When a picture becomes firmly planted in our minds it is very difficult to alter that image. The imagery of one final judgment day for every soul of both the living and the dead across the entire earth surface stems from a misunderstanding of the use of key words out of the Old Testament prophesies. All of the passages cited in the question are prophetic scripture, forward looking to the "last trump". An assumption is then made that the last trump must still be an event yet to come sometime in our future because there are still many people living across the face of the entire earth.
There is much background that needs to be set to bring the judgment language from the OT into view because that same judgment language is used throughout the NT books. It is only by learning the OT that we then recognize that same language in the NT.
When we look back at the OT use of the word "earth" we learn it has a local usage. (1) It referred to the land area, region, country or nation to whom the prophet was sent to warn of coming judgment of that nation.
Moses in speaking to the tribes of Israel, after the exodus from Egypt,
"Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth." (Deu. 32:1, KJV)
The heavens of the tribes of Israel were their ruling authorities which at the time were those elders appointed by Moses and the Levitical priests who were the repository of the Law. A call to the Heavens - plural - in prophesy to hear the prophet was calling the king, queen, princes, governors, etc to hear the messenger God had sent.
The "earth" was the call of the prophet to the people of that land nation. Isaiah used the same language in speaking to Judah.
"1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." (Isa. 1:1-2, KJV)
The heavens and the earth whom Isaiah called were those rulers / priests of Judah and Jerusalm, and the people who lived under their dominion.
In speaking to Babylon and warning of its destruction, Isaiah told of the army to come.
"5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land." (Isa. 13:5, KJV)
The army that was to come against Babylon would come from the "end of heaven", or the end of the borders of the land of Babylon - from a far country. The king of Babylon had rule and dominion over the lands of his kingdom, to the borders of that kingdom. His kingdom was a type of God's heaven. As God has rule and authority over all the earth, a king has rule and authority over a part of God's earth, and thus in prophesy the king's authority and reach was his "heaven". Then, "from the end of heaven" meant from the borders of the kingdom. A far country was a nation beyond the borders of the kingdom of Babylon.
God told Jeremiah to "go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem" (Jer. 2:2), and in Jer. 2:12 he said to the priests,
"Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord." (KJV)
Their heavens were their rulers and authoritarian officers. So, in prophesy shaking the heavens was an overturn and upset of a king or ruling authority. Falling from heaven was the metaphor for removing a king or queen (sun and moon), or princes / governors (stars) from their positions of authority. Their power over the people would be removed, and their light would no longer shine.
Shaking the earth, or earthquakes spoke of the destruction of that land or nation (Isa. 2:19, 21; 13:13, 14:16; Psa. 18:7; 29:8; 60:2; Joel 3:16, etc.). The falling stars had first reference to the children of Abraham from God's promise that Abraham's descendants would be as the "stars of heaven" (Gen. 22:17; 26:4).
Therefor, when a prophet spoke to the tribes of Israel, or to Judah and Jerusalem, stars falling from heaven were the tribes of Israel.
"The Lord your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude." (Deu. 1:10, KJV)
So as we study the scriptures we have to first identify which land / nation / kingdom the prophet was sent to warn. Then we can know which heaven or ruling authority is under judgment, and which land region is set for destruction.
The judgment language from the prophesies of the downfall of the northern 10 trips at the hands of the Assyrians (approx. 722 BC), the downfall of the kingdom of Judah and the 1st temple at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar (approx. 586 BC) and the downfall of Babylon at the hands of Cyrus the Great (approx. 539 BC) were described with this same language of suns and moons no longer shining, and stars falling from heaven, and shaking the heavens, and shaking the earth.
This prophetic language was the judgment of earthly kings, their kingdoms, and nation / cities. This is the same language of Matt. 24 - 25, Mark 13, John's Olivet discourse in Revelation. Luke 21 spells it out in plainer, simpler language of the army that would surround Jerusalem (Luke 21:20-22).
This judgment language of the downfall of nations was not ever prophesying the destruction of the entire earth cosmos. So point #6 listed above is refuted.
Another part of the apocalyptic judgment language which God typically used was the coming in the clouds. The Jews understood this as the presence of God being felt, not seen. Job did not see God in the whirlwind, but knew God was there (Job 38:1, 40:6).
"Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven." (Job 22:14, KJV)
"And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud,..." (Ex. 13:21, KJV)
Speaking of the judgment against Jerusalem, Jeremiah said -
"Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled." (Jer. 4:13. KJV)
"The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet." (Nah. 1:3, KJV)
Coming in the clouds was judgment language that spoke of a time that God would make His presence known through the agencies of droughts, foreign armies, disease, famine, etc. It never meant that God would be visibly seen by the people. It is the same meaning in the NT prophesies. So, points #5 & #7 in the list above are also not literal events, and are both refuted.
