An Outline of the Book of Revelation

  • The Prologue – Revelation 1-3
    • Chapter 1
      • The book is introduced, and opens with the declaration that the things must soon take place.  John sees Jesus, and Jesus commands him to write the things he sees and send them to the churches.  John makes references to a few prophecies related to His Second coming.  The vision John sees of seven lampstands is interpreted by Jesus.
    • Chapter 2
      • John writes to the the first four churches, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira.  Smyrna is not rebuked, but all are given promises for those who overcome.
    • Chapter 3
      • The remaining 3 churches are addressed, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.  These were literal, historical  churches, and all speak to conditions in every generation.  It also appeals to some that these could additionally refer to church ages in sequence, and I have never encountered anything to disprove that, though regardless, it does seem apparent that the current state of the church in the West fits the description of the last church quite well.
  • The Throne Room – Revelation 4-5
    • Chapter 4
      • John is caught up into heaven through a door (portal) at the sound of a voice like a trumpet.  This is a heavenly experience, similar to Paul being caught up to the third heaven.  This is not, therefore, a part of the revelation, but merely the encounter he had while receiving the vision.  John indicates this that He was immediately in the Spirit.  He sees God’s throne and the one upon it.
    • Chapter 5
      • John sees the sealed scroll, and the Lamb is found worthy to open it.  If one compares this to the vision from Daniel 7, it would indicate that this is Jesus receiving the Kingdom, which seems to fit from the rest of the text.  Following that the opening of the seals and the blowing of the trumpets constitute the commencement of Christ’s Kingdom and the removal of the nation of Israel’s sovereignty, whatsoever that constituted under Roman rule, and their temple and religious life, this seems to fit well with this understanding.
  • The First Prophecy – Revelation 6-11
    • Chapter 6
      • The first six of seven seals are opened.  Little direct signs are given, but the seals seem rather to indicate the general conditions that will lead up to what will be interpreted as the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD.   Conquest, war, famine, and death are seen coming in the first four seals, followed by the martyrs being seen and an earthquake and sun darkening in the sixth.
    • Chapter 7
      • Chapter 7 describes those perfected, perhaps from the literal house of Israel, which concludes with the building of God’s house.  This more than likely corresponds to the church leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem, those who are escaping as instructed to flee from the tribulation about to come upon that city.  They will flee to Pella, and not a Christian was recordered to have perished, because they heeded the words of the Lord to watch and be ready, and to flee when they saw the abomination, or the Roman army (both signs are given).
    • Chapter 8
      • The Seventh seal is opened, and so would begin the siege proper of Jerusalem, lasting three and one half years, as prophesied.  The scroll is opened, and so  the trumpets symbolizing the judgments written against Jerusalem in fulfillment of all that is written against it being fulfilled will begin.  The first of the four trumpets are sounded.
    • Chapter 9
      • The Fifth and Six trumpet sound.  These are the first two woes, as prophesied in Revelation 8:13.  The third, logically, would be the last trumpet.
    • Chapter 10
      • John sees another figure come down, and, before the sounding of the last trumpet, the final destruction of Jerusalem, John is told that he must “prophesy again”.  This marks a demarkation from his first prophecy, which is almost complete, and will begin in a moment.
    • Chapter 11
      • The next interim thing that happens is the two witnesses are mentioned.  They are the two olive trees, and represent the prophetic offices that have maintained the temple since the days of Zechariah.  Here there are both two trees and two lampstands, so it is possible that one represents the falling Israel and their temple, as well as the new temple, the church.  The final transfer is about complete, and culminates with the last trumpet.  At this point, this is why we see the Kingdoms of the world becoming the Kingdoms of God and His Christ, because that which God had formerly set up in national Israel had been handed to the church.  The prophetic parallel for this is Saul and David.  Saul was rejected, but continued long after David was anointed king, until God’s appointed end had come upon him.  So too, now, just as David was anointed King but had to wait, so any waiting period for the fullness of the Kingdom had now been accomplished.
  • Prophesy Again – Revelation 12-19
    • Chapter 12
      • As chapter 10 indicated, John had to prophesy again over many people.  Where so far, we have only dealt with Jerusalem in the very soon future, we now will look a much vaster timeline over many nations.  Therefore, rightfully do we understand that Chapter 12 steps back again, so to speak, beginning over for the simple reason that it is a new prophesy.  The imagry speaks of the astronomical signs given in the heavens concerning Christ’s coming.  The woman is the true Israel (the church), and the child is Jesus.  The dragon was cast down through the power of the Spirit.  The church fled to Pella to escape the destruction of Jerusalem, the place prepared for it.
    • Chapter 13
      • The beast describes Domitian, considered Nero raised from the dead.  Both persecuted the church.  The mark was was the name of the pinch of incense and resulting document that allowed trade for the same.  This required Caesar worship, and was idolotry, and sinful.  The second beast would have been the cult of the emperor, who required worship of the beast, Domitian.
    • Chapter 14
      • This chapter describes the firstfruits of the church. This is the first crop from the seed of Christ, and demonstrates the church is alive and vibrant.  It continues, through the Spirit, and has not faltered, even as it is passed to the next generation.  It also describes the winepress of God’s wrath.  In the year 135AD, just outside the city of Jerusalem, the city of Betar was God’s winepress, where blood flowed to a horse’s bridle as hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed in the second Jewish Revolt, according to records.
