LEFT BEHIND
I think of music as a two-way street. It comes from our hearts, and at the same time, it changes our hearts. We might say that the songs and lyrics we sing are products of our contemporary mood, and yet they also influence that mood. The same sort of thing happens with scripture and how we make sense of what it says. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to figure out which way the influence is going…
Prayer
Holy God, Three-in-One, guide us today by your Word and your Holy Spirit, so that in your light we might see light, and in your truth, we might find freedom, and in your will we might truly discover your peace. Amen.
Scripture
Matthew 24:32-44
32 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
36 “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39 and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 42 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
Hymn
“I Wish We’d All Been Ready” — Larry Norman (Click here for YouTube Video)
Life was filled with guns and war
And everyone got trampled on the floor
I wish we’d all been ready
Children died, the days grew cold
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
I wish we’d all been ready
There’s no time to change your mind
The Son has come and you’ve been left behind
A man and wife asleep in bed
She hears a noise and turns her head, he’s gone
I wish we’d all been ready
Two men walking up a hill
One disappears and one’s left standing still
I wish we’d all been ready
Life was filled with guns and war
And everyone got trampled on the floor
I wish we’d all been ready
Children died the days grew cold
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
I wish we’d all been ready
There’s no time to change your mind
How could you have been so blind
The Father spoke the demons dined
The Son has come and you’ve been left behind
You’ve been left behind
You’ve been left behind
Reflection
Growing up, I listened to this song all the time. I belted it out in my car. I’d put it on repeat and keep at it for hours. Even today, I get all emotional when Larry Norman sings the chorus: There’s no time to change your mind // The Son has come and you’ve been left behind. That’s brutal. A husband and wife separated forever. A friend all of a sudden left cold and alone. No more chances to change your mind. It’s over, and you’ve been left behind. Brutal.
There’s a lot to like about this song, though. The first verse is a biblically warranted critique of violence and the culture of war: Life was filled with guns and war // And everyone got trampled on the floor. This was the Vietnam era, and Norman believed he was taking a stand for Christ against a world gone mad. As a kid growing up in the 80s and 90s, I didn’t know much of this context, but I knew Jesus promised something far better than children dying on the street and universal food shortages. And so, I could totally get behind the idea of Jesus rescuing us from all of that by literally taking us far away from this world.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly where the song reveals how much it was influenced by its surrounding culture. And I don’t mean secular culture. I mean Christian culture. The year after I Wish We’d All Been Ready hit the charts, Hal Lindsey published The Late Great Planet Earth, which easily became the best selling non-fiction book of the 1970s. Filled with doomsday prophecies and a full-on conception of the world gone to pot, it claimed that our only hope to escape this epic catastrophe was to have Jesus swoop down and lift us out of it — not unlike those helicopter rescues over Vietnam that dominated the news at the time. If you remember your neighbor’s bumper sticker, “WARNING: In case of rapture, this car will be unmanned,” that’s the idea in a nutshell.
As a biblical concept, the “rapture” was born out of a passage from 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. “For the Lord himself…will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.” To be “caught up” was to be “raptured.” The hope of being saved from this world of poverty and war, turmoil and unbelief took the shape of escape, with those who didn’t change their minds and turn to Jesus being those unfortunately “left behind,” a clear reference to Jesus’ warning in Matthew 24:40-41. “Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.” The 1990s would popularize this idea even further with the remarkably successful Left Behind series of novels. To be “left behind” had cemented its place in Christian culture as a synonym for being doomed.
All of this is ironic because Matthew 24 says exactly the opposite. In verses 37-38, Jesus reminds his disciples of what happened way back in the very first book of the Bible when it tells the story of Noah’s Ark. There God commands Noah, the last righteous human on earth, to build a great big boat because God is going to wash the world clean with a titanic flood. Noah obeys, the waters rise, and the only ones left behind are Noah and his family, safe and secure on the ark. All the unrighteous have been whisked away.
Which means that, back in Matthew 24 when Jesus uses this story to draw a parallel to a future day when he will return again, it is those who are left behind who are the faithful ones. According to Jesus, being left behind is a good thing. It’s finding yourself safe on Noah’s boat. So, why did Larry Norman and millions of others read it otherwise? The parallels Jesus makes between his future coming and Noah’s Ark aren’t hard to understand. We’ve just been blinded to them because our own culture has led us to assume certain words or phrases or concepts in the Bible — like “left behind” — can only mean one thing when, in fact, they mean something quite different.
Starting Thursday, July 1st, I’ll be starting a news series of devotionals on parts of our Christian belief that have been commonly overlooked or misunderstood, often because we’ve been overly influenced by our surrounding culture. Sometimes that’ll be our secular culture. At other times, we’ll be surprised to see that it’s our own Christian tradition that has led us unfortunately into left field. In each case, however, I think we’ll see just how much we have to gain by rethinking these beliefs and letting the Bible speak afresh to us once again.
Closing Prayer
God of Faithfulness, thank you for continuing to push us on to a deeper and clearer understanding of your world and your ways. Help us to notice when our surrounding cultures are warping our understanding of your Word, and lead us ever on into Truth. We ask this in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
* Your Thursday Devotionals will be taking a short break while Pastor Jason is away on vacation and game-planning a new devotional series on Christian belief and cultural influence. Be sure to check back in starting Thursday, July 1st, for our first installment of the new series!