Now, let us look deeper into the SPIRITUAL PICTURE seen in the New Testament and SEE what the Lord is showing us by His Spirit.
Even children in any Sunday school know the story of Noah and can describe the ark and the animals therein. When we were children, we spoke as children, understood as children and thought as children; but when we became men, we put away childish things. (1Cor. 13:11) The question is: Have we really become men? Have we become men in spiritual seeing, speaking, understanding and thinking? Or have we become only religious in our understanding and thinking and remained little children in spiritual matters and understanding? (1Cor. 3:1,2// Heb. 5:12-14) It is a highly individual question and each of us must answer it for himself.
But what does the Lord desire to tell us today in saying “as the days of Noah were”? Do these words of Our Lord have more than just logical meaning to us?
Well, let us consider the following. First, we should always remember the principle that what God was doing in the Old Testament in the physical world has a reflective picture and purpose in the spiritual world in the New Testament. Second, in the next points, we will express the physical facts in the Old Testament (A) and their spiritual meanings in the New Testament (B) so we could see the necessary depth of the spiritual picture of Mt. 24:37,38. It should also give us the necessary spiritual insight as to WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO TO BE PREPARED FOR HIS COMING ACCORDING TO HIS JUDGMENT AND BE TAKEN UP BEFORE THE TRIBULATION. (Mt. 24:40,41// Rev. 12:5) You may also read an interesting book “Christians will go through the Tribulation[17]” by Jim McKeever.
Let us now see and understand that the Word in Mt. 24:40,41 is one of the forepictures of the pre-Tribulation rapture. Here the Lord is not speaking to pagans, but to His chosen people of Israel and the Church. Hence, in both verses “the one shall be taken, and the other left” the Lord speaks about believers! The one that shall be left is NOT A PAGAN as taught in many churches! The proof is also in the next verse where the Lord says “Watch therefore: for you (two in the field and two women at the mill) know not what hour YOUR LORD does come.” (Mt. 24:42)
Pagans have no Lord to watch at which hour He might come. The same Word is repeated in Mt. 25:13 right after the foolish virgins demanded their entry. (Mt. 25:11) And none of the virgins represents pagans. In that parable of the Kingdom, the Lord gives the same situation: one (wise) virgin shall be taken and one (foolish) left, one (wise) shall enter the Kingdom and one (foolish) shall face a closed door and a not very appealing word from the Lord: “Verily I say unto you, I know you not.” (Mt. 25:12)
The Lord now desires that we would also see where “the one shall be taken”. When His disciples asked Him the same question: “Where, Lord?” (Lk. 17:37), He gave them a rather unusual answer saying “Wheresoever the body is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” Since there may be many intellectual interpretations, some of which may be outright absurd or misleading, let us see what the Lord would lead us to.
(1) The word “body” here points to a “carcase”, (Mt. 24:28) which means a “dead body”, body without life. We know that every man born from Adam is “dead” and is only made alive inChrist. (1Cor. 15:22) That includes all pagans AND all carnal believers, who “live” in the First Adam and not in Christ, hence, their SOUL IS DEAD! We have already covered this topic. Here, in the spiritual sense, the “body”, the “carcase” points to the DEAD PART of the Body of Christ.
(2) The word “eagles” has two meanings: negative and positive. The negative meaning is that eagle was an unclean fowl and not to be eaten as it devoured dead flesh. (Lev. 11:13) That is why some commentators have interpreted eagles as “vultures” which is a human, logical understanding and is misleading and unacceptable in interpreting the Word in Lk. 17:37
The positivemeaning is as follows: When we wait on the Lord, we can renew our (spiritual) strength; we shall mount up with wings as eagles. This shows the strength of eagles. (Is. 40:31). An eagle is also swift (Deut. 28:49// Job 9: 26); it dwells on the rock, her eyes behold far, her young “suck up blood” and she is where the slain (dead) are. (Job 39:27-30) When the Lord found Jacob in a desert land, He instructed him and led him about as an eagle stirs up her nest, flutters over her young, spreads her wings, takes them and bears them on her wings (teaches them to fly, which is like unto walking on water, which spiritually means living by faith). (Deut. 32:9-12) Most importantly, eagle is one of the four faces of the physical representation of Our Lord in His appearance to Ezekiel, (Ez. 1:10) where He is Man, Lion (king of beasts), Eagle (king of fowl) and an Ox (king of domestic animals – as a Servant, Jn. 13:3-5). It is also true about the four living creatures which are before the Throne of God. (Rev. 4:7)
(3) The meaning of Lk. 17:37 is then twofold:
(a) Physical eagles (with other fowls) that fly in the midst of Heaven shall gather together unto the “Great Supper of the Great God” (Rev. 19:16-18,21b) and may PHYSICALLY cleanse the earth from the carnage of the Battle of Armageddon. This is to be viewed as God’s Judgment in the physical world at the end of the Tribulation.
(b) Spiritual eagles are the believers that dwell on the Rock (live inChrist, 1Cor. 10:4) and “fly” (live by faith), they are where the dead (carnal) believers are. They are the Overcomers that have been TAKEN UP, (Mt. 24:40,41// Rev. 12:5) and they include the Remnant from the Church (Rev. 14:3-5) and the anointed-sealed Remnant from Israel. (Rev. 7:4-8) They will also be gathered together “as eagles” to dispense the SPIRITUAL Judgment of the Lord upon all that is DEAD in the Body of Christ (Israel-Church) and bring Life into it. This will be the task especially for the Remnant from Israel as it is described later on. Since these believers have all been transformed into the Image of Christ, then their physical representation is also composed of the same four faces, one of which is an Eagle. And as young eagles “suck up blood”, (Job 39:30) so these shall “draw blood (old life in soul) by the sword (Word of God)” as per Jer. 48:10 (this was already noted before).
Let me conclude point (3) by saying that both above cases, (a) physical and (b) spiritual may take place simultaneously at the time of that particular Judgment of God. The Lord, however, was pointing primarily to case (b) when replying to His Disciples since they were interested in knowing where the people would be taken.
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To be continued next week in chapter 8 – part 6
brother Hanola
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