For the the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain will shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air: and so we shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. But of the times and seasons brethren ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the DAY OF THE LORD so cometh as a thief in the night For when they say peace and safety: then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape. But ye brethren
are not in darkness that the day overtake you as a thief. Ye are all children of light, and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness Therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night and those that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for an helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him.
II Thess 4 is a favorite proof text used for the Pre Trib rapture. But I notice that after he says ''Wherefore comfort one another with these words'' he is almost always gagged. The reason why is that he goes on in chapter five to mention the Day of the Lord. One popular belief is that the whole seven years of tribulation is the day of the Lord. This is not true. It is a specific period when the full wrath of God is poured out on the Earth and it is the time of the resurrection and the rapture. When Paul speaks about us not being appointed to wrath he is talking about that time not before the start of the tribulation. He is also talking about our salvation and by it not going to Hell. Compare the passages below
from Isaiah and Joel with what Jesus said in Matthew 24 about after the tribulation
II Thess 4:16 - 5:10
Behold the DAY OF THE LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light:
the Sun shall be darkened in his going forth and the Moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I shall punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity;and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible
Isa 13:9-11
Multitudes, Multitudes in the valley of decision for the DAY OF THE LORD is near in the valley of decision. The Sun and the Moon will be darkened and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
Joel 3:14-15
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the Sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven and then shall the tribes of the earth morn, and they shall see the Son of coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from
one end of heaven to the other.
Matt 24:29-31
are not in darkness that the day overtake you as a thief. Ye are all children of light, and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness Therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night and those that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for an helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him.
II Thess 4 is a favorite proof text used for the Pre Trib rapture. But I notice that after he says ''Wherefore comfort one another with these words'' he is almost always gagged. The reason why is that he goes on in chapter five to mention the Day of the Lord. One popular belief is that the whole seven years of tribulation is the day of the Lord. This is not true. It is a specific period when the full wrath of God is poured out on the Earth and it is the time of the resurrection and the rapture. When Paul speaks about us not being appointed to wrath he is talking about that time not before the start of the tribulation. He is also talking about our salvation and by it not going to Hell. Compare the passages below
from Isaiah and Joel with what Jesus said in Matthew 24 about after the tribulation
II Thess 4:16 - 5:10
Behold the DAY OF THE LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light:
the Sun shall be darkened in his going forth and the Moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I shall punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity;and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible
Isa 13:9-11
Multitudes, Multitudes in the valley of decision for the DAY OF THE LORD is near in the valley of decision. The Sun and the Moon will be darkened and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
Joel 3:14-15
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the Sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven and then shall the tribes of the earth morn, and they shall see the Son of coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from
one end of heaven to the other.
Matt 24:29-31