Taken ... Left ...

Matthew 24:

Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer [is] nigh: - Matthew 24:32

So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, [even] at the doors. - Matthew 24:33

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. - Matthew 24:34

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. - Matthew 24:35

But of that day and hour knoweth no [man], no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. - Matthew 24:36

But as the days of Noe [were], so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. - Matthew 24:37

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, - Matthew 24:38

And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. - Matthew 24:39

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

Two [women shall be] grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. - Matthew 24:41

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

Luke 17:

And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. - Luke 17:26

They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. - Luke 17:27

Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; - Luke 17:28

But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed [them] all. - Luke 17:29

Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. - Luke 17:30

In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. - Luke 17:31

Remember Lot's wife. - Luke 17:32

Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. - Luke 17:33

I tell you, in that night there shall be two [men] in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. - Luke 17:34

Two [women] shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. - Luke 17:35

Two [men] shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. - Luke 17:36

And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body [is], thither will the eagles be gathered together. - Luke 17:37​

The texts are using symbols, typology [Matthew 24:38-39; Luke 17:26-32] and parable language [Matthew 24:32]. Here are the 3 groups:

[1.] "... in that night there shall be two [men] in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left."

[2.] "Two [women] shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left."

[3.] "Two [men] shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left."​

Secondarily, to the 3 groups, we also need to consider the language, Scripturally, that is associated with them:

[I.] "the one shall be taken"

[II.] "the other left"​

Each of these 2 portions applies to each of the 3 groups.

Then we need to consider also the following in association:

[I.] "in the night ... in one bed"

[II.] "grinding at the mill" also "grinding together"

[III.] "shall ... be in the field" also "shall be in the field"​

A question then follows being asked by the Disciples:

[Q.] "Where, Lord?"​

Jesus answers them with:

[A.] "Wheresoever the body [is], thither will the eagles be gathered together."​

What then is the "in the night ... in one bed" referring to?

It refers to two kinds of people/persons [in/out of Christ] in the darkness of death, buried, in the bed of the grave/tomb/sepulchre, asleep:

[sleep, asleep, sleepeth] Deuteronomy 31:16; 2 Samuel 7:12; Job 3:13, 7:21, 14:12; 1 Kings 1:21, 2:10, 11:21,43, 14:20,31, 15:8,24, 16:6,28, 22:40,50; 2 Kings 8:24, 10:35, 13:9,13, 14:16,22,29, 15:7,22,38, 16:20, 20:21, 21:18, 24:6; 2 Chronicles 9:31, 12:16, 14:1, 16:13, 21:1, 26:2,23, 27:9, 28:27, 32:33, 33:20; Job 14:12; Psalms 13:3; Matthew 27:52; John 11:11-13; Acts 7:60, 13:36; 1 Corinthians 15:6,18,20,51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15; 2 Peter 3:4; [awake] Job 14:12; Psalms 17:15; Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2; John 11:11-13; [grave/bed] Job 17:13; Psalms 139:8; Luke 17:34; [fathers and prophets are dead] John 6:49,58, 8:52,53; Acts 2:29,34, 13:36; Hebrews 11:4,13,16,40​

Who then are the two "women"?

They are the two churches on earth, the True Faithful [Revelation 12 & 14, etc] and the False Mother Harlot and Daughters [Jeremiah 51:11-13; Zechariah 5:7-11; Revelation 2:9,20-23, 3:9, & 17:1-18, etc]:

I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate [woman]. - Jeremiah 6:2​

What does "grinding at the mill" also "grinding together" mean then?

It refers to dealing out two kinds of grain/bread/word/gospels [true/false] out: [See: 1 Samuel 2:5; Job 22:7; Psalms 132:15; Proverbs 22:9; 25:21; Isaiah 58:7; Ezekiel 16:49; 18:7,16; Matthew 14:16; Mark 6:37; Luke 9:13]:

Grind[ing, er]: Numbers 11:8; Judges 16:21; Job 31:10; Ecclesiastes 12:3,4; Isaiah 47:2; Matthew 24:41; Luke 17:35

Mill[stone]: Exodus 11:5; Deuteronomy 24:6; Numbers 11:8; Isaiah 47:2; Jeremiah 25:10; Matthew 24:41; Revelation 18:22

