Regarding some of the many points mentioned in this thread:
> ...those left behind...
Regarding "one taken, one left," note that Matthew 24:37-44 refers to the same "coming of the Son of man" as Matthew 24:29-31. There's no 3rd coming of Christ.
I believe the ones "taken" at the 2nd coming are unbelievers who are killed, just as Noahs flood "took" evil men away (Matthew 24:39-40). The carcasses of the ones "taken" are eaten by eagles and other birds (Luke 17:36-37, Job 39:30, Matthew 24:28, Revelation 19:21).
I believe the ones "left" at the 2nd coming (Matthew 24:40) will be survivors of the heathen nations that came against Jerusalem, who will be forced to worship Jesus in the millenium (Zechariah 14:16-18), and whom we will rule "with a rod of iron" during that time (Revelation 2:26-29, 5:9-10, 20:4). They will be the ones who will populate the millenium.
The ones "gathered together" at Christ's 2nd coming are his elect (2 Thessalonians 2:1, Matthew 24:31). So I believe Christians won't be the ones "taken" or the ones "left," but the ones "gathered together."
> ...can also turn back to God, and be saved...
While the Bible shows Christians in the tribulation (Revelation 6:11, 7:3, 7:14, 9:4, 12:17, 13:7-10, 14:12-13, 15:2, 20:4), note that it doesn't expressly show anyone repenting during the tribulation. In fact, it repeatedly says the unbelievers "repented not" (Revelation 9:20-21, 16:9-11), and Paul says that at some point in the tribulation "God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12). It's possible the Christians we see in the tribulation were saved before the tribulation began, for nowhere does Jesus promise us a rapture before the tribulation.
Lest any unbelievers get complacent and think "Oh, when I see all that Antichrist stuff then I'll repent and believe," I think we should warn them: "Then it may be too late; God is going to send a strong delusion (2 Thessalonians 2:11) on all those who rejected the gospel. Today is the day of salvation. You may not get another chance to believe."
> ...We were warned to watch...
Note that in the Bible, "watching" doesn't mean staring up in the sky waiting for something to happen at any moment; it means to stay awake (Matthew 26:38-41). Christ will come like a thief for us only IF we fall asleep spiritually (Revelation 3:3, 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6).
Jesus made clear we must stay spiritually awake for his coming (Matthew 24:42-48, 25:13; Mark 13:35-36), and that his coming to gather us would not be until immediately after the tribulation (Matthew 24:29-31, Mark 13:24-27). There's no 3rd coming of Christ.
> ...because He would come when we thought not...
I believe Matthew 24:44 is a warning against our becoming unfaithful, for, again, Christ will come like a thief for us only IF we fall asleep spiritually (Revelation 3:3, 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6). Otherwise you're saying that as long as we're looking for him he can't possibly come.
> ...he never gave a clue as to when He was coming
> for his Bride...
In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8, I believe Paul makes clear that the apostasy and abomination of desolation must occur before the day Jesus comes to gather us together, for Jesus' coming to gather us together must destroy the Antichrist (verse eight). I believe Paul is referring to the same coming and gathering together as Matthew 24:29-31. I don't believe Paul taught a 3rd coming or a 2nd rapture.
> ...Only His Father knows...
"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Matthew 24:36-37).
Here I believe Jesus is referring to the same "coming of the Son of man" as when he said "immediately after the tribulation of those days... they shall see the Son of man coming" (Matthew 24:29-30), that is, his 2nd coming. I don't believe he taught a 3rd coming.
Note that Jesus didn't say "no one will know the day" (future tense) but "no one knows the day" (present tense).
Note the exact correlation of the phrase "knoweth no man" in Matthew 24:36 and 1 Corinthians 2:11-12: "Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God." See also: "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth... and he will shew you things to come" (John 16:13).
Jesus said his coming would be "as the days of Noah were" (Matthew 24:36-37). God told Noah when the flood would come shortly before it came: "For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights" (Genesis 7:4). He told him because: "Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7).
Shortly before the 2nd coming, I believe the Lord will likewise through his Spirit reveal to his prophets in the church the day of his coming. I believe those of us alive and still faithful at the abomination of desolation will know that we'll have to wait only 1,335 days until Jesus comes: "From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days" (Daniel 12:11-12).
> ...like a thief in the night...
Note the "if" in the following verse:
"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).
Paul confirms that if we watch for that day it will not overtake us as a thief:
"Yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night... But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief... let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch" (1 Thessalonians 5:2, 4, 6).
> ...God removed Noah from judgment. He then sent His
> destroying Angels to Sodom and Gamorrah, but they had to
> wait until Lot and his family were removed before they were
> permitted to destroy the cities...
Some teach that the church must be spared from the tribulation like Noah and Lot were spared, but the same coming is referred to in Matthew 24:37 that is referred to in Matthew 24:30. There's no 3rd coming of Christ. The Bible says Noah's deliverance was a type of our deliverance through baptism (1 Peter 3:20-21), not rapture, and the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrha was a type of the eternal judgment of hellfire (Jude 7), not a type of the tribulation.
Lot was greatly affected by the judgment on Sodom: he had to leave behind everything he owned; he even lost his wife; and he went to go live in a cave (Genesis 19:30).
> ...What do you make of Rev.3:10 ?...
"Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth" (Revelation 3:10).
Here Jesus was addressing only the church at Philadelphia. Are all Christians Philadelphians? And does being kept from the tribulation even require a rapture?
I believe some faithful Christians will be kept from the tribulation (Revelation 3:10) by an early death (Isaiah 57:1).
But some faithful Christians will be tried in tribulation unto death (Revelation 2:10-11). They will suffer and die in the war, famine, natural disaster, and persecution of the tribulation (Revelation 6:11, 13:7-10, 14:12-13, 20:4), just as faithful Christians have been allowed to suffer and die in these things throughout history (Acts 14:22).
Revelation 3:10's promise of being kept from the trial doesn't apply to those of us in the Church who will still be alive on the earth:
"The hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to TRY them that dwell upon the earth" (Revelation 3:10).
"Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be TRIED; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life" (Revelation 2:10).
"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery TRIAL which is to TRY you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:12-13).
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