This may seem an insignificant question, but when we are raptured away from the earth to heaven, we will not actually be with Christ because the 7 years of tribulation follows and then his reign on earth for 1,000 years. Correct? …or no? We will be there and He will be...?
No. We will be with the Lord forever beginning right after the rapture because the next event will be the Judgment Seat of Christ where each of us in the body of Christ will have "our day" before him to be judged according to our work.
Romans 14:10, 12
…for we [believers, the Body of Christ] shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
2 Corinthians 5:10
For we [believers, the Body of Christ] must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
1 Corinthians 3:13-15
very man's [believer’s] work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
Therefore, the Tribulation period does not start right away because it does not start until the Lord Jesus, himself, is done with the judgment of the body of Christ (a period of maybe ~10 years), and then he goes to open the scrolls of Revelation that begin the Tribulation period in Heaven….
Revelation 5:6-7
And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb [Christ] as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he [Christ] came and took the book out of the right hand of him [God, the Father] that sat upon the throne.
…which he will not do until he is completely done with us and hands us over to God the Father. As far as the Lord handing us off to the Father, what else would the Lord Jesus Christ do with us after He is done with the Judgment Seat? After the Lord Jesus finishes with us, He still has to go on to finish his plan and purpose for Israel right? We are not part of that because our vocation is for the heavenly places. So once He is done with us, he has to then commend us to the Father. That is what Paul is making reference to in 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 15:24
Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
So once he is done with us, and has the people ready for the heavenly kingdom, he will hand us (deliver us) over to the Father!
2 Timothy 4:18
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
So we will be with him in the New Jerusalem in heaven.
But once the Tribulation does start, we will still be with him because the New Jerusalem that he brings down with him at his second coming/return to the earth also extends into the heavenly places because it extends 1,500 miles straight up into the air as well.
Revelation 21:10, 16
And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God … And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
To give you a sense of just how far that is, NASA space administration states that from the surface of the earth to outer space is only 62 miles up. So the city of New Jerusalem itself will extend almost ten times that in the future, allowing us to live in the heavenly part and yet still be with the Lord! So even though we will be living in the heavenly part of the city of New Jerusalem, because it is so large that it touches both heaven and earth, we will "ever be with the Lord!"
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together [raptured] with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Hopefully this helps!
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