What You'll Find in my Notes That are Different:

1. I don't see pre-trib rapture in Revelation, but I see clearly a mid-trib rapture, and I'll point it out.

2. The 6th and 7th trumpets extend much further than most Bible commentaries show. I show this in my notes, along with a key for the fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpets, which the Bible describes as "the three woes."

3. Who are the 144,000? And why are they on earth in chapter 7, then suddenly in heaven in chapter 14? My notes explain what I think of this.

My Outline Notes of the Book of Revelation

"Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter" -Jesus said this to John, in Revelation 1:19

I. "Things Which Thou Hast Seen"

A. What was said to John in chapter 1

1. Introduction and greetings

2. Verification of the deity of Christ - "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending"

3. Jesus in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, which are the seven churches. The seven stars in Jesus' hand are the angels (angels, messengers, or possibly pastors) of the seven churches

4. The two edged sword comes out of Jesus' mouth, which calls to mind Hebrews 4:12:

"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

and John 1:1:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

II. "The Things Which Are"

A. Chapter two - the letters to the churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, and Thyatira.

B. Chapter three - the letters to the churches of Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea - the "lukewarm church." Jesus' invitation to the Laodiceans, and to all people - "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." -Revelation 3:20

C. Chapter four

1. John was called up into heaven, to be transported to the future, to witness the tribulation. This calls to memory John 21:22-24:

"Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true."

Revelation 4:1 is not the rapture, because

a. JOHN is being spoken to, in "come up hither," not the church

b. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 says the rapture happens at the last trumpet, not before the first

c. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 says that the rapture won't happen until anti-Christ is revealed, and he isn't revealed as anti-Christ until the middle of the tribulation. See Daniel 9:27

2. The four and twenty elders are literally 24 people who have died in the past, and are now in heaven

a. John didn't see the faces of all of the elders, else he may have seen himself in the future, for the 24 elders are possibly the 12 apostles and 12 representatives from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. See also Revelation 21:12 and 21:14

3. The four beasts are heavenly creatures, called cherubim, like the ones in Ezekiel chapter 1.

III. "The Things Which Shall be Hereafter"

And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. -Revelation 5:5

A. The Seven Seals

1. The First Seal - Revelation 6:1-2

a. The beginning of the 7-year policy. The "peaceful" man (later identified as the beast, AKA antichrist) starts the 7 year covenant. I see this as the same event as the beginning of Daniel 9:27:

"And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

"And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week" is the first seal - the beginning of the seven year tribulation.

2. The second seal - Revelation 6:3-4

a. War

3. The third seal - Revelation 6:5-6

a. Famine and/or economic oppression or collapse

4. The fourth seal - Revelation 6:7-8

a. Death, caused by sword, hunger, beasts, and other causes

5. The fifth seal - Revelation 6:9-11

a. The tribulation martyring of Christians begins

1. Some people will think that by turning in Christians (many of whom will be martyred) that they are doing God a service:

"Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." -Matthew 24:9

The first five seals are right there in Matthew 24:5-9+

6. The sixth seal - Revelation 6:12-7:17

a. A great earthquake - vs. 12-17 This earthquake could be a localized earthquake, or it could be global. It is unclear.

b. A literal 144,000 Jewish men are chosen and saved by God. They are each sealed with the seal of the Holy Spirit, as all saved people are (Ephesians 1:13). Each of the sealed Jews are 12,000 men from each of the following 12 tribes of Israel:

Judah

Reuben

Gad

Asher

Naphtali

Manasseh

Simeon

Levi

Issachar

Zebulun

Joseph (AKA Ephraim)

Benjamin

---1. The usual 12 tribes in the Old Testament had Dan, instead of Levi, and the tribe of Joseph was broken up into two tribes - that of Ephraim and Manasseh. Levi was usually left out, because that was the priestly tribe. They didn't have an inheritance, because they were the priests.

In Revelation, God has chosen to also seal 12,000 from Levi, and maintains keeping Joseph in the two tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim. The missing tribe is Dan. This is evidence itself that the 144,000 are literally 144,000 people, and not some symbolic number, else Levi should have been left out (as it usually was in the Old Testament) and Dan should have been included (which it always was in the Old Testament).

c. Multitudes of Christians are being killed (continuing from the fifth seal), and are tribulation saints. See chapter 7, verse 14.

