In order to understand the timeline of events in Revelation, it is important to understand how the book of Revelation is structured. Many people think that it is a chronological record of events from start to finish and that the entirety of Revelation is prophecy. In this chapter you will see that there is an order but it's not chronological and we'll see that the first three chapters are not prophetic. If we read Revelation with the assumption that it's chronological, it is impossible to understand! You will learn the order and sequence of events of the end time right here in these pages.

One thing that trips people up in different areas of the bible is that they take the chapter divisions literally and even take the explanation headers inserted by men literally, but the bible wasn't written with chapter numbers and verse divisions! The chapter and verse numbers were added centuries ago and was broken up in the way they thought it should be at that time. An excellent example of a chapter beginning being in a very misleading place is Revelation 8. Verse 1 is finishing up the vision of the seals, but then verse 2 begins the vision of the trumpets. This leads people to believe that the seventh seal somehow leads into the first trumpet. As you will learn in this chapter; that is not the case!

First of all, let's look at what John is seeing and when. Revelation begins with John on the isle of Patmos, where he had been exiled, and he heard a voice. The voice is that of Jesus Christ, as we see in verses 8, 11, 17 and 18. He is the first and the last, and he that lives and was dead but is alive for evermore. In verse 19 he tells John to write things he has seen, things which are and things that are to come.

Rev 1:19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;

The book of Revelation can be divided into these three distinct categories:

1.

Things John has seen. In chapter one John records having seen Jesus Christ Himself. The things seen and heard during this experience are the "things which thou hast seen".
2.

"Things which are" represent things that are in John's present world. Chapters 2 and 3 are letters to the seven churches which existed at that time in Asia. Some people, assuming that the entire book of Revelation is prophetic, have put forth a theory that the seven churches must be church "ages" of the future. That is simply not true. The truth is that the messages to the seven existing churches of that time are the "things which are".
3.

Revelation 4:1 begins the "things which shall be hereafter".

Rev 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

Some people teach that this scripture is a prophecy of the rapture, but there is no scriptural basis for that at all. Revelation 4:1 simply begins the "things which shall be hereafter" spoken of in Chapter 1 verse 19. Chapters 1, 2 and 3 are the things which John has seen and the things which are. Chapter 4 begins the prophetic parts of the book of Revelation.

In the following chapters of Revelation God gives us three different accounts of the end time. These are given in the Seals, the Trumpets and the Vials. These accounts are all different but have a common intersection point. Just as we have four accounts of the life of Jesus Christ in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we have likewise been given different accounts of the end time events through the Seals, Trumpets and Vials. We will be discussing the common intersection point in this chapter as well as the other records of things that are not part of the Seals, Trumpets and Vials.

In order to understand how these three accounts intersect, we're going to carefully compare 5 scriptures. In these scriptures we do a comparison of the 6th Seal, the 7th Trumpet and the 7th Vial. The events of the sixth Seal in Revelation chapter 6, the seventh Trumpet in chapter 11 and the seventh Vial in chapter 16 are all recording the same events! We will also see that Matthew 24:29 and Ezekiel 38:18-22 are parallel accounts of the same.

Read each of the scriptures and take a look at the following chart:
6th Seal -
Rev. 6:12-17 7th Trumpet -
Rev. 11:15-19 7th Vial -
Rev. 16:17-21 Matthew
24:29 Ezekiel
38:18-22
Earthquake
Great earthquake An earthquake Great earthquake An earthquake
Sun Black
Sun becomes black Sun is darkened
Moon Blood
Moon became as blood Moon shall not give her light
Stars Fall
Stars of heaven fall unto earth Stars shall fall from heaven
Mountains & Islands
Mountains and islands were moved Islands fled away, mountains not found Mountains thrown down, walls fall
God's Wrath
The great day of His wrath is come Thy wrath is come God's wrath God's wrath
Great Voices
Great voices in heaven Great voice from temple in heaven
Lightning, Voices and Thunders Lightning, voices and thunderings Voices, thunders, lightnings Powers of the heavens shall be shaken
Great Hail
Great hail Great hail Great hailstones

Battle of Armageddon Immediately after the Tribulation Battle of Gog and Magog


Study the chart and compare what occurs in each scripture. Each of the passages are describing the same events that occur immediately after the Tribulation at the Battle of Armageddon (same as the Battle of Gog and Magog).

