The time of The Second Coming of Christ is described as The Tribulations have passed. But the time before His Return are described in Luke ch 17
22Later he talked again about this with his disciples. “The time is coming when you will long to share in the days of the Son of Man, but you won’t be able to,” he said. 23“Reports will reach you that the Son of Man has returned and that he is in this place or that. Don’t believe such reports or go out to look for him. 24For when the Son of Man returns, you will know it beyond all doubt. It will be as evident as the lightning that flashes across the sky. 25But first the Son of Man must suffer terribly£ and be rejected by this generation. 26“When the Son of Man returns, the world will be like the people were in Noah’s day. 27In those days before the flood, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came to destroy them all. 28“And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business—eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building—29until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the hour when the Son of Man returns.£ 31On that day a person outside the house£ must not go into the house to pack. A person in the field must not return to town. 32Remember what happened to Lot’s wife! 33Whoever clings to this life will lose it, and whoever loses this life will save it. 34That night two people will be asleep in one bed; one will be taken away, and the other will be left. 35Two women will be grinding flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.”£ 37“Lord, where will this happen?” the disciples asked. Jesus replied, “Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.”£
Those times being described do not sound like a world that has been through The Tribulations. It sounds like a world fixing to fall under judgment.
The calling forth of the Bride by Christ is a spiritual calling out. Reading 1 Corinthians 15:
50What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These perishable bodies of ours are not able to live forever. 51But let me tell you a wonderful secret God has revealed to us. Not all of us will die, but we will all be transformed. 52It will happen in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died£ will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die. 53For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die. 54When this happens—when our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die—then at last the Scriptures will come true:
When the last trumpet is blown this is not a trumpet blast talked about in The Revelation this the second blast as related to the Jewish wedding tradition. When The Father of The Groom tells His Son to bring His Bride that blast occurs. One last thing pointing to this is The Revelation chapter 4. John sees The 24 Elders cloathed in white with gold crowns. He sees this before he is shown the Tribulation. The Twenty Four Elders we do not know who they are yet only GOD knows. We do know that being robed in white and gold crown means they have pased judgment and are rightous. They are the ones in chapter 5 saying
1And I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne. There was writing on the inside and the outside of the scroll, and it was sealed with seven seals. 2And I saw a strong angel, who shouted with a loud voice: “Who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll and unroll it?” 3But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and read it. 4Then I wept because no one could be found who was worthy to open the scroll and read it. 5But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne,£ has conquered. He is worthy to open the scroll and break its seven seals.”
Why would John be seeing the 24 Elders if they were not in heaven at the Throne of GOD before the Tribulations begin? The Bible clearly places them being there before judgment begins. One of the 24 could very well be one still living today. We don't know.
But ones belief as to the order of events to occur before Christ Second Coming is not what determines a persons salvation. Rather it is how they interpit and understand scriptures. Any of us could be right in our understanding or only partially right.
If we are to indeed be in The Tribulations till the end then I have no doubt our Lord and Savior will as He was with Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego even before His life on earth had began He will be with us and not foresake us.
I agree that a person's understanding of the order of events surrounding Christ's return does not determine their salvation. The problem is when a person is continually presented with Scriptural truth and continues to deny - not because of a lack of understanding, but because they do not want to know and see the truth, they hate the truth, and refuse to see the truth.
If someone who is truly saved is mislead at some point as to Christ's return it doesn't affect their salvation but it does rob them of the "blessed hope" that Christ tells us that those of us who know Him as Savior have in the promise of the harpazo. I believe that those people can be shown through Scripture that they, like Christ says, are not appointed to His wrath and will be, like Christ says, removed from the time of the Tribulation. Sometimes the belief in the error of a post-Tribulation Rapture comes from a genuine emotional conviction that it would be unfair for the modern Church to escape to heaven scot free to escape the martyrdom that other believers have experienced. And while it is easy to understand such an emotion, it would be wrong to deny the doctrine of the pretribulation Rapture on this basis alone. The reality is that while many Christians have endured tremendous persecutions and tribulations, untold millions of believers have lived out their lives in times of peace. Furthermore, all of those Christians who died in either peace or persecution throughout history have already escaped the Great Tribulation.
I really believe that for many of those who are in Christ, prayer and consistent Biblical teaching will bring them to the understanding that they will not go through the time that Jesus has set aside for this evil, Christ-rejecting world and that they do have that "blessed hope" that Jesus has given us.
I especially appreciate the Scripture from Luke 17 you posted and the fact you pointed out that that cannot describe anything other than a pre-Tribulation Rapture. And pointing out that the trumpet is akin to the ancient Jewish wedding is wonderful too. I have seen the comparison between the old Jewish wedding traditions and the Rapture of the church. The similarities are uncanny.
Thank you again for your excellent post. And, rest assured from Jesus Himself, His bride will not go through the Tribulation.