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BIBLE TRUTH CHURCH
Sr. Pastor Larry T. Smith
Pastor Michael Smith

PROPER HERMENEUTICS FOR UNDERSTANDING BIBLICAL ESCHATOLOGY - Part 9

Michael F. Blume

Matthew 24:37-42 KJV But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (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.

Here is yet another so oft-repeated reference used in preaching the yet-future second coming of Jesus and the rapture of the church. People have been simply led to believe this referred to the rapture and never thought anything else could be the point of its reference. Therefore, they reason, since the rapture did not occur in AD70, then how could Matthew 24 be about AD70? But, using sound hermeneutics, we must ask ourselves if this passage is actually speaking of the second coming and/or the rapture of the church?

Jesus gave an analogy using Noah's day and people involved in the story of the flood to relate details about the coming of the Son of man that He wanted us to understand. Verse 38 speaks of a certain "they". "They" were eating and drinking and giving in marriage. Who were "they"? Verse 39 helps us understand their identity by saying they "knew not until the flood came and took them all away." We know this is not speaking of Noah and his family, because Noah was not simply eating and drinking and giving in marriage when the flood occurred. Aside from the fact that Noah and his boys were already married, the thought of eating and drinking and giving in marriage relates to us activities that people experience when everyday life is not expected to change. Noah had expectation of everyday life changing! He knew a flood was coming. He worked on the construction of an ark for years! "They" who carried on in everyday life as though nothing would seriously change things were obviously the sinners of Noah's day who believed nothing about an imminent flood.

Jesus already stated a note of immanency in verse 36 where He said no man knoweth the day nor hour when "that day" shall come. He emphasized this immanency and included the thought that people will also not expect anything unusual to occur by the time that day and hour arrived. This shall be the case when the Son of man comes.

Then the Lord stated that two people would be in a field when he would "come." One person would be "taken" and the other left. Similarly, two women would be grinding at the mill, when one would be taken and the other left. The message is that we can understand what will happen when the Lord comes by realizing what happened when the flood came in Noah's day, and apply similar circumstances to the time when Jesus will come.

People ate, drank, married and gave in marriage in Noah's day when the flood came. Similarly, people will work in the field and grind at the mill when Jesus comes. Notice the comparisons. A flood came in Noah's day just as Jesus would come. People were taken when the flood came just as people will be taken when Jesus comes. The flood of Noah's day corresponds to Jesus Christ. Both were said to "come". Careful analysis of these comparisons helps us understand that the Lord could not have been discussing the rapture of the church in these verses! A flood came and affected people in the same way Jesus would come and affect people. Who were the people the flood affected?

At this point, we can stray from the exact words of Jesus and recall in our minds the story of Noah, that many people were affected by Noah's flood in different ways. Sinners were destroyed while Noah and his family survived. One might even say that Noah was taken away in safety, while the sinners were left behind to be destroyed in Gods' wrath. In fact, this is exactly what futurists claim Christ was saying. However, Jesus did not compare Noah's removal in an ark with the ones who would be "taken" when He comes. We have to stick with the people with whom Jesus compared the ones who would be taken when He comes. In order to do this, we have to read who was taken in Noah's day in Christ's comparison. Since they were sinners who were taken in Noah's day, we realize they were taken in destruction! So, Jesus is not relating a taking away of people to safety, as though Noah and his family were taken in safety. Noah was taken away in safety. But Jesus did not refer to Noah and his family as being "taken" in that sense. The only people whom he referred to as being "taken" were sinners. And they correspond to the one in the field and at the grinding mill who is taken and the other left. In other words, Jesus spoke about sinners being taken in destruction when he comes in the same way sinners were taken in destruction when the flood came in Noah's day!

Jesus did not say, "As Noah was taken by the ark away from wrath, so shall two be in the field and the one taken and the other left." The specific comparison He made to help us understand the identity of the the people to be taken in the field was the sinners taken by the flood. So, it can only be sinners He meant for us to understand as the ones taken when Jesus comes. That indeed occurred in AD70, as the Christians had already fled the city due to recognizing the signal Jesus gave to them when He said, "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand: ) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: (Matthew 24:15-16 KJV)"

Noah did not know when the flood would come, but he was ready so as to not carry on in everyday life as though nothing would happen, and be caught in destruction like the sinners. Jesus gave the same warning to believers. And we find its fulfillment when Jerusalem was attacked and, without knowledge of the day and hour of destruction, Jews were slaughtered, taken prisoner and dispersed by the destruction that took place. Like Noah, the believers prepared for the coming of destruction, and survived.

LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT

Matthew 24:42-44 KJV Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. (43) 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. (44) Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

This passage continues the discussion about immanency that Christ introduced using the story of Noah as an example. Jesus introduced another story. There is a goodman of a house. This is the master of a family. Hypothetically, if a man had known when the thief would come to his house and bring destruction, he would have watched for that thief. Notice that Jesus did not make reference to the thief's stealing of anything. The aspect of the thief that Jesus focused upon was the arrival of the thief. This passage is often used to describe the Lord coming as a thief to steal away His church. The phrase "...like a thief in the night" has been used to describe the rapture and resurrection when Jesus shall "steal" the saints from the earth in a secret coming, much like a thief comes and goes without detection. Even a Christian film was entitled so in presenting a secret rapture of the church. However, hermeneutics demands that we carefully read the terms Jesus used and the focus He made about the thief.

Jesus said nothing about stealing anything. Obvious a thief comes to steal. But while the futurist concentrates upon a thief's stealing, the aspect Jesus focused upon was not the stealing but a reference to what hour the Lord would come. It is an issue of timing. That's all. This stress upon timing is continued in verse 43. The goodman did not know "what watch" the thief would come. A "watch" is a certain hour of the night. And if he had known what watch that thief would come, the goodman would have been watching at that point in the night.

