We are in the book of Matthew in chapter Matthew 24. Last week we covered the last half of the chapter, but I am going to go back and review, because I feel like we need to do that. This talk is entitled, ‘Who is Taken and Who is Left?’, and it is based mostly on the latter part of the chapter.

Peter heard Christ say:

Mat 24:29 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:

Why would Peter say in Acts 2 that this is the subject of Matthew? I have a pretty good idea, and my idea is that he knew what he was doing. In Matthew 24, the disciples had just asked: Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? (Mat 24:3 b). At this time, they did not understand what Christ was saying (He had not breathed on them).

For Peter to stand up on the day of Pentecost and say this is what Joel was talking about and this is what Christ was talking about, he had to be sure of the scriptures. It was only after Christ opened their minds that they could understand the scriptures. Let’s read it in Luke 24:

Luk 24:36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
Luk 24:37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
Luk 24:38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
Luk 24:39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
Luk 24:40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.
Luk 24:41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
Luk 24:42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.
Luk 24:43 And he took it, and did eat before them.
Luk 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
Luk 24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
Luk 24:46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

What He did there is what we are doing here! We are having our understanding opened to understand the scriptures. How was that accomplished in the apostles before the great and terrible day of the Lord? When was the tribulation? Peter says it was happening in his day. All of God’s aspostles and disciples had been severely tried just before this event. They experienced the great tribulation. We will all have that experience.

Mat 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
Mat 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

I just told you all that these things are ‘is, was and will be’. How are we going to work this out? As long as you look on men and mountains and kings and dominions and all of those things as ‘out there’ you will not understand. When you do figure out that this book is within you, you won’t have to wonder. It is going to be clear as glass, just like that. The flood will come, not one stone will be left on another, and the evil will be taken away, out of your life. That’s how you work it out as Christ in you grows and your old man decreases. It is a parable about what is going on in your life and in my life.

Mar 7:15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

The flood represents the time when you experience “the sun is turned into darkness, the moon turned into blood.” The flood comes and kills everything because the blood coming up out of the River Nile in the first plague on Egypt was in the ponds and everywhere else, too. People died, animals died; it kills: turn them over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Satan’s job is to destroy us, God created the waster to destroy.

Verse 39 is what we need to zero in on: ‘And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away.’ Who was taken away? The evil people who would not listen to Noah’s testimony when he was preaching to those spirits in the prison of sin. Christ came to deliver the captives and call the prisoners out. That’s what Noah was doing in his day, and that’s what Peter is talking about and Jude is talking about when they speak of preaching to spirits in prison in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing. There’s nobody to be preached to in hell. Christ was dead, how could he preach to anybody? He said he hadn’t ascended to heaven, so we know he wasn’t in heaven. He wasn’t with the thief in paradise, he wasn’t with his Father in heaven, he was dead. That’s how we get a savior – he died. If he didn’t die, we would not have a savior.

So it was the evil that was taken away. In the very next verse, we have the secret rapture, according to the Christian religion.

Mat 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

We’ve just been told what being ‘left’ means, and the church turns a blind eye to it, because that’s the only eyes they have, so don’t hold it against them. They are doing us all a service by deceiving us so that we can come out of Babylon. Nonetheless, we need to know what it is we are exiting, and what we are coming out of is this total darkness in which the world (church) exists. The world is the church.

Mat 24:41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Why not two men? Some will say, “That’s because women were the only ones that did grinding back in those days.” Yes, but in scripture typology, women are the church.

Mat 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

That is true for all of us. We don’t know at what hour our Lord comes. We have to live this all just like Peter, James, John and all the 12 did. They did not know that they were going to deny the Lord, but it came. He came to them, and they weren’t ready. He tore down their house, not one stone was left on another of this idea that ‘I will go with you all the way, and nothing will come between us.’ It was all torn down.

Mat 24:43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

We don’t know when he comes, and our house is broken up, and not one stone is left upon another.

Mat 24:44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

That has an application for what we have lived through and also for now, for all of us. We lived through it because He came when we did not expect him. I can vouch for that. When I gave up on myself is when God gave me the ability to rule the flesh.

