The Book of Revelation, Its Timeline: Overview of the Beginning, and Much More!

By Gary Corbin

This book provides a guide for understanding the time line of the book of Revelation as John presents it. This includes a closer look at the seven churches of Asia Minor as well as a brief review on the history of the Rapture doctrine and its origin. Although overlooked by traditionalists, the image of the beast that can speak could actually be already with us. This image that can speak was first introduced on October 6, 1927 (the jazz singer) at the world’s fair as the first feature film talkie, then escalating into our modern-day AI electronics. As far as being put to death for not worshipping the image of the beast goes, that will come in due time. The time line of these and other events speaks volumes as these events started six years before Adolf Hitler became the fuhrer of Nazi Germany. That German political title fuhrer carries the connotation of messiah, hence “national deliverer.” Six years after Adolf Hitler usurps power, WWII ignites as extreme inflation collapses the world’s financial institutions, culminating into the Great Depression between 1927 and 1939. The Great Depression is not the only possible explanation for this “deadly wound” but might include something as simple as a segment in a movie as the actor seems to receive it as if it were a deadly wound but gets up and lives on after the movie’s director calls, “Cut!” Especially with CGI, this only gets more extreme. This and other theories are based on the fact that the beast of Revelation is clearly a man rising out of the sea as the sea is many people. The false prophet rises out of the earth, being the nations sweeping up the world in an ecumenical movement with the deification of love.

This book will revisit the subject of where the northern ten tribes of Israel migrated to after their divorcement and disbursement from the area of their captivity by the Assyrians. Later, these same northern ten tribes—not called Israel but Bit-Khumri by the Assyrians migrated with the Israelites into Scythia. However, before the bulk of these ten tribes migrated northwesterly, some claim they declined an invitation back to Jerusalem to help the Jews (Judah) rebuild the Second Temple under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah (Ezra 1:1–6, 2 Esdras 13:41–45). In this study, the reader will be provided with information for those with an appetite for God’s Word, learning the meaning of biblical numbers and much more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 23, 2024
• ISBN: 9798888327265

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The Book of Revelation, Its Timeline

Overview of the Beginning, and Much More!

Gary Corbin

ISBN 979-8-88832-725-8 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88832-726-5 (digital)

Copyright © 2024 by Gary Corbin

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

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Table of Contents

Preface

The Book of Revelation

Paraphrasing the Essentials of the Book of Revelation with Its Symbolism and Time Line

Chapter 1

Chapters 2–3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Appendix 4

Appendix 5

Appendix 6

Appendix 7

Appendix 8

Preface

The purpose of this book is for those who find the book of Revelation to be complicated and too disturbing when contemplating its content, which I find true for some Christians and non-Christians alike. Then there are those who actually like its disturbing elements, not realizing the breadth and seriousness of John's prophecies. There are those who will not read it because of these unsettling factors. Others leave it to their pastors for interpretation, as it is a pastor's responsibility as God's teachers. Thus, God gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors, and teachers; for the perfecting of the saint, for the work of the ministry of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11–16). A pastor (pasture) is where the people (sheep) are taught (feed) the word of God, hence the origin of our word pastor. However, not a lot of learning and teaching is bestowed upon the saints who fill up the pews on Sundays, as only a few or so passages are read and used for one's private interpretation or opportunity for storytelling during their Sunday's message to their congregations. This generates a low spiritual appetite amongst some of the saints to grow in God's Word, or to paraphrase Paul, forever keeping the saints in the crib living on the milk of the word not ready for the meat of God's word (1 Corinthians 3:2). This is not to ignore the good churches do such as providing, hope, charity, education, and a place for fellowshipping, etc.—that isn't what I'm implying. What is important and concerning is the time spent with the already converted on the same thing over again keeping them on the milk of God's Word instead of moving on to the meat of His Word. This seems lazy (Proverbs 26:14), somewhat obtuse, and not congruent with God's plan, with for the perfecting of the saints being analogical to the church at Laodicea being lukewarm (Revelation 3:14–16).

This book is much more than a study of the book on Revelation; it's also a briefing on the book of Daniel. But with regard to Revelation, I have condensed the verses of each chapter in a Reader's Digest approach for the purpose of getting to the pertinent things so a gestalt of the subject matter can sit in. The Book of Revelation is axiomatic in its symbolisms in a pragmatic way as John explains them with a few exceptions.

