Textual Divisions of the Book of the Revelation
The brief but definitive phrase ‘After
these things’ is found in the prophetic section of the Revelation,
(4:1-22:21) six times. The first and second occurrences are in the very first
verse:
‘After
these things I looked, and, behold, a door standing open in heaven; and the
first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me;
said, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these
things.’ (Revelation 4:1) NASV
John
is given the first sequence of the prophetic vision in (4:1-7:8) with the
events occurring in heaven and earth divided by a similar phrase which
emphasizes a singular event ‘After this’ (7:1) which is used to
divide the events in heaven (4:1-6:17) from the events occurring on earth
(7:1-8) in the first section.
‘The things which shall be hereafter’(1:19c), indicates this prophetic section (4:1-22:21). It is
divided into five major sections by this key phrase: ‘After
these things’ developing the following outline:
I. The Events of Earth’s
Preparation for The Day of the Lord’s Wrath (4:1-7:8)
A. The Throne
Room Scene (Chapter 4,5)
B. The Six Seals
Opened (Chapter 6)
C. The 144
Thousand Sealed (Chapter 7:1-8)
II. The Events of The Day
of the Lord’s Wrath to The End of The 70th Week of Daniel (7:9-15:4)
A. The Saints of
the Ages in Heaven/First Resurrection (Chapter 7:9-17)
B. The Seventh
Seal Opened/The Beginning of the Day of the Lord (8:1-5)
C. The Six
Trumpet Judgments/The Little Book/The Two Witnesses (8:6-11:14)
D. The Seventh
Trumpet Judgment/The World Kingdoms become the Lord’s/End 70th Week
(11:15-19)
E. The
Interlude-Events of the Last 3-1/2 Years of the 70th Week (Chapter
12,13,14)
F. The Heavenly
Prelude before The End of the Day of the Lord (15:1-4)
III. The Events of the Day
of the Lord’s Wrath after The 70th Week of Daniel (15:5-17:18)
A.
The Preparation for the Seven Vial Judgments (15:5-8)
B. The Seven
Vial Judgments (16:1-21)
C. The Preparation for Judgment of Babylon the
Great Whore (17:1-18)
IV. The Event of Emphasis:
The Judgment of Babylon the Great Whore (18:1-24)
A. The
Destruction of Babylon the Great Whore Announced (18:1-8)
B. The Kings of
the Earth Lament Her Destruction (18:9, 10)
C. The Merchants
of the Earth Lament Her Destruction (18:11-17a)
D. The Merchants
of the Sea Lament Her Destruction (18:17b-19)
E. The
Destruction of Babylon the Great Whore Occurs (18:20-24)
V. The Events of The End
of the Day of the Lord, The Millennium, Eternal (19:1-22:21)
A. The
Rejoicing in Heaven over the Destruction of the Babylon the Great Whore
(19:1-6)
B. The
Marriage Supper of the Lamb (19:7-10)
C. The
Lord Jesus Christ’s Victory at Armageddon (19:11-21)
D. The
Binding of Satan (20:1-3)
E. The
Millennium/ First Resurrection (20:4-6)
F. The
Final Rebellion (20:7-10)
G. The
Great White Throne/The Second Death (20:6, 11-15, 21:2-8)
H. The
New Heaven, Earth & Jerusalem Described (21:1, 21:9-27-22:1-5)
I. The
Heavenly Conclusion (22:6-21)
The material in this first part of the
prophetic section is viewed by John from the vantage point of heaven:
‘After
these things I looked, and behold a door standing open in heaven, and
the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with
me, said “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these
things. Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in
heaven, and One sitting on the throne.’
(Revelation 4:1, 2 NASB).
John is then given the most descriptive
panorama of heaven’s throne room and its inhabitants ever recorded in
Scripture. John’s vision is similar to the vision of Ezekiel 1:4-28, but John
provides much additional information as he sees not only the four beasts around
God and His throne, but, he includes magnificent introduction and coronation of
the Lord Jesus Christ as ‘The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David
(5:5) The Lamb as it had been slain’ (5:6) including the powerful,
unparalleled worship scene that follows (5:7-14).
The title of ‘Lamb’ for the Lord
Jesus Christ is found here first in the book of the Revelation, however it is
the preferred name for the Lord throughout the Revelation as it is used a total
of twenty-eight times emphasizing the Bible’s central theme of redemption from
an Old Testament viewpoint (Exodus 12).
Moreover, John’s view of the throne room
also introduces and describes:
‘The
four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their
heads crowns of gold’ (4: ), ‘Seven lamps of fire burning before the throne,
which are the seven Spirits of God (4:5), ‘And before the throne there was a
sea of glass like unto crystal’ (4:6) giving
heavenly details never before revealed in the Word of God.
Chapter six begins the 70th
Week of Daniel ending this first section which contains the Lamb’s opening of
the first six seals preparing the earth for the coming Day of the Lord judgment
when God will pour out His wrath upon an unbelieving world in the process
purifying a remnant of His earthly people the Jews.
