The believers who are still alive at that time will then be lifted up in power from the earth (see also Genesis 5:24—Enoch; 2 Kings 2:11—Elijah). They too will be in the air with their mighty Lord. No one (not even evil forces; see Ephesians 2:2, Ephesians 6:12–13) can prevent this. And it will remain that way. Those who once died and all those who still live, in short, all believers will then be with their Lord for ever. In a letter to another church, Paul writes: When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory
(Colossians 3:4). It cannot get more glorious than this.
For the first readers, the entry of the Lord Jesus made them think of a triumphant entry of an important person. For this people hurried outside the city. The prince, the commander who was coming, was worth that kind of honour. People would march outside the city and then along with everyone else back to the city again. This also points to the fact that there is no reason to think that all people will go to heaven at Jesus’ entry. In the future that God gives us, our place will be on the renewed earth, which will have a heavenly hue (Revelation 21:1–3).
Based on this text, it is also incorrect to speak of the rapture of the congregation
and that history on earth would continue without the people who were taken up in heaven. This whole pericope is about the final coming of Jesus. A strong argument for this is 1 Thessalonians 5:1–28 where the apostle himself, following the conclusion of 1 Thessalonians 4:1–18, writes about the day of the Lord
(1 Thessalonians 5:2).
17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.