A Brief Overview of the Book of Revelation

The Book of Revelation was not written in code or with the intent of being obscure and virtually impossible to understand. It was a revelation that was meant to be understood, especially by those to whom it was originally written -- seven local, first century churches in what is now eastern Turkey. For us today, although quite complex, it is understandable.

Question? Is there a "thread" or "threads" that we can pull so as to unravel and see the complete big story of this book? Yes, in fact I think there are basically two key threads:

Interpretative Thread One: The understanding that the gospel of the kingdom of God is the major theme in Revelation and is key to interpreting the message of the book.

It is so easy to overlook the centrality of the gospel in Revelation due to the magnetic attraction of the weird and wonderful, the strange, scary, and other-worldly type creatures, as well as the convulsive, catastrophic heavenly and earthly events that we find throughout the book.

However, if we keep before us the reminder that Jesus said all Scripture had Him for its central and supreme subject matter, we will see Him as the Star of the Story. We are confronted with the reality of the gospel from the very outset of the book. In Rev.1:5, we see Jesus, the faithful witness unto death, the first born from the dead in His glorious resurrection, and ruler of kings on earth in His ascension rule and reign. This is the good news of the gospel--the death, resurrection, and subsequent ascension and reign of Christ over all. Just as Jesus Christ is the focus of the Book of Revelation, clearly it is the theme of the gospel that runs throughout the book as we are brought over and over again to Jesus atoning death and triumphant resurrection and reign.

Not only do we see the facts of the gospel, but we see the effects of the gospel, beginning in the very first chapter. In Rev. 1:5b-6, we read, "...to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." Here we see what Jesus’ work has accomplished on behalf of His people. Because of His death, He has freed us from our sins by His blood. Because of His glorious resurrection, He is the One who is continually loving us. Because of His ascension and reign, He has made us a kingdom and priest to God. In the gospel of Christ, we are given all that we need to be overcomers in dark, deadly, difficult situations that are about to overtake us. We can stand against the onslaughts of Satan and all of His followers because of Jesus’ final and complete work, and His continual work in us today by the Holy Spirit.

And the thread of the gospel works its way throughout this book. In spite of scenes of intense judgment and destruction, we see the glorious picture of Christ and His great redemptive work as the Lamb having been slaughtered (Rev. 5:9).

Graeme Goldsworthy said, "...if we lose the gospel in Revelation, we lose the whole book." He went on to say, "The Lion-Lamb tension shows that the Gospel is the only key to the understanding of the book of Revelation." This title, "the Lamb" occurs 28 times in the book of Revelation. In Rev. 5:6, John sees the "Lamb standing, as though it had been slain ..." The Greek word used 28 times in Revelation for "Lamb" is, “arnion." It means "little lamb" and expresses endearment, namely, the endearing relationship in which Christ now stands to us, as the consequence of His previous relation as the sacrificial Lamb. This is gospel truth. The perfect sinless, Lamb of God has taken our sins upon Him and become our Passover Lamb that bore our shame, dishonor, and debt to God that would have consumed us for all eternity. But the Lamb was standing, having risen from the dead and is now the king/priest of glory. That's good news!

And of course the Book of Revelation takes us to the glorious end, the consummation of all things, which for the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes, to the ones who conquer in Christ, the final destination of a New Heaven and Earth awaits them, where there is no longer the presence of sin, we will be in our glorified state, and God will be in our immediate presence forever). Notice how this scene is portrayed in Rev 22:1-3, "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb  through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him."

Interpretive Thread Two: The Fact of Covenant and the Execution of a Biblical Covenant Lawsuit.

The Book of Revelation has a prophetic and contemporary focus -- not about the Second Coming, but about what Christ's First Coming had already accomplished. Remember, to the First Century Church, the message from chapters 4-19 were still future, but to us they are fulfilled prophecy and past history. Revelation is written in the distinctive form of a Biblical Covenantal Lawsuit. We are introduced to the throne room of Heaven, where the Judge is seated. The term throne occurs 84 times in the book of Revelation. If you took time to read the assignment I gave you -- to read the terms of the Old Covenant in Lev. 26 and Dt. 28 -- you saw the pattern in which the negative sanctions of Revelation are executed upon covenant breaking Israel by way of the series of judgments multiplied seven times.

