A Synopsis of the Book of Revelation

A brief introduction to this outline is available.

This approach looks at the book of revelation in a more-or-less literal.

 

Revelation 1 – Prologue and Introduction

 

Revelation 2-3 – The Letters to the Seven Churches

 

Revelation 4-5 – The Throne Room and the Little Scroll

 

Revelation 6 – The First Six Seals

Seal #1:

Possibly, This rider who “went forth conquering” was Rome’s march toward Jerusalem in the year 67, to suppress The Great Jewish Revolt.

Seal #2:

Ernest Renan (19th Century), interpreted the Second Horseman to be symbolic of The Great Jewish Revolt and the insurrection of Vindex.

Seal #3:

Ernest Renan (19th Century), viewed year 68 as the most significant year of the famine.

Seal #4:

This rider speaks the widespread death of Jews in their fight against Rome, which happens to be over a million Jewish deaths.

Seal #5:

This is the cry for vindication by the Christian martyrs who were persecuted by the Jews after Christ’s death and leading up to the fall of Jerusalem in the year 70.

Seal #6:

Hugo Grotius (17th Century), viewed the sixth seal as it relates to the events during the Siege of Jerusalem by Titus in year 70.

Revelation 7 – The 144,000 sealed and the multitude in White Robes

 

Revelation 8 – The Seventh Seal, and the first four Trumpets

The “silence” is the preparation for the judgment about to fall upon Jerusalem in the year 70.  This judgement was the divine response to the cry for vindication from the martyred Christians, such as: Stephen, James the brother of John, and James the brother of Jesus. The preparation of the altar, is the preparation for the destruction of apostate Jerusalem as if it were a whole burnt offering.  As Ernest Renan (19th Century), noted about the “silence”, it indicates that the first act of the mystery has ended, and another is about to begin.

Trumpet #1

Trumpet #2

Trumpet #3

Trumpet #4

Revelation 9 – The Fifth and Sixth Trumpets

Trumpet #5

Trumpet #6

Revelation 10 – The Might angel and the Seven Thunders, and The Angel and the Little Scroll

The initial  commission to prophesy came earlier (to see, to have be revealed, and hence, by eventual implication, expose to others, hence prophecy).  Here, the words indicate “prophesy again”, and the context is many people, nations, languages, and kings.  This appears to be a continuation of the first part of the book, but also, an extension to it.  It is not, verbatim, the same prophecy, as John received additional words.  Hence, while the first part of the book might deal more with what must “soon take place”, the remainder might cover what remains afterwards, hence the need to do “prophecy again”.  While John finishes with the two witnesses and the end of the series of seven trumpets, this indicates that at some point, this new unction of prophecy (out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.  John ate the book, so, very shortly, those words must come forth, even as Jeremiah was weary of holding his words back).  This part of the book supports the idea that perhaps, a new focus will be given.  If my interpretation is correct, the focus shifts from Israel and Jerusalem, to the greater nations of the Earth, including Babylon, on into our day.

Revelation 11 – The Two Witnesses and the Seventh Trumpet

This chapter begins with the discussion of the two witnesses.  The identity and understanding of these is a struggle for anyone other than the futurist, who expects these two yet to come.  In the first 13 verses, there are several very specific, very hard to ignore details that catalouge these two entites, however they are.  I admit, I do not have a complete understanding of these two witnesses.  Click here for A more in-depth analysis of the Two Witness of Revelation 11:1-14.

 Revelation 11:15

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.”

This would be the destruction of Jerusalem proper, 70AD.  The removal of the very roots of civil and religious Jerusalem marked the end of their kingdom on the Earth.  The Kingdom was now, at least, fully transferred to the hands of the Son, and the ruler ship passed to Him.  Yes, there is a bit of speculation in this, but, if you find a eschatalogical system that doesn’t have any, let me know, because I haven’t seen any.

Is this the time of judging the dead and rewarding the prophets?  Maybe not all on this day, but in the same way that Mary sang her song after the words of the angel Gabriel, the boundary marker had been crossed, and the thing was accomplished, having just begun.

Revelation 12 – The Woman and the Dragon

Many have attributed this chapter to the Christian’s Flight to Pella.  The believers, through the word of prophecy, knew of the coming judgement to Jerusalem.  It is said, in the destruction of Jerusalem, that no Christian believers were killed, because they had all taken the warnings of both Christ and those after Him, to flee.  God had prepared a place in the wilderness, a city named Pella, where some historians record that the Christeans fled and hid, interestingly, for a space of about three and a half years.  Hence, they were saved from the destructive flood of the dragon.

