"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

"I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, 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 in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left." - Luke 17:34-36

Introduction

I believe that the verses quoted here are passages that are most often contextually misquoted in the realm of Christian Eschatology. Most people attribute these passages to the event we call the 'Rapture' of the church. Even many of those who hold to the PreTribulational Rapture of the church position claim these verses as rapture passages, and I believe they do so in error. This error has provided for many an interesting debate between those of us who hold to the Pretrib Rapture position and those who hold the Posttrib Rapture position. The reason for the debate is that the PostTrib position holds these same passages as rapture proofs of their position, and they do so convincingly. That is of course, unless these verses are not indeed rapture passages as they may at first be perceived. I believe, and will spend the rest of this document proving that the use of these two passages as rapture passages does not align well with literal and chronological reading of the surrounding texts.

The purpose of this paper is to both 'correct' some misconceptions with the Pretrib view and these verses; and as a side effect to this process, we will reveal related conflicts with the Posttrib position.

The Gathering

We begin by studying another of Christ's parables to ascertain what is actually meant, or what is actually being referenced by these interesting passages of scripture.

Those who hold to the idea that the rapture of the church will occur at the 2nd coming of Christ (PostTrib), utilize the following passages as rapture passages and proof of their position:

Mar 13:26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. Mar 13:27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

and

Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

I mention the PostTrib postion now for a reason that I will get to in a moment, but first let us take note that the location of the 'Grinding at the Mill' verses are after (see v40-41) the mention of a gathering in Matthew 24:31.

Because of the chronological location of these 'grinding of the mill' passages in the chronological location of the surrounding text (namely at the time of the gathering of the elect), we find that these events just described certainly do appear to occur at the end of the Tribulation Period (Daniel's 70th Week). This would include both these 'gathering' passages of Mark 13:26-27 and Mark 24:31 and the passages which follow chronologically and mention the 'Two Grinding at the Mill'.

If that is the case, then it looks like the PostTrib Rapture proponents might indeed be onto something in that the rapture does indeed occur at the 2nd coming. Ah, but we must not be so hasty; For a conflict now emerges that is overlooked by many PostTrib proponents.

The Wheat and the Tares

Mat 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Mat 13:41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; Mat 13:42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Mat 13:43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Interesting thing of note here is that Christ is describing a time at the 2nd coming when he sends the angels out to gather the wicked (tares) from world and then gather the righteous (wheat) into the barn.

How do we know that this event occurs at the time of the second coming? Verses 39-40 gives us the clue.

Mat 13:39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Mat 13:40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.

In these passages it is very clear that the tares are gathered first and burned in fire... and then the elect are gathered into the barn and shine brightly.

This is in direct conflict with the events of the rapture.

Whether you are Post-Trib or Pre-Trib we all agree that the rapture is the gathering of the Righteous (Christians). We know that the dead in Christ are raised first, and then we who remain will be gathered with them. And we all agree that these two passages state that fact: 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 and 1 Thess 4:15-17.

1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

1Th 4:15 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.
1Th 4:16 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: 1Th 4:17 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.

In these two sets of passages it is very clear that when the rapture occurs we immediately meet the Lord in the air. We also note that the wicked are left behind.

With that in mind the 'wheat and tares' passages of Matthew 24:31 and Mark 13:26-27 cannot mean the rapture because we are presented with the following question:

"Who is gathered first?"

One set of passages (Corinthians 15:51-54 and 1 Thess 4:15-17) seem to suggest the righteous (or wheat) are gathered first, and the next set , regarding the wheat and the tares (Mat 13:30-42), say the wicked (or tares) are.

We therefore are presented with an error in trying to align all these passages together as one event. That is, we have a created a conflict by trying to align the rapture passages of 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4 with the wheat and tares events of Mark 13:27 and Matthew 24:31. As scripture contains no errors or conflicts, the passages must refer to different events.

What is our Solution?

To fix our conflict we must cast aside the PostTrib rapture position and then we must align the gathering stated in Mark 13:27 and Matthew 24:31 (Angels gathering the elect) to the gathering told of by Christ in the parable of the wheat and the tares in Matthew 13:37-43 that we looked at earlier. This means that the gathering of the wheat and the tares, and the angels going forth to gather the are the same event.

Now you may ask, "If these verses aren't the rapture, then what is the gathering for? What is the purpose?".

I believe the reason for this gathering can also be explained by continuing on in the chronology of the Matthew text.

Mat 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Mat 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Mat 25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Mat 25:35 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Mat 25:36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Mat 25:37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
Mat 25:38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Mat 25:39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
Mat 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Mat 25:42 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
Mat 25:43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Mat 25:44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Mat 25:45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
Mat 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

The gathering of the wheat and tares, contextually, chronologically and logically fits quite well as the prelude to, or the beginning of, the gathering of the sheep and goats.

Timeline of Events

We can see now with the passages we mentioned above, that the verses harmonize into one complete outline of a timeline of events:

1. Christ Returns at the 2nd Coming (Mark 13:26)
2. The Angels are sent out to Gather the Tares (Matthew 13:30; 13:41) **
3. There will be One Taken.. the other left. (Matthew 24:40-41; Luke 17:34-36)
4. Then the Righteous/wheat will be Gathered (Matthew 13:27,30; Matthew 24:31, Matthew 25:32)
5. The sheep/wheat are gathered on the right of Christ, and the goats/tares on the left (Matthew 25:33)
6. The goat/tares are thrown into everlasting punishment and fire (Matthew 13:30,40,42; Matthew 25:41, 46).
7. The righteous wheat/sheep inherit the kingdom (Matthew 13:30,43; Matthew 25:34)

** Note: Additional proof that this is not the rapture: They are gathered by the angels, whereas we know at the rapture that our bodies will be changed and we 'in a twinkling of an eye' are whisked up to be with the Lord - We do not need angels to gather us.

Conclusion

Our study has resulted in the presentation of scripturally harmonious chain of events in regards to the second coming of Christ. We have found that if we try to force the gathering of the elect of Mark 13:27 and Matthew 24:31 into the rapture as the PostTrib proponents do, we create a conflict between passages. As we know the bible contains no error, we are therefore left to conclude that the theology behind such a premise is faulty.

Likewise, if we try to force the 'Grinding at the Mill' and 'Two in the Field' verses to mean the rapture (and that means all you fellow Pretrib supporters out there), then chronologically I believe we ourselves have made the same error.

The PreTrib Rapture Position can be chosen to be correct for many, many reasons; but I believe the passages mentioning people being taken away and others left from Matthew 24 and Luke 17, should never be used as part of that proof.

- J.R.Hall