It is. And, regarding the "rapture" itself, foisted upon the text without warrant. In order:
John 14:2-3 "
In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also."
God is Spirit, as John says in John 4:24. The Father does not have a physical body as we do, so He does not live in a literal house, of course... <chuckles> Although at least a somewhat legitimate inference... the idea here is not that Jesus was going to heaven to "get things ready in some physical place... or even in heaven... for His disciples’ (and by extension, our) arrival." Instead, the emphasis is on the fact that Jesus would be preparing a place for the disciples (and by extension, us) in His passion. In His death and resurrection, He would be opening up the way for His disciples (and by extension, us) to be citizens of the kingdom and inherit eternal life in God’s blessed presence. This can easily be seen in what Jesus says really in the same breath: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Again, Jesus is saying that by His death and resurrection, He would be opening up the way of salvation. So, as we would all agree, I hope, Jesus’ return to glory along the path that went through the cross, into the tomb, risen on the third day, and on high in the ascension guarantees salvation for His people. And this is in keeping with the very purpose that John wrote his gospel, "...that (we) may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing (we) may have life in His name. There is no "rapture" to be seen here...
1 Corinthians 15:51-53 "
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality."
No mention of anyone being taken anywhere, but changed. Among other things... <smile> ...our physical body will then no longer be perishable but imperishable; we will truly have eternal life. So... no "rapture" here, either...
1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 "
For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord."
No mention of anyone being taken anywhere, here, either. Those... maybe we, if we are still alive when the Lord comes... will go out to meet Him in His return, and "escort" Him to earth in His return, just as occurs throughout the Bible when royalty returns... most notably on Palm Sunday, when Jesus, a few days before His crucifixion and resurrection, made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. His "loyal subjects" welcomed Him into the city, escorting Him in. As Zechariah had prophesied centuries before, foretelling the deliverance of Jerusalem and the coming of a just ruler Who brings salvation and peace: "...behold, your King comes to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey..." So it will be when He returns, but in the ultimate sense... He will not come in humility but in glorious, final, complete triumph, which is what the image given to John in his vision in Revelation 19 (His returning on a white horse) conveys. We don't "go" anywhere; Jesus comes to us. and He will bring, in it's final, ultimate, complete, and unending ~ eternal ~ form, salvation and peace. So, again... <smile> ...no "rapture" here, either.
Revelation 11:12 "
Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them."
The two witnesses, who are being spoken to, here, yes ~ are churches... The two witnesses are two lampstands (11:4), indicating that they are symbolic figures standing for the witness of the lampstand-churches of Revelation 1:20. Thus they symbolize churches rather than specific human individuals. Two rather than seven lampstands are mentioned to imitate the pattern of Zechariah 4 and of Moses and Elijah (Matt. 17:3-4; cf. Deut. 17:6; Luke 10:1). In John's imagery (key word), here... in this vision given to him... we "see," with John, the triumph of righteousness and truth over evil and adversity. This passage speaks to the idea that no matter how daunting the challenges or fierce the opposition, those who stand for what is just and good will ultimately be lifted up and vindicated. This is about life on earth as we experience it. As Paul says in Ephesians 2, God has "made us alive together with Christ ~ by grace (we) have been saved ~ and raised... up with Him and seated... with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." We will not "go up to heaven in a cloud" in any woodenly literal sense. This is an allusion, actually, to Jesus's ascension to heaven in Acts 1, and now, even in this life, we who are born again have been ~ because God has called us ~ raised up with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly places. So, again... <smile> ...no "rapture" here, either.
Revelation 14:16 "
So He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped."
"Reaped," yes, but not "removed," or taken anywhere... This should be understood in the same way as Jesus's parable in Mark 4:26-29... "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." All Christians, all those in Christ, are the grain here. So, in the same way as separating the wheat (we are the wheat) from the chaff (Matthew 3:12), the wheat (again, we are the wheat) from the tares (Matthew 13:40), the sheep (we are the sheep) from the goats (Matthew 25:32-33)... and Revelation 20:11-12, when we all stand before Christ in the final judgment. No one is taken anywhere, but all are gathered... and separated, many to Jesus's right and the others to His left... "all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment" (John 5:28-29)... and then separated. When He returns, Jesus will do the separating. And as I've said, the only ones actually leaving will be ~ after the final judgment is rendered ~ those on His left, who have done evil, who will have been resurrected to the resurrection of judgment, the unrepentant, unbelievers, the wicked. They will be the ones who will not be in the congregation of the righteous and will not stand in the judgment (Psalm 1) and will be subject to the second death (Revelation 20:14), and thus... depart into eternal punishment (Matthew 7:23; 25:41-46). <shudder> So, again... <smile> ...no "rapture" here, either.
So, for those thinking along the same lines as... well, a poster... above... <
smile> Yeah, zero for five...
Grace and peace to all.