It may come as a surprise to some to note that the Tribulation does not commence immediately after the Rapture of the Church.
As the “taking” of Enoch shattered the peace of the generation that met the flood of Noah’s day (Matt 24:36-42), so the generation on earth beginning at the Rapture will endure the judgments of the Tribulation, ending with the climax of Armageddon. Deceived by the lie of evolution, all on earth had been assured that a God of Creation was an ancient myth, while a God of Judgment was a relic of the Victorian age. That slogan sounds pathetic now, in the light of divine intervention at the Rapture. Unexpectedly and without warning, that generation has their state of “peace and safety” dramatically shattered. It has come upon unbelievers as a thief in the night. The Day of the Lord for earth is introduced by the Rapture, which is the first manifested divine intervention in the affairs of earth since the resurrection and ascension of Christ. For unbelievers, the future at this point means the gloom of the Tribulation. For believers, the future means glory in the presence of the Savior. The Rapture, which opens the Day of Christ for the saved of earth, opens the Day of the Lord for the souls left on earth after the Rapture. The Day of the Lord Opens for Souls on Earth These events take place before Christ returns to earth with His Bride to host the Marriage Supper (Rev 19:9) at the establishment of the Millennium Kingdom. The bride of the Lamb, the Church, now ready and “arrayed in fine linen, clean and white … the righteousness of saints” (Rev 19:6-8) is presented to the Lamb in the marriage ceremony. First the Judgment Seat of Christ (2Cor 5:10) where Christ takes His place as judge and the work of each saint is revealed, reviewed, and rewarded by the Lord Himself (Rev 22:12). Two events of major importance take place in glory. There, they enter upon the Day of the Lord Jesus Christ (1Cor 1:8 5:5 2Cor 1:14), or the Day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6) or simply the Day of Christ (Phil 1:6, 10 2:6). The initial meeting in the air precedes their presentation to the Father in the Father’s House (Heb 2:10). The Rapture has taken every believer of the gospel age to meet the Lord in the air. Many believers have sighed through tears “Amen. Through the ages, the very imminence of that coming has been a cheer and comfort to tried saints in life’s darkest hours. The Lord, in His final promise to believers of this age, reminded them: “Surely, I come quickly” (Rev 22:20).
Believers still alive, with bodies changed to that same pattern “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1Cor 15:52) are caught up together with their resurrected brethren to meet the Lord in the air (1Thes 4:13-18). Believers who have died (the “dead in Christ”) will be raised from the grave with new bodies patterned on the body of the risen Christ. It has been noted that the next event on the divine timetable is the coming of the Lord for the Church, when every believer in Christ in this dispensation of grace (from Pentecost to the moment of the Rapture) will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. The Day of Christ Opens for Saints in Heaven
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