Introduction
The book of revelation is John’s record of a vision he received from God while imprisoned on the island of Patmos. It’s an apocalyptic book similar to Daniel and Zechariah, which reveals future events through symbolic imagery. For example, in both Daniel and Revelation, beasts represent kingdoms/governments and horns represent kings/leaders. We know this because they interpret them for us, and refer to their visions as signs and symbols. Likewise, we shouldn’t think of four literal horsemen coming to wreak havoc. The vision simply represented the antichrist, war, famine, and pestilence as symbols (horsemen). We should be careful in interpreting these symbols and use the rest of the Bible as our guide. That said, Revelation isn’t a sealed, codified book with hidden messages. It’s simply meant to give believers a glimpse into how God will bring judgment on the nations and set up his final kingdom
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1-2: John received a vision from God that tells us how God will judge the world and reign forever with his people. Though there are many interpretive challenges, it’s clear that most of his vision describes yet future events. The events "that must soon take place" are only soon relative to the timescale of creation.
3: The blessing promised to those who read this book is the comfort they receive in knowing that Christ will return to bring justice and mercy. Satan will be destroyed (Revelation 20:10), and those who trust in Christ will dwell with God in the new heaven and earth forever.
4: The first 3 chapters are direct messages from Jesus to the 7 of the major churches at that time. Little is known about the seven spirits of God, but they seem to be high ranking angels positioned before the throne in Revelation 1:4, who carry out God’s ministry in the world (Revelation 5:6). These spirits/angels are differentiated from the ones overseeing the seven churches in Asia (Revelation 3:1). Jesus addressed the instructions to the angels that represented each church.
5-6: John rightly ascribed eternal glory to Jesus, who freed us of our sins by absorbing God’s wrath on the cross. In the old covenant system a priest was required to mediate between the people and God, but because of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice, we now have direct access to God. In this way he made us "priests to God".
7: Jesus' return will be seen by all people—both living and dead. Those who didn’t repent by trusting in Jesus will mourn at His coming because they will be judged for their sins.
8: The first and last Greek characters (alpha and omega) are used to illustrate God’s eternal nature. He existed before all things and will bring about the end of the age.
9-20: John was held captive on the island of Patmos, where he received a vision from the Lord. He heard a voice command him to record what he sees and give it to the seven churches. John found that the voice came from Jesus himself (Revelation 1:17). John was observed a symbolic representation of Jesus meant to communicate actual things or attributes. For example, the sword coming from his mouth represents the word of God (Hebrews 4:12), the stars in his hand represent angels, and the lamp stands represent the seven churches of Asia (Revelation 1:20).
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1: The symbol of Jesus holding seven stars (angels) indicates that he controls the angels who serve the churches. His "walking among the lamp stands" (churches) suggests that he was actively involved in their churches and ours today.
2-7: The church in Ephesus was devoted to ministry and exposing false apostles. However, they got caught up focusing on their works rather than their first love: Jesus. This focus shift was a sin that required repentance and reprioritization. We must be careful not to elevate ministry above our love for Jesus. We don’t know exactly what the works of the Nicolaitans were, but they included false teachings (Revelation 2:15).
8-11: The church in Smyrna was poor from an earthly perspective, but they were rich in the sense that they had eternal life in Jesus.
9: Jesus warned them that they would face persecution to the point of death. Satan was the source of this persecution by inspiring evil men to hate and kill Christ’s followers. But whoever endured to the end would have the crown of life. This endurance can only come to those who have truly repented and put their faith in Christ. The act of endurance doesn't save a person but the person who is saved will endure. Persecution is a refining fire that separates true believers from false converts.
12-16: The church in Pergamum was in the midst of an extremely evil pagan society that killed faithful Christians. John tells us it was even the dwelling place of Satan. Jesus praised the church in Pergamum for not denying him in this extremely hostile culture, but demanded repentance for tolerating pagan rituals, sexual immorality, and false doctrine in the church. We can live in godless, sinful societies, but we should never let them influence the us or the church. God’s judgment would fall upon their unrepentant church members if the faithful followers didn’t repent.
17: ”The hidden manna" is a reference to eternal life through Jesus (John 6:48-51).
18-20: The church in Thiatyra was progressing in faith and works, but they tolerated a pagan "prophetess" who enticed others into committing sexualized worship of pagan deities. This was a command to practice church discipline and excommunicate her from the church.
