The Chronology of Revelation

Jesus will appear and be seen, in the sky, during both  phases of His Second Coming:

1. in the clouds of earth’s atmosphere, at the Pre-Wrath Rapture, following the opening of the Sixth Seal (Matthew 24:30,31; Revelation 6:16), and
2. at His Second Advent to earth, just prior to the blowing of the Seventh Trumpet (Revelation 11:13-15; 14:14-16).

After Jesus gathers the final harvest of believers out of the world (Revelation 14:14-16), He will descend from the clouds to the earth as the Rider on a white horse.  Then there will be yet another harvest, only this harvest, by an angel, will be of unbelievers who are attacking Jerusalem—leading to “the great winepress of God’s wrath” (14:17-20).

Figuratively, the armies of the nations attacking Jerusalem will be thrown, as ripe grapes, “into the great winepress of God’s wrath,” where they will be “trampled” (Revelation 14:17-20) by the Son of Man, as He travels from Bozrah, Jordan (Isaiah 63:1-6), to Jerusalem.  Evidently, the carnage will be quite real, because Jesus’ robe is shown to be splattered by blood in another account of His coming, later in Revelation (Revelation 19:13), in another description of His treading the winepress (19:15c).

Many believe “treading the winepress” to be descriptive of the destruction of the Antichrist and his armies at the Battle of Armageddon, as Jesus makes His glorious return to earth.  I disagree completely.  According to the ancient prophet Joel, the “trampling” of the “grapes” in the “winepress” will take place in the Valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:12,13), which is a valley in Jerusalem, next to the Mount of Olives.  This is not  Armageddon, nor is it associated with the Plain of Megiddo.

The Valley of Jehoshaphat is on the eastern edge of Jerusalem, which is the primary location where Jesus will destroy the armies of the nations (not  followers of the Antichrist but, rather, of Gog), which will be attacking Jerusalem when He returns (Ezekiel 38:14-16,22a; Isaiah 29:5-7; Zechariah 14:2,3).  The carnage of the Gog/Magog forces will be a bloodbath all the way from Bozrah (Isaiah 34:6) to Jerusalem (see treading the winepress, great supper of God and the Lord known by all).  Later that same day, Jesus will stand on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4).

After the physical return of Jesus to earth, and His destruction of the Gog/Magog forces who will have been ransacking Jerusalem, survivors from nations that attacked Jerusalem will go to Jerusalem to worship Jesus, the Lord and King of the whole world (Isaiah 27:12,13; Zechariah 14:16; Revelation 15:4).  For those who do not go to Jerusalem to worship the earth’s King, the plagues of the Third Woe (see three Woes) will transpire (Zechariah 14:17-19; Revelation 16:2-21).

The events of the Third Woe also are known as “the seven last plagues” (Revelation 15:1) or “the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth” (16:1).  Just as the seven Trumpet Judgments were blown out  by seven angels (8:2,6), the seven last Plagues or Bowl Judgments will be poured out  by seven angels (15:7,8).

The final plagues will be doled out upon those who have the mark of the beast and worship his image, who will belong to the kingdom of the beast (Revelation 16:2,10).  Because they are unsaved, they will curse God and will refuse to repent (16:9,11).  They will have no interest, whatsoever, in going to Jerusalem to worship Jesus, the King.

I believe that the seven plagues or Bowl Judgments will take place during the 30 days following the return of Jesus Christ to earth, in fulfillment of Daniel 12:11 (see extensions to the 70th Week, 30 days, and Bowl Judgments).  The first angel announcing final warnings to the earth said that “the hour of his judgment has come” (Revelation 14:7a).  I consider the word “hour” here to speak figuratively of a certain period of time.  One hour is one-twelfth of a clock face, and one-twelfth of a year (if  a year is about how long the Day of the Vengeance period will last—see The Seventh Year) is one month, or 30 days.

Long ago, the great King David of Israel wrote,

Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?  The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.  “Let us break their chains,” they say, “and throw off their fetters.”  The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.  Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill” (Psalm 2:1-6).

After having angrily endured weeks of torment, caused by the plagues of God’s wrath being poured out upon the earth (16:1-12), the head of the beast—the Antichrist—and the kings of the earth will gather to come not  against Jerusalem (as the Gog/Magog forces will have done a month before) but, specifically, against Jesus, who will be sitting as King in Jerusalem (Psalm 2:6).

