On the less serious side, I think people might want to be left behind for several reasons:
1. You love to eat breaded locust.
2. You always wanted a fly circus.
3. The moon turning red is your favorite color.
4. I would rather eat a scroll than read a scroll any day.
5. Hey, I love apocalyptic movies so the real thing should be better.
6. I saw the grapes of wrath on Veggie Tales and I thought they were cute.
7. If the seas turn to blood, no more blood mobile drives! Yeah!
8. I like big bon fires!
9. I always wanted to see death and hades get theres in the end!
10. I've always been an introvert and preferred hiding in caves!
I mean, who reads the book of Jude anymore? All that cryptic stuff about hell, fire, judgment, and angels roasting on an open fire. But notice the angels who face everlasting judgment did not keep their proper domain because they LEFT their own abode (v.6) The angels are taken to judgment because they left behind heaven. Besides all the judgment talk in Israel being taken into captivity and judgment, the Bible is full of stories of those left behind and those taken.
Most of us have been taught since childhood that the good people will be raptured away to heaven and the bad people get stuck on earth since we know earth is hell or hell is coming to earth. But God's Word does not treat creation with contempt but with dignity. The earth is good and does need restoration. Just like there is a new heaven coming, there is also a new earth coming. Almost all the Bible commentators say that those who get left behind are the bad people while the good ones get taken up into heaven. This is why we cannot trust Bible commentaries! Often what is popular and contemporary at the moment gets presented as ancient biblical truth. But can it be that God has new light to shed on His word for us today? Luke 17:31-36 is about two groups of people who are either left behind or taken. Can it be that those who are taken are taken into judgment rather than bliss? Can the ancient Jewish view actually be right that God wants to restore paradise on earth or bring heaven down to earth? The two examples given are Sodom's destruction and the global flood in Noah's day. In Matthew 24:38-39, the ones taken away were those who were swept away into God's judgment by the flood!
Many people today are rightly concerned about being left behind and thinking they won't get raptured much less have to go through the great and terrible tribulation period. But if the rapture and escapist thinking are not correct, maybe we have been reading God's Word from the wrong persepctive? Maybe its just opposite of what we have always thought and those who get taken away get zapped and those who are left behind are blessed? If this is the case, then this may be why one should be more concerned of getting left behind rather than getting taken away into judgment.
1. You love to eat breaded locust.
2. You always wanted a fly circus.
3. The moon turning red is your favorite color.
4. I would rather eat a scroll than read a scroll any day.
5. Hey, I love apocalyptic movies so the real thing should be better.
6. I saw the grapes of wrath on Veggie Tales and I thought they were cute.
7. If the seas turn to blood, no more blood mobile drives! Yeah!
8. I like big bon fires!
9. I always wanted to see death and hades get theres in the end!
10. I've always been an introvert and preferred hiding in caves!
I mean, who reads the book of Jude anymore? All that cryptic stuff about hell, fire, judgment, and angels roasting on an open fire. But notice the angels who face everlasting judgment did not keep their proper domain because they LEFT their own abode (v.6) The angels are taken to judgment because they left behind heaven. Besides all the judgment talk in Israel being taken into captivity and judgment, the Bible is full of stories of those left behind and those taken.
Most of us have been taught since childhood that the good people will be raptured away to heaven and the bad people get stuck on earth since we know earth is hell or hell is coming to earth. But God's Word does not treat creation with contempt but with dignity. The earth is good and does need restoration. Just like there is a new heaven coming, there is also a new earth coming. Almost all the Bible commentators say that those who get left behind are the bad people while the good ones get taken up into heaven. This is why we cannot trust Bible commentaries! Often what is popular and contemporary at the moment gets presented as ancient biblical truth. But can it be that God has new light to shed on His word for us today? Luke 17:31-36 is about two groups of people who are either left behind or taken. Can it be that those who are taken are taken into judgment rather than bliss? Can the ancient Jewish view actually be right that God wants to restore paradise on earth or bring heaven down to earth? The two examples given are Sodom's destruction and the global flood in Noah's day. In Matthew 24:38-39, the ones taken away were those who were swept away into God's judgment by the flood!
Many people today are rightly concerned about being left behind and thinking they won't get raptured much less have to go through the great and terrible tribulation period. But if the rapture and escapist thinking are not correct, maybe we have been reading God's Word from the wrong persepctive? Maybe its just opposite of what we have always thought and those who get taken away get zapped and those who are left behind are blessed? If this is the case, then this may be why one should be more concerned of getting left behind rather than getting taken away into judgment.
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