A Gap Between The Rapture And The 70th Week?

Q. I have heard several prophecy teachers state that the Rapture of the Church and the beginning of the Tribulation do not necessarily happen at the same time. I believe that to be true. I know that the Tribulation starts when the Antichrist signs a peace treaty with Israel. I know no one has inside information on the timing of the Rapture because it is a signless event. I just wonder how long of a gap there could possibly be between the Rapture and the Tribulation.
The Rapture will undoubtedly put the world into a time of unprecedented crisis and I highly doubt the Antichrist will take too long to take advantage of this time of turmoil before he steps in as the “man with a plan”. Do you have any opinion on what kind of a time frame we might be looking at between these two events?

A. From the context of your question, I’m assuming that when you say the Tribulation, you mean the entire 7 years of Daniel’s 70th week, not just the last half, known as the Great Tribulation.

Because the Rapture is a signless event there is no way to speculate on the length of time that might transpire between it and the beginning of the 70th Week.  Since I believe the 70th week is likely to begin sometime in 2011 and this is 2009, I could argue that there can’t be more than 2 years, but that’s just my opinion.