Bible Study: Revelation Timeline
Revelation Overview
The Book of Revelation is about the revealing of Jesus Christ in His second coming…and is told from different perspectives, just as the four gospels are told from four perspectives of His first coming. Revelation is a timeline record of events from start to finish. Therefore, many traditional “timeline” commentaries of the Book make it difficult to understand. We must see Revelation differently, not as one timeline but as multiple timelines happening concurrently (same time).
There are four sevens that are significant in Revelation; seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls (vials). Seven is the number of perfection or completion, and at the end of each of these sevens is the completion of the coming of Jesus again, the rapture of the Church, and the wrath of God in the battle of Armageddon. The message for us is this; He is coming again, and we are to be ready!
Revelation 1-3: Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.”
Chapters 1-3 are the things that are and have been seen. These were messages to the seven churches that existed in John’s time in which he was the overseer after his release from the Island of Patmos. These messages were typically for John’s time. These churches no longer exist in western Turkey, there are just ruins today.
Revelation 4-5: After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, ‘Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this. Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.”
This begins the prophetic portion where John is brought to heaven and shown “things which are still to come.” Some think that this the rapture of the church before the Tribulation period begins; let’s assume it’s not, but it’s where John is shown the fulfillment of the ends of the ages and the return of Jesus Christ to earth.
Revelation 6:1: Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.”
This begins one of the timelines, before the Tribulation period when the seals are opened. The horsemen are released. Zechariah sees them as horses pulling chariots, and the angel tells him that these are spirits.
This is the longest timeline that stretches from the dark ages 500-600 AD (future in John’s time) and ends with, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Armageddon)
Revelation 7:3-4: “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed.
The 144,000 are sealed. Perhaps this is happening simultaneously when the Antichrist seals his with the mark in the beginning of Great Tribulation
Revelation 8:2: And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
Just as we’ve seen that the seven seals are the “long” story… the seven trumpets are the “medium” story. Possibly beginning in WWI and ending in Armageddon in Chapter 11.
Revelation 9:15: ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’ So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind.”
The Euphrates River war, or possibly WWIII.
Revelation 10:1: I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire.
Revelation 10 is a “parenthetical” chapter much like seven, where we are given additional insight into what’s going on in heaven or on earth just before Armageddon. These are opportunities to zoom in for more info.
A great angel, probably Michael (Daniel 12), prepares for the battle and the end. The focus turns directly to Israel.
10:7: but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.
Revelation 11:1-3: Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. 2 But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. 3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
This chapter focuses on the beginning of the Great Tribulation (1260 days) and ends with the last trumpet (seventh) and Armageddon. “And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.”
Revelation 12:7: And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon.
The war in heaven looks to take place at the point of the abomination of desolation, where the Antichrist takes power. The devil is cast down and in His wrath he persecutes God’s elect.
Revelation 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.
Chapter 13 focuses on the antichrist and his false prophet and the number of the beast. Both are “beasts” as pictured in this chapter.
Revelation 14:9: Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God.
The 144 thousand mentioned before are here with Jesus as the “first fruits” unto God. The first fruits are the fruits of a crop which become ripe early in the season and are gathered prior to the “main” harvest.
The Lord reaps His harvest of His elect. Then there is another angel who thrusts in another sickle and casts the vine of the earth into the winepress of the wrath of God.
Revelation 15-16:1: Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.”
The bowls are the final and shortest of our timelines and take place over a matter of days or months in the end of the Great Tribulation. We saw in Revelation 12 that the last 3.5 years are the wrath of Satan while he is confined to the earth is where he persecutes God's people.
This is the wrath of God against those who hate God. The saints will be caught up in the air to meet the Lord in the air at the sound of the Seventh Trumpet (1 Thess 4:16-17, 1 Cor 15:52).
Revelation 17-18: Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters.
Chapters 17-18 are more parenthetical chapters, not in sequence of the timeline, giving us more information about the whore of Babylon, or the apostate church.
Revelation 19:11: Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.
Jesus comes back to earth, after the marriage supper of the Lamb and the pouring of the bowls, destroys the armies of the nations at Armageddon, and throws the Antichrist and the False Prophet into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:4: And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years
The people who died during the tribulation were raised at the first resurrection. This is one of the places that gives us explicit information on the timing of the Rapture. It's definitely at the end of the reign of the Antichrist.
At the end of the Millenial Reign the devil is release for a short time, influences another battle and is defeated forever.
Then the Great White Throne judgement
Revelation 21:1 & 22: And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
God creates a new heaven and new earth and there will be no more sorrow or pain of any kind! We will drink freely of the water of life and will dwell with God forever!