Luke 17:36
Jesus said, “Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left” (Luke 17:36 also Matthew 24:40). There is not the slightest indication that the event in Luke 17:36 is secret. In this verse, Jesus was describing Noah’s flood and the destruction of Sodom (Luke 17:26-37). He told how God spared Noah and Lot and “destroyed” the wicked (Verses 27, 29).
The teaching of the “secret rapture,” according to which the redeemed are to be secretly taken away from this planet before to the visible coming of Christ, is without Bible support. The “coming” of the Lord is without exception, the literal, visible appearance of Christ (Matthew 24: 3, 27, 30, 39, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50).
At that time “all the tribes of the earth … see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 24: 30). There is nothing secret about it because all people will see the Lord’s coming. And the book of Revelation confirms this truth: “Every eye shall see Him” (Revelation 1:7). In fact, everything of a secretive nature is attributed only to the false christs (Matthew 24: 24–26).
One Shall Be Taken, and the Other Left
What Jesus meant by being “taken” and by being “left” is made clear by the context. Those who are left are the evil servants, who instead of continuing in their normal pursuits after a supposed secret rapture, are cut asunder and assigned their portion with the hypocrites.
Jesus said, “But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24: 48–51). The righteous are, literally, “received,” and the wicked “sent away.”
Then, the Lord will slay the wicked. “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:8 also Isaiah 11:4).
The wicked who are left behind at Christ’s coming are left dead. John wrote, “And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great” (Revelation 19:17, 18 also Jeremiah 25:33).
That’s why Luke 17:37 speaks of the bodies of the wicked and mentions the eagles gathered around them: “And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.”
As for the righteous, Christ will publicly take them up into the clouds. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17).
For more on the secret rapture doctrine, check the following link: Can you give me the Bible support for the “Secret Rapture”?
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