Revelation 13 – The Beast from the Sea, the Beast from the Earth

The dragon is on the sea shore, and has given his authority to the first beast.  This is actually good for the Christians, because now the devil has put all of his eggs in one basket, so to speak.  When you spend all of your authority, and are defeated, then everything you put into is broken as well.  As many military commanders have learned to keep several reserves on hand just in case, and special reserves for extra special things, there comes a time, when you throw everything down on the table, you fully invest yourself in a course of action, and, win or lose, that’s the whole thing.  That’s what is going on here.  All the authority is given to the beast.  The head is wounded and healed on this beast.  The word to the believing Christian is, “He’s big, and we will win.”  Patient enduring of the saints, not in idleness, but in singleness of purpose and focus, relying totally on the leading of the Spirit, and it is proven time and again, that Greater is He that is in us, than that beast.

As for the second beast, if the signs listed are to be taken literally, then there is no record that I know of a person literally calling down fire in the presence of many people.  First of all, the lack of historical record does not in and of itself prove anything, but it does make a good case.  Second, whether this is a symbol for something else may remain to be seen.  Now, there are two things I am not doing.  I am not simply trying to make this a typographic symbology that means nothing, nor am I putting a complete cap on this and say, just because it doesn’t make sense the way I expect it in the plain reading of the text, that, therefore, the rest of the interpretation of these things is false as well.  If I can get an 80% match to the historical record, as I see it, I will probably be fairly well satisfied, considering my methods, my ability, and my level of study.  But, let me stay what my primary purpose is.

Suppose I am wrong on some, even all of the interpretation here given.  What then?  Well, I have still been faithful to study to show myself approved.  It may be that since I cannot find a concrete historical match for certain elements of this book, that therefore, the only clear leading of the Spirit is that it is all future, all to come, in exactly the way I expect it to be.  I think the book is plain to be understood, and is not talking in overly complicated riddles, to someone who knows God, history, circumstances, and the Bible.  But, I also know, looking at the many Messianic prophecies of Jesus’ first coming, that no one got it then, either.  If you simply took the Old Testament, you can see now how all of it points precisely to Christ and no other, down to every miracle God ever recorded in the book.  However, if you were to try to predict that He would be born in Bethlehem, flee to Egypt, and live in Nazareth, you might come to Nathanael’s conclusion, “What good thing can come from Nazareth?”  That was the studied man’s response to the thought that a prophet could come from there.  They didn’t see it in the book, but it was there.

So, what am I saying?  At least if I’m wrong, I know the subject matter.  If I see the seven seals start happening, and then the seven trumpets, I’ll know where I am in the book better than most, because I have made a diligent study.  You see, with an open heart, willing to learn from the Spirit, these things are right to be studied.  My best understanding, starting first in the book of Daniel, has led me thus.  More pieces come as I search, and I am fairly convinced in myself of these positions.  But, if God has something other than my expectations in mind, I’ll go with His plan, any time.

Revelation 14 – The Lamb, the 144,000, the Angels calling in Mid-Heaven, and the Harvest of the Earth

The end of Revelation 14 includes the harvest of the Earth.  This is most interesting, because the accounts of the Fall of Betar (135 AD) correspond fairly well to this description of the “winepress of God’s wrath”.

Revelation 14:19-20

The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.

Compare the verses above to the following text in the Jewish historical records.

Eighty thousand Romans entered Betar and slaughtered the men, women, and children until blood flowed from the doorways and sewers. Horses sank up until their nostrils and the rivers of blood lifted up rocks weighing forty se’ah and flowed into the sea where its stain was noticeable for a distance of four mil.

Differences in the distance flowing out would of course be taken into account, and, if they accounts are analogous to each other, obviously the historical account would be deemed factually incorrect.

However, the location of the city of Betar is a short distance from Jerusalem.  The siege under this Second Jewish Revolt (see References), was quite significant.  Following it, there were practically no Jews allowed in Jerusalem.  In addition, it appears that one passage commonly attributed to a coming anti-christ found fulfillment in the leader of the Jewish rebellion.