21-23: By God’s grace, he gave her time to repent but she didn't. He promised to bring judgement upon on her, her children, and the unrepentant who participated in these pagan practices. This raises the question of why God would destroy her children for her sins. The answer is that He didn’t. Ezekiel 18 makes it clear that God doesn’t judge children for their parents’ sins, so the only way God would destroy her children is if they were guilty themselves. They were likely adults who also practiced these sinful acts. Her refusal to repent simply caused God remove his grace and judge them for their wickedness.
24-29: There’s a reward for believers who remain faithful until the end, avoiding a life of meaningless, sinful pursuits. They will receive a significant place of authority in the coming kingdom.
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1-6: The church in Sardis had a reputation for being alive in Christ, but their faith wasn’t "completed" or demonstrated by their works (James 2:14-26). They knew how to talk and act like Christians, but they were spiritually dead on the inside. Jesus commanded them to repent or he would bring judgement upon them at a time when they didn’t expect it (Revelation 3:3). There were only a few true christians in the midst of many false converts.
7: The ‘keys of David’ is a reference to Isaiah 22:20-23 (It could also be a reference to Matthew 16:19). Since God’s will was for David to rule, no one could overthrow his authority. The analogy of having a key that can open and close doors seems to represent the power and authority God gave David as he ruled. Anyone who has the "keys of David" has the backing of God’s divine power and cannot be overthrown. Jesus is the one who will rule on David’s throne forever, and no one can overthrow his authority.
8-9: One of the "doors" Jesus opened was the repentance and conversion of the Jews who persecuted the Christians in Philadelphia.
10: Jesus’ "word about patient endurance" was that if you’re saved, you’ll endure persecution (Matthew 24:9-13). Enduring persecution doesn’t save us, but it does reveal who really is saved through Jesus’ atonement. The "hour of trial" is when God will judge "those who dwell on the earth" (unbelievers) for their sins. The Christians in Philadelphia we’re faithful to God even through persecution. It revealed that God would spare them from judgment because their endurance was evidence that they trusted in Jesus.
11-13: Those who endure persecution and remain faithful to the end will be rewarded in God’s eternal kingdom.
14: Jesus description of himself focused on his truthfulness and preexistence. All things were made through Christ, so by necessity he existed before all things.
15-17: The church in Laodicea acted as if they faithfully prospered in labor for Christ (hot water), but really they were ‘wretched, pitiable, and blind", accomplishing nothing (cold water) Revelation 3:17. Their self-deception was an off-putting middle ground, causing Christ to reject them as someone spits out lukewarm water. Being cold is better than being lukewarm because the reality of their situation is the same, but the lukewarm person is self deceived. The cold person who knows his poor, wretched state at least has an accurate picture of the situation, putting him in a better position to repent and to do something for Christ. This analogy of hot and cold water was relevant to the Laodicians because the nearby city of Heiropolis was known for it’s hot springs, and Colasse for it’s cold springs
18: The only way we can be "rich with works, cover our shame, or see our fallen state", is if we receive it from God. We "buy" it from him through faith in Christ.
19-22: Jesus’ rebuke and discipline of these churches demonstrated that he loved them. He rebukes us through the Holy Spirit’s conviction and his word in order that we might repent. His call to repentance is as if Jesus were knocking on a door, requesting to come into our lives. We can choose to ignore the call and continue in sin, or we can open the door and have a relationship with him. In doing so, we will conquer sin’s penalty through Jesus’ atonement, and stand before God’s throne as if we were Jesus himself (Revelation 3:21).
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1-2: John was filled with the Holy Spirit and saw a vision of Heaven, with God the Father on the throne. As with his vision of Jesus, it’s symbolic imagery solely meant to communicate to John rather than give him a literal image of heaven and God. This is evident in the next chapter when Jesus is represented as a slain lamb (Revelation 5:6). The point of this chapter is to show that God is the center of all worship in heaven, and it sets the scene for chapter 5, when no one could open the scroll except the Lamb.
3-11: The throne rumbled with thunder as it did on mount Zion. It’s not clear who the 24 elders are, but they give glory to God by falling down in worship, casting their crowns before the throne, and praise him with their lips. Their attire indicates that these are believers (Revelation 3:4), and they speak of his worthiness and creation of all things. The four living creatures are angels that continually give God glory by singing about his holiness and eternal nature. They’re probably depicted covered in eyes (as in Ezekiel’s similar vision), to illustrate that they see all things yet only give praise to God.
