Paul said the dead in Christ will rise first then we who remain will be caught up together with them. Do you think the dead in Christ will be permitted to walk among us before we are caught up? When I think about the Crucifixion, Scripture says when Christ died the Veil was split in two and the graves opened. After the Resurrection they walked about Jerusalem and were seen by many. This fascinated me just thinking about how surprised some must have been to see their loved ones again. I wonder if at the Rapture the same thing might happen and we might see those family members who were born again but had died before we go up. What a testimony it might be for those who are “fence straddlers” who believe but are not ready to live completely for Christ.
I don’t see anything in the various rapture passages indicating a span of time between the resurrection and the rapture that would allow the resurrected dead to walk around among the living. As for us seeing them, we’ll be going to heaven with them and will have eternity together.
I don’t think the people coming out of their tombs at the time of the Lord’s resurrection and appearing to others will be repeated in the rapture. They were the fulfillment of the sample of the harvest, or wave offering, that was associated with the feast of first fruits (Lev. 23:9-14). And as for a sign to fence sitters, if people are born again they’ll be taken in the rapture even if they’re not living completely for Christ. If they’re not born again, Abraham told the rich man that people have the Scriptures for a witness, and if they didn’t believe them even someone coming back from the dead wouldn’t convince them (Luke 16:31). These words were proven true shortly afterward when although many holy people from the past were seen in Jerusalem after the resurrection (Matt. 27:53), the nation didn’t turn to God.
Don’t get me wrong. Untold thousands of Jews became believers in the time after Pentecost but the nation continued in unbelief and ceased to exist shortly afterward. This is what I believe will happen because of the rapture. Multitudes will come to faith, but the world will continue in unbelief and within a few years will cease to exist as we know it.