How Will Believers Be Present With The Lord?

The Church and Israel are two distinct groups with whom God has a divine plan. The church is a mystery, unrevealed in the Old Testament. This present mystery age intervenes within the program of God for Israel because of Israel’s rejection of the Messiah at His first advent. This mystery program must be completed before God can resume His program with Israel and bring it to completion. These considerations all arise from the literal method of interpretation. Other rapture views deny or weaken the dispensational distinction by placing the Church in the Tribulation which is otherwise noted as “the time of Jacob’s trouble [the Tribulation].”
I Thessalonians Paul’s first epistle to the Thessalonians has much to say about the issue at hand. The most popular passage, of course, is found in I Thessalonians 4:13-18. The event described here includes a return of Christ in the air (not to the earth as the Second Coming is described in Zechariah 14:1-5 and Revelation 19:11-21), a resurrection of the dead in Christ, a rapture of living believers, and a reunion with those who have died in Christ. Paul penned these verses in order to clarify a misunderstanding that the Thessalonians embraced concerning the relationship between the resurrection and the saints who were asleep in Christ to the rapture. The question is this: Does the death of a believer before the Lord comes cause him to lose all hope of sharing in the glorious reign of Christ? Paul’s answer is a reassuring affirmation that the living at the time of the rapture have no advantage over those believers who have died. Those who sleep will be raised to reign with those who remain. Both groups will share in the kingdom. If Paul and the Thessalonians were speaking of a rapture at the end of the Tribulation, it seems illogical that they would sorrow over believers who were fortunate enough to die and miss the horrible judgments that await these last years.

Paul anticipated, “to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.”? 2Cor 5:8. Does this say that to be absent from the body is to be immediately with the Lord? No. The time between death and the out-resurrection will seem, to those who die, to pass in an instant. For this reason Paul could covet death knowing that from his perspective the next thing He would know is being with Christ. In the context Paul speaks of three states: 1. Clothed in the body 2. Unclothed 3. Clothed with our Heavenly body. Paul did not want to be “unclothed” (dead) but clothed in the Heavenly body. When will we be clothed in our immortal body? Paul taught “that this mortal will “PUT ON (be clothed with) immortality” when the dead rise at the Second Coming (1Cor 51-55). How do the dead in Christ get to be present with the Lord? By the out-resurrection (1Thess 16-17). Indeed, the Apostle Paul was anticipating the return of Christ in his lifetime, as do we now. Now:
The rapture, which is pre-trib, is not technically a resurrection, for all, in the group, born again believers, are not dead, as some remain alive, therefore the word of God refers to this as an out-resurrection, as only some are resurrected, of that group! no rapture/gathering together mentioned in O.T./ Gospels/ Revelation, sure:
THE GENEVA BIBLE AND SIX PRIOR BIBLES BEFORE KING JAMES USED THE WORD " A DEPARTING" OR "DEPARTURE" INSTEAD OF A "FALLING AWAY" IN 2 THESSALONIANS 2:3.
Greek - "he apostasia" means THE Departure - from the circumference of a circle, directed outward, away from the circle.
NOTE "A DEPARTING"COMES FIRST, "AND THAT THAT MAN OF SIN WILL BE DISCLOSED". DON'T FORGET IT ALSO SAYS “NOW YOU KNOW WHAT WITH HOLDITH" AND "HE WHO LETS SHALL LET TILL HE BE TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY." WHAT OR WHO DO YOU BELIEVE WILL BE TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY? IT MAKES ALSO MAKES NO SENSE THAT PAUL WOULD TELL A VERY NEW AND SMALL CHURCH IN THESSALONIA, THAT A SIGN OF BEGINNING OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION WOULD BE A FALLING AWAY FROM THE CHURCH WHEN THEY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE MANY CHRISTIANS THERE TO FALL AWAY. ALSO HE WAS REFERRING TO SOMETHING HE HAD TOLD THEM ABOUT BEFORE. WHAT HAD HE PREVIOUSLY TOLD THEM? 1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words. IT SOUNDS MORE LIKE HE TOLD THEM ABOUT “A DEPARTING OR DEPARTURE” THEN A FALLING AWAY. AS A MATTER OF FACT PAUL DID NOT DESCRIBE “A GREAT FALLING AWAY” AT ALL AND ACTUALLY SAID IN 1TIMOTHY 4:1 THAT ONLY “SOME SHALL DEPART FROM THE FAITH” 1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; SO ALTHOUGH HE BELIEVED EVEN THEN, THE TIMES WERE EVIL, HE DID NOT EXPECT A GREAT FALLING AWAY OF BELIEVERS BUT THAT THE EVIL WOULD GET WORSE. 2Ti 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. AND TO THE CORINTHIANS PAUL SAID THIS: 1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
OTHER TRANSLATIONS THAT USED DEPARTING OR DEPARTURE. The first seven English translations of apostasia all rendered the noun as either " departure" or " departing." They are: the Wycliffe Bible (1384); Tyndale Bible (1526); Coverdale Bible (1535); Cranmer Bible (1539); Breeches Bible (1576); Beza Bible (1583); Geneva Bible (1608).
