Then two men will be in the field:
One will be taken and the other left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill:
One will be taken and the other left.
Watch therefore, for you do not know
what hour your Lord is coming!
--Jesus, Matthew 24:40-42, NKJV
Remember the days when the evangelist would come to church for a week-long meeting, and he only had 5 sermons--Salvation, The Holy Spirit, Healing, Hell, & The Rapture? He'd build up all week long, and on the last night, he'd preach it hard and he'd preach it hot. "Jesus is coming at midnight...ain't none of you going! For straight is the way, and narrow is the gate, and ain't none of you found it! Two'll be in the field, and they're not going! Two'll be at the mill, and they're not going! Two'll be in the bed, and they're for sure not going! So if you're not ready to meet Jesus in the air tonight, get down here and REPENT!"
And of course we'd all run to the altar, scared out of our wits because we'd had a bad thought that afternoon, or said a bad word, or acted in a way that wasn't 100% Christ-like, and we just knew that it was enough to keep us from going in the rapture. We'd go home that night and pull the covers up over our heads, praying and pleading with the Lord to save our rotten souls, waiting until midnight to see if the trumpet was going to sound. But if at five minutes after twelve you could hear Dad snoring, you knew you had 24 hours of grace!
As a child, and even as a teenager, there were times that I came home to an empty house, empty and eerily quiet. No signs of life, no sounds, no nothing. I called out, but no one answered. My heart began to pound in my chest, my breath caught in my lungs, and I looked everywhere for a note that said, "Case', we're at the store. Be back soon. Love Mom." I may have even called a dear sweet saint or two, just to check that they were still on planet earth. Because if Mom & Dad were gone, and Sister Sweet Saint was gone, there was a good chance Jesus had come, and I got left behind!
It was an unreasonable fear to be sure. I gave my life to Jesus as a child, and I've tried to faithfully serve Him ever since. I don't always do it right, but I guarantee you I do get it right with Jesus before I end my day,because I don't want to take any chances. Even now as a grown man, there have been times that I wondered to myself, are you really going to make it? Some of you knowing that I'm a preacher, you're sitting out there wondering what could possibly make me suspect I might not make it. Well, that's for me to know and you to never find out. So I keep a heart of repentance turned toward God. I think that's a healthy habit to have anyway. I'm not out their drinking and carousing and being ugly toward my fellow man. I try to live each day by the Book. But when I fail (and God and I both know that I do from time to time), I'm thankful I can still go to God and get some grace that never runs out.
But one of these days, it's going to happen for real. Two men will be working a jobsite somewhere, carrying two-by-fours or something, and suddenly one will be holding up his end all by himself. And as the boards clatter to the ground, he's going to look around to discover his buddy is gone. Two women will be baking cookies, and as one bends to take the second cookie sheet from the oven, she'll hear the first cookie sheet and all of its cookies crash to the floor. Turning in surprise that her friend dropped the cookies, she'll find that her friend is not longer there. Two will be in a bed sleeping (a married couple of course) somewhere it is night, holding each other out of love as they slumber, and suddenly the arms of one will be empty. Waking with a start, they will find their beloved spouse has simply vanished.
This is what Jesus was talking about when he referred to the thief coming into a house to break up whole households. What a sad state of affairs it will be when a believing father will be snatched away by a returning Jesus, leaving his unbelieving wife and kids behind. Or when the hard-working mother who sent her kids to Sunday School but never went herself is sitting at the breakfast table with her children and suddenly finds herself alone. Or when the wife and kids are leaving for church with dad still in his pajamas in front of the TV, and suddenly the family is gone leaving Dad in bewilderment. There is any number of variations this story could take, but suffice it to say, when Jesus comes back for His people, there are going to be folks left behind because they weren't ready for it.
You see, my friend, the point of the Rapture is to be ready for it. And the only way to be ready for it is to be in right standing with God. Just because you raised your hand one time for a preacher to see while everyone else had their heads bowed and their eyes closed doesn't mean you're ready to go. Just because you walked an aisle, said a prayer, shook a preacher's hand, and signed a decision card doesn't mean your life is as it should be. Just because you got baptized one time doesn't mean everything is still okay between you and the Almighty. You can go into that tank a dry sinner and come up a wet one.
To be ready for Jesus to come back means that you have given your life to Christ, trusting him for salvation, and that you are living out a daily walk that follows in his footsteps. To be ready for Jesus means to be doing as he wants you to do, to be faithful at whatever task he has assigned you, and to be working hard here on earth while keeping your eyes on the skies. Because one of these days, there will be a trumpet and a shout, Jesus is gonna call my name, and I'm out of here! I want you to be out of here too.
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