The whole rapture business was a novelty introduced during the 19th century. It is not to be found in the Bible, nor in the writings of the Church fathers during the first 400 years after Christ’s resurrection, nor in the writings of the Protestant reformers, nor in the documents of Trent, etc., etc.
But millenialists are fun to watch...
When I was a teenager, the whole "Left Behind" series was recent and popular. I was likewise interested in the concept of the Rapture and how it would play out. After listening to people argue about it and disparage each other ad nauseum, though, I finally remembered the most important scripture:
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
That's it. That's the key concept. Everything else is fluff, and not worth getting into a snit about.
How God chooses to implement that is frankly not my concern. I can't plan for it, I can't affect it, and I can't bargain for the method in which He'll carry it out. If there's a rapture, and it takes the believers, I don't expect to be around afterward. If there's a rapture, and it takes the unbelievers, I guess I'll still be here.
If I die before any rapture takes place, which is equally likely, the personal effect to me is still the same.
In the immortal words of Zap Brannigan: "Never have I been so intrigued by something I care so little about!"
Every year we find more sources prior to Darby that outline a two phased second coming. Your view (that the doctrine of the rapture was invented by Darby) is utterly obsolete.
Some things at issue were the Deity of Christ, His identity with the Father, and the Trinity among others. The theological formulation of the Trinity must be deduced from the Bible, it is not explicitly stated even though the idea is pervasive in Scriptures, and the Church universally acknowledges it. But that wasn't always the case. So things “develop”.
Another interesting idea is that one can see the gradual realization by the Apostles and first Christians that gentiles could be included in the Church. Remember Peter's response to the Lord in his vision of the sheet. And consider Paul's statements about consulting with the Elders in Jerusalem, not for permission but for confirmation. And don't forget that Peter wrote that Paul said things which were hard to understand. It is very evident that growth in understanding took place amongst the Apostles and the early Church, and that it is still taking place today.
Now, Chilaism, which is not identical with dispensationalism, is extremely early, and admittedly controversial. Dispensationalism, which is chilaistic, did not arise de novo in the nineteenth century, but that is when Darby and others gave it its expression in the form we are familiar with from Schofield (for example). Millenialism, as an idea, is part and parcel of Dispensationalism. There is a 1000 year reign mentioned in the Bible. Literal or not, it is there. But Millenialism has a separate existence from Dispensationalism. Remember the roof-toppers of 1000 A.D? They were not Dispensationalists. And, possibly the most important aspect of Dispensationalism is the idea that Israel and the Church are separate entities. Other theologies don't make this clear, or reject it. But it has important implications beyond Millenialism.
It's important to understand that Dispensationalism does answer some questions, leaves others standing, and is not completely satisfactory. But that can be said for Covenant theology as well. Phillip Schaff wrote that all the orthodox denominations have had some positive contribution to the Church's understanding. Which I think is a more helpful approach than denominational partisanship.
One doesn't surrender one’s faith by critically and fairly evaluating another theology. Even Cornelius Van Til I think allowed that.
I know this is rambling and I'm covering too much ground. But it's all to the point of saying that Millenialism in neither new nor silly. Even though there are new and silly ideas about it.
The word "rapture" is found in the Bible, if you have the Latin Vulgate produced by Jerome in the early 400s. The Vulgate was the main Bible of the medieval Western Church until the Reformation.
Surely you are familiar with the phrase that it’s better to remain silent and be thought………then to speak and prove?