Second Coming: "Left Behind" 12-7-25

Overview

Living Between the Advents

Advent is the church's deliberate pause in a world that rushes past Christmas. The blue of the Advent wreath is the color of hope—not wishful thinking, but confidence rooted in the promises of God. While the season recalls Israel's long wait for the Messiah, it also points forward to a second waiting: our own anticipation of Christ's return. In a real sense, the whole Christian life is lived in Advent, between the first coming of Jesus and the second.

A Closer Look at Matthew 24

Matthew 24:37–44 is one of the texts most often misread in our day. The "Left Behind" novels and films popularized a 19th-century interpretation (associated with Darby and Scofield) called the rapture—the idea that believers will be suddenly snatched away while unbelievers remain on earth for a tribulation. But this reading inverts what Jesus actually says.

Jesus compares His coming to the days of Noah: people were eating, drinking, and marrying when the flood came and "swept them all away." Being taken by the flood was judgment, not rescue. The Greek word translated "taken" carries the sense of being seized or taken prisoner. The word translated "left" is the same verb Jesus uses in Matthew 6:12 of the Lord's Prayer—"forgive us our trespasses." To be "left" is to be pardoned. Verse 43 reinforces this: a homeowner does not want a thief to take his belongings; he wants them left untouched. In context, those taken are the unbelieving who face judgment; those left behind are the forgiven who enter eternal life.

Ready by Grace

Scripture is consistent that Christ will return suddenly and visibly—Revelation 1:7, Hebrews 9:27–28, and James 5:7 all call believers to patient expectation. Jesus' own conclusion is direct: "Therefore you must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour" Matthew 24:44.

The good news is that readiness is not something we manufacture. In the waters of Baptism, God has already washed us in Christ's victory, given us faith and the Holy Spirit, and claimed us as His own. Baptism is, in a sense, the last judgment in miniature: God names you, holds you, and will not let you go. So the church prays without fear, "Come, Lord Jesus." If He comes today—may He come today—the baptized child of God will be left behind in His forgiveness, carried into eternal life. And that is a very good thing.

Transcript

Who's your open your Bibles, please, with me, to the 24th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew 2s

for our time of study. 7s

Today, if you're using a Pew edition, you'll find in the rack in front of you or underneath 9s

you, you can find the 24th chapter of Matthew in the New Testament on page 24. 13s

Matthew chapter 24. 19s

The beautiful Advent Reath with two of the blue candles of flame. 23s

That color blue, that the church adorns herself in in the season of Advent, is that color 31s

of hope. 37s

And remember, hope is not a wish, biblically, hope is confidence rooted in the promises 39s

of God. 47s

Advent is a glorious, glorious little season. 49s

Lent is the prelude to the Easter season and Advent is the prelude to the Christmas season. 55s

Just a tiny little thing, isn't it? 64s

It's just four weeks. 67s

And what's so glorious about Advent is it makes us take a breath. 71s

It slows us down. 79s

Well, I secular society and all of its understandings that get foisted upon Christmas, 83s

society just kind of burles into. 89s

However, they define Christmas and the church says, hold on. 92s

Hold on. 97s

Wait. 101s

Christmas is not yet. 105s

The theme of Advent is remembering that waiting time of the people of old as they anticipated 109s

the Messiah. 117s

It's that waiting time as we prepare for the celebration of Christmas. 119s

And also a theme of Advent is the second coming of Christ. 127s

It's a fascinating season. 133s

So you have texts that talk about preparing the way as in the opening call of the worship 136s

of our service this morning. 143s

The words of John the Baptist born out of the prophetic word of Isaiah, 145s

prepare the way of the Lord. 150s

You've got the pondering of Mary. 153s

And you've also got text of the second coming of Christ. 157s

But really an Advent people aren't going. 166s

That's how we live, right? 168s

We live in between the first coming and the second coming of Christ. 170s

We live every day in Advent as we anticipate the second coming of Christ. 176s

What I want to do in the next three weeks is to examine with you this second theme of Advent, 189s

which is the second Advent of Jesus. 196s

We continue in the series of the red letter words. 201s

I want to ask the question, what were some of the things that Jesus said about his second coming? 204s

