Decoding the book of Revelation step by step

Are we going to be 'raptured', that is: snatched away to leave this earth? There is basically only one key verse in the bible that would suggest believers will be flying through the sky to be taken away from earth when Jesus comes back. That's in 1 Thessalonians 4. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord . 18 Therefore, Or encouragecomfort one another with these words. The first time Jesus came as Messiah He was riding on a donkey to ride into Jerusalem and proclaim He was the promised King, son of David. The second time He will come with the clouds according to Acts 1:11 and Daniel 7:13.   1 Thess 4:17 says we will be together with Jesus forever. How is this possible, if WE leave earth and Jesus comes here to stay? Right now WE are on earth and Jesus is in heaven. But then we switch places? We go to heaven and Jesus goes to the earth? Then ...

In Revelation 13 it is talked about a beast coming from the sea (verse 1), a beast coming from the earth ( verse 11) and and a living image (or idol) of the beast (verse 14) that has to be worshipped as a god (verse 15) but in fact is a human (verse 18). Beast from the sea In Daniel 7 four beasts come from the sea: Daniel 7:3 And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. They look like a lion, bear and leopard, but the fourth is unspecified (verses 4-7). In verse 23 it says those beasts are KINGDOMS: Daniel 7:23 “This is what he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth which will be different from all the other kingdoms, and will devour the whole earth and trample it down and crush it. Those kingdoms can be identified as the Babylonian empire, the Persian empire, the Greek empire of Alexander the Great which was divided among his four generals and the Roman Empire. The beast from the sea in Revelation 14 consists of a lion, b...

The most popular opinion about the book of Revelation is that it must have been written anywhere between the year 90 CE and 100 CE. But I think there is a good internal argument on why it must have been written between the year 64 and 68 CE. This can be found in chapter 17 where a whore is riding a seven headed beast. Those heads are seven hills and seven kings according to verse 9 and 10 9 Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains upon which the woman sits, 10 and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. The Whore is a depiction of the goddess Roma sitting on the seven hills of Rome. Coin with goddess-whore Roma sitting on the seven hills of Rome. The seven kings therefore must be the first seven rulers of the Roman empire, being: Julius Ceasar (contemporary historians don't consider him to be the first, but Roman historians in those times, like Suetonius, did.) August...

Very happy to announce that the book The Images of Revelation is translated into English from the original language in Dutch. You can dowload it with the link below or on the right side. In the Netherlands the book was published in April 2020. It already is in the 4th print now. You can download your copy here:  The Images of Revelation

There are many reasons why Revelation should not be treated as an exclusively chronological timeline of events. There is some chronology, but there are also a lot of intertwined visions with overlaps. For instance the Beast from the Sea in chapter 13 is the Roman empire. But the Whore riding the Dragon in chapter 17 with it's seven kings is also a depiction of the same Roman empire. Next, the vision of the Woman with the 12 Stars (chapter 12) is about (true) Israel giving birth to Jesus and being persecuted by the dragon (devil/Roman Empire). It ENDS with the Woman being kept safe for 1260 days. The Vision of the  Two Witnesses  (chapter 11) STARTS with a period of 42 months or 1260 days. Whatever your interpretation is of the Vision of the Two Witnesses (chapter 11), it happens AFTER that of the Woman with the 12 Stars (chapter 12), but it is written BEFORE it. There are many repetitions. Another reason is that there are many repetitions of the same event. ...

According to tradition Mark gathered quotes and events from Jesus when Peter spoke. As such and because Mark was not a witness himself of these events, the result is not very chronological. Nevertheless Mark did a good job, because Matthew who was a witness follows him to a very large extent, but he did not change a lot regarding to the chronology either. But this was confusing at some points, therefor Luke says in the first four verses of his report, that he went through the previous written material (as well as adding new things from witnesses) to put it into a consistent and chronological order. One of the problems with Mark is his chapter 13 and Matthew's chapter 24. Quotes from Jesus about the destruction of Jerusalem and of the second coming of Christ were mixed together. Therefore Luke splits those into two. Chapter 17 is only about the coming of Christ and chapter 21 first is about the destruction of Jerusalem and then switches to Jesus' second coming. ...