Rapture Reversed

There's been a lot of chat about the rapture recently and a certain preacher left red-faced as his predictions, unsurprisingly were wrong.
Another, better preacher; Tullian Tchividjan has wrote a great post on how God will Make All Thing New (Not All New Things). In it he writes:

"The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:19‑21)

God doesn’t plan to utterly destroy this present world and build a brand-new world from scratch. Instead he plans a radical renovation project for the world we live in today."

I've been thinking this for some time, and while i've read books etc on the general rapture view i just don't see it without a stretch. Years ago i quietly came to the opinion that we Christians would not be taken out of the world prior to tribulation but would indeed pass through it, just as Noah was not taken out of the world prior to flooding, but passed through it. In regards to the flood Tullian offers us another nugget to chew on:

"Matthew 24:37‑41 is another passage some use to justify an escapist theology, approaching this world with a “Why shine the brass on a sinking ship?” attitude. In this passage Jesus likens “the coming of the Son of Man” to the time of Noah, when people “were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away.” Then Jesus gives two brief pictures of the effect of his coming: “Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.”

These verses have been employed to support the idea that God will one day evacuate, or “rapture,” all the righteous people, leaving behind an evil world destined for annihilation. Therefore, the thinking goes, Christians should focus exclusively on seeking to rescue lost souls rather than waste time trying to fix things that are broken in this doomed world. This perspective is evidenced in a comment I read not long ago from a well-known Bible teacher: “Evangelism is the one reason God’s people are still on earth.”

But a closer look at the context reveals that in those pictures Jesus gave of men in the field and women at the mill, those “left behind” are the righteous rather than the unrighteous. Like the people in Noah’s day who were “swept away,” leaving behind Noah and his family to rebuild the world, so the unrighteous are “taken,” while the righteous are left behind. Why? Because this world belongs to God, and he’s in the process of gaining it all back, not giving it all up.

When it comes to this world’s future, God will follow the same pattern he engineered in Noah’s day, when he washed away everything that was perverse and wicked but did not obliterate everything. God will not annihilate the cosmos; he’ll renew, redeem, and resurrect it. As Randy Alcorn writes, “We will be the same people made new and we will live on the same Earth made new.”

Moreover, the comparison between the floodwaters in Noah’s day and the fire that Peter wrote about is significant. The wicked things that are “swept away” by water can grow back (as happened in Noah’s time). But the wicked things burned up by fire can nevercome back. The burning-away effect of fire is permanent; the sweeping-away effect of water isn’t. Fire, in this case, is better than flood."

Another part of Scripture that i often think about in regards to this is the parable of the weeds in Matthew 13:24-30 & explained in vs36-43; the master (explained as Jesus) will tell the reapers (Angels) to "Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned." 

It is, atleast according to this parable, the weeds; lawbreakers and causes of sin that will be taken from the world first. This gives a whole new slant, or option of understanding which of the 2 guys will be taken from the field and which woman taken from the mill.
Will it be the wicked that is swept away while Christ's kingdom is set up on Earth?

 I hold these thoughts loosely; it's not something i want to get into an argument over, nor something i am 100% on. Nevertheless it is my current view. I know amidst the N.Ireland church many almost consider it heresy to hold to anything other than the normal rapture view but I'd encourage you to read Tullian's post in full - he puts it better than i can. This, as with every view has problems but it seems the most easily logical conclusion from a plain read of the Scriptures.