This study guide provides appendices on various subjects not considered as having anything to do with the Book of Revelation. However, everything under the biblical magnifier has to do with God, since everything belongs to God as documented in Hebrews 2:10–18, Deuteronomy 10:14, John 1:1–3, Psalms 24:1, and elsewhere. For example, even our European folklore popularized by Walt Disney and others is directly connected to God and Israel. There is proof that these folkloric stories such as Jack and the Beanstalk, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, etc., were all stories told in ancient times by the Israel-Omri-Cymri-Celtic peoples. These folkloric stories originate from Israel's divorced nomadic state. These ancient stories are concerning lost Israel while under the control of other forces during their seven times of punishment and divorcement coming to finality at 2,520 years for both houses (Leviticus 26:18–28, Ezekiel 4:4–6, Hosea, Jeremiah, etc.). This seven times of punishment of Israel is calculated at 7 x 360, equaling 2,520 years. Furthermore, this seven times of punishment corresponds to the 1,900-plus-year gap theory (covered in Appendix 5) coming to an end in the late AD 1700s, as the explosion of the industrialized era began. This period of seven times has been specifically applied to the ten Northern tribes of Israel, commencing when the Assyrians took them captive, which started their great captivity in 721 BC after God divorced them.¹ However, for the house of Judah, God did not divorce them but did punish them for seventy years by allowing the Babylonians to finally subdue them (586–585 BC) with their captivity ending in 538 BC as Cyrus the Great freed them. But calculating this 2,520 years from the commencement of the Second Temple being rebuilt at Jerusalem in 515 BC, 2,520 years will bring us to 1948 when the Jewish nation was restored. The people known today as Jews are Israelites consisting mainly of three tribes: Judah, Benjamin, and Levi with a minority of other tribal people within that group. More importantly, the name Jew was never applied to the ten Northern tribes who were lost from the biblical record after their demise in 721 BC; they were referred to as Omri, being Beth-omri or Bit-Khumri. Furthermore, it was these ten Northern tribes of Israel that first coined the pejorative name Jew as a contracted form of the name Judah. This happened when they were at war with each other (2 Kings 16:6). Throughout biblical scripture, it's made clear that God and His prophets have always viewed Israel and Judah as two separate wives having two separate kingdoms. To simplify it, all Jews are Israelites, but not all Israelites are Jews. Thus, over time the assumption took over that all twelve tribes of Israel are identified as Jews, causing confusion for most who did not realize the name Jew only applies to Judah, Benjamin, and Levi at best. This fundamental misunderstanding of history among the masses is also dealt with in this study.

In this study, the reader will be provided a summary of John's Revelation documenting key events with their time line as a guide. Then further into the study, there will be a more comprehensive analysis of each chapter utilizing the verses in a condensed presentation by utilizing other biblical books as a cross-reference. If God is in control of everything, including history, as the Hebrew scriptures demonstrate, then His Word, Thus saith the Lord, will be consistent and verifiable, as so will be His son's Word, Jesus!

Theories abound concerning the two witnesses of God (Revelation 11), who torment the world with God's Word for three and a half years and then are killed by the beast out of the bottomless pit. In celebration of their deaths, the people of the world send one another gifts to celebrate getting rid of these two always talking about God. Then the world, in constant use of their image of the beast devices, sees and becomes shocked in fear when their bodies are resurrected by God after lying there in plain sight dead for three and a half days, as no one buried them. Many books ignore this subject altogether. There are a couple of possible clues as to who these two witnesses might be by way of deductive reasoning. Let's consider Enoch, Moses, and Elijah. It could be any combination of these three servants of God. Let's consider Enoch and Elijah first, since both were taken by God. Enoch was taken by God (Genesis 5:24), while Elijah was taken by God in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). These two passages document that both Enoch and Elijah did not die. Let's consider perhaps these two witnesses are Moses and Elijah, since Moses represents the lawgiver while Elijah is at par with Moses representing the prophets. Elijah is prophesied as returning in Malachi 4:5–6. There are some commentaries that make the claim that Elijah did not stay with the Lord after His ascent but returned to earth. They base this on a passage that Elijah sent a letter to King Jehoram of the Kingdom of Judah (2 Chronicles 21:12) after his whirlwind event took place a couple of years earlier (2 Kings 2:11). However, after a thorough examination of these commentaries and rereading of these passages in question for myself, it does allude to the possibility that it was written before Elijah's ascension, but more importantly, it doesn't actually say Elijah delivered the letter himself. But be that as it may, you decide! As for Moses, he was not taken by God but died in Moab on Mount Nebo at the age of one hundred and twenty. In Jude 1:9, it states that the Archangel Michael struggled with the devil over Moses's body. In conclusion, it's my opinion that since Elijah and Moses met with Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, these two will be my first choice!

