The Apostle John wrote this, the final book of the Holy Scriptures, while exiled on the Greek island of Patmos. It is “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” (not of John), “which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John” (Rev. 1:1). The use of the verbs “show” and “signify” mark its uniquely symbolic nature.
Peculiar blessing is attached to its reading: “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand” (Rev. 1:3). Just as Belshazzar’s gifts had no appeal to Daniel, the rewards of this world cannot entice us if we grasp the significance of this book (Dan. 5:16-17). Banished by the emperor, the Apostle describes himself as a “fellow-partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and patience, in Jesus” (Rev. 1:9 JND), a position that is ours also, as we await the call, “Come up hither” (Rev. 4:1).
Outline
The Revelation may be divided into three parts: the things that John saw, chapter 1; the things which are, chapters 2-3; and the things which shall be hereafter, chapters 4-22. The first eleven chapters are, for the most part, chronological, taking us from the Apostle’s day through the history of Christendom (ch. 23) to the closing judgments. Chapters 7, 10 and the first thirteen verses of chapter 11 provide us with parenthetical detail. From chapter 11:19 to the end of the book we have various sketches detailing Israel’s history, apostate Christendom, this earth, the millennium and the eternal state. It is important to understand that the events of these chapters overlap the history of the earlier chapters.
The Seven Churches
In the first chapter Christ is seen as the Son of Man, not in the character with which the Apostle was familiar, but clothed for judgment (vss. 13-16). John sees Him in the midst of seven candlesticks, which are the seven assemblies to whom the portion is addressed, presented here in responsibility as light bearers (vs. 20).
In chapters 23, each assembly is addressed in turn. The choice of seven (completeness) and the language used throughout (ch. 2:25; “hereafter” in ch. 4:1) cause us to understand that a historical outline of Christendom is being presented, not simply seven letters to first-century churches.
The first three assemblies describe successive periods. Ephesus, the church of the first century, is characterized as having left her first love (ch. 2:4). Smyrna is the persecuted church of the second and third centuries, which Satan as a roaring lion sought to devour. In Pergamos we see the activity of the deceiving serpent. Under Constantine, Christendom united with the pagan political world.
At Thyatira that system over which Rome holds sway there is a change. We now have the exhortation to “hold fast till I come” (vs. 25), and “he that hath an ear” is no longer addressed to the church as a whole (vss. 26,29). The final four churches represent successive overlapping states that continue until the Lord’s coming. Thyatira is followed by Protestant Sardis. Philadelphia is a moral state; they have kept His Word and have not denied His name (ch. 3:8). The hope of the rapture has been restored, for they are kept “out of the hour of trial, which is about to come upon the whole habitable world” (ch. 3:10 JND). Laodicea describes the moral state of Christendom today; claiming to be rich and in need of nothing, its wretched condition is exposed. The Lord is seen as outside the assembly knocking (vs. 20). Apostate Christendom will ultimately be spued out of His mouth.
The Seventieth Week of Daniel
The historic events described in chapters 4-11 Come after the rapture. The church, as with John, awaits the call “come up hither” (ch. 4:1). In chapter 4, God’s judicial throne appears; all are His by right as Creator. In chapter 5 we see the Lamb as Redeemer; He alone is worthy to open the book with seven seals the counsels of God concerning this earth. The twenty-four elders are the Old and New Testament saints; only they can sing the new song of the redeemed. Their presence is accounted for by the rapture.
The events that unfold with the opening of the seals (chapters 6 and 8) and the sounding of the trumpets (ch. 8-9) form the seventieth week of Daniel (Dan. 9:24-27). This final terrible week of seven years may be divided into two 3½year periods.
The beginning of the week is marked by a covenant between Israel and the revived Roman Empire—a united Europe under ten rulers, supported by the papacy, Babylon the Great (Dan. 7:7; Rev. 13:1; 16:2; 17:3). This period is marked by political conquest, sword, famine, pestilence and political chaos (Rev. 6). Many faithful to the Word of God will be martyred (ch. 6:9-11; 17:6).
The rise to prominence of the little horn (the Beast) marks the middle of the week (Dan. 7:7-8,19-25; Rev. 13:1-10). All remaining vestiges of apostate Christendom (Babylon the Great) will be thrown off and destroyed (Rev. 17:16-17). Jewish laws will be changed and the temple profaned (Dan. 7:25; 12:11). The Beast will be worshipped (Rev. 13:4), while the Antichrist “opposes and exalts himself on high against all called God, or object of veneration; so that he himself sits down in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thess. 2:4 JND). The giving over of man to satanic power marks the second half of the week. With the sixth trumpet, the king of the North will begin his mobilization with attacks against the kingdom of the Beast (Rev. 9:13-19). The seventh trumpet portends the time of God’s wrath against His enemies and the establishment of His eternal reign (ch. 11:15-18).
Prophetic Scenes
Chapter 12 takes up the history of Israel the woman and the man-child she bore Christ—whom Rome sought to destroy. The chapter resumes her history with the last three years of tribulation, a time when the dragon the devil will sorely persecute the Jewish remnant.
Along with the dragon, the two persons described in chapter 13 complete a trinity of evil. The Roman Empire in its final form will rise as a beast out of the sea with seven heads and ten horns. In the middle of the week, power is consolidated in a single individual—the Beast (vs. 5). From verse 11 we have the Antichrist, who will work in concert with the Beast. Having two horns like a lamb, he speaks as a dragon (vs. 11). While this evil trio acts out their final script, God, ever in control, intervenes in grace and judgment (ch. 14).
Seven Vials
The seven vials of chapters 15-16 are poured out during the last half of the week and overlap the sounding of the trumpets. They are the seven last plagues; in them God’s fury is completed (ch. 15:1). The vials, in contrast to the trumpets, are not limited to the “third part” and are poured upon the earth, the sea, the rivers and the sun. Although religious Babylon is thrown off in the middle of the week, Babylon as a symbol of the Gentile dominion that began with Nebuchadnezzar is not destroyed until the end of the week with the last vial (ch. 16:17-21).