God's wrath is God's anger. It's not just bad stuff happening. God is not angry with redeemed saints who are in right relationship with him.
Notice the order there in that verse you quote, II Thes. 2:1, I think, It says 'the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him". Why do you reverse the order? You have the gathering happening before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The order is not reversed, as that is the order in which appears in 2 Thess.2:1. Below is the scripture:
Verse 1 = "Concerning
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him"
Verse 2 = "asserting that
the day of the Lord has already come.
* The coming of our Lord and our being gathered to Him to take the church back to heaven (John 14:1-3)
* The day of the Lord (God's time of wrath)
* The Lord's return to the earth to end the age and establish His millennial kingdom
In verse 1, Paul is referring to our being gathered to the Lord which is referring to I Thess.4:16. Then, he uses the phrase " the day of the Lord" which is referring to the time of wrath which takes place after our being our being gathered to the Lord.
These two events are closely linked, with our being gathered taking place first and then followed by the day of the Lord, which is the time of God's wrath, which continues up until Jesus returns to the earth to end the age.
Look at the previous chapter. It tells us that the church will receive rest when Jesus comes back to execute vengence on them that know not God.
Pre-trib has the church already gone when that happens. Jesus comes back to execute vengence when He returns to be glorified in the saints. Pre-trib makes two times out of that, not at the same time, like the passage says. Chapter 1 describes this as happening on 'that day.' The same day is described in chapter 2.
There is no way to get any evidence for pre-trib out of II Thessalonians 2. Pre-tribbers assume pretrib and read the theory into the passage, in spite of what it says.
Oh you guys! I wish that you were as interested in finding out the truth as you are to jump on a scripture that doesn't support your claim! I have heard this very same argument with this same scripture so many times! Let's look at the scripture in question:
"God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and
give relief to you who are troubled, [
and to us as well]. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels."
In the scripture above, Paul includes himself and those believers with him living at that time, to be given relief from as those who troubled when the Lord is revealed from heaven.
However, we know that Paul and those believers with Him have long since died. Therefore, since Paul includes himself, how can he and the believers with him be alive at the time when the Lord Jesus is revealed, which hasn't happened yet?
In their haste, most pass over that part of the verse or attempt to create some type of apologetic. They are so quick to think that they have found the ultimate scripture to defeat the pre-trib belief and by doing so they miss the fact that Paul includes himself and those with him when the Lord is revealed from heaven. Paul and the churches of that time certainly aren't going to be alive in their mortal bodies to see that vengeance when the Lord returns.
The crux of that verse is that, the Lord is going to avenge all believers who have been persecuted and troubled throughout the church period, which will take place when the Lord returns to the earth to end the age. That is unless you believe that Paul and the believers with him will still be alive when the Lord is revealed? Context, context, context! Details, details, details.
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
You have proven nothing that would make the event of the gathering of the church as being the same event as when the Lord returns to the earth to end the age.
The events of Verse 29 regarding the sun, moon and stars takes place just prior to the Lord returning to the earth to end the age.
Verse 30 is synonymous with Rev.1:7, 19:11-21, which is referring to the Lord's return to the earth to end the age and establish his millennial kingdom.
As stated in verse 31, Jesus sends out His angels with a "loud trumpet call" which
is not the same as the "last trumpet" which Paul refers to in I Cor.15:52. But are two different trumpets. This is why it is important not to pigeonhole words in scripture.
Also, when the event of the church being caught up takes place, angels do not gather us. The dead and living in Christ will be caught up in their immortal and glorified bodies and will be caught up by the Lord.
The reference to the angels gathering together His elect, is referring to the remnant of Israel and those great tribulation saints who will have made it alive through the entire tribulation period. This is synonymous with the parable in Matt.13:30, where at the end of the age the harvesters, which are the angels, first gather the weeds, which just isn't mentioned in Matt.24:31, but is mentioned in Matt.13:30.
So, at the end of the age when Jesus returns to the earth, the angels will go throughout the four corners of the earth, from one end of the heavens to the other and "first collect the weeds," which are the wicked. After that, they will bring in the wheat, which are those great tribulation saints who will have made it alive through the entire tribulation period. These along with Israel, will repopulate the earth during the millennial kingdom.
To be clear, Jesus sending out His angels to gather His elect, is not referring to the gathering of the church (rapture). By your bolding of the word "gather" you are also pigeonholing this word. For when the Lord comes for His church they will be gathered and when He returns to the earth to end the age, living survivors will also be gathered. The use of the same word doesn't mean that it is the same event.