Before we consider the chronos recorded in Revelation, let’s make sure we understand the state of affairs on the earth at the end of this age. It didn’t take the Holy Spirit long to bring to the disciples’ remembrance the things Jesus had taught them, particularly concerning His second coming. Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonian Church confirms that the early Church Fathers understood God’s prophetic great Week, they understood that Jesus would come again to raise up His Body, and that this would occur at the dawn of the last Day, the Day of the Lord.
        Paul warned, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thess. 2:3-4).
        You may recall that we covered this earlier in connection with Daniel’s prophecy recorded in Daniel 8 concerning the rise of the 4th Beast and the transgression of desolation once the Jews rebuild the apostate temple. The falling away or apostasy has to do with the Jews’ rejection of Christ as the Son of God. This rejection was the ultimate transgression against God and His plan of redemption.
        End-Time Lesson: The extended nature of the tribulation of those Days—Days 5 and 6 when counting from Christ—not only affects the Church. It also affects the Jews. From their perspective, it began with the Abomination of Desolation in 70 AD when the Temple of Jesus’ time was destroyed, with no stone left standing. The Jewish survivors were scattered across the nations—in what is called the Diaspora. No matter where they went, they were met with persecution, what is called anti-Semitism. Scripture calls this extended time of distress for the Jews the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. Jesus predicted that “they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all the nations” (Luke 21:24).
        As Romans 11 explains, Israel, God’s natural branch, was cut off because they missed the time of their visitation by rejecting the Messiah. Of course, this was all prophesied in the Old Testament. However, in His mercy, God had also prophesied that they would return to the Promised Land. This occurred after World War II through a UN resolution in 1948 that officially recognized Israel as a nation state. Though many Jews returned to the Promised Land, the vast majority did not return to the Lord.
      Let’s fast-forward to see why the rebuilt temple and the reinstatement of the animal sacrifices is the true falling away from Heaven’s perspective. Revelation 4 shows us the throne room of Heaven. It’s important that we note who is present at this stage in the vision. God is on the throne. He is in the midst of the four living creatures and the 24 elders who represent the Old Testament saints whom Jesus released from captivity by preaching the Gospel. They are surrounded by angels. Then we see a Lamb, as though it has been slain, standing before the throne. This is the ascended Christ.
       Before we see what happens next, we need to pick up an important detail from Hebrews 9:11-13. “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” This is when Christ anointed the Most Holy Place, one of the divine objectives given in Daniel 9:24 concerning Christ’s first and second comings.
       With the “once for all” sacrifice complete, Jesus could then legally take the scroll of inheritance—the title deed of the earth—from the right hand of the Father as seen in Revelation 5. “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Heb. 9:24-26).
       Can you see why the rebuilt temple and its animal sacrifices is detestable to the Lord? Not only have His people rejected Him, but they have also turned away from His ways and corrupted the cultural institutions of society with the ways of the kingdom of darkness. They have fully divorced themselves from their covenantal relationship with God. No wonder what comes next is ordained of God. Stay tuned.   

       The beginning of God’s prophetic plan of redemption—what we call God’s chronos agenda—was hidden in the 7-day pattern of creation recounted in Genesis 1. The first book of our Bible established God’s purposes for the individual, marriage, family, community, government, and society. Of course, the fall and mankind’s disobedience corrupted each of these purposes, resulting in the first prophecy concerning the Seed and our Lord’s first coming (Gen. 3:14-15).
       We’ve been focusing on the unfolding revelation of God’s mystery-plan throughout the pages of God’s Word in this blog, helping us to piece together the scattered prophetic puzzle pieces. Which brings us to the last book in the Bible, “the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place” (Rev. 1:1) as relayed through the Apostle John. It tells us the end of the story. In a way that only God could foresee, the end doesn’t cause everything to end. Instead, it leads to something unimaginable—eternity future.
        The Book basically follows the chronology of the great Week, although the individual books are not necessarily in chronological order in terms of human history. For example, the books of the prophets cover the “major” prophets first and the “minor” prophets, rather than putting them in order of the kings the prophets served.
