Episode 31: Breaking Down the Rapture, part 3: Left Behind?

Welcome back to what's the Breakdown Podcast. Join us for today's episode Breaking Down the Rapture, Part 3. Welcome back everybody. It's Ben. Welcome back to the podcast. And we are continuing in our series breaking down some of the common ideas of the end times into small sections that they're easier to understand, easier to take in in the process. In the last two podcasts we've talked about the Rapture, we've looked at the origin of the Rapture, the scriptures that it comes from in First Thessalonians 4, and then the last podcast we did, we looked at the second coming in comparison to that passage and saw that every single aspect of the second coming that is described throughout scripture is included in that passage in First Thessalonians 4 and 5. So this week or this podcast we want to look at today is the idea of being left behind. You know, one of the vehicles by which popularized this modern idea of the Rapture over the last decade or two, actually it's really going now, you know, last two and a half decades was the book series, the hit book series called Left Behind. It painted a picture where suddenly at an unknown moment all the people on the earth who were believers would disappear, that this would be the Rapture, they would simply disappear, leaving their clothes, shoes, jewelry, everything was just gone. They just vanished, right? And that any person who was still on the earth is only still here because he or she is lost or is wicked. Therefore the premise of the book and the book series is what happens to all the unbelievers after they are quote unquote left behind. And I'll just be straight up with you. I read this series. I read almost every single book, maybe maybe the last two I didn't read, but there's double digit books in the series and I read them in college and I loved them. I mean, I ate them up. So just to be straight up with you, that was my first introduction to the Rapture and to End Times theology was reading the left behind series. And so let's just get that out of the way real quick that I was not against the series. I loved it. I read it. I couldn't put them down. But as I began to get into the Bible and began to read, I had to ask myself, you know, is this actually biblical because those who are who hold to a rapture view would claim that you must be ready. You must be a believer so that you won't be quote unquote left behind. So it's always the idea that left behind is a bad thing that left behind means your loss. Left behind means you're a sinner. Left behind means you're wicked that you're you're going to be doomed. But is that really what the Bible says? So we're going to look at where this idea comes from today and see if that's actually what the Bible says. So if you would with me today, you can listen along with if you're at home or somewhere where you can sit down and get your phone or your Bible out and look at it, we're going to be in Matthew chapter 24 verses 36 through 44. Again, Matthew 24 is when Jesus is talking at the Olivet discourse. So he's speaking again about the End Times and what's going to happen in the end and listen to what he says in verses 36 through 44. Jesus but concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the sun but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept him all away. So will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field. One will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the meal. Therefore stay awake for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the Master of the House had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. This is the passage from which the idea of being left behind originates. And so at the beginning of that passage it says that the Son of Man is going to come back and it's going to be like in the days of Noah. And too many people try to read more into that passage than it actually says they hear in the days of Noah and they begin to talk about the sin and the wickedness and the pravity and all these things. And though those things are true about that time, that's not the point he's getting at here because he goes on to say as in the days of Noah, that for in those, this is verse 18, for in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and given and marriage. In other words, they were just living their life like normal. They were going about their normal daily activities without any concept or any fear, any concern that something might be coming. And so they were doing all these things until the day Noah entered the ark and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So they weren't suspecting Christ's return. These people won't be expecting his return and they'll just be living life like normal when the son of man comes back. And this was how he describes it. And this went on until Noah enters the ark and says the flood came and swept them away. Now some of your versions, some of your translations might say came and took them all away. So the question here is, is it Noah and his family that are taken or swept away once they enter the ark or is it the unbelievers who are taken away and swept away once Noah enters the ark? And this is important because Jesus then says this is how it will be with the coming of the son of man. This is how it will be. So let's look at the focus of that passage. After verse 40 and 41, this is where the left behind idea comes from because it says there will be two men out in the field. One's going to be taken and the other one's going to be left or left behind, right? One will be taken and one will be left behind. Those who hold to a rapture are claiming that the man who was taken and the woman who was taken, that they are the believers and that the man who was left behind and the woman who was left behind are the wicked. But the question is, does that really add up? Is that really what Jesus said? And I think you're going to see in just a minute that no, that's not what Jesus says. And the good news is is when we look at the gospel accounts, we can oftentimes go and find the same account in another gospel and get a different perspective on it or a better understanding of it. And if we were to go to Luke chapter 17, we see that Luke also tells us this same account in verses 26 through 37. So listen how he says it. Starting in verse 26, he says, just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of man. That's exactly how Matthew words it. He says they were eating and drinking and marrying and being given into marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark. That is almost as pretty much verbatim exactly how Matthew says this. Okay, now Matthew said once Noah entered the ark that the flood came and took them all away or swept them all away. Listen to what Luke says here. They were given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of lot, they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. So it will be on the day when the Son of man is revealed. On that day let the one who is on the house top with his goods in the house not come down to take them away and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember lot's wife, whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it. Whatever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. And they said to him, where Lord, he said to them where the corpse is, they are the vultures will gather. All right, so he words this exactly the same as Matthew does that in the days of Noah, they'll be eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, that