1 Thessalonians 4:17

then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Caught up in the clouds ... "The Greek word for `caught up' is rendered as "raplemur" in the Vulgate and other Latin versions, whence the event is sometimes called `the rapture,' or snatching away of the saints."[33]

To meet the Lord in the air ... Not to dwell with him "in the air," but then to accompany him to the new heaven and the new earth. All kinds of speculation are postulated on these words. As Hubbard noted:

Endless fellowship with Christ - where? Does the whole retinue ascend to heaven or return to earth? Any answer given will depend on the total interpretation of New Testament eschatology. Pre-tribulationists posit an ascension with a subsequent return to earth. Post-tribulationists hold that a descent to earth follows this reunion.[34]

Chrysostom wrote the following:

When the King cometh into a city, they that are honorable proceed forth to meet him, but the guilty await their judge within.[35]

All the New Testament teachings concerning the things of the end of the world, the coming of Christ and the final judgment. were not given to tease the intellectual curiosity of believers; but they all must be understood in the light of the passage before us, which comes to us in a section of exhortations; and, in the light of the purpose of Paul's words here, the passage supplies faith, confidence and certainty that death cannot rob any child of God of rewards which God may allow to be rightfully his. In the light of such a purpose, the passage does all it was intended to do, but it does not go beyond that.

[33] A. M. Stibbs, op. cit., p. 1159.

[34] David A. Hubbard, Wycliffe New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 820.

[35] A. J. Mason, op. cit., p. 141.