Timeline of the Book of Revelation | TheLastDays
Is there a coherent timeline of 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 "Revelation 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 storytellers that it makes for a better movie if you throw in flashbacks, secondary narratives, and character development into the main plotline. John ingeniously did all this two millennia before Hollywood perfected it.
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. Revelation 1:1
All scripture citations are from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.
The Steady Succession of Judgments
If we limit the episodes in the Book of Revelation to the judgment sequences, the timeline swims into plain view. John stands in heaven’s throne room for the entire succession of judgments and watches them from there. He is before God in company with the twenty-four elders and a host of angels the whole time. He does not have to move from this position for any of these events: the seals, the trumpets and the bowls.
These events follow one another in a steady, unbroken succession from beginning to end. They proceed in an orderly sequence one right after the other. On heaven’s side of things, we are not given any indication of the time passing. It is as if the seals are opened, the trumpet blasts get sounded, and the bowls are emptied all in a day. Yet, this is heaven’s eternal day.
Many years pass in the course of these judgments—at least the seven years of the Tribulation and several years of the Birth Pains. Additionally, there is no stated indication that each judgment waits to follow only after the preceding one is completed. More likely, many, if not all, run on top of the time frame of the one that preceded it. In other words, although they occur in an orderly sequence, it is only the sequence of the beginnings we are shown, not the endings.
Despite these limitations, we have before us a timeline of tremendous importance. It runs from the beginning to the Birth Pains straight through to the very end of the judgments. Once the final bowl is poured there is nothing left, but to send in the invading army and claim the land. If we could pin it to a calendar at those two strategic points, then everything in between could be pulled and pushed back and forth like a slinky until each part lined up with an exact moment in time. We can trust the order for the beginning of each of these events that perfectly.
Additions to this Timeline
This timeline also perfectly matches the one set forth by Jesus on the Mount of Olives in Matthew 24. Jesus’ timeline functions like a skeleton that gives us a framework—a broad outline. Its structure moves from Birth Pains, to the beginning of the worldwide Tribulation, to the mid-point of the antichrist’s rise, through to the day of Return. The Revelation timeline fleshes out many of the prophesied judgments with graphic detail and shows us where they may be placed upon the bare bones Jesus supplied.
Curiously, the Seven Churches may have a place on this timeline, as well. As we’ve seen, their order exactly corresponded to the mail route which John’s letter would have followed once it first arrived at Ephesus. Were they also listed by John (and Jesus) in the order that they would unfold in church history? It’s just like the Lord to have planned things out that well. Although this is too complicated a study to go into here, if it’s true, then it would set the beginning of this timeline in 90 AD.
The Revelation Timeline, therefore, could cover the entire future history of the church from the moment of its delivery to John into that far distant future which lies beyond the Millennium. In that case, the Laodicean Church would represent the seventh church age—the one that directly precedes the Birth Pains and Throne Room judgments. Many believe that Laodicea exactly describes the lamentable condition of the church in our day. That brings us then, with this introduction and by our own current events, to the Successive Judgments. We will carry that timeline all the way through to the unveiling of the New Jerusalem with its River and Tree of Life. Chapter titles will be set in bold in the order that they appear on the timeline.
A Series of Judgments
The Throne Room
The vision literally takes off as John is transported to heaven. Emperor Domitian’s reign (81-96 AD) is the likely period for John’s exile to Patmos, especially towards the later years when persecutions launched by him grew in frequency and severity. Many commentators, therefore, would start the clock at about 95 AD in John’s time.
The Sealed Scroll
The praise of heaven turns quickly to the serious business at hand—opening the scroll which contains the Last Days judgments. Only the Lamb Who Was Slain is worthy to open this scroll. We are entering into our own time with this transition from John’s day.
The Four Horsemen
Seal 1: The rider on the white horse carries a bow, wears a crown and goes forth “conquering and to conquer.” In earth time, this would come near the beginning of the Birth Pains with an increase of conflicts between nations and ethnic groups.
The Matthew 24 Timeline: Jesus said that “wars and rumors of wars… famines and earthquakes in various places… are but the beginning of the birth pains.” Undoubtedly, that time begins with this rider, yet we have no indication of a calendar date. Note that He said the earthquakes would be in “various places.” These are not the worldwide earthquakes of judgments still to come of which there will be four.
Seal 2: This one rides a red horse, carries a sword and “takes peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another.” This indicates both civil disorder (in the wake of wars and other disasters) and an increase of violence of all kinds (no peace even within individuals).
