Israel or the Church?
One person is taken; one is left. Who went where? Does the Olivet Discourse speak of the Rapture or of Israel’s blessed hope?
In 1972, popularity for the pretribulation Rapture received a boost with the film A Thief in the Night that showed what life on Earth might be like for those left behind at the Rapture. The theme song, “I Wish We’d All Been Ready,” epitomized the movie about a young wife who awakes one morning to discover her Christian husband gone because Jesus had come for His church and carried the man to heaven. An unbeliever, she is left behind.
The song’s lyrics were based on Jesus’ words in the Olivet Discourse: “Two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left” (Mt. 24:40–41).
Many see this passage as a description of the Rapture, when Jesus Christ will return in the air to collect all true believers in Him. The pretribulation Rapture view maintains that Jesus will do so before a horrific time of God’s judgment called the Tribulation falls on the entire planet. Although interpreting Matthew 24:40–41 as the Rapture is a popular view, it is not one held by most Bible scholars, even those who hold to a pretribulation Rapture. Many Bible scholars believe the entire Olivet Discourse refers to Israel’s experience in the Tribulation and that the church is not seen in it.
The New Testament says much about the pretribulation Rapture (the position held by The Friends of Israel; Jn. 14:1–3; 1 Cor. 15:51–54). First Thessalonians 4:14–17, for example, states:
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
So, the doctrine of a pretribulation Rapture does not depend on Matthew 24:40–41 for support. It is much better to understand that passage in the context of the Olivet Discourse, which leads to the conclusion that it refers to the glorious Second Coming of Christ at the end of the Tribulation and that those “taken” are unbelievers swept away in judgment, while those who are “left” are Tribulation believers in Jesus who remain on Earth to enter the Messianic Kingdom.
Broad Context
Matthew 24:40–41 needs to be understood in the light of its context. Broadly speaking, the context is known as the Olivet Discourse, which spans chapters 24 and 25. Christ delivered the discourse just days before His crucifixion. It was a time of great conflict between the Savior and Israel’s leaders.
Shortly before the discourse, He denounced the Pharisees’ hypocrisy and lamented over Jerusalem’s dire future (chap. 23). Like the denunciation, the discourse’s theme is the judgment of unbelieving Israel and the redemption of a future Jewish generation that will turn to its Messiah at His Second Coming. There is nothing about the church in this context; it is all about Israel.
The discourse is introduced in Matthew 24:1–3. In verse 1, the disciples pointed out the Temple to Jesus. To them, it was Israel’s glory. Jesus must have shocked them when He spoke of its utter destruction (v. 2). The Temple was a source of both comfort and pride to Israel. Even in their unbelief, the Jewish people prided themselves in thinking the Temple assured them of God’s favor. They had faith in the physical building, not in the living God. God would remove what had become an idol to unbelieving Israel to force His people to look to the only true source of comfort and pride: Messiah Jesus. The church was not yet in existence, and it would not be born for another month and a half, on the Day of Pentecost (the Jewish holiday of Shavuot). The church was simply not a topic in the Olivet Discourse.
Jesus’ disciples asked Him three questions: “[1] When will these things be? [2] And what will be the sign of Your coming, and [3] of the end of the age?” (v. 3). The first question involved the timing of the Temple’s destruction. The Gospel of Matthew does not record Jesus’ answer, but Luke recorded it in his version of the discourse (Lk. 21:12–24). The remaining two questions deal with two facets of the same event: Jesus’ Second Coming and the “end of the age.” They will occur simultaneously, conclude the time of God’s judgment of Israel, and usher in the Messianic Kingdom. The primary topic of the Olivet Discourse is God’s judgment of Israel in the Tribulation (“the time of Jacob’s trouble,” Jer. 30:7) and the subsequent coming of Israel’s Messiah to establish His Kingdom on the earth—none of which relates directly to the church.
Timeframe. There is a timeframe in the Olivet Discourse. Jesus described a future era as “birth pangs” (Mt. 24:8, NASB1995) that will progress from the beginning to the end. Verses 6–8 describe events that mark the beginning of this era; and verse 14 describes the end, when the good news about the Kingdom will have been proclaimed in all nations. Everything in the Olivet Discourse falls within this period of “birth pangs,” an apt description of the Tribulation. In verse 13, those who endure “to the end” are the Tribulation saints who survive the persecution and judgments and live until the end of the seven-year period so they can enter the Messiah’s Kingdom.
Dr. John Hart, longtime Bible professor at Moody Bible Institute, has argued that “one will be taken and the other left” (vv. 40–41) speaks of a pretribulation Rapture.1 But his argument does not hold up to close examination. Based on the Greek phrase peri de at the beginning of verse 36 (“But of that day and hour,” emphasis added), he sees a topic shift that extends through verse 44. He maintains the topic changes to a description of the Rapture. However, though the apostle Paul used peri de to introduce a topic shift in several places (1 Cor. 7:1, 25; 8:1; 12:1; 16:1, 12; 1 Th. 5:1), the phrase does not always introduce a topic change (Mt. 20:6; 27:26; Jn. 16:11). Further, Matthew 24:36 refers to “that day and hour,” the word that referring to the same timeframe as in verse 50, which involves the master coming in judgment for the evil slave. So, the passage beginning in verse 36 belongs to the same period as the rest of the Olivet Discourse. This means the passage describes some event in the Tribulation.
Near Context
The near context of Matthew 24:36–51, as well as the broad context, requires that verses 40–41 occur during the Tribulation; therefore, it is not a reference to the Rapture.
“Coming of the Son of Man” (vv. 37, 39, cf. 44). There are three references to the “coming of the Son of Man” in this passage. The title “Son of Man” comes from Daniel 7:13 and describes the Messiah who brings God’s Kingdom to Earth. The Olivet Discourse applies this very title to Jesus, not only in verses 37, 39, and 44, but also in verses 27 and 30. This fact requires that we understand the coming of the Son of Man in all these verses as a description of the Second Coming at the end of the Tribulation.
“Days of Noah” (vv. 37–39). Jesus used this phrase to describe a phenomenon. Those who see the Rapture here point out that Noah is a good picture of saints delivered from judgment by removal from the earth. While that may be true, it doesn’t mean this is how Jesus intended the phrase to be understood in this context. The phrase days of Noah also aptly pictures those swept away in judgment and those left at the Second Coming. At Christ’s Second Coming, those taken will be taken in judgment (25:30, 41, 46), and those left on Earth will enter the Kingdom (20:34, 46).
“Gather together His elect from the four winds” (24:31). While the “gathering together of His elect” might sound like a description of the Rapture, in the Olivet Discourse it refers to the end-times gathering of Israel from worldwide dispersion. This dispersion was first prophesied by Moses (Dt. 28:63–65) and is described often by the Old Testament prophets who foretold that the coming of Messiah would involve regathering the Jewish people scattered around the globe, bringing them into the New Covenant, circumcising their hearts, and fulfilling all of God’s covenant promises to the nation. The gathering in Matthew 24:31 is not a description of the Rapture, but a description of God’s faithfulness to fulfill His covenant promises to Israel.
The Rapture is the Blessed Hope of the church. It is an event every faithful believer looks forward to with great anticipation. It is not the blessed hope of Israel. Israel’s blessed hope is the coming of the Messiah to bring in the Kingdom and fulfill all of God’s covenant blessings to that nation. The Olivet Discourse describes this blessed hope of Israel. While the Rapture is described in rich detail elsewhere in the New Testament, it is not found in the Olivet Discourse.
ENDNOTE
1 John F. Hart, ed., Evidence for the Rapture (Chicago, IL: Moody, 2015), 45–71.
