Come Up Here: The Unveiling of Jesus Christ: The Unveiling of Jesus Christ, #2

By Micah Paul Gaylor

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things."     - Revelation 4:1

Want to know what the Bible teaches about the end-times? Looking to prepare for the future? Those are good goals, but the true purpose of the book of Revelation is so much greater, and it starts with understanding Christ's invitation to "Come up here." That's because God's full intention for humanity can only be understood from His elevated, eternal perspective, behind the scenes of Earth's incessant drama and above the temporal anxieties of life.

Book 2 of The Unveiling of Jesus Christ series is all about hearing and responding to that invitation. We'll follow John through the first five chapters of Revelation, where we'll be enlightened and empowered by the stunning promises contained in Christ's letters to the seven churches. Then the curtain will roll back, and we'll take our first few steps into heaven's throne room in preparation for Christ's Unveiling.

Be prepared for an utterly unique journey with surprising twists and turns. We'll leverage the profundity of the Song of Solomon as a compass to guide our exploration into the heart of Revelation. Like a betrothed Bride breathlessly savoring every syllable of her Fiancé's correspondence, expect a deep spiritual experience that will transform your perspective and heighten your expectations for the future. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Micah Paul Gaylor
• Release date: Jun 1, 2025
• ISBN: 9798987756072

Micah Paul Gaylor

Micah Paul Gaylor is a husband and a father of five. After a 25-year career designing world-class data center networks for Fortune 500 companies, Micah is now pursuing another calling. Combining an engineer's analytical mindset with an artist's right-brained creativity, he uses refreshing biblical insight to empower people by connecting them back to their Creator and their original purpose.

Book preview

Come Up Here: The Unveiling of Jesus Christ

An Explorer's Guide to Revelation Chapters 1-5

Micah Paul Gaylor

The Unveiling Initiative LLC

Copyright © 2025 Micah Paul Gaylor

All rights reserved.

www.theunveiling.org

www.micahpaul.com

Edited by: Rebecca Hershberger

Cover design by: Micah Paul Gaylor

Cover Image: Adobe AI tools were used in the creation of the cover image.

Book layout by: Micah Paul Gaylor

Chapter title artwork by: Jamie Gaylor

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission by the author.

International Standard Book Number: 979-8-9877560-6-5

Ebook ISBN: 979-8-9877560-7-2

Hardcover ISBN: 979-8-9877560-8-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: An application to register this book for cataloging has been submitted to the Library of Congress.

Bolding in scripture quotations was added by the author for emphasis only.

Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotations taken from the 1995 edition of the (NASB) New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version®, copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are taken from the Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.

Scripture quotations marked (BSB) are taken from the Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible. Copyright © 2016, 2020 by Bible Hub. Used by permission. All rights reserved Worldwide.

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Where We’ve Been

Parallel Tracks

The Salutation: Revelation Chapter 1

Christ’s Seven Letters: To Ephesus

Christ’s Seven Letters: To Smyrna

Christ’s Seven Letters: To Pergamum

Christ’s Seven Letters: To Thyatira, Part 1 - She Needs Time

Christ’s Seven Letters: To Thyatira, Part 2 - What’s in a Name?

Christ’s Seven Letters: To Sardis

Christ’s Seven Letters: To Philadelphia, Part 1 - The Key of David

Christ’s Seven Letters: To Philadelphia, Part 2 - Wisdom or Folly?

Christ’s Seven Letters: To Philadelphia, Part 3 - Ancient Wounds?

Christ’s Seven Letters: To Philadelphia, Part 4 - An Open Door

Christ’s Seven Letters: To Laodicea

Spiritual Furniture

The Throne Room - Part 1: The One on the Throne

The Throne Room - Part 2: Around and Before

The Throne Room - Part 3: Four Living Creatures

The Throne Room - Part 4: Of Scrolls and Seals

The Throne Room - Part 5: The Lion of the Tribe of Judah

The Throne Room - Part 6: The Lamb that Was Slain

The Throne Room - Part 7: Creation’s Response

Final Compass Check

What’s Next?

