“Just as in the Days of Noah”? Should You Be “Taken” Or “Left”?

What did Jesus mean that the time of his coming would be "just like in the days of Noah?" as Matthew records? Depends on who you ask! His analogy is usually terribly mishandled, often because teachers ignore Luke's version which includes a key detail that Matthew is missing about the days of Lot. What do both Noah and Lot's days have in common? And most importantly, who are those that are taken and who are those left? Which one should you be?

I received this email about "the days of Noah" rapture text:

Hello once again, Tim,

Have read your e-book ^[1]...extremely interesting. I certainly hadn't viewed Revelation as being literally interpreted..you have encouraged me to search the Word more frequently and considering some of those more difficult scripture in that light.

My question is in regard to Matthew 24:36-44. Could you please tell me where you would place this event in the time-line of things, and how does it relate to the place of safety, and the 144,000 ^[2]. I have also heard it explained that the wicked would be taken, and the righteous "kept" or left behind as in the Days of Noah. How do you view this?

Thanks for your time on this question.

Deborah

I love hearing how the plain, literal interpretations I teach have encouraged someone to study God's words more than ever because they feel they can understand things.

The Days of Noah...

The reader was asking about this passage:

Matthew 24:36-44 — 36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.
37 "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
38 "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
39 "and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
40 "Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.
41 "Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.
42 "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
43 "But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
44 "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

The question of who is taken and who is left here is one of my favorite Bible prophecy questions. Talk about "the difficult words of Jesus," this one had me confused for many years.

Also, taken where? To the good place or bad place? Why is only "one" left and "one" taken? Is a 50% "rapture-rate" the point of the message? But this is typical with the high difficulty level of the Bible.

Exactly What Will Be 'Just like the Days of Noah'?

To solve these questions, first, we need to be clear just what day and event Jesus is specifically saying are "just like in the days of Noah." The answer is that he connects it to the "coming of the Son of Man." Let's back up to the subject in verses 29-31 (skipping verses 32-35 about the Parable of the Fig Tree) to make no mistake about which day this is.

Matthew 24:29-31 — 29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
30 "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

Rapture Day

So this is the rapture right after Satan's 3½ year/42 month/1260 day Great Tribulation ^[3] of wrath is completed. Jesus comes to gather his elect with the help of his angels into the sky on the last trumpet, the very Day of Trumpets, or the "last trump" ^[4] that Paul spoke of (1Cor 15:52).

This correlates to the seventh trumpet of Revelation which of course precedes the seven bowls of God's actual wrath, now that Satan's short time is done (Rev 12:12). That ten-day wrath of God ends with the Second Coming of Jesus for the Battle of Armageddon ^[5] as Rev 19 depicts.

Please note that the "wrath of God and the Lamb" pronounced at the 6th seal is a red herring or misleading statement. It is important to notice who is making the statement: the masses of the world, not God, Jesus, John, or even an angel. The panicked masses assume, "It's Judgment Day!!" because of how terrible the global Wormwood cataclysm that starts at the 6th seal is ^[1].

But besides the two apparent "wraths of God," there are other obstacles to understanding this. If you read this account alone where it says, "the flood took them all away," you can come away with the idea that "one shall be taken" is referring to death as those outside Noah's Ark did.

Luke's Account Clears the Bad Connotation to "Taken"

To resolve this ambiguity, it helps greatly to read the parallel account in Luke which tells us a detail that Matthew is missing. He records that it will be just like in the days of Noah and the days of Lot.

So it's up to us to consider them both together and understand what both times had in common in order to draw the proper lesson from Jesus' analogies for the day of the rapture:

Luke 17:26-37 — 26 "And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:
27 "They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 "Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
29 "but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 "Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
31 "In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back.
32 "Remember Lot's wife.
33 "Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.
34 "I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left.
35 "Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left.
36 "Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left."
37 And they answered and said to Him, "Where, Lord?" So He said to them, "Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together."

Did you notice from what I highlighted how this account differs? Luke says that the flood "destroyed them all" not "took them"...on the very day Noah entered the safety of the ark. Now we're getting somewhere! Further, he says about the days of Lot that those left behind after Lot left for safety were also "destroyed"...also on the very same day.