7. The seventh seal - Revelation 8:1-5

a. Silence in heaven for a half hour

b. Seven angels getting ready to sound the seven trumpets

c. Censor, filled with fire, cast down to the earth

d. Voices, thunderings, lightnings, and another earthquake (localized, or global?)

B. The Seven Trumpets

1. The first trumpet - Revelation 8:7

a. Hail and fire, mingled with blood cast upon the earth. A third part of the trees and grass burned up.

2. The second trumpet - Revelation 8:8-9

a. "And AS IT WERE a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea..." As it were - meaning it may not be an actual mountain, but like one.

b. Sea became blood

c. Third part of the creatures in the sea died

d. Third of the ships destroyed

3. The third trumpet - Revelation 8:10-11

a. The star named "Wormwood" fell from the heaven, burning. Many people die from the waters it makes bitter

4. The fourth trumpet - Revelation 8:12-13

a. Third part of the sun and moon smitten, such that third part of the day won't shine, etc.

b. KEY TO PROPERLY INTERPRETING LAST THREE TRUMPETS!!!! ----->>> verse 13 - ..."woe, woe, woe" are the last three trumpets. Trumpets 5, 6, and 7 are 'the three woes.'

5. The fifth trumpet - Revelation 9:1-12

a. The locust demons loosed from hell, with the devil as their king. They are not to hurt the grass as regular locusts do, but are instead to torment men for 5 months. They are not to kill them, just torment them. They will not be able to hurt anyone who has the seal of God.

b. KEY - we know this trumpet ends at verse 12, because it says this in verse 12 - "One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes are hereafter."

6. The sixth trumpet - Revelation 9:13-11:14

a. The four angels loosed. A great army kills 1/4 men. This may be localized, since the four angels were loosed from 'the great river Euphrates.'

b. Meanwhile, back to John in heaven, witnessing all these events... John is instructed to eat a book and continue to prophesy. Christians are also to eat the word of God, in the sense that the Word of God is our daily (spiritual) bread. John is told he has more prophesying to do.

c. The two witnesses are introduced, and we are told that they have been witnessing in Jerusalem for the whole first 3.5 years of the 7-year tribulation. The two witnesses have power from God. I believe the two witnesses to be Elijah and Enoch. The Old Testament prophecies say that Elijah will come back in the end days. Elijah never died - he was brought up to heaven while still alive, and so was Enoch. Elijah and Enoch (or whoever the two witnesses turn out to be) will finally meet their deaths in the 6th trumpet, and the world celebrates their deaths, until they are raised from the dead, and lifted up to heaven.

d. Another earthquake. A tenth part of the city of Jerusalem fell, and 7,000 people were killed in it.

e. KEY - verse 14 alerts us to the fact that all of this was still contained in the sixth trumpet, by telling us that this was the end of the sixth trumpet - "the second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly."

NOTE: another KEY - Revelation 10:7 gives us a preview of the most important part of the seventh trumpet. It says:

"But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets."

The "mystery" is this:

"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

It's the rapture! It is going to happen in the seventh trumpet. 1 Corinthinans 15:51-52 tells us the rapture happens at the last trumpet. There are no more trumpets in the Bible, after the seventh. Furthermore, what is God's number for spiritual perfection? Seven. The saints/true Christians, reach spiritual perfection at the 7th trumpet. We Christians will be changed, in the twinkling of an eye. We Saints will receive our uncorruptible bodies, as described in chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians. At this point, brethren in Christ, we will no longer walk by faith, but by sight.

7. The Seventh Trumpet - Revelation 11:15-15:8. The woe in the seventh trumpet is specifically Revelation 12:12, when the dragon (Satan) comes "down to you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."

a. The rapture - 11:15 and 11:18. The dead first, then the saints.

b. The sun-clad woman of chapter 12 is Israel. The child is Jesus, who came of Israel. Anti-Christ will be against Israel, but during the first half of the tribulation, he will keep being called away, and won't be able to take down Israel as he wants. In the second half of the tribulation, the dragon is cast completely from heaven, and comes to the earth with more wrath and hate than ever. The dragon (Satan) pushes the beast (anti-Christ) to go after Israel more than ever. Israel escapes to the wilderness, which is likely going to be Petra. Antichrist and the dragon (devil) realizes he can't accomplish the destruction of Israel yet (until he tries with a vengeance at Armageddon) so he instead turns after the people who got saved after the rapture, and goes after them with more fierce hate than ever.

