These fearful words are repeated three times in our text:   (Luke 17:34-36) "I tell you in that night there shall be two men in one bed; THE ONE SHALL BE TAKEN, AND THE OTHER LEFT.   Two women shall be grinding together; THE ONE SHALL BE TAKEN, AND THE OTHER LEFT.   Two men shall be in the field; THE ONE SHALL BE TAKEN, AND THE OTHER LEFT."

     This passage reveals that the earth was known to be round, that in one part of it men would be in bed at night sleeping, in another part women would be out in the morning grinding the day's supply of meal as I have often seen them do in China.   In another part men would be out in the field in the middle of the day working.

     In Luke 17:24 Jesus said, "For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven, so shall the Son of Man be in His day."   What is lightning but electricity?   How fast does electricity travel?   How fast do radio signals travel?   I understand that they all travel at the same speed as the speed of light, which is 186,000 miles a second.   At that speed light, lightning, electricity or radio waves would travel around the world in just a little less than eight times in one second.   In the one eighth of a second, quick as you can blink your eye, the whole earth would have been circumnavigated.   That is the speed at which Jesus shall travel, when He comes for His saints.

     I believe in a two part coming of the Lord Jesus.   The first will be His presence in the air, when the saints will be caught up in the air, when the saints will be caught up to meet Him, "in a moment, in the twinkling of the eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (I Corinthians 15:52)   I don't think anyone will see their saved friends leave them behind and float slowly away into the sky, nor will they see the dead pop out of the graves and fly away.  No.   It will be in the twinkling of the eye, at lightning speed, too quick to see.   "The one shall be taken, the other left."   The saved will have disappeared and that is all.

     But when Christ comes to earth the second time He will come as a conquering hero.   His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, just a little way to the east of Jerusalem. (Zechariah 14:4; Acts 1:11-12)   He shall come and all the saints with Him. (Zechariah 14:5; See Revelation 19:11-21)

     This coming of Christ to the Mount will not be a secret coming. (Revelation 1:7)   "Behold He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him."   I thought of these words as I watched the events happening in Israel a few days ago in a special news program during the morning hours.   I watched along with many others gathered at Tel Aviv Airport as an Egyptian plane came into land.   I saw the doors of the plane open, and after a time I saw President Sadat of Egypt appear, walk down the steps to the red carpet to be greeted by Israeli leaders.   On the television screen were flashed the words, "Live from Israel via satellite."   In other words there was no more than a sixteenth of a second's time difference, the twinkling of an eye's time, between what I saw and the actual happenings on the other side of the world.

     I don't mean to say Christ will depend on television to be seen all around the world, but if man can do this, how reasonable it all becomes that every eye shall see Him.   I've heard some people say of certain modern things, "But of course Jesus didn't know about this.   It hadn't been invented in His day."   How silly!   To think that He who created the universe, the world and everything in it, the very atoms from which it is composed, didn't know everything man has learned today and a million times more!

     I'd like for us to think a little further about that time when "The one shall be taken, and the other left."   I Corinthians 15:51-52 tells us, "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed."   Not all the saints will be in their graves at that time, but they shall be changed.   Job said, "All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.   Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee." (Job 14:14-15)   He would be waiting for the roll call.   David said, "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness:   I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." (Psalms 17:15)   "We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." (I John 3:2)   From these scriptures we know that all the dead saints will be resurrected and together with all the living saints will be changed physically into bodies that are immortal, incorruptible, and like unto Jesus' glorious body.   "We look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus christ; who will change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body." (Phillippians 3:20-21)   This will all happen to those who know Christ as Savior, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.   Others will be left behind.

     An unsaved girl attending a Christian camp awoke one morning to find that the Christian girl in the next bed was gone.   She got up hurriedly and went through the dormitory in which they were staying.   As she looked into the other rooms she noticed that the beds of all the Christian girls were empty, only the unsaved girls like herself were still sleeping.   Remembering the message of the night before on "The one shall be taken, and the other left," fear seized her heart.   It was with great relief that she at last found the Christian girls all gathered at the end of the hall having a prayer meeting, but she was now so convinced of her need of salvation that she joined them on her knees and soon found the Lord.

