The Book of Revelation of Jesus Christ | TheLastDays

If you like beating your head against a wall, the Book of Revelation is for you. Just don’t hire one of those Old Testament “pillow prophets” to cushion the blows by explaining the hard things away. They only prophesied their own vain hopes for a rosy outcome. You won’t get that with this book of revelation prophecy, at least not until the very end. Jesus isn’t pulling any punches. Oh, He’ll bring the Garden back with the new Millennium, but He’s going to tear up the landscape first. So, with this verse by verse walk-through, I'm going to do my best to let the text do the talking. It is His text—the revelation of Jesus Christ. It’s amazing how when you slow down to listen to each word, the big picture also comes into focus. Enjoy the stroll!

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. Revelation 1:3

All scripture citations are from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.

The Book of Many Mysteries

For a book dedicated to revelations, this one certainly resists revealing the secrets it contains. How long have we been at it? And we still haven’t cracked the code. If there is one. The Lord as we typically know Him isn’t really into subterfuge and obfuscation. Bible codes aren’t His idea. They’re ours. He does things out in the open for all to see, then, gives us eyes to see what He’s hidden in plain sight. We stumble over a familiar passage of scripture and have an unexpected epiphany: “Why hadn’t I seen that before?” Don’t bother telling the Lord that He’s hidden His truth too deep for discovery. He’ll say, “I’ve done nothing in secret.”

Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. John 18:20

On the other hand—and there is always that with Him—He does love to put us onto a good search. Otherwise, why not write the Bible like one of our (boring) theological manuals? That way we could check the index, look everything up we’re interested in, and go straight to some logical presentation that explains all our questions away or dies in the attempt. Just as Jesus loves being playful with words, and really enjoys mixing it up with images and paradoxes, so too He loves tucking things away with just a tiny bit of an edge hanging out. Find that and you might be able to pull off an even greater discovery. So, glory in the search.

It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. Proverbs 25:2

Getting gloriously drenched with fresh revelation, often means going out to the edge, especially with this book of revelation prophecy. Poke about at the place where you feel least comfortable and most exposed: "I’m an idiot! Why can’t I get it?" The Book of Revelation isn’t just about revealing His secrets. He’s out to tell us ours, if we’ll let Him. By now, it should be no secret that we’ll never “get it” when it comes to this book, unless He gives it to us. Daniel was commanded to seal some things up until the “time of the end.”[i] John was given opposite orders.[ii] Let’s hope they didn’t get their wires crossed.

Getting the book revealed, however, is nothing compared to getting through the times coming up that it describes. For that we won’t need the book as much as a good working knowledge of its divine Author. Let the book show you how much you need Him—even to “get” the book—and it will have revealed its life-saving truth. It will become for you what it claims to be: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ"!

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. John 17:3

List of The Book of Revelation Sections

The Seven Churches  Does it seem strange that the Book of Revelation which reveals our future began with letters to seven churches way back in the past? None of those churches are around anymore! Maybe that’s the point. If they had heeded the sometimes-harsh warnings of their Lord, they just might have lasted all the way through to our day. This introduction to the churches goes hand in hand with Jesus’ stunning revelation of Himself to John on the Isle of Patmos. We will need both His past warnings and His present manifestation if we are to make it through the times coming upon us. Begin this section here.

The Visitation at Patmos
Letter 1: Ephesus
Letter 2: Smyrna
Letter 3: Pergamum
Letter 4: Thyatira
Letter 5: Sardis
Letter 6: Philadelphia
Letter 7: Laodicea

Sucessive Judgments  When the seven letters to the churches conclude, the Book shifts into high gear. John is taken straight up to heaven’s throne room. From there he will have a front row seat observing the increasingly terrible judgments which will strike the earth in the Last Days. The opening of the first of the Seven Seals connects directly to the Birth Pains on Jesus’ Matthew 24 timeline. The last of the Seven Bowls is the final judgment which comes at the end of the Great Tribulation, right before Jesus returns. This steady succession of judgments gives us a perfect, unbroken and straightforward timeline upon which all the other events in the Book can be attached. Begin this section here.

The Throne Room
The Sealed Scroll
The Four Horsemen
The Final Three Seals
The First Four Trumpets
Trumpets Five and Six
The Seventh Trumpet
The Seven Plagues
The Seven Bowls

Concurrent Events   No one knows how to tell a story better than our Lord. What He has given us in this book is not a simple narrative, but one that breaks into two streams. The primary timeline follows a steady succession of judgments which are all sent from the throne room where John remains a rapt observer. Those judgments begin with the Birth Pains and end just before the Final Battle. But there is far more to the story than these judgments! The camera has to pan away from the throne room at times to show other actors and actions taking place elsewhere—simultaneously with the judgments. These secondary timelines—some brief, some extended—form the concurrent events. Begin this section here.

The First 144,000
The Two Witnesses
The Woman and the Dragon
The First Beast
The Second Beast
The Image and the Mark
The Second 144,000
Three Angel Messages
The Harvest of the Earth
The Harlot Babylon
The Fall of Babylon

Closing Sequence  With the Marriage Supper of the Lamb the Book becomes once again a single succession of events. There is no further need to pull away from the primary timeline in order to showcase simultaneous occurrences or events taking place in other locations. Curiously, the long-awaited showdown—“Armageddon”—happens almost in a blink of the eye once the Lord Jesus returns. Then, there is the thousand-year hiatus of the Millennial Kingdom before things heat up one last time with the Very Last Battle, followed by the Great White Throne Judgement. After that it’s the lovely New Heavens and New Earth, the New Jerusalem and the River of Peace. In closing Jesus has the last Word: I am coming soon! Begin this section here.

The Marriage Supper
The Returning King
Armageddon
The Millennium Reign
The Very Last Battle
The Last Judgment
New Heaven and Earth
The New Jerusalem
The River and the Tree
Jesus Is Coming!

Timelines of Revelation Events

Jesus' Own Timeline Did Jesus give us a timeline for the major events of the End Times? Yes, He did! This wonderful timeline includes the birth pangs, the Great Tribulation, the rise of the antichrist and all the stunning events of His Return. It functions like a skeleton, providing the structural element that supports living flesh and connects it the right way. The only thing left for us to do is to “put meat on these bones” by taking other End Times passages from elsewhere in the Bible and attach them at the right spot. Of course, if you take this skeleton apart and rearrange it (as some do), you don’t get a lovely prophetic creation from Jesus, you get a monstrosity. But why would anyone want to do that?

The Revelation Timeline  Is there a coherent timeline in the Book of Revelation? Jesus gave us one in the gospels. It's recorded for us in Matthew Chapter 24. Wouldn't it be lovely if we could add another one to it, find where they match up, and overlay them? That is exactly what John has given us! It's one more great reason to call him the "beloved" disciple—his timeline will help us make sense of the maze of amazing events which he records for us in his vision. Evidently, the Lord had so much to show John (and tell us) that He couldn’t fit it all into one single progression of events. Besides, we know from our own story tellers that it makes for a better movie if you throw in flashbacks, secondary narratives and character development on the side of the main plot line.

Next Section

The Seven Churches  Does it seem strange that the Book of Revelation which reveals our future began with letters to seven churches way back in the past? None of those churches are around anymore! Maybe that’s the point. If they had heeded the sometimes-harsh warnings of their Lord, they just might have lasted all the way through to our day. This introduction to the churches goes hand in hand with Jesus’ stunning revelation of Himself to John on the Isle of Patmos. We will need both His past warnings and His present manifestation if we are to make it through the times coming upon us.

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Endnotes

[i] But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” Daniel 12:4

[ii] And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Revelation 22:10