Some confuse the Rapture with the Second Coming, and fail to notice that the order of events at the Rapture is the opposite of the Second Coming. At the Rapture the Saved are taken to heaven and the unsaved are left on earth to enter the seven year tribulation period of the wrath of God. At the Second Coming, however, the Saved remain on earth to go into the millennial reign of Christ, and the unsaved are taken away to be judged and punished. This helps us understand properly the parables Jesus taught in Matthew’s Gospel. Matthew is the gospel written for the Jews as a nation. The church age had not yet started, and there had been no teaching about the Rapture yet when Jesus taught these parables, so they all refer to the Second Coming.

Matthew 13:24-30 The parable of the tares

“Another parable He put forth to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?' But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn." ' " (NKJV)

The tare (darnell) looks like wheat but is worthless and intertwines it roots with the wheat. The solution is to wait till the harvest, pull out and burn the tares and gather up the wheat.
This is a picture of the Second Coming of Jesus – the wicked are gathered and taken away to judgment and punishment and the righteous remain to enter into the millennial kingdom.

Matthew 13:47 The parable of the drag net is another picture of the Second Coming. The fishermen remove the bad fish and keep the good ones.

Mat 24:37-39 “But as the days of Noah [were], so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” (NKJV)

The flood took the souls of the wicked away in judgment and left the godly, Noah and his family, to repopulate the earth. These are all pictures of the Second Coming of Christ to establish His Millennial kingdom here on earth.

We don’t know when the Rapture will occur, but once it does and the Church is gone to glory, Satan knows his days are numbered because he only has a short time (about 7 years) to get his kingdom established and oppose the return of Jesus to establish His Millennial kingdom.

Philippians.3:20-21 clearly states the living hope of the Christian:

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” (NKJV)