The Battle of Armageddon and One Will Be Taken and the Other Left

In Luke 17:33-37 Jesus taught "one will be taken and the other left." People are “left” to enter the kingdom. Other people are “taken” in judgment to the Battle of Armageddon (Revelation 19:11-21). This resembles the way the wicked people in Noah’s day were "taken" by the flood.Show more

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00:00 Lessons for The Battle of Armageddon and One Will Be Taken and the Other Left
08:10 Lesson One: Give up this life to receive eternal life.
11:02 Lesson Two: Lot’s wife sought to preserve her life but lost it, and Noah and Lot lost their lives to keep them.
18:08 Lesson Three: People are “taken” to the Battle of Armageddon or “left” to enter the kingdom.
22:29 Lesson Four: Associate Jesus’s Second Coming with birds (visibility) and corpses (judgment).
33:47 Lesson Five: The Battle of Armageddon is an execution versus a battle.

People Are “Taken” to the Battle of Armageddon

This is where it gets a little confusing: Luke 17:33-36 describe one will be taken and the other left, which sounds like the rapture. But the context is the Second Coming of Christ (Luke 17:24), which is seven years after the Rapture.

When you think of the people taken away to the Battle of Armageddon to be judged, think of the way the wicked people in Noah’s day were taken away by the flood. Consider the parallel account: “As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man…39 and they were unaware until the flood came and SWEPT THEM ALL AWAY, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:37, 39). It says very clearly that the way the people were taken away by the flood looks to the way people are taken away at that Second Coming.

People Are “Left” to Enter the Kingdom

The people who are left, are left to enter the millennial kingdom that Jesus physically establishes on the earth. Think of these people being left to enjoy a new beginning the way:

—Noah and his family was left to enjoy a new beginning after the whole population of the earth was taken in the flood.
—Lot and his family were left to enjoy a new beginning after the people in Sodom were destroyed by the fire and brimstone.

Consider the way it’s worded in the Amplified Bible:

Luke 17:34 I tell you, on that night [when Messiah comes again] there will be two [sleeping] in one bed; the one (the non-believer) will be taken [away in judgment] and the other (the believer) will be left. 35 There will be two women grinding [at the mill] together; the one (the non-believer) will be taken [away in judgment] and the other (the believer) will be left.

The Amplified clarifies that the unbelievers are taken, and the believers are left, and there are two important footnotes:

The first footnote: “This is not the sudden catching up (or rapture) of believers as described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 when Christ returns in the air (not to earth), and gathers believers to be with Him.” This is one of the main differences between the Rapture and the Second Coming:
—At the rapture Jesus meets the church in the air without stepping foot on the earth.
—At the Second Coming Jesus returns to the earth.

The second footnote: “The believers are left and will be with Christ on the earth during the Millennium.”

The Birds (Visibility) and Corpses (Judgment) of the Battle of Armageddon

Luke 17:37 And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”

They mean, “Where are the people who are judged taken to?”

Some Bibles say eagles instead of vultures, because the Greek word can be translated either way, but it’s more appropriate to think of vultures because they are the birds that gather or circle above corpses. It might seem strange, or even graphic, to associate Jesus’s Second Coming with vultures and dead bodies, but when you study it out, it makes perfect sense. Consider what God said to Job when He questioned him:

Job 39:27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high? 28 On the rock he dwells and makes his home, on the rocky crag and stronghold. 29 From there he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it from far away...

Read the rest of the blog post: https://www.scottlapierre.org/the-battle-of-armageddon/