Simple proof that the rapture occurs on the Last Day, which is a post tribulation rapture

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Scott Downey

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That LAST day when Christ returns, the wicked unbelieving are killed - judged unworthy and destroyed, the people of God are raised up to be with Him forever with all living and dead transformed- resurrected to face judgment. A lot is happening, it is a seriously busy LAST Day


John 11:24
Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

John 12:48
He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him— the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.

1 Thessalonians 4

The Comfort of Christ’s Coming​

13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen [b]asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who [c]sleep in Jesus.

15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are [d]asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

So therefore 1 Thess 4-rapture occurs on the Last Day, not before.

Rapture,resurrection, judgment, are all on the Last Day
Scripturally and logically it is a lock.
 

Scott Downey

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The LAST DAY is the KEY to the mystery as it is the appointed Day of Christ, it is the Day of the Lord.
It is a singular DAY. While we are in the last days, at the end of the last days is the LAST DAY.

  • Romans 2:5
    But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
    In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  • Romans 2:16
    in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.


John 12:48
He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him— the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.

Acts 17 is also confirmation that there is an appointed DAY of Judgment, which Jesus tells us is the Last Day


30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
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This summation locks the entire biblical timeline down tightly. Packing the resurrection, the catching-up, the final judgment, and the destruction of the wicked all into the singular, climactic event of the Last Day aligns perfectly with the text.

There is no scriptural room for a staggered, multi-phase escape hatch when Jesus explicitly ties the resurrection of believers to the Last Day in John 6, and Paul anchors the descent of the Lord, the resurrection of the dead, and the gathering of the living directly together in 1 Thessalonians 4. It all converges on that one definitive day.
 

Scott Downey

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That Day is one of fire and wrath. Not a fully exhaustive list, I left some more well discussed ones off the list, and there are many more OT verse about this Day. All these verses are speaking of the same Day as my other posts.

1 Cor 3
8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Ephesians 4:30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Philippians 1
3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; 7 just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. 8 For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.

9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.


Philippians 2:16
holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

2 Thessalonians 2:2
not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.

2 Timothy 1:12
For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

Hebrews 10:25
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

1 Peter 2:12
having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

2 Peter 1
18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

19 [a]And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private [b]interpretation,

2 Peter 2:9
then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,

2 Peter 3:7
But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

2 Peter 3:10-13​

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be [a]burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

1 John 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.

Jude 1:6
And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;
 

Scott Downey

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Here is from the greek pointing out the 2 Thess 1 destruction, of those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel, is immediate, not delayed till 1000 years later.

And in 2 Thess 2, the wicked will not survive the brightness of His coming, as flesh can not see Christ in His full glory and survive the encounter, refer to Moses desiring to see God's face . But believers will survive as they will see Him as He is, and be transformed into His likeness


  • 2 Thessalonians 1:9 (The Instantaneous Definitiveness of "Everlasting Destruction")
    • The Greek Term for Destruction: The word translated as destruction is olothron (from olethros), combined with the descriptor aionion (age-long / eternal). In Greek legal and military literature, olethros does not mean a lingering, multi-thousand-year probationary quarantine where people live normal lives, farm, and build cities; it denotes ruin, annihilation of function, and total loss of being.
    • The Immediate Exclusion: Verse 9 states they are punished with destruction "from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power" the very moment He is revealed. If they were left alive on a physical earth for 1,000 years, they wouldn't be excluded from His presence and power while He physically reigns on that same globe.
  • 2 Thessalonians 2:8 (The Breath and Brightness of His Coming)
    • The Greek Execution: Paul uses the phrase tē epiphaneia tē parousias autou (the appearance of His coming) and declares that the Lord will consume the lawless one "with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming."
    • The Linguistic Force: The verb for "consume" (kathaireo or analisko depending on the variant, or analeo) and "destroy" (katargeo) indicate an immediate, decisive termination of hostile power by His mere presence. Trying to stretch the "brightness of His coming" to accommodate an unregenerate, mortal workforce living under a millennial administration defies the catastrophic, consuming imagery Paul invokes.
  • Exodus 33
18 And he said, “I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory.”
19 And He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before thee; and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”
20 And He said, “Thou canst not see My face, for there shall no man see Me and live.”
21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock.
22 And it shall come to pass, while My glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with My hand while I pass by;
23 and I will take away Mine hand, and thou shalt see My back parts, but My face shall not be seen.”
 
