Intro to the End Times is a series walking through some of the key themes of the story of Jesus’ return from a historic premillennial perspective, with special focus on knowing the heart of Jesus as we partner with God through the most dramatic chapter of human history.

(Full disclosure: I love to recommend resources to help you in your journey, and when I do I use Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through my links, I may receive a small commission. But if there’s a resource you want, I encourage you to get it wherever works best for you!)

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Approaching Revelation

For many people, the book of Revelation is synonymous with the end times. It’s certainly not our only source of information; there are 150 chapters in Scripture about the end times and an estimated 550 Old Testament references in Revelation alone. In fact, Revelation itself has almost no brand new information, but in many ways it is the bow on top that ties details together and gives us a helpful framework for understanding the storyline.

As we get into studying Revelation, there are two main keys we’ll need to keep in mind:

1. Stay Hungry and Humble

A lot of people consider Revelation the “scary book” or just plain confusing; there are even some great memes about how confusing Revelation is.

Everyone starts by being confused– but no one is supposed to stop there. How mean would it be of God to write an entire book of the Bible that He knew would be out of our reach?

Understanding Revelation certainly isn’t easy, but nor is it super complicated. God has made His truth available to all, not only to the smartest, richest, or most academic. However, it doesn’t come without effort for anyone. It takes a good bit of time and intentionality, but the fog will lift. Read it and pray about it a lot, and make the Bible itself your main source of information, rather than immediately running to commentaries and outside resources. (When you have a question, pray about it and read Bible verses before googling!)

A posture of spiritual hunger and humility to search out and submit to God’s Word is the only way you’re going to gain insight. Come like a child, don’t lean on your own understanding, and search for wisdom like treasure. The Holy Spirit will be faithful to lead you into all truth. (LK. 18:17, Pr. 3:5, Pr. 2:3-5, Jn. 16:13)

2. Take the Plain Sense Meaning

Revelation is mostly pretty straightforward. No, it’s not completely literal, but where there are symbols, the meanings are given pretty clearly. Some details will seem too dramatic to be realistically possible, but remember we’re talking about the God who flooded the whole earth and parted the Red Sea, and the second coming of Jesus Christ to the earth far surpasses anything in history! We may have gotten all smart and modern, but God is still old-fashioned and supernatural– yesterday, today, and forever.

There are simple, practical ways to recognize symbolism. Words like “mystery” and “sign” are big clues, and then those symbols will be quickly interpreted by the text itself. Here are some examples of these tipoff words:

• “The mystery…is this (Re. 1:20)
• “A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven (Re. 12:1)”  
• “Then another sign appeared in heaven (Re. 12:3)”
• “I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign (Re. 15:1)”
• “I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides (Re. 17:7)”

The key is to let Scripture interpret Scripture rather than looking for more abstract meanings based on guesswork or outside information. Keep reminding yourself that God really did give us the Bible to be understood by anyone anywhere who is hungry and humble, and He’s not trying to create shadowy puzzles that only the elite can solve.

Outline of Revelation

This is the outline of Revelation that has been invaluable to me in my study the past 8 years. I’ve outlined Revelation myself in detail more than once, and this framework has proven an excellent skeletal structure.

We can first break Revelation into four major sections:

• PART 1: John’s Calling (Re. 1)
  John is called to prophesy about the end times. He gives specific truths about Jesus’ majesty—truths that form the way he prophesies about the end times, and that are meant to equip us.
• PART 2: Seven Letters (Re. 2-3)
  Jesus gives seven letters to seven churches. The instructions Jesus gives to these seven churches about overcoming sin give us practical insight into what we too must overcome today.
• PART 3: Jesus Takes the Scroll (Re. 4-5)
  The scroll represents the title deed of the earth and Jesus’ battle plan to cleanse the whole earth in preparation for His rule. Jesus’ battle plan is seen in the events of Revelation 6-22.
• PART 4: Jesus’ Battle Plan (Re. 6-22)
  Jesus’ battle plan is written in the scroll and includes the Great Tribulation judgments against the Babylon religion and the Antichrist’s empire. In these chapters, Jesus reveals His main storyline of love to cleanse the earth of evil.

