Anthony Pritchard
Well-Known Member
The Body and the Eagles: Where the Taken Are Gathered
In Luke 17:37 we read:
“And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.”
The passage in Luke 17 contains one of the more difficult sayings of Christ, but its meaning becomes clear when the immediate context is allowed to speak without importing confusing commentary. The setting is established in Luke 17:34 to 36. Christ says, “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. He continues, “Two women shall be grinding together. The one shall be taken, and the other left” Luke 17:35. He concludes the sequence with, “Two men shall be in the field. The one shall be taken, and the other left” Luke 17:36.
Three different scenarios are given. In each one Christ repeats the same truth. One shall be taken. One shall be taken. One shall be taken. This is not judgment language. It is not wrath language. It is not tribulation language. It is the language of the catching away, the calling out of the redeemed, the great ekklesia assembled. The redeemed are presently scattered among local bodies, a local church diaspora, but in that moment they are gathered into one body. The Greek word used in the answer is sōma, body, the same word used throughout the New Testament for the living, unified body of Christ.
The disciples respond to Christ’s repeated statement with a single question. “And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord” Luke 17:37. They do not ask when. They do not ask how. They do not ask why. They ask where. Their question concerns the taking. Where will those taken be gathered.
Christ answers their question directly. “And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together” Luke 17:37. The body is the gathered ekklesia, the assembled redeemed, the sōma of Christ. The eagles are the gathering agency of God. Scripture uses this imagery clearly. “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself” Exodus 19:4. Again, “As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings. So the Lord alone did lead him” Deuteronomy 32:11 to 12. The eagles are not scavengers. They are bearers. They are the divine agency by which God gathers His people unto Himself.
This passage is often confused with Matthew 24:28, but the two are not the same event. Matthew records, “For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together” Matthew 24:28. The Greek word in Matthew is ptōma, carcass, a dead body. The context of Matthew 24:15 to 27 is the Great Tribulation. Christ says, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” Matthew 24:21. Matthew’s setting is judgment. Matthew’s body is a carcass. Matthew’s gathering is the gathering of judgment upon the wicked.
Luke’s setting is the catching away. Luke’s body is the living redeemed. Luke’s gathering is the assembling of the saints. The two passages cannot be conflated. They use different Greek words. They occur in different contexts. They describe different events. Matthew speaks of the Great Tribulation. Luke speaks of the Great Calling Out. In Luke the disciples ask where the taken go, and Christ answers that they go to the gathered body, the sōma, the ekklesia assembled, borne by the gathering agency of God.
This is the plain sense of the passage when the language is allowed to stand as written.
~Tony
© A.K. Pritchard 1998 -
Free to use with proper attribution
In Luke 17:37 we read:
“And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.”
The passage in Luke 17 contains one of the more difficult sayings of Christ, but its meaning becomes clear when the immediate context is allowed to speak without importing confusing commentary. The setting is established in Luke 17:34 to 36. Christ says, “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. He continues, “Two women shall be grinding together. The one shall be taken, and the other left” Luke 17:35. He concludes the sequence with, “Two men shall be in the field. The one shall be taken, and the other left” Luke 17:36.
Three different scenarios are given. In each one Christ repeats the same truth. One shall be taken. One shall be taken. One shall be taken. This is not judgment language. It is not wrath language. It is not tribulation language. It is the language of the catching away, the calling out of the redeemed, the great ekklesia assembled. The redeemed are presently scattered among local bodies, a local church diaspora, but in that moment they are gathered into one body. The Greek word used in the answer is sōma, body, the same word used throughout the New Testament for the living, unified body of Christ.
The disciples respond to Christ’s repeated statement with a single question. “And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord” Luke 17:37. They do not ask when. They do not ask how. They do not ask why. They ask where. Their question concerns the taking. Where will those taken be gathered.
Christ answers their question directly. “And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together” Luke 17:37. The body is the gathered ekklesia, the assembled redeemed, the sōma of Christ. The eagles are the gathering agency of God. Scripture uses this imagery clearly. “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself” Exodus 19:4. Again, “As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings. So the Lord alone did lead him” Deuteronomy 32:11 to 12. The eagles are not scavengers. They are bearers. They are the divine agency by which God gathers His people unto Himself.
This passage is often confused with Matthew 24:28, but the two are not the same event. Matthew records, “For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together” Matthew 24:28. The Greek word in Matthew is ptōma, carcass, a dead body. The context of Matthew 24:15 to 27 is the Great Tribulation. Christ says, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” Matthew 24:21. Matthew’s setting is judgment. Matthew’s body is a carcass. Matthew’s gathering is the gathering of judgment upon the wicked.
Luke’s setting is the catching away. Luke’s body is the living redeemed. Luke’s gathering is the assembling of the saints. The two passages cannot be conflated. They use different Greek words. They occur in different contexts. They describe different events. Matthew speaks of the Great Tribulation. Luke speaks of the Great Calling Out. In Luke the disciples ask where the taken go, and Christ answers that they go to the gathered body, the sōma, the ekklesia assembled, borne by the gathering agency of God.
This is the plain sense of the passage when the language is allowed to stand as written.
~Tony
© A.K. Pritchard 1998 -
Free to use with proper attribution