Who was Paul writing to when he taught about the Rapture?
Paul was writing to Gentile believers, not to Israel under the Law, but to those under grace and members of the Body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15 he says, 'I show you Gentile believers a mystery,' teaching that not all will sleep but all will be changed.
Les explains that when the Old Testament prophets wrote, they wrote to the Jew, the nation of Israel under the Law. But when we come to Paul, he writes to you and I Gentiles who are not under the Law but under grace, members of the Body of Christ. To us in 1 Corinthians 15:51 he says, 'I show you Gentile believers a mystery. We shall not all sleep, or die physically, but we shall all be changed.' Whether we have died or remain alive at that time, we are going to have a resurrected body like His resurrected body. Les points to the forty days of Christ's life after His resurrection as an inkling of what our new body will be like. This change will happen in a moment, the smallest divisible portion of time, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. The doctrine of the Rapture, or the out-calling of the believer, has always been imminent; even in Paul's day he admonished believers to be prepared for the Lord's suddenly coming, and so it is today.