Who Will Inherit the Earth?

There is a popular multimedia franchise called Left Behind, which includes 38 books and four films. The premise for the franchise includes topics about the rapture and tribulation. The key theme is that the righteous are taken out of the earth, while the wicked are left behind.

As I was searching for information on this the Left Behind series, I was amazed how the series is heralded as “A must read for Christians” and other such claims that this series contains information every Christian should know. I am always confused and baffled how anything which man can create is superior to the word God gave us called the Bible. Is Mr. Tim LaHaye (the author of the books) a spiritual intellect? Is he able to tease out important information which the rest of us mere mortals cannot comprehend? Or, is this just a marketing and publicity stunt which has little to do with the Bible and everything to do with money? Let’s explore Scripture to find out who will be left behind, who will be taken out of the earth and who will inherit the earth.

Matthew 24
In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus gives a long dialogue in which He explains His second coming and also the near future when Jerusalem will be destroyed by the Romans. Jesus talks about the destruction of the Temple (verse 2), He says take heed when you hear about wars and rumors of war (verse 6), He speaks about many false prophets arising (verse 11), etc. All the events I mentioned have at least a two-fold coming. They happened when Roman destroyed Jerusalem, and they will also happen again at the end of time.

Side note: When Jerusalem was about to be destroyed by Rome, those who followed Jesus and knew His words (especially verses 16-20) fled Jerusalem. They did as Jesus said to do, they fled to the mountains and did not stay to gather their goods. This advice is directly in opposition to logic. When an army was coming to invade a country, it was best to be in a large fortified city which had walls. The logical place to flee to would have been Jerusalem. However, just as Jesus says, people should flee to the mountains to escape. Those who heeded Jesus’ words before Rome destroyed Jerusalem saved their lives. Rome surrounded Jerusalem and put it under siege. It was a horrible time in which famine and disease raged inside the city walls. Rome finally made an attack on Jerusalem and slaughtered the people and destroyed the Temple. Those who fled from Jerusalem before the siege escaped with their lives and escaped the harsh punishment from the Romans.


Read Matthew 24.

Key Highlights
Verse 13 states, “He who endures to the end will be saved.”

Verse 28: “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”

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.”

Verses 48-50: “But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time’; and he begins to beat his fellow slaves, and he eats and drinks with this habitually drunk; then the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect, and at an hour that he does not know, and he will cut him in two and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

In depth look at these passages:
Verse 13: “He who endures to the end will be saved.”

Scripture tells us that those who remain to the end will be saved. In verse 13, the word translated as “saved” is the Greek word so-zo. It means to keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction, to save from perishing, to make well, to restore to health, to preserve one who is in danger of destruction. So-zo is used 110 times in the New testament in 103 verses.

Matthew 10:22: “And you shall be hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he that endures to the end shall be saved.”

Mark 16:16: “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believes not shall be damned.”

Luke: “Then said Jesus to them, ‘I will ask you one thing; is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good or to do evil? to save life, or destroy it?’”

Using the word so-zo to its more complete meaning, we could re-translate Matthew 24:13 as: He who endures to the end will be healed, rescued from destruction and be kept safe.



Verse 28: “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
Vultures are scavengers. They do not eat prey which is healthy. They usually eat things which have recently died or are on the verge of death. Vultures do not like to chase their food. They gather where the meal is prepared for them. (The word in your Bible version may be vulture or eagle. The word used in the Greek means a bird of prey. It can be a vulture, eagle or any bird of prey.)

Using verse 13, we know the person who endures to the end will be saved from destruction. We can then switch the words into the negative and say the person who does not hold fast to the end, he will not be saved from destruction.

Verse 28, mirrors Job 39 verses 19 through 30.
“19“Do you give the horse his might?
Do you clothe his neck with a mane?
20Do you make him leap like the locust?
His majestic snorting is terrible.
21He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength;
He goes out to meet the weapons.
22He laughs at fear and is not dismayed;
And he does not turn back from the sword.
23The quiver rattles against him,
The flashing spear and javelin.
24With shaking and rage he races over the ground,
And he does not stand still at the voice of the trumpet.
25As often as the trumpet sounds he says, ‘Aha!’
And he scents the battle from afar,
And the thunder of the captains and the war cry.
26“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars,
Stretching his wings toward the south?
27Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
And makes his nest on high?
28On the cliff he dwells and lodges,
Upon the rocky crag, an inaccessible place.
29From there he spies out food;
His eyes see it from afar.
30His young ones also suck up blood;
And where the slain are, there is he.” (Job 39:19-30)

Again, this emphasizes, where the birds of prey are, there the dead bodies will be. We can be fairly certain the birds of prey will not be eating up the righteous. But to explore this farther, let’s move to the back of the Bible.

Revelation 19:20-21 gives us more clarity into who will be slain.
20And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. 21And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. (Revelation 19:20-21)

Revelation 19 tells us those who were deceived by the false prophet and those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped the beast’s image were slain with the sword. These individuals’ bodies were eaten by the birds of the field.