Isaiah And The Rapture

Q.  I am currently reading through Isaiah.  It’s been difficult for me, to say the least, because I know there are numerous time shifts in the prophecies between Isaiah’s day and the Day of the Lord.  Would love to read a study from you on Isaiah sometime!!!  But one chapter/verse has stuck with me, and I need some insight.  Do you think that Isa 26:20-21 is speaking prophetically about the Church, or is he speaking to the remnant of Israel that will be supernaturally protected in Petra during the Great Trib?  I read the NIV, and it uses the word “rooms”.  Upon reading Isaiah’s statement, I immediately thought of John 14:2, where the NIV also uses the word “rooms”, and I understand its a more literal translation of Jesus’ statement, as opposed to Mansions in the KJV.  Could it simply be a coincidence, and Isaiah is really just speaking to Israel?

A. Isaiah 26:19-20 are meant to be taken together. In verse 19 the subject is the resurrection, and verse 20 has to be speaking of the Rapture, which comes immediately after.  Both verses point to an event that takes place before the wrath of God comes. Most scholars place the resurrection of Israel’s dead at the end of the Great Tribulation based on Daniel 12:1-2. Also If Isaiah was referring to the Jews in Petra, he would have reversed the order since living Jews are told to flee into the mountains first, then the dead are raised later.

The first word of verse 20 can be translated come, go, or my favorite, vanish.  I believe this is the passage Paul was referring to when he opened the rapture passage in 1 Thes. 4 by saying “according to the Lord’s own word.” (1 Thes. 4:15)  The Lord never mentioned the rapture in the New Testament.