We have to identify the prophet, and we have to identify which people or nation the prophet was sent to warn in order to know which nation was under judgment. In Matt. 24, and in Rev. 1:1 we find the prophet was Jesus / Yeshua. He was warning the Jews of the destruction of Jerusalem and of Judah. So, the judgment was a national judgment focused on the city of Jerusalem, the 2nd temple and the then Roman province of Judea.
The answer to the last trumpet call is contained within the feast days of the Mosaic temple laws to be found in Lev. 23:24, and 25:9 for the Feast of Trumpets on the 1st of Tishri (Yom Teruah) and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) on the 10th of Tishri. The Jews had about 15 different ways of referring to the Feast of Trumpets, but the overarching message was the memorial of the fall of Jericho (Josh 6:20), a besieged city.
The duality of this memorial remembrance was played out by another besieged city - Jerusalem at the hands of Titus, son of Vespasian in AD 70. Those walls were torn down by the Romans by the 1st of Tishri - Feast of Trumpets.
The Feast of Trumpets was also associated with the trumpets for the wedding of the bridegroom, who would come for his bride at night, with lamps lit and trumpets blowing as a "thief in the night". There truly is not enough space here to detail all of these connections from the OT feast days, and the idioms commonly used to refer to them. (2) (3)
Yom Teruah was also called Yom Hadin, Day of Judgment. The last trump, the last day did signify the resurrection out of Hades (the realm of the dead pictured in Luke 16:19ff). What people misunderstand is that this resurrection was the beginning of the resurrection of the dead, not the end of it. Those souls held in the prison of Hades were separated out of Hades (Matt. 25:31-33) when Christ came in glory to judge Jerusalem, and those who had pierced Him (Rev. 1:7) at the same time bringing in His kingdom, and destroying that animal sacrificial temple (Matt. 24). (4)
Every one has to experience bodily, physical death before they can put on the immortal, imperishable bodies. People seem to skip that part and think Paul was speaking of a one time "rapture" event. Consider Rev. 14:13 carefully.
If the battle of the last days was speaking of the end of time, or the end of the entire world, and all life on earth, then what does the word "henceforth" mean.
"And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." (KJV)
Paul's assurance to the Corinthians and Thessalonians was that those who had already died in the Lord would be raised before those who were still living would die. The living who remained after the resurrection from Hades would be blessed as they died in their order, individually from that time forward and be taken into the air to be joined with the others who had already been taken home to heaven before them.
The word "then" in 1 Thess. 4:17 is a time separator, and to be caught up together does not indicate a one time event, but a continually lifting up into heaven. Henceforth, after the separation out of Hades those who die in the Lord are caught up and joined together with all those who have gone before.
After the destruction of Jerusalem, God threw the realm of the dead - Hades - into the lake of fire (Rev. 20;14). The state or condition of being dead in Hades - death - was removed. Everyone faces their own judgment at their physical bodily death, and it has always been so. Else why the two divisions in Hades? (5)
Christ arose from the gave and ascended to the Father (Acts 1:10. Dan. 7:13). Once the temple was destroyed and His kingdom fully established there was no more need for the prison of Hades. All who have died in the Lord since that city was judged, and the temple destroyed have access to the heavenly temple in the heavenly Jerusalem and are taken home when they die. Resurrection is now an on-going process, and it began at the final destruction of the temple on the 1st of Tishri AD 70.
Points 1 & 3 above confirmed. Point 2 is the on-going process of the elect being gathered into heaven as each soul in the Lord dies from across the entire earth. Point 4 refuted as it was not at the same time.
It is a monumental task to identify all of the connections from the OT prophetic language, the OT feast days, and the trumpet symbols. This attempt is sketchy at best as the entire OT comes into play in the final transformation from the earthly temple system to the heavenly temple system.
"For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." (1 Cor. 15:53, KJV)
The corruptible earthly temple worship also had to put on the incorruptible and be transformed into the pure and perfect temple of our Lord and Savior. And, it happened when that earthly temple was taken out of the way in AD 70.
The last trumpet call for Jerusalem took place in AD 70 at the hands of the Roman army. But, there is a last trumpet call for each individual at our own bodily death, & that trumpet call signals either our gathering into heaven, or our judgment.
Notes:
earth - Strong's Heb. 776, "eretz" - Biblehub
Signs of the Feasts - Part II: Christ Told His Disciples ShreddingTheVeil
Signs of the Feasts - Part III: The Thief in the Night ShreddingTheVeil
Destruction of the Second Temple - JewishVirtualLibrary
Frequent Mistakes - Part III: The Last Day ShreddingTheVeil