Zechariah 11:17

Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

When the leader, Bar Kochba, was killed, this is the report recorded, again, by the Jewish history.

Bar Koziva became very angry and kicked him, causing him to die. A voice was then heard from Heaven, saying: Woe to the shepherd of the idol, who has abandoned the flock, a sword on his forearm and on his right eye (Zechariah 11:17). You have broken the forearm of Israel and blinded her right eye. Therefore the forearm of that man [Bar Koziva] shall wither and his right eye shall be struck. The Jews’ own sins thus brought it about that Betar was captured and Bar Koziva was put to death.

Thus, again, it is seen, that this rebellion was prophesied many years prior, and it’s fulfillment was announced with a voice from heaven.

Revelation 15 – The Angels with the Seven Plagues

John sees a sign.  This was the sign that John saw.  John seeing it again, or someone else seeing it again are history, and should not be explicitly expected to be seen again.  The sign is what is important.

The seven bowls signify the completion of God’s wrath.  It is assumed, widely, that this is the complete of all of God’s wrath, but it could be simply the wrath for all that was at that time, for all the wrath for a certain aspect, more specifically, against Babylon.  It is a matter of interpretation, but from the context Revealtion 17-18, the destruction of Babylon, it seems sufficient to consider that, perhaps, this completion of God’s wrath is the wrath over the devils empire in the world at that time.

The chapter is the psalm sung by the saints given haprs, and mentions the temple in the heavens, obviously not the earthly temple.  There are not specific, that I can find, reference to Earthly events that we would expect to see fulfilled in a direct sense in this chapter.

 

Revelation 16 – The Seven Bowls of Wrath

Looking primarily at the “Plague of Galen”.  The effect of these bowls, in this arrangement, would be the final softening up of the demonic empire of Babylon.  Babylon is to be understood prophetically as Rome.  The date in view would be circa 170 AD.  This quote from Wikipedia is of interest.

In their consternation, many turned to the protection offered by magic. Lucian of Samosata’s irony-laden account of the charlatan Alexander records that a verse of his “which he despatched to all the nations during the pestilence… was to be seen written over doorways everywhere”—particularly in those houses which were emptied, Lucian remarks.^[11]

The epidemic had drastic social and political effects throughout the Roman Empire: Barthold Georg Niebuhr concluded that “as the reign of M. Aurelius forms a turning point in so many things, and above all in literature and art, I have no doubt that this crisis was brought about by that plague… The ancient world never recovered from the blow inflicted on it by the plague which visited it in the reign of M. Aurelius.”^[12] Edward Gibbon and Michael Rostovtzeff assign the Antonine plague less influence than political and economic trends, respectively.

Bowl #1:  Onto the Land, Painful Sores

Bowl #2:  Onto the Sea, Sea to blood

Bowl #3: Onto Rivers and Springs, they turned to blood

Bowl #4: On the Sun,  the Sun was allowed to Scorch with fire

Bowl #5: Onto the Throne, kingdom into darkness

This is on the throne.  Notice above, in the Wikipedia excerpt  it was the turning point in, above all, literature and art.  There could be different ways to interpret this bowl of wrath, but one consistent interpretation would be that of similar to the “darkness” over inspiration and creativity.  While man may or may not understand how the spiritual dimension impacts these creative impulses, it can be said, darkness was poured out on the throne, and darkness covered the realm of the kingdom.  No more inspiration, no more light.  Not physical light, but it didn’t say it was physical darkness, but it could indicate a real, literal darkness in the dimension of the mind.  This would fit in well, considering the previous bowl judgement was the sun scorching.  The previous bowl would have to CEASE in order for this to be physical darkness, instead of intellectual.  As well, the bowl was not poured out on a light-giving source, but rather the seat of authority and rulership.  The nation, Rome, went into darkness.

Bowl #6: Onto Euphrates, and it was dried up

This may not seem immediately obvious without a knowledge of history.  While this is still a “literal” fulfillment  the name “Euphrates” could well be a “prophetic title”, rather than the literal river.  That is, what is in view is Rome, but it is being called “Babylon”, as per Daniel 2 and 7.  Babylon was on the Euphrates, but Rome was not.  The overthrow of Babylon, however, by Cyprus, was by the drying up of the Euphrates river.  This would have been well-known enough history that the student of such things would understand, and so, since Rome is clearly in view, it is a simple enough explanation that the “Euphrates” could well mean a river protecting the modern city of Rome, rather than the Euphrates.  Hence, if the “Euphrates” is prophetic title of another river, this could refer to the Goths coming to, and eventually coming over the Thames, for instance.

