Matthew 24:31, the “Rapture,” and the Regathering of Israel

Christian “rapture” speculations (e.g. pre-tribulational) demonstrate a foundational flaw in evangelical hermeneutics. An originalist hermeneutic would detect the allusions to the Hebrew Bible in passages like Matthew 24:31 (“And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other”) and rightly equate them to the OT prophecies concerning the eschatological regathering of the scattered tribes of Israel (e.g. Isa 11:11-12; Jer 31:10-14; Ezek 34:11-16; 37:15-28; Hos 1:10-11; Amos 9:11-15; Zech 10:6-12).