"ONE TAKEN. . . AND THE OTHER LEFT"

Excerpts from Bill Brittons’s book … A Closer Look at The Rapture

To give you an idea of the way the scriptures were mutilated by those straining to prove this theory, let us look at the example in Matthew 24. Here it tells us that at His coming, "one shall be taken, and the other left". Songs were written, and sermons were preached, to urge us to be ready to be "taken" when Jesus comes. When actually, the Bible is saying the exact opposite. It was the wicked that were "taken" in Noah's day, and the righteous were left to inherit the earth. So shall it be in the day of the coming of the Son of man.

Matthew 24:37-41 says:

"But as the days of Noe were, so shall the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left."

Now who was taken in Noah's day? The wicked! Will it be different now? No, it will be like it was in Noah's day. That's what the Bible says. And if there is still any doubt in your mind as to whether the saints will be "taken when Jesus comes", let us turn to Luke 17:27. While Matthew says that the "flood came and took them all away", Luke gives the same account of this teaching of Jesus, except that in Luke we read: "and the flood came and destroyed them all". So to be "taken" means to be destroyed by the judgments that are coming upon the earth. Do you still want to be taken?

WHAT REALLY HAPPENS?

"To meet the Lord in the air". Not meet Him up in the sky, or in outer space. But in the air. Air. The stuff we breathe. It is all around us. It's what there isn't any of in outer space. When airplanes fly up above the clouds, they have to take their air with them in order to breathe. Wuest translation says we meet Him "in the lower atmosphere". But it will be in a much higher spiritual order. Caught up...Hallelujah! I like that. "So shall we ever be with the Lord." But aren't we with Him now? In one sense, we are. But II Cor 5:6 makes it plain that "whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord." But when we are "caught up", our bodies are also involved in this ascent, so that we can be forever in the presence of the Lord in a way we cannot know now, and still have our body. A glorious body then.

So the sum of what we have said is this: The old pre-tribulation escape rapture theory that originated with Margaret MacDonald in 1830, and now held by many Fundamentalists and Pentecostals, has been proven to be false and contrary to scripture. God has promised to deal with those preachers who lull the people to sleep with this doctrine. In Ezekiel 13:4-5 He says:

"O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord".

God's complaint against the prophets was that they did not prepare the people for what was coming in the Day of the Lord. And in verse 10 He says "Because, even because they have seduced my people saying Peace. And there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar." Irving built the wall, while Darby, Larkin and Scofield daubed at it. But God says it shall fall. The storm is coming. The prophets have said "Peace", and there was no peace. Back to I Thessalonians now...in chapter 5, verse 3: "For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape."

What really happens is that Jesus is coming back with a sound of a trumpet. Now wherever the Bible speaks of a trumpet, it is symbolic of a message going forth. Look it up. Many scriptures confirm this. Trumpets sounded for each feast day. And there is a message or trumpet of restoration that brings Jesus back to earth (Acts 3:21). And when He comes back, those saints that come back with Him shall receive their bodies again that were laid down in death. Those bodies shall ascend or rise out of that state of death, into a glorious state of likeness to His body of glory. Then those who are still dwelling in these mortal bodies shall be "caught up" into that same place. This mortal shall put on immortality. Death shall be swallowed up in victory. Then the Sons of God, that manchild company, shall be "caught up unto God, and to His throne". (Rev 12:5). The manifestation of the Sons of God (Romans 8) takes place. The Jubilee trumpet of Leviticus 25 begins to sound. The Melchisedec priesthood order passes through the veil into the Holy of Holies to be with their great High Priest, Jesus our Lord. Those whom He has made to be kings and priests begin to reign on this earth (Rev 5). The Armies of heaven who follow Jesus on white horses, destroy Babylon, burn her with fire, and bind Satan with unbreakable chain. All enemies begin to be put under the feet of the Body of Christ, until every enemy has been destroyed, even death! Whether or not you have faith to believe for these great things, does not bother me in the least. For the performance of those things God has spoken does not depend upon your faith, and is not hindered by your unbelief. He has spoken, and He shall perform it. The age of death, sin, sickness, crime, hate, war, pain, darkness and rebellion is rapidly coming to an end. The door is opening to a new age. The Kingdom is getting ready to come to earth! Hallelujah! JESUS IS COMING SOON!