The Four Stage Return of Christ (A Basic Revelation Outline)

Stage 1: The Return of Christ For His Church.

INTRODUCTION: What I want to look at today is an introduction to the “Book of Revelation”. I want to give an overview of Revelation. A lot of times when we do Sunday School we go down deep. One verse at a time. Sometimes one word at a time. Doing 30 years in the Book of Romans, or whatever. So, your grandkids will be able to hear the next book… because you can't ever exhaust the depth in which you can go. Of course, when you learn something you want to first have an overview of it.

Its's like when you're going in the forest and you're walking around, it's easy to get lost, right? You can see that tree and you can see that tree and then… wait a second… did I just see that tree before? Am I going in a big circle? What's going on? So, it doesn't matter how much you look at the great detail of that one tree, if you don't know where you are in the forest, you're lost, right? and so that's the general idea for the Book of Revelation. A lot of times you hear a lot of lessons and a lot of teachings about the Book of Revelation, or any other book for that matter, but they focus on the little details and you learn about those details but you say wait a second where am I?

So you always see the guy in the front with a big poster with the timeline on it; “..and this is where everything goes in the timeline” and then Revelation, instead of looking at the bible, you're looking at that timeline. You're trying to see where that goes and where this goes, and then they oftentimes say something like this, “Well you know the book of revelation, you got to cut it up in these different sections. You got to move this over here. You got to splice that over there.”

Like for example, with the rapture you believe the rapture is pre-tribulational then you see it in the first section. You see it in chapter one and four and all that stuff. If you believe the bible is post-tribulational, you see it down in the second section or in the third section. If you believe like Catholics or like some primitive Baptists do, you see it in the last section of the bible. You see it when Christ is returning in great power and glory and His kingdom is coming behind Him, and you see that as the rapture.
And then, you also equate return with rapture and all these different phrases and things are mixed together and mismatched in order to get somebody's theology. And the big issue is, you get something that looks like an oak tree,

“Well I saw an oak tree over there.”. Is that the same oak tree? No, they're two different oak trees. Or you see an aspen. Or you see, this, you see different things. They're all trees and they look like trees but they're not the same tree. And so, a lot of times, somebody will say well I see an earthquake here, I see an earthquake there, I see an earthquake there, and then you see these four different earthquakes. Well that must be the same earthquake and therefore I'm going to divide Revelation into four, and so, depending on theology, you can have Revelation divided up into two parts, into three parts, and realigned and mis-mixed and matched.

But in the Bible, we don't do that with any other book. In the bible, that I know of, we don't say, “Okay the bible here in Genesis is two parts”. No we don't do that. We read it chronologically and we understand that every once in a while, when we don't understand something, an explanation is given. And so, sometimes, it'll back up, “Okay here's the explanation of the section” and so with Revelation you need to understand that there's “Four Stages to the Return of Christ.”

Why do people see four different returns in the bible? Why does one person say, “Oh, I see the return coming in the first part of the book, another person says, “No, I see the return come in the second part of the book” and another group says, “No, I see him returning in the fourth part of the book? Well it's because it's a four-stage return. There are four different things that He's doing. And so, when you look at the Book of Revelation, you got to say, “Hold on a second!”. Just because he's returning here, and it looks like he's returning over there, and it looks like he's returning over there, you got to look and say what is He returning for? And then, why is he returning?

And then, you see something over here. “Oh, that's a gathering. This is a gathering. That must be the rapture!”. No that's the gathering of Israel and this is the gathering of His church, and this is the gathering of people to be judged.

And so, when somebody looks in maybe Matthew chapter 24 they say, “Hey, this is the gathering of the rapture by the angels!”. No, that in Matthew 24 it is actually the gathering of Israel to Jerusalem and then it is the gathering of the wicked nations to be judged in chapter 25. And so, when, a lot of times, people see these things they say, “Oh that's the rapture and therefore “after the tribulation” is the rapture!”. No, after the tribulation is the judgment. The gathering for judgment.

