I say to you, In that night there shall be two [men] upon one bed; one shall be seized and the other shall be let go.
The warning closes a passage about the days of Noah and the days of Lot. In both, ordinary life ran on undisturbed until judgment fell. Now two people lie in one bed, and God divides them. Three questions have split readers ever since: who is taken, where do they go, and is this the rapture, when believers are caught away?
The nearest human tie gives no protection when God Himself divides.
He lets us know that in that night two would be in one bed; one taken, and the other left. So two women at the mill; for here we are not dealing with human judgments. God will then judge the living. Your company, your work, your sex, indoors or outdoors — none of it makes a difference. There can be no shelter or exemption. Two might be ever so closely bound together, but God would distinguish.
Conquering soldiers do not sift a household one by one. That rules out reading this as the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, or any other disaster carried out by human hands.
Here again the proof is complete and obvious. This is not a question of the Romans dealing with Jerusalem and the Jews, for the conqueror made no such distinction among the conquered. Nor is it any other providential judgment carried out by man, for man cannot distinguish like this. But it is not so with the Son of Man.
Most readers assume the one taken is the fortunate one. The commentators read it the other way round.
At first glance some have thought that this was like the rapture of the church, but it is exactly the reverse. At the rapture the saints are caught away, and the world is left to carry on its course. But when the Lord comes to judge the living on the earth, the taking away is in judgment. The righteous are left, and they pass into blessing on the earth in the millennium.
The flood in Noah's day sets the direction of the verb.
Those taken are taken by the judgment, not to blessing. Judgment is clearing the earth. So whatever is corrupting it must be removed. Take the case of Noah and the generation of his day: the flood came and took them all away. That shows what the taking away means here.
One writer argued that the Greek word behind "taken" means taken home. Another answers him:
What right does he have to say that paralēmphthēsetai means taken home? The word "taken" is the ordinary word for taken. Other words in some passages may bring in the thought of home, but that is not in this passage at all. For instance, Matthew 4:5 says, "Then the devil took Him." He certainly did not take Him home. Matthew 27:27 says, "the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters." He was not taken home.
The three pictures the Lord gives belong to different hours of the day, yet all describe the same moment. One writer treats that as quiet evidence of something no one at the time could have known.
How is it that centuries before Copernicus lived, we find the coming of the Son of Man foretold as happening at the same time in broad daylight, at early morning, and in the dark of night? We see it in two men in the field, two women grinding together, and two men in one bed, all at the same moment. This could only happen if the earth turns on its axis. Sunlight then bathes the part facing the sun, while darkness wraps the part turned away.
The Lord answers with vultures and a carcass. That answer settles what kind of taking this is.
He had spoken of two in one bed, one taken and the other left, and the same at the mill and in the field. And they ask, where will this taking and leaving happen? The answer was, "Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather." It is as if the Lord had said: "Where? What a strange question!" When the eagles hunt their prey, where do they go? Wherever a carcass is to be found. When these eagle-judgments are out searching for the wicked, where will they settle? Of course, wherever a wicked one is to be found.
- Night — the hour is unguarded and the two are as close as people can be. No company, work, or home shields anyone when God divides.
- Sifting — the one-by-one accuracy rules out any human army or accident. Only the Son of Man judges like that.
- Taken — the word is the ordinary verb for taking. The flood that "took them all away" sets its direction here: taken in judgment.
- Left — here being left behind is the mercy. Those left pass into blessing on the earth, which commentators distinguish from the catching up of believers.
- Where — the Lord answers the disciples with vultures over a carcass. Judgment finds its object wherever it lies, at any hour of the turning world.
Two [women] shall be grinding together; the one shall be seized and the other shall be let go.
Two women grind grain at the same mill, doing the same work at the same moment. Then a line falls between them, and one question decides everything: taken where, and taken for what?
The Lord's picture is daily routine: sleep, work, food. One writer sees the two women preparing the day's food, then asks the question the verse forces on every reader.
That day will be a day of dreadful judgment — but judgment that distinguishes one person from another. For in that night two men will be in one bed; the one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding together, preparing the day's food; the one will be taken, and the other left. But taken for what? The context shows it is for judgment. At the flood the ungodly were swept off the earth. The sinners of Sodom were cut off. In the same way, those taken here will be taken away by an act of judgment.
One commentator answers what "taken" and "left" mean in a single line. He then shows why the obvious guess is wrong.
"Taken" for judgment by the coming King; "left" for blessing in the kingdom. Suppose the Lord had been speaking here of the church or the Christian. Then the taking would have pointed to being caught up to heaven. But the context proves clearly, in both Gospels, that He is speaking of Jews in that future day when He appears. By then the heavenly saints have already been caught up, and they appear with Him in glory.
Many read the verse as believers vanishing while the world carries on. One writer shows that the two events run in opposite directions.
At a first glance some have thought that this was like the rapture of the church, but it is exactly the reverse. At the rapture the saints are caught away, and the world is left to go on in its course. But when the Lord comes to judge the living on the earth, the taking away is a judgment. The righteous are the ones left, and they pass into blessing on the earth in the millennium.
No human disaster could sort people this exactly. Some have pointed to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem; one writer shows why that cannot be it.
Here again the proof is complete and plain. This is not the Romans dealing with Jerusalem and the Jews, for the conqueror made no such distinction among the conquered. Nor is it any other judgment that God works out through men, for man cannot tell people apart like this. But it is not so with the Son of man, who will judge between one and another, whether among Jews or among Gentiles.
Some argue the Greek word carries the warm sense of being taken home. One writer tests that against the way the same word works elsewhere.
What right has anyone to say that paralēmphthēsetai means taken home? The word "taken" is the ordinary word for taken. Other words in some passages may bring in the thought of home, but it is not in this passage at all. For instance, Matthew 4:5 says, "Then the devil takes Him." He certainly did not take Him home. Matthew 27:27 says the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters. He was not taken home.
One writer draws out what this means for people who live and work side by side.
He lets us know that in that night two would be in one bed, one taken and the other left. So with two women at the mill. For here we are not dealing with human judgments. God will then judge the living. So whatever the relationship, the work, or the sex, indoors or outdoors, there can be no shelter and no one excused. Two might be ever so closely bound together, but God would distinguish between them by His own exact discernment of their state: one will be taken, and the other left.
- The scene — Two women at the same mill, at the same hour, doing the same work. The division falls straight through ordinary life.
- The word — "Taken" is the plain word for taken. The same word covers the devil taking Christ and soldiers seizing Him. Nothing in it means taken home.
- Taken — Taken is the losing side here. The coming King takes people in judgment, as the flood swept the ungodly off the earth.
- Left — Left is the blessed side. Those left stay alive on earth for blessing in the kingdom. The rapture runs the other way: saints are caught away, and the world stays behind.
- The warning — No conqueror could sort people this exactly; the Son of man will. Sharing a bed or a mill with someone shelters nobody.
[Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be seized and the other let go.]
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.