The lyrics to the recently re-popularized song "I Wish We’d All Been Ready" still sometimes ring through my mind: "There’s no time to change your mind, the Son has come, and you’ve been left behind." This theme has been advanced through the Left Behind book series as well as the recent Left Behind video release. It will yet further be advanced via the big screen movie release in February.
The Left Behind worldview has left many sincere Bible-believing Christians without hope for their future. I have spoken with young college students who see no point in getting married and raising children because of the expectation of a worsening society and an imminent return of Christ. Many youth have a shallow vision of their future and their calling in society because Jesus will surely return before they get old enough to worry about such matters.
I would like to offer a more positive, faith-filled alternative to the Left Behind worldview. I have come to call it "the joy of being left behind."
To understand this view, we have to go back to the words of Jesus in Matthew 24: "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place" (v.34). All of "these things" that took place within that generation (a Jewish generation was understood to be approximately 40 years) must include the great tribulation (v. 21), the abomination of desolation (v. 15), the wars and rumors of wars (v. 6), the rise of false prophets (v. 11), and the preaching of the gospel in all the world (v. 14). (Note: According to Strongs Concordance, the term "world" is interpreted oikoumene: "land, i.e. the [terrene part of the] globe; specifically, the Roman Empire.") As a matter of fact, all of the things predicted in the Left Behind books and videos were fulfilled in that generation.
Now for the joy of being left behind. In Matthew 24:37-41, Jesus teaches about His coming and people being taken or left behind:
But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.
Jesus compares the coming of the Son of Man to the days of Noah. Ask yourself this question: "In Noah’s day, who was taken away and who was left behind?" Jesus answered this question in verse 39: "… the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." That’s right, the flood came and took the ungodly away, while the righteous (Noah and his family) were left behind to repopulate and inherit the earth. So it was at the coming of the Son of Man to that generation.
The ungodly Jewish people who rejected Jesus and persecuted those who followed Him were taken away by the wrath of the Roman army in 70 A.D. The ones who received Jesus as their righteousness were left behind to inherit the earth. They spread their Christianity to the point of conquering Rome—without a physical army.
We who live today are still benefiting from the foundation laid by the early Christians who were left behind. We have been left behind with them to inherit the earth, and we can be excited about it! As Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matt. 5:5). (See also Psalm 37: 9, 11, 22, 28, 29, and 34.)
God has given us the assignment to reach and change our culture. I’m excited about raising my children in the ways of Jesus Christ, so that they can raise their children in the ways of Jesus Christ, and so on. God thinks generationally, and so should we.
Ours is truly the joy of being left behind!