And so, when we look and put everything in perspective, when you read Revelation, you have to read it progressively and in order. You can't allow somebody to mix and match. If somebody's mixing the matching, they're trying to insert their theology on top of it. I used to ask if just a difference of like three and a half years… if I'm pre-tribulational or if I'm maybe mid tribulational… it's no big deal all right? Personally, I would say I don't care when Christ is coming, I'll come when he comes to get me. It doesn't bother me too much, but the thing is that when you allow somebody to change any part of the bible… That's why, when it says don't insert anything or take anything out you've got to take it in progression.

The First thing you need to see here is that the Revelation is a “four-stage return”. In each stage He's returning for something and then He's bringing them to Himself. He is bringing that thing under his authority; under his control.

HOW TO READ THE BOOK OF REVELATION: And so, the first part I have here in the notes is, “The chronology of Revelation is progressive and accumulative in Nature.” Progressive and accumulative in nature. So, if it's later on in the book it doesn't come before something that's before in the book and you can't cut it off and move it up in the timeline. It's progressive. So, when you read something chapter one it happens before stuff in chapter seven. If you read something in chapter seven it happens before stuff in chapter 14. And so, it is progressive. Just as we read in any book, you progress through the book, and so the timeline progresses.

So, the chronology of revelation is progressive and accumulative in nature. In other words, if you have a seal here, the things that the seal opens up, or breaks forth upon the world, continues on all the way until the end of the book. So those things that are happening in the first seal, the second seal, all the way to the last seal, that will herald in the antichrist, will continue on as they build up. They're all happening until the end of the time, when Christ returns for the judgment. And so, all the events of the seals, all the events of the trumpets, and then all of the events of the judgments, they all accumulate. And are happening and building upon each other. It doesn't mean that once the seal is broken and then the second seal, then that all ends. It continues and builds. Sometimes you'll see where he's explaining something and then at the end of the seals, maybe he'll explain the end event of all those. And so, some things may be in parallel, but they are always starting before the next thing.

Okay. So, it's progressive and accumulative in nature, interjected at times with explanatory passages. So sometimes you'll stop and say, “What means these things in the white robes?”, “What means these things?” and so forth. And so those are interjections explaining. It does not continue the timeline it explains what's happening in those events. So, for example, when he stops and explains what the two prophets and he takes a whole chapter to explain what that is. Or what is the woman with the twelve stars and the sun and the moon? and so he explains what that is from beginning to end. And so those are interjected explanations.

Notice the phrase is always “hereafter”, “after this”, and “then”, and not, “another viewpoint of this is”. For example, some say, “Well this is the viewpoint from this perspective and then from 14 on it's the same thing over again, except from this viewpoint.”. And they can chop it up to four times and say, “There's just four different views of the same event!” No, it's not that way. It is always, “after this”. For example, when the last seal is open, he says, “there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour”.

So, what that means is that in every one of these sections, until all the seals are open, you don't have a beginning of a trump. Until all the trumpets are blown you don't have the beginning of the vile judgments being poured out. Sometimes people say, “Well the trumpets and the vile judgments happen at the same time”. No that's not correct. Because in the scriptures, in Revelation, it gives a period of pause or gives a period of explanation of events and then it starts up again and they accumulate together. So it's progressive.

The last note there says, Rearranging of the book is often done to get man's theology to fit, but God's order is correct.”. And so, when you study the Book of Revelation, you need to take it in progression, you need to take it just like any other book. You progress through it.

THE FOUR STAGES OF REVELATION: So in the chapters, when you break down the chapters: Chapters one through four, you see Christ returning for His body; Chapters five through seven you see Christ returning for His house, the temple; In Chapters 8 through 14 you see Him returning for His nation, the children of Israel, the new Israel if you will, of believing Israel; and then Chapters 15 through 22 you see Him coming for His kingdom.

You see him coming before the world judging the world and readjusting the world into one that can be reconciled back to God in the millennial kingdom. Its purpose is to purify and to cleanse in order to so that man can one day be with God. And then in the last chapter it says, basically that, man is one with God. He's reconciled with God. God is with man on the earth. And so that's the whole purpose. It’s to bring these things into reconciliation to Christ, into God.

