Revelation 12:5 says, “She brought forth a son, a man-child, who is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod.” Verse 11 says that the overcomers who constitute the man-child are faithful unto death; they love not their soul-life even unto death. They have overcome the enemy because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony. These overcomers will be “caught up to God and to His throne” (v. 5). This is a prophecy that before the great tribulation of three and a half years, Christ will cause the overcoming saints who were martyred throughout the generations to be resurrected from the dead and caught up to God and to His throne.
At His coming back Christ will also reap the firstfruits, the one hundred and forty-four thousand who stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb (4:1-5). Verse 4 says, “These are they who follow the Lamb wherever He may go. These were purchased from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.” Just as the firstfruits of the good land were reaped and brought into the temple of God before the harvest (Lev. 23:10-11; Exo. 23:19), so the first-ripe believers in God’s crop, those who mature earliest, will be reaped first for God’s satisfaction. This first-ripe group of living overcomers will be raptured to the heavens before the great tribulation and will stand on the heavenly Mount Zion with the Lamb.
Besides catching up the man-child and reaping the firstfruits, Christ in His coming back will also take up the other living overcomers (Matt. 24:39-44; Luke 17:34-36; 21:34-36; Rev. 3:10). Like the firstfruits, these living overcomers will be raptured before the great tribulation.
Matthew 24:39-44 prophesies that these overcomers will be raptured before the great tribulation. These verses say that two men will be in the field and two women will be grinding at the mill: “one is taken and one is left...if the householder had known in which watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.” A thief comes at an unknown time to steal precious things. The Lord will come secretly, as a thief, to those who love Him, and He will take them away as His treasures. Hence, we should watch (v. 42). In Luke 17:34-36, the Lord Jesus said, “I tell you, In that night there will be two on one bed; the one will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two women grinding together; the one will be taken but the other will be left. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.” These Scriptures also reveal that the living overcoming believers will be raptured secretly and unexpectedly. In the context of these Scriptures, the Lord charges us to overcome the stupefying effect of self-indulgent living in this age so that we may be raptured into the enjoyment of His parousia, His presence.
The saints who have kept the word of the Lord’s endurance will also be raptured by Christ before the great tribulation. In Revelation 3:10 the Lord told the messenger of the church in Philadelphia, “Because you have kept the word of My endurance, I also will keep you out of the hour of trial, which is about to come on the whole inhabited earth, to try them who dwell on the earth.” Trial here denotes the great tribulation (Matt. 24:21), which is about to come on the whole inhabited earth, as indicated by the fifth trumpet, the sixth trumpet, and the seven bowls of the seventh trumpet (Rev. 8:13—9:21; 11:14-15; 15:1; 16:1-21). The Lord promised the recovered church that He would keep her out of the hour of trial. This indicates that the saints who keep the word of the Lord’s endurance will be raptured before the great trial.
After the rapture of the early overcomers, Christ will come secretly in the clouds from the throne of God in the third heaven to the air (10:1; 1 Thes. 4:17) and remain there for three and a half years. This is mainly to take the saints who have not been raptured (the reaping of the harvest), to establish His judgment seat in the air, and to marry all His overcomers as His bride. Revelation 10:1 reveals that during the three and a half years of the great tribulation, Christ will come secretly from the throne to the air in the clouds; that is, He will come down out of heaven, being clothed with a cloud. At the close of the great tribulation, the Lord will come publicly in the air, just as Revelation 14:14 says, “Behold, there was a white cloud, and on the cloud One like the Son of Man sitting, having...a sharp sickle in His hand.” His sitting on the cloud indicates that at the close of the great tribulation, at the reaping of the harvest, the Lord’s coming back will be made public in the air.