Then there are the three characters—two beasts and Satan. These three characters spew out three evil spirits who go forth to gather the kings and the peoples of the earth to the battle of the great day of God Almighty (Revelation 16: 13–14). John the Revelator states the first beast rises up out of the sea, which represents a multitude of people since the sea cannot feel woes and is thus a man. The second beast, the false prophet, rises up out of the earth, being the nations representing the world religions in an ecumenical movement, also being a man. The third beast is Lucifer—also known as Satan, the devil, and the serpent—the red dragon when he is kicked out of heaven onto earth in person, bringing on the three woes, etc. (Revelation 12). I don't believe this has happened yet. The most accepted belief is that these three characters are one and the same Satan.

There are two possible thoughts on how Satan arrives after being kicked out of heaven as Antichrist. The most accepted and most likely method is, he takes possession of a man through demonic means. Although oversimplification analogically, think of it as when you call someone over the phone, you are there with them spiritually via the ether waves anywhere in the world, as both are connected electromagnetically in real time. The other lesser idea to consider is that he arrives in a vehicle in person as himself but pretending to be Christ to deceive those ready for the harvest, hoping to escape this world's troubles by way of the Rapture and/or by way of an alien being from another world being their sky brother(s)! Whichever idea one believes, Satan will arrive from outside of our dimension from heaven. Satan will look much like us in so many ways but even more beautiful and supernatural—no pitchfork, pointy ears, etc.

In this study, the reader will be briefed on the Book of Daniel, analyzing the biblical and historic evidence for the backdrop of this third Beast—Lucifer. The book of Daniel provides the geographical area from Alexander the Great's Empire, as does the Book of Revelation for the pagan Roman Empire or nondescript beast identified as Rome. This regional Antichrist will uproot three of the ten kings without kingdoms, leaving seven in a quasi-confederacy in the Middle Eastern region of those two empires (Revelation 17:12). More precisely, it's the General Seleucid portion of Alexander's kingdom, which was split into four divisional kingdoms after Alexander the Great's death, that's important. Both the Grecian and Roman Empires share approximately the same geographical region under their empires, specifically the Middle East for this study.

I postulate that Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party uprooted history in such a grotesque way that led me to thinking of the possibility that the Great Depression was the catalyst for world events, leading to the Great Depression or the world's financial collapse, corresponding without much notice to the image of the beast that can talk. This image of the beast that can talk, I believe, is mankind's modern electronics, which is holding the world masses in such fanatical admiration of worship, leaving not much room for debate. I identify this image of the beast as being our modern electronic devices getting their start in 1927 with the invention of the talking silver screen movies called talkies. This invention of the talkies accelerated into our current modernization of all things electronic. Then six years later, Adolf Hitler arrives on the scene in 1933. These devices, although used in many ways for the good of man, are also used unfortunately for bad purposes, since man is a beast depending on one's interpretation of Revelation and based on one's understanding and view of man's nature. Most important question is, how could John have known and written about these future events, especially with regard to the image of the beast that can talk? The answer is simple—he had to have been shown these devices and events some two thousand years ago.

Furthermore, I wonder when John tells us, First beast receives as it were a deadly wound… Could John have been describing something as simple as watching TV and seen someone killed in a dramatic part but gets up and lives on after the scene is finished and the director calls cut, hence explaining it as our everyday entertainment, receives as it were…

The worth being spent on these devices places that action in the shipping worth (worship) realm above all things valued. Virtually every person on the planet, approximately at 91 percent of the population, is in constant use of these things, including our children, which should be everyone's concern. Our word worship is really a major factor in understanding the key to what John the Revelator was warning us about—to not place so much value in this talking image of the beast, especially placing these and other things above God and His Son. (Worship is a contraction of two words, worth and ship, meaning a value judgment.²) We do it all the time, though; everywhere you look, good-intentioned people can't put their devices down long enough to converse with the person next to them. This image of a man that talks is destroying our children at such a dangerous rate with its lust of nonsense, setting us all up for spiritual disaster.