Finally, after the seventh angel has poured out his bowl, God’s voice from His throne in heaven will proclaim loudly, “It is done!” (Revelation 16:17), meaning that the final bowl of God’s wrath will have been dispensed.  Among the recipients of this final expression of God’s wrathful fury will be “Babylon the Great” (16:19b).

Chapters 17 and 18 of Revelation are a description of Babylon the Great and of the “final battle.”  Chronologically, they are a detailed restatement of the Revelation 16:16-19 passage.

I have said how I believe that the woman described previously by John was symbolic of Judaism, epitomizing God’s Law and embodied by Judaic Israel.  Similarly, I believe that the harlot woman, “sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns” (Revelation 17:3b), is symbolic of another religious system, which actually may be a perverse mixture of religions.  Spiritual “prostitution” involves ignoring or rejecting the one True God and “lusting” after false idols and gods instead.

This second “woman,” dressed in a worldly garment of purple, scarlet, gold, precious stones, and pearls (Revelation 17:4a), is in stark contrast with (and in opposition to) the first “woman”—true Judaism—dressed in a heavenly garment of the sun, moon, and stars (12:1).  The primary agonist and antagonist of Judaism is Islam, whose holy book is the Qur’an or Koran.  (You can read it here: The Noble Qu’ran.)  During the reign of the Antichrist, it may be that Islam will be merged with distorted perversions or “prostitutions” of other religious systems (for instance, errant forms of Catholicism, Protestantism, New Age, and/or even Judaism, the latter possibly exemplified by 2:9b).

On the woman’s “forehead” is written Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:5), which could imply that she belongs to Babylon the Great (just as God’s servants from the tribes of Israel will have God’s seal on their foreheads—7:2-8) and/or that she is representative of  Babylon the Great.  It also could be that the “mark” or “number” of the beast (13:16-18) will be a confirmation, on the foreheads or right hands of those who have received it, of their submission to the religious and political systems of the “woman” and Babylon the Great.

There are connections between Islam and Allah and the number of the beast: 666.  In Arabic, 666 may be an encryption for “In the Name of Allah.”  Furthermore, many Muslims will not do business with anyone who has not embraced Islam.  Therefore, the idea seems plausible that people, during the time of the Great Tribulation, who do not have the mark of 666 embedded into their skin, identifying themselves as having embraced Islam, will not be able to buy or sell anything (Revelation 13:17).

The beast, on which the woman rides, will have been “given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them” and will have been “given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation” (Revelation 13:7).  Wherever the beast goes, the woman will go.  It may be that the beast, red with the blood of the saints, will conquer, destroy, and kill in the name of Allah or Islam:

He who has an ear, let him hear.  If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go.  If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed.  This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints (Revelation 13:9,10).

The Antichrist, who will be highly influenced by the religious system represented by the “woman,” is described well by the following passage, written by the ancient prophet Daniel:

The king will do as he pleases.  He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods.  He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place.  He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers [Chemosh and Molech] or for the one desired by women [Ashtoreth—see 2 Kings 23:13], nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all.  Instead of them, he will honor a god of fortresses; a god unknown to his fathers he will honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts.  He will attack the mightiest fortresses [see Habakkuk 1:10b] with the help of a foreign god and will greatly honor those who acknowledge him (Daniel 11:36-39a.)

The seven heads of the beast on which the woman sits are seen to be “seven hills” (Revelation 17:9b).  A common speculation is that these hills are Rome or the Vatican, since Rome was built on seven hills.  However, the verse adds that the seven heads, besides being seven hills, also are seven kings (17:10a).

The ancient prophet Jeremiah referred to Babylon as a “destroying mountain” (Jeremiah 51:24,25).  From King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, it is seen that the “rock” (Jesus, the coming Messiah) struck and smashed the statue in the King’s dream (Daniel 2:31).  This is a future event, when that “rock” will become a “huge mountain” that will fill the earth (2:34,35) and will become the kingdom of God on earth (2:44,45).  Prophetically, then, a hill or mountain represents a kingdom or king, such as is described in the seven heads of Daniel’s four beasts and the four heads of Daniel’s third beast.

