Rapture or Second Coming? Do you really want to be raptured? Matthew 24:36-42

With the recent focus on Eschatology, talks of the end of the world, and the rapture.  I thought this blog will be very fitting.

Many evangelicals argue that Matthew 24 teaches rapture but I contend that it does not. A closer look at Matthew 24:36-42 will reveal differently. Re-read Matthew 24:36-42: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2024:36-42&version=NIV.  The key phrase is "as it was in the days of Noah so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man" (verse 37).  

So what happened during the Noah?  The scriptures tell us that people "knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left." (verse 39-40)

 

So if the coming of the Son of Man is similar to the days of Noah and the unbelievers/evil doers were taken by the flood, I supposed the ones taken (what we call raptured) when the Son of Man returns are the evil doers.  Could it be that the passage is more about the second coming of Christ and his kingdom reign on earth with his obedient followers and less about the one's taken which the scriptures identify as the evil doers. (Re-read the entire chapter, Matthew 24)

A recent post by my friend Glen Packiam stated "the return of Christ is the beginning of making "all things new" (Rev. 21), the "restoration of all things" (Acts 3:21). Christ's return marks not our escape from earth to heaven but the beginning of the colonizing-- the renewing and remaking-- of earth with heaven, the beginning of "new heavens and new earth."  http://glennpackiam.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/11/why-christs-return-is-not-our-escape.html 

Based on this passage, I pray I am not raptured but rather remain on earth to partake in Christ kingdom reign and his restoration process of making all things new.  What about you?