What Comes Before the Catching Up to the Lord in the Clouds in the Air (1th 4:16-17) and What Comes After This Event?
1) Direct answer
Before the catching up, the Lord descends with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God—this call gathers and readies the Bride, the dead in Christ are raised, and the living saints are changed. After the catching up, the Bride meets the Lord in the air and goes to the Marriage Supper, while the earth enters the great tribulation and God turns to Israel; then the Lord returns with His saints to reign in the Millennium, followed by the White Throne judgment and the New Heavens and New Earth.
2) Scriptural explanation
- The order itself: “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God… the dead in Christ shall rise first… then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up… to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). “We shall not all sleep… at the last trump… the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51–52).
- The Bride made ready before the meeting in the air: “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). “His wife hath made herself ready… blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:7–9).
- Kept from the hour that is to try the world: “I… will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world” (Revelation 3:10). “Watch… that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things… and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36).
- After the catching up: earth’s tribulation and Israel’s sealing and witness (Matthew 24:21; Revelation 7:1–8; Revelation 11). Then Christ returns with His saints (Revelation 19:11–16; note the armies clothed in fine linen, the same linen of the Bride in Revelation 19:8). Then the Millennium (Revelation 20:1–6), the White Throne (Revelation 20:11–15), and the New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation 21–22).
3) Simple clarifying logic
- Now notice the steps in 1 Thessalonians 4: the shout is the call by the Word that awakens and gathers a ready people; the voice raises the sleeping saints; the trumpet changes the living; then comes the catching up to meet the Lord in the air. You see, the meeting is in the air, not on the earth—that’s the catching away of the Bride.
- While the Bride is with the Lord at the Marriage Supper, the earth faces the tribulation. God then deals with Israel, sealing the 144,000 and sending His two witnesses. After that season, the Lord returns with all His saints to reign, and the rest of the prophecy flows into the Millennium, the final judgment, and the eternal order.
4) Reinforcing statement
It’s the same Lord doing it all—He calls, He raises, He changes, He catches away, and He returns with His redeemed. The Bible lays the line, and we simply walk in it.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
The Rapture
65-1204 §100
one day there'll come a blast from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Them Old Testament saints back yonder who are waiting will blast forth and come out of there first and go into the resurrection; we'll drop right in line going in to the skies, these old mortal bodies changed and made like unto His own glorious body. What a parade that'll be when it starts heavenward some of these days in that rapturing time that lays ahead, oh, proudly displaying the blood of Jesus Christ upon their chests, the mes...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 1:E-85
He is coming. He is coming in clouds, clouds of glory as when He was seen upon the Mount of Transfiguration, and His garments were shining as the power of God enfolded Him. And EVERY eye shall see Him. That means this is not the Rapture. This is when He comes to take over His rightful place as World Ruler. This is when those who have pierced Him with their creeds and denominational doctrines shall mourn, and all the people shall wail in terror because of Him Who is the Word.
The second coming of the Lord
57-0417 §15
It was such a great thing to John the revelator on the Isle of Patmos, that when he saw the preview of the coming of the Lord, when he saw the curses that rested upon the unbeliever, and the blessings that rests upon the believer, he screamed out, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" It so thrilled his heart after all he had seen, the events before His coming, he screamed, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" And when the whole church age had been passed in his view, and he seen everything in major, the way it would happen, then t...
Revelation, Chapter 5, part 1
61-0611 §46
We are waiting for the fullness of adoption. This will take place when? At the first resurrection. That's when our bodies will be changed from these vile creatures that we are and we'll have a body like his own glorious body, for we shall see Him as He is, and we will be like Him. When He appears, we'll appear in his likeness. We will have a body like his, a glorious, glorified body, and all the trials and struggles of life will fade off into a little mist and blow away to never be no more. And these earthly tabern...
Jehovah-Jireh, part 1
62-0705 §6
And then, remember, if we go before He comes, we will be up and in His presence, or, raise before the others are changed. "The trumpet of the Lord shall sound, the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, and be caught up together with them, to meet the Lord in the air." Look at the order of the resurrection. See, God knows that we long to see our loved ones. And if we got there to meet Him first, we'd be looking around to see if mot...