Revelation chapter 4 begins “the hereafter” where the Bride is now with Our Lord Jesus Christ and will observe the seven-year tribulation from Above.
Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in 1st Thessalonians chapter 4:
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these Words.
And in 1st Corinthians chapter 15:
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 incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Paul understood the harpazo event and urged us to continue in our labor AND retain The Fear of THE LORD in all we do and think. He had been caught up to the third Heaven and saw both the Love and the judgment (the Holy fire) of Our Heavenly Father.
Isaiah recorded by The Holy Spirit in Isaiah chapter 26:
19 Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; For your dew is like the dew of herbs, And the earth shall cast out the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter your chambers, And shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, Until the indignation is past.
21 For behold, the LORD comes out of His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; The earth will also disclose her blood, And will no more cover her slain.
And in Zephaniah chapter 2:
3 Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD’s anger.
And in Psalm 27:
4 One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the House of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His Temple.
5 For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His Tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.
If we were not to be removed from the great tribulation, The Holy Spirit would not have moved upon Paul, Isaiah, Zephaniah, and David to record the above.
Jesus spoke in John chapter 14:
1 “Don’t worry or surrender to your fear. For you’ve believed in God, now trust and believe in Me also.
2 My Father’s House has many dwelling places. If it were otherwise, I would tell you plainly, because I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And when everything is ready, I will come back and take you to myself so that you will be where I am.
4 And you already know the way to the place where I’m going.”
Where is Jesus today? In the Throne Room in the midst of Heaven. Where are the dwelling places prepared for us? In Heaven, not on the earth during the time of trouble!
It is written by THE SPIRIT in Jeremiah 16:
9 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will cause to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the Bridegroom (Jesus Christ) and the voice of the bride (the true church).
10 “And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’
11 then you shall say to them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the LORD; ‘they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law.
12 And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me.
13 Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.’
We must keep in mind there are four groups to consider: The true church (the Bride), the religious (Jesus never knew them), the unsaved (those who rejected Christ), and Israel who have denied Christ as their Messiah.