Now the question of whether you want to be left or taken is clear. Jesus is telling us that God is consistent and that just as with the "just in time" rescue of the righteous before past judgments, also in our time on the very same day that we are gathered to the sky in the "rapture" the judgment of God will fall on the Earth.

Which judgment is that? The seven bowls are identified in Revelation as the wrath of God following the 7th trumpet ^[5] (whereas in contrast, the seals and trumpets are not God's judgments, although the group of all 21 events is often incorrectly collectively labeled as such).

Therefore, the lesson of Jesus' analogy is this: "be ready" because you will "not know" in advance exactly when the rapture will happen, and there will be no time to get ready once it starts because (the first bowl of) God's Judgement will follow immediately after—just as the flood did in the days of Noah and just as the brimstone fell in the days of Lot! If you want to be among those "taken" to heaven before judgment rains on earth you had better start now.

If Everyone Is Gathered, Why are Some Working and Some Sleeping?

This passage and others seem to contradict the single "place of safety" view that Revelation 12 teaches ^[7], or that God's servants will be gathered in one place. Why? The problem is in how Jesus mentions that some will be working in the fields and at baking and some will be sleeping. This makes no sense unless those taken are scattered on different sides of the globe in different time zones (sorry, flat earthers ^[8]). Another problematic passage is Mark 13:27 which says, "He will send out the angels and gather His elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky." Again, why would there be such language unless those raptured were not scattered everywhere?

This is where understanding the 144,000 and their mission comes to the rescue. My book ^[1] demonstrates that Elijah ^[9] and the 144,000 are the ones who receive and broadcast the three angel messages (Rev 14:6-13) which partly fulfills the end time return of the preaching of Jesus' Gospel of the Kingdom ^[10] message that Jesus predicted (Mt 24:14). (Elijah must start preaching the Gospel sooner for repentance before the end ^[9]. When civilization goes down, he'll pass the baton to the 144,000.) If you ever wondered why the 144,000 alone have the mobile protection from Satan's attacks (Rev 7;9:4), that is why. They alone will need it because they will be out delivering the witness to the world before the end comes. The rest of God's servants will be in a single safe place for the duration of the Great Tribulation as Revelation 12 describes ^[7].

Therefore, when the rapture happens, God will have some living servants in every part of the world. In this way, those taken will come from nearly every time zone or from parts of the world where it is morning, noon and night just as this parable depicts through the two women baking bread, two men working in the field and two sleeping in the same bed, respectively. If it was not for the protected 144,000 still being out providing the witness up until the end of the Great Tribulation, Jesus could not have described the three parts of day scenarios affected by the rapture!

Why Are People Having So Much Fun in the Great Tribulation?

By the way, this passage highlights a grave misunderstanding about the "Great Tribulation." Who is it a "trouble" to? Everyone? No. Only God's people (and those few nonconformists who reject the mark).

Notice how Jesus said that people will be marrying, drinking, planting and building otherwise having pretty normal lives. How is this possible. Perhaps you pictured the Great Tribulation to be like a hell on earth for the receivers of the mark. Torture, etc. But according to Jesus it's going to be a time of great prosperity full of expectation and planning for a bright future for the majority who took the mark.

The reward for taking the Mark of the Beast will be no empty promise. The Beast will rebuild the world devastated by Wormwood as the 6th seal through 4th trumpet graphically record. This is also why there can be a surprising sudden destruction on them. They are busy serving their false god of Satan (2Th 2:4) in his newly ordered world.

That all ends right after angels are seen taking God's people to safety (and it will culminate nine days later with the 7th bowl on Tishrei 10, Yom Kippur, the Day of the Lord when Jesus returns as Rev 19=Lev 16 describes ^[5]).

I hope this helps you see what "just in the days of Noah" really means...and what it does not mean as Jesus used it. It's not talking about giants coming back, or a flood, or something else from Noah's day being seen again as many mistake it. The specific point Jesus was drawing from the analogy to Noah's time was that God's judgment always falls right after he takes his people out, as Lot's time also demonstrates.

If you're not sure you're ready for the rapture, read my article on the rapture requirements ^[11] next.