Jesus Christ comes WITH HIS SAINTS! (Zech.14:5)

Zechariah tells us that when "the Lord goes forth" to destroy the nations attacking Israel and "his feet stand...upon the mount of Olives,"..."all the saints" will be with him (14:5). For all His saints to come with Christ from heaven at His second coming, they must have been taken there previously.

Of course, the souls and spirits of the saints who have died through the ages are already with Christ. The Resurrection, however, must have occurred in order for them to come to Armageddon in glorified bodies. John refers to those accompanying Christ as "the armies which were in heaven." He declares that they are "arrayed in fine linen, clean and white" (Revelation 19:8)—exactly what the Bride has been clothed with earlier at her marriage in heaven to Christ (19:7-8). It is specifically stated that this is the clothing "of saints."

"All the saints" must include those Christians who have not yet died. Obviously, then, not only must the dead saints have been resurrected, but the living saints must have been transformed and caught up into heaven, as well, prior to the Second Coming. This is exactly what is described in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. That event, the simultaneous resurrection and Rapture, is essential so that "all the saints" may be together in heaven in bodies of glory clothed in "fine linen, white and clean," from whence they accompany Christ when He returns to earth at His second coming.

We must conclude, then, that the resurrection Rapture is distinct from, and occurs prior, to the second coming of Christ. First of all, He comes for His saints, and only thereafter when He has them all with Him above can Christ come down from heaven with His saints. -Dave Hunt