Meal, Flour, Meat [Bread]: Genesis 18:6; Numbers 5:15; Judges 6:19; 1 Samuel 1:24, 28:24; 2 Samuel 17:28; 1 Kings 4:22, 17:12,14,16; 2 Kings 4:41; 1 Chronicles 12:40; Isaiah 47:2; Hosea 8:7; Matthew 13:33; Luke 13:21; see also [Manna] Exodus 16:15,31,33,35; Numbers 11:6,7,9; Deuteronomy 8:3,16; Joshua 5:12; Nehemiah 9:20; Psalms 78:24; John 6:31,49,58; Hebrews 9:4; Revelation 2:17; see also [Bread/Word of God] Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4; see also [Bread of God/Life, Living Bread] John 6:33,35,48,51.​

What does "shall ... be in the field" also "shall be in the field" mean then?

The "field" is the world, and those living in it, working in the field [gospel [true/false] workers], being two kinds or persons [righteous/wicked, in/out of Christ, saved/lost, etc]:

The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked [one]; - Matthew 13:38

Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field. Ecclesiastes 5:9​

...to be continued...

 

Let's take a look at a fresh perspective on the words "taken" and "left" in the context they were given of Noah and Lot:

Then what about "taken"?

It means taken in destruction, taken to be destroyed, taken in snare [Isaiah 24:18, etc], etc:

And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. - Matthew 24:39

Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast [him] into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. - Matthew 22:13

But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; - 2 Peter 2:12

In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand. - Job 34:20

Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? [why] hidest thou [thyself] in times of trouble? - Psalm 10:1

The wicked in [his] pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. - Psalm 10:2

Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield. - Psalm 59:11

[For] the sin of their mouth [and] the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying [which] they speak. - Psalm 59:12

Consume [them] in wrath, consume [them], that they [may] not [be]: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah. - Psalm 59:13

The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in [their own] naughtiness. - Proverbs 11:6

And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. - Isaiah 8:15

But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. - Isaiah 28:13

Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. - Isaiah 40:24

Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net. - Ezekiel 32:3

Then will I leave thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee. - Ezekiel 32:4

And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height. - Ezekiel 32:5

I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, [even] to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee. - Ezekiel 32:6

I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known. - Ezekiel 32:9

But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take [any] person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. - Ezekiel 33:6

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. - Revelation 19:20

And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which [sword] proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. - Revelation 19:21​

Thus shall the 'feast of the birds' [opposite the Wedding feast with Jesus] feed upon the wicked:

"Wheresoever the body [is], thither will the eagles be gathered together."​

Then consider Jesus' words:

I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. - John 17:15​

The Righteous are saved "through" it all..., for as it is written, it is "through" much "tribulation" that we "enter" the Kingdom of God, please see for those references - http://www.baptistboard.com/showpost.php?p=2217194&postcount=23

Those which are "left", are "left" alive to be gathered unto Christ Jesus:

And it shall come to pass, [that he that is] left in Zion, and [he that] remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, [even] every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: - Isaiah 4:3

Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. - Isaiah 24:6

And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained [alive], and they that [were] with him in the ark. - Genesis 7:23​

As it was in the Days of Noah... as it was in the Days of Lot. The wicked were "taken" in destruction unawares, and the righteous were "left" alive and spared through the ordeal, they having known it was coming.

The devil has done a great deal to swap the two terms and bring confusion and all manner of "secretive" business, but Scripture reveals there is no 'secret' about it.

 

Matthew 24:

For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. - Matthew 24:27

For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. - Matthew 24:28

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. - Matthew 24:30​

Luke 17:

For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one [part] under heaven, shineth unto the other [part] under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. - Luke 17:24​

As Cyrus [glory of a blazing sun/furnace] from the East & North, so too Christ Jesus:

What a contrast:

And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? - 1 Peter 4:18​

Where Lord?, where shall they "appear"?

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: - 2 Thessalonians 2:8

And [his] brightness was as the light; he had horns [coming] out of his hand: and there [was] the hiding of his power. - Habakkuk 3:4

And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. - Zechariah 14:12​

A "carcase":

And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray [them] away. - Deuteronomy 28:26​

God will destroy all the wicked children of Babylon:

Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. - Isaiah 14:21

For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD. - Isaiah 14:22​

The wicked shall be "taken" [Revelation 19:20], in surprise, and given to the eagles and for a feast unto the birds:

They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle [that] hasteth to the prey. - Job 9:26

"...they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat."

The eye [that] mocketh at [his] father, and despiseth to obey [his] mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it. - Proverbs 30:17​