Seal 3: The rider of the black horse carries scales which represents economic collapse leading to famine as the price of basic foods skyrocket. Since luxuries are not to be “harmed” it probably means that the wealthy elite will be untouched by these events.
Seal 4: Death and Hades ride forth (presumably) on separate pale horses to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth. They are working in tandem with the previous three horsemen, reaping their grim harvest. They have been given authority to bring death to “over a fourth of the earth.” None of these riders have Christians or Jews specifically in their sights but persecutions will increase during this same period, building up to what we’re shown next.
The Final Three Seals
Seal 5: With this seal’s opening we are clearly out of the Birth Pains. John sees under the altar “the souls of those who have been slain for the word of God and the witness they had borne.” These are the martyrs of the Great Tribulation. The seven years have begun! The only question is how much time they had overlapped (if any) with the Birth Pains. Those pains would have included increasing waves of persecution against Christians and Jews, culminating in this worldwide pandemic of killing.
The Matthew 24 Timeline: These martyrs connect us directly to Jesus’ timeline, though their appearance here doesn’t give us an exact timestamp for its beginning. Even so, this greatest of all persecutions begins the seven-year period we commonly call the Great Tribulation. That so many martyred souls were under the altar shows us that the persecutions of the Tribulation were already well underway when John was shown this part of the vision. It is likely that the work of the riders in some way foments these persecutions, shifting the Birth Pains into becoming the Great Tribulation.
Concurrent Events: At the mid-point of the Tribulation, The First and Second Beasts will be fully, obviously in charge of world events (at least to our eyes). It is the antichrist’s enthronement “in the holy place” –Jerusalem—that triggers the final half of the Tribulation which Jesus calls “great.” At this mid-point, outbreaks of persecution which would have been taking place sporadically around the world, become an officially sanctioned policy of the one-world government. This would also mark the emergence of The Mark of the Beast with its ruthless enforcement by the beast’s image. During these final three and a half years, The Two Witnesses will be working out of Jerusalem and the offspring of The Woman will be seeking refuge from The Dragon. Additionally, only after the mid-point has passed will the Beast have united his empire sufficiently to destroy The Harlot Babylon:
“And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire.” Revelation 16:16
Seal 6: This opened seal triggers a “great earthquake” (the first of four) that darkens sun, moon and stars and “removed from its place” every mountain and island. This judgment finally shakes the powerful and wealthy elites who seek to hide in fear from “the wrath of the Lamb.”
Concurrent Events: Immediately following the opening of the Sixth Seal, we are shown The First 144,000 (along with others) who must be sealed on their foreheads before any further judgments may come. The Seventh Seal then leads into the Seven Trumpets
Seal 7: When the Lamb opens this seal there is silence in heaven for a half-hour, followed by prayers and incense at the altar. The prayers of the martyrs shown earlier are about to be answered. As an angel throws fire from the altar to the earth there are peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and yet another earthquake (the second). Seven angels now stand at the ready to blow their trumpets. Each trumpet will release yet more judgments.
The Revelation Timeline: Since the seals begin during the Birth Pains and stretch into the seven-year Tribulation, they take considerable time to unfold. One interpretation proposes seven years for the seals, seven months for the trumpets and seven days for the bowls. This seems reasonable, but what about this book has been reasonable so far? Still, the work of The Four Horsemen could easily cover the span of many years—from some point in the Birth Pains to deep inside the Great Tribulation. Almost all the judgments which follow the first four seals could each happen in a single day, though those days don’t have to occur back to back. We are told that the fifth trumpet judgment takes five months. The sixth trumpet, however, requires an unspecified amount of time. Nevertheless, with the immense number of demons involved (two billion), their killing spree could be over in a matter of days or weeks. That could leave only a week of judgments remaining as The Bowls of Wrath seem to be poured out in rapid-fire succession. Once, the series is complete, the King returns for the final battle, Armageddon.
The First Four Trumpets
Trumpet 1: When this trumpet sounds, “hail and fire, mixed with blood… were thrown upon the earth.” This cataclysm burns a third of the earth.
Trumpet 2: As this note is struck, “something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood.” As a result, one-third of all sea creatures die, and one-third of all ships are destroyed.
Trumpet 3: When this angel blows his trumpet, “a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch.” This lands on the earth and poisons a third of all freshwater, causing many to die. Its name is Wormwood.
Trumpet 4: With the fourth trumpet’s sounding the sun, moon and stars are impacted “so that a third of their light might be darkened” during both day and night. This would likely be the partial obscuring of all celestial bodies due to an extensive debris cloud from the first three disasters.
