In my previous article, Is the Pre-Trib Rapture in the Olivet Discourse? :: By Randy Nettles – Rapture Ready, I gave multiple reasons why I thought the pre-tribulation Rapture is included in the Olivet Discourse as recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 (and partly in chapter 17). I believe it begins with the “peri de” (“now concerning”) verse in Matthew 24:36 (and Mark 13:32). “Now concerning that day and hour no man knows, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matthew 24:36).
The peri de grammatical construction in Greek is a contrastive introduction of a new subject. It is well established that when peri de stands at the very beginning of a sentence, it marks a new subject or section of thought that often refers back to previous material that has been discussed. “The preposition ‘perí’ (G4012) weaves through every genre of the Greek New Testament—Gospel narrative, apostolic history, epistle, prophecy—occurring 333 times.” {1}
In Matthew’s version of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus discusses the Second Coming through verse 36. However, the peri de indicates that a new subject has been introduced: the pre-tribulation Rapture. As to when the Rapture will occur, the answer is simple: no one knows. “One should note that up to this point in the discourse, only the phrase “those days” (plural) has been used. At verse 36, Jesus changes to “that day” (singular). This helps support the idea that verse 36 is transitional.” {2}
In Matthew 24:37-39, Jesus draws an analogy between the flood of Noah’s day and the “Day of the Lord” (the Tribulation). I believe the flood represents the Tribulation, and Noah’s ark represents the pre-tribulation rapture that saves believers from “the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10).
“But as the days of Noah 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.”
The “coming of the Son of man” in verses 37 & 39 refers to the pre-tribulation rapture, as verse 38 refers to “the days that were before the flood.” While both generations will experience great apostasy and sin, the emphasis is on the indifference and ignorance of the times (“and they knew not”) that occur before each generation’s great tribulation. The emphasis of the analogy is not on who will be taken away, as that comes with the second analogy.
THE DAYS BEFORE THE FLOOD AND THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN
Let’s look at the time immediately before the flood. Noah and his family entered the ark seven days before the flood, according to Genesis 7:7-10. “And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth” (Genesis 7:7, 10).
However, Genesis 7:11-16 says they entered the ark on the same day that the rains came. So, is this a contradiction in Scripture? No, it’s not. “It’s important to note that Genesis 7 is not written in a purely chronological fashion. Moses doubles back in a circular manner typical of an Eastern, Hebraic style of writing as he tells the story of the flood. If we reorder the text of Genesis 7 slightly, we can create a chronological progression in the narrative, which allows us to understand the narrative more clearly.
Genesis 7:6: “And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.”
Genesis 7:7: “And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.”
Genesis 7:8: “Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
Genesis 7:9: “There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.”
Genesis 7:13: “In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark.”
Genesis 7:14: “They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.”
Genesis 7:15: “And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.”
Genesis 7:16: “And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in.”
Genesis 7:17: “And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth.”
Genesis 7:10: “And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.”
Genesis 7:11: “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.”
Genesis 7:12: “And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.”
Reordering the text in this way produces a chronological sequence, and in that sequence, we can clearly see that the phrase “on the very same day” in v. 13 refers to the day Noah and the animals entered the ark, not the day the flood came. The family entered on one day, and then seven days later the flood came.
Therefore, the imagery of the Rapture is not disturbed, and in fact, this reinforces the picture, because it confirms that all believers in the Church will be removed from the earth in the same moment, ‘on the very same day,’ so to speak.” {3}
As I mentioned before, I believe that the flood of Noah’s day is symbolic of the Tribulation, and that Noah’s ark is symbolic of the pre-tribulation Rapture. I also believe that the seven days before the flood are symbolic of the gap of time between the Rapture and the start of the Tribulation. Once Noah and his family (and the animals) entered the ark (seven days before the flood), “the LORD shut him in” (v.16), and they were safe from the imminent tribulation of the flood waters to come.
As soon as the ark was shut up, nobody else could enter it. This was the supernatural intervention of God that occurred seven days before the great flood. The supernatural intervention of God concerning the Rapture will occur seven years (minimum) before the Second Coming. The Day of the Lord begins with the Rapture and ends with the Second Coming.
