Let me start with a very familiar portion of scripture that I have never heard taught with understanding. Like most scripture that they don’t understand, teachers assign it to the future.
“But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” (Luke 17:29-30) The key word is, “revealed.”
Some say that in Lot’s day, it was a massive volcano that destroyed the inhabitants of Sodom and the surrounding cities. Others think it was something supernatural. Either way, it was carried out by the hand of God.
When and how is the son of man “revealed?” Jesus said, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” (John 14:21) The Lord Jesus is revealed to us when his word is revealed to us by the “Spirit of truth.” “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” (John 14:17) His word revealed is Jesus revealed.
It’s not Jesus the man of flesh that is revealed, but Jesus the man of spirit which dwells in his people. To them that hunger and thirst after righteousness, Jesus said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” (John 14:23) Now, in this life. And again, Jesus said, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” (John 14:18)
More than two thousand years ago, Jesus spoke these words to a group of people. “Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” (Matthew 16:28) Where is the kingdom of God? Jesus made it easy to understand, “for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21) How is it within us? The Father and the Son will make their abode with us.
Some of those folks standing there that day would still be alive when the day of Pentecost came, and to those that looked for him, by keeping his commandments from a pure heart, he appeared at the outpouring of God’s spirit. Not a spirit that makes people act wild and speak in some incoherent gibberish as some teach, but a spirit of love, peace, and understanding. The Spirit of truth. Christ in us. And boldness to stand firmly on his word.
When your mind is opened in this manner, you then witness the promise of his coming to you, as well as the wrath of God upon the unbelievers. Natural fire and brimstone rained down on the ungodly people of Lot’s day. Spiritual fire and brimstone rain down on the sinful world today. The prophet Nahum spoke of the righteous anger of God. “Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.” (1:6) “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” (Luke 17:30)
There is much more to be said about verses 31-33 in Luke 17, but I want to move ahead to the main point of my letter, verse 34.
Jesus said, “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.” We know that Jesus came to fulfill the words of the prophets, and we know that he spoke of spiritual things that the world cannot see. “In that night” does not speak to twelve hours of natural darkness, but it speaks to the words of the prophet Micah and others.
“Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.” (Micah 3:6)
“Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?” (Amos 5:20) Why is this so? Because “light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19)
The day of the Lord came to this world with the birth of Jesus, “and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)
Without spiritual understanding, the gospel of Jesus Christ is darkness to the world, “because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him.” This is why we see so much confusion and division about what the gospel teaches. It’s this night when “there shall be two men in one bed.” The apostle Paul tells us plainly who they are. “The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:47) A man of flesh, and the breath of life in him. As Paul said, “there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.“
The spirit that has never been awakened to the truth is asleep along with the flesh, unaware of the signs of the end time. Unaware that the spirit of life within them is a gift of God. “Ye must be born again.” Jesus Christ must appear to us in the “Spirit of truth.” We must first be awakened, as Paul said. “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep.” (Romans 13:11) And the spirit calls to us, “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead,” (dead in trespasses and sins, Ephesians 2:1) “And Christ shall give thee light.” (Ephesians 5:14) It is the awakened man of Spirit that is taken. Taken where? Not to heaven at that time, but a place of safety in Christ our Lord, to be nourished and sheltered in the truth of his word. The flesh crucified with Christ. (Galatians 5:24) “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3)
When he said, “Christ shall give thee light,” Paul spoke of understanding, because without it, earth’s inhabitants are in darkness. Paul prayed for this very thing for those that hear his words, “And to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” (Colossians 1:9)
“Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.” The woman of flesh grinds meal to make bread for the natural body. The woman of spirit eats of that bread which came down from heaven, which is Christ our Lord. Jesus said, “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” The spiritual woman heard and obeyed and was taken. The woman of flesh must return to the dust as God’s word says.
“Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.” Notice in each example it is always two together, because the flesh and the spirit will remain together until death separates us. “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7)
The first man is of the earth; therefore, he must labor in the field to provide for the flesh. The second man of spirit labors in the fields of humanity, because he hears the words of Jesus. “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” (John 4:35)