About The Author

Where We’ve Been

G

ood morning, fellow explorers! I hope you are rested, refreshed, and ready to go! Yesterday’s training (i.e., the material covered in book 1 of this series) was focused entirely on preparation for what promises to be an utterly unique journey into the book of Revelation. During that time, we expanded our perspective of God’s plan for the universe, anchored our vision in Christ alone, and introduced the necessary tools for a successful foray into end-time prophecy. And here we are, finally ready to embark on a life-changing study of the book of Revelation that will further unpack the Word of God in us and move us closer to the season of His Unveiling!

If you haven’t already read book 1, Face to Face: The Unveiling of Jesus Christ, I recommend doing so before moving forward. Otherwise, it may feel like you are stepping into the middle of a deep conversation with no context. We’ll do a quick review in this chapter, but without the full experience of book 1, you may miss, or at least not fully appreciate, many of the greatest treasures we’ll discover in this book.

One lesson book 1 should have taught you is the importance of savoring every step of the quest. Our pilgrimage through Revelation isn’t a race. True, there is a prize at the end, but the journey itself is every bit as important as the culmination. The very process of searching for Christ in the narrative of Revelation is one of the ways we heed its message and hasten its unfolding.

To that end, we will take our time in this book to unpack the first five chapters of Revelation. Too many eschatological studies rush through these introductory chapters to focus on the more predictive and exciting sections. Eager to find comfort or legitimacy in the knowledge of future events, some have built confident timelines and rigid doctrines while missing the main point of the prophecy, which is to know Christ and be transformed by that experiential knowledge.

The first five chapters of Revelation provide essential context to help us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus throughout the journey, and they establish the anchor point around which everything else in Revelation revolves. Extra time spent on these fundamentals will pay massive dividends down the road.

Even with this mindset, it’s not always easy to avoid the common pitfalls of Revelation. John knew this better than anyone. Near the end of the vision, he got so caught up in excitement about promises of future glory and eternal comfort that he started worshiping the wrong person:

Then he [an angel] said to me, Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And he said to me, These are true words of God.

Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.

​—Revelation 19:9-11

Notice the angel corrected John’s temporarily distracted focus with a simple redirection: The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. In other words, he was reminding John that everything in Revelation reveals something about Christ. Also, notice that after this adjustment, John was able to see the Lord’s return. How much more should it be our goal to listen intently until we can hear what each verse declares about Him. Otherwise, like John, we’ll elevate a lesser concept and risk missing the entire point of the vision … that is, the appearance of the Bridegroom who makes it all happen.

In this book, we’ll attempt to listen intently, to stare intensely, and to search deeply for often-overlooked treasures. On the way, we’ll be drawn down paths that are less traveled but absolutely vital for the journey.

Like inextricable gemstones embedded in surrounding rock walls just out of reach, some of the truths we’ll inspect may feel impractically complex or useless for the daily grind of life. You may be tempted to pass them by with little more than a sideways glance. But remember that the book of Revelation is written for bondservants. It isn’t a simple story of practical wisdom for the mildly interested. No, it’s a profound encounter for those who have devoted—or at least desire to devote—every aspect of their lives to pleasing the Lord.

Besides, simplicity and practicality aren’t always the best metrics of utility. It takes faith and patience to engage with the majestic complexity of the mysterious, and that is how we’ll find some of the most transformational paths through Christ’s Unveiling.

We shouldn’t be afraid to stare into the mysteries in Scripture. As long as we remain within the boundaries of the written Word of God and don’t attempt to wander off its trail, we can confidently engage our imaginations to visualize the nebulous and complex scenes described in Revelation. We’ll even exercise some healthy speculation—as all good treasure hunters must from time to time. Doing so is an act of sonship that awakens our spirit and grows our soul’s ability to perceive God’s character. And both of those are necessary ingredients for experiencing Christ’s Unveiling.