John was told that, of the seven kings, “Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come...” (Revelation 17:10b).  As described in John’s beast out of the sea, I believe those kings headed these seven kingdoms:

1. Egypt,
2. Assyria (modern-day Syria),
3. Babylon (modern-day Iraq),
4. Medo-Persia (modern-day Iran),
5. Greece,
6. Rome (modern-day Italy and/or the Vatican), and
7. Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey).

Much speculation has been made over the centuries, beginning with the earliest interpretations of the Book of Revelation, about the identity of “Babylon the Great” and the “Mother of Prostitutes” (Revelation 17:5).  Some candidates, among many, have been Rome, the Vatican, the Church, New York City, the United States, the United Nations, and even Hitler’s Third Reich.  I agree with none of these choices, although some of them very well may have intimate associations and connections with the end-time “Harlot of Babylon.”

Rather, I believe that Mecca, the center and focal point of Islam in the world, is the most likely candidate to be “Mystery Babylon.”  It very well may be, in addition, that cities all over the world will be closely connected to the Babylon system.  To some extent, all will share in the end-time punishment of the “Harlot of Babylon.”  This is because when the “great city” is given “the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath,” part of the final judgment will be a gigantic earthquake—the greatest quake in human history—presumably shaking the entire earth, in which every island and mountain will be removed from their places (Revelation 16:18-20).

There are several criteria, found mostly in Revelation 17 and 18, that are used to identify Mystery Babylon the Great.  The most common “candidates” to be the end-time Babylon meet some of the criteria.  However, the true Mystery Babylon must satisfy all  of the criteria, not just some of them.

The best commentary I have seen, describing how Mecca, Saudia Arabia, satisfies all of the criteria to be the end-time Babylon, is one written by Joel Richardson.  It is a lengthy but extremely informative commentary, which can be found here: Mystery Babylon.

John indicated that the harlot “woman” is “the great city that rules over the kings of the earth” (Revelation 17:18), and that the great city is Babylon (18:10).  This city, “dressed in purple and scarlet, and...glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls” (17:4), is a counterfeit of the heavenly City, the New Jerusalem, whose brilliance is “like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal,” with foundations “decorated with every kind of precious stone,” and with twelve gates, “each gate made of a single pearl” (21:11,19-21).  The prostitute “sits on many waters” (17:1), and she also rides the beast (17:7b).  Furthermore, the waters where the prostitute sits “are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages” (17:15).

One definition of “city” includes the actual people inhabiting the city.  Another definition is “city-state,” which is a sovereign state consisting of an autonomous city with its dependencies.  As such, it may be that Babylon the Great will be, collectively, the up-and-coming capital of Islam (perhaps Mecca, Saudi Arabia), along with all the (dependent) cities and nations of the world over which it will have control and dominion.

At the time that the Antichrist and the kings of the earth gather together to come against the King of kings (Revelation 17:12-14) at Armageddon (16:16), the Seventh Bowl Judgment will be poured out (16:17).  After the most severe earthquake since mankind has been on the earth has occurred (16:18), John saw this:

The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed.  God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.  Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found (Revelation 16:19,20).

In this scenario, every international city—such as New York City, Rome, Jerusalem, all of which are guilty of embracing the ancient Babylonian system of false worship—will be brought into submission under the rule and authority of Jesus, the Messiah.  He will sit in Jerusalem to reign, and He will lead the operation of restoring the earth to a state of spectacular and unprecedented beauty and splendor.  Literal Babylon, on the other hand, will be obliterated, never to be inhabited again.

Just as, in one sense, the first “woman” was literal Jerusalem, Israel (and, ultimately, will be the New Jerusalem from heaven), the wayward “woman” or “prostitute” very well may be literal Babylon, Iraq.  The woman is said to be “the great city that rules over the kings of the earth” (Revelation 17:18).  Six places in Revelation, Babylon the Great seems to be referred to as a “great city” (16:19, 18:10, 18:16,18,19,21).

