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1 Thes 4:13-181 Thes and 1 Cor speak of the rapture....the 1000 year reign comes later on.
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,[d] that we who are alive, who are left 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 cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, 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 encourage one another with these words.
It is very difficult, if the idea of a rapture before or in the middle of, a seven year tribulation is so ingrained in a person, having heard nothing else since conversion; and having had it presented as absolute fact with no other possibilities even mentioned, let alone discussed; to read this passage any other way than as a removal of the church from pending disaster. As a consequence it is made to fit with the presuppositions in its placement---as you did. Things are read into it that are not there, and crucial words and ideas are passed over unnoticed.
There is a resurrection of the dead in Christ, and a glorification of those who remain alive. Paul is speaking of the coming of the Lord---His return. These resurrected dead and those who are alive, meet Him in the air, and will always be with HIm, as He is descending.
When that is put together with 1 Cor 15 the entire chapter, but for the sake of space, I will quote 50-55
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
We see Paul expounding on the condition of mankind at Christ's return, those who have already died in Christ and those who remain at His coming; imperishable and immortal . They have inherited the kingdom of God, their salvation has reached the promised fulfillment. Not will, but have. And, again it says nothing, not so much as a hint, of being removed from the earth, or a thousand years to follow this event.
So, if a literal thousand years did follow this, one which is populated by perishable, mortal, even those who remain in their sins; one that has Jesus returned and ruling; a temporal Temple; and people living just as the did in the days of Noah, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage; there is a problem with what Jesus said about His second coming and the end of the age. He said that is when He will come. Matt 24:37-39 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the SOn of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
So, perhaps the thousand years is not literal, but representative. That is not out of the question for two reasons. One, certain numbers in OT Scripture are used repeatedly as representative, and sometimes also literally because they are representing something. John, at the very outset records the saying of the angel, that what he was about to see was going to be signified. Rev is apocalyptic prophecy. Meaning it is revealed through symbolic language. A thousand, and multiples of a thousand, can represent an uncountable number of persons or an indeterminate long period of time. Given the accounts of both Jesus and Paul, it could represent this age (the age since His first advent) until the age to come, when He returns.
And if we do not read Revelation as a chronological account of only future events, but rather what it is, was, and is to come as it says----; and if we recognize that it is sometimes showing the same events from different perspectives; and if we recognize the heavenly view point of things that happened even before Christ came, and what was happening on earth, from heavens view, during His time on earth, and those things that are yet to happen; all in the context of this age, and the age to come; we see this glorious closing book of the Bible in a whole different way.
Many novels and movies do the same thing as Revelation is doing. The present will be presented from one point of view. The same events and time period may also presented from the pov of a different character. It may slip backwards is time to disclose things that were hidden but pertinent to, the story taking place in the present. It may pause to give backstory on people or events. Eventually it touches the future by bringing the past into the future, or conclusion. Revelation is doing the same thing but with a different genre of literature. The first is narrative. The second is apocalyptic prophecy. And prophecy is not exclusive to foretelling, but includes forthtelling.
Sorry that got so long. I do hope you are able to take the time to read it and comment.