I have a few verses in Jeremiah about which I want to comment in relation to ‘in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.’

Jer 6:14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

God says that in Chapter 6:14, he also says that in Jer 8:11.

Jer 8:11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

Anytime something is in the Bible, repeated word for word like that, you can rest assured there is a good reason for it. It is a very important point. It is like Christ saying ‘verily, verily.’

Jer 14:19 Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!

This is something that we experience. We must go through this before we know what the sun being turned into darkness and the moon into blood means. We’ve got to give up that flesh, and it does not go without a fight.

Mat 24:45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

Why do you think we are being called? Why is there a first fruit? Why didn’t God just save everybody at the same time? He wants to use this group of people that he is getting together in the end of each generation, in the end of your life. He wants to use you to bring in the masses of humanity that he has determined before the foundation of the world would be used by His christ, His first fruit. There is a first fruit, and there is a ‘kind’ of first fruit. We are what James calls a ‘kind’ of first fruit. We are in Christ. Why does He have a first fruit? It is to bring in the later fruits. Just like we were brought to Christ, we will bring in all others (Rom 11:31). You are as a christ (which means annointed) to this world.

Mat 24:46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
Mat 24:47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

If you want to be a “ruler over all of his goods”, if you want to do these things day by day, live the life of Christ, you have got to be willing to put Ezekiel 2 into practice.

Eze 2:3 And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.

What did Christ say to his apostles? When he said go not in the way of the Gentiles, he meant ‘don’t go out trying to evangelize people whom I am not dragging to me.’ That’s what he meant by don’t cast your pearls before swine. He meant those words.

Eze 2:4 For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 2:5 And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.

Are you afraid of being called a prophet? If you are, then you are not one.

Continuing in Matthew 24…

Mat 24:48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
Mat 24:49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;

What does it mean? Do you know anybody going around hitting their fellow Christians and eating and drinking with the drunken? Eating and drinking with the drunken is agreeing with what is said by the false ministers who are drinking from that cup of fornication full of false doctrines in the hand of the harlot. She has made the whole world to drink out of that cup. You and I have drunk out of it. We have fallen for the false doctrines, and we have thought that the man of sin was “God” and that he would get his way in all things and that He would be the one who decided whether we would be saved or not. We have all fallen for that.

The quicker one comes out of Babylon, the greater the rewards. Those workers who came in the last hour got the big rewards, but it was because they were faithful to the end. It doesn’t matter when you come out, rather can you endure to the end? ‘But if that evil servant says in his heart, my lord delays his coming,’ he doesn’t believe in this ‘is’ thing that I am talking about all the time. The Lord came when He went up into the heavens. That was His coming; that’s when He came to them. He’s in our heavens. He’s seated at the throne of God in heaven, and God dwells on his throne and in his heaven, and heaven is in his people. These are scriptures I am giving you.

Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Is the church today going around killing Christians? Yes! Christ said, you will compass heaven and sea to make one proselyte, but you won’t let him get into the kingdom. That’s what He told the Pharisees and Scribes of His day. When you hinder someone from getting into the kingdom, you are killing that person. So, yes, the church is keeping God’s people from getting into the kingdom because that’s what they do. That’s their calling. They are here to keep the masses deceived and thinking they have meat when they are on milk. The milk is what keeps you from maturing. If you stay on milk, you are no better than a servant. The servant will not be made heir with the child of the free woman.

Mat 24:50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
Mat 24:51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This ‘gnashing of teeth’ is a very interesting thing. You can see that there is a lot of pain in it. It is always in outer darkness. Go back to the book of Revelation, and you will see that darkness was on the kingdom of the beast. When that darkness was put on there, they gnawed their tongues for pain. It just so happens that this word ‘darkness’ in Mat 6:23 is Strong’s #1652. It is pronounced ‘eleeinois‘ from Strong’s #1656 which is miserable, pitiable. They gnawed their tongues for pain because they were in misery, they were in darkness. There is nothing you can do about it when you are in darkness.

Rev 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,

They were pitiable, they were miserable.

1Th 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

Mat 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

God has nothing against babies and pregnant women. He has a lot against people who refuse to go beyond the milk.