‘Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.’  (Matthew 24:40-41)

Jesus is speaking to his closest disciples and the context is his return, ‘the coming of the Son of Man’; however, what Jesus is describing, where some are ‘taken’ while others are not, is usually referred to as ‘the Rapture’.  The word ‘rapture’ comes to English from the medieval Latin raptura which means to seize forcibly, (it is also the derivation of ‘rape’).  

The Greek verb Matthew employs is παραλαμβάνω paralambanó and although the verb lambanó is an active verb that conveys the sense of aggression, it is modified by the prefix para ‘close or alongside’.  That people are ‘taken’ may be forcible and one without consultation, but does this suggest that this is something to be feared?

In the preceding verses, Jesus offers a comparison:

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark,and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Ibid 24:37-39)

The Son of Man ‘comes’ and yet some are ‘taken’; clearly the reference to Noah and flood suggests judgment on the wicked, so are taken, the righteous or the wicked?  If Jesus is ‘coming’ it might suggest those left behind are those he coming for?

The nascent Christian followship in Thessalonica needed help with the questions about the Rapture, and the apostle Paul provided clarity:

… the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.  (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

So, from Paul, it is seen that those ‘taken’ are the faithful.  The apostle also says this:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.(Ibid 4:13-15)

In other words, everyone who are in faith will be ‘taken’ directly to Jesus’ presence, the majority on their death; however, those who are alive at the second coming will not experience death but will go directly from mortal life to eternal.  To the Corinthians, Paul further explains this process:

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.  (1 Corinthians 15:51-53)

, It is God the Father’s will that the timing of all this is never known, indeed even Jesus does not know:

… concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. (Matthew 24:36)

Quite deliberately, the timing is never to be revealed to ensure a state of readiness; therefore, all should heed his warning that it will surprise.

But there are clues.  Jesus proffers the signs: there is a prelude of world war and every type of cataclysm, a time of unprecedented strife and disaster (Ibid 24:21).  These are described at length and in detail in the Book of Revelation, here is a flavour of the horror:

And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.  (Revelations 6:8)

There will be false Messiahs and prophets who will ‘perform great signs and wonders’ (Matthew 24:24), miracles that will fool ‘even the elect’.  And many who are faithful, will ‘grow cold’ as wickedness increases (ibid 24:12).  The final sign of all is the what Jesus refers to as the ‘abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel’ (ibid 24:15).  A simple reading of Daniel 9:26-27, suggests that this is some terrible act of desecration and extreme blasphemy by the False Messiah, almost certainly in ‘the city and sanctuary’, he comes to destroy, which is Jerusalem.  

As in the Old Testament, the theatre of where the worldly and spiritual conflict is decided in the ‘Holy Land’, or as the world today calls it ‘the Middle East’.

Jesus places his coming as ‘after the tribulation of those days’ (ibid 24:29), for any ‘taken’, carried away and out of the horror unfolding on earth, they will be spared much suffering.  They are transported into the blessed eternal life.  This is the righteous and merciful judgment of the Rapture.