Bowl #7: Into the air, “It is done”, lighting, earthquake, “The Great City” split in three parts, Cup of the fury of his Wrath, Hailstones

 

Revelation 17 – 19 The Woman on the Beast, The Fall of Babylon, and the Rider on the White Horse

Revelation 17 is the description of Babylon.  So, where Revelation 18 is the lament of the world over the fall of Babylon, most of Revelation 19 is the saints rejoice.  The world mourns, the saints have joy.  The same joy that Noah must have had to no longer have sin pressing in from every side.  A fresh-washed world, where sin was destroyed.  Unfortunately, for Noah, what he missed was the fact that he still had his three boys, and all of their hearts weren’t for sure.  It turned out that one of Noah’s sons, on Noah letting his guard down after such a great victory and getting drunk in his tent, did what was wrong, and Noah had to curse him for it.  So, began another round of sin in the Earth.  It is a good lesson for us.  Don’t ever let your guard down, until you’re in heaven, even if it looks like all your enemies on every side have been destroyed.  Seek God, live holy, and it is enough.

The end of Chapter 19 ends with the rider on the white horse capturing the beast and the false prophet (the second beast).

Revelation 20 – The First Resurrection, The Thousand Years, Gog and Magog, The Second Resurrection, The Throne, and the Judging of the dead

So, now, we come to perhaps what set me about to write down this little chronology of how I have been looking at the book.  The thousand years mentioned in this chapter is a much-idealized, much glorified time period, which, in my limited study, stretches towards the fantasical.  Now, there are copious scriptures to support a wonderful time of blissful reign and sin-less existence, but why those are lumped into the thousand year reign, to me, is a fantasy.

However, the fantasy has a few specific and spurious roots.  First of all, the Kingdom of Heaven.  Many will say that the prayer, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven”, refers primarily to this.  Second, the see the only possible fulfillment of Christ reigning on the “throne of David”, being a literal one.  Finally, the idea of the nature of this Kingdom being one way or another.

But, let me put a quote out here, for the establishment of where I am going.  This quote comes from Foxxe’s Book of Martyrs (the condensed version):

Maxentius was the last Roman persecutor of the Christians whom Constantine set free after three hundred years of oppression and death. Constantine so firmly established the rights of Christians to worship God that it would be a thousand years before they would again suffer for their faith.

So, let us look at the text of Revelation 20 concerning the 1000 years.

Revelation 20:4-7

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison

First, the nature of this reigning is not described.  If, as my timeline depicts, Revelation 11 was concerning the fall of Jerusalem, that is when Christ took his authority and began to reign, at the fall of the Jewish realm.  Hence, Christ always had some national representation on the Earth, and as it was taken from the Jews, it was given to Christ to fully execute His authority on the Earth.  It then took some 200 or more years to crush the beast of Rome.  Yes, this calls for the patient endurance of the saints.  So, understand this.  The Bible never says any other entity, other than satan himself, would be bound and cast into the bottomless pit.  It says nothing of the demons, or the various minions of hell, but the mastermind, the king-pin or “god-father”, if you want to use earthly examples, was the one that was bound.  If you strike the shepherd, the sheep will scatter, and without the head, even the demonic head, the rest of the Kingdom of darkness would have no real gripping power over the nations.  There would be smaller squabbles, and people would still have to battle certain levels of opposition.  There would still be territorial struggles and dominions to overcome.  But, the word given, “Is this he who deceived the nations?”  That power, for a thousand years was bound, as evidenced by the complete lack of one thing–murder.  There was certainly murder on the Earth, but that power couldn’t permeate the into or against the church for a thousand years.