c. A perfect plan for flushing out the new Christians materializes in chapter 13 (we're still in the 7th trump, mind you) where antichrist makes the mark of the beast mandatory, and part of taking the mark is to worship the beast - meaning forsaking the Christian God. This flushes out the Christians, since they won't take the mark, then the beast commands off with their heads to the Christians. Christians will be considered haters, who need to be exterminated from the earth, so that the One World Order will have "peace."

d. Chapter 14 is a continuation of the 7th trumpet, and shows the rapture from another vantage point. We get an overview of the beast and the one world governing system (the religious governing system is described in chapter 17). It continues with more descriptions of the persecution of the saints/Christians, and then we see the rapture - the reaping of the earth, in 14:14-16. The reaping of the earth is the same event as 11:15 and 11:18. The reaping in verses 18-20 is different. This is clearly referring to Armageddon, which occurs in chapter 19. Also notice in chapter 14, that the 144,000 sealed Jews from chapter 7 are mentioned again, but now they are mentioned as being in heaven, not on earth. They were raptured, along with all of the other Christians at that time:

"And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth." -Revelation 14:3

e. Chapter 15 brings an end to the seven trumpets, and starts introducing the 7 vials of wrath. God's full wrath will not pour forth, until after the mid-trib rapture.

C. The seven vials of WRATH

1. The first vial of wrath - Revelation 16:2

a. Just as Christians had a measure of protection in the first half of the tribulation before the rapture, people who become Christians after the rapture will also have a measure of protection. In the first vial, those who have the mark of the beast get horrible sores on their bodies - probably ulcers.

2. The second vial of wrath - Revelation 16:3

a. The sea turns to blood

3. The third vial of wrath - Revelation 16:4-7

a. Rivers and waters turned to blood. The people who kill Christians now get blood to drink, representing the blood of the Christians they martyred

4. The fourth vial of wrath - Revelation 16:8-9

a. Problems in the sun - hot, scorching heat. This is probably excruciating on those with the mark of the beast, since they also got the ulcers, or sores on their bodies.

5. The fifth vial of wrath - Revelation 16:10-11

a. Darkness over the kingdom of the beast

6. The sixth vial of wrath - Revelation 16:12-16

a. River of Euphrates dries up, to prepare a pathway for the kings of the east, for the up and coming war of Armageddon

b. Three demons issue forth from the unholy earthly trinity of the Dragon (Satan), the Beast (anti-Christ), and the false prophet (a religious leader). These three demons produce miracles and wow people, making them worship the dragon even more. They help motivate the people for the up and coming battle of Armageddon.

c. In verse 15 Jesus tells us that He comes as a thief, and blessed is he that watcheth. This is a warning to those who still heed the Bible on the earth in those days, for Jesus is coming soon by this point - VERY soon.

d. At the end of the seventh vial, the people have gathered for the war of Armageddon.

7. The seventh vial of wrath - Revelation 16:17-19:21

a. "It is done," a voice from heaven shouts

b. Voices, thunders, lightnings, and the greatest earthquake ever in earth's history, divides Jerusalem into three parts, and makes islands and mountains disappear

c. Hail stones fall from heaven

d. Mystery Babylon: The Whore That Rides The Beast

---1. The whore is a religious entity, and commits spiritual fornication with all nations

---2. The whore's colors are those of the Roman Catholic church - purple and scarlet. The religious whore is very rich, like Vatican city

---3. The whore is called "Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother of Harlots and Abominations of The Earth." Religious Rome is often called Babylon by it's own inhabitants, by Roman Catholicism, and possibly by Peter:

"The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son." - 1 Peter 5:13

---4. The whore is "drunk with the blood of saints." Roman Catholicism, and her sister religion Islam, which was founded through Catholicism, (study Mohammed's wife, and watch this) have killed more Christians than anyone, or anything ever has.

---5. The religious whore rides on the one world government beast. It appears that not all will know that the whore is really pulling the strings, and that the beast system is a puppet, bowing to her will. The 10 kings will know, and they will hate the whore.