STAGE 1: THE RETURN OF CHRSIT FOR HIS CHURCH: So, chapters one through four we introduce this. He's coming for His body. This is where, we in this church, we believe that the rapture is pre-tribulational because we see this as the rapture. You first got to understand what the rapture is. You got to understand the rapture is, “The Holy Spirit removing people with Christ back into Heaven”. And so, we see this in chapter one. Chapter one is “the Return for His Church”. So, if you look in Revelation chapter one, we see Christ returns in clouds. He returns! and that's the declaration. Now remember it's a four-stage return. So it's not four different returns but it is four stages of this one return. And “he cometh with clouds”. He's coming for different purposes.

Chapter 1 talks about the return of Christ for His Church. You see in our paragraph there it says, “guided by the angel from Christ who will explain to him the events he sees”. This is verse 1. “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:”. So, in Revelation we have these two. The angel and John walking through each of these things, and then John sees it, and then the angel explains things that John doesn't understand, or the angel will explain to him what's going on. So, in this return he's guided by and will explain to him the events he sees.

John is caught up in the spirit on the Lord’s day in chapter one and it gives the introduction to seven churches. Now remember he is just off the coast with these seven churches. So when he's going to be caught up in the return it will be with and around these seven churches. He's going to be caught up with them. These are the seven churches closest to John, actually, if you study at the locations where he is. “and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

And verse seven, “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”. This is a conclusion of the whole matter. His return will eventually, everybody eventually, will see him. The first stage it will be his church, the second stage it will be those at the temple in Israel, and the third stage be the restoration on Mount Zion with Israel and then He'll come in glory and great power to take over the world in the fourth stage. So, every eye will see him but not all at once in this progression.

“I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

Verse 10, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day,”. So, remember he's “in the Spirit” when he sees all these things. He's in the Spirit. We need to understand the return of Christ for His church will be “in the Spirit”. We are in one Spirit with Christ. We are in the Spirit with Him. We are going to be going to Heaven through His Spirit. Not by the angels gathering us to Israel. We are going to be gathered in His Spirit on the Lord's day.

“The Lord's day” is His return. His initial return will be through His Spirit for His Spirit. In Matthew chapter 24 verse 14 it says, “And this gospel… shall be preached in all the world… and then… the end [shall] come.” and so we understand that Christ comes first for His Spirit and for those who are “in the Spirit”.

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,” So that is the trump of the archangel, the trumpet of the Lord, “saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last:”. The trump is saying this, and, “What thou seest, write in a book,”. “I want you to explain this stuff”. And if you look whenever prophecy is given for Daniel and Ezekiel, they are also told, “what you see write in a book. You write it down. Let people know this. It’s going to happen.”. They're always told it in the Spirit.

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,” verse 12, “And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;”. So, what is the first thing he sees? He's talking to these seven churches and then when he turns to hear this voice that is calling him, then he sees the churches, the seven churches that are closest to him on the Isle of Patmos, when he's gone up into the clouds, into the air. He sees the seven churches and among those seven churches is Jesus Christ. So, he is in the midst of them.

“I turned to see the voice that spake with me.” Who's speaking to him? It is Jesus Christ who’s speaking to him! “And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.” So where is Jesus Christ? He's among the churches. He's with them. They're gathered in the Spirit, on the Lord's day! So, this is the Return of Christ in chapter one.

“His head and his hairs were white like wool,”, he's explaining who he is, “and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.”, “And he had in his right hand seven stars:” So where are the spirits of the churches? The angels of the churches? They're in his hand at this time! “And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.” So, this is the return of Christ, in the Spirit, for the churches.

“And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:” So He's gathering the first and the last in His Spirit and is gathering the Spirit to Him, in the air.

And verse 20 says, “the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.” So, these churches he's writing to, he's saying, “On the Lord's day, I saw you in the lord's hand! This is where I saw you!” And so, we need to understand that when we are raptured, in the Spirit, on the Lord's day, it will be by the Lord in His Spirit. And that is the return.

Look at this for chapter one “The return of Christ for His Church”, First Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 16 to 18. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” So we see that Revelation chapter one starts with the Return of Christ for His church. He is meeting them in the air. And if you look in Hebrew and Greek “air” is synonymous with “spirit” as well. So that's important to understand. That's why we meet him in the air it’s because we don't meet him on the earth, we don't meet him in heaven. We meet him in the Spirit, in the air, in the in the ether, if you will. Between Heaven and Earth. We meet him in the Spirit and are forever with him.

