Sean shares with us some thoughts from a sermon for Advent 1 he heard on Matthew 24, which suggests a less familiar (if well supported) reading of verses 37 - 41, notably that as in the days of Noah it was those who were 'eating, drinking...' who were 'taken' (v 39) whilst Noah was 'left behind,' so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  In other words, left behind is good, not bad!  (Check it out, it is the more natural reading).

This prompted me to take a look at some of the other texts that find their way into shaping so much popular End Times theology - and realising some of the quantum leaps in interpretation we sometimes make.

1 Thessalonians 4, for example, says nothing about scooping up believers to live in heaven, but (as my interlinear Greek puts it)  'we shall be seized in clouds to a meeting of the Lord in air; and so always with the Lord we shall be.'  I have no idea what the Greek word 'aera' might mean other than 'air' but it clearly isn't either sky or heaven - and there is no mention of going thence to heaven.  Re-reading this I am reminded of Acts 1:11 - the 'oi you lot don't just stand staring into space' bit.

I also checked out 1 Corinthians 15: 49-55 - which speaks of resurrection and transformation 'in the twinkling of an eye' at the last trumpet - but not escape from planet earth.

I guess I don't want to push all this too far, because it takes us beyond eschatology to theologies of death, and I haven't the time or inclination to explore that interface right now.  What it does do is, once again, remind me how readily we stop reading what the Bible actually says and see what we expect.  If there is one message that Ihave been hearing over and again this year, it is to come to the Bible as if I'm reading it for the first time (which almost fits with another aspect of the sermon Sean refers to).  I'm a firm believer that 'the Lord has yet more light and truth to break forth from the Word' - just that I never cease to be amazed how much more.