Hi Gene,
But this still smells like rapture...or maybe I'm getting the meaning rapture wrong. Cause whether "air" or "cloud" whats the big difference? Regardless we shall be carried off together with them (the dead right?) to be with the lord.
1Th 4:17 then we who are living, who are remaining over, together with them shall be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in air, and so always with the Lord we shall be;
Mar 13:26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
v. 27 And then He shall send His angels and shall gather His elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of heaven.
This is the first resurrection, this is where the Elect have raised up and gather to "meet" Jesus Christ. Those in the first resurrection will no longer be earth bound, they have been perfected and are born into the heavenly kingdom as the bride of Christ, New Jerusalem.
Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And the sea no longer is.
v. 2 And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her Husband.
The second resurrection of the rest of the dead will be back to physical life and they of course will live on the earth and so the chosen elect will be reigning with Christ on this earth.
Rev 5:10 And You made us kings and priests to our God, and
we will reign over the earth.
Mat 6:10 Your kingdom come, Your will be done,
on earth as it is in Heaven.
So the Elect will rise up to meet Jesus Christ, but their mission is to reign with Christ over the nations on the earth, who must be purged and cleansed of all their wood, hay and stubble. The elect are the lake of fire.
Rev 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of Heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.
Rev 21:10-11 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God, having the glory of God...
Rev 21:22 And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty is its temple, even the Lamb.
v. 23 And the city had no need of the sun, nor of the moon, that they might shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
v. 24 And the nations of those who are saved will walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.
v. 25 And its gates may not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there.
v. 26 And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
v. 27 And there shall in no way enter into it anything that defiles, or any making an abomination or a lie; but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
The question is: WHEN will this event in 1 Thess 4:16-17); happen?
Mat 24:36 But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not the angels of Heaven, but only My Father.
mercy, peace and love
Kat