Barbara Rossing on the Rapture  

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I came across Barbara Rossing's book The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation a few years ago and bought a copy for myself. Whilst it can be provocatively polemic in parts I found it to be an excellent book to debunk some of the strange and speculative views of Revelation (e.g. Left Behind) that dominate many of our churches and give a much broader, healthier and more faithful approach to Revelation Here is a clip of an interview of Barbara Rossing talking about (against) Rapture theology:

Definately Not the Earth!  

1 comments Posted by Andrew

Thank you Lauren! She has spotted the obvious that I hadn't - the globe on the coin with Domitian's son on it cannot represent the earth as the ancients thought the earth was flat (see Rev 7:1). I've been looking forward to finding out more on this one since you raised this on Sunday Lauren. As you say, the globe definately does not represent the earth. I think Janzen's words are "The globe represents world domination and power" rather than the globe as the earth. I might have been misleading in my comments on Sunday's 1st service (I was clearer in the 2nd service that it was the seat of authority but I will clear it up this coming Sunday). If anyone can shed further light on what the globe represents please share it with us! There might be a lolly in it for any NBC people and an online hug for others... It's easy to access info online about it by googling "coin" and "domitian" and "son" another useful word is the technical word for this sort of study - "numismatics". Be careful where you read because not everything online is trustworthy. But if anyone comes across anything good or are a scholar that can help us out, please share it with us.

Coins  

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As I've been reading through various commentaires and journal articles on Revelation I've come to realise how significant coins are in comprehending some of the images of Revelation. Coins were a big part of the propaganda machine of the Roman Empire and played a big part in promoting the Imperial Cult. If you're interested in reading more about coins and the Imperial Cult go here or here or here.
The coin above is a coin minted during the reign of Domitian following the death of his young son. The following comes from here. On one side it has the bust of Domitia (Domitian's wife) and on the other it has their infant son sitting naked on the globe with his arms outstrectched surrounded by 7 stars. It has the inscription DIVUS CAESAR IMP DOMITIANI F which means "the divine Caesar, son of the emperor Domitian". Ernest Janzen in an article called “The Jesus of the Apocalypse Wears the Emperor’s Clothes” in Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers 1994 writes “The globe represents world dominion and power, while stars typically bespoke the divine nature of those accompanied. … the infant depicted on the globe was the son of (a) god and that the infant was conqueror of the world” How significant is it now that John, in his depiction of the glorified Jesus in Rev 1:12-16, describes his as holding the seven stars in his right hand. From the title of Janzen's article I've entitled Sunday's sermon as - "The Emperor has no Clothes!"

Cities of Revelation  

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We're underway in our series through Revelation at NBC (you can download sermons from the series here - the date it started was July 6th). I'm planning to post some helpful online resources for people to access as we journey along. If you're looking for a really helpful resource for the letters to the 7 churches in their historical setting, have a look at Craig Koester's page here.

Sermons Online  

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I'm back after a break away on holiday. It was great! While I was away one of my good mates from church found out how to record sermons and convert them into mp3 files. So, if you're interested in accessing and downloading some of my sermons (and other guest preachers) at Napier Baptist go here. A little disclaimer: I am nervous about putting anything of mine on the www, so please respect the fact that these sermons are formed within the life of a local church and are for forming that local church in its life of love and witness to God. They're not delivered as something for TV, nor are they essays or theological treatises. They are my puny words (often still needing refinement) which I believe the living Word promises to take and use for his purposes.

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