God is doing the bringing (of those who sleep in Jesus - meaning those who are saved in Christ.) Okay, so you agree God is coming and bringing in 1 Thes 4? That's major progress
They are one GOD.
Agreed. Jesus is Jesus, God is God the Father, the HS is the HS. Together they are one but separate equal parts of the one. When the name of just one is invoked, we can assume that particular part of the whole is being discussed. Thus in 1 Thes 4:14, God the Father is coming and bringing saints.
I am not aware of anyone, regardless of your position on timing, that thinks God the Father returns before the Son or before the Tribulation with Saints, for a Rapture. Thus if God is the one coming and bringing and rapturing in 1 Thes 4, as the text clearly states, there can be no pre-trib timing because the Day of the Lord has always been after the Tribulation/Jacobs Trouble.
Not saying that God comes apart from Jesus (although He might). I'm saying that it is God coming in 1 Thes 4. It's God's Trumpet being blown. It is "the LORD HIMSELF" - God the Father coming. What Jesus is doing or where Jesus is during 1 Thes 4:13-17 is irrelevant for the purpose of my point. My point is we have the timing of the Return of God, the Father, clearly identified. It is called, the DAY of the LORD and it is after Jacob's Trouble.
Zech 14 clearly is talking about the
FATHER, is he not?
(truncated for effect)
Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,
For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;
Then the Lord will go forth
And fight against those nations,
And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Thus the Lord my God will come,
And all the saints with You.
The above is all about the Father. The Father stands on the Mount of Olives, Christ stands on Mount Zion (Rev 14). The Father has ALL THE SAINTS, Christ has the 144K.
We are discussing the possibility that Jesus, the Son and God, the Father, are acting separately, Daniel shows them apart but Christ being brought to the Father in Dan 7. Now look what Zechariah has to say a few verses later.
[SUP]9 [/SUP]And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be—
“The Lord is one,”
And His name one.
Thus they are both here on earth. God is seen on the Mount of Olives and Christ is seen on Mount Zion. These are two separate places (although they are close together).
Back to my main point. 1 Thes 4:13-18 is the hero pre-trib rapture passage. Yet, if it's God the Father (which it is) doing the coming and bringing of all the saints (which it is) then we have the timing set by Zechariah right here and the timing is Post Trib.
The debate is over!!