Nobody knows how much time will transpire between the Rapture and the start of the Tribulation. Perhaps it will be simultaneous. Perhaps it will be seven days (like the days before the flood), or even seven months. Or, since the Tribulation will be approximately seven times as long as the flood, perhaps it will last 49 days (7×7). The number 49 is significant in Scripture, as it represents seven weeks or seven cycles of completeness, as in the Feast of Weeks and the Jubilee cycle.
This is pure speculation, of course. Just as nobody knows the day or the hour of the Rapture, nobody knows the duration of the gap of time between the Rapture and the start of the Tribulation (if there is one).
This generation before the Rapture and the subsequent Tribulation will ignore scriptural prophecy and the warnings of the “watchmen on the wall” (for the most part), and continue to live as if nothing is ever going to change. They, like the antediluvians, will be eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, and will not know any better until the chaos of the Rapture and the destruction of the Tribulation occurs.
The Greek word (transliteration) for “took away” in Matthew 24:39 is ‘eren‘ (a form of G142 ‘airo’), which means to lift, to take up, to raise, to remove, to carry away. The antediluvian unrighteous were “took away” in judgment and death. Of course, the inhabitants of the ark were left to repopulate the planet, although this is not mentioned in the verse.
PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE OR SECOND COMING JUDGMENT?
I believe Matthew 24:40-42 continues the account of the time before the flood-like Tribulation.
Jesus then told them, “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” (Matthew 24:40-41). The Greek word for ‘taken’ in these two verses is different than the one used in verse 39 (eren or airo). It is ‘paralambanetai‘ (a form of paralambano), which is derived from two words.
The two Greek words are G3844 (pará), a preposition which usually adds the overtone, “from, close beside” (alongside), and G2983 (lambánō), which means “to take to or with (oneself) or to receive. “The thought is always one of accompaniment, and almost always in a positive sense, i.e., for close fellowship. The word is overwhelmingly used in a positive sense.” {4}
A form of paralambano is also used in Luke’s version of the O.D. (Luke 17:34-36) as well. It’s interesting that the one taken in the second parable is next to or beside the one that is left, so this is a perfect Greek word for what transpires.
In this illustration of a pre-tribulation rapture of two in the field, etc., the person ‘taken’ is a righteous believer, and the one left is an unrighteous unbeliever who is abandoned to his fate in the judgments of the Tribulation. In the illustration of Noah’s flood, it is the opposite. The ones who are taken are the unrighteous. The difference is the two Greek words with different meanings, but they are translated as the same English word (took or taken).
On the night before the crucifixion, and two days after the Olivet Discourse, Jesus spoke again to his disciples regarding the taking (or receiving) of believers to Him so they could be where He is.
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3). Jesus used the same Greek word, ‘paralambano‘ (but in a different grammatical form), to depict the taking (or receiving) of believers in a pre-tribulation rapture.
The Greek word for ‘left’ (aphiemi) in Matthew 24:40-41 and Luke 17:34-36 takes on the meaning of ‘abandoned’ or ‘forsaken‘ when its object is a person. Those abandoned (left) in the Matthew and Luke accounts are the unrighteous unbelievers. The judgments that accompany the Day of the Lord will come on them, and they will not escape.
Luke’s account of the Noah and Lot illustrations (Lk. 17:28-30) makes this quite clear. “They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:26-27).
“Also, as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:28-30). Notice that Lot was taken out of harm’s way, and the unrighteous were left behind and were destroyed.
There are no New Testament scriptures in the Gospels that more clearly indicate a pre-tribulation rapture (catching up) than these verses, in which some people are taken to be saved from the wrath to come, while others are left behind to face God’s judgment upon the earth. Jesus, the greatest prophet of them all, was the first to unveil the concept of the pre-tribulation rapture. However, if someone didn’t know about Paul’s teaching on this subject, you would not recognize it in the O.D. or possibly even in John 14:1-3.
