Matthew 24:37-44

Meditatio (Reflecting)

Two men will be out 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.

Oratio (Responding)

To best understand the reading for today, It is important to review the order of end-times events. There has been much scholarship on the book of revelation and the apocalyptic passages of the bible. I will be relying here on the church fathers and the great mystics that have shared their divine revelation with us over the years.

The end-times have already begun and have been under way since death of Jesus in 33ad. The ages of the end-times are measured in what we call epochs (there are 7 of them). The first 4 have already happened, and we are in the 5th right now. This 5th epoch began with Luther’s apostasy in 1517, and has not ended yet.

The 5th epoch is to end with a minor chastisement. Some church fathers believe there will be natural disasters, Russia will invade Europe, there will be great schisms and heresies in the church. It is at this point that the antichrist will reveal himself, and the world will be seduced by his lies and false promises. This will all culminate with 3 days of darkness, and an illumination of conscience where every person in the world will be given a complete understanding of how their sin hurts, and offends God. Some people will not be able to handle this revelation, and will die of fright, and others will be instantly converted back to the lord.

This is when the 6 epoch will begin, it will be an age of peace and restoration. Those that survive the 3 days of darkness, will be renewed in faith, and the people will return in great numbers to the church, a holy pope will be elected, and the gospel will be preached throughout the whole world. The antichrist and the evil one will be restrained, and the people of the world will not know temptation or the lies of the devil. This will be a time of incredible peace. It will last for some time and there will be much spiritual prosperity. We don’t know how long this time of peace will be, it could be a thousand years or ten days, we do not know.

But the peace will not last forever, the souls will grow lazy and lax, the evil one will be unleashed again and many will fall away. This is when the 7th epoch will begin. There will be a great apostasy, the false church of the antichrist will be fully established, and the antichrist who was being restrained will finally seize dominion over the whole world. He will kill all the world leaders, and gain total control over the whole world. This will cause the masses to turn back to the church, and thus the antichrist will turn his might against the church and destroy it. Then begins the great tribulation where it will be illegal to be christian. This will then usher in the return of Jesus for the final judgement.

This is where today’s reading gets misinterpreted by protestants as evidence of the “rapture”. Many believe that when the Lord comes He is going to take the good up to Him, and leave the bad behind, but this is because of a misunderstanding of the last 3 chapters of revelation. Many protestants read the chapter order, as chronological order. But all of the church fathers understood that they are not meant to be read in this way.

The real truth about this reading comes from understanding the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. When the bridegroom comes the bridesmaids go out to welcome and escort him into the wedding banquet. This is what is being described by Jesus here. When Jesus comes to give final judgement to the world, He will take up the good and faithful people to Him in the clouds and when they are all up with Him we will escort Him down to the world, all the dead souls for all time will be resurrected and given their bodies back. The souls of the damned will be judged and condemned. And the elect will then begin eternity with Jesus. The world (earth) will be transformed, and there will no longer be pain or suffering, and there will no longer be want or need. We will walk in the new restored garden of eden (here on earth) with Jesus and we will delight in Him and His creation for eternity.

Pretty amazing, huh, it is an incredible plan, and I am so blessed to know that he loves us so much to plan so carefully for our salvation. All you need to do is decide that that is what you want. I suggest you choose correctly. Amen.

Contemplatio (Contemplating)

Take time to simply remain in the presence of God.

Resolutio (Resolving)

Oh lord, help me today to do everything I can to help make you kingdom come in this world now and forever.