They shall rise from the dead just as Christ rose from the dead in the third day. At this point, all the saints will be alive on the earth in bodies no longer subject to injury or death. There is no point in lifting them from the surface of the earth in order to escape Antichrist or tribulation; they are invulnerable, being in spiritual bodies.

It is not logical, therefore, to present the catching up (rapture) as being God's means of delivering us from suffering. Nor is it taught anywhere in the Scriptures that the resurrection is for the purpose of delivering us from suffering.

The Lord is not coming to "catch a waiting bride away." This is not true. Rather, He is coming to call up to Himself, who is the Commander in Chief, the army of the Lord in preparation for the attack of Armageddon.

Let us cast the "pre-tribulation rapture" illusion from our minds and spirits. It is not of the Lord. Those who believe in it are not entering the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles, into the fullness that is the protection God has provided for the saints during the closing days of the present age (John 14:23).

How long will the resurrected saints be on the earth before they ascend to meet the Lord? We cannot say. There were forty days between the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus. This may or may not be the case with the saints.

At Christ's appearing the saints of all time will be caught up to meet the Lord; not to return into the spirit realm with Him, but to meet Him as He descends from Heaven to take command of the governments of the earth. All the teaching about the Lord catching His Bride away, of the saints disappearing, has no support in this passage.

It is possible that the parable of the ten virgins, in which the five wise go with the Lord to the wedding, is taking place today (at least in some measure) and has to do with the entering of our inner man into a higher place in God, not with the lifting of the outward man from the surface of the earth. It is today we are being awakened. It is today the foolish are beginning to seek oil for their lamps.

It may be true that it is at our point of meeting the Lord that we (our outward man) will be clothed over with the body from Heaven. For the body from Heaven is our reward, and we know from the Scriptures that the Lord will bring our rewards with Him when He returns (Revelation 22:12).

First, our flesh and bone body will be raised to stand on its feet (or, in the case of the living saints, our blood will disappear and incorruptible resurrection life will take the place of the blood). Second, our physical body, now animated by spiritual power rather than blood, will ascend to meet the Lord in the air.

We are not certain at what point our animated physical body will be clothed with our house from Heaven, with the "eternal weight" of life and glory that is the result of presenting our mortal body a living sacrifice to the Lord (II Corinthians 4:16-5:5).

To be continued.