Print this article

LEFT BEHIND: A Study in Matthew Chapter 24

In our main study of Left Behind, I  concluded the church will go through the tribulation. I also concluded the ones taken in verses 40 and 41 not raptured into heaven, but the one who is taken is destroyed at the coming of the Lord after the tribulation. However, many pre-tribbers still insist the one taken is raptured into heaven before the tribulation. There are other noted pre-tribbers like Dwight Pentecost, who affirm the ones who are taken are destroyed after the tribulation. However, as like-minded pre-tribbers, they still contend that Jesus was talking to the "tribulation saints" throughout Matthew 24. Another reason why other pre-tribbers insist  the ones taken are raptured before the tribulation is their notion of John 14:

 

"In my Father's house are many mansions. if it were not so, I would have told you. I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

 

John 14:2-3 KJV

 

In their view, the word taken  is from the Greek paralambano which can mean "to take with one’s self." And since Jesus said in John 14 that He was going back to the father's house in Heaven to build mansions, and He will come back and "receive you unto myself" and go back to heaven with them, this constitutes a pre-trib rapture.  I have examined John chapter 14 and came up to  some of these conclusions which can be read from  My Father's House :

1. Jesus didn't say he was coming back to receive the Christians before the tribulation;

2. He didn't say when He was coming back to them He will take them back into heaven:

3. His Father's house He was referring to was not a house in heaven but

4. His Father's house He referred to was the temple of his Own body;

5. Jesus said He was coming again to receive them onto Himself!

Therefore, pre-tribbers cannot claim Jesus was referring to a rapture. To apply their standard of claiming one verse says pre-trib rapture means the other verse does likewise falls short on the merits of John 14.

As we look back into Matthew chapter 24, Jesus met with His disciples privately . The "tribulation saints" were nowhere in the audience, and neither were the "Jewish remnant."  And His Disciples merely asked them the sign of his coming at the Olivet discourse. And Jesus spoke of things to come and applied His earlier instructions along with the sign of His coming.

Referring back to Matthew 24:

"Then there shall be two man in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be working at the mill; one will be taken, one will be left." 

 

Matthew 24:40-41 NASB

 

Did Jesus say this was happening before the tribulation?

Did He say the one taken is a Christian and he will be raptured into heaven?

Since the answers to the questions are no, we cannot conclude this is pre-tribulational. Nor can we conclude Christians are going to be raptured into heaven. 

Jesus instructed His disciples on his coming earlier in His ministry. He Instructed them on the same above verses in Luke chapter 17:

"...On that night there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left; There will be two women at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken one will be left.

"And answering they said to Him, Where, Lord. And He said to them, 'Where the body is, there also will the vultures be gathered.' "  Luke 17:34-37.

Jesus gave the illustration of the ones taken and the ones left. The Disciples asked Him the question "where, Lord?" And he answered  "Where the body is, there also will the vultures be gathered."  And in Matthew Chapter 24 Jesus made the same statement:

"If therefore anyone who says to you, 'Behold, He is in the wilderness,' do not go forth, or "behold, he is in the inner rooms," do not believe them. For just as lightning comes forth from the east, and flashes to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of man be. Wherever the corpse is, the vultures are gathered together. But immediately after the tribulation of those days..."  

 

Matthew 24:26-28

Jesus inserted this sentence in  which His coming is "Immediately after the tribulation of those days..." This is very clear that this is not before the tribulation but after. And it must be noted that pre-tribulationalists do not examine scriptures thoroughly enough. After all, if they claim that the "one taken" parallels with "I will come again, and receive you unto myself, " then they must also apply "where the body is, there also will the vultures be gathered" to a post tribulational setting as well. 

Why I Support the one taken is not raptured but destroyed.

While many pre-tribbers and some post-tribbers support this as a rapture, My  conclusion is this is not the case. In a since, at the rapture, the elect who are ready will be raptured up to meet Jesus in the air and the rest are left on earth.. However, after examining this part of scripture in context with the previous verses in Matthew, I came to my conclusion It was not speaking of a rapture!

For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were giving away in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark., and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be."

 

Matthew 24:36-39

One can make a case Noah was symbolically taken up by being preserved from the flood by being in the ark. However, Noah wasn't raptured up into heaven, nor was he separated from the earth. Noah stayed in the ark while the ones outside "did not understand until the flood came and took them all away." And after the ones were taken away, Noah was left.  And if you compare Jesus' instructions in Luke 17, Jesus said the flood came and destroyed them all: 

"And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it shall also be in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating they were drinking, they were marrying, they were given in marriage, until that day the flood came and destroyed them all.

 

Luke 17 26-27 NASB

The flood didn't come to destroy Noah and his family, but the flood came and destroyed those who were outside the ark. And we cannot apply this to a pre-tribulation setting. As pre-tribbers claim, His coming will be secret to the unbelievers and they will remain on earth for seven years. And at this coming, Jesus comes to destroy (or take) those who are not ready. And this part of scripture cannot support "Imminence." There were signs in Noah time, the construction of the ark. The purpose of constructing the ark was to preserve Noah and his family through the flood. And the flood couldn't come until the Ark was completed. The ark was a sign of things to come but people did not pay attention to what was going to happen until the flood came and destroyed them.

As we examine the word  paralambano, it can mean "to take with one’s self." It can also mean "to take along side of." Does it necessarily mean rapture? There are other verses in scripture that uses paralambano, but they do not support a rapture. For example In John:

"Then delivered he him therefore to be crucified. And they took (paralambano) Jesus, and led him away."

 

John 19:16 KJV

Jesus was delivered to be crucified. And He taken and led away. This is not a scene in which a rapture took place. Another example is in Matthew 27:

"Then the soldiers of the governor took (paralambano) Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers."  

 

Matthew 27:27 KJV

 

The soldiers took Jesus to the common hall. Notice Jesus was not raptured in this verse. From these examples (and from the table below) we can conclude the word paralambano does not necessarily apply to a rapture.

   Print this article

   E-Mail       

      Articles in this study

Left Behind-A Study in Matthew 24

Disciple
Daniel

The Elect

Imminence

My Father's House

Home