1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order:
Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
parousia
par-oo-see'-ah
From the present participle of G3918; a being near, that is, advent (often, return; specifically of Christ to punish Jerusalem, or finally the wicked); (by implication) physical aspect: - coming, presence.
1Th 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren,
concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1Th 4:15
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming (Gk. parousia) of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
1Th 4:16 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:
(Look up the word "descend" in the dictionary.)
1Th 4:17 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.
1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
1Th 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
(The word "But" is a connector that connects the event at the end of chapter 4 to the timing at the beginning of chapter 5.)
1Th 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that
the day of the Lord so
cometh as a thief in the night. (This same language is used in 2 Peter 3:10 and Revelation 16:15-16, which are Second Coming passages.)
1Th 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
1Th 5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
1Th 5:5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
1Th 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as
do others; but let us watch and be sober.
1Th 5:7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
1Th 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Th 5:10 Who died for us, that, whether
we wake or
sleep, we should live together with him.
The words "we" and "sleep" in the verse above prove that chapter 5 is connected to chapter 4.
We have just seen the text that kills the pretrib rapture doctrine.
There is no trip back to heaven in the passage.
It must be imported from elsewhere to make the pretrib doctrine work.
Based on thousands of pages of commentary and sermons, American pastors at the time of the Revolutionary War understood that the event above occurs at the beginning of Christ's Second Coming.
Origin of the Pretrib Rapture Doctrine
Pastor Tim Warner
http://www.answersinrevelation.org/pretrib_history.pdf
.