We who are believers in Christ as Son of the Living Father and King, will be “taken away” to be with Him, or as some put it raptured before God begins his final wrath against the world. Some say this will last seven years, others say it could be longer. Here’s a brief timeline so to speak as to what Pre-Tribbers believe (I’m one). Just a side-note.....I’m not trying to start a fight either, and whether one believes this or not, or believes in Preterism, it has no effect on Eternal Security which can only be found in Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross (See John 14:6, John 3:16, John 6:29, Romans 10:9-10).
1. Psalm 83 war or Great Mideast War (Israel vs. Palestinians, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Hamas, possibly Syria)
2. Rapture of Church
3. Confirmation of Covenant of God’s land with Abraham
4. Tribulation Begins
5. Gog & Magog War (Seal Judgements) Ezekiel 38 for a Russian, Persian, Turkish, Libyan, Sudan invasion of Israel
6. A/C sets out to conquer the world (Mark of the Beast issued)
7. Mid-Point 3.5 years into the Tribulation, Jews & Christians are slaughtered by A/C’s forces (Zechariah 12-14)
8 Jesus Returns at Armageddon
We who are believers in Christ as Son of the Living Father and King, will be “taken away” to be with Him,
So if you die before the rapture what then?
I believe Jesus himself explains it better
Luke 17
20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
22 And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.
23 And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.
24 For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.
25 But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.
26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
John 3
3Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God is here now, that is what Jesus said but he said you must be born of the spirit to recognize it.
During the kingdom of God only the believers can see the kingdom, because it is within us.
I was taught pretty much the same way you believe, my teachers proclaimed that we would be taken up to meet Jesus but not many of them are still alive, most of them are buried in the grave yards.
So i had to do a lot of thinking and a little reading.