Firstly, to clarify, rapture is not a word that is found in Holy Scripture. There are numerous words not found in scripture, however, that are perfectly acceptable to explain scriptural truths, millennium, trinity, divinity, incarnation.
The word rapture is derived from the Latin bible, Vulgate, and is a rendering of the word 'raptus'. It is a Latin rendering of the Greek work 'harpazo' which means to 'snatch out' or 'to seize'.
There are those who deny that any such 'rapture' of the saints will take place at all. They refer to such an event under the erroneous umbrella of 'rapture trap' or 'left behind' theory.
There are others who suggest that a rapture of believers will indeed take place but they teach that the rapture will happen at either the mid-point of the tribulation period or at the end of the period known in scripture as the time of Great Tribulation. In other words, they believe that the saints will go through some or all of the tribulation period.
Firstly to deny the rapture of the saints totally is not to understand the teaching of God's Word in relation to this glorious event. I personally find that there is more than sufficient teaching in the bible to collaborate the rapture of the saints. The predominate passage of scripture that informs believers that of their rapture is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)
It clearly states that believers in the Lord Jesus Christ will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. The Lord Himself! not an angel or archangel, but the Lord Himself will descend from heaven...and we shall be caught up together...to meet the Lord in the air...
The believers at Thessalonica understood that the rapture of the saints was imminent. In fact, several believers had given up work and were reliant on other Christians to look after them and feed them! The apostle Paul encouraged them to once again return to work and with patience wait for the coming of the Lord. He had to repeat this advice in the second epistle to them.
So, when will this happen? That's a tougher issue for me to explain. There have been Godly men who have thought and perhaps some who still think that the Church will go through the tribulation period. Personally I don't believe that scripture teaches us that.
There are a number of reasons why I think this.
Some people who deny the rapture are aware that the Lord will come again to earth. That is true, He will. So they suggest that there only is one Second Coming and therefore the rapture is false teaching. How do they explain the passage in Thessalonians 4:16, 17? It states that we will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Maybe they think this will immediately precede the Lord standing on Mount Olivet? It just doesn't add up.
i. In Revelation chapter 4, John is invited to come up hither. This speaks of the church. Why is this? Because there is no more mention of the church until the marriage supper of the Lamb. During the pouring out of God's judgements upon the earth (during the tribulation period) there is no mention of the church. The church currently witnesses to the Lord and the power of salvation in the life of a believer. There are other witnesses during the time of tribulation.
ii. Enoch was translated so he would not see death - many Godly men believe that this is a picture of the rapture of the church
iii. As another believer put it, we are ambassadors for Christ and the last thing that happens before countries declare war on one another is that they withdraw their ambassadors from the foreign country! The Lord will not leave us, His ambassadors here on earth during the tribulation period.
iv. The church is a heavenly body - we are pilgrim strangers here and our interests are above where we store up treasure on heaven! Israel are God's earthly people and it is they who are the focus of attention during the tribulation period, not the church; she has been taken home to be with the Lord.
I can only add Paul's exhortation to the saints, "Wherefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:18)
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