This has been quite the interesting discussion to read through, so far.
I love all the deep thoughts that have gone into it. I myself have studied eschatology extensively, so I would love to jump in here and engage in the dialog about it.
Looking for a moment at the amount of time that Christ was in the Tomb, it came as a surprise to me when I studied and studied and discovered that Christ must have been put into the tomb before sundown on Wednesday.
You see, we know He was buried on "Preparation Day," which is the day before a Sabbath. Most people assume it was the weekly Sabbath, but actually when one is going into the Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread then it also kicks off with a "High Sabbath," which is a Sabbath based not on day of the week but rather day of the month - because it lines up with the Feast itself.
John 19:31
Therefore, because it was the Preparation
Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the
Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and
that they might be taken away.
Is it possible that the weekly Sabbath happened to be, on that year, to be on the same day as the High Sabbath?
I found that it's not possible, given the record about the timing of women *buying* spices (can't be done on Sabbath) and mixing the spices (takes hours, and is hard work):
Mark 16:1
Now
when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him.
[Purchase happened on the day after the high Sabbath]
Luke 23:56
Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.
[Preparation of spices happened before the Sabbath]
So, the only way this all fits together is this way:
Wednesday: Christ is crucified, and then buried in the tomb before sundown
Thursday: The High Sabbath, women rest
Friday: The women purchase and prepare the spices
Saturday: Then they rest on the Sabbath
Sunday: At sunrise, the tomb is found by the women to be empty
----
Now, going back to the topic of being caught up with Jesus at his return, I do agree with you that there are various connections between the Feast of Trumpets and His Return. However, we won't be able to make sense of it all together unless we realize that the rapture will be at His return, the Second Coming, the start of the 1000 year reign. It will not be before the tribulation.
Here's where I find that in the Scriptures: There are 3 passages that teach specifically about the rapture. One of them is in Matthew 24, one of them is in Thessalonians, and one of them is in Corinthians.
So, first, if we look at Thessalonians, we find that the rapture *certainly* will come after the first resurrection, and in fact the rapture "will by no means preceded" that first resurrection. Corinthians does not state it as emphatically, but lists that same order: first the dead rise, and then us living believers are raptured. Take a look:
1 Thessalonians 4:15-17
“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 15:51-43
‘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 incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality”
So then the discussion becomes: When will the dead be resurrected? Some people say that it already happened when Christ rose or Lazarus rose - but that doesn't make sense, given that those already happened before these two Books of the Bible were written, and these Books clearly are referring to a future event. When will the dead rise?
We find the answer clearly laid out in Revelation 20, which is about Christ's 2nd Coming and the beginning of the 1000 year reign:
Revelation 20:4-6
“ And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.“
Okay, so when Christ returns, that is when we will see the first resurrection, and thus that is when we will then meet the Lord in the air.
Does this line up with what
Matthew 24:29-31 says about the rapture? Yes! Here it is:
"Immediately after the tribulation of those day... they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
So we see the same order:
Tribulation, Coming of Christ, Rapture.