Lord Jesus Himself said it, in Matthew 24:29-31 and Mark 13:24-27.
And did you know brethren the Matthew 24:31 and Mark 13:27 verses parallel what Apostle Paul taught in 1 Thessalonians 4 about the event of Jesus' future coming and gathering of His faithful Church?
Matthew 24:
[29] Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
[30] And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
[31] And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
? Tribulation of what days?
? What is the sign of the Son of man ?
? Who are all the tribes?
? Why are all the tribes mourning ?
? Who are the mourners Seeing the Son of man coming?
? What Trumpet sound, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7th ?
? Who are the elect being gathered from the four winds?
? Who are the elect being gathered from one end of heaven to the other?
? Who is doing the gathering from the four winds?
? Who is doing the gathering from the heavens?
Those who are preaching a pre-trib rapture, or a mid-trib rapture, are simply NOT following what Jesus Himself said in His Word. I can't put it any more honestly than that.
What is your point? Jesus’ Church, is the tribes of the Earth, and shall see the Sign of the Son of man....AND MOURN? Why?
Maybe, the MOURNING Tribes of the Earth IS ISRAEL, and they are MOURNING, because they didn’t BELIEVE in the Son of God, but SEE his SIGN, and mourning because they DIDN’T Believe!
Jews LOOK for signs. Jews REQUIRE a sign. (1 Cor 1:22)
And when they GET a SIGN, oops. It’s that Son of Man AGAIN, this time, coming WITH POWER, oops, oops.
So WHO is being gathered from one end of Heaven to Another?
Ding, ding, ding....
Ancient men Before Christ...men who died faithful to God.
Men After Christ....who were converted IN Christ...Christ’s Church.
^ The Raptured ^