STUDIES ON THE BOOK OF REVELATION The Bible contains many references to the Last Days; the Book of Revelation is in fact devoted totally to the subject. As a search on the Internet will reveal, however, there are literally hundreds of different interpretations as to what the Book of Revelation is really about. There are many reasons for this, one being that Satan doesn't want us to know the truth. Another is that the book was written in symbolic form, but people try and put a literal interpretation on it and then wonder why it doesn't make any sense. To get it to add up, they take prophesies from all over the Bible, string them together and come up with a scenario which they preach as gospel. This has resulted in a plethora of interpretations which are widely circulated and accepted but make very little sense. To cover themselves, those who come up with these scenarios always talk about things that are yet to happen, so they need never worry about being proved wrong, even though the Book of Revelation makes it very clear most of the things in it should have already come to pass by the time our generation reads about them. The more sensational it is, the more people believe it. As a result, we get scenarios drawn from the Book of Revelation which go into minute detail about the Antichirst, one world government, The Great Tribulation and the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, America defending Israel with nuclear weapons, 144,000 Jewish male virgins fighting the Russian army, people with microchips in their hands and foreheads - all rather amazing feats considering that none of these events and terminologies are even mentioned in the book of Revelation! I personally believed some of those theories for many years but always felt uncomfortable about them because they left too many unanswered questions and were always subject to a person's interpretation. I now don't believe the Book of Revelation, or The Bible as a whole for that matter, was ever meant to be open to interpretation. The Book of Revelation has one true meaning, a message that God wants His Church to hear and understand; I now understand what that message is and what its true meaning is. This can be determined by anyone by simply asking four questions, the answers to which are found in the opening verses of the book of Revelation: "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 it signified by his angel unto his servant John". Keep those answers in mind as you read the book, line it up with a little Church history (a Church timeline is included on these pages to help you do that) and it makes total sense. 1. What is the book of Revelation about? Verse one describes the book as the Revelation or unveiling of Jesus Christ. Verse two reinforces verse one by adding that it is The Word of God (Jesus is the Word made flesh, Gospel of John Ch.1) and the testimony of Jesus Christ (the testimony, or witnesses, through which God has revealed Christ to the World is His Church). Though the second coming is mentioned, the book is not about the second coming, it is about Jesus and His testimony - His Church. It is not about the Great Tribulation either; it is not about the Rapture; it is not about the Antichrist - it is about Jesus, His church and His relationship to it, just as verses 1 and 2 say. The Book of Revelation tells about His Church and Christ's Bride; how spiritual life will be for His Church during the End Times, ie. The Church Age, and what the dangers and pitfalls will be on our journey to the promised land. Because it is a prophetic book about Jesus, it contains many things that are echos, types or symbols of Jesus that are found elsewhere in the other books of the Bible. It confirms them as truth; they confirm it as truth. 2. Who was it written to? Verse one says it was given to John to make Christ known to His bondservants (the true church of Jesus Christ). That includes every Christian from the first century when it was written to all those who would follow. It is relevant to all of them because it is about Jesus. It is written to His Church to tell them how He will interact with His Church throughout the whole of the Church age, which began in Acts 2. The book was written within a few years of the Romans completely obliterating the Jews as a nation. Many Jews had died in Jerusalem trying to protect their city from the marauding armies of Rome, others had died in the seige of Masada; only a few escaped to start a new life in the devastated state of Judea. Jesus had not returned to defeat Rome and establish His kingdom on earth as the Church in Jerusalem under James, the brother of Jesus, and Jude had been teaching He would. The Book of Revelation appears to have been given by God to tell the church of that time, not only that Christ's return was not imminent, but also that the church would be around for a long time yet and they had a lot to look forward to. Other Christian texts written in the years immediately after the Book of Revelation began to be circulated indicate this is how the Christians of the day interpreted it. 3. How much of it has already happened? Verse one states that the things within the book would come to pass shortly and speedily. Verse three reinforces this by adding that the time is at hand - right now - for these things to happen. To get it all into perspective, those words were spoken in the year 90 AD or thereabouts - that's over 1,900 years ago. You don't have to be a rocket scentist to work out that, since the events prophesied were about to take place (speedily and shortly) back in 90 AD, most of them will have already happened by now. There is therefore no point in Christians today believing that all the prophesies in the Book of Revelation are about to enfold before their eyes in their lifetimes as some people are teaching. It is a few millennia too late for that. What we need to do is get out our history books and compare what has already happened since 90 AD with what the book of Revelation says was going to happen and then we can determine where we sit along the timeline of the Church Age, or as the Bible calls it, " The End Times" . That is one of the aims of these web pages. Our study, The "Sevens" of the Book of