Why doesn't Matthew 24 describe the rapture?
Matthew 24 does not describe the rapture because it belongs to the Second Coming, when Christ stands on the Mount of Olives. The rapture, the church's meeting in the air, was a secret revealed only to the Apostle Paul and unknown to the Old Testament and Gospel accounts.
Les explains that Matthew 24 is the prime example of the Second Coming, not the Rapture. He points out the graphic difference between the Rapture and the Second Coming. Everything the Old Testament, Jesus, and the Gospel accounts refer to concerning Christ's coming is never the Rapture of the Church, the meeting in the air. That rapture was a secret revealed by and to the Apostle Paul. The final seven years, associated only with prophecies concerning Israel, are the tribulations, and their ending brings the Second Coming, when Christ will stand with His feet on the Mount of Olives.
More Questions
What future time period does Matthew 24 describe?
The events Jesus refers to in Matthew 24 are all tribulation events that happen in the final seven-year period of prophecy.
What did Jesus say in Matthew 24 about the end-time tribulation?
According to Jesus in Matthew 24, the coming days of tribulation will be the worst the world has ever known, with nothing like them before or after.
Did Jesus in Matthew 24 speak as if the end-time events would happen during the disciples' lifetimes?
Jesus spoke to the twelve disciples as if the events of Matthew 24 would occur in their lifetime and gave no indication that there would be a big span of time in between.