The purpose of this appendix is to demonstrate that there is nothing artificial or contrived about the Harmony of Revelation. It is hoped that the details supplied herein will provide sufficient guidance for sincere skeptics to verify that every step of the derivation is rational -- that harmonistic eschatology follows logically and inevitably from the assumption that Revelation consists of seven parallel accounts of the end-times.
The first step in our derivation is to test the harmonistic assumption that Revelation contains seven natural divisions. This is a simple task which I encourage you to perform, yourself, before continuing with your reading.
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If you do perform this task yourself, you should identify the same seven divisions named at the top of the table on the front flyleaf of this book. Four of these seven divisions are glaringly obvious as you read the Book of Revelation; namely, the divisions associated with the Seven Churches, the Seven Seals, the Seven Trumpets, and the Seven Vials.[1] The fifth division, associated with certain Apocalyptic Animals, is almost as obvious as the first four. It is located in the interval between the Seven Trumpets and the Seven Vials. Therefore, the last two divisions must occur after the Seven Vials. They are associated respectively with the Fall of Babylon and the Eternal Kingdom.
These seven natural divisions of Revelation seem so obvious to me that I cannot imagine anyone denying their existence. But I can imagine others debating whether or not these divisions are significant and, if so, the exact points at which they begin and end.
So the next step in our harmonization effort is to determine the boundaries between the seven natural divisions and identify where their respective chronological accounts begin and end. This exercise, like the previous, is very straightforward. So, again, let me encourage you to perform it yourself before continuing to read.
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As you progress, you will notice that the first division of Revelation (the Seven Churches) begins in Chapter 1 and extends through Chapter 3. But Chapter 1 constitutes nothing more than an introduction to the book of Revelation. So, if there be any chronological account within this first division, that account must begin with Chapter 2 and continue through Chapter 3.
The second account (the Seven Seals) must begin immediately afterward and continue through the opening of the seventh seal. Therefore, Account II must begin with Chapter 4 and end with Revelation 8:1.
The third account (the Seven Trumpets) must begin immediately afterward and continue through the sounding of the seventh trumpet. Therefore, Account III must begin at Revelation 8:2 and end with Chapter 11.
The fourth account (the Apocalyptic Animals) must begin with the next chapter and end just before the first scene describing the seven golden vials. Therefore, Account IV must extend from Revelation 12:1 through 15:4.
The fifth account must include all of the scenes associated with the Seven Vials. Therefore, Account V must begin at Revelation 15:5 and continue through Chapter 16.
This brings us to the last two accounts in Revelation which are associated, respectively, with the Fall of Babylon and the Eternal Kingdom. Unfortunately, the point of division between these two accounts is not nearly as evident as between the previous divisions. In fact, the two accounts appear to blend smoothly together to form a single super-long, sequential chronology where Babylon falls, Christ returns, the wicked are killed, Satan is bound, the saints are raised, the millennial kingdom is established, Satan is released, the wicked are killed, the wicked are raised, the judgment is carried out, and the eternal universe is created.
The problem with this interpretation is three-fold: (1) It makes the sixth account too long. In fact, it makes the sixth account essentially twice as long as each of the other accounts. (2) It leaves Revelation incomplete. More specifically, it renders a total of only six accounts rather than the seven required by biblical numerology to indicate "completeness." And (3) It introduces a chronology that can no longer be harmonized with the others. In other words, the chronology of this super-long sixth account is no longer compatible with that of the other five accounts.
Therefore, if the harmonistic assumption is true, there must be a break in the chronology somewhere between the beginning of the Fall of Babylon and the end of the Eternal Kingdom. But this break cannot occur before the end of Chapter 19 or after Revelation 20:11 because the events in Chapter 19 (the fall of evil Babylon and the destruction of the wicked) must occur before the events after Revelation 20:11 (the judgment of the dead, and creation of the new universe). So the only possible place for a break in chronology is at the beginning of Chapter 20, with Revelation 20:1-11 constituting a flashback depicting events before the return of Christ!