It is entirely possible that these four events describe the double asteroid Apophis. If it indeed is on a collision course with the earth, the time of its arrival would be April 13, 2029. In that case, the breakup of smaller portions of a giant asteroid would account for the first trumpet’s rain of fire from heaven. A double asteroid (such as Apophis) would account for the one-two punches shown by trumpets two and three and the debris cloud of the fourth trumpet.
Concurrent Events: The Harlot’s overthrow connects directly with the second of the Three Angel Messages in Revelation Chapter 14. These three woes are identical to the final three trumpets. John heard the angelic announcement right after seeing The Second 144,000 and just prior to witnessing The Harvest of the Earth. Keep in mind that the Harlot is not to be equated with Babylon. Babylon is the beast’s system that covers the earth. The Harlot “is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth." That city (possibly New York) will be destroyed well in advance of Babylon’s ultimate downfall.
Trumpets Five and Six
Trumpet 5: At this blast the first of three “woes” begin. A fallen angel descends to earth and “was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit” which, when opened, spews forth so much smoke that the skies are once again partially darkened. An enormous plague of locusts streams out with power to torment for five months “but not to kill” those who are not sealed with God’s seal. Their king over them is named in Hebrew as Abaddon, or in Greek as Apollyon.
Trumpet 6: This trumpet launches the second woe: “four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind." Two billion “mounted troops” (twice ten thousand times ten thousand) ride forth under their leadership. These demonic hordes are not to be confused with soldiers of any earth battle we could see, such as Armageddon which only comes after the final judgment—the seventh bowl of wrath.
Concurrent Events: The final Harvest of the Earth certainly takes place here, though it may not be limited to this relatively brief time. All the Last Days events have been harvesting the earth ever since the Four Horsemen tore out of heaven when the seals were opened. Those grim reapers reduced the earth’s population by one fourth. This moment, however, accounts for a full third of the earth’s remaining population being slain. In the Harvest chapter we are shown angels with sharp sickles; here we see hordes of demons doing the “dirty work.” These two seemingly opposed views are easily reconciled if we take heaven’s perspective as showing us who’s really in charge of the Harvest.
The Seventh Trumpet
Trumpet 7: This one comes with an angelic proclamation: “In the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled.” Both earth and heaven are impacted by it. In heaven the temple is thrown open; on earth “there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake [the third], and heavy hail.” The main portent, however, is that it heralds the Seven Plagues and Bowls of Wrath are about to be poured out.
The Matthew 24 Timeline: This seventh trumpet should not be equated with the famous “Last Trumpet” Jesus spoke about as heralding His Return because that one sounds in the earth for all of us to hear. All seven of the trumpet judgments will only be heard in heaven. Even more telling, this last of the seven trumpets is sounded before the final Bowls of Wrath are poured. Jesus will not return until they are finished. It may only take seven days for those bowls to be emptied, but that will seem like a lifetime for people still on the earth.
The Seven Plagues
The seven plagues are added to the wrath of God which is already filling the bowls. That wrath upon sin and those who refuse to turn from it has been in “storage” since the beginning of the Rebellion. Hence, the plagues are the specific form that God’s wrath will now take in real time. No one who is sealed by the Lord will be afflicted by these plagues. They are all specifically targeted at the unrepentant who have worshipped and served the beast.
The Seven Bowls
Bowl 1: This plague afflicts “the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image” with “harmful and painful sores.”
Bowl 2: Poured into the sea, this plague makes the saltwater “like the blood of a corpse,” killing every living thing in the sea.
Bowl 3: This one is poured over rivers and springs of water. They, too, become blood, rendering all freshwater toxic.
Bowl 4: As this is poured on the sun, fierce heat (waves of radiation and solar flares?) scorches people all over the earth.
Bowl 5: This is a plague of intense, absolute darkness, both physical and spiritual, yet “People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven.”
The Matthew 24 Timeline: The Bowls of Wrath will have such a punishing effect that the persecution of Christians and Jews will cease. The unrepentant servants of the beast and his system will be scurrying for cover in desperate attempts to save their own lives. Accordingly, this plague of darkness is the most likely connection to the one Jesus described.
"Immediately after the tribulation [persecution] of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” Matthew 24:29
Bowl 6: The emptying of this bowl dries up the river Euphrates preparing the way for armies to march upon Jerusalem and the last battle. Along with this, unclean spirits looking like frogs go forth from the mouth of the dragon and the two beasts (the false prophet and the antichrist) to bring powerful deception upon those who are summoned by them to Armageddon.
