One will be taken away! How, when and where?! Jesus talks about the signs of the coming of the Son of Man in Matthew 24. One of the signs is that at His coming two man will be in the field, and one will be taken away: 

"Then two [men] will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. [Mat 24:40 NKJV]

In this post I will be walking you through some scriptures to see in details, "who" is the man that will be taken away, "what" is the field, and "when" this event will occur. 

But before I start, I'd like to mention what I am about to share is not what the majority of Christians have heard and believe. Over the years many have used this verse, trying to prove that there will be a time of Rapture. They says the rapture is when Jesus will take away His people from earth, and everyone else who doesn’t believe in Him will remain on earth while experiencing hell!

I find that contrary to the truth of the scriptures which I will show you why shortly.

I was Terrified of being Left Behind

Before we get started, I want to share with you something that happened recently:

After I posted my previous post, about the Rapture of the Church (in social media), I received a comment from Julia on how her childhood was ruined with the fear of rapture. She said:

My childhood and twenties were ruined by this rapture doctrine because I was terrified of being left behind. I would check my parents were in bed in the middle of the night. I would say the "sinners prayer" many times per day just in case I didn't get it right. This rapture doctrine caused me 30 years of mental illness, scrupulosity (religious-themed OCD), depression, and anxiety. When I finally left the exclusive fundamentalist sect that I was raised in I felt I had to research the doctrine that had held me (and so many others) captive to fear and terror for decades. How could something that instill terror like this be of God? And what I found was astounding!  

I wasn't surprised to hear this. She was not the first person I had seen having similar experiences. I was about to ask her if she has ever struggled to embrace God in His Love and trust Him due to this teaching, that she replied before I even ask my question:

It took me decades to want to have a relationship with God because all I could associate with him was fear and terror. I still struggle to fully trust. Mission accomplished by the devil! Thank you so much for what you do. I love and give thanks for your videos and ministry, intelligence, testimony, fearlessness, independent thinking, love for God, dedication, trustworthiness, and passionate desire for **truth**. Your hearts are truly incredible, and a gift to us.

Again, I wasn't surprised to hear that she struggled to trust God. Because it's love that brings trust! And unfortunately some folks, over the years, have become ministers of fear and not the good news. The good news is revealed 'only' through the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Any teaching other than this binds people in fear and never let them to embrace the Love of the Father.

That's why, unfortunately, that kind of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the scriptures have caused many to live in such fear for many generations. And some of those who have come out of it haven’t been completely healed of this wound in their heart. That’s why they still struggle to understand the goodness of God and embrace Him in Love! 

Rapture or Caught-up?

In my previous post I went through many verses to open up the word 'rapture'. We talked that this word is not even in the Bible and the substitute word for it is the word 'caught-up'. We learned that Paul was raptured to the third heaven which is actually the Paradise of God, or the Holy Jerusalem. This Holy Jerusalem is the Bride of the Lamb, the Church of the Living God! So, we all can experience being caught-up daily in the Spirit (and we should), because then we can see our true identity: A PERFECT MAN IN CHRIST.

Without having such experience we won’t see the length, the height, the depth and the width of our stature, so we won’t endure to grow to this perfect man!

But now, in this post, we are going to look at as many scriptures as possible in one post, to find out what Jesus meant when He talked about some people who will be taken away. If it is not referring to the rapture, as it’s being taught by others, what does this mean then?

Two Men in One Field

In order to understand this verse, we must understand the key word here which is the word 'field'. If we do a quick study we realize that it is mostly used for a place that someone sows and reaps, an agricultural land!

One of these examples is in Matthew chapter 13 where Jesus is giving the parable of the wheat and the tares:

24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; [Mat 13:24 NKJV]

So, here we can see "one man" that is in the filed. And the next verse is showing us "another man" that is in the same field:

25 "but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. [Mat 13:25 NKJV]

Here in this parable we can see two men in the field: 

• A man who sows good seed in the field 
• A man who sows tares in the same filed

If we continue reading the parable, at the time of harvest, the reapers will take away the tares and burn them but gather the wheat into the barn:

30 'Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn." ' " [Mat 13:30 NKJV]

Jesus interpreted this parable in verses 37-43 and revealed to us that the Man who sows the good seed is the Son of Man and the enemy who sows the bad seeds is the devil. But they both are in the same field and they both are sowing.