it's exact same idea. See, the wicked and Noah story were the ones who were taken, right? But in Luke's story it says they're the ones who were destroyed, right? And so these people, just like in the people of Lot, were just living life until God comes and destroys them all. And so then in Luke he elaborates, he quotes Jesus elaborating on this. And so Jesus trying to explain this idea of Noah and his family being preserved in the ark and remaining here and the wicked being taken away and destroyed. He says there will be two in one bed, one will be taken one left, two grinding, one taken, one left. And so if you're asking, who's taken, what's exactly going on here? Well, the disciples had the same question. They asked him in verse 37, they said, where Lord, taken where? And Jesus tells him where the corpse is, there the vultures gather. And so what's he saying? He's saying he's taken them to death. He will destroy, he destroyed all the wicked in the flood. He destroyed all of Sodom and Gomorrah with the fire from heaven. Like it's always the ones who are wicked who are destroyed. And it's so vital that we catch this guys because remember, this is how he describes, it's going to be when the Son of Man returns. So he's trying to give us this understanding of when the Son of Man comes back. This is how it's going to go down. And we need that. That's really important because at the end of the day when Jesus Christ comes back, we want to be the ones who are left behind. And that by saying strange for you to hear something like that, but we want to be left behind. Jesus explains this. He explains it very clearly in his parable about the wheat and the tares of the wheat in the weeds in Matthew chapter 13. So check out what he says here. So he's already told the parable and the people won an explanation. So starting in verse 36 of chapter 13 says this, "Then he left the crowds and went into the house and the disciples came to him saying, 'Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.' And he answered, 'The one who soes the good seed is the son of man. The field is the world and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire so it will be at the end of the age. The son of man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father, he who has ears letting here." So notice Jesus is saying that in the end when Jesus comes back for when he comes back for the harvest which is the end of all things and when we can read about that in Revelation 14 when he comes back for the harvest he is going to the angels are going to get rid of all of the wicked and they are going to harvest or gather in all of the believers. But in the actual parable itself earlier in chapter 13 specifically verse 30 listen to how Jesus said this in this in this parable. He said, 'Let both meaning the weeds and the wheat let both grow together until the harvest.' So the weeds and the wheat the sons of the kingdom and the sons of the devil are all growing together until the harvest. So there's not an early harvest if you pay attention. There's not an early harvest where he gathers believers out beforehand. He says let it go into the end to the harvest and at harvest time I will tell the reapers and listen to what he says, 'Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned but gather the wheat into my barn.' So he says, 'Get the weeds first. That's the wicked, the unrighteous, get them first then my righteous will be left and gather them into my barns.' And so we see that the the weeds are gathered first to be burned or destroyed and the righteous are gathered last and are brought into the barn to be with him forever. We see this idea again in Revelation 20 verses 9 through 10 at the end where Satan gathers his armies to war against God's people and listen there's there's three characters in this particular these two verses. We've got Satan, we've got the armies of the world and we've got the believers and then God shows up. But in chapter 20 verse 8 and 9 it says this and they Satan and his armies marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. So all of us Satan's armies and him are gathered around all of the believers looking to destroy them. And it says, 'But fire came down from heaven and consumed them and the devil hood to see them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur were the beast and the frost prophet were and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.' So here comes Satan and his armies to destroy the people of God. God brings down fire from heaven destroys all of the wicked and destroys Satan throwing him into the lake of fire. Well who is left? The people of God are still there. And this this corresponds with Paul in 1st this long is 4 and in 1st Corinthians 15 saying that there will be believers still alive when Christ comes back that there will still be believers alive when Christ returns. We will not all sleep but we will all be changed. He said those of us who are still alive when he returns will be will be caught up with him in the air. The believers are the ones who are left after Jesus comes down and destroys the wicked. And that's super important that we get this guys because we want to be left behind because in the end when the Son of Man returns the only ones left will be the believers because all the rest will be cast into the lake of fire. You want to be left behind today. Remember Noah and his family were the only ones left. Lot and his family were the only ones left. And so will all believers in the end. So when we talk about the rapture doctrine the sheer idea of being left behind actually destroys the idea of this separate rapture, secret rapture that's going to happen and take people away and then everybody's going to go through this tribulation period that's nowhere in the scriptures. Okay. There will not be a rapture event that takes the church away while leaving the rest of the lost people to figure things out and endure a time of tribulation. Yes, it made for a great book series very entertaining but it is simply fiction. It's simply fiction. There's no biblical support for it because at the end of the day you want to be left behind. You want to be here because Jesus is coming here to destroy the wicked and to gather his church at the second coming on the day of the Lord. And so I hope this has been helpful for you guys when you think about the left behind idea. We will be in the upcoming days when we look at my list here. The next few podcasts we will be looking at I know I told you last time what we'd be doing this but it looks like next week we will be doing the tribulation talking about the tribulation and the anti-Christ and that timeline in regards to a purported rapture versus the second coming and then we will be looking at the book of Revelation and what it says about the churches and dealing with a common argument that the church is not in Revelation 4 through 21. So I hope to again this has been helpful for you guys as you're dealing with us and trying to navigate through these topics and if you have questions you can always shoot me messages you can always ask getting touched with me for clarification or if you feel I've got something wrong and you want to correct it or throw an idea out there for me to consider I absolutely will. We are in this together and we're trying to figure this all out together. So listen guys again I hope this is blessing to you and I look forward to talking to you next time. Thanks for joining us again on What's the Bright Down? We're forward to seeing you next time.