...as quickly as a twinkling of an eye...
Note that the only thing the Bible says happens "in the twinkling of an eye" is the changing of the bodies of the living Christians into immortal bodies (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). Jesus' coming at the rapture includes much more than that. It includes first the descent of Jesus from heaven with the saints who died (1 Thessalonians 4:14-15), then the sounding of the "last trump" (1 Corinthians 15:52, 1 Thessalonians 4:16), then the resurrection of these saints (1 Thessalonians 4:16), then the changing of living believers into immortal bodies, and finally the gathering together of all the resurrected saints, and all those changed in the twinkling of an eye, into the clouds where Jesus will be (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
...before the mystery of the rapture had even been revealed...
Note that all Paul said was a mystery in 1 Corinthians 15:51 was that "we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed," that is, that not all Christians will have to die before being changed into their immortal bodies. The rapture and resurrection themselves weren't a mystery, for Jesus had clearly already taught both: "I will come again, and receive you unto myself" (John 14:3); "The Son of man coming... and shall gather together his elect" (Mark 13:26-27); "That every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:40).
...Have you notice that the Bride of Christ is the Kingdom Church? It is definatley NOT the Body of Christ...
Note that everyone in the body of Christ is in "the church, which is his body" (Ephesians 1:22-23); "he is the head of the body, the church" (Colossians 1:18); "his body's sake, which is the church" (Colossians 1:24); "for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church" (Ephesians 5:30-32). Note that Christ doesn't marry part of his body, but his entire body, the church. Note that all of the verses quoted above equate the body and the church, and that no verse in the Bible distinguishes between the body and the church, or says that the church is only part of the body.
...The Second Coming is in two parts...
Note that the Bible doesn't teach a future 2-part coming of Jesus.
If Jesus could come back from heaven before the tribulation, then depart for some years back into heaven, then come back again after the tribulation, and this could all be referred to as a single "2nd coming," then there really would be no 2nd coming, for Jesus' two future comings would only be subsequent parts of his 1st coming as a babe in Bethlehem; there would only be one 3-part coming, which isn't something the Bible teaches.
...meeting the Lord in the air is first...
I believe that we will be caught up to meet Jesus coming "in the clouds" on his way down to set his feet on the earth.
"The Son of man coming in the clouds...
with a great sound of a trumpet,
and they shall gather together his elect"
(Matthew 24:30-31).
"We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord...
with the trump of God...
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord"
(1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).
I don't believe that the scriptures teach two different comings "in the clouds,"
or two different "last" trumps (1 Corinthians 15:52),
or two different raptures of the church.
Because 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 shows Jesus "coming," but doesn't show him landing on the earth, some believe it refers to a part-way coming of Jesus whereby he comes down only as far as the clouds and then returns to heaven. But note that Matthew 24:29-31 and Revelation 19 don't show Jesus landing on the earth either. Do some then believe that Matthew 24:29-31 and Revelation 19 are also not the 2nd coming?
Note that 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 doesn't show Jesus returning to heaven. Acts 1:11 says Jesus will "come" just as he left: he won't come only as far as the clouds and then return to heaven again, just as he didn't leave only as far as the clouds and then return to earth again. He went from the Mount of Olives to the clouds to heaven, he will come from heaven to the clouds to the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4). There's no 3rd coming of Jesus.
Note that the Bible doesn't refer to an "Age of Grace," but instead says "that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace" (Ephesians 2:7). I believe the covenant of grace (Hebrews 10:29) is the "everlasting covenant" (Hebrews 13:20), and the gospel of grace (Acts 20:24) is the "everlasting gospel" (Revelation 14:6). We Christians who will be in the tribulation who have washed our "robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:14) and have "the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12) and are "in the Lord" (Revelation 14:13) will be in his grace.
"Grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (2 Timothy 1:9).
And grace will continue even after the tribulation, for at the 2nd coming Jesus "will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced" (Zechariah 12:10).
God has always given grace: "Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD" (Genesis 6:8); "The LORD said unto Moses... thou hast found grace in my sight" (Exodus 33:17); "Found grace in the wilderness; even Israel" (Jeremiah 31:2); "Grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God" (Ezra 9:8); "He giveth grace" (Proverbs 3:34).
...until the "times of the gentiles" are fulfilled...
Note that no scripture says that the times of the Gentiles ends before the tribulation. "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:24). Because Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles during the coming tribulation: "it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months" (Revelation 11:2), the times of the Gentiles can't be fulfilled before the tribulation.
I believe Jesus and Paul preached the gospel of the kingdom:
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God" (Matthew 6:33).
"That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom" (1 Thessalonians 2:12).
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).
"Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 15:50).
"The kingdom of God is... righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Romans 14:17).
"Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom" (Colossians 1:13).
"I [Paul] have gone preaching the kingdom of God" (Acts 20:25).
"Paul... received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God" (Acts 28:30-31).
"We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22).
"That ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God" (2 Thessalonians 1:5).
"Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8).
...until the fullness of the gentiles be come in...
Note that the phrase "until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" (Romans 11:25) may mean the same thing as the phrase "until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:24), for "fulness" can refer to "the fulness of times" (Ephesians 1:10), "the fulness of the time" (Galatians 4:4).
Note that the fulness of the Gentiles is not described as coming in before the tribulation, but right before all Israel is saved at the 2nd coming: "The fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob" (Romans 11:25-26); "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced" (Zechariah 12:10); "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness... And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends" (Zechariah 13:1, 6).
...Jesus who delivered us from the WRATH TO COME (the Great Tribulation)...
Note that we Christians can be in the tribulation (Revelation 6:11, 7:14, 9:4, 12:17, 13:7-10, 14:12-13, 15:2, 16:15, 18:4, 20:4) without being appointed to God's wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9), for during the tribulation nobody in heaven says God's wrath "is come" until near the end of the tribulation, after the 7th trumpet (Revelation 11:15, 18), in the 7 vials of God's wrath (Revelation 15:1; Revelation 16), and none of the 7 vials are poured out on those of us who have obtained salvation; I believe we are even blessed at the 6th vial (Revelation 16:15), that we might endure to the 1,335th day after the abomination of desolation (Daniel 12:11-12), which is the day I believe Jesus will come back (Revelation 19).
I think it's important to make this distinction because many people -- including many Christians -- are going to be blaming God for everything bad that happens to them in the tribulation; they're going to be saying that God is the one causing all of their suffering, when in reality it will be Satan, evil men, and natural disasters that are causing it.
Satan is going to try to use the suffering of the tribulation to turn people -- even us Christians -- away from God, to get us to believe that God is really a cruel and unjust tyrant who only wants mankind to suffer and be tortured, while Satan is the one trying to help us. We need to be able to say, no, this suffering is not from God, but from evil and natural sources, just as we Christians have always had to suffer in wars, famines, plagues, persecutions, and natural disasters throughout history, from the beginning of the church down until this day.
In the pre-trib view, will we Christians who will be in the tribulation (Revelation 6:11, 7:14, 9:4, 12:17, 13:7-10, 14:12-13, 15:2, 16:15, 18:4, 20:4) all be appointed to wrath? Aren't being appointed to wrath and obtaining salvation mutually exclusive? "God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:9).