Will the Church be here during the Tribulation?

For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Matthew 24:24

When you base your theology of the rapture on Matthew 24, you cannot but conclude that the church will be here during the Tribulation. But Interestingly, nothing whatsoever is said in Matthew 24 about the rapture. 

So, if the church will not be here during the Tribulation, how do you explain the fact that Jesus said, "If it were possible, even the elect will be deceived" during this period? Before we give an answer to this question, may it be clear that the tribulation period is not a time to purge the church of impurity, and get it ready for heaven, as some people erroneously believe. The Tribulation is a time of God's wrath being poured out upon the world for rejecting Jesus Christ; with reference to Israel, it will be the time of Jacob's trouble spoken of by Prophet Jeremiah. This should be distinguished from persecution, which is entirely instigated by satan against the church, but the tribulation will be the act of God directed at those who reject Christ. 

In 1 Thessalonians 1:10, we are told that Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come. One may ask, which wrath? In Revelation 6:16, we are shown what that wrath is: the wrath of God poured upon the world for rejecting Jesus Christ. Also in Luke 21:36, Jesus asked His disciples to pray that they may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass. So we know that some people will be counted worthy to escape the coming tribulation. Further in 1 Thessalonians 5:9, we read, "For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." All of these make clear that the church of Jesus Christ will not be on the earth during the period of the Tribulation. 

Now, to address the question of even the elect being deceived, it is important to know that the saints in question are not church saints, but Jewish saints who would have accepted Jesus Christ as their Messiah during the Tribulation period. During this time, the church would have been in heaven, having been taken away from the earth in what is commonly known as the rapture of saints. 

Toni