To prove that this is a true chronological break and not just some artificial division constructed to support our harmonistic assumption, we need to demonstrate that the chronologies really do overlap. In other words, we need to identify at least one example where Chapters 19 and 20 give parallel descriptions of the same historical event. This task really is not as hard to do as one might imagine, particularly now that we know what to look for. You may even want to do it yourself before continuing to read ahead.
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If you do, you will find that one scene common to both of these accounts depicts (1) the armies of the world gathered together to fight against Christ and his saints, (2) these evil armies supernaturally destroyed by the power of God (Christ), and (3) the satanic trinity (beast, prophet, and dragon) cast alive into the lake of fire. The two parallel descriptions of this one scene occur in Revelation 19:19-21 and Revelation 20:8-10, respectively. Therefore, we can conclude that the division between accounts six and seven really does exist and that it occurs between chapters 19 and 20.
Actually, we could have found this same point of division just as we did for all the other accounts by ignoring the internal chronology and considering only the associated topics. Had we asked ourselves where the Fall of Babylon account naturally ends, we would have concluded that it ends with the death of everyone associated with evil Babylon; namely, at the end of Chapter 19. Similarly, had we asked ourselves where the Eternal Kingdom account naturally begins, we would have concluded that it starts in Chapter 20 as Christ begins his millennial reign.
And finally, we could have obtained the exact same point of division between the last two accounts simply by dividing the last six chapters of Revelation right down the middle.
So whether we consider chronology, topic, or length of text we obtain exactly the same result: namely, that Account VI must begin with Chapter 17 and continue through Chapter 19, while Account VII must begin with Chapter 20 and continue through the rest of the book.
However, the last fifteen verses of Revelation (22:6-21) are nothing more than a conclusion to the book. They contain no chronological information. Therefore, the chronological part of Account VII must begin at Revelation 20:1 and continue only through Revelation 22:5.
The above division boundaries seem so natural to me that I find it difficult to imagine how anyone could obtain a different result. Yet a different result is exactly what Dr. Hoekema presented in the very essay that introduced me to the concept of parallel interpretation. Table 3.1 illustrates this difference.
|
Account Number |
Hoekema's Divisions |
My Divisions |
My Names |
|
|
Rev. Ch. |
Rev. |
|
|
|
|
1:1-20 |
Introduction |
|
I |
1-3 |
2:1-3:22 |
Seven Churches |
|
II |
4-7 |
4:1-8:1 |
Seven Seals |
|
III |
8-11 |
8:2-11:19 |
Seven Trumpets |
|
IV |
12-14 |
12:1-15:4 |
Apocalyptic Animals |
|
V |
15-16 |
15:5-16:21 |
Seven Vials |
|
VI |
17-19 |
17:1-19:21 |
Fall of Babylon |
|
VII |
20-22 |
20:1-22:5 |
Eternal Kingdom |
|
|
|
22:6-21 |
Conclusion |
Table 3.1. The Seven Accounts of Revelation.
As you can see, Dr. Hoekema included the introduction and conclusion within his divisions and placed his division boundaries at the chapter boundaries instead of between specific verses. This arrangement was perfectly adequate for his purpose but not for ours.
He was only trying to show that Revelation could be interpreted as seven parallel accounts which overlapped one another significantly as they progressively revealed more and more about the future of the church and the world.[2] Since Dr. Hoekema made no attempt to integrate his seven divisions into a consistent picture of the last days, he did not need to specify exactly where each chronology began or ended. But we do intend to harmonize the assumed chronologies; so it is important for us to know exactly where one account ends and the next begins in order to verify our hypothesis that each account is chronologically consistent with all the others.
By the way, when we say that the accounts are assumed to be chronological, we do not mean to imply that every word in every sentence of every verse is in perfect chronological order.
Remember, Revelation is a written description of a mysterious vision of a symbolic picture of a complex future. For this written description to be coherent, certain words and phrases must sometimes be placed out of chronological order. Therefore, when we say that the accounts are assumed to be chronological, we mean that the SCENES and PASSAGES are expected to be found in their proper chronological order, but not necessarily every WORD and every VERSE.
