But as the days of Noe were, so shall also 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. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
Matthew 24:37-42
The most important thing that I have learned when considering the parables of Jesus that are not fully explained to us in the Bible is this — keep it simple. Jesus is using the historical account of Noah for a very specific reason and lesson.
In this particle parable, Jesus focuses on those that were not looking for the judgment of God and were taken away suddenly by surprise when the flood came. When we apply this example to those taken at the coming of the Son of man we must apply it the same way Jesus did.
Popular “secret rapture” opinion gets this backward. They say that the righteous will be taken in the so-called secret rapture and the wicked will be left. That is exactly the opposite of the example that Jesus gives!
Those taken when Jesus returns are those who were NOT looking for the coming of the Lord.
So, what is Jesus saying?
The Bible is very clear that there will be a general resurrection of the dead at the end of time (John 5:28-29) so Jesus is using the term taken figuratively.
The simple point that Jesus is making is that when He comes there will be some people not looking for His return and it will take them by surprise.
The entire section of scripture that this account comes from is filled with Jesus’ exhorting the disciples to be watching for His coming. Therefore, the context of this is a reminder for God’s people to be joyfully anticipating the return of Jesus. Those that are looking for Jesus to return any moment will have a greater spirit of joy and a more loving attitude toward those around them. This is the duty of the disciple. So, it only makes sense that the hope of the disciple would motivate him to greater duty in service!
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