Are You Ready?

As I was reading Matthew 24, I saw something in a way that I had never seen it before. It is something worth further study and contemplation. In verses 39b-41, Jesus says, “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.”

I always read this as a taking away of Christians at the rapture. But, if you look closely at the context, something interesting comes to light: “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” (Matthew 24. 37-39a, emphasis mine).

In this context, Jesus is speaking of the taking away in judgment and punishment. That is clear also by what follows through the end of chapter 24. Also, we see in the first part of chapter 24 that the church – the elect – has to go through great distress. The question I asked myself when I read this is this: “Am I counting on the rapture to remove me from great distress, or am I ready – as a part of the elect – to make it through great distress?” It is something to think about.

Are you ready?