     "The one shall be taken, and the other left."   Why should the one be taken, and the other left?   What is it that makes the difference?

     Sister Larsen, wife of the late Elder Enoch Larsen, many years ago brought the young people's lesson I will always remember.   She had a pan of dirt and a bunch of kitchen matches.   She burned some of the matches and said, "Now these are dead," and she buried them in the dirt.   The other matches were made to stand up in the dirt their heads in the air.   To illustrate the coming of Christ she caused an angel-like figure in her hand to swoop low over the pan, and instantly some of the dead matches buried in the dirt jumped up and joined the angel, and some of matches that were standing in the dirt also jumped up to join the angel.   However some of the matches that were buried and some of the matches that were standing were left behind.   What was the difference?   Outwardly the matches all looked alike, but the ones that jumped up and joined the angel all had very fine steel needles hidden inside them.   The angel, of course, contained a very strong magnet.

     So it will be when Christ comes.   The outward appearance will mean nothing.   Whether one is dead or living will make no difference.   Only what one has in the heart will make the difference.   "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Romans 10:9)   Do you have in your heart a saving faith in Christ Jesus?   Have you trusted that He died for your sins, that He was buried and rose again, and that He is your Savior today?   That kind of faith in your heart will make the difference.

     Have you ever watched a grandfather clock with its long pendulum slowly swinging, "Tick -- swing -- Tock -- swing -- Tick -- swing -- Tock..?   It seems to say, "Time is slow.   There's lots of time."  But just remove the pendulum and see what happens.   The clock goes, "click click click click click" as fast as it can, running away with itself.

     For thousands of years time went by slowly as the pendulum of progress swung back and forth, then not so many years ago, perhaps about the time my father was born or later, God removed the pendulum.   Since then the world has run away with itself.   There have been more discoveries and inventions in this period than in the thousand years before.   What does it all mean?

     The sands of time are running out.   The midnight hour is about to strike.  The one shall be taken, the other left.   Where will you be when that moment comes?   Will you be taken to meet Jesus, or will you be left behind?

Just in from Victory Baptist Church

      We want to let all our subscribers know about an independent Baptist missionary in Haiti that is in need of our help.   Bro. Jacques Alexandre is a native Haitian working out of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Arlington, TX.   He was just recently in our church in December and touched our hearts with the reports of the ministry God has given him.   He is training national pastors, has several children’s homes in Port-au-Prince, and is helping start churches in remote regions of Haiti.

      Bro. Alexandre and his family survived the earthquake but their ministry has suffered devastating losses.   I spoke to his pastor, Bro. Robin Webb, yesterday and he is planning on flying down as soon as flights are available.   They will be trying to raise funds for supplies and to help this missionary help his people.   We took an offering last night for them and are asking for financial help for Bro. Alexandre.

      You can find out more about his ministry at www.jesussaveshaiti.org.   You can contact his pastor, Bro. Robin Webb, for more information on how you can help at www.tabernaclebaptist-arlington.org or 817-460-4909.   To send support, please send it to:
Tabernacle Baptist Church,
2500 W. Randol Mill
Arlington, Texas 76012.

Letters To The Editor

     Still there have been no letters to the editor.   Folks if you want to respond to something you have read in "Baptist Landmarks" please E-Mail your response to edit@BaptistLandmarks.org   Your response will be printed here.

     I would like to have a cartoon in each issue if possible.   If there is someone reading this paper who can draw cartoons that will cause us to laugh at the foolish things we sometimes do and cause us to think of how we could better serve our Savior, please E-Mail me and let me know.

Until I learned to trust
I never learned to pray,
And I did not learn to fully trust
Till sorrow came my way.
Until I felt my weakness
His strength I never knew,
Nor dreamed till I was stricken
That He could see me through.

He sends the storms so He Himself
Can be our abiding place;
In tempest and in trials
His guiding hand we trace.
His heart that seeks our highest good
Knows well when things annoy;
We would not long for heaven
If earth had only joy.

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