In fact, prior to his demise and execution, Saddam Hussein had undertaken the very substantial and extravagant task of rebuilding Nebuchadnezzar’s Palace and other structures in Babylon, Iraq:

Great Palace View #1	Great Palace View #2	Great Palace View #3	Palace Wall View #1	Palace Wall View #2	Ishtar’s Gate
Palace Arches View #1	Palace Arches View #2	Nebuchadnezzar’s Throne Room	Saddam Hussein’s Face on the Palace	Unfinished Buildings	“Babylon Rising” Inscription on Brick

Babylon began as the ancient city of Babel.  There, the pride of early mankind was epitomized in these ways:

1. striving to make a name for themselves before God,
2. demonstrating that they could gain access to God on their own merits and terms,
3. refusing to humble themselves and to allow God to raise them up in His own time, and
4. attempting to work themselves “up” and “out” of their realm of sin, which had been present on the earth since the time of Adam and Eve.

I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).

1. Satan (the “dragon”) hates the first “woman”—because Jesus came from her (Revelation 12:4b,5a) and because He came to begin the destruction of the devil’s work (1 John 3:8b).  During the Great Tribulation period, Satan will go after the woman’s “offspring,” both Jews and Christians (Revelation 12:17), seeking to kill as many of them as possible.
2. Those who are deceived by the second “woman” already hate and will continue to hate Christianity and Christians.  They will shed the blood of those who bear testimony to Jesus (Revelation 17:6a) during the Great Tribulation: Fifth Seal period—up until the point that the distress of the Great Tribulation is “cut short” (Matthew 24:21,22) by the Pre-Wrath Rapture event.

The forces of the Antichrist may come to be centered in literal Babylon, Iraq, where false religion, as well as a fiercely dominating political system, began millennia ago.  It may be that al-Quaeda and militant Islamic forces, gaining footholds in Iraq ever since Saddam Hussein was deposed and hanged, will be promoting this.

The Antichrist (leader of the beast empire) will believe himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:4).  Ultimately, then, he will have no need for any religious system (such as that of the “harlot woman”) which extols and exalts any god—including Allah—other than himself.  As a result, once he has exploited the religious system of the “prostitute” for his own benefit and gain, he and the ten kings will bring the “prostitute” to ruin and will “burn her with fire” (Revelation 17:16).  This is different, however, from the final destruction and utter desolation of Babylon the Great, by God (16:19b).

According to Isaiah, after Babylon ultimately is devastated, no person ever will dwell there again:

Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians’ pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.  She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there.  But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about.  Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces.  Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged (Isaiah 13:19-22).

“A sword against the Babylonians!” declares the LORD—“against those who live in Babylon and against her officials and wise men!  A sword against her false prophets!  They will become fools.  A sword against her warriors!  They will be filled with terror.  A sword against her horses and chariots and all the foreigners in her ranks!  They will become women.  A sword against her treasures!  They will be plundered.  A drought on her waters!  They will dry up.  For it is a land of idols, idols that will go mad with terror.  “So desert creatures and hyenas will live there, and there the owl will dwell.  It will never again be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation.  As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah along with their neighboring towns,” declares the LORD, “so no one will live there; no man will dwell in it” (Jeremiah 50:35-40).

It has been noted, six places in Revelation, that the term “great city” has been applied to Babylon the Great (Revelation 16:19, 18:10, 18:16,18,19,21).  There is yet another occurrence of “the great city,” as the place where the bodies of the two witnesses will lie after being killed by the beast from the Abyss (11:7,8).  It is noted that this city is “figuratively called Sodom and Egypt” and that it is the location where the “Lord was crucified.”  Old Testament prophets have likened Jerusalem’s and Israel’s adulterous religious practices and rebellion to Sodom and Egypt (Isaiah 3:8,9; Jeremiah 23:14; Ezekiel 20:7,8a).  And, of course, Jerusalem was where the Lord Jesus was crucified.

As such, some have inferred that Babylon the Great is Jerusalem, Israel.  Indeed, during the last half of the 70th Week, Jerusalem will be experiencing major troubles from being occupied and attacked.  At the midpoint of the 70th Week, the Antichrist will enter the temple in Jerusalem to put an end to sacrifice and offering and to set up the “abomination that causes desolation” (Daniel 9:27c; Matthew 24:15), after which, presumably, he and his forces will occupy Jerusalem for an unspecified period of time.  Then, near the end of the 70th Week, the forces of Gog and Magog will attack Israel and Jerusalem (Ezekiel 38:15,16); but the Lord Jesus will return to save them (see destruction of Jerusalem).