‘After
this...’(7:1) indicates an important time division setting
off a major event occurring on earth
just prior to the Rapture which is only eight verses long (7:1-8). This is one
of the most significant events in the Revelation. Here, the Lord seals 144
Thousand of His servants taken from each of the twelve tribes of Israel thereby
providing a continuing witness and mediating priesthood on earth during the
catastrophic judgments of His coming Day of the Lord’s Wrath .
This group of faithful Jews is the first
people group mentioned on earth and is distinguished from ‘The woman’
(12:1-17). She represents the faithful of Israel who will be protected in ‘The
wilderness’ during the last 3-1/2 years of Daniel’s Seventieth Week (12:14)
as the majority of Israel will experience the “time of Jacob’s trouble”
(Jeremiah 30:7).
Faithful Israel will not be present during
the Day of the Lord’s wrath, but the 144 Thousand will be for they are seen a
number of times after this time of unprecedented judgment begins:
‘And
I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with Him an
hundred forty and four thousand, having His father’s name written in their
foreheads.’ (Revelation 14:1)
‘These
[The ten horns/kings] shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome
them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with
Him are called and chosen and faithful. (Revelation 17:14)
The 144 Thousand are seen with the Lamb at
the end of the 70th Week of Daniel (Revelation 14:1) and at the end
of the Day of the Lord (Revelation 17:14) when the Lord comes on His white
horse to end this time of judgment at the battle of Armageddon! These 144
Thousand soldiers of Christ along with ‘the armies which were in heaven’
(Revelation 19:14) will go forth with the Lord to do battle against the ten
horns/kings/nations who are part of ‘the kings of the earth and of the whole
world’(Revelation 16:14).
The third group of Israelites are those
who will be purified during the Day of the Lord eventually being redeemed
(Isaiah 59:20; Zechariah 13:7-9; Romans 11:25-27) at the end of Daniel’s 70th
Week when ‘The fullness of the Gentiles be come in.’ (Romans 11:26c) ‘And
the Redeemer shall come to Zion’.
However, the earthly focus of this division
of the Revelation is the 144 Thousand ‘Servants of our God’ (7:3) who
are at this point in history are ‘Sealed...servants...sons of Israel’
(7:3, 4). Therefore, they have already been redeemed, for the Lord would never
seal depraved men by writing His name upon their foreheads (14:1).
These men have already attained the
stature of ‘servants of God’ placing them in an elite Biblical category
along with men like Abraham, Moses and
the prophets, David, John, Peter, Paul, James and Jude, willing to ‘Follow
the Lamb whithersoever He goes’ (14:4). This same word is also used to
describe the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 12:18; Philippians 2:7)
They are the first to be sealed for
protection from the coming judgment (Revelation 9:4) thereby providing the Lord
with a group of faithful servants who will be the continuation of the believer
priests unto God during the time of the end. They will minister to those Jews
and Gentiles who will be saved during the Day of the Lord including the Jews
who will be redeemed at the end of the 70th Week. (Isaiah 59:20;
Romans 11:25, 26)
Revelation 9:4 indicates the Lord’s method
of keeping His own from the effects of His Day of the Lord wrath:
‘And
it was commanded them [the locusts] that they should not hurt the grass of the
earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have
not the seal of God in their foreheads.’
This clearly shows that those who receive
the ‘Seal of God in their foreheads’ will not experience the wrath of
God which is specifically designed to punish an unbelieving world and purify
those Jews whom God will redeem at the end of the Seventieth Week of Daniel
(Zechariah 13:8,9; Romans 11:26).
I Thessalonians 1:10 & 5:9 underscore
this precious promise of God:
‘And
to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus,
which delivered us from the wrath to come....For God hath not appointed us to
wrath; but to obtain salvation [deliverance] by our Lord Jesus Christ.’
Although the earth will experience the
fiery judgments of the Lord, and chaotic conditions will ensue across the
globe, God will continue to use prepared men as His servants to bring others to
a saving knowledge of ‘The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’
(John 1:29).
This is one of the first purposes for
those who receive the seal of God. The 144 Thousand will be directly involved
in instructing those who will be saved during the end of the age (Daniel
11:32-34, 12:3) known as the 70th Week of Daniel with emphasis on
the multitude of Israelites [1/3 of the nation]
who will be redeemed in one day at the end of this seven year
period.
These select servants of God will ‘Follow
the Lamb whithersoever He goes’ thereby becoming His end of the age soul-winners:
‘Come ye after Me and I will make you to become fishers of men’ (Mark
1:17) during the Seventieth Week of Daniel and the Day of the Lord’s Wrath.
The 144 Thousand are also called ‘The
first-fruits unto God and the Lamb’ (14:4) indicating that they are the
first to be ‘Redeemed from among men’ during the Lord’s 70th
Week harvest of souls from the twelve tribes of Israel, the first of the many
who will be redeemed including those who will be called when He comes at the
end of the Seventieth Week to save that great multitude of Jews mentioned
above.
The physical sight of their loving
Messianic Redeemer, the Lamb of God (Revelation 14:1) will be the final event
that turns the hearts of this significant group of Jews [1/3 of the nation] (Zechariah
13:8, 9) to their Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ Who will continue to be:
‘The
Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world…‘The Way, the Truth, and the
Life’ (John1:29, 14:6)
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