1. Christ leaves heaven.
2. The dead in Christ resurrect.
3. The dead in Christ come with Christ, following him.
[...]
The dead will not be raptured and the living will not be resurrected. The dead go DOWN from heaven and the living go UP from the Earth.
Hate to say this yet
again, but where the text states, "the
dead in Christ
SHALL RISE FIRST" (...
THEN... [such and such]), what
"SHALL RISE FIRST" means is, they will be
"resurrected" which is DEFINED AS:
"to stand AGAIN [on the earth]"... This involves the very BODIES of them which had DIED (
just like it had, regarding JESUS' own resurrection).
--"
THIS corruptible must PUT ON incorruption" (speaking specifically of "the
DEAD IN Christ" who "sleep through Jesus")
[whereas "and
THIS mortal must PUT ON immortality" speaks specifically of the "we which are
ALIVE and remain"--same time-slot though, to be clear (same "mortal [/still-living]" being spoken of in 2Cor5:
4b "...but
CLOTHED UPON,
THAT mortality might be
SWALLOWED UP of LIFE")]; "must PUT ON" and "CLOTHED UPON" speaks of that which ALSO involves the BODIES we have now... they themselves will be "CHANGED" (glorified / perfected / etc);
--"we shall ALL be CHANGED in a moment..." means that both the [now] resurrected
dead in Christ
AND the we which are
alive and remain, i.e. the ENTIRE "Church
WHICH IS HIS BODY" (Eph1:20-23)--[note: "alive and remain"
to the point in time being referenced]--will BOTH [
both components] receive our glorified bodies AT THAT POINT (just prior to the moment of "our Rapture / SNATCH");
--the phrase, "shall be
CAUGHT-UP / SNATCHED TOGETHER IN-UNION-WITH [G4862] them" means that the SNATCH-action occurs for both components
AT THE SAME TIME. The text states "
TO THE MEETING
OF THE LORD"... it does
not state, "
to meet THEM [the DEAD in Christ, resurrected UP THERE] in the clouds [where
their new bodies
will already BE, ahead of us 'still-living' ones arriving there...
NO!]"