In a particular, what I want to examine with you are three texts in which when you read them, 211s

you might say, huh? 219s

What's that all about? 223s

There are three texts that are head scratchers. 227s

And so let's look now, beginning this week in the next two weeks, 234s

let's look at that other theme of Advent, the second coming of Jesus. 239s

And let's look particularly at some of those head scratching texts. 248s

Story is told of an airplane flying along and root to someplace. 261s

And all of a sudden half of the people on the airplane disappear. 267s

It is disappear. 274s

But people that are left on the airplane, they're kind of wondering what happened. 277s

The story goes on and it tells of people just driving around, doing their normal things, 284s

just driving their car and the roads and on the highways and all of a sudden. 289s

There's a whole lot of drivers that just disappear and the cars wind up crashing into the other cars. 294s

Story is told of mothers in the birthing rooms, giving birth and then all of a sudden their babies disappear. 301s

It's disappear. 315s

Those stories, those vignettes, come from a series of books and a series of films called Left Behind. 319s

Incredibly popular and incredibly popular. 330s

And at the heart of the Left Behind series is what is called the rapture. 335s

The rapture is an erroneous belief that God is just going to one day snatch all of the Christians from the world. 343s

And the only ones that are going to be left are the unbelievers. 354s

They'll be followed, they say, by seven years of tribulation, leading to the second coming of Christ. 359s

Called the rapture. 371s

That left behind series. 374s

That left behind series is classified as Christian fiction. 377s

But it's rooted in a biblical 383s

interpretation. 389s

And it goes a long way back, long way back. 392s

Goes back to two fellows, last name, Darby and the last name, school field. 397s

Remember a few weeks ago in adult education when we were talking about 401s

the erroneous view of how one looks at the problems in the middle east with regard to the land 407s

and how Darby and school field said that that's a theological problem and didn't 414s

understand it as a political problem to be resolved. Remember that? 421s

Well guess what? They're back. They're back. 427s

And back in the 19th century, they were the ones that originated this interpretation 433s

of scripture. So where did they twist the scripture to get 443s

where they wound up that led ultimately to all the books and all the films 455s

and the misunderstanding that abounds. One of the texts is Matthew chapter 24. 468s

Look please with me, at verse 37. Jesus said, 481s

for as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the son of man. 486s

The son of man is just another messianic designation. So what's being referred to here 492s

is the second coming of Christ. Remember the first advent that we're preparing to celebrate? 499s

That's Christmas and then we anticipate the second advent. There are those two themes of advent, right? 506s

And we see in scripture references to the second coming of Christ, for example. 513s

In Revelation the first chapter we read, look he's coming with the clouds. Every 520s

I will see him even those who pierce him. He bruised the ninth chapter. And just as it is appointed, 527s

for mortals to die once and after that the judgment. So Christ, having been offered 537s

once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time. Not to deal with sin, but to save those who 544s

are eagerly waiting for him or James the fifth chapter. Be patient therefore beloved until the 554s

coming of the Lord. Well, that of course is written after Jesus had been born and have gone to the 564s

dead. Be patient therefore beloved until the coming, what coming of the Lord? The second coming. 574s

And we see in scripture that when the Lord comes again, that will be sudden. It will be a 583s

midst of ordinary occurrences of life and all of a sudden the Lord will come again. 591s

Look on me please, adverse 37 once again. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming 600s

of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, 607s

marrying and giving and marriage until the day Noah entered the ark. They knew nothing until 614s

the flood came and swept them all away. So too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 621s

And highlights the suddenness of it, ordinary things in life. And then all of a sudden just as with 628s

the flood there in terms of Noah, all of a sudden Jesus will come again. And that suddenness 636s

is highlighted as we go on into verse 40. Then too will be in the field. 645s

One will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together and one will 653s

be taken and one will be left. Now the assumption here, right? The assumption here is 663s

that you want to be the one taken, right? You don't want to be the one left. 681s

You want to be taken who wants to be left behind? 689s

The assumption here is that you want to be the one taken or do you or do you? 697s

Sarah Miller and Emily Scott. They can talk to the idea one day as they were working on the farm. 721s

They were milking cows. And as they were talking they came up with this idea 731s

of wouldn't it be fun? If one day you just kind of did things backwards. 738s

And on January 29th, 1961, they was born and the community they had latched onto it. They loved it. 749s