For example, Chapter 12 mentions the Ascension of Christ (v. 5) before the shedding of his blood (v. 12). If we were to insist upon a legalistic, verse-by-verse chronology, we would conclude that Christ was born and ascended before he overcame Satan through his sinless life and sacrificial death. We would also conclude that the "woman" mentioned in this passage fled from the "dragon" twice -- once into the wilderness for 1260 days (v. 6) and again into the wilderness for a time and times and half a time (v. 14).
But if we drop the legalistic concept of chronology and look at the complete picture painted by the passage, we can identify the coming of Christ (v. 5) with his victory over Satan (v. 7-11) and conclude that the "woman" fled only once for a period of three and a half years (1260 days = 3.5 years = time and times and half a time = 1 + 2 + 1/2 units of time).
This example illustrates how a verse-by-verse interpretation of chronology renders an invalid conclusion, while a relaxation of this requirement yields a plausible and informative clarification of the whole picture. Therefore, any legalistic, verse-by-verse requirement of chronology must be relaxed somewhat in order to gain a correct interpretation of the prophecy.
Having said all of this, let us now attempt to correlate the chronologies of the seven accounts so as to obtain a general picture of the Harmony of Revelation.[3] There are several approaches we could use to do this. For example, we could identify the focal period emphasized by each account[4] and then see where the other accounts briefly mention the same time period. Or we could start by identifying all the major events in every account before attempting to correlate any of them. Or we could identify the events in any two accounts and integrate them before proceeding to the other accounts. Or we could simply consider one event at time, correlating that event in every account before proceeding forward or backward in time to another event. Or we could do as I did when I first harmonized the accounts, namely, make a copy of the Book of Revelation, cut and tape the copy into seven long strips (one for each account), arrange the strips into seven vertical columns, and then cut and spread the accounts as necessary to place parallel passages side by side without disturbing the chronology of any of the accounts.
This last approach has the advantage of demonstrating that the correlations we find are real -- that they are not just artificial constructs obtained through unintentional or deliberate misinterpretation of scriptures. But this approach would not be very practical here in this book because it is a hands-on activity next to impossible to describe in words. So, rather than trying to describe the thought processes, mental debates, and meandering paths I followed to arrive at the Harmony of Revelation, let me give you something more like a guided tour.
In order for you to fully appreciate this tour and to gain an overview of the situation, I recommend again that you refer frequently to the Harmony of Revelation on the front flyleaf of this book. In this way you can see at a glance where we are, where we have been, and where we are going.
I also recommend that you get out a modern translation of the Holy Bible that is easy for you to read and understand. Use "stickems" or pieces of paper as book marks, placing them initially at the beginning of each of the seven Accounts of Revelation. Then as we progress through the tour, advance your book marks in each account to keep track of the current discussion. To make things go faster, you may want to label each book mark so you can turn immediately to the account under discussion. By reading for yourself each passage as it is mentioned, you will gain an understanding of the details associated with the discussions.
Using the Harmony as an overview and the Bible for the details, you should be able to appreciate every aspect of our tour and see for yourself how the seven accounts of Revelation really can be harmonized into a single, consistent picture of the last days.
Let us begin our tour of the Harmony of Revelation by looking at Account I (REV 2:1-3:22). That account contains seven personal letters to seven historical churches which existed at the time John received the vision. Since these letters were specifically addressed to these historical churches, we can be fairly certain that the letters pertained directly to those seven churches at that particular time in history.
Nevertheless, the primary purpose of Revelation (as stated in REV 1:1) was not to correct the local problems in these seven historical congregations, but to show all of Christ's servants what must happen in the future. Therefore, these seven letters to the seven churches should be interpreted as more than just an epistle to seven specific churches of the past. They should also be recognized as a prophecy of the future -- a future that started with the Church Age when John witnessed the vision. In fact, Account I not only appears to begin with the Church Age, it also appears to end there.[6]
Account II also begins with the Church Age. Specifically, it begins when John is called to come up into heaven to be shown what will take place in the future. Since that future began at the time John was alive, we conclude that Account II begins with a description of what is happening in heaven during the Church Age.
