The Structure of the Book of Revelation

The Structure of the Book of Revelation Page 1 of 31

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By Brother Zephaniah

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Table of Contents

The Structure of Revelation ......................................................................................................................................................... 4

The Key Elements ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5

The Outline of Revelation ............................................................................................................................................................ 7

Chiasmus and Revelation Structure ............................................................................................................................................ 7

The Chiasms in Revelation ...................................................................................................................................................... 10

Detail in Chiasm ................................................................................................................................................................... 10

The Literary Structure of Revelation ........................................................................................................................................... 11

The Four Heptads ..................................................................................................................................................................... 11

Revelation's Opening and Closing .......................................................................................................................................... 12

The Two Cities of Revelation .................................................................................................................................................. 12

The Seven Last Visions ............................................................................................................................................................ 13

The Seven Signs? ...................................................................................................................................................................... 14

The First Seven Visions ............................................................................................................................................................ 16

Explanation (Parenthetical) Visions/Passages ........................................................................................................................... 17

The Structure of Revelation from Chapter Divisions ................................................................................................................ 19

Revelation Detailed Structure .................................................................................................................................................... 23

Comparative Chiastic Correspondence ..................................................................................................................................... 24

The Two Women in Revelation ............................................................................................................................................... 25

The Millennium Chiasm ............................................................................................................................................................... 27


Enhanced Chiastic Comparison .................................................................................................................................................. 29

Using Chiasmus in Interpretation ............................................................................................................................................... 31


The Structure of Revelation The following is an extract from my Book, “How to Understand and Correctly Interpret the Bible Three – Discovering Revelation.” The Book of Revelation, which is a prophecy (Rev. 1:3) is unarguably the most difficult book in the Bible to understand and correctly interpret. Many Christians over the centuries have read it and received no light on what the Book is about except for the chronological sections from chapter 19. Others after a first reading have stopped reading the book altogether. There are also very few Teachers (if any) who teach the prophecy in the book to Christians. Of those who make the attempt, the majority either “spiritualize” the book giving it no literal future fulfillment or claim it was fulfilled in the past in the Popes and the Roman Catholic Institution. The Problem For those of us used to the linear logical writing, reading and thinking of the Western World (see Chiasmus, below), the Book of Revelation does NOT “make sense,” when read right through. This explains why almost everyone over the past centuries could NOT understand and / or correctly interpret the Book. A poor analogy I can give to assist one to appreciate the enormity of the problem the book presents using modern technology is: John saw several visions (cf. movies with different scenes in 4 different locations) and had to write out what he saw and heard into one book without the use of chapters, verses, paragraphs, tabs, headings, punctuation, and other literary devices we are used to and do that WITHOUT adding or subtracting anything! His writing (under the superintendence of the Holy Spirit) was then translated from the Koine Greek into English for the modern Christian by the King James translators in 1611 (modern translations of the Bible which have been deliberately corrupted compound the problem even further so we will not even go there!)


The Key Elements

The MOST critical element to grasp about Revelation from the onset is:-

The literary structure of the book of Revelation takes precedence over chronology, i.e., the visions John saw were arranged by Topic NOT by Timeline. One writer puts it thus: Understanding the structure of Revelation is a bit like anatomy. Knowledge of anatomy does not heal a patient, but without anatomy, a doctor has little chance of detecting what is happening in the human body. Likewise, without knowledge of the structure of Revelation, the reader will have little chance of interpreting much of the book. In fact, the conclusion one comes to concerning the overall structure of Revelation will have ramifications for the interpretation of the entire book. Revelation as a whole is so richly structured that no one outline will express equally well all the beautiful relations that it contains. Other important keys to help in getting understanding and correctly interpret the book include:- 1. The enlightment of the Holy Spirit is fundamental for one to get an understanding of any section of the Word of God and especially Revelation. (1 Cor. 2:14; Eph. 1:18). Pray. 2. Hear the Prophecy: The books of the Bible were NOT meant to be read quietly like a novel. They were meant to be read aloud by the individual or in the congregation of the Lord’s people. “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” 1 Timothy 4:13. Revelation promises a blessing to one who “hears” the words of the prophecy. My suggestion would be, whatever you do, get the Audio Bible (available freely on the Web) and listen to it over and over again.


