I Want To Be Left Behind

By JD King

For five years I've seriously contemplated writing this. Yet, the reason I never did is because of my innate aversion to controversy. It's shocking, but each time I write about things like this, angry comments and unsubscribes start showing up in my inbox. I enjoy weighing in on relevant biblical topics but hate to get into arguments with beloved brothers and sisters in Christ.

This may turn out to be a mistake, but I felt it was time to disentangle some associations people have with the "rapture." I typically stay out of these things, but this is getting quite difficult to ignore.

Every time I open up my social media feeds there are hundreds of updates about the "emerging apocalypse." Noted Christian magazines have cataclysmic, end-time stories gracing their covers. One can't even get away from it in the frivolous realm of entertainment. They currently have a rapture themed television series and just released a reboot of the "Left Behind" movie franchise. It seems that multitudes are convinced that Christians are awaiting the ultimate earthly evacuation.

Many declare they don’t want to be left behind, but I think that I do.

Before you get upset with this "bleak" declaration, please hear me out. I probably mean something slightly different than what you're thinking. Walk with me through this.

Considering Matthew 24:37-41

Most Christians haven't seriously examined Matthew 24:40-41; the passage that specifically references those who are "left behind." Don't you think it's relevant to take a closer look at these verses before we start having a disagreement? In these verses Jesus declares the following:

“Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left�� (Matthew 24:40-41).

I admit that rapture allusions appear quite abundant with a surface reading of this text. In fact, as I engage it right now, I can hear my childhood Sunday School teacher saying, “Be careful what you do, J.D., you might get left behind in the tribulation.�� In my mind's eye I can almost imagine Larry Norman’s "Wish We’d All Been Ready"� playing in the background.

"A man and wife asleep in bed
She hears a noise and turns her head he's gone
I wish we'd all been ready
Two men walking up a hill
One disappears and one's left standing still
I wish we'd all been ready

There's no time to change your mind The Son has come and you've been left behind"

Yet, is this what Jesus was really speaking to?

In all honesty I've found the context is considerably different from the way that Americans typically read it. Yet, to comprehend this, readers need to go back a few verses and begin at 37:

“When the Son of Man appears, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man appears. “Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left�� (Matthew 24:37-41).

In his warning to Jerusalem of a swift judgment taking place within forty years, Jesus likens things to the "days of Noah." At that earlier season, the unbelieving masses were oblivious to the fact that a flood was coming. They continued to live godless lives and disaster came crashing upon them suddenly.

As the flood water erupted, the wicked were "seized" in a watery judgment. However, Noah and his family were left behind. The unrighteous died, but those who remained were able to hold on to the goodness and love of God.

This is where modern readers need to pick up on Jesus' analogy. When He was talking about those who will be "taken" in Matthew 24:40-41, He wasn't talking about people being "raptured" up to heaven. No, He was talking about "unbelievers" removed from the earth through acts of judgment. In the end, it is the "meek" who are left behind to enjoy their families and "inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5).

I repeat my earlier declaration - I want to be left behind.

On Earth As Is In Heaven

Did God place man on earth with a mandate for cultural engagement (Genesis 1:26-28) only to later pull us out? Was Jesus joking when He declared, �My prayer is not that you take them out of the world� (John 17:15)? Is the Bible's emphasis on community and victorious living overblown? Should the goal of the gospel really be a great escape?

In this season of great anxiety and fear, we need to remember what God has repeatedly said to His people, "I will be your God. You will be my people. And I will dwell with you." The good news is not that we go up, but that God comes down.

I have been learning a lot over the last season and I must declare that in the midst of difficulty and challenge, I want my whole family preserved. Though I've often failed, I desire to grasp what it means to become a good husband and father. I also want my friends and those that I love to be "left behind" to glorify Jesus in the communities that we have built our homes in.

I'm honestly not looking for an evacuation, but a heavenly invasion. I desperately want the Word to take on flesh in our troubled generation. Even in the midst of disease and political turmoil may we all continue to pray the way that Jesus taught us so long ago: "God, may your Kingdom come and Your will be done here on earth as it is in Heaven."

JD King

World Revival Network

Kansas City
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