That description (REV 4:1-5:14) depicts a time in which God reigns in splendor while animals, angels, and elders worship and adore the Lamb that is worthy of praise. During this time, preparations are also being made for the events to accompany the opening of the Seven Seals.
Account III begins with a brief description of a similar scene in heaven. So we can conclude that Revelation 8:2-4 also depicts the conditions in heaven during the Church Age. Again we see preparations being made for events to occur later, events associated with the sounding of the Seven Trumpets of Judgment.
Account IV begins before the Church Age ever started. Specifically, Revelation 12:1-4 describes a period of time before the birth of Christ, while Revelation 12:5-11 describes the birth and ascension of Christ as well as the defeat of Satan that was accomplished through the blood of the Lamb. Since the Church Age follows immediately after this point in history, we conclude that Revelation 12:12-17 must pertain to the Church Age. In fact, once the symbolism of this passage has been deciphered,[7] we can see how this prophecy correctly predicted the history of Israel throughout the Church Age.
Account V, like II and III, begins with a description of the Church Age in heaven. Specifically, Revelation 15:5-8 describes the preparation being made in heaven for those events that are to occur when the Seven Vials of Wrath are poured out upon the earth.
Account VI is the only one of the seven accounts of Revelation that does not include a description of the Church Age. We will see later that it begins with a description of events to occur immediately after the end of the Church Age.[8]
Account VII begins with a description of Satan being defeated and bound (20:1-3). Since we know that Christ is the one who defeated Satan (LUK 10:17-20, JOH 19:30), we know that that defeat occurred during the First Advent immediately before the beginning of the Church Age. Since we know that the Holy Spirit is the one who restrains Satan (MAR 3:22-29), we know that that binding occurred at Pentecost (ACT 2:1-4). Since we know that the Holy Spirit will continue to restrain Satan until the coming of the Antichrist (2TH 2:6-9), we know that that period of binding will continue throughout the Church Age. And since we know that, during this period of binding, Christ currently is reigning in heaven (MAR 16:19, 2 PET 3:22), we conclude that REV 20:4-6, like Accounts II, III, and V, describes what is happening in heaven during the Church Age.
Taken together, these six of the seven accounts of Revelation paint a picture of the Church Age that includes an accurate history of the Church on earth, an accurate history of Israel on earth, and a detailed description of the current reign of Christ in heaven.
The next step in our harmonization tour is to identify what happens after the Church Age ends. To do this we simply look at each account, continuing where we previously left off.
Since Account I appears to end with the Church Age, we will begin with Account II (6:1-11). There we see a description of conquest, war, injustice, death, and Christian martyrdom.
Accounts III and V skip this period of martyrdom, but Account IV describes it as a time when two evil beasts rise up to conquer the world, persecute the saints, and blaspheme all that is holy (13:1-18). Account VI describes it as a time in which a harlot sitting upon a beast reigns over the world, drunk with the blood of the saints (17:1-18). And Account VII briefly describes it as a time when the full power of Satan is released upon the world (20:7).
Taken together, these parallel passages paint a clear picture of a time in which the agents of Satan rise up unrestrained to conquer the world, reign over mankind, blaspheme God, and persecute the church to the point of extinction.
Now let us go back and take another look at the beginning of Account I (2:1-3:6). There we see a description of how the church loses its first love, experiences great persecution, compromises with the state, follows a false leader, and essentially dies. Since this description is perfectly parallel to what we have just discussed, we conclude that Account I also pertains chronologically to this period of time.
Therefore, even Account I, which initially appeared to describe only the Church Age, presents a prophetic description of the last days which runs parallel to the other accounts over an extended period of time. However, unlike all the other accounts, which need to be applied only once in order to span the last days, this account must be applied twice. The first of these applications pertains to the Church Age, the second to what happens afterwards.
The next stage of our tour of the Harmony of Revelation brings us to what happens after the agents of Satan have conquered the world and persecuted the saints.