Having said that, I recognize that some people are designed by God to savor the elegance of simplicity. Their relationship with Jesus is most enriched by the thousand little kisses He sends throughout the day—those beautifully profound encounters with the divine in nature and friendship and family. If that’s you, I celebrate your design, but I also encourage you to approach the daunting complexity of Revelation with the same childlike wonder. The process may grow you in ways you don’t expect and enhance the simplicity of your devotion to Christ.

where we’ve been

In preparation for the exciting path ahead, let’s quickly review how we got here. In book 1 we found ourselves standing on the edge of a dark forest, looking for an entrance into the foreboding narrative of Revelation. We started by clearing away the fallen brush of common misconceptions. Remember, Revelation is not a prophecy about future cataclysm and harrowing escape. It is not about the antichrist, the mark of the beast, or a one-world government. It’s not even a revelation about Jesus. He is the revelation. All prophetic experiences in Revelation facilitate His Unveiling.

We also learned there is a blessing for heeding the book of Revelation. Heeding doesn’t mean preparing to survive by stockpiling food and provisions. Heeding the Revelation of Jesus Christ means learning to see Him in every step along the way: in the mountaintops and valleys, the meadows, and the wildernesses of life. The very act of looking for Him hastens His coming (see 2 Peter 3:11-12), so the blessing of heeding the book of Revelation goes far beyond survival, salvation, protection, or escape. The blessing is getting to experience and participate in Christ’s Unveiling, which includes the total and complete transformation of all things, first in us and then through us.

After clearing the debris and locating the starting point for our journey, we spent most of our time in book 1 tarrying at the forest’s edge to familiarize ourselves with a map. We found the map’s border to be a single crimson thread representing God’s plan for creation from eternity past to eternity future. This thread established the boundaries of our quest. It tracked the lifecycle of the seed of the Word of God from its initial sowing at the dawn of time until the end when everything in heaven and earth will be summed up in Christ so that God can be all in all.

While following the crimson thread around our map, we learned something about God’s reason for calling light out of darkness, life from sacrifice, and maturity from suffering. He uses all these things to refine human free will and fashion a suitable companion for Christ out of creation.

In addition to its glorious border, we found that our map also has a legend for interpreting the symbols and numbers in Revelation. The legend is made up of fractals, which are derived from biblical patterns. In our discussion of fractals, we learned to look beyond the simple data points of biblical truth to identify the principles they reveal about God’s essence. We introduced the fractal of one (God, alone in His holiness), the fractal of two (the giving and receiving postures of God), and the fractal of three (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). However, most of our time was spent unpacking the fractal of seven, especially in light of the seven days of creation, the seven Spirits of God, and the seven portions of the human spirit. The fractal of seven is the fingerprint of God and one of His primary tools for unveiling Jesus Christ to creation. Don’t worry, we’ll review the details of the fractal of seven again before we encounter it in Revelation.

Next, we examined Daniel’s seventy-week prophecy to gain a general understanding of the scale and timing of end-time events. It was a deep discussion that required wading through some thick underbrush full of numbers and dates. The prophecy revolved around the perfection of the people and the land of Israel, and it followed the growth of the seed of the Word of God from the time of the prophet Jeremiah all the way to the season of Christ’s second coming. The seventy weeks represented a total of 490 years of discontinuous time that was split into multiple sections based on whether or not Israel was living in their homeland and connected to the root of their messianic promise.

We tracked the starting and stopping of the seventy-week prophecy through history like an hourglass in the hand of the Creator. We learned that the final week of the prophecy (the seventieth week) revolved around Christ’s new covenant, with the first half tracking the 3.5 years of His earthly ministry during His first coming and the second half set aside for the period of His Unveiling at the end of the age. We also concluded that we are currently living somewhere in the middle of an indeterminate pause between the end of the first half of the seventieth week and the beginning of the second half of the final week.

Finally, we studied the topography of our map by unpacking Revelation chapter 12 as a parable foretelling the general shape of events that will unfold during Christ’s Unveiling. We learned about the birth of the male child, the casting of the dragon out of heaven, the flight of the woman into the wilderness, and the dragon’s persecution of the woman’s other children. We interpreted these symbols through the lens of the nation of Israel (the natural olive branches of Christ’s Body) during the first half of the seventieth week, and through the lens of the Gentile Church (the wild olive branches of Christ’s Body) during the second half of the seventieth week.

