Most Christians agree on the fact that Jesus promised to return for His people, as described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, “For the Lord will 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 with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Albeit, we have varying opinions as to whether this event will take place before the tribulation (pretribulation rapture), during the tribulation (midtribulation), or at the end of the tribulation (posttribulation). The Lord wants the saints to be ready, watching and waiting, for He said, "When you see all these things, know that it (His return) is near, even at the doors” Matthew 24:33. If you don’t already have a firm opinion as to when the rapture (meaning caught up – Spanish Vulgate) of the saints will occur, you may want to seriously consider the following facts: There are eight passages of scripture throughout the Old and New Testaments which refer to the Lord as the “bridegroom” and His people as His “bride.” When the Lord described the kingdom of heaven in His parable of ten virgins waiting for the bridegroom (Matthew 25), most agree that He was speaking of His return for the saints. Perry Stone, renowned evangelist and Bible prophecy theologian, has taught on this subject from a Hebraic perspective, because, like it, or not, Jesus was a Jew and He even said, “…I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” Matthew 15:24. In fact, during His ministry, Jesus went to the Jewish synagogue to read on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16), He attended the Jewish feasts (John 2:13) and it is a historical fact that His disciples were Jews. It was through a vision, after Christ ascended, that Peter was led to preach to the Gentiles (Acts 10), and the apostle Paul received the same revelation (Romans 15:16). When Jesus spoke of ten virgins waiting for the bridegroom, His Jewish disciples knew exactly what He was referring to, because the bride and her bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom to appear is all a part of ancient Jewish wedding tradition. The groom would appear suddenly at the home of the bride’s parents to get his bride, so she needed to be prepared at all times. The part of this tradition, which I believe is pivotal to when the rapture of the saints will occur, is the fact that ancient Jewish wedding feasts lasted for an entire week – seven days. For seven days, the bride and the bridegroom hid themselves away alone together and at the end of the week, they enjoyed the marriage supper with family and friends. This whole scenario is indicative of the rapture of the saints and a marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9) lasting seven years. The prophet Daniel defined these seven years as a week (Daniel 9:27), the great tribulation on earth lasting seven years. The prophet Daniel wrote that the antichrist’s covenant of peace with Israel would be for a week, but then the covenant will broken in the middle of the week, which refers to a seven-year time period. I don’t believe it is coincidental that the Jewish groom took his bride for a week and feasted with family and friends at the end of the week, and the prophet Daniel described the antichrist making a covenant with Israel for week (seven years) during the onset of the great tribulation. Jesus said concerning the great tribulation, “Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” Matthew 24:21. The Bible also tells us, “Wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come” 1 Thessalonians 1:10. Since God is going to pour out His wrath on the wicked during the great tribulation, but the scripture says that Jesus “delivered us from the wrath to come,” it should be obvious that we won’t be here! Only 144,000 Jews of the 12 tribes of Israel will be sealed by the angels of God (Revelation 7:3-4), so they will not be harmed during the great tribulation. Since there is no mention of the church (bride of Christ) being sealed by God for protection, and considering that “God has not appointed us to wrath” (1 Thessalonians 5:9), we should know that we will not be here. There is another interesting clue regarding our pretribulation rapture. The Bible says, “The mystery of iniquity (speaking of the antichrist) already works, only he who now detains will detain, until he be taken out of the way and then shall that wicked be revealed…” 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8. The man of sin will not be revealed, until he who detains is taken out of the way. Many have debated who that one is that “detains.” The Word of God gives us a very strong indicator as to who it is: “And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” Matthew 16:18-19. The answer is the bride (church), those who love the Lord with all their heart, all their soul, all their mind, and all their strength (Mark 12:30). We need to ask ourselves if we fit this description, in that these are for whom the Lord will soon return. God bless you.