When dealing with God's Word, being accused of splitting hairs is a compliment. Countless students of the Bible are so inaccurate with God's Word, but know very well that just dot in the wrong place in an Internet address, man's device, will not get them into that webpage.
But I think you have understood my point. 1st Corinthians 15 is about the resurrection, not the Rapture. The "blink of an eye" is not the time it takes to be Raptured. It is the time it takes for God's Spirit to lay of the old body of sin and death, and make it new as 2nd Corinthians 5 tells. If you want to mate 1st Corinthians 15:51-55 to 1st Thessalonians 4:15-18, here's the sequence.
- Christ has left His Father's throne "above the highest heaven" and descended to the Stratosphere (where there are clouds)
- Christ is "PRESENT" in the clouds and the last trumpet for Christians✽, together with the Word of God, sounds
- The SOULS of dead Christians in Hades RISE to the surface of the earth and meet their new bodies there
- The LIVING Christians undergo a change of body in about 4/100th of a second (on the surface of the earth where they are)
- Then TOGETHER with the RISEN Christians, BOTH in glorified bodies, are caught away to meet Christ in the clouds
- Since they are alive, they "STAND" before the Son of man (Lk.21:36)
- Since judgment must begin in the House of the Lord (1st Pet.4:17), Christ is set on the Bema and calls each one to give account of their WORKS (Rom.14:10; 2nd Cor.5:10)
- When this Judgment is complete, Revelation 19 kicks in. Those found to have "DONE the will of the Father" (Matt.7:21-23) will (i) be invited to the Wedding Feast, (ii) be part of Christ's army for Armageddon, (iii) be arrayed in a suitable Garment, and (iv) will be appointed cities over which they will rule (Lk.19:17-19). Those Christians who were self-centered, slothful, habitual sinners and who have no intimate relationship with Christ, will be consigned to loss and chastisement.
✽ A trumpet was used in the Bible for two things. (i) To call a gathering, and (ii) to announce something. There are a number of trumpets throughout the Bible. The "GATHERING" of Christians is called and announced by the "last Trump" for Christians. Then there is a "trumpet" for gathering Israel (Matt.24:31). In Revelation 8:13 and 9:14 a trumpet sounds to announce things to the world. The point is that "last Trumpet" is the last trumpet for Christians - not the last trumpet ever.
You will appreciate that if the total number of Christians who ever lived, and who are alive at Christ's coming, is 1% of the world's population who ever lived and who are alive at Christ's coming, there could be 144 million Christians. If each is given 1 minute to account for them selves, the total time at the Bema would be 144 million minutes. There are 1,440 minutes to a day. In normal maths the Bema would then take 274 years.
I have no idea what date the Rapture will take place. Noah went into the Ark seven days before it started to rain. But 274 years ... ? Even if we half that it is still 137 years.
We have no idea how its going to work.[/QUOTE/]
""When this Judgment is complete, Revelation 19 kicks in. Those found to have "DONE the will of the Father" (Matt.7:21-23) will (i) be invited to the Wedding Feast, (ii) be part of Christ's army for Armageddon, (iii) be arrayed in a suitable Garment, and (iv) will be appointed cities over which they will rule (Lk.19:17-19). Those Christians who were self-centered, slothful, habitual sinners and who have no intimate relationship with