Okay, hopefully that rapid-fire, fifty-thousand-foot review was enough to grease the gears of your memory. Every step of the journey ahead will build upon the principles learned in book 1, but don’t worry if some of these topics still feel rusty in your mind. As we move forward, I’ll try to be sensitive when a more detailed review of a particular concept is necessary.

That’s enough about where we’ve been. I hope you’re as excited as I am to step onto the path and find out where we’re going …

Parallel Tracks

W

ith a whistle on our lips and a new spring in our step, we approach the forest edge with mixed expectations. The path ahead is dimly lit, and rumors of its precariousness still echo all around us. The journey will be exhilarating, but it won’t be easy: Revelation is not for the faint of heart.

But we have a map. And that map holds promise. And that promise skips through the shadows of our trepidation, enchanting our hearts with indescribable colors and melodies that beckon our spirits ever deeper. And so we embark with confidence toward the mystery of Christ.

To be clear, our confidence is not rooted in our map. It is rooted in our faith in God’s character and the majesty of His plan. Indeed, our map is not even a physical map that we can literally hold. It is more of a mental construct used to organize the deep spiritual principles we’ll use to navigate the book of Revelation. It's a way of framing everything we know about God and His eternal plan so we can recognize the trail of His endgame, even in the darkest parts of the forest.

This may be surprising given how much time we spent building it, but we won’t often refer back to our map for this leg of our journey. At least not in a literal sense. It’s not that we don’t need a map to stay on track, but we’ve already learned many of its lessons. We spent so much effort consuming its principles in book 1 that it has largely become part of us. It has already expanded our view of God’s plan. We are already on the lookout for the symbols defined in its legend—especially those fractal patterns of seven and three. It has already given us a general sense of the topography of the book of Revelation. So we won’t need to keep pulling it out and referring to it by name—it’s in our hearts and will continually guide us as we move forward.

parallel paths

With that in mind, let’s talk about what’s ahead. One of the first things you’ll notice as we enter the forest of the book of Revelation is that the path has many branching trails. Some lead left, some lead right, some end abruptly with no obvious purpose, and others loop around to reconnect with the main path unexpectedly. Sometimes, the main path itself forks into parallel paths before reconverging further down.

In other words, the narrative of Revelation doesn’t always unfold chronologically from beginning to end. Charting the best course can feel very daunting. But don’t worry! What we’ve already learned from our map will provide enough contextual markers to lead persistent seekers like us to the treasure, even if we don’t explore every trail or always take the shortest route.

The truth is, there are many ways to traverse the book of Revelation. Multiple courses lead to the ultimate treasure of Christ’s Unveiling. Sure, some only lead to smaller treasures, while others lead to frustrating dead ends. Even so, we don’t need to cover every possible step nor coerce other travelers that ours is the only legitimate way.

Consider everything we learned in book 1 about the seed nature of the Word of God. Seeds germinate. They send down roots and send up shoots that break through the surface and reach toward the sun. Branches expand, leaves grow, and flowers eventually appear in season. Each of these stages takes time, and some stages overlap. Likewise, biblical prophecy unfolds on multiple levels, often in a cyclical fashion. The challenge is knowing which stage we’re looking at. Even when fruit of the prophecy appears, are we observing the first fruits or the final harvest of the entire crop? No wonder even the wisest struggle to discern the phases of prophetic fulfillment.

Our goal in this series is to focus on the final harvest so we can chart a course consistent with the grandeur of God’s plan. But just because we don’t explore every possible path doesn’t mean they hold no value. For instance, much of our time in this book will be spent walking through the letters to the seven churches described in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Were the letters intended for seven specific churches in Asia Minor during the first century? Yes. Were they describing seven aspects of the Body of Christ relevant for every generation? Yes. Were they representing the seven chronological phases of Church history from the first century until Christ’s return? Yes. Are they invitations to the seven portions of our spirit (on the individual level) and to the entire body of Christ (on the corporate level) to engage with the process that leads to us experiencing Christ’s Unveiling? Yes. And that’s the application I’m most excited about!

