The Return, The Resurrection And The Rapture Are Separate Events That Occur On The Same Day

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Matthew 24:36-42

New International Version

The Day and Hour of Jesus Return is Unknown

36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven,

but only the Father.

37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,

up to the day Noah entered the ark;

39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.

That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.

41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

The topic in context in the above passage, Mt. 24:36-42, is the return of Christ. Jesus talks about His return in verse 37 and includes the rapture in it in verses 40 and 41. When He returns at an unknown day and hour, one will be taken and the other left. This implies that Jesus does the rapture before He returns. This also states that Jesus does the rapture after He returns.

This all means that Jesus begins His return, or descends from heaven to earth, and does the rapture while in the air before He reaches the earth. Thus, making the rapture happen after He begins His return, but before He completes it. Jesus does the rapture while in descent back to earth arriving with them and the resurrected dead in Christ.

The rapture is the instant transformation of the bodies of those alive in Christ at the time that Jesus returns, as verses 37 through 41 reveals, with the instant resurrection of the dead in Christ going first.

The Rapture Happens in the Air

Before Jesus Completes His Return to the Earth with Those He Raptured

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

New International Version

Believers Who Have Died

13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death,

so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope

{of coming back to life after they die, though they will a thousand years after the resurrection in Jesus}.

14 For we believe that Jesus died and {came back to life},

and so, we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have {died} in him

{when He comes back. Jesus died for "our" sins,

and His return is "our" rapture & resurrection from the dead.

The living in Christ will be raptured with the resurrection of the dead in Christ when Jesus comes back}.

15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive,

who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who {sleep in Jesus}.

16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command,

with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will be with the Lord forever.

18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

{The rest of the dead who died not in Jesus will come back to life a thousand years after

our first resurrection for the second death, Rev. 20:11-15.

Know therefore that the sleep of death is only for those in Jesus.

The dead will rise to the second death. They do not sleep in Jesus. They are dead}.

The Rapture Happens Instantly with the Dead in Christ on the Day That Jesus Returns

1 Corinthians 15:51-52

New International Version

51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep {in death}, but we will all be changed—

52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable,

and we {who are alive and left until the return of the Lord}

will be changed.

The Speed of the Rapture with the Resurrection

Explains the Mystery of Christ's Return with the Dead and Living Church

The return of Christ has three events that happen in it, the resurrection, rapture and the return. The rapture also has two events that happen it. The resurrection and the rapture. Three events that happen when Jesus returns. 

The rapture is the instant transformation of the bodies of those living in Christ. The resurrection is the ascent of the dead in Christ. The rapture of the living in Christ happens instantly, in the twinkling of an eye, with the dead in Christ ascending first. This speed answers a significant theological question. How will God return with the church alive from heaven if they are dead?

To answer this question, it's essential to first understand all this. That the rapture happens instantly on the day that Jesus returns with the resurrection of the dead, and that the return & the rapture are two separate events that occur on the same day, just like the rapture and the resurrection are two separate events that happen simultaneously. The rapture and the return don't happen simultaneously; the rapture is instant, while the return takes the rest of the day and at the same time.

However, Jesus begins His return first before He does the rapture. But the rapture happens before Jesus completes His return while yet in the air descending back to earth, making the return also happen after the rapture.

1 Thes. 4:14 says that God will bring with Jesus those who have died in Him on the day that He returns (this verse also means that the rapture happens on the day that Jesus returns). How will God do this if they are dead and on earth?

First Jesus descends from heaven and instantly does the rapture of the living with the dead in Christ going up first, and that's how God will bring alive with Jesus and the living in Christ those that have died in Him.

1 Thes. 4:16, 17 say that the dead will rise first, and we who are not dead and are left alive until the return of the Lord, will be raptured instantly with them into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and then return alive with Him.

To be physically dead is to be present with the Lord in spirit (2 Cor. 5:8). Thus, the resurrection of the dead in Christ means that the spirits of the dead in Christ are in heaven with the Lord. On the day that Jesus returns, He calls their bodies up to the sky from the earth to unite them instantly with their spirits along with the transformation of the bodies of the living in Christ, and then He returns with them all to the earth.

The rapture is also thus the transformation of the living in Christ with, but instantly after the dead in Christ, to meet Jesus in the air to return with Him back to earth. This is how God will bring the dead in Jesus with Jesus and the living church when He returns.

The rapture is the transformation of the bodies of the Christians who are alive when Jesus returns. It is not the resurrection of the dead in Christ. The resurrection is of those dead in Christ when He returns. It is not the rapture. The rapture is for the living Christians when Jesus returns. The resurrection is for the dead Christians when Jesus returns. They are two separate events that happen simultaneously making them one but not the same event which occur on the day that Jesus returns.

When Jesus returns, the dead in Him instantly rise first with the rapture of the bodies of those living in Him. The rapture happens instantly after the instant resurrection of the dead, just like the rapture happens instantly after Jesus begins His return. But the rapture is instant with the Lord Jesus beginning His return first and completing His return after the rapture, just like the rapture happens after the resurrection.

The Rapture Happens on the Day Jesus Returns

• First, Jesus begins His descent from heaven back to earth.

• Then, He performs the rapture with the resurrection in the air during His descent.

• Finally, He reaches the earth with those He has resurrected and raptured.

Confirmation

Matthew 24:29-31

Authorized (King James) Version

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:

30 and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:

and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,

and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet,

and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds,

from one end of heaven to the other.

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World without end. Amen.