I have been asked many times concerning the location of Jesus’s activities after the rapture. It is a common question in prewrath discussions. Robert Van Kampen’s The Sign has a helpful explication of this period. To be sure, in the last 30 years since its publication prewrath has refined this topic. Let me comment on this.
We can begin on the firm foundation that after the rapture Jesus will usher God’s people before the Father’s throne in heaven. The three passages of John 14, Revelation 7, and 2 Corinthians in this article clearly indicate that Jesus ushers God’s people before the throne of the Father in heaven. So contra postribulationism, he does not directly descend to earth immediately after the rapture.
After that point when Jesus ushers God’s people before the throne of the Father in heaven, Scripture is not entirely clear of Jesus’s exact location, but it suggests that he will be involved with trumpet(?) judgments, especially with the reference of his robe being “dipped in blood” (Rev 19:13). Does his own judgment activity involve him being physically on earth or the sky during this time? Scripture is not entirely clear. Nevertheless, what is more important is that his parousia judgments are fulfilling his wrathful purposes upon the wicked.
The salvation of Israel occurs at the 70th week of Daniel (which fulfills Daniel’s 70th Week prophecy). The OT passages that depict the Messiah leading a Jewish remnant back to Israel/Jerusalem clearly implies he arrived physically on earth before this event.
Afterwards, he is established as King of the world and sets up his royal city in Jerusalem. This provokes the beast’s armies of the nations to go after him to retake the city.
During the sixth bowl judgment, the nations encamp at Armageddon and plan on retaking Jerusalem. But before they can attack Jerusalem, Jesus preemptively attacks the nations. He retrieves the heavenly armies who accompany him into battle against the beast’s armies of the nations, vanquishing them as a result.
After Jesus’s victory, the New Jerusalem will descend to earth at the establishment of the millennial kingdom (some interpreters argue that it descends after the millennium).
On a side note, Zech 14:4 does not actually say that the Messiah will “descend” on the Mount of Olives as if he was in heaven, only that his feet will stand there. I take this context to mean that he is leading the Jewish remnant back to Israel, which makes sense, because it is in the immediate context of the battle: “Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle” (Zech 14:3).
I hope this outline helps.
It would be convenient to have a single biblical passage that depicts the entirety of Jesus’s itinerary, but we have to do the hard work in collating many passages in order to build a composite picture of Jesus’s activity (and other activities) after the events of the resurrection and rapture.
I intend to write up a more extensive timeline in the near future. But I hope this will suffice for those curious readers.
