I was discussing the rapture with some other guys. One of them said that (regarding 1 Thes. 4) there’s a shout and a trumpet, so how could the rapture be secret if there’s such a big fanfare right before it happens? Second, they said that John 14:2-3 could just as easily mean that we come back to earth to the New Creation in Rev. 21. It seems to me that there is a bunch of stuff being skipped over for that interpretation to work. Your thoughts?
It’s not necessary for every one Earth to hear the shout and the trumpet. Only believers need to hear it. This would not be unusual. In Daniel 10 Daniel was the only one who saw the Lord standing on the bank of the river. The men with him just felt a tremendous fear and fled. And in Acts 9 the men traveling with Saul on the Damascus road heard a sound they couldn’t identify but didn’t see the Lord or hear Him speaking to Paul.
Besides, it’s the timing of the rapture that’s secret, not the event itself, and Paul said it will take place in the twinkling of an eye. After millions have disappeared it will be obvious that something has happened.
In John 14:2-3 the Lord promised to go and prepare a place for us, and then to come back to get us and take us there. We will go to the New Jerusalem as Rev. 21 explains, but it’s far too big to be located on Earth as your friends mistakenly believe. At 1400 miles in length, width, and height it’s about 2/3rds the size of the Moon.