What does it mean that one will be taken and the other left (Matthew 24:40)?

The introduction here of Noah and the flood is in fullest accord with the entire chapter. Noah lived at the close of an age, and was saved with his house through a great judgment, and then became the beginning of a new age. That this is typical of the remnant of Israel living at the close of the Jewish age is well known. As Noah's age closed with the deluge, so will the Jewish age close with judgment. The judgment came suddenly upon the ungodly generation of Noah's day; thus will it be when the Son of Man cometh. Two classes were living in Noah's day. The one who were unbelieving and these were swept away by the divine judgment. The other class was Noah and his house, and he and his own were left and not destroyed by the judgment. It will be so again in the coming of the Son of Man. The unbelievers will be taken away in the day of judgment and wrath; the others will be left on the earth to receive and enjoy the blessings of the coming age and enter into the kingdom, which will then be established. It is the opposite meaning of "taken" and "left" when the Lord comes as the "Bridegroom" for His church. Then, too, some will be taken and others left. The true believers will be taken into glory, caught up in clouds to meet Him in the air; the unbelievers and mere professors will be left. Some deny that the word "taken" in our passage means a judicial taking away. The context, however, shows (the reference to Noah and the flood) that this must be the meaning. Surely those who were taken by the flood were not "received into glory."

A. — "Taken" for judgment by the coming King; "left" for blessing in the kingdom. If the Lord had been here speaking of the church or Christian, the taking would have naturally pointed to being caught up to heaven. But the context proves decisively in both Gospels that He speaks of Jews in that future day of His appearing after the heavenly saints have been translated and appear with Him in glory.

One shall be taken and the other left. — In describing the judgment at the coming of the Son of man, the Lord says, "Then two shall be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left" (Matt. 24:40-41). At a first glance some have thought that this was like the rapture of the church, but it is exactly the converse. At the rapture the saints are caught away, and the world is left to proceed in its course. But when the Lord comes to the judgment of the living upon the earth, the taking away is in judgment, and the righteous are left to pass into blessing upon the earth at the millennium. This is plain from the parallel passage in Luke 21. There, speaking of the same judgment, the Lord states that "as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth"; and the disciples are exhorted to watch and pray that they "may be accounted worthy" — not to be caught away into heaven, but — "to stand before the Son of man"; that is, when He comes to the earth and the wicked are taken away in judgment. The judgment, however, is strictly discriminatory, wholly different from what takes place in the slaughter and sack of cities after conquest. Whether men in the field, or women at domestic operations, one is' taken and another left. Sudden it may be, but it is judicial.

In every place in the N.T. where it speaks of one being taken and another left, it is, one taken for judgment, and one left for blessing. It will be true of course, that if two people are together when the Lord comes for His own, one saved and one unsaved, He will take the saved and leave the other; but everywhere in scripture where the phrase is used, it is one taken by judgment, and the other left for millennial blessing. When we come further on and find the Son of man dealing with the nations, it is sessional; and I do not think those judged there will appear before the Great White Throne; the Judge has already pronounced their final doom. So it may be here. Only it is the angels that do the work here, there it is the Son of man Himself.

But this Scripture, with others, makes it plain that many of Israel will perish before the blessing flows out from the Lord. The prophet speaks of "he that is left in Zion, and he that remains in Jerusalem;" for "Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left" (Matt. 24:40-41). Some are taken in judgment; the others are left for blessing.

These two aspects of the Lord's appearing must be carefully observed in order to distinguish it from His coming for His Church, a truth not revealed in the Old Testament, because the Church never comes into view in the prophetic writings. (See, for example, Eph. 3) When He returns to claim His Bride, it is in pure unmingled blessing, and has for its object only His own people. (John 14:1-3; 1 Thess. 4:14-18.) The world will not even be aware of the event, save, perchance, from the unwilling recognition of the absence of so large a number with whom they had been conversant The shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God are exclusively for the saints, and will not even be heard by the world around; or if they are heard, like the companions of Saul of Tarsus, when the Lord met him on the way to Damascus, they will not understand the significance of such unwonted sounds. The language will be incomprehensible to their ears, as it will come from a land to which they do not belong, and which they have never visited. No; when the Lord fulfils His promise to His waiting Church, "Surely, I come quickly," He has regard to it alone; and none but the saints will be caught up in the clouds to meet Him in the air, to be for ever with Him. But "the day" of which our passage treats will be public; it will be introduced when the Lord returns with His saints. It is of this John speaks when he says, "Behold, He cometh with clouds: and every eye shall see Him, and they which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him." (Rev. 1:7.) Our Lord Himself also describes it in Matthew's gospel: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man, in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory." (Matt. 24:29-30.) And in the same chapter we find the same two aspects — judgment and blessing — linked together. We thus read, "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." (vv. 40, 41.) And be it noticed that those "taken" here are taken for judgment, while those "left" are left for blessing in the kingdom which will then be established. This conclusively shows the difference between the Lord's return for His Church and His appearing, because when He comes for His people they, unlike these in Matthew, are taken away for blessing — to be with Himself; while those who are left are left for judgment.

