Who Was Removed from Earth Following the Flood in Noah's Days, Believers or Unbelievers?

Dr. Renald Showers:

Some say there's another place in Matthew 24 where it has to be the Church being removed from the earth and that's beginning with verse 37 where Jesus says, "But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the Flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and knew not until the Flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."

What Jesus is saying here is this: the order at my glorious Second Coming immediately after the seven-year Tribulation period will be identically the same as the order of things in Noah's day in conjunction with the Flood. One of the ways in which the order would be the same is this: the Flood came and took them all away. Which group of people did the Flood take away from planet Earth -- the believers or the unbelievers? The Flood removed all the unbelievers of Noah's day from the earth in judgment. And the believers in Noah's day, namely, Noah and his family, were left here on the earth in the ark to go into the next period of world history after the Flood. And after pointing that out, Jesus says, again, at the end of v. 39, "So shall also the coming of the Son of man be." It'll be the same order of things then as it was in the days of Noah with the Flood. And then to illustrate that, He goes on in vv. 40 and 41, "then in the day that the Son of man comes," after the Tribulation period, "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."

Now the question is, "Who is the one taken from the field? and the one taken from the mill?" If it's the same order of things as in Noah's day with the Flood and the Flood took all the unsaved away and Jesus says it'll be the same order at His Second Coming, then it seems to me you're forced to conclude that the one who is taken from the field and the one who is taken from the mill are not believers taken by Rapture but unbelievers who are alive on the earth at Jesus' Second Coming. They are taken by Christ's holy angels from the earth in judgment just as we saw with the parable of the tares and the parable of the dragnet in Matthew Chapter 13, and therefore the one that's left in the field and the one that's left at the mill is the believer who is left here on the earth, the believer who is alive at the Second Coming of Christ after the Tribulation period left here on the earth to go into the next period of history, namely, the Kingdom. Just as in Noah's day, it was the unbelievers who were removed in judgment, Noah and his family were left here on the earth to go into the next period of world history.

Now, to demonstrate even more clearly that that's the order of things Jesus is describing, we should turn over to the parallel passage, Luke's record, of Jesus' same teaching as recorded for us in the Gospel of Luke in Chapter 17. Just to show you Jesus is presenting the same teaching here, we read in verse 26 of Luke 17:

"As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all."

Then Jesus says, verse 30,

"even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be on the housetop and the stuff in the house let him not come down to take it away; he that's in the field, let him likewise not return back."

Then He goes on to say, "I tell you," verse 34,

"in that night there shall be two men in one bed, the one shall be taken and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together, the one shall be taken and the other left. Two men shall be in the field, the one shall be taken, the other left."

Same teaching that Matthew recorded in Matthew 24. But now in verse 37 of Luke 17 Luke records something that Matthew did not record. We read verse 37,

"And they answered and said unto Him, 'Where, Lord?'"

What they're saying is, "Lord, you keep talking about people being taken somewhere. To where are they being taken?" Listen to Jesus' answer: "He said unto them," middle of verse 37,

"wheresoever the body is, there will the eagles" -- literally "there will the vultures be gathered together." Vultures are flesh-eating fowl.

What Jesus is saying is this, "You want to know where those who are taken, where they are taken? They are taken into the realm of death. That's where they're taken at my Second Coming and their dead bodies, their carcasses will be left here on the earth for the vultures and flesh-eating fowl on planet Earth to come and feast upon their dead bodies. Jesus is making it very clear that the ones taken here are taken in judgment into the realm of death. These are not believers being taken into the realm of blessing as will be true at the Rapture.

InPlainSite.org Note: “The disciples, in verse 37, ask the question, “Where?” They are asking, as I understand them, where those who are taken away are taken to? “Where are they taken to, Lord?” The answer of our Lord is vague, but we must conclude that the place was very bad, as was their fate. They were told that where the (dead) body is, there the vultures would be gathered. It is thus to death that those taken are taken, but this gruesome fate is not carefully detailed. Who would want to hear more on this matter?” [Sign-Seeking and the Coming of the Kingdom. Bob Deffinbaugh , Th.M].