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Scott Downey

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This Exodus 33 parallel of bringing in God's declaration to Moses that "no man can see My face and live" completely destroys the fantasy of unregenerate mortals coexisting on a physical earth with Christ in His full, unveiled glory.

If mortal flesh cannot look upon the unshielded glory of God and live, then the moment Christ returns visibly in all His glory, any unredeemed, mortal rebel left standing in the open is instantly consumed. Meanwhile, believers survive only because they are transformed into His likeness, receiving immortal bodies fit to stand in that glory.

When Christ comes in His glory, He also comes with the glory of the Father, AND THEN comes the judgment day...

Matthew 16:27
For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He shall reward every man according to his works.

Luke 9:26
For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when He shall come in His own glory and in His Father’s and of the holy angels.
 

Scott Downey

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When Christ comes in His glorious return, this is the Day of Judgment for the wicked and the rewarding of the just.

Matthew 16:27
For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He shall reward every man according to his works.

Matthew 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.”

31 “When the Son of Man shall come in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.

32 And before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.

33 And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

34 Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

35 For I hungered, and ye gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me in;

36 naked, and ye clothed Me; I was sick, and ye visited Me; I was in prison, and ye came unto Me.’

37 Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when saw we Thee hungering and fed Thee, or thirsty and gave Thee drink?

38 When saw we Thee a stranger and took Thee in, or naked and clothed Thee?

39 Or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee?’

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, ‘Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.’

41 “Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

42 For I hungered, and ye gave Me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink;

43 I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in; naked, and ye clothed Me not; sick and in prison, and ye visited Me not.’

44 Then shall they also answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when saw we Thee hungering or athirst or a stranger, or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee?’

45 Then shall He answer them, saying, ‘Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me.’

46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.”
 

Scott Downey

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That Matthew 25 sheep-and-goats text is the absolute heavyweight knockout punch.

Matthew 16:27 and Matthew 25:31–46 completely destroys any remaining room for a multi-stage separation or a delayed earthly kingdom. Look at how Jesus describes that single, unified moment:

  • The Arrival: "When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory." (v. 31)
  • The Universal Gathering and Immediate Division: "And before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one from another..." (v. 32)
  • The Final Verdict: The righteous inherit eternal life while the cursed instantly depart into everlasting fire (v. 41, 46).
There is no 1,000-year probation period sandwiched in there, no surviving unregenerate class left to populate mortal cities, and no staggered timeline. The return in glory, the gathering of all nations, the judicial division, and the eternal rewards all happen simultaneously on that Great Day.
 

ewq1938

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Is the last day of the OT the same as the last day of the NT? Is the last day of the thousand years the same as the last day of satan's little season?
 
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ewq1938

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There is no 1,000-year probation period sandwiched in there, no surviving unregenerate class left to populate mortal cities, and no staggered timeline.


It's funny that you posted many things about the Millennium EXCEPT Rev 20, which is the passage mentioning that specific time period. Rev 20 does have a thousand years inbetween two resurrections of the dead. No study on the topic is complete, or accurate if the info in Rev is excluded.

Rev 19 promises a surviving unregenerate class left to populate mortal cities so this entire thread is leaving out huge amounts of evidence that disprove the thread's intent.

I've seen this in many threads, where Rev is left out, and what is posted is misunderstood and often out of proper context.
 

Davy

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That Matthew 25 sheep-and-goats text is the absolute heavyweight knockout punch.

Matthew 16:27 and Matthew 25:31–46 completely destroys any remaining room for a multi-stage separation or a delayed earthly kingdom. Look at how Jesus describes that single, unified moment:

  • The Arrival: "When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory." (v. 31)
  • The Universal Gathering and Immediate Division: "And before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one from another..." (v. 32)
  • The Final Verdict: The righteous inherit eternal life while the cursed instantly depart into everlasting fire (v. 41, 46).
There is no 1,000-year probation period sandwiched in there, no surviving unregenerate class left to populate mortal cities, and no staggered timeline. The return in glory, the gathering of all nations, the judicial division, and the eternal rewards all happen simultaneously on that Great Day.

