Claim. I Thessalonians 4:17 — believers “caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” — is not a physical levitation. “Air” symbolizes the world of good sovereignty; “earth” symbolizes the fallen world under evil sovereignty. To meet the Lord in the air is to be received into the realm where God reigns, when Christ comes again and defeats the kingdom of Satan.
Elaboration. Per 3.2. Bible Verses Concerning the Signs of the Last Days: “The ‘air’ mentioned in this verse does not refer to the sky over our heads. In the Bible, ‘earth’ is often a symbol for the fallen world under the sway of evil sovereignty, while ‘Heaven’ is often a symbol for the sinless world of good sovereignty.”
DP defends this with biblical usage. Though God is omnipresent and dwells “everywhere on the earth,” we pray “Our Father who art in heaven” — “earth” and “heaven” here cannot be geographies. Likewise Jesus “was born on the earth” yet is called “he who descended from Heaven, the Son of man” — the spatial language is sovereignty-language, not topography.
The rapture, on this reading, is being incorporated into the restored sovereignty at the Second Advent, not being lifted off the planet. “Meeting the Lord in the air means that the saints will receive the Lord in the world of good sovereignty when Christ comes again and restores the Kingdom of Heaven on earth by defeating the kingdom of Satan.”
This places DP firmly outside premillennial-dispensational rapture readings.
See also. dp-bible-eschatological-imagery-read-symbolically, dp-heaven-and-earth-destroyed-means-satanic-sovereignty-overthrown