Do we go up or down after meeting the Lord in the air?

tonychanyt

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1 Thessalonians 4:

16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
  1. Jesus comes down.
  2. The first group rises.
  3. The second group catches up.
What's step 4? Will the entire bunch of people go up or down or stay in the air?

Down, I think.

YLT Matthew 25:

6 and in the middle of the night a cry was made, Lo, the bridegroom doth come; go ye forth to meet [G529] him.
The word "meet" here is apantēsin. The virgins were to meet and welcome Jesus, the bridegroom.

7‘Then rose all those virgins, and trimmed their lamps, 8and the foolish said to the prudent, Give us of your oil, because our lamps are going out; 9and the prudent answered, saying — Lest there may not be sufficient for us and you, go ye rather unto those selling, and buy for yourselves. 10‘And while they are going away to buy,
The foolish virgins went away to find oil. They missed being part of the welcoming group.

the bridegroom came, and those ready went in with him to the marriage-feasts, and the door was shut;
The bridegroom continued in the same direction and reached his destination.

Now, Young's Literal Translation, 1 Thessalonians 4:

17 then we who are living, who are remaining over, together with them shall be caught away in clouds to meet [G529] the Lord in air, and so always with the Lord we shall be
meet
ἀπάντησιν (apantēsin)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 529: From apantao; a encounter.

Presumably, after the meeting/encounter of the welcoming people in the air, Jesus will continue in the same direction to come down to reach his destination on Earth where the wedding banquet will take place.
 

Mark Quayle

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1 Thessalonians 4:


  1. Jesus comes down.
  2. The first group rises.
  3. The second group catches up.
What's step 4? Will the entire bunch of people go up or down or stay in the air?

Down, I think.

YLT Matthew 25:


The word "meet" here is apantēsin. The virgins were to meet and welcome Jesus, the bridegroom.


The foolish virgins went away to find oil. They missed being part of the welcoming group.


The bridegroom continued in the same direction and reached his destination.

Now, Young's Literal Translation, 1 Thessalonians 4:


meet
ἀπάντησιν (apantēsin)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 529: From apantao; a encounter.

Presumably, after the meeting/encounter of the welcoming people in the air, Jesus will continue in the same direction to come down to reach his destination on Earth where the wedding banquet will take place.
That would seem to fit Rev. 21, where the City that appears as a bride adorned for her husband, the New Jerusalem, comes down to earth.
 
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BobRyan

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The entire group goes to heaven --
"In My Father's house ARE many mansions" - John 14:2-4
"Our Father who IS in HEAVEN" Matt 6.

Jesus comes to receive us .. to take us up to that place He has prepared for us.

1. Jesus appears (1 Thess 4:13-18)
2. dead in Christ rise first - then we who are alive -- caught up together with them in the air.
3. Matt 24:29-31 Angels gather the elect "from one end of the sky to the other" NASB vs 31
ALL saints taken to heaven.
===============================================

And what is left? -- nothing but the corpses of Jer 25:33
 
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BobRyan

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THOSE LEFT

2 Thess 1:5-8
the lost are killed and not "taken anywhere" they are destroyed.

-- as Jer 25:33 points out they are left on the earth as corpses with no one to bury or even to mourn them.

2 Thess 1:5-8
5 This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. 6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.


Jer 25:33
33 “Those slain by the Lord on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be lamented, gathered or buried; they will be like dung on the face of the ground.

what? not even "lamented"? That can only happen if no humans at all are left who knew or loved them!!

Jer 4:23-28

23 I looked at the earth, and behold, it was a formless and desolate emptiness;

And to the heavens, and they had no light.

24 I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,

And all the hills jolted back and forth.

25 I looked, and behold, there was no human,

And all the birds of the sky had fled.

26 I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a wilderness,

And all its cities were pulled down

Before the Lord, before His fierce anger.

27 For this is what the Lord says:
“The whole land shall be a desolation,
Yet I will not execute a complete destruction.
28 For this the earth will mourn,


So fine - not "taken" but rather LEFT just as Matt 24 says.

Rev 19 shows that all the lost are slain - at Christ's appearing
17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.”
19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.
20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.


=============================================
THE TAKEN

1 Thess 4:13-18 - THE TAKEN
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. 15 For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who remain, 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. 18 Therefore, comfort one another with these words.

Ok so "Taken" up in the air to meet the Lord.
Why? "So that WHERE I am THERE you may be also" John 14:2-3

2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.


In Matt 24 the saints are gathered "from one end of the SKY to the others" in 1 Thess 4 the saints are caught up into the sky, in John 14 the saints are taken to heaven.

Matt 24:19-31 the TAKEN in Matt 24
29 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31 And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

Taken to Heaven - John 14:2-4
"to My Father's house"
 
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