Decoding the book of Revelation step by step

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. ...

Revelation 20 nowhere speaks about some millennial reign of Jesus. It speaks about the devil being not allowed to attack Israel. And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison, 8 and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war ; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 They went up over the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city . (Revelation 20:7) See  this blog . The key to understanding what the 1000 years mean, can be found in chapter 17:8 The beast that you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go into destruction. (Rev.17:8) This is a SUMMARY of what chapter 20 is describing. Or to put it differently: chapter 20 SPECIFIES what 17:8 is saying. You can ask yourself this question: where in Revelation is a beast mentioned that comes out of the abyss? The only place is in chapter 20...

Jesus says that the judgement will be according to 'how much has been given' to someone. Luke 12:48 To whoever much is given, of him will much be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked. Thus people who never knew much will be treated a lot milder than those who knew a lot. Matthew 11:22 But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 23 You, Capernaum, who are exalted to Heaven, you will go down to Hades. For if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in you, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom , on the day of judgment, than for you.” Paul says that people who never heard the law of God either may be accused or excused by their conscience or thoughts when they are judged by God. Romans 2:11 For there is no partiality with God . 12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without the law. ...

Daniel speaks of abominations in chapter 9 Daniel 9:27 In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease; and on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate ; and even to the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out on the desolate. In Matthew 24 Jesus speaks of this abomination of Daniel: Matthew 24:15 “When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation , which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Many people say this is still yet to come, but that is incorrect, because when you take the parallel verse of Luke, you can see Luke leaves no doubt at what Jesus was talking about: Luke 21:20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are in the midst of her depart. Let those wh...

Unfortunately in most of our bibles three different concepts are translated with one word hell. This is confusing and leads to misunderstanding and wrong ideas. What are these things? Sheol (hebrew) or Hades (Greek) or 'the grave' or the realm of the dead. Gehenna or the lake of fire. Tartarus or the Abyss or bottomless pit. The Greek word tartarus  is used in 2 Peter 2:4 where it says that fallen angels are kept there until their Final Judgment. In Revelation this is often referred to as the abyss or bottomless pit.  Sheol is the 'place' where the spirits of people who died without God go. People who's names are written in the Book of Life resurrect out of Sheol to be with God (according to Revelation 20:5-6). The name Gehenna comes from the valley Ben-Hinnom and is the location where child sacrifices were performed. Jeremiah 19 says that all those people committing crimes against God will be buried in that cursed place, because there is no other decen...

There are manuscripts or copies of the book of Revelation that have the number 616 instead of 666 for the number of the beast, such as Papyrus 115. You can read about it in here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papyrus_115 How is that possible? In the blog about the Beast from the Sea  we discussed that this beast represents the Roman Empire. The beast from the earth is the cult of the godly emperor. The IMAGE of the beast is the living human idol, either called Nero, Vespasian or Titus for instance. Now when you translate the Latin 'Nero Caesar' into Hebrew you get NRW QSR. In Hebrew characters have a numerical value and when you calculate that, you get (N) 50 + (R) 200 + (W) 6 + (Q) 100 +(S)  60 + (R) 200 = 616. This explains how Papyrus 115 has 616 as it's numerical value. But when you take the Greek name for Nero, it is 'Neron Caesar'. Translated to Hebrew it is NRWN QSR and the value is: 50 + 200 + 6 + 50 + 100 + 60 + 200 = 666. Since ...

In the Vision of the Whore Riding the Beast we saw that after the Middle Ages an empire would arise very similar to the Roman Empire that would try to kill the Jews. This was Hitler and his Nazi Third Reich and his 'ten allies'. Next we read something really weird: Revelation 17:16 As for the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will destroy her and strip her bare. They will devour her flesh and burn her with fire 17 because God moved them to carry out his purposes. That is why they will be of one mind and give their royal power to the beast, until God’s words have been accomplished. 18 The woman whom you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth." First of all it is very strange that the Beast (which is the eighth king according to verse 11) and the ten allies hate the prostitute and destroy her. The Whore riding the Beast is an image of the Roman Empire, as well as the Nazi Empire. So it looks like this text h...