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1-14: The imagery of a scroll with seals would have made sense to the original audience, since wax seals on scrolls were common at that time. The scroll has been appropriately called "the title deed to creation" by theologians, and only the one who has the authority to judge the world can open it. This is evident because it resides at the right hand of God, the highest position of authority. Furthermore, the requirement for being able to open it is to have ‘conquered’ (Revelation 5:5) by redeeming God’s people (Revelation 5:9-10). The reason John wept when no one could be found to open the scroll is because opening the scroll began the process of God’s judgement on the wicked. If no one could open the scroll, then justice would never be executed and all evil would go unpunished. Furthermore, it would imply that Jesus didn’t redeem his people and there would be no resurrection of the dead (Revelation 11:17-18). The universe would continue as if God we’re merely a detached observer. However, "The Lion of Judah; the lamb lamb standing as though it had been slain" (Jesus) was worthy to open the scroll and all of heaven rejoiced and worshipped him. The first 6 seals are judgments, while the 7th ushers in the trumpet judgements.
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1-2: These judgments and events of revelation coincide with other biblical texts about the end of the age (Matthew 24:3-31, Mark 13:19, Daniel 12:1-4). The first seal is likely the Antichrist, who will rise to power. The white horse imagery mimics the later symbol of Christ coming down on a white horse to rule the world (Revelation 19:11-16). The antichrist will be a false messiah who God will allow to rule for a time.
3-4: The second seal is represented by a rider on a red horse who was given permission to cause war on a global scale. The riders could either be symbols for actual people or demonic beings.
5-6: The third seal is a rider on a black horse who will cause widespread famine and food rationing. This will likely be the result of the world war from the second seal.
7-8: The fourth seal/pale horse is death and pestilence, which follows war, famine, and societal collapse. The "four horsemen" will take the lives of a quarter of the earth’s population.
9-11: The fifth seal is the prayer of the martyred saints; that God would judge those who took their lives. God will eventually answer their prayers, but first he will allow a specific number of saints to be martyred before judging their oppressors.
12-17: The sixth seal will be a worldwide earthquake. The description of the sun becoming black and the moon red is likely the result of volcanic activity that will blot out the sun and sky with ash, giving the moon a blood red appearance.
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1-8: God will save 144,000 Jews from judgement. His seal on their foreheads is a way of illustrating ownership. The coming trumpet judgements will destroy much of the earth, so the four angels holding back the four winds of earth is a way of saying God is graciously postponing these natural disasters until after his remnant (the 144,000) come to Christ. The phrase "four corners" is often used to illustrate that something is global/universal (ie. the four corners of heaven.).
9-14: The multitude John saw in heaven are people who received Christ during the period referred to as the Great tribulation (Matthew 24:21). The angel’s description of them "washing their robes white in the blood of the lamb" is a way of saying their sin record was erased through Jesus’ sacrifice, when he bore the wrath of God on our behalf.
15-17: This passage gives us a glimpse of what it’s like for the dead martyrs (and all deceased believers) dwelling in God’s presence. They serve him in some way and are completely safe. They don’t hunger, thirst, or feel sorrow. God guides them and will protects them from his judgment (sun striking them and scorching heat, as in the plagues in the next chapter).
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1-5: When the martyrs in chapter 6 prayed for God to bring judgement on their persecutors, God told them to wait. Their prayers begin are answered with the opening of the seventh seal, which will usher in the trumpet judgments. The half hour of silence in heaven might be due to the severity of the coming judgments.
6-12: The first four trumpets are natural disasters mingled with blood, and destroy everything in thirds. The blood is significant because it’s reminiscent of the plagues in Egypt, when God turned the water into blood.
13: An Eagle announced the final three judgments, which are referred to as the three woes due to their severity. I’m not sure why this creature is represented as an eagle in the vision, but it’s probably an angelic creature.
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1-12: The fifth trumpet (first woe) allows demonic creatures to come and physically torment those who haven’t been redeemed by Christ, lacking the seal of God on their foreheads. Apollyon is Satan, their king. It’s not clear wether the pit and the locusts are descriptions of what people will actually see, or if it’s merely part of the vision to communicate spiritual realities. When trying to describe the creatures, John repeatedly said their features and abilities were "like" something else. All we know for sure is that demonic brings will be given the ability to inflict pain on unbelievers for 5 months.
13-21: The sixth trumpet (second woe) will release an angelic army to destroy a third of all people with fire. The remaining people remain unrepentant of their sins rather than turn to Jesus.