As a whole, the Book of Revelation is a prophecy of the end of the old order and the establishment of the new order. Another way to say this would be the obsolescence of the Old Testament gives way to the operation of the New Testament. It is a message to the church that the terrifying convulsions coursing throughout their world in every sphere comprised the final “shaking of heaven and earth,” ending once and for all the Old Covenant system, announcing that the kingdom of God had come to earth and broken Satan’s hold on the nations. (Read Hebrews 12:18-29)

The Seven-Sealed scroll or book introduced in Rev 4-5 is the New Covenant, which Christ obtained at His glorious Ascension and “(opened” during the period of the Last Days, climaxing in the destruction of Jerusalem. It represents God’s execution of the negative sanctions upon His covenant-breaking, unfaithful OT wife, Israel. It is my persuasion that one aspect of this covenant scroll's contents is that of a legal divorce decree against Israel. Divorce in the Bible is always by execution, either literal or covenantal.

In Revelation 6-19, the judgment of Israel is portrayed in cyclical fashion. The Seven-Sealed Scroll seems quite certainly to represent in great part, God’s “bill of divorcement” handed down by the Judge on the throne against Israel for her spiritual adultery and harlotry, which is in essence, idolatry.

The following outline provides merely a thumbnail sketch of the primary message of the Revelation.

Chapter One

We are introduced to the subject of the prophecy, which is the Lord Jesus Christ: Rev 1:7-8, "Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

The theme of Revelation is set forth in Rev 1:7: “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him.” This is a cloud-coming of Christ in judgment reminiscent of Old Testament cloud-comings of God in judgment upon ancient historical people and nations. God “comes” upon Israel’s enemies in general (Psa. 18:7-15; 104:3), upon Egypt (Isa. 19:1), upon disobedient Israel in the Old Testament (Joel 2:1, 2), and so forth. It is not necessary that it refer to His Last or Second coming to end history.

The translators of most of our English Bibles reveal the presuppositions they were bringing to the translators desk by the way they translated the Greek word "ge" as "earth." This creates the impression that the events occurring were global in nature, rather than local. Notice the coming will be witnessed by “those who pierced him.” This refers to the guilt of the Jews that used their pull with the Roman government to get Jesus unjustly executed. They are called “all the tribes of the earth.” Here the “earth” (ge) should be translated “land,” i.e. the Promised Land. One example of this is seen in Luke 21:20-23, “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people”

The same word that Luke used in reference to Judea is the one that John used 67 times in the book of Revelation.

So, regarding the judgments of Revelation, John pictures them being poured out upon a particular location and not upon the entire planet.

Chapter One ends by assuring the readers that Christians are now ruling, even in tribulation, as kings and priests. It closes with a majestic vision of Jesus Christ, as the sovereign, sublime, majestic, mighty Lord of all by making use of some key symbols which appear later in the book.

Chapters Two and Three

These two chapters contain messages from the Lord to seven churches in Asia Minor. The letters deal with the major themes of the prophecy, particularly the problems of Judaism, Roman Caesar Lordship challenges, and persecution.

Revelation is written to comfort, instruct, encourage, and embolden the churches that are plagued and oppressed by an occult, Gnostic, statist form of apostate Judaism which had captured the religious hierarchy of Israel. John calls this movement various symbolic names – “Nicolaitans,” “Balaamites,” “Jezebelites,” and “the Synagogue of Satan” -- but all these expressions refer to the same cult. The bottom line in the letters to these churches is, "every problem existing in their congregations is traceable to their getting out of line with the gospel!

Christ declares that His church is the true people of God, the rightful inheritor of the covenant promises, and encourages His people to “overcome,” to conquer and reign in His Name. Although these letters tend to be hurried past to get to the "good and exciting part of the book", they actually comprise the central section and the primary reason of the prophecy.