Since Account III contains the longest and most detailed descriptions of what happens next, we shall begin there (8:5-11:14). This account describes a period of extensive worldwide devastation during which the gospel is proclaimed by witnesses who are miraculously protected from harm. Only at the very end of this period is there any suggestion that anyone believes their message and gives God the glory.
Account V describes this same period of devastation and adds the fact that it ends as the nations of the world are gathered together to fight the Battle of Armageddon (16:1-16). Account VII also mentions this gathering of the nations for this great battle (20:8-9a).
Account IV mentions the worldwide proclamation of the gospel during this time and adds the fact that the devastation begins with the fall of Babylon (14:6-13)[11]. Account VI describes in detail the events accompanying this fall of Babylon (18:1-24). And Account II simply echoes the description of the devastation without adding any significant new information (6:12-13).
However, there is one other passage in Account II that does add new information (7:1-8). Specifically, it describes the sealing of 144,000 children of Israel at the beginning of this time period in order to protect them from the coming destruction. Unfortunately, this second passage in Account II clearly occurs out of chronological sequence. It violates our assumption that all of the accounts are true chronological descriptions of the last days![12]
Needless to say, when I first encountered this clear violation of the harmonistic assumption I found it more than a little disturbing. After all, it demonstrated conclusively that the harmonistic assumption was false! It also suggested that the whole harmonistic approach to biblical interpretation was really no better than the single-account approach.
But we will see later in this appendix that this is the first of only two violations of the harmonistic assumption, that both of these violations are associated with the same 144,000 people, and that the two violations are perfectly anti-symmetrical with respect to each other.[13] So instead of forcing us to reject the harmonistic viewpoint outright, they actually present us with an interesting challenge -- a mystery to be solved. If we can uncover the meaning of this mystery, so as to understand why God placed these two perfectly anti-symmetrical exceptions into the otherwise totally consistent chronology of the seven accounts, we can then justifiably retain the harmonistic viewpoint.
We discuss the solution to this mystery in Chapter 7 of this book when we interpret the meaning of the 144,000 children of Israel. In short, we find that this group of Christian Jews are very special in the eyes of God and do not fit into the normal scheme of things. So let us now continue with our correlation of the accounts.
In Account I we see a description of the church at the beginning and the end of this period of protected witnessing (3:7-22). Specifically, at the beginning we see the faithful church being given an open door to proclaim the gospel, and at the end we see a group of uncommitted people told either to open the door of their heart or else be spewed out of the mouth of Christ.
This period of worldwide devastation and gospel proclamation must be very important in the sight of God; for it is mentioned in all seven of the accounts of Revelation (twice in Account IV). Taken together, these accounts paint the following picture of this time period: the saints are sealed for protection, Babylon falls, those who previously persecuted the saints are tormented and killed as the earth is devastated, the gospel is proclaimed extensively throughout this period, only a few souls are saved at the end, and sinful mankind assembles to fight against Christ at the Battle of Armageddon.
The most complete description of what happens next is given in Account VI (19:1-21). As you can see, the scene opens with heaven rejoicing as the saints of God are called to join Christ when he appears in the clouds and descends to the earth to destroy those who have gathered against him and his people. This same scene is described in Account IV as a harvesting of the earth and a trampling of the grapes (14:14-20).
In Account V we see that this period of time is also associated with the end of the world (16:17-21). Account VII mentions the end of the world and goes on to describe the raising of the dead, the final judgment, and the second death (20:9b-15). Account II describes mankind fleeing from the wrath of the Lamb as the world comes to an end (6:14-17). And finally, Account III shows heaven rejoicing over the return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, and the destruction of the wicked (11:15-19).
These six of the seven accounts of Revelation, when taken together, paint a picture of the Second Coming of Christ which includes the rejoicing in heaven, the rapture of the saints, the destruction of the wicked, the end of the world, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment of mankind, and the second death.
