Will there be a Gap after the Rapture?

 There are number of Old Testament prophecies to be fulfilled like the War of Ezekiel 38 & 39, Israel's Revival and the rebuilding of the Temple. 

When they will be fulfilled and how much time will the events take for fulfillment is debated among Futurist. The fact that Israel and the Church are presently co-existing have some trying to separate what happens to Israel as occurring after the rapture of the Church.

Thomas Ice and other teachers solution is to have a gap between "the rapture" and the "day of the Lord" for these prophecies to be fulfilled.

Examples of the Rapture Gap:

"The Rapture precedes the Tribulation, but it does not begin the Tribulation, a fact confused by many Pretribulationists. It is not the Rapture, but the seven-year covenant which begins the Tribulation. The Rapture will merely come some time before this, and may very well precede the Tribulation by a good number of years." "The Rapture precedes the Tribulation, but it does not begin the Tribulation, a fact confused by many Pretribulationists. It is not the Rapture, but the seven-year covenant which begins the Tribulation. The Rapture will merely come some time before this, and may very well precede the Tribulation by a good number of years." The Footsteps of the Messiah, Dr. Fruchtenbaum

The rapture ends the church age, but does not start the tribulation. The seven-year tribulation begins when the Revived Roman Antichrist makes an agreement to protect Israel (Dan. 9:24–27). Thus, the interval could be days, weeks, months, or years in length in order to fully set the stage for the events of that seven-year period.
Since there will be an interval of days, weeks, months, or years between the rapture and the start of the tribulation, there could be millions of Christian converts even before the tribulation begins. Thomas Ice


However 2 Thessalonians 2 does not appear to allow such a speculation. From my youth I had always been taught from the Bible one event is the cause that leads to the other. This teaching is only been around recently as way to solve Israel's prophetic fulfillment that over laps during this Church age. However this is not necessary. Jesus' Olivet Discourse was fulfilled while both Israel and the Church co-existed in 70 A.D. ...and history will repeat itself.

The flaw to this Gap theory is that with the Church gone, there will be no witness to the world of the gospel of God's grace or of the gospel of the kingdom of God. Even with Israel's revival after the Magog War will not satisfy this need because the nation still rejects Jesus as their Messiah. Thus their return to the Law will not be a return to God in repentance.

In this chart I represent a scenario without the Rapture Gap:

 

The Coming Fourteen Years 

Before Daniel's Seventieth Seven is fulfilled, there are other prophecies for Israel that should happen. When Israel became a nation on May 1948, this set in motion the dry bones prophecy of Ezekiel. The Ezekiel prophecy clock is in motion.
After the dry bone prophecies there is the coming war of Ezekiel 38 & 39. This war very well could be the catalyst for the Temple to be built. Muslim and world opposition to Israel will be eliminated by this devastating event.

It will take Israel seven years to burn the weapons. This will be more than enough time for this Temple to be constructed.

The timing of the Rapture is not determined by theses events...i.e. they do not serve as signs to the Church that the Rapture will happen in X number of years after these events.

The Rapture is an event unique for the Church and is not determined by Israel's prophecies. It is determined by the Lord when the last Gentile is saved (Romans 11:25).

As we should have learned by now...and we should know this too....since the Church is co-existing with Israel....whatever prophecies for Israel are being fulfilled now...will impact the Church. This will be the norm until we are taken out of the way.

This is why we need to be rapture ready...we do not know when our Lord is coming to gather us...so we need to be always alert and always prepared.