3 The Lord adds to this, what makes its suddenness more impressive, that the time in which it would take place was known to none, save only to His Father. Upon the world all this would come as a surprise, just as the flood did in the days of Noah, judgment suddenly sweeping them to destruction. But at the end it would be separative, selective of its objects: two in the field, one taken and one left, two women at the hand-mill together, one taken and the other left. Here, as in the illustration from the time before the flood, it is judgment that "takes away": the one left is left for blessing; for the earth is now being purified, as we have seen; and where the carcase is the eagles are gathered together.

4 The Lord enjoins upon all to watch, just because they know not the day upon which He may come. For the world, it will be but the unexpected visit of the thief, breaking in upon the house they count their own. But let all be ready.

Other facts in connection with it are next unfolded. First, it will take the world by surprise, and find the ungodly engaged in the common pursuits of life, regardless of the future, just as it was in the days of Noah, and subsequently in the days of Lot. Eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage went on till Noah entered the ark. The antediluvian world was heedless of its danger, and wilfully unconscious of its impending doom. So in the days of Lot, the inhabitants of the cities of the plain were living as if nothing but permanent dwelling on earth was before them, not only, as the antediluvians had been, eating and drinking, but also buying and selling, planting and building, till their avocations were cut short by the fire and brimstone raining down on them from heaven. "Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." In this gospel only have we this reference to Sodom in the days of Lot; and it is the Lord who tells us about the old world, and about the people of Sodom and of Gomorrah, of Admah too, and of Zeboiim. He witnessed it all. He foretells the future likewise.

Secondly, that day will be one of awful, though discriminating, judgment. For in that night two men shall be in one bed; the one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding together, preparing for the day's provision; the one will be taken, and the other left. But taken for what? The context shows it is for judgment. As the ungodly were swept off the earth at the flood, as the sinners of Sodom, etc., were cut off, so these, who will be taken, will be taken away by judicial action. "And where will this happen?" some asked. The answer came, "Where the body is, thither will the eagles also be gathered together." As birds of prey find out the carcase, so will Divine judgment light on the subjects of it.

The illustrations that the Lord gives are right against Mr. Reese’s interpretation. We have the illustration of Noah and the flood. The antediluvian world was TAKEN for judgment. Noah was LEFT for blessing. The antediluvians were not “taken home or received,” but drowned. Noah was not left “alone, left unprotected,” but found in a renewed earth.

The taking and the leaving, whatever precise or prophetic sense may belong to these words or acts, morally convey the great and serious truth, that this day, the day of the Son of man, will be a discerning day, a day of separation between the righteous and the evil. And the chief value, the great moral power, of the teaching lies in that, and in that we are, of course, agreed.

But I do further believe, that supposing the "taking" refer to the righteous, it is the righteous ones who, like Noah and Lot, are secured only for the earthly places. Noah entered the ark, and Lot was borne away from Sodom, I grant, ere the judgments came. They were taken and the rest left for destruction. But they were earthly ones. I think, however, beyond this, that the passage affords evidence that the "taking" intimates judgment and not security, and the "leaving" intimates outliving and not destruction. Luke has the word "escape" and "stand," (Luke 21:36), and that simply and naturally conveys to me that those who are left are a people that have escaped the operation of this terrible day, and still stand as in their place, unmoved before the Son of man. And the figures employed intimate strongly that the taking is a judicial or hostile act. The figure of an eagle coming upon a carcase — the figure of a thief coming into a house — the figure of a snare catching a man — the type of the flood coming to bear away the old world: all these intimate to me strongly that our blessed Master had judgment rather than security in His mind when He spoke of "taking."