Let’s take a closer look at the Rapture—this idea that the righteous will be suddenly "taken up" to heaven while the wicked are left behind. It's a common belief in some circles, but if you carefully examine the texts and the rabbinic sources, a very different picture emerges. But what if I told you that the ones who are actually taken away are the wicked, not the righteous? The whole narrative flips. The righteous are the ones who remain, who inherit the earth, and who live to rebuild.
Like the days of Noah
Take the story of Noah. In Genesis 7:23, who are taken from the earth, and who inherits it? Are the righteous swept away from earth? Are the wicked the ones who are able to stay behind after all the righteous are removed? Spoiler alert, the flood wipes out the wicked, not the righteous. The ones who are "taken away" by the flood are those who lived in opposition to G-d. Noah and his family—the righteous—are the ones actually get to remain on earth and continue G-d's mission!
Matthew 24:37-39 states it explicitely:
As the days of Noah were, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship, and they didn’t know until the flood came and took them [the wicked] all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. (Matthew 24:37-39)
Yet the very verse that is often used to describe the rapture of the wicked is actually a continuation of Matthew 24:39, verse 40 and 41!
Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one will be left. (Matthew 24:40-41)
Perhaps someone might ask, "Where are these people taken?" The disciples also wondered, since clearly there won't be another flood - how will they be swept away? Where will they go? Jesus answers them as well:
I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two grinding grain together. One will be taken and the other will be left.” They, answering, asked him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there the vultures will also be gathered together.” (Luke 17:34-37)
The thief in the night
Some people will look at the verses about a 'thief in the night' and say "Alas! He is coming like a thief and taking us all away from this world!" Look at the verses themselves and see if this is true.
“Behold, I come like a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his clothes, so that he doesn’t walk naked, and they see his shame.” (Revelation 16:15)
The thief is coming to steal your clothes so that the one who is not vigilant will become naked and his shame is exposed! This thief is not coming for the righteous, this thief is coming for the wicked to expose them.
But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. (Matthew 24:43)
Again, if the master of the house was being careful and knew the thief was coming, he would not allow his house to be broken into. If you knew Jesus was coming to rapture the righteous, why then would you not want your house to be broken into? It is because this is not about the righteous, it is about the wicked! The wicked are the ones who are not vigilant, the wicked are the ones who are unprepared for the day of judgement.
For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night. For when they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman. Then they will in no way escape. But you, brothers, aren’t in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief. (1 Thessalonians 5:2-4)
The ones who are taken are taken to where the vultures are—meaning, they’re taken away for judgment, not for salvation.
Rabbinic sources are very clear on this: it’s the wicked who are removed, and it’s the righteous who are left to inherit the earth. The Pirkei Avot explains that the wicked remove themselves through their own actions, while the righteous remain standing. The righteous are the ones who will rebuild the world.
More Evidence
Proverbs 10:30: “The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not dwell on the earth.” (Proverbs 10:30)
This is straightforward. The righteous stay. They inherit the earth, while the wicked are swept away. The ones who are taken? They’re not being whisked away to some heavenly place—they’re being taken to destruction.
This brings us to an even deeper point: the idea of being "taken up to heaven" is foreign to the Jewish of life and creation. Our goal is not to escape this world. We’re not trying to get to heaven; our job is to bring heaven down to earth.
“He did not create [the world] to be empty; He formed it to be inhabited.” (Isaiah 45:18)
G-d didn’t make the world for us to leave it. He created it for us to live in, to transform, to make into a dwelling place for the divine. This is why Psalms states:
“The righteous shall inherit the earth and dwell in it forever.” (Psalm 37:29)
Not for a time, not temporarily, but forever. The righteous aren’t meant to leave this earth and go somewhere else. The whole idea of the righteous being taken up misses the point. Our goal isn’t to escape to heaven; it’s to make this world into a place where heaven and earth can meet. Zechariah 14:9 tells us: “The Lord will be King over all the earth.” It doesn’t say heaven. It says earth. This is where G-d’s Kingdom will be established, and it’s the righteous who are left to witness and participate in this transformation.
This is further echoed in Revelation speaking of the end of days:
I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:2-4)
This is the end goal, the promise at the end of the messianic era. There are no more days, no more nights, there is only one continous day where we dwell with God permanently on earth for all of eternity where we can carry out mitzvot all day every day without the hinderances of evil and wickedness nor their consequences.
The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.The nations will walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.Its gates will in no way be shut by day (for there will be no night there), and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it so that they may enter. There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (Revelation 21:23-27)
Rambam teaches that the messianic era is all about the world becoming filled with the knowledge of G-d. And where does this happen? Right here on earth. The righteous live in that world—they don’t ascend to another realm.
The pattern is consistent. In the Midrash Tanchuma on the flood, it explains that the wicked are removed to clear the way for the righteous to rebuild. The flood removes the wicked, leaving the righteous to fulfill their mission. This idea repeats itself throughout scripture: the wicked are taken away, and the righteous remain to inherit the world.
Our Goal
At the heart of all this is the question: what is our purpose here? Is it to leave the earth for another realm? Absolutely not. There's this odd and perverted concept derived from docetism that people cling to implying that the world is somehow evil and our primary goal should be to leave it. In fact, the only reason why we aren't allowed to leave this evil body and earth is because we have a mission to do - to make more people want to leave earth. Jim Jones may agree with that theology, but scriptures absolutely reject it! God is not throwing everyone to earth and saying, "It would be better to be dead, but I want you to try to get everyone else I made on earth to also want to be dead!"
The entire rabbinic tradition teaches that our task is not to escape this world but to transform it. We are here to bring heaven down to earth. We must transform and inspire others to transform earth to make it a suitable place for God to dwell (as God promises He will in Revelation).
If you understand this core idea, it becomes clear: the righteous don’t need to be taken anywhere. They’re already doing what they’re supposed to be doing—building a world where G-d can dwell. The ones who are taken away are those who weren’t paying attention, those who failed to stay vigilant. They are the ones making 'building a home for God' difficult. They are the ones who are destroying the house and stealing construction materials from those who are working hard to build and repair. And the righteous? They remain here, inheriting the earth—because this is where the mission has always been. It’s right here, in this world.
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