Matthew 24:40: "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."
Despite this admonition, none seem to be watching. Mainstream believers have been told that this rapture could happen at any moment without any warning. Since they are confident in their belief that there will be no warning, there will be nothing to watch for.
This should be a clue that their theology is flawed. Still, they remain steadfast that their expectation is true. None seem ready to take a synoptic view relative to the other accounts of this event, nor do they ask themselves the question which the disciples asked upon hearing of this event.
One will be taken. Where will they be taken to? Christ's disciples wanted to know the answer. Sadly, the contemporary church doesn't want to know the answer.
Luke 17:35
Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.
A plain reading of this verse would lead a thinking person to understand that the body of those taken, far from being safe with Christ, are being circled by the birds. Those ‘taken” are plainly dead. For those who take comfort in ambiguity, we have another verse which removes all doubt as to the condition of these “taken” ones.
Matthew 24:28
wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Could it be any plainer? Those who have been take are deader than a box of doornails. Unfortunately, those who count upon a rapture to deliver them from tribulation may indeed be the very individuals about whom Christ was speaking in these verses.
There are numerous Biblical verses which run counter to the pre-tribulation rapture teaching, but none are as pregnant with epiphanal potential than Matthew 13:47-49.
Matthew 13:47-48
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
To those for whom the rapture is a blessed hope, the preceding verses might reassure them that they likewise, will be gathered into vessels before the tribulation begins. Such comfort can only be gained by abandoning their study before reaching the following verse:
Matthew 13:49
shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just.
It would seem from this verse that, far from a scenario where the righteous are taken away from the evil doers, the wicked will be taken from among those who are justified by their faith in Christ.
Given the overwhelming Biblical evidence which mitigates against a pretribulation rapture, is there some verse which might explain why believers in these last days are unable to comprehend the soundness of the foregoing arguments against a Christian escape before the tribulation? There are many. Few make the point better than Paul’s second letter to Timothy:
2nd Timothy 4:3-4
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
It is a sad fact that the majority of professing Christians love their strong delusion more than they love the truth.
2nd Thessalonians 2:10-12
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
© 2010 Craig Portwood
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