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.
Jehovah-Jireh
61-0226 §73
"We which are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise. We will be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. And be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, and forever be with the Lord," that great Son that's coming. See Him getting his church ready? What's He doing? He's showing them his last sign. The next thing is what? The rapture. The rapture, the Son appears, and we're changed. We can't go to...
The Rapture
65-1204 §98
David said over there, "Lift up, ye everlasting gates, and be ye lifted up." He led captivity captive and give gifts unto men. When the Old Testament saints went in with Him, they said, "Who is this King of righteousness?" "The Lord of glory, mighty in host ... mighty host." Here they come in, marching. Jesus led captivity captive. And here He comes with the Old Testament saints, and went into the new gates up there, and said, "Lift up, ye everlasting gates, and be ye lifted up, and let the King of glory come in."...
Revelation, Chapter 4c Throne of mercy and judgement
61-0108 §33
Then we find out here after these things, he heard a voice that was speaking to him. What was it? The Spirit left the earth. "After these things," starts out the first chapter, or the first verse: After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven:... Revelation 4:1, after the Church is gone, then a door was opened. And we've went through all of that, and found that that was... Christ was the door. And the same voice that was walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks also was the same voice h...
Revelation, Chapter 4a
60-1231 §29
Now begin the 4th chapter: After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were ... a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. We're going to take it verse by verse. And I've got a lot of scriptures wrote down here, a book of them, and I don't know how far we'll get into it. May the Lord lead us. Now watch, the Word is: "After these things," after the church age. And all this from hereafter, n...
How can I overcome?
63-0825M §13
And I got in my little old Ford and started up the road to Ohio as hard as I could. And I didn't know one of my wheels was out of line; ripped the tire off it. And so then I, getting up there, coming out of a filling station about eleven o'clock, I was worried about him, I love him, and I know if the ... if it continues on, the Lord tarries, why, sooner or later we're going to have to give each other up. But that won't hurt the rapture now. See? No. They come first then. Them are privileged that's gone on. They com...