JUDGEMENT OF THE CHURCHES: So, He has them, He's gathered them, and now what does He do in chapter two and three? He's judging the churches. Throughout all of time. These seven churches and all the other churches. Because if you read these passages it says to, “hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches”. And so, what he wrote for these seven churches is things that we should hear.

In my opinion the angels overseeing these churches, just as Michael the Archangel is the angel overseeing Israel, so to, we as a church have an angel overseeing us, and guiding us, and protecting us, having a hedge about us to protect us, as we do the Lord's work, through His Spirit.

In the church judgment, in these chapters, basically we have our judgment. He says here's what you're doing good, here's what you're doing bad, and if you're not careful about fixing the things you're doing bad, this is what's going to happen to you. And then, He also explains because of the things that you're doing good and you're working for me, here's your reward. And Christ also says, when I return my reward is going to be with me. And so here in this judgment of these churches, He's explaining to them, “here's what you need to do”. And the benefit of this especially is, that because he's talking to churches at their birth, they have a chance to fix all these things. All these churches are there, and so they have a privilege.

Even though He's talking about the rapture, He's talking about the Return of Christ and the accumulation of all things, he has an opportunity to write in this letter things that will help them in the present moment. Pretty neat. He says, “Hey! At this present moment in time you have been persecuted.”, “Over here you guys have to deal with these satanic people.”, and, “You guys have to deal with this over here is these Jews who hate God and are synagogues of Satan.”, “You have to deal with all these people, but here's what you got to do.” He's giving the practical advice for that time. He doesn't give them some crazy advice for something that happens 2,000 years from then, but he's given advice and judgment for them at that time. Very practical. But, basically, that's the judgment of those churches.

And also, for “the judgment of the churches” Look at Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10 and 20. We understand that, when we return to Christ, we're going to be before him and his throne and before his judgment seat. Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”. Verse 20 says, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”

So here He is in chapters two and three. He is saying, “Hey, here's what you do” and even in other parts it says, “Hey, I'm going to give you a stone with your name on it.”. That's a reward. “I'm going to do this for you.” I'm going to do that for you.” that is His return. That is his judgment time. He's judging those churches.

And so, we know that when Christ returns in His glory, we are going to meet him in the air and then he's going to judge us, He's going to reward us, and he's going to give us our authority. He's going to give us our thrones. He's going to give us our roles, if you will, in eternity, and then he's going to take us to be with him. John chapter 14 verse two, “In my Father’s house are many mansions:… I go to prepare a place for you.” And so that's what Christ is doing now. He's preparing. He's reconciling. He's issuing that.

“HERE AFTER” CHRSIT RAPTURES HIS CHURCH: And then in chapter four, He is rapturing the Church to Heaven by the Spirit. Chapter four verse one is the rapture of the church to Heaven by the Spirit. So we understand, here is Christ in the air with His churches and he is judging them. He explained these things to them, and He gave them their rewards.

And then verse one, “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven:”. So, here's this door opened in heaven. Christ has returned in His great glory and power. He has the churches in His hands. He's judged them, He's given them their rewards, and now, He along with John and all the other people in the churches, are going to go through this door that is opened in Heaven.

“a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me;” You know, the trump of the archangel, “which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”.

So when we go up, when we are removed from this earth, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit that we are in, (we are in the Spirit on the Lord's day) the Spirit is removed into Heaven. Not the Holy Spirit because he holds creation together, but rather the ministry and spirit of Christ. The Holy Ghost within us, in that role, is removed from this earth. So no longer will there be salt and light of Christ upon the earth because we've removed to heaven with Him.

And so what's going to happen in the hereafter is about when the church is gone. “Here after” the church has left. “Here after” the Spirit of Christ (which is in us, reconciling the world to Himself) has left. And so no longer is this gospel being preached. It's now the end [of the Gospel ministry of Christ through us] and that moves on to verse 15 in chapter 24.

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

Here I have 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 1 through 7. “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2 that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.”

