Lesson 2: The Magnificent Sevens (a structured way to approach Revelation)

Lesson 2: The Magnificent Sevens

Welcome back! (If this is your first visit, you can review last weeks lesson here),

Today I want to provide you with a couple of methods you can use to view the Book of Revelation.  you will find many outlines and timelines on the internet regarding this subject.  Probably so many that it might even make your study of Revelation even more daunting. (At least that is what happened to me.)  Eventually, after much searching and reading, I finally was able to put together the following that opened up the book to me in a more understandable manner. Please remember, though, there are so many views on this topic. I am not claiming this to the "right" way. It is just my way...

Recapitulation and Linear Views

There are 3 prominent series of visions/descriptions John goes through in the book.  The first are the 7 seals, then the 7 Trumpets, and finally the 7 bowls (wrath).

Some feel that those components follow each other sequentially and that each describe a different event - this is known as the Linear View.

Others think the three are all the same events, repeated three different times - this is known as the Recapitulation View.

There is also a view that believes there is some overlap of each section of Revelation - this is known as the Progressive View.

Progressive View

My view leans more towards the Recapitulation View, but with a few tweaks and differences.

First, I want to share with you want I call the "Magnificent Sevens". (Another movie reference...).  In the last article we touched briefly on numerology and its widespread use in Revelation.  Once such example is the number 7.  The number seven symbolizes completeness in the Bible. (God created all things and then rested in 7 days).

There is a pattern in Revelation that highlights several key components, (seven of them) and each has sub-components (seven of them).  Here is a chart depicting them.

	Verses	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Churches	1:1-3:2	Ephesus: The Loveless	Smyrna: The Persecuted	Pergamun: The Compromising	Thyratia: The Corrupt	Sardis: The Dead	Philadelphia: The Faithful	Laodicea: The Lukewarm
Seals	4:1-8:5	The White Horse	The Red Horse	The Black Horse	The Pale Horse	Martyrs under alter	Earthquake & Black Sun	The Trumpets
Trumpets	8:2-11:19	Hail Fire & Blood	Mountain in sea turn to 1/3 blood	Wormwood falls on 1/3 of Rivers	1/3 of Sun, Moon, Stars	Demons from Abyss	Demons Riders of the Euphrates	Kingdom of the Lord
Histories	12:1-14:20	The Dragon	The Woman	The Sea Beast	The Earth Beast	The 144,000	The Announcers	The Harvest
Bowls	15:1-16:21	Painful Sores	Sea to Blood	Rivers into Blood	Sun Burns people	Kingdom of Beast in Darkness	Dries Euphrates, Armegeddon	Judgment against Babylon!
Judgements	17:1-19:10	The Vision explained	Announcement of the Fall of Babylon	Call to God's People. Babylon's Judgement	The kings lament	The merchants lament	The seafarer lament	Destruction of Babylon
Visions	19:11-22:5	The White Rider comes!	Invite birds to the Great Supper	Beast and Kings Ready for war	The thousand years	Satan's Doom	Judgement of Dead	New Heaven and Earth

Now, from the chart above, you begin to see some patterns, that (to me) indicate the items are repeated (not an exact repeat - the diagram below will help with this).

This expands on the relationship between the various sections of the "Sevens".

I feel that studying the book in the order of the numbers, gives a good contextual representation of how the events will play out.

• Starting with #1 to get an idea of the "frame of mind" the church will be in when the Tribulation starts.
• #2 Is a high-level overview of all that is to come.  As we used to say in instructor school, "tell them what you're going to tell them."
• Skipping to #4 now makes sense because this section gives an in-depth look into a lot of the major players in the book.  It gives some context and background that makes the other sections more clear.
• #4 and #5 are what I think to be repeated descriptions of the same time period and events.  I do think there is a slight difference, in that #4 seems to lean toward the trials the antichrist will be allowed to unleash and #5 is clearly the wrath that God will unleash. (plus there are some interludes of encouragement and other items to discuss, like the witnesses).
• #6 Is a listing of the Judgements that will be brought down on all who don't believe.
• #7 Is a listing of the rewards to all those who endured faithfully.

Next week we'll take a closer look at the item #1, The Churches.

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Until next time,
God Bless you all,
Rob

Don't forget to check out my website, www.starvt.com.  And for those of you who have read my novel Providence, you can be assured that this journey through Revelation will show up in the next two books of the series, Purpose and Perseverance (hint, hint).