Chapters Four and Five

Ken Gentry writes: "These chapters give the Biblical philosophy of history: all things are seen from the perspective of the throne of God. In the first part of Revelation (Rev. 1-5), John and his audience are prepared for the terrifying judgment scenes to follow.  Despite the turmoil, Christ is seen among the seven churches as their Defender (Rev. l:12ff). He knows their tribulation and will cut it short for the faithful (Rev. 2-3; especially: 2:10; 3:10). Then John and his readers are steeled against the storm of God’s Judgment by a vision of the heavenly role in the upheaval and devastation. Almighty God is seen in glorious, serene, sovereign control seated upon a throne of judgment (Rev. 4).  The Lord Jesus Christ is seen as the Judge of Israel. In Rev. 5, we see the fulfillment of Jesus' words in Matt. 26:64: "Jesus said to him, 'It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven'").

Rev 5:4-6, "and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth." This is gospel truth! The little Lamb had been slain but was now alive forever more. Christ is revealed as the Conqueror, worthy to open the book of God’s judgments; creation and history are centered in Him.

Chapters Six and Seven

Here we are shown the breaking of the seven seals on the scroll, symbolizing the judgments about to fall upon covenant-breaking, Christian-persecuting, apostate Israel. These judgments are specifically shown to be divine responses to the imprecatory prayers of the Church against her enemies. The priestly/kingly, worshipful actions of the church are the means of changing world history. (Rev 8:3-5: "And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.")

As the seals are opened, the judgments begin. At the opening of the first seal (the white horse) we have a picture of the Roman army victoriously entering Israel toward Jerusalem (Rev. 6:1-2). This cannot be Christ, because the white horse is the only similarity with Revelation 19:11, and Christ is opening the seals in heaven. Also, the Living Creatures would not command Christ to “come!” This one is God’s “avenger” upon Israel. The white horse indicates victory, not holiness. God often uses the unjust to bring His judgments in history.

The second seal (the red horse) speaks of the eruption of Jewish civil war (Rev. 6:3-4). In Greek, “the peace” is emphasized. It refers to the famous Pax Romana covering the Roman Empire. Hence, the significance of “rumors of wars” (Matt.  24:6) in such a peaceful era. Josephus notes that the civil war in the Land was worse than the carnage wrought by the Romans themselves. The third seal (black horse) portrays famine plaguing Israel (Rev. 6:5-6). Black symbolizes famine (Lam 4:8; 5:10). One of the most horrible aspects of Jerusalem’s woes was the famine caused by civil strife. The fourth seal (pale horse) witnesses the death of one-fourth of Israel (Rev. 6:7-8). The pale horse is death personified. The animals devouring the dead indicate covenantal curse (Deut. 28:15, 26).

With the opening of the fifth seal, we get another look into heaven. We see the altar in heaven and hear vindication promised Christian martyrs (Rev. 6:9-11). This vindication is to occur in “a little while” (Rev. 6:10). It comes through the final collapse of covenant breaking Israel.

The sixth seal (all kinds of stellar phenomena) symbolizes the fall of Israel’s government (Rev. 6:12-17). Such symbolic phenomena are often associated with the collapse of governments: Babylon (Isa. 13:1, 10, 19); Egypt (Ezek. 32:2, 7-8, 16, 18); Idumea (Isa.  34:3-5); Judah (Jer. 4:14, 23-24). Josephus mentions that the Jews actually sought refuge underground during the A.D. 67- 70 war, as per the symbolic imagery. Christ warned that this would happen to that generation (Luke 23:27-30).

At Revelation 7:1 there is a gracious interlude between seals (Rev. 7:1-8). The “four angels” temporarily hold back the “winds of destruction” and counter the four destroying horse men. This providential halt in the judgments allows the minority population of Jewish Christians in Jerusalem to flee as the Roman General Vespasian is distracted (with the fall of Nero and the Roman Civil Wars) before he reaches Jerusalem.²² There is a prophecy (Luke 21:20-22) and an historical record that Christians would be preserved through Jerusalem’s tribulation.

Here we are introduced to the 144,000 sealed saints of God. It should be noted initially that the figure “144,000” is a perfect number composed of exactly twelve squared times 1,000. The numerical figure itself is obviously stylized symbolism. But of  what? The 144,000 saints seem to be representative of Jewish converts to Christianity who dwelt in Israel.