Only three of the accounts of Revelation continue past the end of the world to describe the eternal universe that follows. As would be expected, Account VII, associated with the Eternal Kingdom, contains the most detailed of these descriptions (21:1-22:5). There we see the creation of a new heaven and earth, the wiping away of tears, the appearance of a new Jerusalem, and the rejoicing that lasts forever. Account II (7:9-8:1) and Account IV (15:1-4) simply echo this description while adding a few minor details.
There is one other passage in Account IV that also echoes this description of the Eternal Kingdom. In Revelation 14:1-5 we see a description of the blessed eternal fate of the 144,000 children of Israel which were mentioned earlier. This is the only passage other than Revelation 7:1-8 that refers to these 144,000 people and, like the first, it is out of chronological sequence.
As mentioned previously, these two passages are the only two in all of the seven accounts of Revelation that violate our assumed chronology. And because the two passages describe the work and fate of a very special, exceptional group of people, this single, anti-symmetrical pair of exceptions to the assumed chronology seems more than justified.
So we can conclude that our attempt to harmonize the seven accounts of Revelation has been extremely successful. In fact, it is much, much easier to harmonize the seven accounts of Revelation than it is to harmonize the four Gospels of Christ.[16]
This is one reason I am convinced that God intended for Revelation to be harmonized by us who are living in the last days. If he didn't intend for Revelation to be interpreted as seven parallel accounts, then the seven natural divisions of Revelation simply would not fit together so perfectly. In my opinion, it took a lot of planning on the part of God to construct a vision like Revelation which would hide this simple Harmony for almost 2000 years -- until needed by the saints who are now living during the end times.
[1]As mentioned previously, the scriptural references quoted in this book are from the King James version of the Bible. Although your translation may use different words, the meanings of those words should be synonymous with those in the King James Bible. For example, your translation may use the word "bowls" instead of "vials," but both of these words pertain to the same type of container.
[2]This system of interpretation, known as "progressive parallelism," is explained more fully by William Hendriksen in his book More Than Conquerors (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1939).
[3]Chapters 3 through 9 of this book contain a detailed picture of this chronology.
[4]These are the black cells containing white text in the Harmony of Revelation matrix on the front flyleaf of this book.
[5]The name "Church Age" is a common eschatological term used to denote the period of time in which the Church, the Body of Christ, plays a major roll in evangelizing the world. It began when the Holy Spirit came in power at Pentecost and will last as long as the Holy Spirit continues restraining Satan thereby preventing the "lawless one" from being revealed (2TH 2:7-12). In other words, we are now living in the Church Age. In the Harmony of Revelation depicted on the front flyleaf, this period of history corresponds to Row 3, Tuesday, the Day of Salvation.
[6]In Chapter 5 we will use historical hindsight to verify the fact that these seven letters to the seven churches did indeed correctly predict the chronological history of the evolution of the church from the time of John until the present day.
[7]In Chapter 5 we will see that the woman in this passage symbolizes the nation Israel who fled from her homeland at the beginning of the Church Age and has returned home again only here near the end of the Church Age.
[8]This correlation should become quite obvious as soon as we consider the other descriptions of the events following the Church Age.
[9]On the front flyleaf, this period of persecution of the saints corresponds to Row 4, Wednesday, the Day of Sin.
[10]On the front flyleaf, this period of devastation of the world corresponds to Row 5, Thursday, the Day of Death.
[11]Here we have skipped REV 14:1-5 which will be discussed later.
[12]In the Harmony depicted on the front flyleaf of this book, this passage is placed in parenthesis. This is intended to remind you that this passage is out of chronological order. Only one other passage shares this distinction; namely, REV 14:1-5 (in Row 7).
[13]In other words, this exception occurs on Day 7 but describes events in Day 5 while the other exception occurs on Day 5 but describes events in Day 7.
[14]On the front flyleaf, the second coming of Christ corresponds to Row 6, Friday, the Day of the Lord.
[15]On the front flyleaf, this period of eternity corresponds to Row 7, Saturday, the Day of Eternity.
[16]Look at any Harmony of the Gospels if you don't believe me. Note the numerous chronological exceptions required to render a consistent picture of the life of Christ from just those four accounts.