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1-7: Chapter 10 is an interlude in Johns vision between the 6th and 7th trumpet. The angel called out to God, who responded with a thunderous sound. His voice is referred to as the seven thunders. We obviously don’t know what God said, because John was commanded not to write it down. The angel does reveal that when the 7th trumpet is blown, the mysteries spoken to prophets in the past will be fulfilled. These mysteries are probably the final summation of all things as revealed in this book.
8-11: God commands John to eat the scroll and prophesy more. This is a symbol of John putting God’s words in his mouth so he can speak the truth, saying exactly what God wants him to say. The same thing happened to Ezekiel and Jeremiah (Ezekiel 2:8-11, 3:1-3, Jeremiah 15:15) as a symbol to speak God’s truths. The message is bitter because it teaches about God’s severe judgements, but it’s sweet because ultimate justice will be carried out and His people will be saved from his wrath.
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1-2: The nations will war against Jerusalem for 42 months. It’s not clear to me why John was told to measure the temple as in Ezekiel, Zechariah, and later in Revelation (Ezekiel 40:3-16, Zechariah 2:1-5, Revelation 21:150).
3-7: The 6th trumpet (second woe) continues with the rise of the two witnesses referred to in Zechariah. These are probably angels taking on human form as they did in Sodom and in other places. They will prophesy and warn the nations to repent, and will be protected with the ability to bring about plagues similar to the way Elijah and Moses did. They will eventually be killed by Satan, who will probably influence the people to kill them.
8-12: The bodies of these angels will lay in the streets for three and a half days, while the people celebrate after being freed from their message and plagues. However, they will be resurrected by God and ascend to heaven in front of everybody. The city symbolically called sodom and Egypt, where Jesus was crucified, is Jerusalem. It earned this name for centuries of rebellion against God.
13: A great earthquake will kill 7,000 people in the city, but the rest will repent and give glory to God. Their universal repentance can probably be attributed to three factors: they heard the Gospel from the two witnesses, they saw the witness resurrected to confirm their message, and they feared God after surviving the devastating earthquake.
14-19: The 7th trumpet is then blown, and the mystery that the angel in chapter 10 referred to is revealed. God begins to reign by pouring out his wrath, and the time has finally come for the rebellious to be judged and God’s people to be rewarded.
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1-5: Chapter 12 is another interlude. It communicates a larger point about Israel’s history and future through symbolism. The woman represents God’s chosen people, the Jews. This is evident for three reasons: the 12 stars (tribes) on her head, she is clothed with the sun and moon (God’s favor), and she gives birth to the one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron n (Jesus) Revelation 19:11-21. The dragon (Satan) ultimately sought to destroy God’s people by destroying Jesus their redeemer.
5: But after Jesus was slain, he was raised and caught up to the Father’s throne (Acts 1:9, 1 Peter 3:22). Satan tried destroying god’s plan of redemption by guiding Herod to massacre the Children in Bethlehem in order to destroy Jesus (Matthew 2:16).
6: The woman (Jewish descendants) are the 144,000 redeemed Jews who will flee into the wilderness to hide from the nations trampling Jerusalem in chapter 11. We know this because the number of days aligns with it, and other verses (Revelation 11:2, 13:5). This is probably the only future event in this vision of the woman and dragon.
7-16: Michael and his angel army defeat Satan and his angels, who are cast down to earth. Satan no longer has access to the throne of God to accuse the saints as he did in Job and Zechariah. Satan was probably either cast out when Jesus was raised from the dead, or after the 7th trumpet during the tribulation period. In the latter case, he would be pursuing the sealed remnant of Jews who received Christ.
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1-10: The beast rising out of the sea is a one world government that’s empowered by Satan (Revelation 13:3, 13:7-8),controls the economy (Revelation 13:16-17), persecutes believers, and opposes God. This is referring to the same beast as Daniel 7. They both have 10 horns, authority over the earth, they both persecute the saints, and rule at the end of the age for 3 1/2 years. It’s leader suffers what seems like a mortal wound, causing everyone to marvel as if he came back from the dead. This is the antichrist, who is the leader of the world system and tries taking Christ’s place by mimicking his resurrection. God still has power over the world during this government’s reign, and has reasons for allowing it to slay his saints. These saints are called to endure.
11-18: The second beast is the false prophet (Revelation 19:20) who will deceive the nations into worshiping the antichrist. He will convince them on the basis that their leader rose from the dead, and by performing miracles in the presence of the beast/antichrist. The text points out that God will allow these demonic powered miracles to happen. Allowing them to be deceived is a judgment from God as in Romans 1:24-25.
