A common objection to the rapture being biblical is that it wasn't even mentioned by John Nelson Darby until 1827. That's just not true. Came across this comprehensive list of mentions:

In about 100 A.D., Clement of Rome spoke about the Rapture in his letter to the Corinthians. And, following the logical flow of his teaching yields the result of a pretribulation Rapture of the Church. Clement gave Enoch as an example and mentioned the Lord delivering Noah. He also mentioned the Lord saving Lot and Rahab. 

In 130 A.D., Irenaeus was a bishop of the church in Lyons, France. He was an eyewitness to the Apostle John (who wrote the Book of Revelation) and a disciple of Polycarp who was a first disciple of the Apostle John. Irenaeus wrote, “And therefore, in the end, the Church shall be suddenly caught up from this and there shall be tribulation such as has not been since the beginning, neither shall be.” 

In 140 A.D., by the Shepherd of Hermes wrote about a pre-tribulational concept of escaping the tribulation. In 180 A.D., Irenaeus actually speaks of the rapture and that the Church shall be suddenly caught up from this (the tribulation). In 250 A.D., Cyprian was Bishop of the church in Carthage. He wrote, ““We who see that terrible things have begun, and know that still more terrible things are imminent, regard it as the greatest advantage that by an early departure we are taken away, and delivered from the disasters that are imminent. Let us greet the day which snatches us hence, and sets us free.” 

In 275 A.D., Victorinus wrote in a commentary on the book of Revelation that the church would be removed prior to the tribulation. "And the heaven withdrew as a scroll that is rolled up. For the heaven to be rolled away, that is, that the Church shall be taken away.” 

In 370 A.D., John Ephraim was made a deacon in the church in Syria. In his work on the last times, he wrote: “For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world” 

In about 400 A.D., St. Chrysostom wrote Homilies on Ephesians and Thessalonians, where he clearly speaks of the Rapture. “We shall be caught up in the clouds. As He descends, we go forth to meet Him and so we shall be with Him.” After over 1000 years of suppression the Reformers went back to the Bible and apostolic fathers.

In 1260, Gerard Sagarello founded the Apostolic Brethren in northern Italy. He wrote followers of Christ would be transferred into Paradise, in which manner were Enoch and Elijah. And in this way, they will be preserved unharmed from the persecution of Antichrist. An expectation that the Saints would be taken out of tribulation and protected from the wrath of Antichrist was common in the seventeenth century, TWO HUNDRED (200) YEARS BEFORE JOHN NELSON DARBY. The word rapture appears for the act of being swept bodily into heaven. 

In 1608 Thomas Draxe wrote just as Noah and his family were preserved from the deluge by being lifted up above the waters in the ark, so should the saints at the conflagration be lifted up in the clouds, unto their ark, Christ, to be preserved there from the deluge.

In 1627, Joseph Mede wrote on 1 Thessalonians using the same illustration on the resurrection as did Darby. In a single letter, he used the work “rapture” six times, all in reference to the saints meeting the Lord in the air. He said those “translated into the air” would “be preserved during the conflagration of the earth”: In the 1630’s, Joseph Hall, Bishop of Exeter, said, “Moses and Elijah were raptured into Heaven and nothing shall keep us from appearing with Him (Christ) when the fiery Chariot shall come and sweep us from this Vale of Mortality.” 

In 1639, Ephraim Huit, the founder the first church in Connecticut, believed “the coming of the Son of Man in the Clouds” would save the elect from “trials.” He also taught: “The summoning of the Elect” would be by the sound of a trumpet and “This trumpet is heard only by the Elect, whereof the reprobates are incapable are hearing it.”

In 1642 press censorship was no longer enforced, and a flurry of apocalyptical works were published teaching Christ’s coming and that the ungodly would be “left behind” to experience the wrath of God in the last days: That same year John Archer He will raise up the Saints, which are dead before his coming at the Worlds end. in 1647, Elizabeth Avery said the Church shall be secured in that chamber, which is a place of safety…which God will provide as a resting place for the Saints. Avery taught this gathering of saints as a separate event than the actual return of Christ. She taught, “The day shall come as a thief in the night and those that are risen at the coming of Christ, shall be caught up into the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. 

