The Rapture In Matthew 24?

In “The End times According to Jesus, Part 4″, you said, “Because everyone who believes in the Rapture of the Church agrees it will take place sometime before the 2nd coming, the group in Heaven that the Lord sends His angels to gather up in Matt 24:31 has to include resurrected and raptured church age believers.” You are saying that Matt. 24:31 is the pretrib rapture?

Q. You said, “Because everyone who believes in the Rapture of the Church agrees it will take place sometime before the 2nd coming, the group in Heaven that the Lord sends His angels to gather up in Matt 24:31 has to include resurrected and raptured church age believers.” You are saying that Matt. 24:31 is the pretrib rapture?

The context of 24:31 is Matt 24:29 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Matt 24:30 “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.

Matt 24:31 “And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

So this Matt. 24:31 gathering is “after the tribulation of those days” of v.29. Every Bible commentary I have views this section as the second coming in glory.

A. Yes it is the second coming and that’s my point. His elect have to be gathered up from all over heaven to come back with Him. In order to be scattered all over the place they have to have arrived some amount of time before the Lord’s return in Power and Great Glory. Had the Rapture just occurred as the post-trib position believes, the elect would not have had time to leave the Lord’s side and begin exploring heaven, but would still be with Him knowing they were coming right back.

You can’t build rapture doctrine from that reference, but if you’re already inclined toward a pre-trib view you can see how it fits within the context. Remember, I don’t believe that Jesus taught the rapture in Matt 24 or anywhere else.