Revelation, will help you do that. 4. How is the Book of Revelation to be interpreted? In the original Greek, verse 1 says God sent the book "signified by his angel". The word "signified" in the context written here translates as being sent "in signified (symbolic) form". When the King James version was being translated, the word "sign" was an abbreviation of the word signature, which was a representative symbol. Jesus often taught "in signature" - the Gospel writers call these teachings parables; the words and phrases in them are symbols that hide the real meaning from those to whom God did not want to reveal His secrets. Most Old Testament prophecies are written in this manner, therefore the symbols and terminologies found there are the same as those found here. So a more accurate translation of Verse 1 is "he (God) sent it by his angel to his servant John using symbolism". Having been written using the symbolism of the Old Testament books of prophecy, the people of the first century church would have been quite familiar both with this method of writing, and the way it is to be interpreted. We aren't, so a few aids to understanding prophetic symbols and numerics are included here to help you unlock the Book's real meaning. Without an understanding of these symbols, reading the book of Revelation is like reading a foreign language. This might explain why there are so many far fetched interpretations floating around from people who have missed the relevance of the word "signified" in verse 1, or use a version of the Bible that leaves the word out altogether because the translator didn't realise its meaning or significance either. The key words and phrases in the book are therefore all symbolic and have symbolic meanings and should not be taken literally. For example, when it says 'Jerusalem', having being written in signs or symbols, it is not referring to the actual place but the symbol of what Jerusalem represents, that is, the place where God meets with His people. Take care not to interpret parts as symbolic and some as literal. Everyone agrees that the reference to the Beast in the Book of Revelation is symbolic, yet so many people expect the mark of the Beast to be a literal mark. A symbolic beast can't have a literal mark. Taking anything in the book of Revelation literally is to ignore this important key found in verse one - that it is all symbolic. Every number in the book of Revelation has a symbolic meaning, so they, too, must not be taken literally. For example, when you see a reference to a third, interpret that as a reference to the Redeemed of the Lord, for that is what a third symbolised in the Old Testament prophetic texts, which were written in the same manner - "in signature". Why was the Book of Revelation written in code? The book effectively told Christians of the day that the Church of Jerusalem had got it wrong - Christ's kingdom was a heavenly (spiritual) kingdom and it had already arrived. As Jesus had said, His kingdom was not an earthly kingdom so there was no point in expecting Him to suddenly appear and overthrow the Romans. It told them the Church was going to be around for a while so they'd better get used to it. But whilst that was good news in one way, in another way it wasn't. The Roman Emperor at the time was Domitian, a cruel and paranoid tyrant who ranks among the most reviled rulers in Roman history, and is often compared to such emperors as Caligula and Nero. One of his favourite pastimes was throwing Christians to the lions. As you will see if you read the section on The Beast, the Roman Empire and later the Holy Roman Empire fits the description of the Beast of the Book of Revelation in every detail. To the Christians of that time, who feared for their lives under the tyranny of Rome, there was no doubt who or what the Beast of the Book of Revelation was either. It was therefore necessary to write the book in code or symbolism so only those with a knowledge of the writings of the Old Testament prophets would understand its true meaning, since their writings were written in the same code. Any copies of the Book which found their way into the hands of the Roman authorities would be treated as gibberish, just as it is by people today who don't know how to interpret the code or even recognise that code is being used. For the benefit of readers who are unfamiliar with the symbols and numbers of prophecy and what they represent, we have included two lists of prophetic symbols - Symbols used in Bible Prophecy and Bible Numerics. You will probably need to refer to these pages frequently while studying the various topics covered here, so we recommend you either print them out (there are a lot of pages!) or bookmark them for quick reference. Once you know what the symbols and numbers in the book represent, the Book of Revelation will come to life and make sense, as you will be reading it the way its author intended it to be read. Where to now? Listed in the right hand column of this page are links to 19 chapters which deal with the main subjects covered by the Book of Revelation. To study any one aspect of the Book, simply click on the chapter that takes your interest. If you wish to study the whole book, we recommend the chapters be read in numerical order, commencing with The Letters to the Seven Churches. This chapter describes the four sets of "sevens" which make up the main subject matter of the book - The Seven Letters, Seals, Trumpets and Bowls - and how each of these "sevens" relates to the others and how they together dovetail perfectly with the seven parables about the Kingdom of God which Jesus taught his disciples in Matthew 13. The other chapters of this study fill in the details of what those "sevens" are all about, examine other aspects of the end times covered by the Book of Revelation - The Beast, Babylon The Harlot, Armageddon, The Two Witnesses, The False Prophet, The Millennium etc. - as well as examine a few that aren't which some people mistakenly believe are - these include The Antichrist, The Great Tribulation and One World Government. For an overview of what the Book of Revelation is all about, we also recommend the article The Symbols of Revelation on an unrelated third-party website.

