Just because John quit writing about the church does not mean necessarily that the rapture just took place! John wrote what He SAW. Perhaps God only changes subjects: from the messages to the church - to JOHN so He would write and we would have this final book in the bible.
Revelation 4:1 along with the fact that the word ekklesia/church no longer appears after it was previously used 19 times, is a God-given clue that the church is no longer on the earth from Rev.4:1 onward.
I know, many people think Rev. 4:1 is the rapture. In reality it is JOHN caught up so we would have Revelation. Will the purpose of the church be to receive visions of the future? I think not. A rapture in 4:1 is very poor exegesis and simply does not fit Paul;s epistles. Note carefully, JOHN was a part of the church and He was caught up in 95 AD. So the timing of 4:1 is 95 AD according to tradition. "Saints" make up the church. I won't argue if John calls them "saints." Rather than this method to attempt to ask "when," for the rapture, WHY NOT ask Paul? After all, He received the revelation on the rapture. He, Paul, tells us that the rapture will come just before wrath.
Sorry. There are still church age martyrs being killed at the 5th seal![/quote]
The only reason that you reject this, as do others, is because it doesn't fit in with your interpretation. This is how it is with many. They adopt a teaching and they can receive no other message and reject it when some one comes along with the true answer.
The switch from church (chapters 1 thru 3) to Saints (the rest of the book) is making a division between the two. The use of the word hagios/saints is in reference to the saints who will come out of the great tribulation who are introduced in Rev.7:9-17. John had already previously wrote to the seven churches and now he sees this group which no man can count from every nation, tribe, people and language, which would make them all Gentiles. The fact that the elder asks John who they are, demonstrates that this group is not the church and is never referred to as such. These are the saints who will have become believers after the church is gathered in Revelation 4:1 and during the time period of God's wrath. The church is never mentioned in the narrative of God's wrath, for they are caught up in Rev.4:1 with John representing the event as a prophetic allusion. The abomination is also mentioned in Revelation, which people fail to recognize because the word 'abomination' used in Daniel 9:27 and quoted by the Lord in Matt.24:15, is not used, but is instead described.
Your timing then for the rapture is way off. Paul said it would happen just before wrath and the day of the Lord, and said day is at the 6th seal. This fits perfectly for the martyrs had been asking when their murders would be judged. They were told that judgment must wait for the final church age martyr. Then John starts judgment with the 6th seal.
No, John does not start the judgment at the 6th seal, erroneous expositors do that! Jesus as the Lamb, is the One who is opening the seals and is therefore responsible for the resulting fatalities and destruction. The announcement "the great day of their wrath has come" is a general announcement which includes the plagues of wrath that will have already taken place, i.e. seals 1 thru 5.
The first seal rider on the white horse, is symbolically representing the antichrist and is a counterfeit of the rider on the white horse of Revelation 19:11, which is the Lord.
When the 4th seal rider which is death on the pale green horse with Hades following close behind, they are given power to kill a fourth of the earth, which would be 25% of the earths population killed during the first 3 1/2 years of that seven year period. Combine that with the 6th trumpet which is a third of the inhabitants killed and you have over half the earths population killed during the first 3 1/2 years and that is not including the fatalities that will come from trumpets 1, 2 and 3, nor from the bowl judgments.
The events of the seals, trumpets and bowl judgments will be nothing like the world has ever seen. They are meant to be noticed and to get everyone's attention.
The rapture then must come between the 5th and 6th seal. It fits with Paul. It is no mistaken then that John saw the raptured church in heaven in the next chapter (7).
The gathering of the church (rapture) is the next event to take place which is imminent. Once that takes place, the 'Day of the Lord' will begin, with that ruler, the antichrist establishing his firm covenant with Israel which will allow them to build their temple and begin to make sacrifices and offerings.
In Daniel 9:24 seventy seven year periods or 490 years, was decreed upon Israel and Jerusalem. Seven 'seven' year periods or 49 years to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Then add on sixty nine seven year periods (434 years) at the end of which the Messiah would be cut off, which was Christ crucified. At the time the Lord paused the fulfillment of that last seven years and began to build His church. Once the church has been completed, the Lord will appear and gather the church. After that, the Lord will pick up right where He left off in fulfillment of that last seven years, complete with a temple and Israel under the law, just as it was when the decree was made. It is during this seven years that God will fulfill the decree to:
"finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place."
It is during this time that God will also pour His wrath out upon a Christ rejecting world.