The word worship is thought of by most people as being only a liturgical act regarding all things religion, thinking they will never bow down to a system of the beast in any way shape or form. But maybe we do it all the time without really realizing it since it isn't necessarily only a liturgical word. Therefore, worship is anything you place value in regardless of its seemingly harmless implications and subject matter.

Jesus said regarding the end of this age, Truly I say to you this generation will not pass away until all these things take place… (Matthew 24:34, Mark 13:30, Luke 21:32). For the phase all things… to be understood within the context of those verses, further reading is recommended, but I won't bog down on the specifics here. As for this generation, as I understand it, there are three different measurements biblically for a generation, which are as follows: 40 years, 70 years, and 120 years. Furthermore, the verse This generation will not pass away until all things take place… has also been referenced with the generation of the fig tree, which some have taught it from (Matthew 24:32–35, Mark 13:28–31, Luke 21:29–33), as being interpreted as commencing when Israel was reconstituted as a Jewish nation in 1948. Two of these generations have already come and gone as 1988³ was the first chance at the forty-year mark predicted so long ago. The second generational benchmark was 2018 as the second chance, but nothing happened either. Date setting is problematic at best, but be it wrong or right, these dates would mark the second advent or return of Jesus Christ according to their interpretation, which, if correct, would bring us to about 2068 as the last chance of fulfillment at the 120-year benchmark. Regardless of Rapture, as many adhere to, or no Rapture, one must keep in mind that John the Revelator states that Satan arrives first in Revelation 12, as Jesus Christ arrives last in Revelation 19. I'm not a date setter but I merely find all of these time frames as fascinating to consider even though the first two were strikeouts. These two latter time frames of 2018 and 2068 are my calculations based on these three biblical generational time frames starting from 1948. As for Jesus Christ returning, if my third calculation has any merit, then most would agree that mankind is on some kind of terrible collision with history.

In this study, I have provided definitions for biblical meanings and biblical numerical meanings to help the reader seeking a deeper understanding of our heavenly Father's Word. I've provided a brief summary of the five major religions with a brief summary of their affiliates depending on the importance of their place in history when I've gone a little deeper.

It's important that the reader understand above all things throughout this study that our word worship is not necessarily just a liturgical word but a value judgment of worth, starting out originally as two words, worth and ship, then over time contracted to worship.⁴

I dedicate this book to my heavenly Father. It's God's hope that we all come to repentance and overcome the second death referred to as the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20; 20:10, 14, 15; 21:8)!

The Book of Revelation

Introduction to John

John was known as John the Revelator, Saint John the Divine, John of Patmos, John the Beloved or John the Theologian.

The Book of Revelation was written in AD 95 by John while being exiled by the Roman Emperor Domitian (AD 81–89) for his Christian faith and then dying sometime after AD 98. He was imprisoned on a slave mining outpost on the isle of Patmos off the coast of the Anatolian peninsula, a small rocky island located in the Aegean Sea. Patmos means my killing. The Greek word Pateo, meaning to tread or to walk. The Seven Churches of Asia were all located on the Anatolian peninsula of modern-day Turkey.

Modern name: Island of the Apocalypse or Jerusalem in the Aegean

Tradition claims: John the Revelator was a cousin of Jesus through Mary's sister, Salome.

John the Baptist's mother's name was Elizabeth, the Virgin Mary's cousin.

Theologian Tertullian (AD 155–220) claims John was plunged into boiling oil but miraculously escaped and was then exiled to Patmos. Nevertheless, his grave is supposedly located at Ephesus in modern Turkey.

All ancient manuscripts originally had no chapter and/or verses numbered; these have been added for easier reference for navigating the location of a passage by the translators.

Revelation means to unveil or to reveal or unveiling or to disclose something not realized before!

The Difference between Translation and Transliteration

Translation—informs you what a word means in another language.

Transliteration—doesn't necessarily tell you the meaning of a word but helps with pronunciation of words from a different language.

Paraphrasing the Essentials of the Book of Revelation with Its Symbolism and Time Line

Some verses are in a condensed format with commentary. Some words and/or sentences are omitted depending on the context.

The reader is advised to read all chapters and verses