Notice that the Seal, Trumpet and Vial all have an earthquake and the wrath of God is come upon the earth. Matthew shows the same events that also are shown in the 6th Seal and the events in Matthew happen immediately after the Tribulation, which is when the battle of Armageddon takes place. The islands and mountains moving, the great hail, God's wrath and the earthquake from Ezekiel are the same as the 7th Vial and except for the hail not mentioned in the Seal, it's the same. Likewise the 7th Trumpet has the same events except for mountains moving. The battle of Gog in Ezekiel is the same event as the battle of Armageddon.

The conclusion is obvious. All of these events happen at the same time but they are described in several places in the bible. If this is true, then Revelation is definitely not written in chronological order.

But, before we make any decisions, let's look at a few other things.

If we follow the 7 year chronological order theory does it make sense?

Does Babylon fall once or twice?

Revelation 14:8 and Revelation 18:2 both state that Babylon is fallen. If it fell in chapter 14, and Revelation is chronological, did it get rebuilt before chapter 18 so it could fall again? Did it fall twice or are there simply two accounts of this event?

One Earthquake or five?

Revelation 6:12, Revelation 8:5, Revelation 11:13, Revelation 11:19, and Revelation 16:18 all record an earthquake or a great earthquake. Is there really 5 earthquakes or just one with several accounts of it?

Will there be great darkness twice?

Revelation 6:12 and Revelation 16:10

Will great hail fall twice?

Revelation 11:19 and Revelation 16:21

Will mountains and island move twice?

Revelation 6:14 and Revelation 16:20

When will the wrath of God be poured out?

Revelation 6:17, 11:18, 14:9-10, 14:19, 15:1, 16:1, and 19:5 all speak of the wrath of God. In Revelation 6, 11, 14, 16 and 19 God's wrath is poured out, and in chapters 14 and 15 God's wrath is presented as a future event. Will the great day of God's wrath really be poured out 5 separate times? And why would John, the writer of Revelation, present God's wrath as a future event in the middle of the book?

No, it does not make sense that Revelation is a chronological record of events from start to finish. We are being told about the end time and what to expect in several different ways. The Seals are the long story (the spirits have been around a long time), the Trumpets are the median story (approximately the last 100 years), and the Vials are the very last and very short story (all seven of the Vials are poured out at the end of the Tribulation), all ending at the battle of Armageddon.

The Seals are discussed in chapter 5 and the Trumpets are discussed in chapter 6 of this book There are many other things recorded in between and after the Seals, Trumpets and Vials. We'll take a look at those now, and then we'll put it all together in a timeline that we can follow to the last day.

The following section is going to go very quickly through the entire book of Revelation. I am not going to go into great detail but we'll walk all the way through the events revealed to John.

Chapters 1-3

The vision of Jesus Christ and the letters to the 7 churches.

The view into Heaven

The four beasts in Heaven are not the same beasts of the one world government. The original Greek word used here is different than the word used to describe the one world government beast(s) where they are a "nation" and the ruler of that nation, but here it is a "living thing". Ezekiel 10:1 shows us that the "beast" in this passage is a Cherubim (a class of Angel).

Jesus is worthy to open the book because He redeemed us by His blood and there is no other worthy to open it.

The first 6 Seals

The Four Horsemen, the souls under the altar are told to rest yet a while longer and then the day of God's wrath.

The 144,000 and the great multitude

12,000 of each of the twelve tribes of Israel are sealed. These are spoken of again in chapter 14 where the final warning is given by the angels. Notice that is says, "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude". The multitude of God's saved people are not seen at the same time that the 144,000 are sealed.

The seventh Seal

The last Seal is opened as the very last thing that happens, immediately before the 1000 year reign of Christ.

The first four Trumpets

Discussed in chapter 6 of this book.

The 3 woe's

Discussed in chapter 6 of this book.

The fifth and sixth Trumpets

Discussed in chapter 6 of this book.

The little book and the seven Thunders

John eats a little book that tastes great but makes his stomach ache. The seven Thunders sound but John is told not to write what they said.

The measuring of the Temple and the two Witnesses

John measures the temple and the story of the two witnesses are given. These both happen between the sixth and seventh Trumpets, as discussed in other areas of this book, and shows us that there will be 3.5 years where the events of the Tribulation take place. We know that the temple is standing before the Abomination of Desolation because the Antichrist will stand in the "holy place", the temple of God, at that event in the middle of the final seven years. The temple's outer court and the holy city (Jerusalem) is trodden by the gentiles for 42 months. There will most likely be a sharing arrangement on the Temple Mount with UN forces governing it during that time.