Each perspective is a piece of the puzzle—one of many legitimate paths through Revelation. However, since it would require a huge expenditure of time and energy to address them all, we’ll focus on the path most congruent with our desire to see and experience Christ’s Unveiling. We’ll leave the rest for others to probe … or maybe for future trips together.

the compass

Now that we know what kind of path we’re looking for, we’re faced with another dilemma: In the heart of the woods, everything can start to look the same. It will be easy to get turned around. Especially with all of the side trails and parallel tracks that look like the main path. Didn’t we pass that stump already? Oh man, this fork looks familiar. I don’t remember this place on the map?! Are we even moving in the right direction?!

If our map consists of general principles but doesn’t specifically tell us whether to go left or right at every fork in Revelation, how will we find our way? I’m glad you asked because I’m eager to introduce our next navigational tool: the compass! A compass will keep us from getting disoriented. A skillfully used compass can even help us locate contextual land features to deduce where we are when necessary.

Most compasses point to magnetic north, but ours is locked to the treasure at the heart of Revelation: Christ’s Unveiling. And since our map was also built around His Unveiling, they are perfectly paired.

Our compass is the book of the Song of Solomon, or, as many refer to it, the Song of Songs. At first and second glance, the Song of Solomon has no obvious connection to the book of Revelation, but it won’t take long to see how beautifully they synchronize.

The Song of Solomon contains deep truth on multiple levels. First and foremost, it is an intensely intimate love song between King Solomon and his betrothed Shulamite maiden through which we can derive godly principles for cultivating healthy romantic love, sexual desire, marriage, and faithfulness. While this is the most obvious and straightforward interpretation, it may also be the most important. After all, marriage is the centerpiece of God’s plan for humanity, and it is under savage assault in today’s culture.

At the same time, the Song of Solomon is also a metaphor for the spiritual relationship between Jesus Christ and His Bride. Marriage is a mysterious picture of the Church’s mystical bond with Christ (see Ephesians 5:25-32). Many excellent books have been written from this perspective, particularly highlighting the value of the Song of Solomon as a devotional tool for understanding and growing our intimacy with Jesus.

However, to use the Song of Solomon as a compass, we’re going to take a slightly different approach that honors and builds on both of those perspectives. We’re not so much creating a new interpretation as applying those existing perspectives in a new way.

One quick side note: It is not always obvious who is talking in the Song of Solomon because the original Hebrew text doesn’t directly identify the speaker. The context usually makes it obvious whether the singer is the Shulamite, Solomon, or some third party. However, the entire song is conveyed in a shifting first-person discourse, as if someone had watched a play with no narrator and only recorded the dialog, word-for-word, without noting the speaker.

Some Bible versions have attempted to decode the speaker based on the gender and tense of the surrounding Hebrew words, adding headings to each section whenever they think the speaker changes. But even that method isn’t foolproof, and different translations vary with their conclusions in some key places.

I say all of that because, if you are familiar with the Song of Solomon from a particular translation, my conclusions about who is speaking may differ from your expectations in one or two places. I hope you will give me grace and recognize that the text affords some wiggle room in that regard.

Back to our compass. The first key to unlocking the alignment between Revelation and the Song of Solomon is to view Revelation as Christ’s love letter to His Bride. In that frame, the Song of Solomon largely chronicles the Bride’s response.

The second key to unlocking the benefits of our compass is understanding the legend on our map. Remember the legend? The one built from scriptural patterns (or fractals) that unlock deeper treasures from the numbers and symbols in Revelation? Our compass is marked with many of the same numbers and symbols. The same fractal approach we use to unpack the heart of Jesus in the book of Revelation can be used in the Song of Solomon. And when we do that, a larger pattern of events emerges between the two books. One of cause and effect, and of the divine dance of giving and receiving between Christ and His Bride. It’s not just that the Song of Solomon illuminates the Book of Revelation. They illuminate each other.