Most pre-tribulation commentators who recognize only the Second Coming in Matthew 24:40-41 (and Luke 17:34-36) believe those ‘taken’ are the righteous believers who enter the Millennial Kingdom, and those ‘left’ are the unrighteous who are excluded from the Kingdom and are destroyed.
These commentators believe that these verses describe the sheep-and-goats judgment in Matthew 25:31-36, which takes place after the Second Coming and therefore does not involve the Church in a pre-tribulation rapture scenario. The sheep are joined to the Lord in the Millennial Kingdom on Earth, and the goats are sent away into the eternal fire (Matt. 25:41). These particular pretribulationists want to avoid any reference to the Church in the O.D. lest it lead to posttribulationism (the Second Coming rapture).
Jesus then exhorts his followers to be watchful for His return. “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Matthew 24:42). I find it interesting that Matthew records Jesus’ use of the (translated) word ‘hour’ instead of ‘day,’ ‘time,’ or ‘season.’ It’s almost like Jesus is pointing towards a specific time within the “day of the Lord” (like an hour within a day).
THE PARABLE OF THE THIEF
Jesus then gives the parable of a thief who breaks into a home, symbolizing the unexpected arrival of the Son of Man, which will come at an hour no one can predict. “But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up” (Matthew 24:43). The “watch the thief would come” refers to a particular hour within a day.
Jesus is the thief in this parable. In the book of Revelation, Jesus told the church in Sardis, “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee” (Revelation 3:3). The hour He is referring to is the same hour as in Matthew 24:36, 42, 44, and 50 – the pre-tribulation Rapture. I particularly like the description given in Matthew 24:50. “The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of.”
Mark provides more detail on the parable of the thief who comes in an unexpected ‘hour.’ “Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning” (Mark 13:35). Luke also mentions a ‘watch,’ or a particular time of the day. “And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants” (Luke 12:38).
After giving the first detailed teaching on the pre-tribulation Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, Paul immediately (in the following verses) describes what comes after the great “catching up” (harpazo) – the Day of the Lord. Let’s look at the chronology of these end-time events.
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).
“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief” (1 Thessalonians 5:2-4).
Whereas Matthew (& Mark), quoting Jesus, used the term “day and hour” to describe the specific time of the pre-tribulation Rapture, Paul used the term “times and seasons” to refer to the general time of the Day of the Lord (the seven-year Tribulation). The Rapture will occur in one day and hour within the times and seasons of the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord will come unexpectedly, as a thief, because the Rapture is the start of the Day of the Lord.
“Revelation 3:3 and 16:15 suggest that Christ Himself comes as a thief, while 1 Thessalonians 5:4 makes it clear the day of the Lord comes as a thief. Therefore, the two events are simultaneous.” {5}
Paul uses the same parable Jesus used in the Olivet Discourse, comparing the Day of the Lord to a thief. John and Peter also use the same “thief imagery.” All three apostles borrowed from Jesus’ imagery of the thief in the Olivet Discourse.
This “coming of a thief” can’t be referring to the Second Coming, in which there are multiple specific signs that will precede it, such as the confirming of a seven-year covenant with the many, the abomination of desolation in a rebuilt Jewish temple, and the signs in the heavens before the Second Coming.
SECOND COMING OF PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE
So, which phase of the coming (parousia) of the Son of man is Jesus referring to? I believe the coming of the Son of man in Matthew 24:30 refers to the Second Coming, and verses 37 & 39 refer to the pre-tribulation Rapture. Verses 38-39 indicate that life on Earth is pretty normal at this time, as it was before the flood in the days of Noah. People will be going about their daily routines and tasks unhindered by calamity.
However, life will be anything but normal in the days before the Second Coming. People will just be trying to survive. “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved” (Matthew 24:21-22).
Daniel 12:1 describes it in the same manner: “and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time.” Jeremiah calls it “Jacob’s trouble.” “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7).
Scriptures in the O.T. and in the Book of Revelation regarding the day of the Lord reveal how horrific life will be at this time. After the second and third vial judgments (Rev. 17:3-4), the seas, rivers, and fountains of waters will turn to blood. How can people be eating and drinking and carrying on like everything is normal at this time?