Parts 1, 2, and 3 are rich but not too confusing. Part 4 is the longest section, and that’s where the main storyline kicks off. The first thing that you need know about Part 4 is that it is broken into ten smaller parts: five chronological sections and five angelic explanations, alternating.

The chronological sections happen in order, as written, and tell us what happens to the antichrist’s followers in the twenty-one judgment events (seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls), which intensify in severity as they unfold.

The angelic explanations are “pauses” in the storyline in which an angel explains to John more context about the events he is seeing. They answer questions arising from the chronological sections: Why is God’s wrath so severe? What will happen to us? Angels explain to John what will happen to God’s people, including what Jesus will do to help the saints and what the Antichrist will do to persecute them.

• Chronological Section #1 (Re. 6)
  The SEAL JUDGMENTS against the kingdom of darkness.
  • Angelic Explanation #1 (Re. 7)
    The saints receive PROTECTION from judgments and from falling away from the truth.
• Chronological Section #2 (Re. 8-9)
  The TRUMPET JUDGMENTS against the Antichrist’s empire.
  • Angelic Explanation #2 (Re. 10-11:14)
    The saints receive DIRECTION by the great increase of prophetic ministry.
• Chronological Section #3 (Re. 11:15-19)
  The SECOND COMING PROCESSION and the rapture of the Church. At the seventh and last trumpet (1Co. 15:52; 1Th. 4:16, Re. 10:7), Jesus will replace all governmental leaders on earth in a hostile takeover. He will lead a royal procession across the earth. He will first travel across the sky to rapture the saints (every eye will see Him, Re. 1:7), then through the land of Edom (modern-day Jordan; Isa. 63:1-6; Hb. 3:12) destroying His enemies, then to Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives (Zch. 14:2-5).
  • Angelic Explanation #3 (Re. 12-14)
    The antichrist’s violent CONFRONTATION against the saints and all that is good in society requires that all his evil governments be replaced
• Chronological Section #4 (Re. 15-16)
  The BOWL JUDGMENTS destroy evil infrastructures in society (Ps. 2:9).
  • Angelic Explanation #4 (Re. 17-19:10)
    The SEDUCTION of society by Babylon’s evil religion will permeate and infiltrate every social structure, requiring that Babylon be totally destroyed.
• Chronological Section #5 (Re. 19:11-20:15)
  Jesus’ TRIUMPHAL ENTRY to Jerusalem (Re. 19:11-21:8).
  • Angelic Explanation#5 (Re. 21-22)
    The RESTORATION of all things (Ac. 3:21; Re. 21:9-22:5).

How to Use This Outline

There you have it! I recommend using this outline as a study resource as you’re reading. As you’re getting used to the book, try creating your own outline fleshing out this structure.

Especially when I started studying Revelation, I liked printing this timeline and keeping it handy alongside my Bible. The pdf below includes the outline as well as a couple of timeline charts that are also great reference material.

I also learned an ingenious trick for keeping myself oriented in my Bible as I’m reading as to whether I’m in a chronological section or an angelic interpretation. In my Bible, I drew a red box in the margin around the chronological sections, and a blue box in the margin around the angelic interpretation sections. I also wrote along the side either CS or AE and a number with a keyword.

In this picture below, you can see I have Revelation 11:15-19 marked off in red as “CS #3: Second Coming” and Revelation 12 begins “AE #3: Confrontation”. With this trick, I can see at a glance by the color in the margin whether I’m in a chronological section or an angelic explanation.

As a bonus idea, you can also see that I like to highlight all 21 judgment markers (such as “first trumpet”, “second trumpet”, etc.) with green, and I highlight all names and descriptions of God in pink.

Revelation is such a rich book, and so crucial for the church to understand. The enemy has spent generations convincing us that it’s not meant for us or too confusing for us to grasp, and it’s high time we take back what God has given to us. I pray these resources encourage and empower you to dive into Revelation with a hungry and humble heart and seek out the treasure in it!