Introduction
The eagle has landed! We have crossed the SA-WA border without incident this morning. Thanks for praying!
Talking about eagles…as we were travelling along the Eyre Highway towards WA today we saw crows and eagles around the dead carcasses of kangaroos on the highway as pictured. It’s a sign from a long way away that there is a dead animal on the road. There is no better clear sign in the wilderness. That reminded me that Jesus gave a similar picture to a very important event right at the time when He returns to this earth for a second time…
“Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.” And they answered and said to Him, “Where, Lord?” So He said to them, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”
Eagles tell us specifically where
The context of Luke 17 is the very end when the Son of Man returns to the earth. I believe this obscure passage gives us a clue as to where the final rapture of the believers will be finally gathered on the earth. The disciples basically ask the question, “Where?” This means they were asking where the man who was working in the field will be taken, where will the woman who was grinding grain be taken and where will the one who was sleeping in bed be taken. This was the crucial question because all of the corresponding partners were left behind either in bed, at work, or in food preparation. Notice that these three different kinds of people cover all three eight hour periods of the 24 hour day, both genders and both hemispheres of the earth. Some were sleeping, some were working and some were preparing food. We can divide a day into 3 parts: eating, sleeping, and living. We spend 8 hours sleeping, 8 hours working, and 8 hours eating and doing everything else. In other words, Jesus covers all the bases and is saying that everywhere all over the world no matter what people are doing they will be gathered to one particular place on earth. It will be sudden, disruptive, and unexpected.
You are probably thinking, “I thought the believers will be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air according to 1 Thess. 4:17.” And you are right! We will be raptured together to meet the Lord in the air but Jesus is telling His disciples that we will be in a very specific place on earth. The disciples asked where and He told them but He told them with a cryptic clue.
He said that the place is marked by “the” carcass or dead body. The definite article “the” indicates that it is a known dead body to the Jewish disciples and the body is in the singular indicating that it is one body. I believe Jesus may have been talking about the one and only dead body where its exact location was not known, the most important buried dead body in Jewish history—Moses. According to Christian tradition Moses was buried somewhere on Mt. Nebo, the exact location not known.1
Conclusion
So in conclusion, I believe Jesus was saying that the “elect” will be gathered from the four corners of the earth to meet the Lord in the air and we will all convene in Jordan at Mt. Nebo. Many of us will already be in southern Jordan, those of us who had escaped to the wilderness described in Revelation chapter 12. You might ask why Mt Nebo? The Valley of Decision (Jehoshaphat)2 mentioned by the prophet Joel tells us where the first battle takes place.3 This valley is the Rift or Jordan Valley right near the Dead Sea and Mt. Nebo. We and all the angels will be there to witness the first victory of Jesus over the nations who have rebelled before the final attack on Jerusalem.
One Response
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