Chapters Eight and Nine

In chapter 8, the seventh seal is broken and the sound of the seven trumpets begins. Like the seals, each trumpet initiates judgment. The judgment of the first four trumpets reflect those poured out upon Egypt in Exodus 7-11.

In chapter 9, the judgments of the fifth and sixth trumpets are revealed. When the 5th trumpet sounds, Jerusalem is given over to Satan and his demonic legions, which flood the city to possess and consume its ungodly inhabitants, until the entire nation is driven into suicidal madness for a period of five months. With the fifth trumpet, we witness an outbreak of demonic torment (Rev. 9:1-21). The fallen star here is Satan, “the angel” of the pit (9:11). The demons confined to the pit (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6; Luke 8:31) are loosed to torment Israel (vv. 2, 3; cf. Rev. 18:2), just as Christ warned (Matt. 12:43f). The period of torment is “five months,” which indicates the final siege of Jerusalem by Titus, when the Jews were driven mad as they were hopelessly trapped.

Chapters Ten and Eleven

Chapter 10 introduces a mighty Angel, which most commentators think is Christ. He is standing on the sea and the land, as if to survey the full sweep of all human powers, Roman and Jewish, the angel proclaimed that there should be time no longer. The time for the seventh angel to sound the seventh trumpet was near, and the culminating events would be no longer delayed. The Angel's proclamation did not refer to the end of all time, but rather to the end of the events signified in the vision. The word time here means delay, the time, or delay, of these events was about to end.

This was clearly the culminating end of the Old Covenant Age, which was just in front of the biblical writers (Hebrews 8:13). It was never to be the “end of time,” as many Christians think, but rather the “time of the end”—the end of the Old Covenant Age, which ended in finality in AD 70.

In Matthew 23:29-39 Jesus told the Jews of his day that they were the target of his wrath. The blood of all the prophets ever in Jewish history would become their accountability, fulfilling the prophecy from Deuteronomy 32:43 and echoed by the other Old Testament prophets!

Revelation has several direct references to Matthew 23 -- Revelation 16:6; 17:6; 18:24; 19:2.

It should be clear that the wrath upon Jerusalem in Matthew 23 (and elsewhere) would be fulfilled in Jesus’ generation as He so stated in Matthew 23:34-36. (Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous bloodshed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.)

In chapter 11, we are introduced to the two witnesses. This serves to remind the Bible student that under the Mosaic law, two witnesses were necessary to put any man to death; so, in that sense, God was providing two witnesses against Judah, Jerusalem, and the Temple. These two witnesses would prophesy against Jerusalem and warn the people for 3.5 years. The two witnesses comprise one set of two olive trees and one set of two lampstands. (Rev 11:4, These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.) So what or who do these trees and stands represent? This is derived from Zechariah 4:1-12 where the reader finds that one olive tree represents the anointed king, and the other represents the anointed priest -- thus king and priest; the idea here seems to be that Christ’s church (made up of Christians who were/are both kings and priests, Rev. 5:10) would be witnesses of God against Judaism.

Sam Storms says, “The two witnesses are not real or historical individuals, but symbolize the Church in its missionary and prophetic role during the present age and particularly at the close of history.”

Ken Gentry suggests that, "The “two prophets” probably represent a small body of Christians who remained in Jerusalem to testify against it. They are portrayed as two, in that they are legal witnesses to the covenant curses."

With the destruction of Jerusalem and the overthrow of the Old Covenant scaffolding, the completion and filling of the new and final Temple are revealed to the world.

Chapter Twelve

In Rev. 12:1-9, we are shown three key players in the cosmic conflict:

1. The Woman -- The Woman in Revelation 12 is a symbolic picture of the faithful covenant community. She represents the people of faith in OT Israel (for she is associated with the sun, the moon, and twelve stars, per the imagery of Joseph's dream in Genesis), the Church (for her "other children" are those who keep the testimony of Jesus the Messiah), Eve (for she is involved in a three-way conflict between the Woman, her Seed, and the old serpent), and Mary (for she is the mother of Jesus).