There is not one allusion to a resurrection or rapture, as though the Lord steals the Church away from the world without the world knowing about it until it begins noticing some people are missing. This futurist perspective on this passage is one of the worst cases of hermeneutics one could contrive. As with the havoc futurism played upon Noah's story regarding who was taken and who was left, futurists destroy the entire point of the story of the goodman and his house. It seems as though the actual context and point Jesus was making is not even considered by futurist. Rather, they simply read about a thief coming and stop there, and contrive all sorts of allusions to the rapture. They only see where the coming of Jesus is compared to that of a thief. And instead of reading what aspects of the thief's coming is actually being compared to Jesus' coming, they think of thieves stealing things. What else is the first thought that comes to your mind when you read the word, "thief"? But we are intended to read the entire phrase and learn if it is indeed the stealing aspect of a thief we are intended to focus upon or something else. Recall that sound hermeneutics demands we not assume anything into the text, such as the thought of stealing everytime the word thief is mentioned. Maybe the Lord was trying to relate another aspect of a thief's coming in his discussion. And that is precisely the case here!

As with Noah's example, Jesus focused upon believers not knowing what hour the thief would come. He implied believers must always be watching for the coming that Matthew 24 was speaking about. With no note about a secret stealing of the church in this example, and a focus solely upon being watchful so as to not be caught unawares, Jesus warned the people alive in his day that destruction would come, as did the flood in Noah's day. Not knowing the day nor hour of that destruction required the believers to always be ready. And in the lifetime of those people who heard those words from Jesus, destruction did indeed come!

When futurists read the reference to a thief, they assumed this was speaking about the same teaching Paul gave in 1 Thessalonians 5. After writing about the resurrection in 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul wrote these words:

1 Thessalonians 5:1-9 KJV (1) But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. (2) For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. (3) 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. (4) But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. (5) Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. (6) Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. (7) For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. (8) But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. (9) For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

Chapter 4 did indeed mention the rapture of the church. I can see no other sensible explanation for chapter 4 other than a prophecy of a physical resurrection of the body. This corresponds to the teachings in 1 Corinthians 15 where people, both dead and alive, shall be changed in very body when the Lord comes. And this is yet future. Therefore, futurists ask, if 1 Thessalonians. 4 is future, and chapter 5 follows hot on its heels and reads about Him coming like a thief in the night, then why would not Matthew 24:43-44 likewise be speaking about this yet-future coming of Jesus?

First of all, as we have shown in detail how the context of Matthew 24 does not allow for Matthew 24 to refer to a yet-future coming of Jesus. Also, 1 Thessalonians 5 does refer to the events of Matthew 24, but not to the events of 1 Thessalonians 4. On the other hand, some fulfilled proponents think there is no prophecy yet to be fulfilled, and that Jesus will never come again. They feel that both Matthew 24 and 1 Thessalonians 4 are totally fulfilled. I feel they are at the other end of the spectrum of error. They reason that if Matthew 24's reference to the thief is fulfilled, then so must 1 Thessalonians. 5's reference be fulfilled. And if 1 Thessalonians 5 is fulfilled, then they reason 1 Thessalonians 4's reference to a catching away is also fulfilled.

The arguments of both totally fulfilled proponents and futurists that agrees with the other is that the phrase "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you," is referring to the times and seasons of the resurrection in chapter 4. They interpret this as saying that the coming of the Lord in 1Thessalonians 5:2 is one and the same as chapter 4:16. But look at the writing more carefully:

1 Thessalonians 4:14-5:4 KJV (14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. (15) For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. (16) 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: (17) 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. (18) Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (5:1) But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. (2) For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. (3) 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. (4) But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

Why do we have to require chapter 5's coming of the Lord to be the same event as the resurrection in chapter 4? Could not Paul be saying that the Thessalonians had no need of being told when the resurrection would occur for the reason that they already had a concept of not knowing the day nor hour in the other issue regarding the destruction of Jerusalem? It's like saying, "I do not need to tell you about the times and seasons of the resurrection of our bodies, because you already are aware of the concept of not knowing when something shall come to pass. You learned that concept from Jesus when he spoke about the near destruction of Jerusalem. So, applying that same concept to the resurrection would inform us that just as much as we who are of the day always watch fro the destruction of Jerusalem, we likewise watch for the day of the resurrection. This is true, although the day of resurrection is not at all to be confused with the day of the Lord when Jerusalem is to be destroyed and judged."

1 Thessalonians 4 makes no reference to any such destruction as we find in chapter 5. Neither does Matthew 24 mention any resurrection. 1 Thessalonians 5 corresponds to Matthew 24's destruction of Jerusalem.

Let me show another angle that disallows us to consider the rapture of 1 Thessalonians 4 as a stealing that was mentioned in chapter 5.

Let's say Jesus was speaking about the rapture when He spoke of the goodman of the house and the thief. This would make the goodman of the house to be a believer. This would mean that Jesus warned the believer to be ready to be stolen away by Himself when he comes. However, Jesus is actually warning the believer to watch so that the thief does not come and break into his house! Why would Jesus refer to Himself as a thief come to rapture away the church, like stolen belongings from a goodman's house, and say we must watch so we do not allow our houses to be broken up? The Lord is not comparing the goodman's belongings to the believer, but the goodman, himself, represents the believer! The belongings are not told by this story to watch in order to ensure they get stolen by the thief, but the goodman is to watch so his house is not broken in and his belongings stolen! Reading it from a rapture/futurist perspective does not make any sense at all!

Continued... (click here).

RDTW

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