[[The word rapture is not found in Scripture but hearkens to 1 Thess. 4:17 where St. Paul says that when the Lord comes again
“we who are alive…shall be caught up…in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”
This “being caught up…in the clouds”—arpagisometha in Greek, is translated by some as “raptured”. The word itself is not found in Orthodox theology.]]
Try reading that passage in LATIN -rapiemur = is where we get rapture
( I Thess 4,17) Deinde nos, qui vivimus, qui relinquimur , simul rapiemur cum illis in nubibus obviam Domino in aera et sic semper cum Domino erimus .
That’s nice. But Paul did not write in Latin. He was not a native of Italy and Greek was the almost universal language of educated men in those days.
“we who are alive…shall be caught up…in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”
And when I was a very very young girl I dreamed that this happened, and it was BEFORE I could read, before I had heard about this. I dreamed a cloud picked us up and was taking us up up and away. I threw a fit, my family wasn’t with me, and it dropped me back to earth....
I don’t think the Word “Trinity” is found in scripture.
In 1 Thessalonians 4 Paul was comforting those whose loved ones had died (are asleep) and explains that our grief is tempered with the hope of the resurrection (vs 13) because those who are alive “shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.”
“The dead in Christ shall rise first.”
Then, in 2 Thessalonians 2 Paul writes to calm them again because someone said the Lord had already come!
Paul explicitly states that the Lord’s return will not be until after the anti-Christ is revealed. So, the key is the resurrection. There are two. In Revelation 20:5 is the first resurrection of the faithful martyrs from the Great Tribulation and “”the rest of the dead did [do] not come to life until the thousand years were [are] completed.”
The first resurrection occurs AFTER the anti-Christ is revealed and upon the return of the King of kings and those who survive the Great Tribulation join them. Before the destruction of the universe after the thousand year rule, all others are resurrected, believers gathered, to be with God forever. Followers of Satan join him.
Oh, those who are resurrected in the first resurrection (those martyred) rule with the King of kings during the thousand years. The survivors do return to earth with Him, but do not rule with Him. What a wonderful time! I believe they will live hundreds of years, like before the flood. But that is just my opinion.
Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians was to assure them that it could not happen, because the man of sin and Satan’s tribulation of the saints must come first.