No description of rapture there, only wrath and destruction?
Isaiah 34:8 “For it is the day of the YHVH’S vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.” Joel 1:15 “Alas for the day! for the day of the YHVH is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.”
Acts 2:20 “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, beforethat great and notable day of the YHVH come”
Joel had prophesied that these same celestial signs would occur BEFORE the Day of the YHVH: Matthew 24 teaches that the signs in heavens occur after the Tribulation and usher in the Day of the Lord.
Joel 2 v 31: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, BEFORE the great and the terrible day of the YHVH come
Matt 24 v 21: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. . . . 29: Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: (Matt. 24).
So, does the rapture happen once or twice? And likewise, does the resurrection happen once or twice?
Thess 5:2-6 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the YHVH so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
Look at how Paul copies Yeshua in Matthew 24
Paul even says As the Lord Himself said , and Jesus only described the end times in the private briefing of Matthew 24. In I Thess 4 v 15 Paul refers to Yeshua, According to the Lord’s word….Obviously, Paul was referring to Yeshua’ teaching! His reminding them of Yeshua’ “thief” illustration leads to the conclusion that he was confirming the chronology Yeshua gave.
The following table shows that Paul was using Yeshua’ teaching in the Olivet Discourse as the basis of his instructions to the Thessalonians. He was simply repeating Yeshua’ instructions to the disciples. In effect, he was applying the teaching of Yeshua to them, connecting their “watching” for the rapture with Yeshua’ instructions to be watching for His coming “immediately after the tribulation.”
Compare Yeshua’s Teachings in Matt 24 and Paul’s direction to Thessalonica.
| Paul Referred to Yeshua’ Teaching | Yeshua Matt. 24:29-31 Immediately after the tribulation….the day of the Lord. | Paul 1 Thess. 4:16-17 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven. |
| Coming of Jesus from heaven | Matt 24:30 “… they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” | 1 Thess. 4:16 “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven…” |
| Angel(s) | Matt. 24:31 “…He shall send forth His angels…” | 1 Thess. 4:16 “with the voice of the archangel…” |
| Trumpet blast | Matt. 24:31 “…with the sound of a trumpet…” | 1 Thess. 4:16 “…with the trumpet of Lord” |
| Catching up of the living | Matt. 24:31 “…they shall gather together His elect…” | 1 Thess. 4:17 “…shall be caught up together…” |
| Thief in the night | Matt. 24:43 “…if the goodman …had know in what watch the thief would come…” | 1 Thess. 5:1,2 “…so cometh as a thief in the night.” |
| Warning against “sleeping” | Mark 13:36 “lest coming suddenly He find you sleeping.” | 1 Thess. 5:6 “…let us not sleep as do others” |
| Warning against “drunkenness” | Luke 21:34 “take heed … lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness” | 1 Thess. 5:6-8 “be sober…they that are drunken are drunken in the night. …be sober” |
| “Watching” for Yeshua’s coming | Mark 13:35-37 “Watch ye therefore … | Thess. 5:6 “let us watch… |
Two men were leaving Jerusalem because their concept of prophecy did not include Jesus dying. Their Messiah was to throw out the Romans and establish the Kingdom of God. We find them in Luke 24 leaving Jerusalem in sadness on the Road to Emmaus when Jesus in disguise meets them. Lu 24:18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? He further tells Jesus Lu 24:20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel……Their hopes were tied to an early painless Messianic kingdom. Is your hope tied to a painless Rapture?
Lu 24:25 He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? He then starts with Torah and the books of Moses and gives them a complete understanding of the whole bible…and corrects their knowledge of Scripture and they run back with hearts burning.
I am concerned the Great Falling away spoken of in Thessalonians will be Christians whose understanding did not include going into the Tribulation as a witness for God.