In last week's study, we explored Matthew 24 in which Jesus gives us a long dialog about the coming times. Some of the events were for the immediate future when Jerusalem was laid siege by the Romans. But as always, anything which had a first coming, the prophecy is also applicable to a second coming. Continuing from last week, let's pick up from where we let off.
Verses 36-41: “But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. At that time, there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.”
Like the days of Noah
We are told the coming of the Son of Man will be like the days of Noah. Let’s review a little bit of what life was like during the days of Noah.
Genesis 6:5-8
5Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
We have in the text, man was wicked and his intentions were continually evil. God was sorry He had made man. He decides He will destroy man; however, a man named Noah found favor in His eyes. Summarizing the rest of the story, God commands Noah to build the ark. Noah saves two of every animal and seven pairs of birds and clean animals. Noah and his family enter the ark. A worldwide flood destroys the wicked from the face of the earth. Noah and his family (his wife, plus his three sons and their wives) are spared.
We can sum up Noah’s story as the wicked are slain and taken out of the earth. Noah and his family are spared. They make it through the flood, and they are the ones who are left behind. They are the ones who inherit the earth. From Noah and his three sons, man begins again.
Back to Matthew 24
Jesus states at the end of verse 39, the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. In verses 40 and 41 it says there will be two people doing an activity. One will be taken and one will be left. This is where I believe the left behind series gets its concept that the wicked will be left behind while the righteous will be taken out of the earth. However, if we continue to follow the text and examples which have been laid out, the wicked are the ones taken out of the earth. It is the righteous who are left behind.
When the flood comes, Noah and his family survive. It is the wicked who perish. We are told where the bodies are, there the birds of prey will gather. When the wicked are slain, the birds of the air will come down and eat up their corpses. The righteous will still be alive. The birds of prey will not come and eat up the righteous. To get a little bit more clarity on this topic, let’s turn to Luke 17 where Jesus gives us a similar dialogue about the what will happen in the time to come.
Luke 17:20-37
20Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; 21nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
22And He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them. 24For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. 25But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; 29but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. 31On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. 32Remember Lot’s wife. 33Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. 35There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. 36[Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.”] 37And answering they *said to Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.”
Key Similarities
Again, We have Jesus saying the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. He then continues and states it was the same as in the time of Lot. Everyone was going about their daily lives when fire and brimstone came down and destroyed the valley cities, but Lot escaped.
Lot and the Valley Cities
In Genesis 18, the LORD and two angels appear to Abraham. Abraham entertains his guests by preparing a meal for them. Abraham is given a promise that a son will be born to him. Before the LORD and the angels leave, we learn Sodom and the surrounding cities are very wicked.
Genesis 18:17-21
17The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? 19For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” 20And the Lord said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. 21I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”
For the rest of Genesis 18, Abraham pleads with the LORD to not destroy the valley cities. When Abraham bargains for the valley to be spared for ten righteous people, the LORD departs from Abraham.
In Genesis 19, we have the story about Lot entertaining two angels. He makes them a meal. In the morning, the angels take Abraham, his wife and his tow daughters and forces them to flee Sodom. Sodom and the valley cities are destroyed with fire and brimstone.
To summarize, Lot is saved while the wicked men of the valley are killed. Lot is allowed to live; the wicked perish. Lot’s story is very similar to Noah. Lot and Noah live. The wicked are destroyed by a natural disaster.
Two will be taken, one left
Again, Jesus gives us the analogy of two people doing an activity. One will be taken and one will be left. Using both Noah’s and Lot’s stories, we know the righteous are left behind and the wicked are taken away.
In Luke 37, we have the disciplines asking Jesus a question. The question seems incomplete and states, “Where, Lord?” Jesus gives an answer where the vultures are there the bodies will be.
We have a two options to choose from in verse 37. One, the disciples are asking what happens to the people left behind on the earth, or two, what happens to those who are taken away. If we believe the disciples want to know what happens to those left behind, that seems like a dumb question.
It would be like me telling you a story about a mom and her daughter are cooking in the kitchen. The phone rings. The daughter leaves. You then ask me, “Where is the mom?” That would be a really odd question. The mom is in the kitchen cooking. The more logic question is, “Where did the daughter go?”
If we assume the disciples are asking where those who are taken go, Jesus’ response make a lot of sense. He states where the bodies are, there the vultures will be. Henceforth, those taken out of the earth are slain. Where they bodies appear, the birds of prey will gather and eat. Again, we know birds of prey do not like to eat healthy individuals. So, if the disciplines are asking what happens to those left behind, Jesus’ answer makes little sense that the birds of prey will be gathered around them. We are not told anything happens to those left behind. They will be just like Noah and Lot. Both of those individuals lived a full life on the earth. Both those individuals were left behind to continue living.
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