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1-5: John received a vision of the 144,000 at the throne of God worshiping him. They have a unique song that is so deeply personal to their experience that no one else can sing it. They avoided the evil system of the beast, resisted sexual immorality (sexual acts outside of marriage), and lived upright, honest lives.
6-11: Then three angels proclaimed to all people that God’s judgement has come and all who rebel will face eternal torment. Their message is one of warning, to repent and give God glory. Revelation 14:10-11 is strong evidence that Hell will be a place of eternal, conscious torment. Some have suggested that the smoke of their tournament rising forever is a poetic way of saying God will permanently destroy them, but verse 11 suggests they’ll be conscious to suffer restlessness.
12-13: The voice John heard from heaven is an encouragement to the persecuted believers to endure, and stay faithful even unto death. God will bless them, and as with all Christ’s followers, their deeds will follow them to eternal reward. Their deeds won’t save them, but since Jesus cleared our sin debt, all we have left is the good we’ve done through the power of the Hoy Spirit.
14-20: John saw another symbol that illustrated God’s final judgement. Man’s sin has went on to the point when God determined their window of grace passed and it was time for judgment. The analogy of reaping a harvest is used to show that it was time for God’s judgment. The reapers cut them off since they were ripe with sin and placed them in the wine press of God’s wrath.
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1-8: The bowl judgements were a sign of how God will pour out his wrath against rebellious mankind. The saints sang a hymn attributed to Moses and Jesus, which gave God glory for his holiness. Smoke filling the temple illustrates man’s unworthiness when confronted with God’s glory and power. Just as we can’t survive in a smoke filled room, we can’t survive when confronted with a righteous and just God. When the prophet Isaiah saw God’s glory in a vision, the temple filled with smoke and he thought he was going to die, until God purified him (Isaiah 6:4). Seeing God’s glory highlighted Isaiah’s inadequacy by comparison, and he knew he deserved to be destroyed.
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1-7: The first three bowl judgements are similar to the plagues of Egypt (boils/sores and turning water into blood). Although the imagery of angels pouring out bowls of wrath is symbolic, the effect of each plague is probably literal since Egypt suffered similar plagues in a literal way. This punishment is a direct response for the murder of God’s people (Revelation 16:6). Despite how terrible these judgements seems to us, God is completely just for pouring them out (Revelation 16:7).
8-1: Even as the plagues intensified with the 4th and 5th bowls, people will still rebel and curse God. Those who survived will have time to repent, but their hearts will harden like Pharaoh’s. The throne of the beast is probably the capitol city of the one world kingdom.
12-16: Drying up the Euphrates and "preparing the way for the kings of the east" is a judgment because it allows the nations to unite in their rebellion against God. Demonic spirits come out of the false prophet and antichrist to deceive the kingdoms into uniting against God the way they did in the original Babylon when building a tower. The spirits are probably represented as frogs because the magicians in Egypt who deceived people by performing signs mimicked the plague of frogs. The mission of these frog-like spirits will be to deceive people the way they did. The spirits succeed in uniting the world against God and the armies assemble at Armageddon. It’s not clear how they plan on physically warring against God, but the deceiving spirits convince the nations that their physical weapons can somehow destroy the Creator.
17-21: The seventh and final bowl judgement is a global earthquake and giant hailstones. It splits the great city, which is Jerusalem (Revelation 11:8).
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1-7: The timeline stops once again for an interlude, when an angel explains the evils of Babylon (the world system that opposes God). This sets up the next chapter which describes the fall of Babylon. Babylon is represented as a prostitute riding a beast. The beast in this metaphor is Satan working through the one world government in opposition to God, and the waters are the people of the world (Revelation 17:15). The beast’s heads are kings/kingdoms (Revelation 17:9-10), The prostitute is drunk with the blood of the Jesus’ followers, who were slain because the world system hates Jesus and kills his followers. The analogy of sexual immorality and prostitution is used often in the Old Testament when God refers to his people committing idolatry and immorality (1 Chronicles 5:25). Sexual immorality and perversion is certainly part of Babylon, but the prostitute represents much more than just sexual sin.
8: This is the point where the antichrist appears to die and rise again. The phrase "was, is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit" is a way of saying the antichrist existed (was), then died (was not), then had a satanic resurrection (is to come/ rose from the bottomless pit). This phrases probably also includes Satan dwelling in him.
