Estimated Reading time – 10 to 15 Minutes
If you have been taught about the rapture, you are familiar about the idea of Believers being taken away to Heaven (away from the time of Tribulation) while the wicked are left behind to endure through this period. The doctrine of the Rapture which was introduced in the 18th Century AD, and was popularized first by John Nelson Darby in the 1830s, uses the verse in question Mat 24:37-42 also as a proof text. Let’s see whether the doctrine of Rapture is supported by this verse.
Mat 24:37-42 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
Mainline Christianity takes the above verse and teaches us that we will be taken away (raptured) while the wicked would be left behind. But look at the verse a little closer and you will see that Christ speaks of the wicked being “taken away” by the flood. If the 2nd coming mirrors Noah’s time, as per Christ – who is taken away, and who is left behind?
In Noah’s time, the flood took away the wicked while Noah and his family settled the earth as the only humans left behind. Yeshua‘s words even say that the flood “took them all away”. Next He explains that one will be taken and the other left Behind. So is it not the wicked that is taken away according to the analogy Messiah makes in this verse? Is it not the righteous that is left behind, contrary to what we have been taught?
Mat 13:24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Reading the above parable, gives you more clues for the same reasoning. The tares (wicked) were gathered first by the Angles and burnt (put to death), and only then were the wheat (Righteous) gathered into His Barn (Kingdom). It is abundantly clear when you read a few verses before Mat 24:37-42 that Messiah Yeshua is speaking of a time after the Tribulation, and that He comes after the time of Tribulation to gather His elect.
Mat 24:29-31 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Conclusion
If the “Rapture” is an event that saves the believers from the period of Tribulation, the verse in question (Mat 24:37-42) does not make any sense, as Yeshua says the events happen after the Tribulation. Not only that, the verse in question that has led to Movies and Books such as “Left Behind”, is taken completely out of context, as the proper interpretation clearly shows the ones who are taken away to be wicked, while the people who are left behind are the righteous who enter His Kingdom on Earth for a Thousand Years.
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