Now, take a step back for a moment.  Can we really envision what history calls “The Dark Ages” as the Millennial Kingdom of Christ?  Well, what is the Millennial reign of Christ?  The saints reigned with Christ, in resurrected bodies, but it says nothing of where or how they operate.  With heavenly bodies, they would not have to appear to the Earth to control it, any more than a principality of darkness would, nor more than Christ Himself would.  Next, the nature of the reign is idealized by what I consider confusion with passages that relate to the New Heaven and New Earth.  Many of the passages noted, I believe, do not indicate the Kingdom of God, but the perpetual Glory state after, so they would not apply.  Finally, the nature of the Kingdom itself is degraded to primarily Earthly. Jesus said that if He cast out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom, present tense, had come upon those witnessing.  The Kingdom was “at hand” in Jesus’ day, and had come upon those watching whenever they saw a miracle.  The necessity of it being an earthly domain in order for Christ to fulfill the sitting on David’s seat is a fallacy.  David’s seat was primarily a heavenly seat to begin with, having been set up by God, and was demonstrated earthly by the natural throne.  But, it’s primary character was that of a heavenly throne (analogous to Colossians 1:16).

Further, when the statues of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2 are studied, all four Kingdoms exist in the end.  In history, the transition was war and destruction, and one empire removing the other, but really, what the dream reveals, is that the whole thing existed in completeness at the end, for they were all broke together.  The power of all of them died together, through the coming of Christ’s Kingdom, falling and coming upon more and more, first through Christ first, and then through the church.

What we see, actually, is that the church displaced Rome.  The church crushed Rome, broke it small, not by war, but through the spirit realm, and there was no place left for it, so we read today of the “Decline of Rome”, rather than the fall of Babylon, Media/Persia, and Greece.  We see no distinct end, because it was broken in the invisible dimension by the self-same Kingdom, and the effect of breaking in the invisible is that the visible no longer had any solidity.  It broke apart, even as it was already broken in the spirit, and because faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, it was seen that, what was accomplished through faith in the invisible, was as true as fact, as, in fact, Rome fell apart, exactly as prophesied by Daniel 2 and 7, and the mountain, the church, which is Christ, filled the whole Earth.

And, the devil, the serpent, was cast out into a pit.  His authority being beaten, he was cast down through Constantine’s era, and what do we see for the next thousand years?  We see no great nations ruling over the people, just like it was in the book of Judges, everyone did what was right in his own eyes.  There were issues, and corruption came in eventually, hence the devil’s release, but as we see, there was no mastermind, scheming through the centuries to blind and entrap the nations.

So, we see what modern history calls “The Dark Ages”.  But, dark as compared to what?  Well, “The Light of Rome”.  Many myths circulate today, saying that people were ignorant, the church was going around teaching the world was flat, but much of that turns out to not be historical at all.  In fact, it was the time when the only world-ruling power was the church.  It was not perfect, and, as it is seen, corruption crept in during the last centuries, so that power was sought, and faith was no longer the centerpiece.  But, was it so dark?  Taken from this perspective, it was a time when there were no great beasts ruling over men.  Today, we are taught against this, but who is the one doing the teaching?  The same “beast” system of the last days, the devil released from his prison with a fury, to deceive the nations once more.

What were these times?  They were not perfect, but if you see that the prophecies regarding the perfection do not come on this Earth, but the next, and that the Kingdom being restored to Israel is a reference to the Spiritual Kingdom being restored to the National Israel, from which it was removed through a process of 40 years from Jesus’ death to the destruction of Jerusalem, so that now Christ’s Kingdom is in charge through the church on the Earth, we understand that it is a time of demonstration to the principalities and powers the glorious riches of Christ, and His Grace.  Not in our perfection, but in His.  And, in that time, His truth stood the test.

We see the end of this period, from roughly 500AD to 1500AD, is transitioned by what modern history calls “The Renaissance”.  But, what was it?  It was marked by the separation from God and science, saying that there were absolutes one could study apart from God (partly true, but grossly wrong).  We hear much talked bad about this time, but much of that is more understood as the rebellion of those who felt good at chucking off the constrains of the church and the burden of the Lord, and running without captain, and without the “weight” of what the church and Christ would “put on them.”  What we see marked coming out of those centuries, and the plan of the enemy is really seen through the centuries, that the rebellion would get a foothold.  We see the growth of evolutionary thought, beginning even before Darwin’s time, and punctuated by his false assertions about the Origin of the Species.  And, eventually come to day, where we have such a mix of things, but what has been systematically destroyed is the very foundations that had been laid for those thousand years.  Precisely by those motivated out of a self-love, a love of sin, and a desire to do wickedly.  And, often picked up even by those supposedly trying to “do good”, but, missing Christ, they actually have become tools of the devil.