That was a great idea. And over the years other people have latched onto that idea so that now January 31st 757s

it's known as national backwards day. Some schools will celebrate this and the kids will 767s

come to school wearing their clothes inside out or they'll come with on purpose. They're shoes 778s

on different feet or they'll come and when the teacher asks for the paper to be turned in, 785s

she'll say, now remember, write your name backwards on this. National backwards today. 794s

January 31st, every single year, it's breaking out of the ordinary. It's breaking out of the routine. 802s

It's having dinner first in the morning and breakfast as the last meal. It's having dessert first. 811s

And then the rest of the meal. It's walking through a door backwards on and on the list and the 821s

manifestations of this go. January 31st, national backwards day. And the popular interpretation 830s

of Matthew chapter 24 would fit really well. 840s

A national backwards day. Look with me please, adverse 40. 850s

Then two will be in the field. One will be taken and one will be left. Two women will 861s

be grinding meal together. One will be taken and one will be left. Those two words taken and left. 873s

The Greek meaning of the words. The Greek meaning of that word taken is seized or taken prisoner. 887s

And the word there for left is oftentimes translated in scripture as pardoned. 907s

Or forgiven. In fact, it is the same verb that's used in the Lord's prayer when Jesus said. 915s

Here's how I'll teach you how to pray. You say this. For give us our trespasses as we 929s

forgive others. That word there for give in the Lord's prayer is the same word as in Matthew chapter 936s

24 translated as left. So you look at those two words and you do what you do when you interpret 944s

scripture. You say, what's the original meaning of these words? How is it used in scripture? 956s

Every time the word taken is used and every time the word left is used. Those particular words, 964s

how is it used in scripture? And you let scripture interpret scripture. You don't bring 972s

you the assumptions of how one thinks taken and left are. But you say, what was it historically? 979s

What was it grammatically? And when you look at it that way, all of a sudden to be taken in the sense 987s

of being a prisoner and seized. That doesn't sound too good. It does it. But to be left behind, 996s

pardoned forgiven. That sounds good. You see, beloved, you don't want to be 1007s

the one taken. You want to be the one left behind. The context bears it out. 1025s

Look, please, at verse 38. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, 1044s

marrying and giving and marriage until the day Noah entered the ark. They knew nothing until 1050s

the flood came and swept them all away. So too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 1056s

And I V translates it this way and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came 1064s

and took them all away. That wasn't a good thing. Was it to be taken away by the flood? 1070s

The context bears out the meaning of the word that to be taken is not a good thing. 1080s

The context bears it out. Look down at verse 43, but understand this. 1091s

If the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, 1097s

he would have stayed awake and would have not let his house be broken into. 1103s

To have your house broken into and your stuff taken is bad. 1110s

Not to have your house broken into and your stuff left is good. What's the point? 1117s

When the reference to those taken is made, that is the reference to the unbeliever. 1130s

The unbeliever at the second coming and those that are left are those 1137s

forgiven and entered into eternal life. 1151s

You want to be the one. 1161s

Left behind. You want that. 1167s

So on this, the second Sunday of Advent, in which we are reminded a new 1178s

that life is Advent. 1186s

As which we remember when the people anticipated the coming of the Lord and we anticipate the coming 1190s

celebration of Christmas, that's time in which we also hear of Jesus' second coming. 1198s

We hear this from the lips of our Lord, verse 44, when he says, 1210s

therefore you must be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. You must be ready. 1215s

And here's the thing. Grace upon Grace, he has made us ready through the waters of baptism. 1223s

In the waters of baptism, he has washed us in the victory that Christ won on the cross, 1235s

washing us and forgiving us, giving us the gifts of faith and the Holy Spirit and life eternal 1242s

making us members of the family. In the waters of baptism, God has says, this is the last judgment 1251s

in miniature. In your mind, and I claim you, and I hold on to you, and I will not let you go. 1260s

As a church we cry out and we long for each and every day, come Lord Jesus, may it be before the 1269s

amen on this sermon, come Lord Jesus, now break into the ordinary of life. Come now, Lord Jesus, 1277s

and we can say that prayer with confidence. Why? Because we have been made ready 1291s

by the Lord Jesus Christ who has redeemed us, and God who has called us His own in the waters 1301s

of baptism. Baptized child of God, 1312s

if the Lord comes again today and may He come today, if the Lord comes again today 1322s

to use the imagery of this text, you'd be left behind in His forgiveness as you enter into 1337s

eternal life. You'd be left behind 1357s

and that's a really good thing. 1366s