At the end of the Tribulation, are people going to be contentedly eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, buying and selling, planting, and building? If they are buying, they will have the mark of the beast (666), for that is the only way one will be able to purchase anything after the mid-point of the Tribulation.
If they are drinking, it will probably be bloody water. If they do not have the mark of the beast, all they will be doing is running and hiding (and dying). “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36).
If there is to be total darkness before the Lord Jesus’ Second Coming (per Matthew 24:39 & Joel 2:31), how could a person watch for His return (you can’t see in the dark)? How could He return in a particular hour (dusk, midnight, second or third watch) when there is no visible sun to tell time?
Are people living at this time not going to be aware that the Lord is coming? Even back at the time of the sixth seal, people will be hiding in caves and will be saying, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Rev. 6:16-17).
THE TWO PHASES OF THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN
Yes, in the Olivet Discourse, Jesus answered the disciples’ question as to His coming again. He gave them more information than they could possibly have understood at that time, especially the fact that His Second Coming would be in two phases. However, they did understand the Day of the Lord (the Tribulation) as spoken of by the prophets in the Tanakh, which is essentially what Jesus describes in Matthew 24:4-29.
Compare Matthew 24:29 to Joel 2:31.
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” (Matthew 24:29).
“And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come” (Joel 2:30-31). After the crucifixion, on the day of Pentecost, Peter gave a speech/sermon in which he quoted Joel 2:28-32, as recorded in Acts 2:17-21. The disciples were well aware of the day of the LORD.
The disciples also understood the “Son of man” would come at the end of the age to set up an everlasting kingdom, per Daniel 7:13-14. When Jesus asked his disciples, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ [Messiah], the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:15-16). Jesus is also called “Messiah the Prince” in Daniel 9:25 and “Prince of Peace” in Isaiah 9:6. Jesus referred to Himself as the “Son of man” numerous times in the New Testament.
Daniel wrote, “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14).
The term “Son of man” (capitalized ‘Son’ in the KJV, as in deity) is mentioned 87 times in the New Testament by Jesus, referring to Himself. Jesus mentioned the “Son of man” five times in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24. “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).
The disciples even understood that the Son of man, Jesus Christ, would set up His Kingdom when he returned. Forty days after His resurrection and ten days before His ascension to heaven, the disciples asked Jesus, “Wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel again?” Jesus merely replied, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.”
What the disciples could not possibly understand at this time was the initial phase of Jesus’ second coming, the pre-tribulation “catching up” of His saints (His bride), as described in Matthew 24:36-44. The Church hadn’t even been formed because the Holy Spirit hadn’t been given yet. The timing was not right for a full teaching on the pre-tribulation Rapture at this juncture. Yet Jesus mentioned it and would do so again before His death.
On the day of the crucifixion, Jesus elaborated further on the initial phase of the “coming of the Son of man.” “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).
This ‘receiving’ of the righteous believers (the pre-tribulation Rapture) is portrayed in Matthew 24:40-41 and Luke 17:34-36. “I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken [received], and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be left in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left” (Luke 17:34-36).
Jesus never fully explained the Rapture to his disciples while he was on the earth. Jesus’ main teaching was on the Kingdom of God and how to obtain eternal salvation. However, Jesus did not leave them in the dark about the rapture of the Church. He introduced it in its “seed form,” as recorded in the O.D. and John 14:1-3. It would be left up to Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, to take this doctrine from its seed form to full maturity.
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:13-14).
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Randy Nettles
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Endnotes:
{1} Strong’s Greek: 4012. περί (peri) — about, concerning, around, on account of
{2} Evidence for the Rapture – A Biblical Case for Pretribulationism by John F. Hart – pg. 55.
{3} Did Noah enter the ark one week prior to the flood? | Verse By Verse Ministry International
{4} Evidence for the Rapture – A Biblical Case for Pretribulationism by John F. Hart – pg. 62
{5} Ibid., pg. 64