The important differences between the rapture and second coming are as follows:
The most important difference is this:
It is true that there will be a second coming. It is not true that there is such a thing as a rapture.
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1) At the rapture, believers meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). ...
You cited 1 Thes. 4:17:
15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thes. 4:15-17)
When Christ comes down from heaven to earth, those alive and those resurrected will
meet Him in the air, then those alive and resurrected
go back down to earth with Christ, whose purpose is His second coming on earth. They do not go to heaven, with Christ doing a U-Turn back to heaven.
Those alive in Christ and those resurrected in Christ are changed to immortality. That's why they have the ability to rise in the air as high as the clouds --- because their bodies are no longer mortal.
Why do they meet the Lord in the air and then all of them go down to earth? Because they (the saved) are the reception group for the arriving foreign dignitary (Christ).
Note that in the verses, only one has a journey, it's Christ who comes down from heaven. Yung mga tao, walang journey --- sumusundo lang sila sa isang nag-journey. Similar to the Queen of England who visits the Philippines --- PNoy goes to the airport, receives the Queen, and both of them go to Malacanang.
If your OFW friend from Saudi returns to Manila to visit your home, you go to the airport to meet him, and both of you go to your home in Manila. You don't go to the airport to meet him so that both of you can fly back to Saudi.
Si Pacquiao lang nga, pag umuwi sa Pilipinas, ang daming sumasalubong sa airport. Si Kristo pa kaya ang hindi natin salubungin sa hangin.
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2)... The rapture occurs before the tribulation (1 Thessalonians 5:9; Revelation 3:10).
You cited 1 Thes. 5:9 and Rev. 3:10:
1 Thes. 5:9 is not a rapture:
9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.It means God did not appoint us to suffer wrath in hellfire. It does not mean we will be snatched to save us from the Great Tribulation.
Rev. 3:10 is not a rapture:
10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.Rev. 3:10 means the elect will be protected during the Great Tribulation; it does not mean they will be snatched to heaven to escape it. The elect will remain on earth; they will not be raptured to heaven.
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3) The rapture is the removal of believers from the earth as an act of deliverance (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, 5:9). The second coming includes the removal of unbelievers as an act of judgment (Matthew 24:40-41).
As already explained above, there is no rapture in 1 Thes. 4:13-17 or 5:9.
You also cited Mat. 24:40-41:
Mat 24:40-41 is not a rapture:
40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
The parallel verse in Luke explains:
34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” [36] [e]
37 “Where, Lord?” they asked.
He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.” (Luke 17:34-37)One will be taken and the other one left.
Where will they be taken? To heaven? No.
Those who will be taken will not be raptured to heaven, they will simply die physically.
Verse 37 --- They asked: Where will their dead bodies be taken? Jesus answered: They end up with the vultures. Look for the places where vultures gather and you'll see the places where their dead bodies were gathered and dumped.
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4) The rapture will be secret and instant (1 Corinthians 15:50-54). ...
1 Cor. 15:50-54 is not a secret event:
50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”There will be seven seals. There will be seven trumpets. At the seventh and last trumpet, the dead in Christ will resurrect into immortality, and the bodies of those in Christ who are still alive will be changed from mortal to immortal bodies.
There is no secret rapture in those verses. How can an event previously signified by seven seals and previously announced by seven trumpets be a secret event?
There is no instant rapture in those verses. What is instantaneous is the change of the bodies of the saved from mortal to immortal. The verses say nothing about also being instantly snatched from earth to heaven.
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5) The second coming of Christ will not occur until after certain other end-times events take place (2 Thessalonians 2:4; Matthew 24:15-30; Revelation chapters 6–18). The rapture is imminent; it could take place at any moment (Titus 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:50-54).
The second coming will occur only after other end time events take place, that's true. But a rapture is not among those end-time events, because there is no such thing as a rapture.
For the rapture, you cited Titus 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; and 1 Corinthians 15:50-54.
- Titus 2:13 - No rapture there. It's about waiting for Christ's return, but no rapture.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 - No rapture there. As explained above, the elect meet Christ in the air and they all go down to earth.
That's why it's called the second coming, because Christ returns to earth. If the elect were going to heaven, then Christ should have simply waited for them in heaven, instead of performing the undignified task of coming down in the clouds to escort the elect to heaven.
In the first coming, Christ came in humility. But in the second coming, He comes in full power and glory of a Mighty God, not a lowly escort who has to fetch humans and shuttle them to heaven.
- 1 Corinthians 15:50-54 - No rapture there. It's about being instantly changed from mortal to immortal, nothing about being instantly snatched from earth to heaven while you are alive.
