What Does Matthew 24:40 Mean?

Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one will be left. (Matthew 24:40-41)

In Matthew 24:40, Jesus said that there would be a time when some people would be taken, and others would be left.

Where are these people taken? Matthew 24 doesn’t say.

Start with Clear Scriptures

One principle of Bible study is to always start with clear scriptures first, and let the clear scriptures guide you to understand scriptures which are less clear.

Matthew 24:40-41 is not very clear. For example, are good people taken, or bad? (Matthew 24:39 mentions evil people who were “taken away” by the flood.) Where are these people in Matthew 24:40 taken? How are they taken?

Luke 17 mentions the same event but gives more details. Since Luke 17 is more clear, we should start there. You should read the whole section, Luke 17:20-37, but I will start in verse 31.

(31) “In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back.

In verse 31 it says don’t go back to your house to get anything. If this was a rapture, could people go back to their house? No. This verse means people should run away immediately and should not go home and pack their stuff for the trip.

(32) Remember Lot’s wife.

What happened to Lot’s wife? While Lot was running away to the mountains, she looked back. So don’t look back. Just run away to the mountains.

(33) Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

If you try to hang on to what you have in this life, you will lose it. Why? Because you won’t be willing to let it go and run away. So you won’t be automatically be taken. You will need to choose to leave your friends, family (if they are not willing to leave), and possessions behind in order to be taken.

(34) I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. (35) Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. (36) Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.”

In the context of the previous verses, the meaning is now clear. They are taken to a safe place when they run away.

(37) And they answered and said to Him, “Where, Lord?” So He said to them, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”

Where are they taken? Where the body is. What is the body? The Church is the body (see Colossians 1:18). Who is in the Church? Those who received God’s spirit when they were baptized (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). Who does God give His spirit to? Those who obey Him (Acts 5:32).

Matthew 24:40-41 looks like a rapture if you think the Bible teaches a rapture. But if you understand that the Bible does not teach a rapture, and you carefully read all of Luke 17:20-37, then you can understand that Matthew 24:41-41 is also talking about a time when part of God’s Church will be taken to a safe place after they run away.

Matthew 24 also mentions running away to a safe place before the tribulation begins. It just appears earlier, in Matthew 24:15-21, when Jesus is explaining the exact sequence of events that will occur at the end:

“When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (let the reader understand), “then let those who are in Judea run away to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house. Let him who is in the field not return back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days! And pray that your escape will not be in the winter, nor on a Sabbath, because then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be.”

Matthew 24:40 mentions this same event again as a warning to be ready for that day.

Matthew 24:40 isn’t talking about a rapture. It is describing God’s people being taken to a safe place on earth when they run away to the mountains.