TAKEN

 

Saturday, July 9, 2022

 

TAKEN

Matt 24:38-42

38 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,

39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

KJV

 

          That word, “taken,” is translated from the Greek, paralambano which is a combination of two words. Lambano, means “to take; to get hold of” whereas the word “took” is a different word which means “to seize violently or remove.” In the context, both of these words graphically illustrate the sudden removal of one instead of the other. We have a picture of the rapture.

 

          Back in the seventies, Dr. Tim LaHaye produced a series of videos called LEFT BEHIND. They were somewhat traumatic and, I think, were intended to be so as to motivate a person to consider how suddenly Christians would be removed from this earth and what the culture and conditions would be after their removal.

 

          I remember a song that introduced the first video. It was sung by a group called The Fish Market Combo, and the song was written by Larry Norman. Below is a portion of that song.

 

Life was filled with guns and war

And everyone got trampled on the floor

I wish we'd all been ready

 

Children died the days grew cold

A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold

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

 

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

 

          Many people disregard the rapture as a fairy tale, pie-in-the-sky hope but the Bible is clear that “we shall not all sleep (die physical death) but will be changed in a twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:52). Believers, however, know this to be what the Bible refers to as “the blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).

 

Dear Lord, keep us watchful and ready. AMEN