The overlap between Revelation and the Song of Solomon won’t always be obvious. Sometimes, we’ll have to dig below the surface and think outside the boxes of our preexisting religious expectations. Sometimes, our compass will indicate we’re facing one way, but based on where we think we are on the journey, we won’t immediately see the landmarks we expect. But always, if we trust our tools and remember to search for the principles of Christ’s Unveiling, the connection will become clear, and the path will reveal itself.

aligning the bookends

The first and last verses of Revelation and Song of Solomon provide examples of alignment so obvious they stand out like intentional bookends or signposts marking the beginning and end of a journey. The opening pair set the stage:

The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.

​—Song of Solomon 1:1

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants …

​—Revelation 1:1

The Song of Songs. The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Solomon’s greatest song. The ultimate Unveiling of Jesus. King Solomon revealing his most intimate desires to his betrothed. Christ revealing Himself to His bondservants. The parallels go deeper, but you get the point for now.

At the other end, the stories also close similarly:

Hurry, my beloved, And be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.

​—Song of Solomon 8:14

The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let the one who hears say, Come. And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.

​—Revelation 22:17

He who testifies to these things says, Yes, I am coming quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

​—Revelation 22:20-21

In both books, the Bride’s response to her Bridegroom’s unveiling is an intense longing and expectation for everything promised to transpire soon.

In the case of the Song of Solomon, which is so obviously a song of betrothal, passion, courtship, desire, marriage, and consummation, the Shulamite bride’s excitement at the end of the book (hurry, my beloved) is easy to understand. Everything that transpires in her story is an integral part of the love song, and the entire process is beautiful. No surprise there.

But what about the Church’s response at the end of the book of Revelation? Is her excitement equally logical, given the context of Revelation? Sure, we all yearn for Christ’s return on some level, but do we truly know what we’re thirsting for? Does our longing flow out of illumination? Do we understand how everything in the book of Revelation facilitates His Unveiling so that we can call for those events to unfold from a position of excitement born of sober wisdom and understanding? Are our eyes wide open like the Spirit and the Bride at the end of Revelation?

That is one of my goals in writing this series: to transform our general desire for the blessed hope of salvation into a raging passion to experience and participate in the fullness of the Unveiling of Jesus Christ. And that is why the Song of Solomon is the perfect compass to help us navigate the book of Revelation.

overview of the path

As we consult our compass going forward, we also need to keep our eyes open for the fingerprints of God—those fractal symbols described in our legend—to make sense of the landscape. After all, the ultimate goal may be the treasure at the end of the path, but the journey itself prepares us for the prize. If we are not absorbing everything that Christ is revealing about Himself along the way, then even if we make it to the end, we probably won’t recognize the Treasure.

To that end, recall our discussion of the fractal of three in book 1. God’s plan to move His people toward Christlikeness during the Unveiling generally follows the pattern of the tabernacle of Moses. The three sections of the tabernacle represent three phases of growth aligning with our threefold relationship with the Holy Trinity.

In the outer court, we lean into the Holy Spirit and learn to relate to Him as bondservants. In the inner court of the Holy Place, we lean into Jesus Christ and learn to relate to Him as a Bride. And in the most Holy Place (the holy of holies), we lean into the Father and learn to relate to Him as sons after the pattern of Christ.

Moreover, our growth through each of these three stages generally relies on the principles outlined in the fractal of seven, which we’ll quickly review in the next chapter. In other words, there are seven general steps in our growth as bondservants, another seven in our growth as the Bride, and another seven in our growth in sonship.

Obviously, daily life rarely fits into such organized categories. Nevertheless, the book of Revelation follows this simple rubric to express the unfolding of Christ’s Unveiling at the end of the age.

the main landmarks

Now, let’s add a few more details to this general outline. I’m providing these barebones notes just to whet your appetite and provide enough structure for the overview to stick in your memory like peculiar landmarks in an otherwise busy landscape. These landmarks will make much more sense when we encounter them in context along the way.

Our journey through Revelation will be broken into four main sections following the four most prominent examples of the fractal of seven: the letters to the seven churches, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls of wrath. Don’t worry if these terms are unfamiliar at this point. We’ll fill in the gaps when necessary. And chances are good that whatever you already know about the letters, seals, trumpets, and bowls of Revelation will be challenged, or at least significantly enhanced, by what’s ahead.