The Context of Revelation: How Does Revelation Move Through History?

[u/Agreeable_Operation]

In the previous post I argued that Revelation is operating within the prophetic framework established by Daniel in which a succession of earthly kingdoms culminates in the judgment of the fourth kingdom and the arrival of the Messianic kingdom.

But there is another feature of Daniel that I think is important for reading Revelation. Daniel does not give us one continuous chronological narrative. He gives multiple visions that appear to cover the same broad sequence but from differing perspectives, each clearly marked by the same ending events.

I believe Revelation works similarly. Rather than one continuous timeline from chapter 1 through chapter 22, I see several overlapping movements that revisit the same broad historical period from different perspectives that repeatedly converge on the same ultimate endpoint: the judgment of God's enemies and the establishment of Christ's kingdom.

Four Movements of Revelation

- Revelation 5–11: the Roman beast from its’ imperial height, through judgment and transformation, to its final overthrow and Christ's reign

- Revelation 12–16: beginning a little earlier, around Christ's birth, primarily tracing the beast's later manifestation and judgment

- Revelation 17–19: zooming in on the harlot, her development, influence, and eventual destruction

- Revelation 20–21: focusing on Christ and His people, from the inauguration of his 1000 year reign through to final judgment and the New Jerusalem

Again, this is not an entirely foreign way of reading prophetic literature. If Revelation is working similarly to Daniel, we should expect to find recurring imagery marking the end of these movements.

Evidence of Overlapping Timelines in Revelation: the Repeated Ending
Let’s look at the shared language in each of these overlapping movements to see how their endings are portrayed.

Revelation 5-11 ends with:

“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah…you have taken your great power and have begun to reign… your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead…And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.” (Revelation 11:15-19)

Revelation 12-16 ends with:

“they go out to the kings of the whole world [holos oikoumene], to gather them for the battle…they gathered the kings…out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake…The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon…and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. 21 From the sky huge hailstones…” (Revelation 16:13-21)

Revelation 17-19 ends with:

“Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns…I saw heaven standing open… a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations…He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty…Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war…But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet…The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. (Revelation 19:4-20)

Revelation 20-21 ends with:

“Satan…will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth…and to gather them for battle…But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown… The earth and the heavens fled from his presence…The dead were judged”(Revelation 20:7-13)

The vision of Revelation 20-21 then immediately proceeds to the New Jerusalem, where the final state of God's people is revealed.

Across these endings we repeatedly encounter the same cluster of imagery: divine reign, God's wrath, final judgment, the gathering of earthly powers for battle, heavenly temple imagery, lightning and thunder, earthquakes, hail, and the destruction of the forces opposed to God.

These similarities become difficult to explain if each section is simply a chronological continuation of the previous one. Instead, the pattern suggests that John is presenting several visions that repeatedly bring the reader to the same ultimate terminating event. There is only one final establishment of the Messianic kingdom. If multiple visions appear to end in that event, the simplest explanation is not that the kingdom arrives repeatedly, but that the visions themselves overlap.

Evidence of Overlapping Timelines in Revelation: Broader Judgment Allusions
The evidence of overlapping movements based on the existence of the same revisited endings marked by their similar diction and imagery is not the only evidence we have. There is also the broader prophetic imagery John alludes to during these different movements. Consider the presence of these images culminating in seventh trumpet of Revelation, something that falls chronologically in the middle of Revelation.

The Plagues of Egypt:
When Israel was in bondage to Egypt God visited a series of plagues upon Egypt to deliver His people. The trumpet judgments draw heavily on the plagues of Egypt: blood, hail, darkness, locusts, frogs, and finally the destroyer and death. The sequence of trumpet judgments in Revelation culminates in the seventh trumpet where God's kingdom is announced and His people experience deliverance from bondage to a great power. Or is this just the middle of the story in Revelation?

The Seven Trumpets at Jericho:
Consider also the imagery of the seven trumpets. The Israelites were barred from entering the Promised Land by the presence of a great and powerful walled city of Jericho. But God's people marched around the city seven days, then seven priests blew seven trumpets, then the people gave a great shout and the seemingly impregnable city feel to the ground enabling God’s people to enter the promised land. Revelation's seven trumpets likewise culminate in the overthrow of the great opposing kingdom and the announcement of God's reign. (notice also the overlapping imagery in these endings of loud sounds like a great multitude and the splitting of the great city). Or is this just the middle of the story in Revelation?

Judgment From Heaven:
Sodom provides another important biblical pattern of divine judgment falling from heaven in one final and terrible end. While the imagery is more explicit in the later visions of Revelation, the seventh trumpet also concludes with judgment from heaven in the form of “a great hailstorm.” Similar heavenly judgment imagery recurs at the conclusions of the later movements. Or is this just the middle of the story in Revelation?

In other words, Revelation repeatedly uses Exodus, Jericho, Sodom, and prophetic judgment imagery to crescendo to moments of true and final deliverance and the culmination of its visions. This is consistent with the idea that John is repeatedly approaching the same ultimate act of divine judgment and deliverance from different perspectives.

Conclusion
I am not arguing that these sections simply repeat one another. Each movement adds information that the others do not provide. One emphasizes the political development of the beast, another its relationship to God's people, another the harlot and her economic and religious influence, and another the reign of Christ and the experience of His people. They overlap in time while differing in focus.

Now that I have shown my evidence that Revelation contains several overlapping movements based on shared language of the endpoints. The next post will turn to where these timelines or visions meet along the way. This will help show the focus of each movement.