CHAPTER BY CHAPTER SUMMARY OF REVELATION

ONE HOUR SUMMARY OF REVELATION

CHAPTER 1: This book is a revelation given to John the Apostle late in his life by Jesus Christ. Chapter 1 of Revelation presents an introduction to and an outline of the Book of Revelation. It is the revelation of the future return and rule of Jesus Christ upon the earth and includes the events which precipitate his return. It is given to John while he is in prison on the Island of Patmos, through an angel sent by Jesus. John is told to write the revelation on a scroll and give it to the seven churches. John is told to write down the following, what he had seen in the past (chapter 1), what was taking place at that time (chapters 2 and 3) and what would take place in the end times (chapters 4 to 22). A blessing is promised to those who seriously study the book.

CHAPTERS 2 & 3: These chapters present the seven letters from Jesus to seven first century churches. The seven letters were addressed to seven distinct and real 1st century churches and had direct application to them. They may also present a prophecy of the evolution of the church down through the centuries. It also seems that there are churches in our time that match the seven churches described by Jesus and the admonitions he gave to them certainly apply to the churches of today. Jesus in general gives the churches commendations, criticisms, instructions, warnings and promises.

CHAPTER 4: John is taken up to heaven in spirit to see a revelation of the future. He sees a vision of the throne of God with God seated on it, and a large ensemble surrounding the throne. Those surrounding the throne included (1) twenty four elders, who seem to be a combination of the twelve sons of Israel and the twelve disciples, all sitting on twenty four other thrones , (2) the seven spirits of God which is the Holy Spirit, and (3) four cherubim who are four powerful angels in the service of God. The twenty four elders and four cherubim are giving thanks and praise to God. The twenty four elders have crowns which they lay before the throne of God. The throne of God is surrounded by what looks like a sea of glass, as pure as crystal. It appears that this is symbolic language for the mass of believers who had just been raptured to heaven before the start of the tribulation period.

CHAPTER 5: This chapter opens with John still in the throne room of God. God is on the throne holding a scroll written on both sides and sealed with seven seals. A mighty angel asks who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll. Only the Lamb who had been slain for the sins of man was deemed worthy. He took the scroll and the four cherubim and the 24 elders all fell before him and began singing praises to him proclaiming that the time for the saints to begin reigning on earth with Him was about to come. Next, millions of angels surround the throne and begin to sing “worthy is the Lamb to reign.” Finally, every creature in heaven and on earth is seen singing together, praising and honoring the Father and the Lamb for they are about to show forth their glory and power.

CHAPTER 6: We now jump back to earth where we see God’s judgment of the earth and its people is about to begin. This judgment will last for seven years and is often referred to as the tribulation period. Luke 17:26-36 tells us that this tribulation will begin on the very day that the rapture takes place. This chapter begins the description of the judgments taking place during the seven year tribulation period. These judgments are described in three separate ways in different places in Revelation and are referred to as seal, trumpet and bowl judgments. This chapter describes the first six seal judgments. The seal judgments seem to be a description of the means for accomplishing the trumpet and bowl judgments. The Lamb, Jesus, opens the seals one at a time. Four riders on horses are given the power to administer the first four judgments. These riders are said to be on white, red, black and pale green horses. There are four similar horsemen on horses described in Zech 6:1-8 and they are said to be the four spirits of God. They had just come from the presence of God in heaven and were seen going out all over the world. These apparently are four powerful angels of God. The coming seven year tribulation represents God’s judgments being poured out upon the people of the earth for their rejection of him. The first four seals are apparently administered in the first half of the tribulation period and carried out by God’s angels. Satan and his angels are physically cast down to earth in the third judgment and they play a greater role in the last three judgments (still under the control of God’s angels). There appears to be a rapture/resurrection of believers that are killed during the tribulation period that takes place in the fifth judgment. This would be considered a gleaning’s rapture. There is a terrible earthquake in the sixth judgment and tremendous devastation on earth.