We can get a clue about the end times in Daniel 12. Daniel 12:1 "At that time, Michael the great leader who guards your people will take his stand. It will be a difficult time—nothing like it has ever happened since nations first appeared. But at that time every one of your people who is found written in the scroll will be rescued. If we would follow the timeline from chapter 11 of Daniel, than we would understand we have arrived at the time of the Romans. Jesus quotes from or refers to this verse in Matthew 24:21 where he says that "there will be great suffering such as the world has never before seen and will never see again". The entire period from the year 70 to 1948 can be included in this, which is the period of the Roman Exile. It started as well as ended with trying to exterminate the Jews (by Titus and Hitler). 12:2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will wake up—some to eternal life, others to shame and eternal disgrace. 3 Those skilled ...

Revelation 17:1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls spoke with me. "Come, he said, I will show you the judgment upon the great prostitute, who is seated on deep waters. 2 The kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and those who live on earth have become drunk with the wine of her whoring." Goddess Roma was a depiction of Rome, the Roman Empire and even civilization itself. She was often depicted as a whore sitting on the seven hills of Rome, as can be seen in this coin from Vespasian. The emperor was worshipped as a god together with goddess Roma. Roma is a symbol of the city of Rome, that is the heart of the Roman Empire. 3 Then he brought me in the Spirit to a desert. There I saw a woman seated on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names. It had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman wore purple and scarlet clothing, and she glittered with gold and jewels and pearls. In her hand she held a gold cup full of t...

Revelation 13:11 Then I saw another beast coming up from the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it was speaking like a dragon. 12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence. It also makes the earth and those who live in it worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. The beast that came from the sea and sat down on the earth is the Roman Empire. Now (the land of) that Roman Empire produces another beast that attempts to be God (looks like the lamb). This is the Emperor being worshipped as a god. It executes all the power of the Roman Empire and it makes everybody worship the (gods of the) Roman Empire, including himself. 13 It does great signs so that it even makes fire come down from heaven to earth in the presence of the people. 14 It deceives those who live on earth by the signs that it was allowed to do in the presence of the beast. The Roman war machine was able to let fire rain down on people. It did great signs of technique that eve...

Revelation 13:1 and I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. Each of its horns was decorated with a royal crown, and on its heads were blasphemous names . 2 The beast I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. From Revelation 17:15 we can understand that the sea (or many waters) is the sea of nations. The leopard, bear and lion remind of the beasts described in Daniel 7, that represent the Babylonian, the Persian, and Greek empires. The fourth empire in Daniel is the Roman empire and it is described like this: Daniel 7:25 (KJV) And he shall speak great words against the most High , and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. Both are blasphemous and the Roman Empire in Daniel will overpower Israel for 3,5 times (or years, 42 months or 1260 prophetic days) just like we...

 If the fifth trumpet is about the siege of Jerusalem, the sixth trumpet describes the fall of Jerusalem. Revelation 9:13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the gold altar that is before God. The four horns are a reference to Zechariah 1:18 Zechariah 1:18 "Then I looked up and saw four horns. 19 I said to the messenger speaking with me, "What are these?" He said to me, "These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem." It means Israel is about to be scattered among the nations. 14 It said to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." 15 Then the four angels who had been made ready for that hour, day, month, and year were released to kill a third of men. In the Vision of the Four Horses we have discussed that these four angels are the four horses from the first four seals in chapter 6. 16 The number of cavalry ...

In the first 4 seals, 4 horses are described. Revelation 6:1 Then I looked on as the Lamb opened one of the seven seals. I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" 2 So I looked, and there was a white horse . Its rider held a bow and was given a crown. And he went forth from victory to victory. 3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" 4 Out came another horse, fiery red . Its rider was allowed to take peace from the earth so that people would kill each other. He was given a large sword. 5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" So I looked, and there was a black horse . Its rider held a balance for weighing in his hand. 6 I heard what sounded like a voice from among the four living creatures. It said, "A quart of wheat for a denarion and three quarts of barley for a denarion, but don’t damage the olive oil and the wine." 7 ...