Raptures, Eagles, and Dead Bodies
Questions Concerning Those Who Will be Left Behind
ABSTRACT: When it comes to creating a great biblical misconception, it always helps to have the cooperation of Christians the world over. However, to create a colossus of a misconception, you don’t just enlist believers in your cause; you enlist unbelievers, too. In the case of our latest misconception, then, you not only communicate your tale from every pulpit and microphone, but you also send it out via the secular media—through pop songs, popular books, and blockbuster movies. Take, for example, the sensational tale of two men in a bed, and two women at the mill, in which one is said to be taken, while the other is left behind. According to tradition, this scenario speaks of the Rapture of the Church. On one hand, you have believers in Christ who couch this tale in the context of the Apostle Paul’s comments regarding a “catching away in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” And on the other hand, you have unbelievers who still see this unlikely story as a compelling mystery along the lines of the spine-tingling tales of alien abduction. In either case, you have a story, which despite its far-fetched elements, that grows and grows with each passing year. Unfortunately, the end result of all this well-meaning publicity is a complete check-out in terms of the actual context in which the verses appear that have Jesus speaking of those who will be taken and those who will be left behind. Because should one ever take the time to examine the context of the words of the Lord Himself, we’d be shocked indeed to find that not only is there a bed and a mill involved, but there is also the completely ignored aspect of this story, which just happens to involve eagles, or to be more precise, vultures… and dead bodies, or to be more precise, corpses fallen in battle…
ONE WILL BE TAKEN, and one will be left behind. On that day—the day of all days—the moment that all Christians have desired for so long will finally be upon us. To some, it will be a wonderful day, to others, a dreadful day. What day are we talking about? Why, of course, it’s the Rapture of the Church. Speaking of that day, Jesus said:
I say to you, in that night there will be two men in a bed; one will be taken and the other will be left behind. There will be two women grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and the other left behind. So watch out, because you don’t know the day your Lord is coming.
The Rapture—the day we’ve all heard about so much about. Streaming forth in every medium of communication known to mankind, the story is told again and again, in sermon after sermon, song after song, book after book, and movie after movie. One is taken; the other is left behind. Considering all the press this story receives, it’s no wonder that most Christians the world over accept that Jesus was talking about the Rapture of the Church. Even more amazing is how this story has captured not only the imagination of Christians but non-Christians as well.
Not because non-Christians are buying into the story, as though they actually believe it will ever happen, but because they find the story so intriguing at its most basic level. In other words, although completely far-fetched—in their view—it still makes for a compelling yarn, much akin to the equally far-fetched scenarios involving alien abductions. Great drama, after all, is great drama, right? In its most basic form, then, the story runs as follows.
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Raptures, Eagles, and Dead Bodies: Questions Concerning Those Who Will be Left Behind
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The world and all its inhabitants are going about their humdrum lives, going through life without a thought for tomorrow, neither concerned about the direction of their lives nor the consequences their careless lifestyle will bring upon them. Then, suddenly, like a bolt of lightning from the sky, millions of people the world over vanish into thin air. As a result of this inexplicable disappearance of so many people—as the story goes—countless aircraft, boats, and automobiles are left without pilots or drivers, causing many to veer off course and crash.
All this, say the Christian ministers of truth, will occur because that will be the day of the Rapture of the Church, of which the Apostle Paul spoke to us about in The First Book of Thessalonians:
For the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we’ll always be with the Lord.
Certainly, if one is a true believer in the message of The Bible, it’s hard to argue with the preceding words of Paul. Clearly, Paul believes there’s going to be a future event that involves a “catching away in the clouds,” and, based on these verses, at least, it sure sounds a lot like a Rapture to me. The only problem: The verses where Jesus supposedly talked about the Rapture of the Church and those where Paul talked about a meeting in the air with the Lord are actually describing two completely different events.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa; wait just a second!” you might exclaim. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, the verses in question, in which Jesus spoke of two men and two women, of which only one is taken and the other left behind, is not—I repeat, is not—speaking of the same event described by Paul.”
“But how can that be?” you may ask. “Are you saying you don’t believe in the Rapture?”
To which I’d reply: “That’s not at all what I’m saying. Of course I believe there’s going to be a Rapture of the Church.”
