Anybody know where the Old Testament prophecy of the rapture is found?
These futurists wouldn't know what the rapture is if it snuck up and bit them.
The resurrection was a singular event whereby all the OT saints were taken out of Hades to heaven in the first century upon the return of Christ's presence. The rapture is an on-going resurrection for those of us who died after the resurrection so that when we die we are immediately taken to heaven, individually.
I get their confusion though. Paul makes it sound like living people are taken up into the sky and transformed. However, Paul isn't saying that at all. Futurists like to hang on this one passage of 1 Thes 4:17 while ignoring others. In John 14, Jesus states, [He] will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am,
there you may be also... No one comes to the Father except through Me.
This house is not in the clouds or air, it is in heaven. It is heaven where the Father dwells. Since all the disciples were dead (except John) when Jesus returned, He is resurrecting them, not snatching them alive. The "clouds" and "air" of 1 Thes 4 are the glory clouds which are normally in heaven except for when the Lord's presence comes for judgment. The Glory Cloud marking the presence of God is mentioned often in Scripture (2 Samuel 22:8-15; Isaiah 66:15-16; Psalm 18:6-16; 50:3; 97:1-5; 144:5; Exodus 40:34-38; Leviticus 16:2; Ezekiel 1:4). "Air" is simply another word for heaven. Satan is called “the prince of the power of the air” because before being cast out of heaven, Satan’s throne was in heaven (Ephesians 6:12, Revelation 12:7-9).
Rapture or
harapazo or “caught up” as used in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 and Revelation 12:5 is applied to those involuntarily taken to heaven, the realm of God and angels, not the literal sky. They went to heaven because they had died, although Paul later recovered and returned to his flesh body. In each case, this happened after the Cross.
The fact that the saints who have outlived the parousia are raised to heaven immediately after death is supported by Rev 14:13 and 21:24-16. Revelation 14:13 reads,
“’Then I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.’” Revelation 21:24-26 presents a similar message. According to these verses, the gates of the New Jerusalem are always open in order to forever allow the nations and kings of the earth to
“bring their splendor into it.” If the rapture and resurrection occur all at once, as is commonly supposed in futurist circles, how is it that according to Revelation 14:13 and Revelation 21:24-26 people are continuously entering the New Jerusalem long after the resurrection and the rapture? These verses challenge this idea. However, what is stated in Revelation 21:24-26 and Revelation 14:13 are exactly what one would expect if life on earth continues after the end of the age and the saints who have outlived the resurrection are each raised to heaven at the time of their death.