as he points to a future crisis, and pleads with people to be ready when the Son of Man appears.

R. C. Sproul, A Walk with God: An Exposition of Luke (Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 1999), 325–329.