An Awful Separation

"I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left" (Luke 17:34).


What an awful separation there will be in the professing Church when Christ comes again.


Our Lord describes this separation by a very striking picture. He says, 'in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.'


The meaning of these expressions is clear and plain. The day of Christ's second advent shall be the day when good and evil, converted and unconverted, shall at length be divided into two distinct bodies. The visible Church shall no longer be a mixed body; the wheat and the tares shall no longer grow side by side; the good fish and the bad shall at length be sorted into two bodies. The angels shall come forth and gather together the godly, that they may be rewarded, and leave the wicked behind to be punished. 'Converted or unconverted?' will be the only object of inquiry. It will matter nothing that people have worked together, and slept together, and lived together for many years: they will be dealt with at last according to their faith. Those members of the family who have loved Christ will be taken up to heaven; and those who have loved the world will be cast down to hell. Converted and unconverted shall be separated for evermore when Jesus comes again.


Let us lay to heart these things. He that loves his relatives and friends is especially bound to consider them. If those whom he loves are true servants of Christ, let him know that he must cast in his lot with them, if you would not one day be parted with them for ever. If those whom he loves are yet dead in trespasses and sins, let him know that he must work and pray for their conversion, lest he should be separated from them by and by to all eternity. Life is the only time for such work. Life is fast ebbing away from us all. Partings, and separations, and the breaking up of families are at all times painful things; but all the separations that we see now are nothing compared to those which will be seen when Christ comes again.


~J. C. Ryle~ - "Day by Day with ..."