Bowl 7: When the seventh angel pours out this bowl into the air a loud voice announces that the judgments end with this one. There then followed “flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that [fourth] earthquake.” Jerusalem and other cities split or fall into ruin, including Babylon the Great (the beast’s system of political, economic and religious power) which receives full and final wrath. Islands disappear below the waves and mountains also are brought low. Gigantic hailstones rain down upon the unrepentant who remain.
Concurrent Events: With the seventh bowl we are told that “God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.” Draining a cup to the dregs implies that one has been drinking it all along. Indeed, the whole judgment series has been striking those who partied with Babylon’s Harlot and served Babylon’s beast. This climax is the moment when the beast’s empire is utterly brought to ruin—all that’s left is an army mustering in the field. The Harlot had been thrown down and trampled by the beast long before The Fall of Babylon arrived.
The Closing Sequence
The Marriage Supper
When the last judgments have finally ended, we are shown a Bride that has “made herself ready” for the time of her Marriage Supper “has come.” This is the one event on the sequence that is in the “wrong place.” Wouldn’t you know it? There are exceptions to every rule, especially with this book. To understand how her time is “almost but not yet” read the chapter. The meal and marriage will likely take place after Armageddon, not before.
The Returning King
Immediately after the ariel bombardment of the Seven Bowls of Wrath, Jesus mounts up with His army of angels. All that is needed is time for the rebel forces to emerge from their shelters and lay siege to Jerusalem. Their journey to Jerusalem began with the sixth bowl, so they may already be dug in around the holy city.
The Matthew 24 Timeline: Jesus told us that He would not be coming back until after the Tribulation ends and the last trumpet sounds. With that impossible-to-ignore “loud trumpet call,” the elect will be gathered “from the four winds” (earth’s “four corners”) and from heaven. Paul filled in the detail that the dead will be raised first and those of us still living on the earth would rise with them to meet Jesus in the air (1 Thessalonians 4). From that point on, we will be with Him forever. This is the supreme moment when all the prophetic scriptures converge.
Armageddon
Jesus isn’t coming back to take us up. He’s coming down to take down the antichrist’s assembled armies at Armageddon. That’s Hebrew for the “mount of assembly” which points us to Jerusalem as the location for earth’s final conflict before the Millennium of peace begins. Once that battle is over, Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats. Look for the Lamb to marry the sheep (us) once that judgment—the Judgment Seat of Christ—fully reveals who all of us are.
The Millennium Reign
The first act of Jesus’ reign is to judge the nations, then be given in marriage by the Father to the Bride (though this is not spelled out in the text). These twin events must be settled first: that of casting the wicked to their reward and uniting His faithful Bride to Himself (as her reward). Then, the thousand years of peace unfold with earth’s rightful King ruling in Jerusalem with His Wife at His side, reigning with Him.
The Very Last Battle
At the end of the thousand years, the Tempter is released from being bound in the bottomless pit to test those who have been born under the ideal conditions of the Millennium. Astonishingly, he manages to raise an immense army of people who should have known better. This leads to yet one more “last battle” which also takes place in the environs of Jerusalem. Don’t be confused: One final conflict ends the church age, the other ends the Millennium.
The Last Judgment
This also is one of two. It’s the second final judgment. The first launched the Millennium by bringing judgment to all who were still living on the earth when Jesus returned. That’s generally called the Judgment Seat of Christ. This one, the Great White Throne judgment, comes after the Millennium. It will bring judgment to all those who lived and died before the Millennium began. That will be an incalculable number of people—far, far beyond the number of those who stood before Jesus.
New Heaven and Earth
By means of The Very Last Battle and The Great White Throne judgment, Satan, the rebel army of nations, and even Death and Hades are thrown into the lake of fire. This freeing of the earth from those who chose to reject God clears the way for the New Heavens, the New Earth and the New Jerusalem to arrive. John does his best, but it’s hard to describe things that have never been seen before—by anyone.
The New Jerusalem
With the New Jerusalem we are shown many marvels. The chief ones are the presence of both the Father and Jesus in our midst. Because of Their presence we will live inside the glory that radiates throughout the holy city. There will be no further need of sun or moon for our God(s) will supply all the light the Bride will ever need. The other marvel is the identity of the immense multitude of pilgrims streaming in from the provinces. Hint: They are not the Bride.
The River and the Tree
Right in the center of the New Jerusalem are two extraordinary features that carry us full circle to the Garden of Eden which had a life-giving river flowing through it and a tree of life within it. As we will see one Day in that great by and by, the River of Life is the life-sustaining presence of the Holy Spirit and the Tree of Life is the life-giving presence of our Lord Jesus.
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