Babylon will be destroyed, never to be inhabited again (Isaiah 13:19,20; Jeremiah 50:39,40; Revelation 18:21-23ab).  However, Jerusalem will not  be utterly destroyed but will  be inhabited and secure after Jesus’ return (Zechariah 14:10b,11).  In fact, the temple of the Lord will be in Jerusalem, and the Lord will sit there on His throne to rule and reign the world in righteousness (Isaiah 2:1-4, 16:5).

Jerusalem will be one of the cities of the world which will comprise the “great city,” Babylon the Great, as a whole.  It will have its share of earthquakes and other devastation, but it will not be utterly and totally destroyed; in fact, it will be cleansed, spiritually purified, and restored (Zechariah 13:1,2).

As noted before, I believe Chapters 17 and 18 are a detailed restatement of the Revelation 16:16-19 passage.  Chronologically, the first half of chapter 19 of Revelation continues after this.  Great shouting, worshiping, and praising is heard in heaven (19:1-6).  This adulation of God primarily will be for His having judged and condemned the kingdom of “the beast” and the “prostitute,” Babylon the Great.

An announcement and description of the “wedding supper of the Lamb” also is heard (Revelation 19:7-9; Isaiah 25:6; Luke 13:29).  This is the time to which Jesus was referring when He told His disciples, at the Last Supper, that He would not eat or drink with them again until the kingdom of God comes (Luke 22:16,18).

John’s description of Jesus’ Second Advent to earth—to conquer, rule, and reign—is paralleled in these three passages (see also final harvest and return of Jesus):

1. Revelation 11:13-17,
2. Revelation 14:14-20, and
3. Revelation 19:11-16.

Some surmise that Jesus’ blood-stained robe (Revelation 19:13) is symbolic of the blood He shed the day He was flogged, pierced, and crucified.  Many believe that upon Jesus’ return, the bloody Battle of Armageddon immediately will take place.  I disagree with both viewpoints.

Initially, the Lord will set foot in Bozrah, Jordan; and His robe will become stained crimson red, because He will be treading the winepress of his wrath, spattering His garments with the blood of the nations’ armies and shedding their blood on the ground (Isaiah 63:1-3,6; Revelation 14:19,20, 19:13,15c).  He will be returning to Jerusalem, presumably on His white horse, to rescue the city from its attackers; and He will “fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle” (Zechariah 14:2,3).  I believe that the phrase “as he fights in the day of battle” refers to Jesus’ involvement in the upcoming Battle of Armageddon: a separate battle 30 days later.  After their destruction, the “trampled” bodies of Gog and his hordes will be eaten by the gathering birds and wild animals (Ezekiel 39:17-20; Revelation 19:17,18).  Then the man who was inhabited by the demon spirit Gog will be given “a burial place in Israel” (Ezekiel 39:11).

After this, chronologically, the final plagues (the Bowl Judgments) will be poured out upon the nations of the earth (Ezekiel 39:21), specifically onto the kingdom of the beast/Antichrist (Revelation 16:1,2,10), for 30 days.  (The 30 days will fulfill the prophecy in Daniel 12:11: 1,290 days – 1,260 days = 30 days—see extensions to the 70th Week and 30 days).  This will end with the Battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:16) and the destruction of the beast and his armies.

The beast (Antichrist) and his armies will be gathered to make war, specifically, against the Lamb, “the rider on the horse and his army” (17:14, 19:19-21), because of the plagues Jesus will have poured out upon those in the kingdom of the beast (Revelation 16:2,10,11).  And then the man inhabited by the Antichrist spirit (1 John 2:22,23, 4:3) will be “thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur” (Revelation 19:20c)—unlike the man possessed by Gog, who will have been given “a burial place in Israel” (Ezekiel 39:11).  The rest of the dead will be eaten by the birds, which already will have eaten the bodies of the Gog/Magog armies 30 days before.

Following the defeat of evil forces coming against Jerusalem and against Jesus, Satan will be cast into the Abyss, bound and imprisoned for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1-3; Isaiah 24:21,22)—a millennium of time.  This will be the period of “Sabbath-rest for the people of God” mentioned in Hebrews 4:9,10.

