Responses and Rapture

I've been away for a wee while and I hope people don't mind if I respond to their comments with a post all its own.

Sonja - Your Dad is right that 'rapture' is a relatively recent doctrine, 1827 with John Nelson Darby although some believe that early fathers like Augustine and Origen were actually the first to do so, this is of course disputed.

John - Excellent questions.

Firstly I don't think a complex message like that in Revelation can be summarised in a Tweet. 140 words can't do it justice. I think perhaps 'This is the true identity of Jesus. Some of you can be encouraged and some should be scared because the Empire is truly evil. God knows this.'

Secondly John was using Apocalyptic imagery taken straight from Daniel and others in the OT. The only change is that the OT was now being interpreted as having its fulfilment in Jesus. At the start of my series I'll be covering who, why, where and what so that's all I want to say for now on this blog if that's alright.