Again, I am with you that there will be a Pre-Trib Rapture. However, I believe Matthew 24:31 is talking about the 2nd Rapture and not the 1st Rapture. For Matthew 24:31 says in context,
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." (Matthew 24:29-31).
For here we see the Sixth Seal Opened:
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Revelation 6:12-13
"And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casts its unripe figs, when it is shaken by a mighty wind."
This sure looks similar to the sun going dark, and the moon not giving her normal light, etc. as spoken by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse:
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Matthew 24:29-30a
"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: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:"
So we have:
#1. "Great earthquake" (Revelation 6:12) paralleled with "Powers of the heavens shall be shaken" (Matthew 24:29).
#2. "Sun became black" (Revelation 6:12) paralleled with "The sun is darkened" (Matthew 24:29).
#3. "Moon became as blood" (Revelation 6:12) paralleled with "The moon shall not give her (normal) light." (Matthew 24:29).
Here is a quick recap of the 2nd half of the 70th Week of Daniel (or the 7 year Tribulation):
The 4th seal is death.
This is the result of the greatest loss of life in human history (that is yet future) because the Antichrist is going to try and force a lot of people to take the mark of the beast. Many Christians and (even unbelievers) will refuse the mark and die (as a result).
The 5th seal is the saints crying out to God for vengeance of their recent deaths.
The 6th-7th seal (and it's subsequent judgments) is a response from God to their call for vengeance or justice.
Also, the 6th seal lines up with the start of the period of time or age known as the "Day of the Lord." The Day of the Lord is called a time of darkness. Both the 6th seal and the Day of the Lord describe dark skies and a blood moon. So they line up with each other. The age or period known as the "Day of the Lord" ends with the purificaton by fire of this current Earth (of which Peter mentions). The Day of the Lord and it's signs leading up to it tell us that things are going to get really bad or worse as a response to the Anti-Christ's slaughter of countless innocent lives. We believers are told in Scripture not to desire to be in the time known as the "Day of the Lord."
I agree that nobody in the Old Testament has went to heaven yet. I believe they will go up in the Pre-Trib Rapture like all other believers who die in the Lord today. Currenly, all believers are in Abraham's Bosom still. For how can the dead in Christ rise to meet the Lord in the air if they are not below somewhere? We know from the story of Lazarus and the Richman that Lazarus went to a placed called Abraham's Bosom.
Enoch was translated where he did not see death (of which I am sure you agree with).
But where did Enoch go to be with the Lord? Heaven? Or Abraham's Bosom?
Jesus said that no man ascends to Heaven except Himself, when He said,
"And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." (
John 3:13 KJV)
In other words, no man has ascended physically to Heaven but Jesus (i.e. the Son of Man). So Enoch is in Abraham's Bosom and not Heaven according to John 3:13.
Yeah, but what about Elijah?
I believe confusion arises on this point because people do not understand that there are:
Three Heavens
The Scripture mentions three heavens (
2 Corinthians 12:2), not just one!
The First Heaven:
The first heaven is earth's atmosphere where birds fly (
Genesis 1:20,
Jeremiah 4:25;
34:20,
Lamentations 4:19,
Zephaniah 1:3). One of the Hebrew words for 'heaven' is shamayim. This same word is translated as 'sky' in the Scripture, as can be seen by comparing
Genesis 7:3, "fowls also of the air," with
Genesis 7:23, "fowl of the heaven." The word 'sky' and 'heaven' are used interchangeably from the same Hebrew word (
Psalm 8:8). So the first heaven is synonymous with 'heights' or 'elevations.'
Here are other examples to illustrate the first heaven.
Exodus 19:20 says the Lord was on top of Mount Sinai when he called Moses up there, and God describes Mount Sinai as 'heaven' (
Exodus 20:22,
Deuteronomy 4:36). Here, everything above the ground is called 'heaven'.
Another example of the first heaven is in
Amos 9:1-3, where God states that at the time of this judgment, nobody will be able to flee away (verse 1), even "though they climb up to heaven" (verse 2). This "heaven" is defined in the next verse, verse 3, as climbing to the top of Mount Carmel.
