Awenydd

So. Let’s look at this whole concept of being “Left Behind.” The premise is that at the rapture … er, sorry, The Rapture … believers in Christ will be taken away (to meet the Lord in the air), and the unbelievers will be “left behind.” After all, isn’t that what Matthew 24 says? If you listen to Tim LaHaye, you’d think it was a settled issue. Clear as crystal.

But actually there are two views on this.

Jesus says that this event will be like “in the days of Noah.” In Noah’s day, people were going along their merry little lives until Noah entered the ark. And suddenly, the flood came and “swept them all them away!” So in the same way, in the event Jesus is describing, two people will be in the field. One will be “taken away” and one left.

But who’s getting taken? If we look to the parallel illustration of Noah and the flood this way:

Noah into the ark = those left behind (or alone)
Everyone else swept away = those taken away

… we may actually conclude that those who were making merry in Noah’s day were taken, while Noah was left. Likewise, it would then be the unbeliever in Jesus’ warning that is being taken, not Christians being raptured. The believers are left. This may further be supported by the connotations of forgiveness, peace, and pardon that the Greek word translated as “left behind” can sometimes have.

All in all, a fairly convincing reading. It makes perfect sense in English translations, while to reverse the roles seems odd. This is the position to which many preterist interpreters subscribe. I was one of them, oh … last week. However …

On closer examination, I’m not so convinced of this interpretation after all. I’ll elaborate on why that is in the next article, to be added shortly.