What does Luke 17:34 mean by "one will be taken and the other left"? Canonical Text “I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together: one will be taken and the other left.” (Luke 17:34-35) Immediate Literary Setting Luke 17:20-37 records Jesus answering when and how “the kingdom of God” would come. Verses 26-30 compare the final appearing of the Son of Man to the days of Noah and Lot—periods of ordinary life suddenly ended by divine intervention. Verse 34 therefore belongs inside a warning about abrupt separation and irreversible destiny at Christ’s return. Cultural Snapshots in the Illustrations • “In one bed” hints at nighttime rest in a small Galilean home where family members often shared mats. • “Grinding grain together” describes dawn labor by two women facing one another at a hand-mill. Both scenes portray routine life—sleep and work—underscoring surprise rather than location, status, or merit. Synoptic Parallel Matthew 24:40-41 employs identical word-pairs inside the Olivet Discourse, connected to Noah’s flood (“and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away,” Matthew 24:39). Matthew’s addition—“swept away”—supplies a judgment backdrop that Luke assumes by reference to Noah and Lot. Major Interpretive Proposals 1. Judgment Removal View • “Taken” = swept away in wrath (as in the flood). • “Left” = spared to enter Messiah’s kingdom. • Strengths: immediate Noah/Lot parallels of the unrighteous being removed. • Weaknesses: clashes with John 14:3 and 1 Thessalonians 4:17 where “taken” by the same verb is positive. 2. Rapture Reception View (Pre-tribulational or at least pre-wrath) • “Taken” = received by Christ for rescue; “left” = exposed to judgment that follows. • Strengths: verbal links to John 14 and Pauline rapture texts; fits “one will be taken” as sudden deliverance. • Weaknesses: requires reading Luke’s flood analogy as focusing on suddenness rather than which group perishes. Contextual Weighing of Evidence Jesus’ Noah/Lot analogies stress sudden separation, not the direction of removal. Within Luke, salvation is often portrayed as “being gathered” (Luke 13:34) while judgment is “left desolate” (Luke 13:35). The positive use of paralambanō elsewhere, plus the promise “Where the body is, there the vultures will gather” (Luke 17:37) describing the aftermath of judgment on earth, together tip the scales toward the Rapture Reception View: believers are received; the unprepared remain for ensuing catastrophe. Systematic Eschatological Links • 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17—living believers “caught up… to meet the Lord in the air.” • 1 Corinthians 15:51-53—“we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.” • Revelation 3:10—“I will keep you from the hour of trial.” Luke 17:34 aligns coherently with a future, sudden, selective gathering of the redeemed before global judgment. Archaeological Corroboration of Noah and Lot • Flood Traditions: Marine fossils at 13,000 ft on the Andes, and polystrate tree trunks encased in sedimentary layers, showcase rapid, colossal hydraulic action consistent with Genesis deluge chronology. • Sodom Layer: Tall el-Hammam (possible Sodom) reveals a 4-foot ash layer with vitrified pottery and shocked quartz—markers of sudden high-temperature destruction matching Genesis 19 and Luke’s reference to Lot. Theological Implications 1. Divine Sovereignty in Judgment and Salvation—God, not chance, determines eternal destinies. 2. Personal Readiness—because separation occurs amid daily life, constant faith is mandatory (Luke 17:33). 3. Exclusive Sufficiency of Christ—only those “in Christ” are gathered; works, rituals, or ancestry cannot substitute (John 14:6). Practical Exhortation Live with expectant vigilance. Share the gospel urgently; the millstone may turn in the morning yet eternity divide by nightfall. Anchor confidence in the resurrected Savior who promises, “I will come again and take you to Myself” (John 14:3). |
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