            Any avid reader will tell you that if you reveal the details of the end of the book, it defeats the purpose of reading the whole book because you already know what is going to happen. So it shouldn’t surprise us that the last book in the Bible uses a lot of figurative and symbolic language. It was meant to keep the various aspects of the plan hidden until the appointed time for it to be revealed by the Spirit. For example, “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:7-8).
            End-Time Lesson: After receiving the Revelation, the Lord told John “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand” (Rev. 22:10). This is the opposite of what Daniel was told to do concerning the end-time prophecies he received. “But you, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the Book until the time of the end. [Then] many shall run to and fro and search anxiously [through the Book], and knowledge [of God’s purposes as revealed by His prophets] shall be increased and become great” (Daniel 12:4, Amplified Bible, Classic Edition).
            As we come to the close of the 6th Day, the Spirit is likewise causing us to understand the things that must be seen in our time. So in order to understand the final book, we have to be willing to temporarily lay aside what we have been taught or what we think the figurative language means, and let the Spirit of grace lead us.
          We’ve already seen the importance of making the Spirit-inspired connections through the common phrases and analogies in our walk through the New Testament puzzle pieces. In some cases, the interpretation is actually included in the passage in question, as in Revelation 1 when Jesus tells us the interpretation of the seven stars and the seven lampstands. In other cases, it is found elsewhere in the Bible, usually the Old Testament as in the interpretation of the woman in Revelation 12.
       To understand the book of Revelation, we also need to understand its layout. It does not necessarily present the end-time events in chronological order. Chapters 1-3 provide an introduction, showing us the ascended Christ in His glorified form. He is in the midst of His Church, His Body, which abides in Him, yet has not yet been perfected. That is why He reviews the promises He has given to us as overcomers, for we have not yet been resurrected yet.
           Chapters 4-6 offer an overview of this age, the two Days allotted to the Church for preaching the Gospel and making disciples. We see the throne room of Heaven and our Lord receiving the scroll of inheritance upon His ascension. As the seals of the scroll are opened, they prophetically reveal the signs of this age that Jesus taught in the Olivet Discourse. They describe the extended nature of the tribulation, the beginning of sorrows and the birth pains. The sixth seal is the same final sign of celestial darkness over the whole earth all at once.
            Chapters 7-9 open with the dawn of the Age to Come, the Day of the Lord, the 7th Day in God’s chronos agenda. Immediately, we see the raptured Church in the 3rd Heaven, before the throne of God, the true Israel by faith, seated with Christ as the heavenly court. The 7th seal on the scroll is then opened to prophetically reveal an overview of the wrath of the Day, which is the snare of that Day and God’s vengeance against evil.
           But before the final and 7th trumpet is revealed, there is a divine interlude in chapter 10. The revelation is interrupted. John is told to “eat” a little book, which enables him to prophecy some more. This unusual scene sends us a sure signal that something is different. The Revelation now shifts from giving us an overview to giving us more in-depth details about the events of this last Day. It’s the only way a complex story can be told so that readers don’t get lost in the details.
            Chapters 11-19 provide a series of supplemental vision that serve as instant replays of the events surrounding the unfolding of God’s wrath. These visions cover the first 31/2 years of the 7th Day, which by now you know corresponds to the last half of Daniel’s 70th week. This is when the counterfeit world order of the Beast is crushed. Chapter 20 reveals what happens during the remainder of the Day of the Lord, while chapter 21 reveals what happens after the end of the Days of God's great prophetic Week.

      In the vision of the time of the end given to John on the Isle of Patmos, John gets his first glimpse of the rapture in Revelation 7 as part of the overview of this age. He sees it again in the supplemental-vision replay in Revelation 14. In both cases, John sees the Bride in Heaven before the wrath of that Day is poured out against the Beast, fulfilling the last half of Daniel’s 70th Week.
       To ensure that we recognize the innumerable company before the throne as the raptured Church, an elder asks John if he can identify the multitude. Wisely, John concedes to the elder to tell him. “These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb” (Rev. 14:4). The term firstfruits refers to the first harvest of the agricultural season in Israel. James 1:18 explains, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created” (NIV).
