Lost Stories Gem #37
The Truth About Who Is Taken and Who is Left Behind
Jesus spoke words that have echoed through two thousand years of Christian tradition: “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.”
Ever since then, these verses have become synonymous with the Rapture of the Church. Sermons, songs, books, and films have endlessly repeated this story, and most Christians simply accept without question that Jesus was telling His disciples about the moment when believers would vanish into thin air. Yet when we examine Scripture carefully and understand the impact of three simple laws of disinformation, a troubling reality emerges: Jesus wasn’t describing the Rapture at all. He was describing something far different and far darker.
The confusion stems from a classic pattern of misinterpretation: taking an idea firmly rooted in Scripture, isolating a verse that seems to fit the pattern but actually doesn’t, and then repeating it so often that it becomes accepted as truth. Over time, this method has effectively obscured what Jesus actually meant. But fortunately, the truth can be recovered when we understand the historical context concerning the events that Jesus was really describing.
The Historical Pattern of God’s Rescue Effort
First and foremost, essential in our quest: we need to fully grasp God’s genuine pattern of deliverance. Throughout Scripture, God has consistently evacuated His chosen people before judgment fell. Consider three pivotal moments:
Noah and the Flood, where Noah and his family entered the ark before the waters destroyed the Earth
Moses and the Exodus, where the Israelites escaped through the Red Sea before it collapsed on Pharaoh’s army
Lot and Sodom, where Lot’s family was led out of the city before fire and brimstone rained down
In every instance, then, God’s rescue effort preceded the dispensing of His wrath. The chosen were never subjected to the same judgment that fell on those who resisted His call. This pattern isn’t random; it reflects God’s character and His covenant with His people.
Then consider, in terms of this ongoing historical pattern, how the Church occupies a unique place. Unlike previous recipients of God’s mercy, though, the Church is called both the Bride of Christ and the Body of Christ. As Peter reminded us, Christ suffered for our sins once and for all. As such, His Body will undergo one baptism by fire, which corresponds to the seven stages of the Church Age represented by the seven churches of Asia.
Then, after those stages are complete, we should expect a similar kind of rescue effort before judgment is unleashed. This is exactly what The Book of Revelation describes when John sees a door open in Heaven, after which a voice tells him, “Come up here, and I’ll show you the things which must come to pass after all this.” That is to say, John is caught up to Heaven—as a type of the Church—both of which undergo a mysterious “catching away.”
What Jesus Actually Described
As for the true nature of what Jesus told His disciples, the real clue lies in Luke’s fuller account of this teaching. When Jesus spoke of those being taken and left behind, His disciples asked a crucial question: “Where are they being taken, Lord?” And Jesus replied, “Wherever the bodies are, that’s where the eagles will be gathered.”
Bodies? Eagles? This is decidedly not the language of rapture or heavenly ascension.
When we examine the original Greek language, the picture becomes even clearer. The King James Version says “bodies” and “eagles,” but every other biblical translation renders these terms more accurately as “carcasses” and “vultures.” According to biblical scholars, these aren’t just any bodies; they’re the bodies of those who’ve fallen in battle. They lie unrecovered and unburied, which is why they attract vultures. This detail is crucial: in the custom of the land, bodies would’ve been promptly buried. The fact that these remain exposed suggests a field of battle where the fallen lie scattered.
Satan’s Counterfeit Gathering
Here we encounter a profound spiritual truth: Satan is a counterfeit artist. He doesn’t originate; he imitates. Just as he’s mimicked God’s redemptive acts throughout history, he also mimics God’s gatherings. But whereas God gathers His people to light, restoration, and life, Satan gathers his own to darkness, destruction, and death.
When we recognize this distinction, Jesus’ words take on new meaning. We can then see that He wasn’t speaking of a glorious rapture of the saints but, rather, He was describing Satan’s gathering of the spiritually dead and those who are to be slain in the final battle between good and evil. The carcasses and vultures aren’t metaphors; they represent the tragic harvest of those who will reject God’s mercy and become casualties in the age-old spiritual warfare.
The Final Battle
The Greek word for “gathered” in Luke 17 is sunago. This same word appears in The Book of Revelation when describing the gathering of demonic spirits and earthly kings for battle. The passage reads: “These are the demonic spirits that perform signs and go out to all the kings of the Earth, to gather them for battle on the great day of God, the Almighty... And they gathered those kings in the place that in the Hebrew is called Armageddon.”
The gathering Jesus described and the gathering prophesied in Revelation are inextricably linked. Both speak of a final assembly, but one is God’s rescue of His Bride, and the other is Satan’s final collection of those who will refuse God’s redemption.
Reclaiming the True Message of Hope
The tragedy in our current moment is how this confusion has undermined even the Church’s understanding of what Paul intended. When Paul spoke of believers being caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, he wrote: “Therefore, encourage one another with these words.” These are words of comfort and hope.
Yet how can they be comforting if we have conflated them with a passage describing carcasses and vultures? The confusion has caused many, even within the Church, to doubt whether the Rapture will ever occur. Many have even embraced cynicism, insisting that believers will be left to endure unspeakable horrors in the Great Tribulation.
But Scripture actually offers a different narrative. By examining the evidence carefully and respecting context over isolation, we recover a message of genuine hope: God remains faithful to His consistent pattern of rescue. His Bride won’t experience the same wrath that falls on an unrepentant world. Before the Great Tribulation unleashes its fury, those who belong to Christ aren’t destined to be gathered together with carcasses and vultures, but they will be gathered together with their Lord in the air.
Questions Worth Asking
If we really want to overcome the disinformation that has clouded this doctrine, we only need to ask a few piercing questions. If Jesus was predicting the Rapture of the Church, then why are carcasses and vultures part of the conversation? What’s more, why would a promise of heavenly glory be accompanied by images of death and decay?
The answer to this mystery becomes crystal clear once we step back from tradition and examine the story in its entirety: Jesus wasn’t describing God’s Rapture of the Body of Christ but, rather, Satan’s counterfeit version of what he sees God promising the Church. In recognizing this distinction, we dismantle one of the most destructive pieces of disinformation ever to cloud Christian understanding.
As such, the true Rapture remains a promise of hope, rooted in God’s unchanging pattern of faithfulness. And in the end, that is the encouragement that Paul spoke about and intended for us to embrace.