    • Chapter 15
      • The seven angels with the seven bowls of wrath are seen.  This is the culmination of God’s wrath, not of all time, for the wrath against the unregenerate remains, but against Rome, also called Babylon.  When these are carried out, it will break the power of Rome.
    • Chapter 16
      • This chapter describes the pouring out of God’s wrath against Rome in the year 250AD through the Cyprian plague.  Not only did the plague rage in the empire, it brought with it disease in the water, as the various public aquaducts and baths would have been infectuous.  Additionally, archeology shows that the fishing industry, particularly garum fish sauce production, drastically declined in this era, indicating that something may have happened to cause marine life to seriously die.  Study of the time show a severe drought came across the land of the time, including tree ring samples showing severe decrease in growth. Many once fertile farmlands were abandoned and agricultural production decreased.  This is also a judgment against the throne of the beast, as there were 25 emperors in a short period of time.  The river Euphrates, the great protection against ancient Babylon, must be seen in the context of Rome.  As King Cyrus dried up the literal Euphrates to capture Babylon, so the Danube river was the place where the Goths invaded and inflicted great casulaties upon the Roman forces at the battle of Arbitus.  And, finally, by the year 270AD, the Roman nation had been split into three separate factions, and many of the cities that had been invaded and overthrown were never recovered, hence, fallen.  So, we see all seven plagues represented in the time of the “crisis of the third century”, and it is from this time that many mark the real end of the Roman empire and the beginning of the “Middle Ages”, some form of military generals keeping the title of emperor for another two hundred years.  It was from this outpouring of wrath that the empire was undone.
    • Chapter 17
      • This chapter depicts the harlot Babylon.  We know this to be the principality known as Jezebel, which sat over and controlled the city of Rome itself.  She was the harlot , responsible for the slaughter of the prophets of Israel.  It was most likely she that was transported by the basket in Zechariah’s vision to become incorporated into Babylon.  It is demonstrated that Rome was Babylon, because of Daniel 2’s statue, in that what you call the head you also call the foot–if you call the head Babylon, you also call the foot, Rome, Babylon.  This is basic Biblical interpretation.  The identity of the harlot comes through the Roman goddess “Roma”, who was depicted on Roman coins to be seated on seven hills beside the water.  She “personified” the city, and to say that the harlot “is the great city” could indicate her, as well as anything.  She is Jezebel, because she could not be Rome the city or Rome the empire, because the beast, the emperor would hate her.  Whenever the Roman emperor was deified in a pagan temple, so was Roma, this goddess.  What would make a demonized pagan ruler more hateful than to have Jezebel get higher billing, and more honor, than himself.  She is Jezebel, because Jezebel was the mother of harlots, she was the same demonic ruling force under various names, from Diana, to Minerva, to many other names throughout history.  The Roman citizens diefied her, and worshipped her, more than the emperor at times, and when John saw her, he was astonished.  It was this demon, this “queen of heaven”, the religion of Babylon, that was the mother of all harlotries in the Earth, which all began with the spiritual power that operated through Jezebel, the one Ahab married.
    • Chapter 18
      • Here, the harlot is cast down  This is both the city and the principality.  The city is lamented by those who loved her, and the finality of its destruction is described.
    • Chapter 19
      • The saints rejoice at the destruction of Rome, the great Babylon, and the final overthrow of the beast, the empire of Rome, is carried out by the rider on the white horse, Jesus Himself.
  • The Millennium And Beyond – Revelation 20
    • Chapter 20
      • The Millennium describes the period of church growth in the middle ages.  Satan was depicted as bound when was converted to Christianity, and Foxe’s book of Martyrs says that Constantine so established the peace of Christianity, that it would be thousand years before real persecution took hold in the church again.  This was not without problems, but only that the ringleader, the dragon himself, was bound.  The church eventually became corrupt through political power and state influence, and the dragon was released again.  Following some time after that release, in the time of now, is the prophesied God Magog war, told about in Ezekiel 38-39.  We see this as that time because the Jews are in Israel.  Some time after the conclusion of this war, in an undisclosed interval, lies the Second Coming.  After the literal Millennium we have already concluded.  The events foretold of the sun going dark, the moon not giving her light, and all that, will be after the Gog Magog war, and will be this day, the day and hour of which are unknown.  The second coming is the throne of Christ’s glory, the coming with the glory of the Father, and it is the end of natural history, where the elements themselves are burned up, and all are judged.  This brings us forth to the New Heaven and New Earth.
  • The Eternal State and Conclusion – Revelation 21-22
    • Chapter 21
      • The New Heaven and New Earth are brought forth, along with the heavenly Jerusalem.  The Lamb Himself is its temple.
    • Chapter 22
      • The final restoration is complete, and the river of God is seen flowing from His temple, and the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations.  The book is closed, but not sealed, for the time was near to John.  This was not His second coming, but the Jerusalem events.  Clearly, the events of the Second Coming must have been at least 1000 years after that, hence the Millennium, so these events await us still.  But, the whole of the book is finished, and fulfilled.  And, Jesus ends by saying He is coming soon.