John is announcing the birth of the male child, the warrior king, foretold by Isaiah. He thus brings together all the Woman-imagery of the Bible for this composite portrait of the covenant community, laboring to bring forth the Messiah.

2. The Male Child -- Jesus -- The birth of this male Child on the day we now call Christmas was God's D-Day -- the Great Invasion -- The Visitation from on High for the purpose of Liberation -- A Declaration that the Final War was about to be fought and won by a Big God who would succeed by becoming incredibly little and dying horribly on a cross, rising triumphantly from the grave, and ascending victoriously to the place of absolute authority in Heaven!

It's highly unlikely that you'll get a Christmas card with a picture on it of a screaming pregnant women clothed with the sun and standing on the moon; with a seven headed, crowned fiery red dragon standing before her waiting to kill and consume her baby! Yet Revelation 12 is a behind the scenes look at what Christmas was all about. It lets us peer into the world of ultimate reality - the spiritual realm of the heavenlies. It shows us what was really happening at the birth of the Son of God. This action portrayed in Rev 12 is the reason the gospel is the power of God unto salvation; that even though the spiritual war goes on today, the decisive battle has already been fought and won by the Man-Child, Warrior-Shepherd, King-Messiah - The Lion/Lamb Jesus!

3. The Dragon -- who is identified as Satan -- Rev.12:9, So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (Satan's primary weapon has always been legal accusations that result in a slandering of reputations and a dividing of relationships. But with the victory of the Lamb of God in His sinless life, substitutionary death on the cross, burial, resurrection and ascension to heaven, the accuser has been disbarred from access to the Judge's throne. There is now no condemnation to those that are in Christ!)

The victory over the Dragon, according to John, does not take place by means of a cataclysmic event at the end of history, but by means of the cataclysmic event that took place in the middle of history: the sacrifice of the Lamb.

The casting out of Satan and his demons from Heaven in the Holy War between Michael and the Dragon isn't a portrayal of the final battle of history at the end of the world. It cannot be future at all. It is not a battle that will take place at the Second Coming. The Bible declares in 1 Jn. 3:8b, "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil."

Chapter Thirteen

In this chapter we are shown the all-out warfare which was approaching between the faithful Church and the pagan Roman Empire (the Beast). We read in Rev 13:1: Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. The beast out of the sea represents Rome in general and Emperor Nero in particular. The Roman Empire is symbolized in Revelation as a ravenous, ferocious animal, untamed and under the curse. John says its appearance was like a leopard, a bear, and a lion (Rev. 13:2)

Then the end of the chapter introduces us to the infamous number 666. Rev 13:18: "Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666." This numerical value of 666 corresponds to Nero Caesar, the head of the Roman Empire of the day. An ancient Hebrew spelling of Nero Caesar perfectly fits the value: “Nrwn Qsr.”

Rev 13:11: Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth ( ge=land), and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.

This beast arises from the land of Israel and is identified in Rev 16:13 and 19:20 as the false prophet. It represents the Jewish leaders who enforced submission to Rome and persecuted Christians violently and vigorously, using the authorization of Rome to do so.

God’s people are warned that the religious forces of apostate Judaism will be aligned with the Roman State, seeking to enforce the worship of Caesar in place of the worship of Jesus Christ. With confident faith in Christ’s lordship, the Church is to exercise steadfast patience and not attempt to instigate a counter-revolution.

Chapters Fourteen, Fifteen, and Sixteen

In these three chapters we are shown the victorious army of the redeemed, represented by 144,000, standing on Mount Zion singing a song of triumph. Rev 15:1: Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete. Christ is seen coming in the Cloud of judgment upon rebellious Israel, trampling on the ripened grapes of wrath. The Temple is opened, and while the Glory-Cloud fills the sanctuary the divine judgments are outpoured from it, bringing Egyptian plagues upon the apostates.

We are told in Rev 16:15-16, "Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame." And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon -- literally the Mountain (valley) of Megiddo. So much blood was shed in this valley of Jezreel or Megiddo that it became a synonym for slaughter, violence, bloodshed, and battlefield, as well as a symbol for God’s judgment (Hos. 1:4-5). In our day, Armageddon has also become synonymous with and a symbol for the ultimate in warfare and conflict.