Another example is where the Scripture speaks of the "dew of heaven" (
Genesis 27:28,
39,
Deuteronomy 33:28,
Daniel 4:15-33;
5:21). The first heaven, from which dew comes, means the atmosphere, where the clouds and the wind roam. Therefore, everything above the ground is called 'heaven."
Another Hebrew word for the first heaven is 'shachaq.' This same word for heaven (
Psalm 89:6,
37) is also translated as 'sky' or 'skies' (
Deuteronomy 33:26;
Job 37:18;
Psalm 18:11), and as 'clouds' (
Job 35:5;
36:28;
Psalm 36:5;
68:34,
Pro. 3:20;
8:28).
The Second Heaven:
The second heaven is outer space where the planets and stars exist (
Genesis 1:14-17;
15:5;
22:17;
26:4,
Deuteronomy 1:10;
17:3;
Psalm 8:3,
Jeremiah 8:2;
Matthew 24:29). Usually the term "host of heaven" or "firmament of the heaven" is used to describe this second heaven.
The Third Heaven:
The third heaven is literally called "the third heaven" in
2 Corinthians 12:2. This third heaven is what Christ calls his "Father's house" (
John 14:2), and both Christ and the Apostle Paul calls it "paradise" (
Luke 23:43,
2 Corinthians 12:2-4,
Revelation 2:7). This is where God and the heavenly sanctuary exist (
1 Peter 3:22). This third heaven is also known as the "heaven of heavens" (
Deuteronomy 10:14;
1 Kings 8:27,
2 Chronicles 2:6;
6:18,
Nehemiah 9:6,
Psalms 148:4), "The heavenly Jerusalem" (
Galatians 4: 26;
Hebrews 12:22;
Revelation 3:12), the "kingdom of heaven" (
Matthew 25:1,
James 2:5), the "eternal kingdom" (
2 Peter 1:11), the "eternal inheritance" (
1 Peter. 1:4,
Hebrews 9:15), and the "better country" (
Hebrews 11:14,
16). The fact that there are more than one 'heaven' can be shown by
Psalm 115:16, "The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S." There are obviously two different 'heavens' being addressed in this one verse.
Since Elijah could not have gone to the heaven of God's throne, then to which heaven did he go? He was not taken to God's heavenly throne (as some imagine). He was actually taken into this earth's atmosphere, the first heaven. There could be no whirlwind in any other place but in the atmosphere surrounding this earth.
As for Elijah being taken away to the 1st Heaven (i.e. the Sky), Philip was taken away by the Spirit to another location:
For just as Elijah was taken away in a chariot of fire.
Philip was talking to an Ethiopian in a chariot.
And later, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more. Just as Elisha had seen Elijah taken away. (Compare
2 Kings 2:11,
12 &
Acts 8:38,
39,
40).
In fact, Elijah makes writes a letter later in Scripture. So this confirms that he did not forever go to Heaven in a whirl wind. He was transported from one place to another upon the Earth (Just like in the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch).
Not just in OT times. This still applies today for NT believers, too. All believers who die in the Lord who are faithful through out history and today go to Abraham's Bosom. Only after the Pre-Trib Rapture will believers (who die in the Lord) go directly to Heaven.
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Zechariah 9:11 NIV and
1 Thessalonians 4:16 says,
"For... I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit" (Zechariah 9:11); "And with the trump of God... the dead in Christ shall rise first" (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
Where are they rising from?
Abraham's Bosom in the waterless pit (i.e. Sheol or the realm of the dead).
There are two verses that you need to seriously compare and consider.
The going into the marriage or wedding (1st Rapture):
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Matthew 25:10
"And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut."
The entrance after the wedding is over (so as to invite more in for the Wedding Supper) (2nd Rapture):
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Luke 12:36
"And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately."
Source used in this post:
Elijah, Enoch, and Moses
Important Note: Although I quoted part of this article to help explain the three heavens, I do not agree with their interpretation of on Enoch. I believe Enoch was translated or spiritually taken by God and did not see death (as the Scriptures say). So not all the views expressed at this website reflect my views on the Scriptures.