CHAPTER 7: This chapter is one of the most difficult chapters in Revelation to interpret. One thing that makes it difficult to interpret is that it is placed between the description of the first six seal judgments in chapter 6 and the seventh seal and first six trumpet judgments in chapters 8 and 9. One problem that this causes is determining the time frame for the things presented in chapter 7. By their placement we might want to assume that the things in chapter 7 fall at the end of the sixth seal judgment and before the start of the seventh seal judgment. However, that does not seem to be the case. As we have stated earlier, it seems that the seal judgments are not actual judgments but the means that God will use to accomplish his judgments when they do start. The actual judgments are the trumpet and bowl judgments, which seem to be one judgment presented two times in slightly different language and from different perspectives. In fact the bowl judgments seem to be a continuation of the trumpet judgments with a second application of several of them in the sixth and seventh judgments. Thus, it seems that there are seven total judgments against the earth and the people of the earth in the seven year tribulation period. These seven judgments are administered and controlled by seven angels of God. The first four judgments seem to be in the first half of the tribulation period and the last three in the second half. As chapter 7 begins it seems that we are seeing four angels restraining four destructive forces. The restraining angels are keeping the coming world empire from agitating the peoples of the earth until the proper time as set by God. Some of the things that John is seeing and writing about in chapter 7 apparently take place just after the seven year period of wrath begins. What does he see? Soon after the beginning of the tribulation period he sees 144,000 Jews who have suddenly become servants of God on earth. They are about to be sealed as belonging to God. He next sees a great multitude in heaven, from every nation, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They are redeemed believers who have been raptured to heaven, apparently about five months after the midpoint of the seven year period of wrath. It seems that the 144,000 believing Jews are also raptured to heaven. The next time we see them is in Chapter 14 where they are shown standing on Mt Zion in heaven with Jesus (Mount Zion is within the heavenly city of God, Heb 12:22). They are said to have been redeemed from the earth and part of the firstfruits rapture. Thus John is seeing two separate visions of the 144,000 in chapter 7, four years apart. The first is of those who had suddenly become believers at the beginning of the tribulation, and the second is four years later when they had just been killed and raptured to heaven.

CHAPTER 8: Again, Chapter 8 picks up with descriptions of the judgments. It describes the seventh seal judgment and the first four trumpet judgments. In the seventh seal there is silence in heaven for about half an hour, or about a week as God seems to keep time in the Bible. This silence is likely a preview of the Second Coming when Jesus returns to earth with all of his angels and the redeemed. There is silence since everyone has left heaven except for the Father. The trumpet judgments are the initial application of the seal judgments on earth. The first trumpet judgment appears to be a nuclear war. The result is described as one third of the earth, one third of the trees and one third of the green grass being burned up. The ensuing effects would be a large layer of clouds surrounding the earth with nuclear fallout causing all kinds of skin conditions and illnesses. The climate would be affected, the electrical power grid would be out over large areas of the world, world trade would be severely affected including the shipment of oil, food and supply distribution networks would be severely disrupted, there would be famine and plagues over large areas of the world, there would be a tendency to anarchy in the world, etc. The second trumpet judgment seems to be caused by a comet or asteroid hitting one of the earth’s oceans, possibly the Indian Ocean. The effects attributed to this are a third of the sea was turned to blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed. The shock itself could kill ocean life for possibly hundreds of miles. The tidal wave might be several hundred feet high and would go out in all directions. It could wipe everything out for many miles inland along any coast affected, depending on the terrain. There could possibly be millions of people killed. The long term effects would be similar to the nuclear exchange but without the radiation. The third trumpet judgment is described as a great “star” that is thrown down to earth. That star appears to be Satan. By some means he poisons one third of the earth’s rivers. The fourth judgment is darkness over one third of the earth, apparently due to the heavy cloud cover from the nuclear war and the asteroid hit. In fact, Isa 5:30 and Joel 2:1-2 tell us that the darkness will be caused by a cloud cover.

