John 6:40 And The Rapture

John 6-40 says that all that have seen him(Jesus) that he would raise them up on the last day. If this was the last day that Jesus stated he would raise us up on and it is pre-trib rapture, how do we get a continuance of time for a tribulation?

Q. John 6-40 says that all that have seen him( AKA Jesus) (I assume he is speaking about those people he was speaking with at that moment & those who saw him during his ministry on earth) that he would raise them up on the last day, and since the living are not to proceed the dead according to Paul in 1st Thessalonians 4 vss 16 & 17 at the coming of Jesus & the gathering of the dead in Christ in the air, I assume that all the disciples he was speaking to at that moment will proceed me if he came (TODAY) and if this was the last day that Jesus stated he would raise us up on and it is pre-trib rapture, how do we get a continuance of time for a tribulation in which many people will be killed for their testimony of Christ by an anti-Christ?

A. First of all, John 6:40 doesn’t say “all who have seen the Son”. It says “all who see the Son.” There’s a big difference. The Greek word means “to behold, to view mentally, to consider.” This is something that can be done by every believer from that day to this. But yes, at the Rapture the dead in Christ will rise first and then we who are still alive.

Second, the verse doesn’t say on the last day but at the last day. This gives us leeway to interpret the phrase “last day” as being the general time of the end, and not a specific 24 hour period. The phrase last day has been translated to mean every thing from the entire Church Age to the actual day of the Lord’s coming.

There will be two groups of believers raised up during the End Times. The first is the Church (1 Thes. 4:16-17), at the beginning, and the second is the Tribulation martyrs (Rev. 20:4), at the end. Both are part of the first resurrection which began with the Lord, the first fruits.