Neither could the passage describing all men being caught up to meet the Lord in the air to be raised up to heaven (1 Thess. 4:17) be fulfilled literally because God's purpose of creation is not fulfilled in the air but on earth. All throughout the Bible, the earth connotes the fallen, evil world and heaven connotes the sacred world of the true sovereignty of goodness. Thus, being caught up from the earth to the air (heaven) means that fallen man will be restored or raised up to the original standard of sacredness and goodness from which he fell. Thus, when the Lord comes, the evil sovereignty will be ended, man will be restored to his original sinless state and the Kingdom of Heaven will be established.