Now we come to the rapture of the majority of the believers.
The fact of the rapture of the majority of the believers is that “the harvest is reaped” (14:14-16). In 14:1-5 we see that the firstfruit is taken to Mount Zion in the heavens. In verses 6 through 13 there is the persecution under Antichrist, who will set up his image and force people to worship it. After this, we are told that the harvest is ripe. Hence, according to Revelation 14, there are two kinds of rapture: the rapture of the firstfruit and the rapture of the harvest.
The people who are raptured in the rapture of the majority of believers firstly are the resurrected saints (1 Thes. 4:15; 1 Cor. 15:23). First Thessalonians 4:15 says that those who “are living, who remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall by no means precede those who have slept.” At the sound of the last trumpet, which will be the seventh trumpet, the dead saints will be resurrected and, with the living saints, will be taken to the air to meet the Lord there.
First Thessalonians 4:15 and 17 speak of those who are “living, who remain.” This phrase suggests a great deal, for it implies that there will be some living ones who no longer remain on earth. If it were not so, the apostle Paul would never have used the word remain; he simply would have used the word alive. This indicates that the living saints will be of two categories: those who are alive but who do not remain on earth, and those who are alive and still remain on earth. Those who are alive and do not remain are those who have already been raptured. At that time, some of the living saints will already have been taken up to the throne of God in the third heaven.
The time of the rapture of the majority of the believers will be at the last trumpet, that is, at the seventh trumpet near the end of the great tribulation (1 Cor. 15:52; 1 Thes. 4:16; Rev. 10:7; 11:14-15). Some say that the last trumpet in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15 is not the seventh trumpet of Revelation 11, but that it is another trumpet, perhaps resembling the trumpet sounded for the movement of the Jewish army. This is a strange interpretation. I do not see how anyone could accept it, for it is not an interpretation according to the Bible. When the apostle Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 15, he spoke of the last trumpet. Do you believe he meant the last trumpet of the Jewish army? How ridiculous! Where do people get this concept? What a mistaken way of interpreting the Bible! Some propound this interpretation because they teach that all the saints will be raptured before the tribulation. But they know that the last trumpet, the seventh, will be sounded near the end of the tribulation. Thus, in order to say that all the saints will be raptured before the tribulation, they must say that the last trumpet in 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4 must be a different trumpet from the seventh and last trumpet in the book of Revelation. They keep away from the truth of the Bible which unveils that the majority of the believers will be raptured at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the last trumpet, which will be toward the end of the great tribulation. This is a strong proof that the majority of the believers will pass through most of the great tribulation. Therefore, the teaching that all the believers will be raptured before the tribulation is absolutely not according to the Scriptures.