 In 1648, Lady Mary Cary of London, believed that “enlargements shall come for the Saints, and they being delivered from the rage of the Beast, shall be preserved wholly from his fury.

In 1648, Peter Sterry, another member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, describes a pre-tribulation rapture in “The clouds in which Christ comes is an ark to those which are taken into Christ, lifting them high above all miseries toward Heaven.” Nathaniel Homes is another seventeenth century author who used the word rapture. He said, “The resurrection of those which slept in Christ, and the rapture of those which shall be left alive, together with them into the air, should be at one and the same time. Then, quoting Joseph Mede 26 years earlier, he said, “The rapture of the Saints into the clouds is to be for their present translation into heaven and our gathering together unto Christ at his coming that they may be preserved during the conflagration of the earth as Noah, and his family were preserved from the deluge, by being lift up above the waters in the Ark, so should the Saints at the conflagration be lifted up in the clouds unto their Ark, Christ, to be preserved there from the Deluge.

In 1654 Captain John Browne of London gave a detailed order of events for the Last Days. He taught, the Spouse is taken up and then the City is built. The bringing back of the Ten Tribes will not be completed till after the Saints are taken up. 

In 1665, William Sherwin used the word “rapt” saying, “The Saints, at the sounding of that last trumpet, shall be changed in a moment, at the twinkling of an eye…to be rapt up to meet Christ in the air…” 

In 1674 William Sherwin published Exanastasis. He wrote, “at the last Trump and general Rapture, and the glorious change of all the Saints…at the former he brings all the Spirits of the deceased Saints that sleep in Jesus with him: at the latter, they, and all the rest of the Saints departed afterwards, shall in the twinkling of an eye be rapt up to meet him in the air.” 

in 1676, Joshua Sprigg, a London rector and steward of New College Oxford wrote, “this coming here is a coming for our particulars; …a coming in the night, a coming privately…such a coming, as that those that do not watch, will not be aware of, nor will they reap the benefit of it. …the glorious fruit and advantage of those to whom the Lord shall come, and find them watching; he shall change their condition form the condition of servants, and he shall make them to be the Bride.” 

In 1700, John Asgill wrote a book about a rapture without seeing death. As a result of writing this book, Asgill was removed from the Irish parliament in 1703 and then from the English parliament in 1707. 

In 1709, Increase Mather wrote, “The Living Saints at Christ’s coming shall be caught up into the air, that they may escape that Deluge which will be the Perdition of ungodly Men… But before this Rapture of the living, the dead Saints shall be raised.” 

In 1715, John Marshall described a pre-Tribulation rapture in his London sermon. He said, “The righteous are taken away from the evil to come.” and “That evil would not be till the Righteous are removed out of its way and reach, even as Sodom was not destroyed, till righteous Lot was gotten into a Place of Safety.” 

In 1721, Surrey minister Joseph Perry wrote, “We all believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will come again from Heaven, the second time…personally, in the Clouds of Heaven… We all believe that at this time of his Coming the dead Saints shall be raised and the living Saints shall be changed in a Moment, in the Twinkling of an Eye, at the Sound of the Last Trumpet. … And that they shall be caught up in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air, and so shall be forever with the Lord.” 

In 1734, Sayer Rudd, Baptist pastor and physician taught that Christ will descend several times. His first descent is to resurrect the saints, while his second is with all the saints, called the lamb’s wife, to bring the New Jerusalem: 

In 1748, Dr. John Gill supported a time difference between the rapture of the saints and the coming of Christ to earth. He said, “He'll stay in the air, and His saints shall meet Him there, whom He'll take up with Him into the third heaven, till the general conflagration is over.” 

In 1687, Peter Jurie taught in his book Approaching Deliverance of the Church that Christ would come in the air to rapture the saints and return to heaven before the battle of Armageddon.

Steve M