Jesus said there would be "great tribulation" which His followers (the "elect") must endure. Yet for "the elects sake, those days shall be shortened."
God's final people "came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." They did not escape it, but endured through it, being purified.
After describing the “persecutions and tribulations” which the early believers where enduring, Paul wrote: 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”
Paul was expecting that the church would be enduring persecution and tribulation right up until the coming of Jesus at the very end of the world.
The idea that the church will be raptured away before the period of tribulation sounds good, because no one wants to go through persecution or hardship, but the fact is that throughout history Christians have suffered for their faith, and there will be no relief from that until the end of the world.
I agree.
Indeed!