Jesus also reveals that the field is the world and good seeds are the sons of the kingdom and the bad seeds are the sons of the wicked

36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." 37 He answered and said to them: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 "The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked [one]. 39 "The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. [Mat 13:36-39 NKJV]

Therefore:

• The Field is the world
• The Man who sows good seed is the Son of Man
• Good Seeds are Sons of the kingdom
• The Man who sows bad seed is the enemy, the devil
• Bad Seeds are the sons of the wicked
• The Harvest is the end of the age
• The Reapers are the angels

Matthew 24 says, at the coming of the Son of man, two man will be in one field and one will be taken away. So, the one that will be taken away is the devil, the enemy, the one who is sowing the bad seed.

However, in this parable the tares are taken away. So not only the one who sows bad seeds will be taken away but also what was sown will be taken away as well.

Your Heart is the Field, where the Seeds are sown!

Now let's understand what the field is:

In the parable of the Wheat and the Tares, Jesus reveals that the field is the world. However we can take a look at a couple of more verses to understand this with more details.

In the parable of the sower and the seed which is exactly one parable before the one we just read, Jesus talks about sowing and reaping again. But this time He reveals that the field is the heart of man:

19 "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand [it], then the wicked [one] comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. [Mat 13:19 NKJV]

Your heart is the ground, the field, in which the seeds are sown!

Your heart is actually the world!

So inside of us is a world. Two men are at work in this world!

One Man sows the good seed of the Word of God. The other is the enemy and sows the bad seed, the tares.

So we can see that our heart is like a field where words are sown. Some words are the Truth, the good seeds, and some are the Lies, bad seeds.

When you continue believing the word that is sown in your heart, that seed will grow out of the ground of your heart. If it's the truth, it will come to harvest. If it's a lie, it will be gathered and burned in the fire, like the tares!

As you open your heart to hear the truth, you might see some tares that are growing up with the wheat. But you don’t have to worry about it. You continue believing the word of God! Then, the Son of Man comes to take away the man who sowed bad seed in your heart, the devil. He will also burn all the tares sown by the devil.

One thing that's very interesting is:

The tares look exactly like the wheat! That means there will be times that you hear two words that seem alike. You think both are the same, but one is actually a lie (the tare). The only thing that can help us to differentiate is knowing the nature of God. If the message is Life-Giving it's of Him.

Tares are Offences against the Kingdom

Now Jesus goes even a little deeper and reveals to us that the sons of the wicked are actually the offenses in the kingdom:

41 "The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 "and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. [Mat 13:41-42 NKJV]

And,

43 "Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! [Mat 13:43 NKJV]

Earlier in the the parable Jesus explained that the tares will be gathered and burned in fire. But later, while explaining, He mentioned that all offences and those who practice lawlessness will be gathered and burn in the furnace of fire. 

Therefore when He mentions the Sons of the Wicked, He is not talking about 'people'! He talks about the Seed of the Devil. This is the Word of the Devil, that is believed in the heart of people. That word grows and occupies the field that was to bear hundredfold fruit.

So, the taking away is not only taking away of the one who is sowing the lies in the heart but also, taking away of the lies that we have already believed in our heart.

That happens at the End of the Age which is the time of Harvest! The time that the Word of God has grown up to maturity in our heart. This is when it's ready to be harvested. This eventually is that which we need for the bread. That which we can eat and have eternal life.

Two Women Grinding Together

The purpose of the seed of the Word of God, sown in our hearts, is to eventually become a bread that we can eat. When His word is sown in our heart, this is just the beginning of God's work in us until we eat of the bread of the Word and have strength and life.

He comes in every step of the way:

• starting from sowing
• to reaping
• to grinding
• to baking the bread

To make sure that there will be no lies mixed with the truth.

That's how the Unleavened Bread is made! 

He comes in every step, to take away every lie that tries to mix itself with the truth!

That is why Jesus refers to His coming as the taking away of one who is grinding at the mill as well:

41 "Two [women will be] grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. [Mat 24:40-41 NKJV]

These women are grinding the wheat that are harvested into the flour. 

So not only He comes for the sowing of the seed and the harvest of the seed, but also for the grinding of the wheat! 

In my next blog posts I will be talking more about the grinding that happens through the Millstone and why the sound of millstone will not be heard in Babylon any more!

It's all about the Word in You

In closing:

The story of Man with God has always been about eating! That man may come to realize "he should not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds out of the Mouth of God". 

When Man hears and believes this word, it becomes a seed sown in the heart. This seed grows and comes to harvest. Finally, man can eat the Bread of the Word of God and have life everlasting. 

In every step of the way, from sowing to reaping to baking and eating, He comes to us. He comes with Truth and removes the Lies. So the lies we have believed are removed and our true identity can shine like the Sun in the kingdom of our Father!