9-18: These verses go into detail about how some of the 10 kings receive their power and all the kings eventually hand their authority over to the antichrist. Verse 14 brings us to the point when the nations gather against the Lamb (Jesus) and are destroyed at his coming (Revelation 19:11-16). Although the antichrist and kings of the earth love the pleasures and wealth Babylon (the prostitute/capital city), something will happen to cause them to hate it and want to destroy it.
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1-24: During the great earthquake, the capitol city (Babylon) is destroyed. The rulers and merchants who lived luxuriously from it’s economy mourn at the sight of it’s destruction. Throughout the Bible Babylon represents the immorality, rebellion, and sin of the corrupt world system. This city is a physical manifestation of it all, and the angels point out that the city and it’s entire system will come to an end. The voice from heaven in verses 4-8 warns believers to flee from Babylon to avoid it’s extreme level of corruption and it’s coming destruction.
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1-5: The deceased believers, angels, and 24 elders praise God for finally bringing judgement on those who defied him and murdered the saints of God.
6-8: The marriage supper of the Lamb is the celebration of when believers (the church) will be united with Christ. One of the primary purposes of marriage is the object lesson of Jesus’ relationship with the church. Jesus is the groom, and the church is the bride. We submit to Christ because he sacrificially pursued us out of love and made us pure. Verse 8 teaches that because Jesus paid our sin debt, it is granted that we get to clothe ourselves in the righteousness of our good deeds. This wouldn’t be possible without Jesus’ sacrifice.
9-10: John was taken by this glorious message and the powerful appearance of the angel, so he tried worshiping the angel. The angel rebuked him since only God deserves our worship. Angels are merely fellow servants of Christ.
11-22: Jesus is pictured as a conqueror on a white horse, coming in judgement with the angels and saints. We know this is Jesus by the inscription on his thigh: King of Kings and Lord of Lords (1 Timothy 6:15). Just as he created all things simply by speaking, he will destroy the remaining rebellious inhabitants of earth by speaking. The imagery of birds feasting on their flesh illustrates the brutality of their destruction. The antichrist (the beast) and the false prophet will be thrown into the lake of fire, which is the final dwelling place of Satan and his followers.
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1-6: After Jesus returns and destroys those who rebelled against him, He will bind Satan so he can’t deceive the nations. Jesus will then reign on earth for a thousand years. Those who who have been murdered for staying faithful to Christ will be resurrected to reign with Christ during this time. The rest of the believers won’t be raised until the final resurrection.
7-10: After the millennial reign of Christ, Satan will be released for a little while to deceive the nations one last time. Although the millennium will start out only with believers (believers who survived the great tribulation or resurrected martyrs) they will have children throughout the years and many of them will rebel against God—even without Satan’s influence. When Satan is released, he will unite the unbelievers to surround Jerusalem in order to destroy it and overthrow the reign of Christ. However, fire will come down from heaven as it did with Sodom and Gomorrah and end Satan’s final rebellion. Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire along with the antichrist and false prophet.
11-15: The great white throne judgement is when Jesus will judge unbelievers according to their works, and on the basis of wether or not their names are found in the book of life. However, only those who receive forgiveness through Christ have their names in the book of life, and will be rewarded for their works since their sins have been paid for. Those who rejected Christ and don’t have their names in the book of life will be judged by their works. They may have some good deeds recorded, but without Jesus their sin record will condemn them to the lake of fire.
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1-8: After the millennium and the day of judgement, God will make all things perfect and new. Heaven won’t be a nebulous place in another dimension, it will be a recreated universe without sin, death, or sorrow (Revelation 21:4). God will dwell with us for all of eternity. Things will be as they were before the fall of man, yet without the temptation to sin.
9-27: The central city in the new world will be New Jerusalem, which will come down from heaven. We’ll have direct access to Jesus and will reign with him forever.
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1-5: The tree of life and river that flows from the throne of God are a restoration of the tree of life that man could no longer access after Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Eden. We will live in perfect harmony with Christ and worship him forever.
6-11: John was commanded to share his apocalyptic vision to the world by writing the book of revelation. Again, he was so overwhelmed by the glory of the angel, that he tried worshiping it and was rebuked.
12-21: Jesus told John he is coming soon to judge the world. Those who receive him will have "washed their robes" through Jesus’ sacrifice, have access to the tree of life, and enter the gates of New Jerusalem. All unrepentant sinners who reject him will suffer what is called the second death (judgment in the lake of fire after they are resurrected). Jesus confirmed that the message is from him and that he sent his angel to John. ended with a warning to anyone who tries to distort the message of this book, and quoted Jesus that he is coming soon.