Decoding the book of Revelation step by step

In this video I go through all the visions of Revelation and their references to the Old Testament to give a quick overview of all of them in less then 35 minutes. 

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. ...

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...