What is also interesting about the individual in 2 Corinthians 12:2 who was caught up to the third heaven, is that there are only three areas in the bible where being caught up to God and heaven/paradise is mentioned.While scriptures confirm your claim that no one has seen God; 2 Corinthians 12:2 nevertheless describes an individual having been to the third heaven.
2 Corinthians 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knowethsuch an one caught up to the third heaven.
We have this individual who is caught up in 2 Corinthians 12:2 who later relates his experience to Paul on earth, thereby indicating his being caught up to the third heaven as a spirtiual experience.
The second instance in which someone is caught up to God and His throne in heaven appears in Revelation 12:5, who is later described as the subject of attack by Satan who has now been cast to the earth, thereby indicating the remnant offspring of the woman on earth who have been caught up to God, being a spiritual experience, and not a physical rapture from off the face of the earth.
I therefore likewise believe the third instance in which the faithful will be caught up to God in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, when we are changed in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:52), represents a spiritual changing.
Adding support that our being caught up in 1 Thess 4:17 and changed in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:52), will be a spiritual event and not a physical one appears in Micah 5, where a travailing woman (the same travailing woman as in Revelation 12), after conceiving, the offspring then travel around without working for man, and possesing great powers (Micah 5:7-8). I suspect this is the 2nd installment of the spirit after the GT.
Revelation 12:5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 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.
1 Corinthians 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
Micah 5:7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.
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