In Luke 17:33-37 Jesus taught "one will be taken and the other left." People are “left” to enter the kingdom. Other people are “taken” in judgment to the Battle of Armageddon (Revelation 19:11-21). This resembles the way the wicked people in Noah’s day were "taken" by the flood.

Table of contentsGive Up This Life to Receive Eternal LifeLot’s Wife Sought to Preserve Her Life but Lost ItNoah and Lot Lost Their Lives to Keep ThemHow Does "Losing Our Life" Relate to the Second Coming?Why Is Luke 17:36 Missing?The Prophetic TimelinePeople Are “Taken” to the Battle of ArmageddonPeople Are “Left” to Enter the KingdomThe Birds (Visibility) and Corpses (Judgment) of the Battle of ArmageddonJesus's Two ComingsThe Sword Out of Jesus's Mouth Defeats the Enemies at the Battle of ArmageddonThe Battle of Armageddon Will Be Like a WinepressJesus's Names in Revelation 19The Battle of Armageddon Is an Execution Versus a BattleEternal Torment in Hell Versus AnnihilationOne Will Be Taken and the Other Left to Separate the Saved and Lost

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In Luke 17:33-37 Jesus taught "one will be taken and the other left." People are “left” to enter the kingdom. Other people are “taken” in judgment to the Battle of Armageddon (Revelation 19:11-21). This resembles the way the wicked people in Noah’s day were "taken" by the flood.

Give Up This Life to Receive Eternal Life

A paradox is a statement that seems contradictory, inconsistent, untrue, or even absurd, but is still true. There are several paradoxes in Scripture:

Matthew 23:11 says, "Whoever wants to be greatest, should be everyone’s servant."

Mark 9:35 says, "Anyone who wants to be first, must be the very last."

2 Corinthians 6:10 says, "As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything." If you’re sorrowful you’re not rejoicing, if you’re poor you don’t make others rich, and if you have nothing, you don’t possess everything.

2 Corinthians 12:10 and 13:9 say, "When we are weak we are strong." When you’re weak you’re not strong.

James 1:2 says, "Count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Joy is the last thing you experience in trials."

Luke 17:33 says, "Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it." This is one of the most well-known paradoxes in the Bible. The paradoxical nature is immediately noticeable:

You can’t preserve your life and lose it. Preserving your life means you did NOT lose it.

You can’t lose your life and keep it. Losing your life means you did NOT keep it.

It’s easier to understand this paradox if the verse is broken in half. When Jesus says, "Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it," He’s referring to people who live for this life and pursue what the world offers. These people will not find eternal life.

Then when Jesus says, "but whoever loses his life will keep it," He’s referring to people who give up their earthly lives for Him. If we do this, we will find eternal life. It’s like Paul said in Philippians 1:21 that "to live is Christ." We surrender to Him, inviting Him to use us in whatever ways He deems best.

It’s the language of Romans 12:1: "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." We are no longer living for ourselves. We’re living for the Lord. Jim Elliot famously said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

Lot’s Wife Sought to Preserve Her Life but Lost It

Luke 17:33 flows perfectly from the previous verses, because they contain three examples of what Luke 17:33 describes. Lot’s wife looked back to her true home, Sodom, which she valued more than the next life that God had for her. She is a perfect example of someone who sought to preserve her life but lost it.

Noah and Lot Lost Their Lives to Keep Them

On the other hand, Noah and Lot preserved their lives by being willing to lose them:

Noah was willing to let go of his life in the pre-flood world and get on the ark, and he preserved his life in the process.

Lot was willing to abandon his life in Sodom, and he preserved his life in the process.

It is a question of what we desire:

If we desire to preserve our lives in this world, then we will lose our lives.

But if we are willing to lose our lives for Jesus’s sake we will keep them.

How Does "Losing Our Life" Relate to the Second Coming?

The context is the Second Coming, so how does this all relate? If we long for Jesus’s return we desire to see this life, as we know it, come to an end so that we can begin the next life in His kingdom. In this way we preserve our lives. But people who love this life don’t want to see Jesus return, because they don’t want this life to end. They want to hold onto this life, and in the process they will lose their lives, as the following verses reveal...

