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Scripture Reading:    Matthew 24:40;

                                  Luke 17:36-37

The very though of the Rapture brings excitement to the child of God, for it offers the blessed hope of meeting the Lord "in the air" without suffering the pain of death. But for the lost, it means facing the horrors of tribulation as God pours out His wrath on this earth. Truly, the Rapture will separate the saved form the lost, as one is taken and the other left.

It is easy to see how many Bible students have concluded that the Lord is referring to the Rapture when he said, "Then shall two be in the field; the One shall be taken, and the other left" (Matthew 24:40; cf. Luke 17:26). And yet, we need to ask the question, which one is taken and which one is left? At the Rapture, it is the believer who is taken (I Thessalonians 4:14-17). But when the disciples asked the Lord where the one would be taken in Luke 17:37, Christ replied, "wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together." This refers to the great feast which the fowls will have when the Lord destroys all unbelievers at His second coming (Revelation 19:17-18). You see, Christ was not referring to the Rapture while He was on earth, but rather to the "revelation" of Himself as conquering King. And it will not be the believers who are taken in that day, but the unbelievers, who will be taken away to death and judgment. The believers of the tribulation period will be left to enter the kingdom.

How important it is for us to "rightly divide the Word of truth" when it comes to the Rapture and the second coming, for while one will be taken and one left at both events, the results will be different for both groups involved!