I know that any post on eschatology will be controversial, but I do not desire to enter into the debate about the order of events associated with our Lord’s Second Advent. I agree with the doctrinal statement of my own Master’s University and Grace Community Church. What I do desire is to correct some wrong ideas that could be held about Matthew 24 by any eschatological view. First, let me quote the paragraph that is often misunderstood.
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left” (Mat 24:36-41 NIV).
There are two commonly held assumptions about what this passage teaches that simply are NOT supported by these words. Number One: It is often assumed that it teaches the idea that things will be really bad when the Lord returns. Now that may be true and there are some passages that teach that (1 Tim 4:1-3 e.g.). My concern, however, is that this passage has been enlisted to support the idea that things will be really bad when He comes. The text clearly speaks of eating and drinking and marrying. But what is wrong with eating and marrying? Nothing is mentioned about gluttony and drunkenness or illicit sex and adultery. Rather than describing sinful activities, these words simply describe the normal life that most people experience, if not personally, at least in community with others. The point really is that in the end days life will be going on as usual and will be such so that people will be surprised by His coming. In other words, the coming of the Lord will interrupt the normal sequence of our lives.
Number Two: I am certainly dating myself when I write that a theme song in the 1980’s movie “A Thief in the Night“ was the catchy tune, “I Wish We’d All Been Ready.” The idea of the song is that Jesus taught that the people “taken” in this passage were raptured away, in the sense described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. Now you may believe that doctrine and, in my personal opinion, there are some good reasons to do so (Rev 3:10 e.g.) but this passage is actually NOT describing the rapture. It is in reality teaching that these unsuspecting people in the end days are taken away in judgment. Context is always the most important determining factor in ascertaining the meaning of a text. What is evident from the context in this passage is the comparison with the people in Noah’s day when the “flood came and took them all away.” The wicked people of his day were not raptured away, but were taken away by the cataclysmic judgment of the great deluge.
A good lesson on hermeneutics that arises from this study of Matthew 24:36-41 is that we should not form our ideas about eschatology from popular books and films (and wrong-headed sermons) but from a careful reading of the Word. Such a reading should be informed by one of the most important hermeneutical principles. That is, always pay close attention to the near and far context of a passage. “A text without a context can become a pretext for teaching anything.” Frankly you don’t need to know Hebrew and Greek to see what this passage says and also what it doesn’t say!
