According to Joel, the timing for the Spirit’s work is described as preceding “the day of the Lord” for a time of judgment and reward of the righteous. As we come to the fulfillment of this prediction, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that began in Jerusalem in chapter 2 occurred “before the great and terrible day of the Lord.” That day would also be associated with a vindication of martyred souls, who were anxious for that day to come. The righteous blood from Abel to Zachariah would be vindicated upon that generation who rejected the Messiah when he was alive (Matt. 23:34-37) and the Holy Spirit who spoke through the apostles and prophets after his ascension. They would be resurrected and the unrighteous dead ones punished. Daniel who prophesied of the last days, wrote:
At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever”
(Daniel 12:1–3). Among those who are alive at His coming, Christ would separate as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. Jesus said:
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger and ye took me in: naked and ye clothed me: I was sick and ye visited me: I was in prison and ye came unto me.” — Matthew 25:31-36
It is described as a day of harvest. Jesus explains in Matthew 13 that He will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness. Daniel wrote of that day earlier in chapter seven when he writes:
A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousands ministered unto Him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him; the judgment was set, and the books were opened.” — Daniel 7:10
The order of events places the wicked being culled out before the righteous are rewarded. The sequence appears to start with the judgment of the wicked among professed believers, including old Jerusalem and physical Israel (“house of God” – 1 Peter 4:17). Old Jerusalem was sacked and burned in 70 A.D. while the merchants wept as they viewed her smoke from afar. During this harvest, some were taken, others left. The assumption that those taken were raptured is incorrect as they were separated first. You would not have wanted to be among those taken if you lived during that time. Following this, and probably not immediately after, the dead were raised. The wicked dead was sentenced to eternal separation and the dead in Christ were raised with glorified bodies to reign with Him. Then, the righteous would be changed to join them in this spiritual plain (the air) where they reign and live with him for a thousand years.