CHAPTER 9: This chapter describes the fifth and sixth trumpet judgments. These are also described as the first and second woes. The first woe or fifth trumpet judgment begins with a statement about Satan’s fall to earth. We will learn much more about this fall in chapter 12. Satan is given the keys to the Abyss where certain particularly evil angels and the Nephilim have been held for about 5,000 years. He releases them upon the earth and they are allowed to torment those people on earth who do not have the mark of God on them. Thus they are only tormenting unbelievers. The purpose for this torture may be to convince people all over the earth to take the mark of the beast; to accept the antichrist as God and to worship and obey him. Believers are immune to this torture in some supernatural way. The antichrist had just come into power and had just gone into the temple in Jerusalem and proclaimed himself to be God. The evil angels were allowed to continue this torture for five months. We will see later in chapter 12 that they are sent back to the Abyss soon after the five months was completed. This chapter also describes the sixth trumpet or second woe judgment. Here we see the antichrist and the empires that he controls being loosed to begin their reign of terror on the earth. They may accomplish this through a nuclear war, described as fire, smoke and sulfur, or it may be accomplished through supernatural means involving evil angels. One third of the people on the earth are killed in this judgment. There are four angels involved in this judgment and they control what is described as a very large number of troops, in fact 200,000,000. This may be the army of evil angels who have just been thrown out of heaven and down to earth. The four angels who control this may be evil angels because they are described as having been “bound” at the great river Euphrates. They are “released” and apparently lead the army of evil angels in their assault on the people of the earth.

CHAPTER 10: This chapter initiates a break in the description of the judgments. It seems that chapter 7 gave us an amplification of events that take place in the first and fifth judgments and chapters 10-15 give us further amplification of events that take place in the judgments. As chapter 10 starts we see a mighty angel of God, who appears to be Gabriel, making a critical pronouncement; the mystery of God is about to be accomplished. This mystery is defined in Eph 1:9-10 as “all things in heaven and on earth coming together under Jesus Christ,” in Rev 11:15 as “the kingdom of the world becoming the kingdom of heaven,” and in Eph 5:32 as “Christ and the church.” The angel is seen holding a small open scroll. We are not told specifically about the contents of the scroll but it seems to contain the description of the seven judgments and their interpretation. God does not want the contents of this little scroll to be known so he tells John to seal it up. His voice here is described as the “seven thunders.” John is next told to eat the scroll. He finds it sweet to the taste but bitter in his stomach. It must have been pleasurable to John intellectually to know and to see the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies and to know that it was through him that new revelations of the future were to be made known. However, after John had time to digest what he had seen, he had many reasons to be sad. Remember, to this point John had not yet seen the Second Coming and the events which were to follow that. Next, John is told by Jesus to repeat his prophecies about the coming judgments. He does this by later presenting the bowl judgments which are a description of the continued effects of the application of the trumpet judgments, and by presenting the Second Coming, etc.

CHAPTER 11: Chapter 11 continues the amplification of many of the details of people and events involved in the tribulation. The first four judgments were applied during the first three and one half years of the seven year tribulation period. Chapter 11 begins with John being told to measure the temple in Jerusalem but to exclude the outer court which has been given to the gentiles, who we recognize to be the Islamic peoples and that this area contains the Dome of the Rock. The reason that this information about the temple is included here is to let us know that the temple has been rebuilt and is in use for worship during the mid-point of the tribulation period. It also lets us know that the Dome of the Rock is still there and is close by. This chapter also discusses the work of the two witnesses during the first half of the tribulation period. The two witnesses are called the “two olive trees and two lampstands” that stand before the Lord. We understand them to be believers during the first half of the tribulation period. The two olive trees seem to be two very powerful individual leaders of the movement to convince the world of the purpose for the judgment that is taking place and to win as many as possible for the kingdom that is soon coming. These two tribulation prophets in some way operate in the spirit of the two great Old Testament prophets Elijah and Elisha (or possibly Moses). The two lampstands are priests in the order of Levi who stand before the Lord. Remember, each believer is his own priest and may come into the presence of the Lord. One lampstand seems to be composed of those Jews who have become believers in the first half of the tribulation period, who have been sealed as belonging to Christ, are servants of Christ and either are or include the 144,000. The other lampstand seems to be composed of those gentiles who have become believers in the first half of the tribulation period. The two leaders may be called the two witnesses just as the totality are also the two witnesses. We will see that pattern repeated in Rev 13-19 as the “Beast” refers to both an empire in the end times and also the leader of the empire. The work of the two witnesses is completed at the midpoint of the tribulation period and God then allows them to be killed, before resurrecting them and rapturing them to heaven. This rapture is visible to people all over the world. This chapter culminates with a celebration in heaven at the blowing of the seventh trumpet, in anticipation of the great things which are coming, including the setting up of the kingdom of heaven on earth.

