Is the rapture Pre Tribulation or Post Tribulation?
Greetings Osprey!
The key to understanding the chronological order of Revelation is found in Rev.1:19, which divides the book into three parts:
"Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. "
What you have seen = Everything from Rev.1:1 thru 1:19
What is now = Represented by the letters to the church, which also represent the entire church period
What will take place later = The events which take place after the now, i.e. after the church period
That said, we are currently still in the "what is now" part of what John was told to write, i.e. we are still in the church period.
Revelation 4:1-2 is a prophetic allusion to the gathering of the church. That "voice that sounds like a trumpet" is synonymous with the "trumpet of God" found in Paul's description of the church being gathered in I Thessalonians 4:16. This is why, as Nehemiah6 mentioned in the previous post, we do not see the word "church" anymore within chapters 6 thru 18, but switches exclusively to the word "Saints" and never uses the word "church" again within the narrative of God's wrath. Likewise, in chapters 1 thru 3, we only see the word "church" used, but not the word "Saints." God has made a distinction here to alert those who are diligently searching out His word, which is why those who are opposed to this truth don't see it, but instead contend against it.
The "what is now" will be fulfilled when the Lord descends from heaven to the atmosphere and with that voice that sounds like a trumpet, He will call the entire church up beginning with those who have already died in Him and then immediately after that, the living in Christ will be changed and caught up, where according to John 14:1-3, the Lord will take the entire group back to the Father's house to those places that He has prepared for us. Once the church has been gathered, then the "what must take place later" will begin, with the antichrist being revealed some time afterwards.
The "what is now" is just above over, for we can see the stage being set for the events that must take place after the church is gone and during the time of God's wrath.
God help those who get trapped in the "what must take place later!"