the subject isn’t “just” about whether or not there’s a gap, that was only one aspect. But it was also touching on the claim of who the angels were talking to at the ascension and why Jesus made a connection with the days of Noah and the coming of the Son of man. Mainline churches connect all of those things to a rapture. I almost made the title “preaching to the choir” but I thought that would be too broad as well.
And Aaron, I agree with your post as well! In fact, you could take it a step further about the Daniel prophecy being sealed . . .John’s prophecy seeing the Lamb as though it had been slain breaking the seal . . …I believe when Jesus reached back to Daniel’s prophecy in Matthew 24, “that” was when the seal on Daniel’s vision and John’s vision was broken.
Daniel saw, wrote and sealed. The first thing John encountered was the breaking of the seal, “then” he saw and wrote. It was the same book. It was an unveiling (revelation) epistle of Jesus. Daniel saw the revelation of Jesus but Jesus time hadn’t come so it was sealed. But then when Jesus did come, Jesus himself, being the lamb, literally broke the seal by connecting Daniel’s sealed book with the coming events. So in all actuality, “when” John wrote what he saw, it was a generation after Jesus had been gone. Approximately 40 years, so between what Jesus broke open and what John saw . . .it most definitely had already begun. In fact, if Jerusalem hadn’t already been over-run by the Roman soldiers in A.D. 70, it was on the verge, which for me, is what Daniel’s vision, Matthew 24 and Revelation is all about, the removal of the Old Covenant system in preparation for the new Melchezedek order to be established.
I’ve heard the defense about the fact that the book was to remain open, being the idea that a day is a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day, so even though it may be 2,000 years to us, it’s only been 2 days in God’s eyes so the prophecies are still unfolding. But again, the problem with that thinking is the fact that Daniel was told to seal up what he saw, Jesus comes along 600 years later, opens what Daniel sealed and then John’s instructed to leave it open . . .Jesus had already broken the seal, Which then, with the thousand years as a day principle would make 600 years about 13 hours. So Daniel had to seal a book for 13 hours because it wasn’t time yet, but John’s supposed to have his open because it “was” time, but not really, it was still 2 days away . . .the math doesn’t work anymore. I don’t think leaving it open was so that it could begin, but so that it could end. Which . … once the religious system was removed, the age then did end.
When you were quoting all the passages in Revelation that connected to how soon things were to happen, I was surprised you didn’t quote the passage where John was instructed to (Revelation 1:19 “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.
People get hung up in trying to take this spiritual book and make literal applications. John made it clear what the book is about. It’s not about the destruction of men, it’s about the unveiling of Jesus. And if we’d just back up about 11 verses, we’d understand exactly what it was John was instructed to write . . .it wasn’t about “events”. In verse 8 of this same chapter Jesus proclaimed
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
With me so far? He says he is “who is, was and is to come . . .” Then John is instructed to write about what was, is and is to come . . .that’s why he entitled it "This is a revelation OF JESUS CHRIST. It’s not about events, it’s about the nature of Jesus.
It’s also how I personally read the Bible. I see it in three general ‘dimensions’. Christ “is” the volume of the book. He told the religious people "you guys study the Scriptures so hard because in them you THINK you’ll find eternal life, but THEY POINT TO ME. So when I read the Epistle of Jesus (Bible) I read it the same way he proclaims who he is. I read it historically (that which was) I apply it morally to my “daily” walk (“that which is”) and I pursue it spiritually (“and that which is to come”). You can’t physically “see” spiritual truth, it comes from within. And you can’t see the future either.
READ the stories
APPLY the moral values in each one
but . . .
PURSUE the spiritual truths and treasures for your spiritual substance as spiritual understanding does not come by way of flesh and blood. Not by power not by might but by the spirit . . .the third dimension is always the most intimate, powerful and effective in our relationship with the Father.