So, what's preventing this end time? It is the hereafter. It is the Holy Spirit that we are caught up in the air with Christ. We're being removed through this door in Heaven. It is holding back that Spirit of Christ. That salt and light in the earth today. What's the famous saying? It says that, “If good men do nothing, the wicked prevail.”, or something like that. The same way is that, the salt and light in this earth, is preventing the wicked from completely taking over.

The salt and light in in this earth but when we are removed, taken out of the way, there is no longer salt and light and the restrainer, the restraint that was upon the Antichrist and his goals, was removed. Just think if there were no good people, would Hitler have prevailed in this world? If there were no good people would have Japan? But if they've been able to take over, if no good people were in this earth, would there have been wicked people that would have overcome any good that was left on this earth? I would say yes.

All the greatness we have on this earth and the western civilization. What makes the western civilization great is because they were submitted for a very long time to the cause of Christ. Now they weren't perfect, but they were salt and light. They were seeking to do what was right. When those type of people are removed, those people that have the Spirit of Christ within them, ministering on behalf of Christ, are removed, then the restraint upon wickedness is removed. And so, what happens after that is removed? That is what the angel shows in the rest of the chapter.

So here in this passage we've gone on to that and we've explained, that is in progression and we never had to take anything out of order, did we? The Return of Christ for His church is the rapture. It is what happens “here after”. It is in progression. It is in alignment with other passages of scripture, and that's only the first stage.

Chapter 4 and verse 11, I want to notice here also, is that they go through the door and then the elders of the church worshipping God, casting their crowns before him, in verse 11. That means that these 24 elders of the church, the Old Testament, New Testament, they are before the throne. They have been given their authority and crowns and powers. and the crowns on their heads, they cast them before the throne. Verse 11, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

INITIATING THE SECOND STAGE: And then, Chapter five starts the next one, [the second stage,] where he switches from being in His ministry position into His role as the Lion of the Tribe of David. And so, once he completes his ministry through us on earth, He switches roles. So, we see here, He's not ministering any longer as the Head of The Church. His ministry now, as the Head of Judah, the Head of Israel. So, what He does from this progression onward is not for us “The Church”, because we're with him. He's one with us. We are in His body. The salt and light has been removed and now He's coming with His body in great power and glory. We are ruling with Christ at this time. And we will be with Christ in heaven watching him initiate the next.

The seals, the trumpets, and the viles are all initiated by God through His power. And Verse 1 of chapter 5 “And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?”. No man could do that.

And verse four, “And I wept much, because no man was found worthy…” And verse five, “And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.” And notice where Jesus is in this group. “and I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.”

So here we have Christ gone on to Heaven and in his hands was the seven churches, the candlesticks, and then now here he is amongst the elders. And he's coming forth from amongst them. The seven candlesticks and the elders they symbolize the same thing. And He come from amongst them, to stand before God, to take this seal. So, with God, we see him take this sealed book. “And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.”

And that initiates and restarts Daniel's 70th week; that initiates and restarts the events of Ezekiel; and it restarts the events in Matthew chapter 23 through 24. See what happened is that the events written about in Daniel were on pause. We had 69 weeks and there's a 70th week yet to be fulfilled. And then it restarts Ezekiel. Ezekiel talks about the desecration in the temple and that restarts as well.

CONCLUSION: We don't have time to go through the other stages but hopefully this overview will give you a general idea of what's going on. I only worked with the first few passages here. On the other side of this paper is, of course, for the next stages but I didn't give a detailed explanation of those. I just gave a one sentence explanation for all the chapters. And so, we'll just end it there but hopefully this paper will give you a general idea. If I do any more teaching, I'll go into the next stages of this progression. Thank you.

(Trans-scripted from the audio video Sunday School lesson, taught by Brother John Young, at Green Meadow Bible Baptist Church, In Kalamazoo, MI. on 9-6-2020. Pastor Steven Zantjer presiding. Audio Video can be found here: https://youtu.be/q6s_Qe12WcY)

LESSON NOTES: 

"The Four Stage Return of Christ"- A Basic Revelation Outline - Part 1
Chronology of Revelation is progressive and accumulative in nature, interjected at times with explanatory passages. (Notice the phrases are always “hereafter”, “after this” and “then” not “another view of this event is”. Also notice sections of explanation pause the chronology “What meanith” or “come and see” etc. Rearranging of the Book is often done to get man’s theology to fit but God’s order is correct.)