Jesus Christ will rule and reign over the world for a thousand years (Revelation 20:4,6)—the Millennium.  Resurrected believers will join Him in doing this.  It will be a demonstration to humanity, as well as to the spirit realm, of how wonderful the earth would have been, throughout human history, had its inhabitants voluntarily submitted to the regulations and decrees of God.  Jesus’ righteous and lawful reign also will help prepare those appointed to eternal life for the new Creation to come, after the present heavens and earth cease to exist (Psalm 102:25,26; Revelation 20:11b, 21:1a—see old and new Creations).

In Jerusalem, Jesus will be anointed as Messiah and King over all the earth.  Then this world finally will experience the reign of Jesus (Revelation 11:15,17), the beautiful and glorious “Branch of the Lord” (Isaiah 4:2), for 1,000 years.

Furthermore, God will resurrect (“raise up”) Israel’s King David to rule again over Israel (Jeremiah 30:9; Ezekiel 34:23,24, 37:24,25).  Jesus will be the God, and David the king/prince and shepherd, of Israel.  David will be in submission to none but the Lord, Jesus/God (see Was Jesus God?).  Within the sanctuary of the Millennial Temple to come, David the prince will be the only one permitted to “sit inside the gateway to eat in the presence of the LORD [Jesus]” (Ezekiel 44:3).

During the Millennium, sin will not  be absent, as many suppose.  We know that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), but death will not be eliminated until the end of the Millennium (Revelation 20:14)—throughout which, Jesus will reign as earth’s King.  During that time, people will continue to die for their own sins (Jeremiah 31:29,30).  As established by Paul,

Then the end will come, when he [Jesus Christ] hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.  For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:24-26).

In the present age, the arm of the law very often is too short.  Court trials are anything but swift, the rights of too many innocent people are violated and they are not recompensed properly, and too many criminals do not have to pay adequately, or at all, for their crimes.  During the Millennium, however, impartial and immediate justice will prevail, perfectly fair compensation for all wrongdoing will be awarded, and just punishment always will be dispensed.

In the world now, deception and lies run rampant, virtually unchecked.  They infect individuals, businesses, and governments; nothing seems to be exempt.  Furthermore, there is not sufficient deterrence against doing evil because, for one thing, not enough people are caught and exposed.  Under the worldwide rule and reign of Jesus Christ and the saints during the Millennium, though, all of this will change.  The saints, along with Jesus, will rule with “an iron scepter” (Revelation 2:26,27, 12:5a, 19:15b)—dashing evil “to pieces like pottery” (Psalm 2:9).

All  criminals and their crimes will be revealed publicly, making people think twice before committing misdeeds.  No one will “get away” with anything.  Misleading advertising will be shown to be false, ungrounded scandals will be disproved, attempts at delusion will be unveiled, underhanded motives will be disclosed, and the nature of false dealings will be divulged.  This is because Jesus is “truth” (John 14:6), and He will be the “light of the world” (8:12) when He comes—illuminating all darkness, uncovering all evil, and dealing with all sin immediately, firmly, and straightforwardly.  And righteousness will flourish, unbounded.

Thrones will be granted to those—I believe saints glorified at the primary Rapture event, plus at subsequent resurrection and catching-up events—who are given authority to judge, rule, and reign with Christ for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4ad,6b).  It has been shown that “a great multitude that no one could count” will be seen in heaven (7:9), prior to the opening of the Seventh Seal (8:1).  They are described as having “come out of the great tribulation” (7:14b).

It may be that only those who are beheaded  after the opening of the Fifth Seal (Revelation 6:9) will be resurrected after the Millennium has begun (20:4bcd).  Perhaps the latter group will be beheaded because they will refuse the mark of the beast on their foreheads (or hands), and their resurrection will be postponed until this point to present them as the best examples of those who will have maintained their testimony of Jesus in the worst of times and in the face of a humiliating death.

This will be the final phase of the “first resurrection.”  It will consist of a remnant of those who have experienced physical death (the first death) but who will not experience the spiritual death of the unsaved (the second death).  The unsaved will come to life in the second resurrection, after the 1,000 years are over, and will be judged at that time (Revelation 20:5a,12,13).  Daniel stated it this way:

But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered.  Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:1c,2).