Bible study to bless the saints of the "Body of Christ".
Be sure to look at all of the verses in this study.
The Body of Christ will not go through Israel’s tribulation. To begin with, Israel and the Body of Christ are not the same. Neither are God’s plans for them. God’s plan for Israel concerns Christ returning to earth in a spectacular event called the Revelation – to inaugurate His Kingdom in Jerusalem (Matt. 24-25; Rev. 19-20. This plan was “spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21; see Luke 1:70). God’s plan for the Body of Christ is completely different. It concerns our heavenly inheritance, not an earthly kingdom. Jesus revealed this program to Paul only as a mystery “kept secret since the world began” (Rom. 16:25; see Eph. 3:3-9). In that it began as a mystery, it will likewise disappear in a mystery called the Rapture; an any moment event whereby Jesus returns for us in the air (1 Thess. 4:16-17), snatches us from earth, and takes us back to Heaven with Him as He promised (John 14:2-3) – when “the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Rom. 11:25). Then comes “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7; see Dan. 12:1; Zeph. 1:15) – aka tribulation. The tribulation - as it is most commonly known (Moses: Deut. 4:30; Jesus: Matt. 24:21, 29; John: Rev. 7:14) - is part of God’s earthly program for Israel. It is also called “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7; Dan. 12:1; Zeph. 1:15), Daniel’s Seventieth Week (Dan. 9:26-27), and “the hour of temptation” (Rev. 3:10. It has no bearing on the mystery Body of Christ, which will be gone before it begins. From the beginning it was prophesied to Israel (Deut. 4:30), and thus is primarily for Israel (Jer. 30-31; Dan. 12:1, Zeph. 1:15; Matt. 24:21, 29). Its purpose is to punish sin and sinners (Jer. 30-31; Zeph. 1; Joel; Rev. 6-19), and prepare earth and Israel for the Revelation of the Messiah and the Jewish (Millennial) Kingdom promised to David in perpetuity through Covenant (2 Sam. 7:8-16), and sealed with an oath (Psa. 89:3-4, 20-37; see Luke 1:31-33). While the prophets revealed the tribulation as a horrific but integral component in the Day of the Lord (Isa. 2:12, etc ), it was Daniel’s prophecy where its duration was revealed as the final week of seven years in his seventy week prophecy for Israel (Dan. 9:24-27; see Rev. 11:2-3; 12:14). To wit, while we can easily find Israel and the anti-Semitic Gentile nations on earth during “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7; Dan. 12:1; Zeph. 1:15), the heavenly Body of Christ - which has been promised deliverance from this divine punishment (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9; 2 Thess. 2:5-7;) - is conspicuously absent (Rev. 2-19). There isn’t a prophecy or a single verse anywhere in the Bible conclusively identifying the Body of Christ on earth during Israel’s tribulation without pulling from context and redefining the words “saints” and “elect” - which in Daniel, the Olivet Discourse, and Revelation specifically refer to Israel. In lieu of these factors and others we are convinced that the Body of Christ will not go through Israel’s tribulation!
 We know that death still has a sting, that the corruptible has not yet put on incorruption and that the mortal has not yet put on immortality.  But we also know that our enemy death will be destroyed and that the dead in Christ shall rise and we who are alive shall be changed and that we will meet  our lord in the air and forever be with him.  What a glorious day that will be!