I think samuel23 has a point, though I wonder if he knows how to Scripturally prove it. A few points. Several people seem to think that the tribulation has been going on since the time of messiah's resurrection. But when the Apostle John was given the Revelation he was told,
Revelation 1:1
1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must
shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,
The setting and context of The book of Revelation is the future, John was seeing a Tribulation and a Great Tribulation that had not yet begun.
To the Church of Philadelphia Yahushua (Jesus) says,
Revelation 3:10
10. Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from
the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Over and over throughout the Book of Revelation it is clear that the Tribulation is an event that had not yet come. But the hotest topic here seems to be whether the "pre-tribulation" theology is valid or not. I say not and can prove it with Scripture, which by the way I found to be lacking in most of what I read. All our thoughts and words mean nothing brothers and sisters if they are not taught in the Scriptures. If it's not in the Bible, then there is no light in it and it is accursed.
Isaiah 8:20
20. To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
Galatians 1:8-9
8. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
9. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
So here are some verses to consider on the topic of "when" or even "if" Rapture. Let's also be clear that the word "Rapture" is no where in the Scriptural text, not in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek. And yes, determining the timing is not only important but perhaps crucial for believers. I read a comment that said, "let's just trust Christ and see what happens", really! Faith without works is dead and so will you be if you wait around for deliverance that won't be coming. Let's look at some pictures given in the Scriptures that point to the end times. In Exodus when Yahweh (God) poured out His wrath on Egypt what happened to the Hebrews living in Goshen. Did He wisk them away secretly before the plagues started? Or did He protect them through the plagues?
Exodus 8:22-23
22. And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the land.
23. I will make a difference between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall be." ' "
Exodus 9:4
4. And the LORD will make a difference between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. So nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel." ' "
Exodus 11:7
7. But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the LORD does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.'
Egypt represents the world, Pharoah represents the ruler of the world, the bondage of slavery on the Hebrews represents sin, which leads to death, and the plagues represent the tribulation that is to come over the whole world. Just as Yahweh judged Egypt, the ruler of Egypt, and Egypts "gods" (Ex.12:12) so He will judge this world with tribulation, He will defeat the "current" ruler of this world, Satan (John 16:11), He will finally bring down the dragon and by so doing He will once and for all break the bondage of Sin, and while He is doing all this, He will protect His people in a "set apart place", like Goshen in Egypt. The Messiah told a Parable that dirrectly teaches about who will be "taken away/raptured' in the end. Observe.
Matthew 13:24-30
24. Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;
25. but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
26. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.
27. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?'
28. He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?'
29. But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.
30. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn." ' "
Matthew 13:39-43
39. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.
40. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.
41. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,
42. and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
So at the end of the age the wicked will be seperated from the Righteous, the wicked will be gathered together and taken away, and the righteous will remain. Which begs the question of how to properly interpret this teaching.
Matthew 24:40-42
40. Then two men will be in the field: one will be
taken and the other
left.
41. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be
taken and the other
left.
42. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
We were always taught that the one taken was the righteous saved person, those "left behind" were the unsaved sinners. But to whom does the inheritance of the earth belong, the righteous or the wicked?
Psalms 37:9
9. For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the LORD, They shall inherit the earth.
Psalms 37:11
11. But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
Psalms 37:22
22. For those blessed by Him shall
inherit the earth, But those cursed by Him shall be cut off.
Sounds like the wicked are the ones raptured, straight to hell fire, and the righteous are the ones "left behind" to inherit Covenant Promise of their Father, the earth. Hear again the words of Yahushua (Jesus)
Matthew 24:37-39
37. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
38. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
39. and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
What happened when the flood came? Did Noah and his family get wisked off the earth while tribulation literally "rained" on the earth. Or did He protect them in the midst of that tribulation, take away the wicked from off the earth, and leave behind the Righteous to inherit the land? And this is the context of what we already read in the next few verses.
Matthew 24:40-41
40. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.
41. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.
Clearly those taken in the field and at the mill are the wicked, and the ones left behind are the Righteous. Heaven is not our home brothers, the earth is our posession, has been since Yahweh breathed the breath of life into Adam and said,
Genesis 1:26-31
26. Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let
them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle,
over all the earth and
over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
27. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply;
fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
29. And God said, "See,
I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.
30. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so.
31. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Here's how I see the picture playing out according to Scripture. Tribulation is coming. When it does we will either die for our faith or be protected from harm in some way on this earth as we await the return of our Messiah. Either way I say HalleluYah and Amein! When Yahushua does return these things will happen.
1. Every eye will see him (Matthew 24:30,Revelation 1:7)
2. The dead in Christ will then come out of the graves and rise up to meet Him in the air and we who are sill alive will follow. (Matthew 24:31,1 Corinthians 15:52,1 Thessalonians 4:16)
3. Yahushua with all His saints will take a quick flight to Jerusalem where He will set up His 1000 year reign over the earth. Once there He will destroy the armies of those that fought against Him, lock up the devil, level the earth and raise up His Holy City, carve a valley out of a Mountain, cause a river to flow and heal all the earth from it's Tribulation, set up a new Temple service and priesthood, Re-establish the sacrafices (But not for us as we are at this point sinless and incorruptable), Re-establish His Feast days, and penalties for not keeping them, and wil enforce mandatory Worship, Feast Keeping, New Moon Keeping and Sabbath Keeping (Seventh Day of the week as is commanded not Sunday which is not) world wide. HALLELUYAH!!!!!!! It's alot of work but someone has to do it.
Please read Zechariah 14 , Isaiah 1, Ezekiel 47...You know what, you should just read all the books of the prophets. In my opinion the biggest problem with modern Christian interpretation of the end times is that those theologies are divorced from what the Prophets teach. A pre tribulation rapture, or a thousand years in heaven, or going to and or living in heaven at all ever are things never ever taught by the prophets when they spoke of the end times and the second coming of the Messiah. I have so much more I could say but i've taken up way to much space already, and I have a feeling plenty of people will have a think or two to say. Which is great, Iron sharpens Iron, so let's keep studying.