REVELATION: GOD’S TIMELINE

Pastor Jonathan Falwell 

God's Timeline 

Today, we will take a view of God’s timeline for all of creation. From the beginning until the end, God has always had a plan and it’s plan for good. All that is necessary for us to experience God’s perfect plan is to trust and believe in His perfect Son. 

God’s Creation

• Genesis 1, 2
• “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…”
• John Sailhamer stated, “These seven words are the foundation of all that is to follow in the Bible. The purpose of the statement is threefold: to identify the Creator, to explain the origin of the world, and to tie the work of God in the past to the work of God in the future.”[1]
• God created a world in perfection, for perfection.

Fall of Man

• Genesis 3
• Satan tempted man to corrupt what God had created
• The only potential for perfection was to allow choice. A people forced to worship and serve God would not be a perfect creation, they would be slaves.

The Flood

• Genesis 7
• Genesis 6:5-8 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
• God judges the sin of the world
• But grace still abounds

Tower of Babel

• Genesis 11:4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
• They sought to focus worship on themselves rather than God

God’s Promise to Abraham

• Genesis 12:2-3 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
• God set Abraham on a journey which would ultimately lead to the promised land

Israel in Bondage

• Exodus 1
• Israel found themselves as slaves in Egypt after the life of Joseph
• Their hardships were many and God heard their cries.
• Exodus 3:7 – He saw their oppression, He heard their cries, He has come to deliver…

Israel Delivered

• Exodus 12
• God used an imperfect Moses to deliver His people and lead them to the Promised Land

Israel’s Journey to the Messiah

• Old Testament Story
• The rest of the Old Testament is the story of God leading them to the promised Messiah and the hope of redemption

Daniel’s Prophecy

• Daniel 9:24-27 Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. 25 Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. 26 And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.
• The 70 Weeks of Daniel
• Daniel’s prophecy points to the moment the “command to restore and build Jerusalem” was given. This was in the 20th year of Artaxerxes’ reign when he gave the order to build Jerusalem as recorded in Nehemiah 2.
• The first set of “sevens” (seven weeks) takes us from 445 B.C. to 397 B.C. which marks the end of the Old Testament in Malachi.
• The “62 weeks” then takes us up to the time of Christ’s passion and ascension. This leads us to the time which “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off”
• This leads to the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and its temple in 70 A.D.
• Then, there’s a pause which is referred to as the “church age” or the “age of grace”
• The 70th Week is the 7 years of tribulation
• Vs 27 But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering

The Birth of Messiah

• Matthew 1, Luke 2

The Life of Christ

• The Gospels

The Crucifixion of Christ

• Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, John 19

The Resurrection of Christ

• Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20

The Ascension of Christ

• Acts 1
• Acts 1:9-11 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

The Church Age

• New Testament Story
• The telling of the fulfilment of Jesus’ promise to “build His church” in Matthew 16

The Rapture of the Church

• 1 Thess. 4:17 describes the “catching up” of the church
  • “then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air…”
• This verse is not the second coming of Christ. In fact, it clearly tells us Jesus will “take us” to be with Him
• Greek word – harpazõ – “to take away”
• 1 Cor. 15

Judgment Seat of Christ

• Romans 14, 1 Cor. 3
• 2 Cor. 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad
• This is the time where we will receive rewards for the things we have done on this earth for Christ
• This does not mean our faith is based on what we do.
• Richard Pratt says, “This well-known adage is true of Paul’s theology: “Saved by faith alone, but faith that saves is never alone.” Those who have placed their faith in Christ will demonstrate their justification by living to please him.”[3]

Revelation Revealed

• Revelation 1-4
• John is approached to write the rest of the story
• He is given the message for the churches and is invited into the throne room of God

The Tribulation Begins

• Antichrist promises peace in Jerusalem and makes a covenant with Israel
• The reunited Roman empire comes into existence (Daniel 2; 7; Rev. 17:12)
• The two witnesses preach the Gospel during the first 3-1/2 years of this tribulation period