CHAPTER 12: Chapter 12 continues the amplification of many of the details of people and events involved in the tribulation. It summarizes the role of Israel in the coming of Jesus and the redemption of the world, the fall of Satan and his evil angels to earth (happens in the third trumpet judgment), and the supernatural protection from Satan that God provides to Israel. It describes Israel being carried away to a “desert” where she are out of Satan’s reach for 3 ½ years. This sounds like the warning that Jesus gave to the Jewish people in the Olivet Discourse when he told them to head for the hills when they saw the antichrist in the temple declaring himself to be God. Many believe this place of protection to be Bozrah (Petra in Jordan). Rev 12:1-12 indeed confirms that Satan is kicked out of heaven during the tribulation period, along with his evil angels. Here he is called the dragon, the enormous red dragon, the great dragon, Satan and the devil. Verse 5 says that his tail swept a third of the stars from the sky and hurled them to earth. In verse 9 we see that these stars were Satan’s angels. We see in verses 7-8 that there is a war in heaven involving the Archangel Michael and his angels against Satan and his angels. Michael and his angels prevailed and threw Satan and his angels to earth. Verse 10 makes the timeframe of this war and Satan’s exile to earth very clear. We see that Satan being hurled to earth paved the way for Jesus to come to earth and claim his kingdom (Rev 11:15). Satan’s exile occurred in the third judgment, near the end of the first half of the tribulation period. Rev 9:12 says “woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has gone down to you.” This likely ties into Rev 8:13, which describes the three judgments in the second half of the tribulation period as the “woe” judgments. In fact it says “Woe! Woe! Woe! to the inhabitants of the earth;” three woe judgments with Satan himself and his angels participating in the terrible wrath being inflicted upon the earth and its inhabitants. Rev 12:12 further says that Satan is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short. The fourth trumpet judgment description in Rev 8:12 may possibly be symbolically referring to the fall of Satan’s angels when it says that one third of the stars turned dark. The sixth seal judgment description in Rev 6:13 may also be referring to Satan’s angels being thrown to earth from heaven. Chapter 12 ends with Satan in rage at not being able to destroy the Jews who are in hiding. In his rage he returns to Israel where he inspires the antichrist to kill the Christians who had been rounded up by the evil angels from the Abyss as we saw in Chapter 11.

CHAPTER 13: Revelation 13 is part of a pause in the middle chapters of the book in which John takes a time out from his discussion of the wrath during the tribulation period to describe the major characters involved in the tribulation period. This chapter describes a great empire that emerges on the earth during the end times. It is referred to as the beast out of the sea. The antichrist emerges as the leader of this empire and soon becomes the leader of all of the nations of the earth. The leader of the empire known as the beast out of the sea is wounded and killed near the end of the first half of the tribulation period. He had been doing his work in the spirit of Satan but his power was still limited. When the beast out of the Abyss is released upon the earth at the beginning of the fifth judgment he comes upon the earth in the image of the dead leader. He has supernatural powers and is now the leader of the empire and becomes known as the “beast.” He is a superman, a half angel and half man like creature, but he looks like a man. A second empire, a militarily powerful empire composed of only two nations, also emerges; it is called the beast out of the earth. A strong leader emerges from these two allied nations and he is called the false prophet. He is a satanically inspired prophet for the antichrist who promotes worship of the antichrist. This chapter also discusses the mark of the beast. Everyone in the second half of the tribulation will be forced to receive the mark of the beast or antichrist on the right hand and forehead in order to be able to buy or sell. This number is said to be 666. This mark may be on the spirit and invisible on earth, it may be some sort of implanted electronic device or it may be both. In any case it indicates that the one with the mark belongs to Satan.

CHAPTER 14: Chapter 14 is another one of those chapters that provides amplification of events in the tribulation period. In this chapter John is describing events that take place just before and during the Second Coming of Jesus. This includes a description of Jesus standing on Mount Zion in heaven with the 144,000 just before the Second Coming. This is proof that the 144.000 have been killed and raptured to heaven. This chapter also includes a vision of seven angels making very significant pronouncements just before the return of Jesus to earth. These pronouncements are (1) a proclamation of the eternal gospel to all those still living on earth, (2) a proclamation that Babylon has fallen, (3) a proclamation that those with the mark of the beast will be doomed to hell forever, (4) a proclamation that those who die in the Lord will be blessed, (5) a proclamation that it was time for Jesus to reap a harvest of those remaining on earth, (6) a sixth angel came with no proclamation but with a sharp sickle, and (7) a seventh angel came proclaiming to the sixth angel with the sharp sickle that it was time for him to take his sickle and gather the cluster of grapes from the earth’s vine, because the grapes were ripe. These last few proclamations are describing the harvest before the sheep/goat judgment of Matt 25:31-46.

