The Rapture (1Thess4:13-18) and the Second setting foot on Earth (Rev19:11-19) are two different events. The first will snatch away millions and millions who are vital to the smooth running of the infrastructure, and the chaos THAT will cause will be bad enough. But then the forces still on Earth when it is void of 'the restrainer' (as in the collective presence of The Holy Spirit in believers, raptured out from the populations) will rail at each other and then seek to erase Israel from the planet ('get rid of those pesky 144,000 evangelizing troublemakers!').The First coming of Son of Man was to the Jewish people, and he was 'cut off', rejected by the Jews, as foretold in Isaiah and Daniel and elsewhere (Ez, Zachar, etc). The Second coming of the Son of Man will also be to the Jews, the Jewish evangelizers, the 144,000, or at least those remaining alive at His touchdown on Earth the Second time.
Jesus need not set foot on earth to call out His bride, and in fact that is perhaps why He himself alluded to the Bride and the bridesmaids and the trimmed and untrimmed lamps. He visited Saul on the road to Damascus without 'touching down' on the Earth.
Many site the days of Noah incorrectly, on purpose, trying to claim the unrighteous were taken, not Noah. But the essence of the Rapture will be the same as in the days of Noah, when God shut the Noah family up in the Ark BEFORE the rains came and the waters rose eventually drown all but those taken into the Ark.
And then they try to use the days of Lot, but there too the Angels came and directed Lot and his family out of Sodom BEFORE the targeting happened. The Lord delivered His chosen BEFORE the bad things arrived. At the end of the Trib period, the tares will first be removed and then a harvest of new saints will happen, new saints formed during the tribulation and the pouring out of the wrath on that terrible Day of The Lord.
So the Lord will come and take His Bride out BEFORE the Tribulation arrives. And this taking out will change the balance of power on Earth in a mighty way, allowing the forces of evil such as Islam to rampage unopposed, until Israel fights back (Psalm 83 war). The 'Pale Horse' BTW can be translated as the green horse ... green in any flag of note today?
The Rapture is depicted by Paul and Jesus as delivering from the tribulation. The Second Coming (a Jewish reference since He will be making His second arrival ON EARTH) will be bringing his saints as an army in clean linens and His vesture will be dipped in blood. The bridegroom would not come for His bride with his vesture dripping blood. But He would have the dripping of blood when coming as conquering King and Lord of Lords, to serve Judgment upon the earth.
When folks demand that we stop explaining these things, it is a sure sign to me that the 'plane is over the target'. The Rapture could happen any moment, between NOW and 2017. I suspect it is sooner rather than toward 2017, because it is the chaos following the Rapture which I believe makes it so easy for an evil leader to get the world to agree to his enactments.
And we should also note that because the world will believe a great lie (regarding the snatching away no doubt, since those left behind will say 'good riddance to those pesky myth-mongers called 'Christians'), God will send them strong delusion. But those 144,000 evangelists will not be afraid of martyrdom for His namesake, because they will have been selected by the Holy Spirit and will know precisely when the Second Coming is to arrive, in 7 years split into two 3 1/2 year periods.
The Rapture and the Second Coming are two distinctly different events, I believe, separated by exactly seven years. But the Rapture could come a few weeks or months before the man of sin emerges making Peace and Safety utterances.
.
>> “The Rapture and the Second Coming are two distinctly different events, I believe, separated by exactly seven years.” <<
.
Total nonsense!
The “rapture” is the “First Resurrection,” which will be followed 15 days later by Yeshua’s return to the Earth to crush the “Governments of Men.” It all begins at the end of the tribulation, which begins the wrath of God in the bowl judgements.
The Thessalonians had been told that a rapture had happened, and that they had been left behind. The total purpose of Paul’s letter was to tell them that it was impossible, because the “Man of Sin” must come first, then the tribulation of the saints.
.