Chapter Sections: 1-4 For His Body, 5-7 For His House, 8-14 For His Nation, 15-22 For His Kingdom

Chapters 1-4 For His Body (Rapture of the Church, 7 Candlesticks) Time: Now till the Rapture
Chapter 1: Return of Christ for the church.(1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)
Chapters 2-3: Judgment of the churches. (2 Corinthians 5:10, 20)
Chapter 4: Rapture of the church to Heaven by the Spirit. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-7)

Section synopsis: Guided by the Angel from Christ who will explain to him the events that he sees (1:1) John is caught up in the Spirit on the LORD’S DAY with Christ and the seven churches (1:10-18, 1:20). After brief explanation letters to the churches of this present time and their judgment they are then taken by Christ by the Spirit to Heaven through Heaven’s door (4:1-2) into God’s throne room where we see the elders of the Church worshiping God and casting their crowns before Him (4:11). Notice they already have their rewards (4:4). From this room the church will see what happens “hereafter” they and the Spirit of Christ (HG in us) are removed from the earth.

Chapters 5-7 For His House (Cleansing the Temple, 7 Seals) Time: Rapture til Midweek
Chapter 5: Christ is found worthy to open the book and start Daniel’s 70th week (D.9).
Chapter 6: Christ opens six seals, which initiates the first half of Daniel’s 70th week,
Chapter 7: Christ re-initiates events of Ezekiel and Matt 23-24 leading to desolation of Anti-Christ Israel, The great tribulation, and the birth of righteous Israel.

Section synopsis: Christ, now reunited with his Spiritual body, now claims his role as Head of Israel (5:5-6) in order to restart Daniel’s 7th Week and to reclaim his earthly throne (The ark of the convent), as shown in the visions of Ezekiel. This throne will be transported to Israel’s desolate house (the Temple in Israel), upon which the Ani-Christ will attempt to claim by placing his image upon it (2 Thess 2:4, Ezekiel 8). This Act cause God's glory to appear upon the throne, who then directs seven angels judge the wicked and seal the righteous in the temple and in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 8). This event will anger the Anti-Christ who will then retaliate by initiating war against the saints who flee Jerusalem and enter the wilderness (Matthew 24:15-22). The anti-Christ will then initiate the “Great tribulation purge” by slaughtering any non-sealed but repentant people he can find and will reclaim the city (Psalm 79:1-4) but not the temple or the inner court which will be divinely protected so that he two prophets God chooses can witness in the inner court before the temple doors to the world (Revelation 11).

Chapters 8-14 For His Nation (Saving Sealed Israel, 7 Trumpets) Time: Last half of the week
Chapter 8-9: Christ opens 7th seal initiating Prayer of Slaughtered Saints from 6:10-11, 7:13-15 and Psalm 79. and Six angels sound the coming Judgment of God.
Chapter 10: John is shown the Seven Thunders that will come just after the seventh angel sounds but before the vial judgments. They will reveal God's eternal plans.
Chapter 11: Two temple prophets described. Called away just before 7th angel sounds.
Chapter 12: New's Israel's Spiritual struggle with The Devil is shown.
Chapter 13: The earth's Struggle with the Beast and False Prophet is shown.
Chapter 14: Christ gathers Israel to Mt. ZION and gathers the World to be judged.
Chapters 15-22 For His Kingdom (Judging the World, 7 Vials) Time: Last day of the week
Chapter 15: The Vials of wrath shown going out of the Heavenly temple.
Chapter 16: The Vials are poured out upon the earth. Great Babylon Judged.
Chapter 17: Great Babylon described as a Whore. The Whore and Beast explained.
Chapter 18: Great Babylon destroyed for killing the saint of God.
Chapter 19: Marriage supper of the Lamb and supper of The Great God.
Chapter 20: Thousand-year reign and the final Judgment explained.
Chapter 21: New heavens and earth, New Jerusalem, God reunited with man.