CHAPTER 15: Chapter 15 is one of those chapters that provide amplification of events in the tribulation period. In this chapter John is given another glimpse into heaven. He again sees the seven angels who will be applying the seven bowl judgments. We see what appears to be those raptured to heaven during the fifth judgment, including the 144,000 who are again singing praises to God and playing on their harps, just as they had been doing in chapter 14. We see them standing by something that looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire. We discover that this sea of glass appears to be the bride of Christ, which had been raptured to heaven just before the tribulation period began and appeared as pure as crystal. The fact that these believers who had been raptured to heaven at the end of the fifth judgment are in heaven places chapter 15 in the sixth and seventh judgments. We also see the seven angels who distribute the wrath of God coming out of a place called the tabernacle of the Testimony. We see that heaven appears to be divided into two chambers as the tabernacle on earth was, a Holy Place and a Most Holy Place. The Most Holy Place was the residence of the throne of God, the throne room so to speak, and the dwelling place of God. We see the seven angels apparently getting their instructions on how to complete God’s judgments on earth and the people of earth. When they receive these instructions, access to God for people on earth is stopped until the completion of the wrath of God on earth in the seventh judgment as confirmed in Rev 11:19. Heaven is apparently opened up again just before the Second Coming when an angel proclaims the gospel of Jesus to the whole earth. Finally we see the four living creatures, the four cherubim, giving the seven angels seven bowls of wrath for them to pour out on the earth. This is a final application of the seven seal judgments. The first five had already been applied one time, each with continuing effects that also reflect the seal judgments.

CHAPTER 16: In chapters 10-15 we saw an amplification of many of the details involved in the seven year period of wrath called the tribulation period. In chapter 16 we are finally back to the application of the seven judgments. This chapter presents the final judgments leading up to Armageddon. These are called the bowl judgments and in my opinion represent the continuing effects of terrible judgments first applied as the trumpet judgments. A comparative analysis shows that to be a reasonable conclusion. However, there may be much more to this story. There also seems to be a concentrated reapplication of the first five/six trumpet judgments, but now called bowl judgments, all taking place in the sixth/seventh judgments. Following is a description of the bowl judgments. (1) We have sores breaking out on those who follow Satan, a likely continuing effect of the nuclear war and resulting radiation of the first trumpet judgment. (2) We have the waters of the oceans becoming completely poison to life, likely as a continuing effect of the asteroid which hit an ocean in the second trumpet judgment and initially poisoned one third of the water in the oceans. (3) We see all of the fresh waters of the earth becoming poison to life, a likely continuing effect of the third trumpet judgment when one third of the fresh waters of the earth became poison to life. (4) We see the sun producing intense heat and people on the earth being scorched by the intense heat, likely a result of the atmospheric changes produced in the fourth trumpet judgment when the band of clouds from the nuclear war and asteroid hit blot out the sun which cause huge changes in the worlds atmosphere and the world’s weather patterns. (5) We see the world thrown into darkness and an increase in people’s agony caused by the sores and intense heat, likely a continuing effect of the fifth trumpet judgment when angels from the abyss produced plagues which tortured the people of the earth. The increased darkness would be a continuing effect of the nuclear wars, the asteroid hit, and the earthquake at the end of the fifth judgment. (6) We see the waters of the Euphrates River completely dried up, likely as a result of the sixth trumpet judgment which seems to be additional nuclear exchanges between the nations of the earth. This would further compound the darkness, weather problems, searing heat, etc. (7) There is a cataclysmic event on earth which produces a huge earthquake, lightning, thunder, very large hailstones, etc., again similar to the events described in the seventh trumpet judgment. The effects are described as so catastrophic that nations collapse, islands and mountains cannot be found, etc. We see evil spirits inspired by Satan, the antichrist and the false prophet doing all sorts of miraculous things to try to keep God from completing his plan for redeeming the earth and sending Jesus back to earth. The people of the earth curse God because the plagues are so severe. This description can be likened to the grand finale to the world’s largest fireworks show. From the language used it seems likely that there is a reapplication of the first five/six trumpet judgments, all occurring in the sixth/seventh trumpet judgments.

