Welcome to the start of our Revelation series. I am quite sure this will become our biggest series yet.
God put it on my heart to start learning about Revelation in about February this year (That is, 2025, if you are reading this later on). Revelation is a book I had always struggled to understand, so instead, I always chose to focus on the easier reads. This wasn't for lack of trying, I had done many sessions with my Life Group, watching pastors attempt to explain this book, but nothing seemed to stick.
But God put an urgency on my heart. So much so that I stopped writing for Love Church for about 3 months to really put all my focus into this book. It has become clear to me why God put it on my heart. I can finally say I understand this book, and now it is time to release this to our members. Revelation is actually not confusing at all. Most Christians will say, "Why are there strange creatures and symbols? I don't understand." Actually, these symbols are very easy to grasp, IF you know your Old Testament. We will be breaking it all down for you in this series.
One thing I can definitely see is that the Church today lacks urgency for what is to come. There is really a lack of focus on this book, and from what I believe now, we may have much less time than we thought.
Over the course of this series, we will be releasing about 7 teachings on Revelation. This is one of the teachings that will form part of 'Eschatology Foundations' - The beginner course with some high-level topics. The rest will be part of 'Eschatology Advanced' - Which will be a members-only exclusive. Feel free to sign up here.
In the Beginning... or the End?
Rev 1:1 The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
Rev 1:2 who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Rev 1:3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
The prologue establishes a mini-covenant with its readers. 'Blessed is the one who reads it'. This reminds us of the covenant of the Law, God set before Israel a blessing if they followed the Law of Moses.
This mini-covenant comes with some conditions, though:
- You must be a servant of Christ (Rev 1:1)
- You must hear it and understand it - If you don't understand the words, you cannot receive the blessing.
The Outline of Revelation
There are three main things I want to highlight to establish this outline:
Number 1: It ends the current dispensation
Revelation is a special book, because it closes this age of dispensation. A dispensation is defined as: a political, religious, or social system prevailing at a particular time. We are living in the Church age, the age of grace. Whereas, in the Old Testament, they lived in the Dispensation of the Law.
Number 2: It involves symbols that are already explained elsewhere
There are over 800 references to the Old Testament in this book. After having studied the Old Testament (Especially the stories of Joseph, Daniel & Ezekial), Revelation
Number 3: It deals with Past, Present & Future
Revelation can be broken up into 2 categories: Past, Present & Future.
Revelation 2-3 specifically deals with the Past and the Present. It specifically centers on the Church Age. This is so special, because Jesus Himself authored these letters to His Church. This is not the writing of Paul or James; this is straight from the mouth of God.
Revelation brings together 2000 years of Church history in just 2 chapters (Technically 3, but we will get to that later). We will go through this shortly in our teaching on the 7 Churches.
The rest of Revelation deals exclusively with future events. This is important to remember, as many errors have come from not understanding this. We will address these in another teaching about cults that have formed as a result of this.
Number 4: It is not written in order.
We have a whole foundational teaching on how Revelation is written, which will arrive soon, and I encourage you to read that when it comes out.
In the next chapter, let's dive deeper into the outline we established and slowly begin to unveil the mystery of Revelation.
Diving Deeper
To make this easier, let's start with the Church Age (Or the Church Dispensation). This is the age we live in now, and is dealt with in Revelation 2 & 3. (It technically continues in Chapter 6, but we will get to that. For now, keeping the scope to chapters 2 and 3 is sufficient.
It should be everyone's duty to learn as much as possible about Revelation 2 and 3 because these are Jesus remarks about His Church. What He likes, what He doesn't like, all of these are critical to Christians.
This is so important because we also live in the dispensation of grace. A time when people must voluntarily choose Jesus and follow Him. Knowing all you can about what pleased our Saviour is critical to our mission.
But, living in this age of grace is not ideal. We live in a strange time, because people can lie, cheat, steal, and murder and get away with it. Interestingly, people say 'God is not a good God! There is so much divorce, abuse, and starving kids in this world!'. This is not logical - God did not choose that, people chose that. God gave Adam and Eve total free will, and they chose to betray God.
God then has basically let us run the show for 6000 years - and look how well that has turned out. God is 1000% fair! He has let humans try their own ways, just to prove to us that His ways are the best.
The best way to answer someone who believes God is unfair is to think one step further and ask them 'How would you run the world then?'. Often, they have not considered this far, but if they say something like 'They would enforce peace or end suffering', then by that logic, if someone disrupts that peace or causes someone to suffer, they would need to kill that person just to maintain the peace, or forcefully control everyone. That is not free will.
Luckily for us, soon we will have a perfect King to rule over us, Jesus Christ, or more accurately, Yeshua Hamashiach. He will rule and reign perfectly over us, from his headquarters in Jerusalem, Israel.
The Rapture Intro - Chapter 4 or Not?
Many Christians debate - When is the rapture? We will discuss this in another teaching, but essentially, there are a few views out there, but I will only discuss one in this short preface:
- Pre-Tribulation Rapture:
The main argument for this rapture timing is found in Revelation 4:
Rev 4:1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
Many people argue that the words "Come up here" signify that the Church is raptured at this point. If we look at the rest of Revelation, the word 'Church' also disappears. John is basically a foreshadowing of the church being raptured in these verses.
Another good case for this point is that all the language and symbols become Jewish. It seems to indicate God has stopped time and started Daniel's 70th Week. If you don't know what I am referring to, we will have a teaching on that soon. Daniel's 70th week is one of the most critical prophecies to understanding Revelation.
However, I do not necessarily believe this is a strong enough case. Remember earlier in the teaching when I mentioned this:
This is the age we live in now, and is dealt with in Revelation 2 & 3. (It technically continues in Chapter 6, but we will get to that. For now, keeping the scope to chapters 2 and 3 is sufficient.