In a similar fashion, the word “Waterloo” has garnered a symbolic use. Back in 1815, this town in Belgium was the battleground and scene of Napoleon’s final defeat. Today, we have a saying that someone or something has met their “Waterloo.” We don’t mean they have met that city in Europe. We mean, by way of comparative imagery, that they have met a decisive or crushing defeat, or their demise. I suggest Revelation employs the word Megiddo in this same manner. History records that a great slaughter took place on a mountain in Palestine within the lifetime of the original recipients of the book of Revelation. In A.D. 70 the Roman armies of Titus totally destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. According to Eusebius, 1.1 million Jews were killed.

Chapters Seventeen and Eighteen

Just as the New Jerusalem is not a literal city but a community of people (the bride, the new covenant community) so Babylon was not a literal city but a community of people (the harlot, the unfaithful old covenant community). The “city” that God was telling His people to come out of was not Jerusalem (they were out of that city, they lived in Asia) but the old covenant temple system. Again, Babylon was not simply first century Jerusalem, it was a symbol of the old covenant temple system. Yet Babylon, the Harlot was centered in Jerusalem because that is where the Temple was located. So the citizens Jerusalem, as well as all of unfaithful Israel that were rejecting Jesus for the temple system, is symbolized in Rev 17-18.

We are told that she is "the great Harlot…with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication" (Rev. 17:1-2). This striking picture of a Harlot-city, temple/religious system fornicating with the nations comes from Isaiah 57 and Ezekiel 16 and 23, where Jerusalem is represented as God's Bride who has turned to harlotry. The people of Jerusalem had abandoned the true faith and had turned to heathen gods and ungodly nations for help, rather than trusting in God to be their protector and deliverer.

So Revelation exposes the essence of the unfaithful old covenant people as found centered in Jerusalem and its Temple, as being guilty of the sin of spiritual adultery. She has forsaken her rightful husband and is committing fornication with pagan rulers, worshiping Caesar, “drunk with the blood of the saints”; the holy city has become another Babylon. God issues one final call for His people to separate themselves from Jerusalem’s harlotries, and abandons her to the ravaging armies of the Empire. At the sight of the utter ruin of apostate Israel, the saints in heaven and earth rejoice.

Chapter Nineteen

Keith Mathison writes: "Revelation 19:1-6 is a glorious vision of rejoicing in heaven over the judgment of God upon Jerusalem. In verses 7-9, John reveals that even as the harlot is being judged, the Bride of Christ is preparing herself for the wedding feast. With the destruction of the old temple comes the establishment of the new temple (cf. 1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21). The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple was the final redemptive act in the entire complex of events which inaugurated the present age. Jesus was born as the King (Matt. 2:2); He was identified as the King at His baptism and transfigura­tion (Matt. 3:17; 17:5; cf. Ps. 2); He was demonstrated to be the Davidic King by virtue of His resurrection (Acts 2:30-31); He was of­ficially crowned at His ascension (Dan. 7:13-14); finally, the destruction of Jerusalem was the definitive sign that He was the promised messianic King, whose kingdom will grow until it fills the earth (Matt. 24:30).

"Revelation 19:11-21 is a vision of the King of kings going to war against His enemies. This is a vivid description of the fulfillment of Psalm 110. Now that Christ has been seated at the right hand of God as the King of kings, His reign will include His triumph over all His enemies" (cf. 1 Cor. 15:25-26).

This chapter that began with the joyful wedding feast of Christ and His Bride, the Church, shifts to reveal the coming worldwide dominion of the gospel, as the King of kings rides forth with His army of saints to wage holy war for the re-conquest of earth. The agent of victory is His Word, which proceeds from His mouth like a sword.

Chapter Twenty

Keith Mathison: "Revelation 20 describes a vision of the Millennium (vv. 1-10) and the Great White Throne judgment (vv. 11-15). John tells us three things that characterize the Millennium. First, at its inception and for most of its duration, Satan is bound. Second, Christ is reigning with all Christians. Third, at its conclusion, Satan is briefly released to lead a rebellion and is then cast into the lake of fire. The Millennium is the pres­ent age between the two advents of Christ.