Ezekiel provided a lengthy description of the Lord’s Temple (Ezekiel 40:5–43:27), which will be present during the Millennium.  (This is not  the same as the Third Temple.)  On the day that Jesus returns, He will travel from Bozrah (Isaiah 63:1a) to Jerusalem and stand on the Mount of Olives, which will rise up to become a high mountain with a valley between the northern and southern halves (Zechariah 14:4).  Atop the mountain, the millennial Temple will set (or hover), straddling the chasm in the middle and facing east (Isaiah 2:2; Ezekiel 40:2, 47:1a).  Evidently, the Messiah (“Branch”) will build the Temple, supernaturally, Himself:

Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the LORD.  It is he who will build the temple of the LORD, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne.  And he will be a priest on his throne.  And there will be harmony between the two (Zechariah 6:12,13).

Many will come to Jerusalem, on the day the Great Trumpet of Yom Kippur is sounded, and worship the Lord Jesus on His Holy Mountain:

And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem (Isaiah 27:13).

Moses went up to the top of Mount Sinai to meet God face-to-face, and there God gave him the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 9:9,10), which was the Law by which people were to live.  Similarly, during the Millennium, from the Holy Mountain of the Lord in Jerusalem, “The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3c).  According to Zechariah,

This is what the LORD says:  “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem.  Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain” (Zechariah 8:3).

From the Holy Mountain, water will flow eastward into the Jordan Valley and enter the salty Dead Sea, making the water fresh and enabling swarms of living creatures to live there (Ezekiel 47:8,9).  Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on each side of the river (47:7), and their fruit and leaves will serve for food and healing (47:12).

I suggest that the millennial Temple will be dedicated during Hanukkah, 1,335 days after the midpoint of the 70th Week, thus fulfilling Daniel 12:12 (since 1,335 days – 1,260 days = 75 days).  I find a high likelihood that Jesus will return to earth on a Yom Kippur, in the seventh year of the 70th Week.  Adding 75 days to Yom Kippur in any year will bring us to the first or second day of Hanukkah, thus accounting for the 45-day extension beyond the day of the Battle of Armageddon, the latter being 30 days following Jesus’ return to earth (since 1,290 days – 1,260 days = 30 days, and 1,335 days – 1,290 days = 45 days).

At the end of the Millennium, Satan will be released from the Abyss, where he will have been imprisoned for 1,000 years.  In his final effort of all time to defeat and overcome Jesus, once again he will deceive multitudes in the world’s nations and use the evil spirit or angel Gog to gather them to battle against Jesus in Jerusalem.  (This would not be possible unless the tendency to sin and to be deceived were still present in the world during the Millennium.)

However, an actual “battle,” per se, will not take place.  Instead, in a flash, fire will come down from heaven and destroy them (Revelation 20:7-9).  Ultimately, Satan will meet his doom by being thrown into the lake of burning sulfur—forever (20:10).

Finally, the Great White Throne Judgment will take place—when all the dead who have not been resurrected during any of the Rapture events of the 70th Week, prior to the Millennium, nor during the resurrection at the beginning of the Millennium (Revelation 20:5b), will stand before God to be judged (20:11-13).  Their Judge, with all authority given to Him by the Father, will be Jesus Himself (John 5:22,30).

Books will be opened which show all the deeds, good and bad, performed by every person throughout human history; and each person standing there will be judged by what he or she did in life.  The Book of Life also will be opened; it will contain the names of all those who have acknowledged that they are guilty of disobedience and sin in the eyes of God and have looked to God to save them from eternal separation from Him (damnation) because of their sins.  They wisely will not have depended on their own “good deeds” to save them.  Before God, even our most “righteous” acts are like “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).  The only way to please God is with faith (Hebrews 11:6).

Then death and Hades will be thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, as will anyone whose name will not be found written in the Book of Life (Revelation 20:14,15).  This will be the “second death.”  The ultimate and final destruction of death  itself will fulfill the prophecy,

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:25,26).

To read more about my beliefs pertaining to this 1,000-year period of time in the future, go to The Millennium, which includes these three parts:

• PART I:  THEORIES and ONSET,
• PART II:  RENOVATION and RULE,
• PART III:  WORLD CONDITIONS.

Prior to the final Judgment, “earth and sky” had fled from the presence of God, because there no longer was any place for them (Revelation 20:11b).  After his view of this Judgment, John “saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (21:1a).  Evidently, there will be no oceans or seas on the brand new earth (21:1b).