What happens from Rev 4 to Rev 5 is a scene shift from Earth to Heaven. Think of it like a movie, the scenes are just shifting to a new location to add some more context.
Chapter 6 then shifts the scene back down to Earth and resumes playing. However, it seems to contradict the pre-trib rapture theory, because in Chapter 6, we see a reference to the Church still being on Earth at this point:
Rev 6:9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.
Jews and Muslims are not known for being slain because of the Word of God. I believe these people are from the Church.
This now skews the rapture timeline away from pre-tribulation, and we are still not clear on when the rapture would be. We will resume this teaching in a separate release. This is to get you excited to learn more!
Some Symbols to Know
I will outline some basic symbols already, so you can immediately feel more comfortable with reading Revelation. We will discuss them in more detail in separate releases.
Any reference to land or Earth = Israel
Any reference to the Sea = Gentiles
Any reference to 42 months or 1260 days = 3.5 years, which is the Tribulation time.
Any reference to a woman = Israel.
Any reference to the dragon = Devil.
Any reference to the 12 Stars = 12 tribes of Israel (Jacob's dream)
Any reference to Stars in isolation = demons
Any reference to Sun = Jacob
Any reference to Moon = Jacob's wife / Joseph's mother
Any reference to a pregnant woman = Virgin birth
Any reference to a place in the wilderness = The Country of Jordan
Example: Rev 7:3 “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
Note - I am not sure what trees refer to and can't find a referance back in the OT.
The Jewish Book
God does not want the book of Revelation to be confusing. As we stated before, Revelation 2-3 is for the Church, and we have expanded this to include chapter 6 as well.
90% of the rest of the book is written to the Jews. All the language and symbols pivot to those familiar to the Jews. Daniel's 70th week has started.
The first indication of this is the 144,000. God makes it simple and explains who these people are:
Rev 7:4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
I am not sure how people confuse this verse - It is quite clear. The 144,000 people are people from the land of Israel. Because Revelation is written in a chiastic structure (As we show here in our very first Escatology Foundation teaching), there is another chapter dedicated to the 144 000:
Rev 14:1 Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
This expands it further and shows the 144,000 Jews are with Jesus in Heaven! (Mount Zion is a description for Heaven). This means they have their own rapture, and we will dedicate a full teaching on the rapture (Actually raptures).
What Needs to Happen before the End & The Third Temple
It is quite incredible that the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans.
Paul wrote Revelation in 90AD, and despite him literally seeing the Temple destroyed, he saw in his visions a new, third temple in the end times.
Rev 11:1 I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers.
What is even more incredible is this verse, straight after verse 1:
Rev 11:2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.
Do not measure the outer court, for it is given to the Gentiles... Do you know what stands on the Temple Mount right now? Al Aksa Mosque & The Dome of the Rock - Right where the outer court should be. Muslims are gentiles.
Please go to this teaching to see what else Revelation tells us needs to be in place before the end.
Don't be Decieved
We recently put out a post on Why Christians Must Stand with Israel. One of the main indicators of the end times is a rapid rise in anti-semitism. It is incredible how the world watched as Hitler killed one-in-three Jews or watched Spain kick out the entire population on a whim, but still go back to anti-semitism.
The Jews are the most persecuted race on Earth. People say it is because they have secret control over the world. The real reason is that they are God's chosen people, and the devil can't stand it.
Turn on the news - going back to 1948 - and who are always the heroes? The Palestinians. Palestine was not even a region - It belonged to Jordan. Jordan then annexed the West Bank, and so this entity was created. The Bible tells us there will be another Holocaust, and this time only a third of Jews will survive...
Conclusion
In this first teaching of Revelation, we created a 'starter pack' for you. It contains some must-knows before we dive right in. All these topics will be expanded in great detail in our upcoming releases.
The Book of Revelation is not a puzzle meant to confuse believers, but it is to prepare us. This book is not about beasts and symbols alone; it is about Jesus Christ revealing His plan for the Church and the Jews.
The prologue sets the tone: “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy.” (Rev 1:3) Like the covenant blessings in the Law of Moses, the blessing here is conditional — it is for the servants of Christ who both hear and understand what is written. This makes Revelation unique.
As we learned, Revelation ties together all of God’s dispensations — from the Law to Grace, and finally, to the Kingdom. It connects directly to the Old Testament, drawing from over 800 references in books like Daniel, Ezekiel, and Isaiah. This means that the so-called “mysteries” of Revelation are not new; they are the fulfillment of everything God has already revealed. If you know your Old Testament, you already hold the key to understanding this book.
Revelation 2 and 3 anchor us in the Church Age. These letters from Jesus Himself show us what He loves, what He rebukes, and what He expects of His Church.
Whether the rapture occurs before, during, or after the Tribulation, one thing is certain: those who are in Christ must live ready. (Although we will find out when the Rapture really is, in an upcoming teaching). The stage shifts from the Church to Israel, God’s covenant people, as Daniel’s 70th week begins.
From the 144,000 sealed Israelites to the rebuilding of the Third Temple (Rev 11:1–2), God’s prophetic clock begins to tick again for the Jewish nation. Even the smallest details — the Gentiles trampling the outer court, the symbolism of the dragon, the woman, the stars — all show how awesome God is!
And as anti-semitism rises and the nations turn against Israel, we see prophecy unfolding before our very eyes. The persecution of the Jews, the call for global unity, the moral decay of society — all of it confirms that the time is near.
So as we begin this Revelation series, let this be your anchor: God’s plan is unfolding exactly as He said it would. Study, watch & pray. And above all — stay faithful, for the words of Jesus still echo today:
“Surely I am coming quickly.” (Revelation 22:20)