In fact the Church MUST BE raptured BEFORE the Tribulation can ever begin. And we will be.
The Scripture ALWAYS states that we, the Bride, the Body, receive and are in a state of rest, comfort, relief......during the time of the Tribulation.
All of this concatenates perfectly with the ultimate book of end-time things, Revelation. Where we, the Church, are ILLUSTRATED to be IN HEAVEN in Chapters 4 & 5. Before the man of sin is ever "revealed" in chapter 6.
Agreed. Paul makes very clear the SEQUENCE (Rapture before the start of "the DOTL" time-period of Judgments unfolding upon the earth), and he REPEATS this sequence THREE TIMES in 2Th2 (and which sequence AGREES with the SAME sequence shown in his first letter to them--chpt4 & 5... Not to mention all other related passages, such as Rev4&5 with the "24 elders" saying "hast redeemed US... out-of EVERY..." and corresponding w/ what chpt 1:5-6 had said)
BTW.....the "snatch" the "harpazo" by the Spirit (to heaven) is certainly biblical. Nothing unusual there.....
Act 8:39
And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away
G726 Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.
2Co 12:2
I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth such an one
caught up G726 to the third heaven.
2Co 12:4
How that he was
caught up G726 into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
1Th 4:17
Then we which are alive
and remain
shall be caught up G726 together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Rev 12:5
And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron:
and her child was caught up G726 unto God, and to his throne.
Hey cv5, in view of your list of passages here ^ , I thought you might enjoy this quote by J.G. Bellett:
"Ezekiel had been caught away to Jerusalem and other places,
as a prophet to Israel, that he might in the visions of God, understand and declare the Divine counsels. And so John was taken away to various scenes,
as prophet to the Church, that he might testify in like manner of the Divine purposes. But these were only raptures in the Spirit. Philip had been actually, and not merely in Spirit, caught away to Azotus from the desert of Gaza, that
as an evangelist, he might pursue his ministry among the habitation of men. So Paul is actually caught up into paradise, but this was not as a prophet, nor as an evangelist, nor as an Apostle, but
“as a man in Christ,” that all “in Christ” might know their portion in that blessing and honor which awaits them after this life, and which was so great that our Apostle, returning to the flesh and to the earth, was in danger of being exalted by it above measure."
-- John G Bellett, Bible Truth Publishers
(bold mine)
[
"IN Christ" is a NT designation (re: all those having come to faith "in this present age [singular]"... Eph1:20-23
WHEN [as to its existence]; note: Eph1:10 isn't referring to this present age where it states, "that in the dispensation of the fulness of times...," as many suppose it to mean)]