Hi JFW,
I'm reading this scripture again after you highlighted it

(up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.)

Jesus says in 39 "took them all away"

Jesus says in 40 "One will be taken"
Jesus says in 41 "One will be taken"

I am thinking that the "taken" in 40 and 41 has to have the exact same meaning as the "took them" in 39 because one is an example of another.Jesus is saying the men in the field and the women grinding will be like Noah's day.

Following on from that train of thought and paraphrasing heavily is Jesus saying this
In Noah's Day Judgement came and took them all away and it will be like that in the end Judgement will come and take away one man in the field and one women at he mill.

And for the ones that are left is Jesus saying they will be left in a safe place from Judgement like Noah in the Ark ,

Thanks for your comments,
urs staff

34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left.
35 There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.”
37 And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” Lk. 17:34-37. ESV
————

Those taken are going to be corpses. That is where vultures gather.

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Todd

Hi TMK,
I think that sums it up,
urs staff

Not to flog a dead horse but…

When we read the characterization by Jesus regarding those whom will be eating, drinking and giving to marry,… the question that comes to my mind is “who” is doing those things ? Surely not those whom follow Christ 🤔

For example wether we look at the times of Noah, Lot or 70ad, none of the persons who were being faithful to God were caught off guard… Noah was preparing the Ark, Lot was interceding for those round about him, and the NT believers had fled Jerusalem so none of these were going on in normalcy, rather they were aware of the impending judgement-

So how I read these passages is that Jesus is contrasting those whom are faithful to Him with those who are of the world, which for me serves to parse out the tribulation… just how in Sodom, the ungodly didn’t experience a tribulation but rather were celebrating their sin all the way till the end, so the only persons actually experiencing any sort of trial/tribulation was Lot and his family just like with Noah.

So my personal take on the tribulation is that it’s only a tribulation for the righteous and everyone else is distracted by their pursuits of fleshly indulgence.
That’s not to say that the events won’t be visible, surely they will be as well as experienced yet the ungodly will not be bothered by the increased wickedness as it’s their natural habitat, whereas it will grieve deeply the righteous much like we have today where sinners rejoice over their “rights” to abortion, gay sex, pedophilia, legalized drug use, pornography, prostitution, corruption, etc… all while claiming the victim hood of injustice when they are met with resistance- tho fr the righteous these are indeed grievous and troublesome times 🤔
That’s why it seems “normal” for some but intolerable for others -

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Fletcher

TMK,

Try Ezekiel 39:17-20 and Revelation 19:17-18.

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David Winter

Thank you Yulboum for the encouragement.
I believe we desperately need it sooner or later.

Here is a message from 2008 by Paul Washer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7UyZYpeReY

He mentions towards the end that hell will break loose on us.
The more I study Scripture and the more I see what's happening already around us, I believe that is true.
It will get extremely evil on this planet and it will require a lot of heat to purify the church, the Bride, to make Her spotless

We need to continually fix our eyes on Jesus.
May He give us the grace and strength to endure to the end.

"In Christ alone my hope is found..."

Markus

Fletcher - I see your point for sure and tend to agree but the “left behind” version of the tribulation is oceans turning to blood and stars hitting the earth and 1/3 of the population dying etc. So even an evil person might find it a tad hard to carry on in their normal wickedness when the are dodging asteroids.

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Todd

//Try Ezekiel 39:17-20 and Revelation 19:17-18.//

I tried it, not sure what you are getting at.

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Todd

Ha! Well those things or things like that may happen but even tho they (the world) fear it they will follow the narrative …. Seems like we are/have been primed, like glow plugs on a diesel engine, to believe the alien invasion narrative which would predicate the need for a world gov- that will then set the stage for the AC to come into full view, revealing himself as a savior type 🤔

The world will soon be subjected to a great deception, far greater than anything before it - it will indeed be a tribulation for us as we will be mocked, scorned and most likely persecuted for our faith, much like they did Jesus leading up to and on the cross. These people have been at work for decades in broad daylight yet not many seem to notice the diabolical nature of their actions.

When I look at scripture, there are references to both being taken “out” of the way and being secured “in” a situation. God didn’t spare Daniel the lions den nor S,M,A the fiery furnace, rather He secured them in the situation, tho in SoS, the bide was spared the trouble… so there are references to both -
Revelation 12 seems to suggest their will be a rescue of sorts but it will be facilitated here on the earth (vs 14-16).

In any case it’s not gonna be boring anytime soon, especially with the provocation we have just initiated in Ukraine/Russia conflict,… which itself could spill over any minute into a nightmare for most everyone -

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Fletcher

Back when I was a pre-tribber I thought the rapture might be explained by those left behind as being due to alien abductions. Why they would think the aliens only took Christians is a little more problematic.

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Todd