CHAPTER 17: Chapters 17-19 contain information about and clues to the identity of the “woman” called the great prostitute and mystery Babylon. In chapter 17 several clues are given to her identity, but they are given in mysterious symbolic language. As we research the meaning of these symbols given in Chapter 17 we learn the following: (1) She is associated with a large number of people of various nationalities and languages, (2) she has some special association with ten governments of the world, including the revived Roman Empire, (3) it certainly appears that the scarlet beast that the woman is riding is the beast out of the Abyss , a Nephilim, and that he is the leader of the empire called the beast out of the sea, (4) she is a false religion and has great influence over the leaders of the world, (5) she is a great prostitute in that she commits spiritual adultery with the leaders and peoples of the earth, which means that she does not recognize Jesus as God, (6) she is also called a woman and Babylon the Great; Babylon was the origin and headquarters of idol worship and false gods for thousands of years, (7) John says that when he saw the woman he was greatly astonished and (8) the beast and his empire will grow to hate the prostitute and bring her to ruin. These eight clues lead us to believe that one of the principal characteristics of the woman is that she is a false religion in the end times.

CHAPTER 18: From analysis of the clues given in chapter 17 we concluded that the great prostitute was the false church of the end times. Chapter 18 and the beginning of chapter 19 give us many more clues about the identity of the great prostitute. There are about 25 clues given altogether in these three chapters. If we boil down all of these clues we can draw the following conclusions about the identity of the great prostitute, mystery Babylon: (1) She is a Satanically inspired, Christ rejecting apostate religion that encompasses people from all over the world, including people of every nation and language, (2) she is a large group of wealthy consumers, whose wealth supports the commerce of the entire world, and (3) she is reliant upon and led by the antichrist in the end times. Finally, we can reach the following conclusions about the great prostitute. She is the future Jesus rejecting apostate religion of the end times that is satanically inspired and led by the antichrist in the great tribulation. She includes the remnants of all of the world’s religions after the rapture of believers to heaven, including Protestants, Catholics, Islamics, Mormons, Buddhists, etc. The antichrist believes he has destroyed this mystery Babylon when he forces all members of every religious group to accept him as the god of the world. In effect he has not destroyed mystery Babylon, he has only changed her in God’s eyes. She was and still is an apostate one world religion. Jesus finally and totally destroys her at his second coming, as he speaks the word and all unbelievers are sent to Hades to await their final judgment at the end of the 1000 year millennium..

CHAPTER 19: In chapter 19 we finally get to the end of the tribulation period. We see great rejoicing in heaven as the millennial reign of Christ is about to begin. It appears that the last thing to happen in heaven before the Second Coming of Jesus to earth is the culmination of the wedding between Jesus and his church and the wedding supper of the Lamb. Next we see Jesus returning to earth in great power and glory and pictured riding a white horse with the name “King of kings and Lord of lords” written on his robe and thigh. Finally we see the battle of Armageddon at which the beast and false prophet are captured and thrown into hell. All of those who worshipped the beast were killed and sent to Hades awaiting the Great White Throne Judgment.