ONLY... if Lord Jesus had never given His Revelation about His future "thousand years" reign with His elect per Revelation 20 would what you are claiming would be true.

But alas, God's Word does not END at that Matthew 25 Chapter about the separation of His sheep (His Church) from the goats (unsaved). There are details about that future "thousand years" period that begins on the day of His future 2nd coming written of in The Old Testament prophets. It doesn't use the phrase "thousand years", but it is still referring to it because the wicked are shown not having been cast into the "lake of fire" yet.

See Isaiah 24 about the kings that will be locked in the pit with Satan; and Zechariah 14 about the leftovers that will be made to come up to Jerusalem and worship The KING from year to year. Apostle Peter also pointed to Christ's future Millennial reign over the unsaved also, per 2 Peter 3:8-9. Apostle Paul also did in 1 Corinthians 15:23-28.
 
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Scott Downey

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ONLY... if Lord Jesus had never given His Revelation about His future "thousand years" reign with His elect per Revelation 20 would what you are claiming would be true.

But alas, God's Word does not END at that Matthew 25 Chapter about the separation of His sheep (His Church) from the goats (unsaved). There are details about that future "thousand years" period that begins on the day of His future 2nd coming written of in The Old Testament prophets. It doesn't use the phrase "thousand years", but it is still referring to it because the wicked are shown not having been cast into the "lake of fire" yet.

See Isaiah 24 about the kings that will be locked in the pit with Satan; and Zechariah 14 about the leftovers that will be made to come up to Jerusalem and worship The KING from year to year. Apostle Peter also pointed to Christ's future Millennial reign over the unsaved also, per 2 Peter 3:8-9. Apostle Paul also did in 1 Corinthians 15:23-28.
Trying to use Revelation 20 to override the explicit timing of Matthew 25, arguing that because the "thousand years" is mentioned there, we must read a multi-stage political survival phase back into the text. But the entire counter-argument collapses under basic hermeneutics and very texts appealed to.

Dismantled point-by-point:

  • The Hermeneutical Rule (Interpreting the Obscure by the Clear): Taking a highly symbolic, apocalyptic number from a visionary genre (Revelation 20) and using it to overturn explicit, didactic, chronological declarations given by Christ Himself in Matthew 25, Matthew 13, and Luke 17. Sound biblical interpretation always interprets the symbolic and difficult by the clear and explicit—never the other way around.
  • The Fatal Flaw in the Isaiah 24 & Zechariah 14 Appeal: Davy points to Isaiah 24 and Zechariah 14 to claim "leftovers" survive to worship the King. But look closely at Isaiah 24:1–3, 6: "Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste... The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly plundered... Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left." Isaiah describes a total ecological and demographic collapse, not a thriving, multi-century mortal civilization farming and building cities under a political regime.
  • The Zechariah 14 Reality Check: In Zechariah 14:16–19, the nations that are left are explicitly required to go up to Jerusalem year after year to worship the King, and any nation that will not go up receives no rain and faces immediate divine plague. This is a rod-of-iron rule over a subjugated, post-cataclysmic remnant—not a secular 1,000-year middle-state where unregenerate populations multiply freely, rebel, and run autonomous political systems. Meaning the ones of the nations who are left alive are all God's people.
  • The 1 Corinthians 15:23–28 Reversal: Davy tries to use Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, but Paul actually destroys his timeline. Paul states in verse 24 that "then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death." Christ’s reign culminates in the immediate destruction of the final enemy (death/resurrection/judgment), not an endless continuation of mortal history.

Closing Counter: If Matthew 25 places the final separation of sheep and goats, the immediate entry into eternal fire versus eternal life, and the closing of the age at the single moment of Christ's glorious return, you cannot smuggle a thousand years of unregenerate human history after the final judgment. To do what Davy is doing is precisely what Peter warned about: taking the hard-to-understand visions and twisting them to put the plain, simultaneous "Last Day" on a torture rack, changing what Christ said to fit the 1000 years of earthly rule doctrine.