Today, I want to talk about the chronological order of the book of Revelation.
Now, when you start reading Revelation in chapter 1, you've got John on the Isle of
Patmos, so you're in the first century AD.
Well, then you've got the letters to the seven churches in chapters 2 and 3, still
in the first century AD.
Then when you get into chapters 4 and 5, you're looking at events that are up in
heaven and basically descriptions of things that are going on in heaven.
When you get into chapter 6, you have the tribulation described.
Matches up perfectly with the description of the tribulation in Matthew 24 and Mark
13.
Then you get in chapter 7, you've got a great multitude appearing in heaven.
That's the rapture.
Chapters 8, 9, 10, and 11, you've got the seven trumpets of God's wrath being
blown.
Then when you get to chapter 12, it's interesting because you have a really obvious gear change.
At the end of chapter 11, the seventh trumpet sounds and you have a finality there that's
saying the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he shall reign forever and ever.
You have the beginning of the millennium.
So Daniel's 70th week ends at the end of chapter 11.
When you get to chapter 12, you jump back to the first century AD, and I'll prove
it to you.
So the book of Revelation is very easily understood if you understand that chapters 1
through 11 are in chronological order, but then in chapter 12, you jump back all the
way to the first century AD, and then chapters 12 through 22 are also in chronological
order.
So you just cut it right in half.
The first 11 are in chronological order, and the latter 11 are in chronological order.
You say, Pastor Anderson, prove that the chronology jumps backward in chapter 12.
Well look at the beginning of chapter 12 with me.
The Bible says in verse 1, and there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed
with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 12 stars.
And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth and pain to be delivered.
Let's jump down to verse 5 for sake of time.
And she brought forth a man-child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and
her child was caught up unto God unto his throne.
Now clearly this is the birth of Jesus Christ.
This woman gives birth to a child, a man-child, who is to rule all nations with a rod of
iron.
And it talks about Jesus in the Old Testament repeatedly as ruling with a rod of iron.
Psalm 2 is one place.
There are other places where it describes him in that way.
And then it talks about him being caught up to God unto his throne.
That's the ascension of Christ.
I didn't read it, but in verse number 4 it talks about how the devil was ready to
devour her child as soon as it was born.
Remember when Jesus was born and Herod commanded that every child under the age of two would
be murdered because he wanted to kill Jesus Christ?
So we see the birth of Christ in Revelation 12.
That's a very strong signal to us from God that we've gone back in time because
we know that that has already happened.
So as we're reading chapters 1 through 11 there's a very logical chronological order.
Then when we get to chapter 12 we're back to the first century AD with the birth
of Christ and we go through the chronology all over again.
Takes us through chapter 16.
The seventh vial of chapter 16 lines up with the seventh trumpet of chapter 11.
And then we go further.
We get into the destruction of Babylon.
We get into Armageddon in chapter 19.
And we get into the great white throne and so forth.
So I hope that helps you understand the book of Revelation just to understand that
chapters 1 through 11 are in chronological order.
But then at chapter 12 we reset back to the first century and then we're in chronological
order once again.
And we see the same events play out, tribulation, then rapture, then God pours out his wrath.
It's in both halves and it's in the same order both times.