SPECIFIC STUDIES ON THE BOOK OF REVELATION 1. The Letters to the Seven Churches (Rev. 2 & 3) How they compare to the Seven Parables of Jesus about the Kingdom of Heaven and the other Sevens in the Book of Revelation. 2. The Great Tribulation (Matt 24) Many Christians believe the Church will go through The Great Tribulation. That appears unlikely, since The Great Tribulation occurred nearly 1,900 years ago. 3. The Antichrist Did you know that the Antichrist is not mentioned once in the Book of Revelation? 4. Debunking the Antichrist theory What the book of Daniel says about Antichrist 5. The "Sevens" of the Book of Revelation A comparison of the 'Sevens' in the Gospels and The Book of Revelation. 6. The Seven Seals (Rev. 6-8) Revealing their meaning. 7. The Seven Trumpets (Rev. 8-10) Revealing their meaning. 8. The Seven Bowls of Judgement (Rev. 15, 16) The consequences of ignoring God's warings. 9. The Two Witnesses (Rev. 11) Are they still to come, or have they been with The Church all along? 10. The Woman Clothed in the Sun (Rev 12) The Church vs Satan. 11. The Beast (Rev. 13) Who or what is The Beast? 12. The Number of the Beast (Rev. 13) We know it is 666, but what does it really signify? 13. Babylon the Harlot (Rev. 17, 18) Revealing the identity of modern day Babylon. 14. All Roads Lead to Rome Evidence of Babylon the Harlot in the contemporary Church of Jesus Christ. 15. The False Prophet (Rev. 19) Who is The Beast's right hand man? 16. The Woman and the Beast: are they Communism? 17. Armageddon: The Final Showdown (Rev 16) 18. Armageddon: Mt Carmel Revisited? A study of Elijah's challenge of the prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel as a type or foreshadowing of Armageddon. 19. The Millennium (Rev 20) Who said it will last for a thousand years? The Hope of Israel The Jews have always believed that The Messiah will one day come to earth and establish an earthly kingdom in the State of Israel, restoring both the nation to its former greatness complete and the Worship of God via a re-built Temple in Jersualem. Many Christians believe that such events are tied in with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. This study, on a third party website, examines what the Bible has to say about the subject. The Covenants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob When blessing his 12 sons, Israel told them that the fulfillment of the covenant promises will occur during the Last Days. AIDS IN UNDERSTANDING THE BOOK OF REVELATION Church Age Time Line A chronology of major Church events 1st Century to 13th Century 13th Century onwards Time Prophesies The fulfilment of predicted periods of time of prophesied events Bible Numerics Unlocking the hidden numeric code of Bible prophecy Symbols used in Bible Prophecy Understanding and interpreting the symbols found in Bible prophecy King Nebuchadnezzar's Dream (Dan. 2) Interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar's dream Daniel's Four Beasts (Dan. 7) Interpreting Daniel's vision of Four Beasts The Seventy Weeks (Dan. 9) The prophecy about God's dealings with the Jewish nation