And I do so because when I study The Bible as a whole I notice that God is, above all, a God Who repeats Himself. By that I mean that what God does better than anything else is to lay down patterns of His behavior in such a way that an onlooking world can discern a divine blueprint of the ages from these patterns of history. So, en route to addressing the issue of our present misconception, let’s first address this idea of God’s pattern of behavior, and once we do, I believe it’ll be much easier to understand my final verdict in this matter.
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To hear Kent and Zen Garcia talk about correcting biblical misconceptions, from October 28, 2021, CLICK BELOW.
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CONCERNING THE age-old question of whether the Church will be raptured before, during, or after the so-called “Great Tribulation,” there are certainly as many answers supporting the various positions as there are questions. Of course, this is nothing new when trying to penetrate such mysteries, because, by God’s design, the prophecies of The Bible have always been impossible to fully comprehend until after they’ve been fulfilled. Then, and only then, can we really be sure what they meant to say all along.
The only sensible thing to do, then, is to look at the prophecies of Scripture with one eye on the future and the other eye on the past. In other words, only by looking at how God has rescued His people in the past can we ever hope to anticipate what He might do in the future. With that in mind, let’s turn to that history to see how it might shed light on this future event we know of today as the Rapture of the Church.
Of the many events in the history of God’s deliverance of His people, the ones that stick out in the minds of most people are those of Noah, his family, and the Great Flood; of Moses, the Israelites, and the Exodus out of Egypt; and of Lot, his family, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In every instance, God’s rescue effort of His chosen ones follows a strict pattern, consistent from event to event.
Before God’s judgment is unleashed upon those who resist the call to amend their ways, those who choose to conform are first “evacuated,” then judgment falls. Noah and his family enter the safety of the ark before the Great Flood pours forth its fury upon the Earth. Moses and the Israelites escape through the parted Red Sea before it collapses and destroys Pharaoh’s pursuing army. And Lot and his family are escorted out of Sodom before fire and brimstone rain down on the cities of doom. Never once are the chosen ever subjected to the same circumstances that are meted out upon the recipients of God’s wrath.
In the same way, according to God’s timeless pattern, we can and should expect a similar thing to occur in His rescue of the Church before the unleashing of those dark days, said to be such that never before or ever will again be days so terrible and fierce as in the days of the Great Tribulation. (Matthew 24:21)
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Raptures, Eagles, and Dead Bodies: Questions Concerning Those Who Will be Left Behind
“Really grabs your attention… Wild how he shows the roots of this idea… The big takeaway is, context really matters…”
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Should anyone doubt such a verdict, let’s keep in mind that whereas previous recipients of God’s mercy were said to be chosen of the Lord, the Church is unique among these examples, in that she alone is called the Bride, or Body, of Christ. One can only imagine the mindset of those who’d think that Christ’s Bride or Body would ever be subjected to the events predicted to occur in the Great Tribulation. As Peter explained it: “For Christ suffered for sins once for everyone, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” (First Peter 3:18) Notice the operative word here—once.
So, if Christ was beaten and suffered for our sakes, “once for everyone,” then His Bride, His Body, will undergo just one baptism by fire, which historians will tell you constitutes the seven stages of the Church Age—represented by the seven churches of Asia, as described by John the Revelator. It’s there that John predicted the Church’s future suffering that Christ Himself endured and that He predicted for those who loved Him, even to the point of death.
But hold fast until I return. And to those who overcome all this, and whoever keeps My word to the very end, to them will I grant authority over the nations, and they’ll rule them with a rod of iron, as vessels that are shattered into pieces, just as I’ve received the same authority from My Father.
It’s also important to note, in the context of the timing of the Rapture, that John, in Revelation—as a type of the Church—sees a door open in Heaven after which a voice like a trumpet says to him, “Come up here, and I’ll show you the things which must come to pass after all this.” (Revelation 4:1) That is to say, John is caught up to Heaven—again, as a type of the Church—both of which undergo a mysterious “catching away.”
When?
After the seven churches of Asia have run their course, which are—I repeat—to be equated with the seven historical stages of the Church Age. Once these stages are complete, then there’s one who’s caught up to Heaven, followed by the unleashing of the sevens seals of judgment that are famously described throughout the rest of The Book of Revelation.
All this needs to be seen in context, then—the pattern of God’s chosen being evacuated before judgment is unleashed, together with John the Revelator being caught up to Heaven, as a type of the Church, before the seven seals of judgment are opened.