"The New Testament resounds with the truth that Satan was de­cisively defeated and restrained at Christ's first advent (Matt. 12:29; Luke 10:18; John 12:31; 1 John 3:8). Hebrews 2:14 is abundantly clear on this point: "Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil." This binding of Satan does not entail the cessation of his activity (cf. 1 Peter 5:8), but it does mean that he is no longer able to prevent the spread of the gospel to the nations (Rev. 20:3). Scripture also declares that Christ was given His kingdom at His first advent (Daniel 2, 7; Matt. 2:2; Acts 2:30-31; 17:7; Col. 1:13; Rev. 1:5), and that Christians now reign with Him (Rom. 5:17; Eph. 2:6; Rev. 1:6). Revelation 20 also tells us that at the end of this millennial age, Satan will be released and will lead a rebellion against Christ. This is a reminder for those whose vision for this present age tends toward utopi­anism. Satan, sin, and death will not be completely destroyed until the final consummation at the second coming of Christ."

Here we are given a summarized, concise history of the new world order, the kingdom of God, from the first coming of Christ until the end of the world. The Lord binds Satan and enthrones His people as kings and priests with Him. Satan’s final attempt to overthrow the King is crushed, and the Last Judgment is ushered in. The righteous and the wicked are eternally separated, and God’s people enter into their eternal inheritance.

Chapters Twenty-one and Twenty-two

In these two final chapters, we are given a vision of a new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem. This is the fulfillment of Isaiah 65:17-25 and numerous other OT prophecies. The new heavens and the new earth are not totally future or totally present. They are here in one sense, i.e. we are a new creation (2 Cors 5:17), but not yet in their curse-removed finality. The whole creation will not be set forever free from corruption until the Last Advent of Jesus.

In these two chapters we are given a vision of the Church in all its glory, comprehending both its earthly and its heavenly aspects. The Church is revealed as the City of God, the beginning of the New Creation, extending a worldwide influence, drawing all nations into itself, until the whole earth is one glorious Temple. The goals of Paradise are consummated in the fulfillment of the dominion mandate.

We have seen that in this book that we call Revelation the beloved disciple John was given a multidimensional view of God’s Great Glory Story from the last chapter of the old earth and old heaven, to what C.S. Lewis called, "Chapter One of the Story that Never Ends." This is the never ending great story of the new heavens and the new earth. Someone said, “On a clear day you can see forever.” For John this was truly a very clear day. If we had been with John on the isle of Patmos at the time of his vision, we would have shouted from down below to him on the lonely pinnacle of his vision, “John, what can you see from there?”

And to borrow the answer in the words of Philip Greenslade, John would shout down to us, “I can see a sparkling new world; a whole new creation! What does it all look like? It looks like a city but stretched out in all directions. It’s like a new Jerusalem, teeming with people from every nation, as if up for an international festival, enjoying the presence of God.”

What else can you see? “I can see that no one is crying, there are no cemeteries, no prisons; I can see no one is suffering any disease; and I see… I think I can see… I can’t believe it… I feel sure I can see God! I can see God’s face! And yet everything is radiating such a glorious light that I’m not sure what I see: Yet when I stare at the face of God, more often than not I see a face I know so well, the human face of Jesus!”

“And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." The greatest story ever told is also the oldest story on earth – boy meets girl; boy falls in love with girl; boy loses girl; boy sacrifices and wins girl and then takes her home to Father! The Chapter One Begins!

Why not make a choice to live like Jonathan Welton suggests: "What if you chose to believe optimistically about the endtimes, raise godly kids, plan long-term,  reject thoughts of fear, and work as a member of the Bride making herself ready? Even if you are wrong and suddenly get raptured out, what have you lost? You will have been a good steward of what God put in your hands rather than sitting on your hands, burying your talents, and waiting for a rapture that may not come in your lifetime! If you spend your life in fear, trying to figure out dates and guess who the antichrist is, you will be held accountable for all that wasted living."