The seventh Trumpet

The day of God's wrath.

The woman and the dragon

This passage is a 2000 year prophecy. The woman in this passage is the nation of Israel. The child born is Jesus Christ. The dragon (Satan) tried to kill Jesus at the time of His birth but did not succeed. There is a war in Heaven and the devil and his angels are cast down to earth. Twice we are given a timeframe of 3.5 years here where Israel is "in her place", in the promised land, and is kept safe from the wrath of Satan. This 3.5 years where the devil is thrown down to earth is the Great Tribulation.

The one world government ruled by the antichrist and the false prophet (the Great Tribulation)

Revelation 13 describes the Antichrist and the False Prophet. The four beasts of Daniel become one beast (a single government and it's leader), ruled by the Antichrist, and the dragon (Satan) gives the Antichrist his power for 42 months (3.5 years). The False Prophet causes the world to worship the Antichrist and actually performs miracles in the sight of men.

The last warning and the reaping

The angels give a last warning to the inhabitants of the earth and the Lord reaps His harvest.

The seven Vials

The wrath of God is poured out on the earth. One thing to note is that the first Vial (Revelation 16:2) states that the mark of the Beast has already been implemented. This is a great point on the timing since we can know from this scripture that none of the Vials are poured out until after the mark of the Beast in the later part of the final seven years. We also know that some of the Seals and some of the Trumpets have already come to pass. This helps us to understand that the book of Revelation is not chronological from start to finish.

The judgment of the Great Whore and the fall of Babylon

Who is the Great Whore? This is discussed in Chapter 7 of this book.

The return of Jesus

Jesus returns to earth and throws the Antichrist and the False Prophet into the lake of fire.

The battle of Armageddon

This isn't much of a "battle" since it's simply a word spoken by Jesus that destroys the enemy.

The binding of Satan for 1000 years

An Angel from Heaven lays hold of Satan and binds him for 1000 years.

The 1000 year reign (the first resurrection)

Those who did not worship the beast or take his mark and/or died for Jesus will live and reign with Jesus on the earth for the 1000 years, but the rest of the dead did not live again until the 1000 years were finished.

Satan loosed and the last battle

Another mention of Gog and Magog but definitely a different battle. And again it's not much of a "battle" since once again God just destroys them out of hand, with fire from Heaven. The devil is cast into the lake of fire forever.

Judgment day (the second resurrection)

The dead are resurrected and judged according to their works.

New Heavens and a New Earth

Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

Rev 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

God creates a new heaven and new earth and there will be no more sorrow or pain of any kind! We will drink freely of the water of life and will dwell with God forever!



The timeline: from the Seals to the Vials
First Seal
Approx. 325 AD Second Seal Third Seal Fourth Seal First Trumpet Second Trumpet Third Trumpet Fourth Trumpet Fifth Trumpet
Somewhere Sixth Trumpet
in this area Fifth Seal

Today The Great Tribulation The sixth Seal, seventh Trumpet and all the Vials The seventh Seal
The End / Beginning
Catholicism Communism Capitalism Islam / Death WW1 WW2 Chernobyl Time changes Gulf War WW3 Rest yet a little longer Antichrist rule / mark of the beast God's wrath / return of Jesus Christ Silence in Heaven

The birth of the Roman Catholic church was approximately 325 AD. The Seals are the long story (the spirits have been around a long time), the Trumpets are the median story (approximately the last 100 years), and the Vials are the very last and very short story (all seven of the Vials are poured out at the end of the Tribulation), all ending at the battle of Armageddon and the return of Jesus Christ. The seventh Seal ends the worldly governments and begins the Kingdom of God and the 1000 year reign.



The timeline: the final seven years
Confirmation of the Covenant Abomination of Desolation / the Tribulation Battle of Armageddon
Beginning of the final 7 years Halfway point of the final 7 years / the final 3.5 years The return of Jesus Christ

The confirmation of the Covenant, discussed in chapter 8 and other areas of this book, begins the final seven years. Somewhere either in the first half of the final seven or near the beginning of the final seven is the 6th Trumpet war. The Abomination of Desolation marks the middle of the final seven years and begins the Great Tribulation which lasts 3.5 years until the return of Jesus Christ.

Britain's Cover up