        In his letter concerning Christ’s second coming at the rapture, Paul explains, “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” A couple verses later Paul adds, “But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.”
          End-Time Lesson: This firstfruits aspect of resurrection is part of the mystery of Christ. Paul wrote in Romans 8:29, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” In Colossians 1:17-18 he confirmed: “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the Body, the Church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy” (NIV). Our Lord, the Head of the Body, was resurrected on the 3rd day. The Church, His Body shall be resurrected on the 3rd Day. It is then that we receive our immortal bodies, as He did at His resurrection. We shall be complete in Him, with our spirit, soul, and body perfected and incorruptible. It’s almost unfathomable, if it were not for the faithfulness of God’s Word.
        At the dawn of the last Day, the Day of the Lord, we shall be judged as being “in Christ.” We shall receive our full redemption. As we stand before Christ’s throne at the right-hand of the Father, we shall receive not only the crown of eternal life as joint-heirs, but also our rewards and ruling assignments over cities and regions. This judgment is a firstfruits judgment so that we can be seated as God’s heavenly court to execute God’s vengeance against evil. Acts 17:31 confirms that we are appointed for this Day to rule with Christ and judge the earth by virtue of having overcoming death.
         At the end of Christ’s millennial reign over the earth from Heaven above, the rest of the people of the earth, including those from the early Days (Old Testament times), those left behind at the rapture, and those born during the final great Day, will be judged at the Great White Throne Judgment. This is the final harvest, when the sheep and goats are separated. It is when the final enemy, Death, is overcome and thrown into the Lake of Fire.

          It is sad when history repeats itself. You see, in the Apostle Paul’s time, the Thessalonian Church was confused and concerned. Some of them were panicking because they thought the Day of the Lord had already come and they had somehow missed it. Today, too many believers don’t know what the Day of the Lord is, let alone how it is connected to Christ’s return. Here is Paul’s word of assurance.
         “But concerning the times [chronos] and the seasons [kairos], brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the Day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the Day. We are not of the night nor of darkness” (1 Thess. 5:1-5).
            In Luke’s version of Jesus’ Olivet teaching on the signs of this age and Christ’s return, the detailed-oriented physician noted: “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth” (Luke 21:34-35).
            End-Time Lesson: So much of the Church’s confusion over the end-times is because we don’t understand the times and the seasons laid out in God’s Word. Paul reminds us that when the Day of the Lord dawns, it will come in two ways. (1) To those who are in the Kingdom of Light and are therefore “sons of the Day,” we are not in the dark concerning its timing. We know it is the last Day. And we will be waiting expectedly to behold our Bridegroom coming in the clouds to take us back to Heaven with Him! (2) To those who walk in the darkness of this world, that Day will come as a shock, especially when God rolls back the veil over the spiritual realm and they see Jesus literally coming to the earth to take His Bride back to Heaven.
            They will experience the snare of that Day. It is the appointed time of judgment, the wrath of that Day, and God’s vengeance against evil. As for those who are in Christ, “God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him” (1 Thess. 5:9-10). We are caught up with Christ before God’s wrath is unleashed in the form of the trumpet and bowl judgments. In fact, one of the primary purposes of the rapture is to seat us as the heavenly court in order to execute those judgments. Stay tuned for more on this orderly escape!
            Much of the book of Revelation deals with snare of that Day and God’s vengeance against evil. Once the overview of this age is given in the first few chapters of the book (Ch. 1-10), the focus shifts to the supplemental visions (Ch. 11-19) that give us different angles of the first 3½ years of Christ’s millennial reign. This is where the trumpet/bowl judgments bring God’s wrath upon the nations and against the Antichrist’s coalition of armies.
            The wrath is God’s righteous judgment against those who have fostered evil on the earth. Yet God’s desire is still that all mankind be saved (1 Tim. 2:4). This is one reason why we need to understand the times and the seasons. It prods us to be about our Father’s business, sharing our faith so that others may escape this wrath.