CHAPTER 20: We just saw two of Satan’s key advocates and followers, the antichrist and false prophet, captured and thrown into hell for ever. Now in chapter 20 it is time for Satan to be dealt with. An angel seizes him, binds him with chains and throws him into the Abyss for 1000 years. We presume that his evil angels are treated likewise although we are not specifically told so here (Isa 24:21-23 confirms it). The reason we presume that is because we are told that Satan will not be able to deceive the people on earth for the 1000 year period; that certainly includes having his evil servants bound also. This starts the 1000 year period that we refer to as the millennium. Just after the Second Coming there is a resurrection of those who had become believers after the fifth judgment rapture, had resisted Satan’s lies and been killed. They are given resurrected bodies and allowed to reign on earth with Jesus for the 1000 years. There are still possibly millions of living humans on earth at the Second Coming. Most are likely unbelievers, but many have become believers as a result of the visit by the special angel who presents the gospel of Jesus to all people on earth just before the Second Coming. All of those still alive after the Second Coming must face the sheep-goat judgment described in Matt 25:31-36. Unbelievers are sent to Hades to await the Great White Throne judgment while those who have become believers are allowed to remain on earth to begin the millennium. Thus we see that there are both humans and redeemed souls with resurrected bodies on earth at the same time during the millennium. At the end of the 1000 years Satan is released and allowed to use his lies again for a short time to try to deceive those humans still living on earth. We presume that is because the final judgment is scheduled just after the end of the millennium and God only wants those in heaven for eternity who have been tested by Satan’s lies and deceit, have resisted them and have chosen instead to believe in and follow Jesus. The allure is sin is so very powerful that the majority of those humans living on earth apparently choose to give in to Satan’s lies and follow him (the redeemed souls with resurrected bodies are immune to sin and thus cannot give in to temptation and lies). We see that Satan leads all of those who gave in to his lies to their utter destruction. This is Satan’s last chance and his last ditch effort to defeat God. However, he is again captured and this time he is thrown into the lake of burning sulfur where he is tormented for ever and ever. Satan’s final judgment is immediately followed by the Great White Throne Judgment. This is the one and only judgment of all of those in the history of the earth who chose to reject Jesus and thus follow Satan. They are all in Hades awaiting their final judgment. All are judged, found guilty, sentenced to the death penalty and thrown into the Lake of fire. Hades is itself shut down and destroyed at that time since it will never be needed again. This is the end of all human existence. Everyone has now made their choice and they will live with it forever, some in paradise in the new earth and new heaven forever, and the rest in outer darkness forever.

CHAPTER 21: Revelation chapters 21 and 22 are post tribulation, post millennium and post judgment. There are no longer any people on earth as earth has been completely renewed. Rev 21:1 confirms this when it says that the first heaven and first earth have passed away, there will be a new heaven and a new earth and they will be quite different from the first. As if Revelation has not been symbolic enough up to this point, God now really gets serious with the symbolism. John next sees something called the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven to the newly reconstructed heaven and earth. This new Jerusalem is said to be the bride of Christ. It is said to be the new dwelling place of God, since God now lives with men and within men. We are also told that there will be no more death, no more pain, no more sorrow, because the old order has passed away. Men will now live on a new earth in glorified bodies like the one that Jesus had after his resurrection. God will live with men in the new order. God says in verse 5, “I am making everything new.” God then goes on to say that all of this will be available to “the one who overcomes.” However, the one who lives a sinful lifestyle will inherit only the “second death” in the lake of fire. An extensive description is given of the city, emphasizing its historical framework, its purity, its beauty, its great size, its great worth and its relationship to and with Jesus and the Father. Again we are told that this is the church, the bride of the Lamb. It also seems that the new Jerusalem has a physical aspect to it. It is the place where we will reside with God and he will reside with us through all of eternity. It seems that in the new order heaven and earth have been united as one. Our new glorified body may be a unified spiritual body with physical characteristics meaning that we can experience both heaven and earth at the same time with God always with us.

CHAPTER 22: Again, Revelation chapters 21 and 22 are post tribulation, post millennium and post judgment. There are no longer any people on earth. It seems that everyone is now capable of experiencing both physical and spiritual realities at the same time. The Bible gives many hints in many places that man will experience a physical reality into eternity. This new physical reality, however, will not include pain, suffering, unhappiness, hunger, and an unfilled longing for God, for he will be with us and within us at all times. This is difficult to comprehend, but it is still easier to comprehend than the spiritual reality that we will also experience. As chapter 22 begins we are given additional glimpses into life in the new Jerusalem, the city of God. It is again presented in symbolic language and is difficult to comprehend. The thing that is very clear, however, is that God will be living with us and within us, that we will be able to see God, that all of our needs will be fulfilled and that it will last for ever and ever. The book ends with a message from Jesus proclaiming the following; (1) that he is indeed the God of the universe, (2) that he is both physical and spiritual, (3) that he is will soon return for his bride, (4) that he will have his reward with him when he returns, and (5) that only those who are believers in him will be granted access to heaven. John ends with an admonition for us to “Come!” and take the free gift of the water of life, and for Jesus he pleads, “Come, Lord Jesus.”