The Seven Seals of Judgment

• Revelation 6 through 8:6
• White Horse representing a conquering power
• Red Horse representing war and death
• Black Horse representing the famine to come
• Pale Horse representing pestilence and death
  • ¼ of the population of the earth dead
  • 3 Billion People (2.6 billion raptured)
• Martyrs under the altar
• World trembles
• Silence
• Widespread devastation and death on the earth

The Seven Trumpets of Judgment

• Revelation 8:7 through 11:19
• Hail and Fire
• Mountains into the sea
• Star and Wormword
• Third of the Sun, Moon and stars struck
• Locusts
• Release of four angels
• Woe on the earth
• 1/3 of the population killed (another 1.3 billion people)
• A continuation of the devastation and death

The Mid-Point of the Tribulation

• Revelation 12-14
• The Dragon (Satan)
• The Beast (Antichrist)
• The False Prophet
• Antichrist kills the two witnesses
• Antichrist reneges on his promise to Israel

The Great Tribulation Begins

• Revelation 15-16
• The last three and a half years of the 7 Year Tribulation
• The mark of the beast is required of those who wish to eat, trade and live
• Those not taking the mark are persecuted and killed
• The Seven Bowls of Judgment
  • Sores
  • Sea into blood
  • Fresh water into blood
  • Extreme heat from the sun
  • Darkess in the land
  • Euphrates dries up
  • Earthquake and Armageddon

The End of the Great Tribulation

• Revelation 17-19
• Babylon Falls
• Armageddon
• Defeat of Satan and his armies

Second Coming of Christ

• Acts 1:9-11 predicted the manner in which He would come
• 1:7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.
• Revelation 19:11-21 – He defeats the Antichrist and the armies of this world
• 22:20b “…Surely I am coming quickly.”

Marriage Supper of the Lamb

• Revelation 19:7-9a Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’…
• As Adrian Rogers said when asked how we are to be ready for this banquet, “first, there’s redemption…second, there’s the rapture…third, there’s the reward”

The 1,000 Year Reign of Christ (Millenial Reign)

• Revelation 20:1-6 “so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished”
• Satan is bound for, 1000 years
• 20 refers to 1,000 years 6 times
• Satan will be loosed and gather Gog and Magog (the unbelievers from the millennial reign) to come against the throne of God, they will be destroyed as we read in Rev. 20:7-9
• Ezekial 28:16-19 describes Satan’s past and his end

            Ezekiel 28:16-19 By the abundance of your trading, You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones. 17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you. 18            “You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you. 19 All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever.”

The Great White Throne Judgment

• Revelation 20:7-14
• John 5:28-29
• Daniel 12:2
• The books opened
• Four groups – the unsaved dead, satan, fallen angels, millennial believers
• Those whose names are not found in the Book of Life will be cast into the lake of fire for all eternity
• Rev 20:10 “tormented for ever and ever”

The New Heaven, New Earth and New Jerusalem

• Revelation 21-22

Eternity

• John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved
• Rev 21:3-4 – God “will be with them”

Bob Bonheim says, “Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ is the bright morning star. He is the Son of the morning, the forever Day Star. He is both Creator of David and also His actual descendant. He is without a doubt both God and man. This Book is His final warning to all before He comes. There is still time to come to Him and embrace eternal life. The Holy Spirit is calling and all the redeemed are urging people to come to Jesus and drink of the water of life freely.”[4]

[1] John H. Sailhamer, “Genesis,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1990), 19–20.

[2] McGee, J. Vernon. Thru the Bible Commentary: The Prophets (Daniel). Electronic ed. Vol. 26. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1991.

[3] Richard L. Pratt Jr, I & II Corinthians, vol. 7, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 355.

[4] Bonheim, R. (2005). Revelator. Xulon Press, page 172.