Luke 17:34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. 35 There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” 36 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left

Why Is Luke 17:36 Missing?

Luke 17:36 is only in some Bibles:

The KJV contains verse 36 without a footnote

The NKJV has a footnote that says, "The NU omits verse 36." The NU (Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament) is the manuscript used for modern translations, such as the ESV, NIV, or NASB.

The modern translations, such as the ESV, NIV, or NASB, because they use the NU, say something like, “The oldest manuscripts don’t include it verse 36,” or the “Most reliable manuscripts omit verse 36.”

It goes outside the scope of this post to go into detail about why the modern translations are missing some verses. Here’s the good news: Whether your Bible does or doesn’t contain Luke 17:36 doesn’t change anything, because it is just another example of what the previous two verses are discussing: one will be taken and the other left.

The Prophetic Timeline

Let me briefly explain the future order of events so the following verses make sense. In the First Coming Jesus spiritually established His kingdom on the earth. At Jesus’s Second Coming He will physically establish His kingdom on the earth, and here are the order of events leading up to that and immediately after it:

The Rapture of the Church

The Seven Year Tribulation

The Second Coming of Christ

The Battle of Armageddon

The Millennial Kingdom (the physical kingdom established on the earth)

People Are “Taken” to the Battle of Armageddon

This is where it gets a little confusing: Luke 17:33-36 describe one will be taken and the other left, which sounds like the rapture. But the context is the Second Coming of Christ (Luke 17:24), which is seven years after the Rapture.

When you think of the people taken away to the Battle of Armageddon to be judged, think of the way the wicked people in Noah’s day were taken away by the flood. Consider the parallel account: "As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man…39 and they were unaware until the flood came and SWEPT THEM ALL AWAY, so will be the coming of the Son of Man" (Matthew 24:37, 39). It says very clearly that the way the people were taken away by the flood looks to the way people are taken away at that Second Coming.

People Are “Left” to Enter the Kingdom

The people who are left, are left to enter the millennial kingdom that Jesus physically establishes on the earth. Think of these people being left to enjoy a new beginning the way:

Noah and his family was left to enjoy a new beginning after the whole population of the earth was taken in the flood.

Lot and his family were left to enjoy a new beginning after the people in Sodom were destroyed by the fire and brimstone.

Consider the way it’s worded in the Amplified Bible:

Luke 17:34 I tell you, on that night [when Messiah comes again] there will be two [sleeping] in one bed; the one (the non-believer) will be taken [away in judgment] and the other (the believer) will be left. 35 There will be two women grinding [at the mill] together; the one (the non-believer) will be taken [away in judgment] and the other (the believer) will be left.

The Amplified clarifies that the unbelievers are taken, and the believers are left, and there are two important footnotes:

The first footnote: “This is not the sudden catching up (or rapture) of believers as described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 when Christ returns in the air (not to earth), and gathers believers to be with Him.” This is one of the main differences between the Rapture and the Second Coming:

At the rapture Jesus meets the church in the air without stepping foot on the earth.

At the Second Coming Jesus returns to the earth.

The second footnote: “The believers are left and will be with Christ on the earth during the Millennium.”

The Birds (Visibility) and Corpses (Judgment) of the Battle of Armageddon

Luke 17:37 And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”

They mean, "Where are the people who are judged taken to?"

Some Bibles say eagles instead of vultures, because the Greek word can be translated either way, but it’s more appropriate to think of vultures because they are the birds that gather or circle above corpses. It might seem strange, or even graphic, to associate Jesus's Second Coming with vultures and dead bodies, but when you study it out, it makes perfect sense. Consider what God said to Job when He questioned him:

Job 39:27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high? 28 On the rock he dwells and makes his home, on the rocky crag and stronghold. 29 From there he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it from far away. 30 His young ones suck up blood, and WHERE THE SLAIN ARE,