Matthew 24:37-41 is a key passage some Christians use to justify an escapist theology, approaching this world with a “Why shine the brass on a sinking ship?” attitude. In this passage Jesus likens “the coming of the Son of Man” to the time of Noah, when people “were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away.” Then Jesus gives two brief pictures of the effect of his coming: “Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.”
These verses have been employed to support the idea that God will one day evacuate, or “rapture,” all the righteous people, leaving behind an evil world destined for annihilation. Therefore, the thinking goes, Christians should focus exclusively on seeking to rescue lost souls rather than waste time trying to fix things that are broken in this doomed world. This perspective is evidenced in a comment I read not long ago from a well-known Bible teacher: “Evangelism is the only reason God’s people are still on earth.”
But a closer look at the context reveals that in those pictures Jesus gave of men in the field and women at the mill, those “left behind” are the righteous rather than the unrighteous. Like the people in Noah’s day who were “swept away,” leaving behind Noah and his family to rebuild the world, so the unrighteous are “taken,” while the righteous are left behind. Why? Because this world belongs to God, and he’s in the process of gaining it all back, not giving it all up.
- Tullian Tchividjian,
Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different
3 comments:
Hmmmmmmm..... ?
Interesting, but in light of the context, I'm not sure about the one woman and one man being the unrighteous. Just before Matthew 24:31 says, "And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." He has just finished explaining what will happen, what it will be like, the signs to watch, and then goes on with the illustrations (fig tree, flood, workers). It seems that the Biblical text is saying about these illustrations that there will be signs (fig tree), but that it will indeed be sudden (flood, workers). Either way (the workers being the righteous or the unrighteous/escapist or other personal agenda or theology), we should be very careful in saying, "Here, you must use this theological lens to see what Bible says correctly". It is God's Word.
Anon (and all) - I attended a good explanation of this passage, where in the Greek, it is using word play to show that the righteous are indeed left there. The word choice of the ones being "taken" refers to being swept away by water, as in flood waters. It is directly attendant to the flood.
I concur that we should be careful about which theological lens to use, but when there is one that is correct and shows light on a passage, it behooves us to use it.
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