---6. The beast with 7 heads also represents seven hills, and the whore is a city that sits atop those seven hills (17:9) The only city in the world, which is code named "Babylon," and has Mystery Babylon religious practices still active in it, and has been known to be referred to as the City on Seven Hills, is ROME.

e. The seven-headed beast

---1. The beast is an eighth head that "was, and is not," and "is of the seven, and goeth into perdition." - 17:11

---2. The seven heads of the beast:

"And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space." - 17:10

We can determine, without a doubt, who the above kingdoms were, via studying the book of Daniel. Look especially at Daniel chapter 2, and also study the beasts of Daniel. The ten toes in Daniel 2 is describing the same thing as the 10 horns of Revelation.

The 7 kingdoms are:

Egypt

Assyria

Babylon

Medo-Persia

Greece

Rome

Rome (iron) mixed with other empires (clay)

Note that the Roman Empire has never ended. It has only changed, and is still going on today, in the Vatican, where its popes sit in the very spot the ceasars did, and have even taken on the title of the ceasars - Potifex Maximus.

------a. The iron and clay (of Daniel's statue - Dan. 2) Today's Roman Empire - Vatican, is Rome, but mixed in with non-Rome, which makes it elusive. This is why the feet in the statue vision of Daniel 2 are iron mixed with clay, instead of pure iron. The kingdom is partly strong, and partly weak, and will never come to it's complete fruition, or goal, because Christ comes back, and sets up His everlasting, perfect kingdom. - In other words, Vatican Rome will never reach its ultimate goal of power over the whole world, because Christ will come back before that can happen. Vatican is close, however. The Vatican bank owns the Bank of England, and Vatican has its tendrils in most world banks, if not all.

------b. The Rome of the feet in Daniel's statue is the Mystery Babylon religion, mixed with other religions. I am quite certain that Mystery Babylon is Roman Catholicism, with Islam as her sister. The rites and rituals of Roman Catholicism are almost completely identical with the ancient Mystery Babylon religions, which started with Nimrod of Genesis chapter 10, and his wife Semaramis. Semaramis had a baby after Nimrod's death, but claimed she was still a virgin. The baby's name became Baal, and Semaramis became Ashtoreth. This is why Ashtoreth and Baal worship is mentioned in the Bible. This religion was started before the tower of Babel incident, and this is why all nations have different names for the very same Ashtoreth and Baal. Ashtoreth is also Diana of the pagan religions, like the pagan religion that was in Ephesus (see Acts 19:22-41). Roman Catholicism's Mary and baby Jesus resemble Ashtoreth and Baal in almost all aspects, and that is why Roman Catholicism is so different from Biblical Christianity. To learn more about this click here.

------c. Political Babylon will be elusive as well. There needs to be 10 "kings." These "kings" may not have arisen yet, but we should watch for them. They may arise in the EU, or a different union of sorts.

f. Next in the seventh vial of wrath is the fall of Babylon. The 10 kings will be completely instrumental in this, because they will hate the whore. I believe they will hate her, because they will see her power, and they don't want to share the power. The whore that rides the beast is the puppet master, and the beast is the puppet. The person, called "the beast," which is anti-Christ, will be working with the dragon (Satan) and the false prophet (false religioius leader) in conjunction with the whore of Babylon.

g. In the last part of the seventh vial of wrath, we first have a joyous interlude of the marriage feast of Jesus and Christians, then Jesus and an army from heaven will prepare to come to earth for the battle of Armageddon.

h. The nations gather against Israel for the great battle of Armageddon. During the war, Jesus and his saintly soldiers arrive, and win the battle with ease.

D. After the Seven Year Tribulation - Revelation 20:1-22:21

1. The millennium of peace. The false prophet and beast/antichrist are cast into the lake of fire, but the dragon/Satan, is not. He is reserved in chains in the dark, bottomless pit for one thousand years. During these one thousand years, true peace is obtained on earth.

2. After the one thousand years, Satan is loosed from the pit, to be a tool for God, to separate wheat from the chaff. Satan gathers together people with him, and they try to make war and take over the earth. God destroys those apostates who follow the devil with fire, and then Satan is cast into the lake of fire, where the beast and false prophet will be.

3. New Jerusalem, the heavenly city, comes out of heaven to Earth.

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." -Revelation 21:4

"He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." -Revelation 22:20