Hi Octoberose,
Christ returns and the Elect will be resurrected and meet/join with Him in the air. They are in the 'first' resurrection, so they come first. But there is also a resurrection of all the dead back to life, at that time.
Acts 24:15 I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be
a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.
(All these Scriptures speak of one resurrection Mat 22:31; Act 17:32; Act 23:6; Act 24:21; 1Co 15:12, 13, 21, 42; Heb 6:2)
There is "a resurrection" or one resurrection for both, "the just and unjust." So Christ first collects His Elect/Saints and then continues to earth and where else would the resurected physical people have been placed than on the physcial earth and so "every eye will see Him," and He and the Saints will rule over these nations.
This is from the 'Rapture' paper and it should help your understandng on this.
http://bible-truths.com/rapture.htm ---------------
We can learn something remarkable from the way that God uses the word "meet" in this Scripture.
"Thereupon we, the living who are surviving, shall at the same time be snatched away together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." (I Thes. 4:17).
In this verse as in three others, God uses the Greek word apatesis which is translated "to meet." It is distinguished from a half dozen other Greek words which are variously translated, "meet,’ "meet with," "meeting," "meeting with," etc. The Greek word apatesis, is, however, used only three other times.
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Now I am almost sure that I can hear faint protests in the distance from objecting rapturists. Notwithstanding, based on all the usage's of this word apatesis [to meet], and we read them all, when someone went out to meet someone else, where did they always go next? That’s right, back where they came from. So if God is consistent with the use of this word, then when the saints of I Thes. 4 meet the Lord in the air, they will then return with Christ back to the EARTH!
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Let us be clear, that the "day of the Lord" is the time period of Christ’s return to this earth to punish Babylon the Great and to pour out His righteous indignation on her (and on those nations who follow and worship her) for her evil crimes of inhumanity and blasphemy.
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"... even as the lightning is coming out from the east and is appearing as far as the west, thus shall be the PRESENCE of the Son of Mankind" (Matt. 24:27).
Nothing is as bright as lightning--not even the sun. No one will know when our Lord comes, but when He appears, everyone on earth will know!
"... then all the tribes of the land shall grieve, and they shall see the Son of Mankind coming on the clouds of heaven with power and much GLORY"! (Mat. 24:30).
"Power," "Glory," and "LIGHTNING" have no fellowship with "darkness," "evil" and "gloom"!
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Jesus said He was going to His Father IN HEAVEN to prepare a place for His apostles. Peter said that Christ,
"... regenerates us into a living expectation, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead, for the enjoyment of an allotment incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, KEPT IN THE HEAVENS FOR YOU ..." (I Pet. 1:4-5).
And yet we know that Christ brings these treasures BACK TO EARTH.
Why do we think it is any different for the Gentiles? It is not different.
"... we have a building of God, a house not made by hands, eonian, IN THE HEAVENS." (II Cor. 5:1).
But are we unlike the Jews in that we really GO to heaven to receive our treasures? NO! Next verse: "For in this also we are groaning, longing to be dressed in our habitation which is OUT of heaven ..."
There are so many Scriptures like this that contradict the rapture theory. Look at this one,
"The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the EARTH hath He given to the children of men" (Psalm 115:6). One more, "... for we are your glorying (even as you also are ours) in THE DAY OF OUR LORD JESUS" (II Cor. 1:14).
Not in the "rapture," but in "the day of our Lord."
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When Christ returns to set up His kingdom on earth, He brings the place of authority or rulership that He has prepared for the apostles with Him so that "... where I am, YOU ALSO MAY BE" (John 14:3). During Christ’s reign on earth His apostles will be WITH THE LORD.
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mercy, peace and love
Kat