Ultimately, this entire Creation will cease to exist, and a brand new universe (“heavens and earth”) will be created by God (see old and new Creations).  The universe, in the eternal realm, will be altogether different than the present universe, which is bounded by length, width, height, and one-dimensional, uni-directional time.  Never again will there be any death, tears, sorrow, or pain (Isaiah 25:8; Revelation 21:4), nor any form of sin in the new universe (21:8); and nothing in it ever will decay or waste away.

It may be that in the new earth and sky, the present laws of physics, thermodynamics, and entropy will be altered completely, or even will absent altogether.  In fact, since time itself was created by God, who existed before time began (2 Timothy 1:9b; Titus 1:2), time probably will not be limited to moving in one direction, or possibly time will cease to exist at all.  In any case, our present, primitive notion and understanding of time very possibly will make make no sense at all in eternity.

John saw the Holy City of heaven, the New Jerusalem, descending out of heaven (Revelation 21:2).  Long ago Abraham, by faith, went to a new land and received his inheritance; but he looked forward, far in the future, to the “city with foundations” (Hebrews 11:8-10)—the New Jerusalem.  Similarly, all those who, by faith, have accepted salvation through the blood of Jesus look forward to the same “city that is to come” (13:14).  The golden city’s “foundations,” which Abraham perceived, are the twelve foundations “decorated with every kind of precious stone”; and the City has twelve gates, each gate one pearl (21:19,20)—the true Bride of Christ, which will be cheaply counterfeited by the “harlot woman,” Babylon the Great (17:4,5), during the latter half of the 70th Week.

The New Jerusalem will be the beautiful “bride, the wife of the Lamb” (Revelation 21:9,10).  It appears that the “wedding supper of the Lamb” (19:7-9) will take place at the beginning of the Millennium; whereas, the actual “marriage” of the Lamb—with the Bride being the completed Church of believers (the latter who, presumably, will be transported to the New Jerusalem upon the creation of the new heavens and earth)—will take place 1,000 years later.  In essence, during the millennial period, the Bride will be “betrothed” or “promised” to Jesus, the Lamb of God.  I do not believe that our complete, total, pure, unadulterated union and communion with God can take place until the new Creation has come, at which time we will enter into it, with God, in the ultimate “marriage” relationship.

There will be no temple in the New Jerusalem, because “the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Revelation 21:22).  There will be no need for the light of the sun or the moon inside the New Jerusalem, because “the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (21:23).  Nothing impure, shameful, or deceitful will enter the City—“only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (21:27).

During the Millennium, a river with fruit-bearing trees on both sides will flow from the Lord’s Temple in Jerusalem into the Dead Sea, giving it life again (Ezekiel 47:7-9).  Just as many things on earth are “copies” or “shadows” of things in heaven (Hebrews 8:5a, 9:24), so the river that will flow from the millennial Temple in Jerusalem will be a “copy” and a “foreshadowing” of the River of the Water of Life, in the New Jerusalem, that will flow from God’s throne down through the middle of the City (Revelation 22:1,2a).  The trees on either side of the river, emanating from Jesus’ millennial Temple, with fruit for food and leaves for healing (Ezekiel 47:12), will be copies of the Tree of Life in the heavenly City, “bearing twelve crops of fruit” and with leaves “for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2bc).

Only a few select people in the past, other than Jesus, have seen or been in the presence of the eternal God.  In the eternal realm, with no more curse on the earth, the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in plain sight of all who are in the New Jerusalem; everyone “will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads” (Revelation 22:3,4).  Since God will be the light of the City and always will be in full view of everyone (22:5ab), there will be no more night there.

Jesus affirmed to John,

Behold, I am coming soon!  My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.  Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city (Revelation 22:12-14).

Various interpretations (such as mine) of some of the events in the Book of Revelation may not be accurate and precise.  However, since the events were stated by Jesus to John, the real meanings are factual  and they will occur—because Jesus is the “Faithful and True” (Revelation 19:11a) and cannot lie.

An invitation is extended to all who hear and understand the truth:

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”  And let him who hears say, “Come!”  Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life (Revelation 22:17).

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”  Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus.  The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people.  Amen (Revelation 22:20,21).