So, we see the mastermind, satan, had to work his way through society.  He had a few handfuls at the beginning, but when the church makes a mistake like the “inquisitions”, and mistakes the power of man for the power of the Spirit in regulating the things of the church, the enemy makes sure society remembers, and blames the church, blames the truth, and makes a mountain out of it.  When the world has a failing, like teaching the world was flat, he makes sure that the world grows up blaming the church.  Morals are constantly ebbed at.  Just as in the Garden at the beginning, the authority of the Word of God is questioned (Did God really say?).  Authority in general is discounted, as those who are rejected from God’s face go hand-in-hand with the rebellious.

And, increasing measures of deception are applied.  But, this takes time.  The whole thing can’t be done in a few years, but it has taken around 500 now, to erode what the worm had already gotten into near the end of the millennium.

So, we see, the dragon is released from his abyss, and you see, once again, the push towards a one-world government, because that is the only way he can have enough control to destroy all mankind.  But, it is the same strategy he used before, and, though he try it again, all the church must realize is that the same weapon that defeated him the first time will defeat him again, namely, faith.

It wont be with strategies, or planning committees  or with the minds of men.  But, simply, humble men and women, who hear the voice of God and obey, are those who know their God, and they do great exploits.  As men and women choose to repent, at the wooing of the Spirit, the same power the broke the back of Rome and the authority of the beast in the first place are the same thing that God asks of us today.

Revelation 20:9-10

They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

This is where, more or less I see us today.

Revelation 20:11-12

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.

Now one thing is certain, the wheat has not been gathered yet into the barn.  And, because of that, we yet look forward to our blessed hope, the coming of our King.  This interpretation of Revelation has a literal millennial reign, albeit the nature of that reign is not symbolic, but spiritual in the same sense that Jesus ministered in the power of the Spirit.  You hear the sound of it, but you cannot tell from where it came, or where it’s going.  We see the fall or Rome, and the influence of the Spirit throughout the centuries, and we know that our prayers, actions, behavior, and even our attitude affect all of that and are affected by it all, but, as Jesus said, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven.  There are parts to this that the Spirit can only reveal to those who “can bear it”.

But, when the great white throne comes, the whole of the Earth and Heavens flee away.  To me, this is currently when I see Christ returning.  For the bodily resurrection of every soul, some to life, and others to damnation.  This, to me, is when the Son of Man comes in His Glory, this will be Him sitting on the Throne of His Glory.  Not in a millennial reign, but in a Kingdom that will last forever.  I didn’t give my life to rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years.  I gave my life to rule and reign with Christ forever!  His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His Kingdom shall have no end.

There is something fatally flawed about taking the 1000 years as the “Kingdom of God”.  First, it doesn’t fit Jesus’ paradigm, a Kingdom not of this world or realm.  It relegates all the necessary faith into some other day, and hence is no faith at all.  Faith is the substance of the thing now, even though you do not see it manifested in the natural.  So, the Kingdom was there in Christ’s day.  How can you pray in faith, in the substance of the reality now, if you don’t believe you can possess its spiritual essense RIGHT NOW, in faith?  Faith is now, you see?  If you say you’re believing that such and such will some day happen, it’s not faith in the first place, it’s hope!  So, if you’re praying for His Kingdom to come on Earth as it is in Heaven, you cant pray in faith, unless you expect to possess some portion of that Kingdom right here and now, such as is the testimony of the many who see signs and wonders, including Jesus.

The Kingdom is of the realm of the Spirit, and there is no part of it that is not in Him.  If it was here in Jesus’ day, it is here now.  So, we see, while there may be an increased dimension of the Kingdom coming, as in a “not yet” portion of it, there is no practical limit set by scripture as to how much of that Kingdom we can have now, through faith.  For, as there is no sickness, disease, death, or lack in heaven, His Kingdom come and will be done on Earth as it is in heaven defeats all of that, just as it has for 2000 years for all who have believed.

Revelation 21 – The New Heaven and New Earth, and the Holy Jerusalem and its measurements

Finally, we see the new order of things.  All things are made new.  The old is gone.

We remeasure everything.  It is perfect in everything, and, best of all, there are no more doors at all to the city, and God Himself is its temple.

Revelation 22 – River of the Water of Life and Admonitions

The water flows, and closing words and instructions are given by John.

Blessings, curses, and admonitions are the close of the book.