3. In looking at the contents of the book, note that the most prominent event is the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are seven descriptions of the Second Coming, each of which is accompanied by judgments leading up to it. 4. There are prominent interludes in the book that are part of cycles of judgement. The cycles begin with a scene which introduces the holy source for the judgments. Then follow six judgments falling preeminently on the enemies of God. The interlude is then inserted which encourages the people of God. The 7th and final judgment then brings intense punishment to God’s enemies. 5. The principal symbolic characters of Revelation come on stage one at a time. They receive their final recompense and in effect go off stage in the reverse order. 6. One must have a good grasp of the whole Bible and its message, especially the prophetic sections of the Old Testament, the epistles of the apostle Paul and the gospel of John. Revelation is the book of consummation. 7. A knowledge and application of the characteristics of the original language (Koine Greek) in which the book was written is essential to also enable correct interpretation of the Book. An example is the two - και formation found in Revelation 1:19 (see Chronology of Revelation, below) 8. The Visions in the other prophetic sections of the Bible get their full and ultimate fulfillment in Revelation. For example Ezekiel was shown the setting of a mark upon the foreheads (sealing) of God’s people in Jerusalem who cried because of the abominations done there (Ezek. 9:4) BEFORE the city was destroyed. In a similar manner the 144,000 are sealed before the Trumpet judgements (Rev. 7:2 - 3) 9. What John sees he described largely in traditional imagery (from the Old Testament), and what he hears gives the Christian reinterpretation (New Testament).


The Outline of Revelation There are numerous different ways of outlining the book of Revelation. The outline of the Book can be derived from:-

1. The Chapter divisions [Adjusted] 2. The Literary Units 3. Daniel 7, Daniel 11:35-12:13 and Matthew 24. 4. The Book of Ezekiel 5. The Book of Isaiah 6. The Gospel of John, etc.

Chiasmus and Revelation Structure As indicated above, the literary structure of Revelation is absolutely essential in understanding the book and hence being able to correctly interpret its prophecy. Although the following is highly summarized, I pray it will contain enough details for the said importance to be brought out in clear, stark relief. Preface to Chiasmus [www.inthebeginning.org] Many biblical teachers now recognize that both Old and New Testament authors drafted their documents according to carefully predetermined literary styles. There is always an internal relationship of each part (no matter how small or large) of Scripture with that of another. When we speak of structure then, we are speaking of the total set of relationships within a given biblical context. No close reading (and its proper interpretation) of a biblical text is possible without an awareness of ancient literary techniques of structure. In a culture wherein words, sentences, paragraphs, episodes were not separated but ran together, there was a need for literary devices to signal the beginning and end of a thought unit. Whereas in a modern literary context, such boundaries are designated by punctuation, paragraphs, chapters, subheadings, or even enumeration, the ancient


literary techniques relied upon repeated key words, phrases, and ideas at the start and finish of a thought unit. Thus the fundamental function of such a framing technique was to mark the boundaries of a thought unit.

A fundamental principle when dealing with chiasmus is not to think linear, but concentric. We have been trained to

think and outline in our western culture in a fashion incongruent with the literary patterns of both the ancient Near

Eastern civilizations and the Greco-Roman.

An improved approach to outlining chiastic structure is to employ repeating numbers or

alphabetical characters (which is traditional: A, B, X, B', A'), and thus conforming to the very

thought structure of the literary device’

Under no circumstances should it be assumed from this system of repeating alphabetical characters that the ancient manuscripts were written with indentations in order to exhibit chiastic structure. The graphic method of presentation is merely a device adopted in order to eliminate unnecessary explanations and to render a complicated subject easy to grasp with a minimum of time and effort. Many of these symmetries were altogether subconscious, and that it was felt rather than seen. It appears that the writers had learned their forms so thoroughly that they had forgotten them as forms. For the more extensive chiastic structures; however, we can posit some degree of conscious effort on the part of the writer. For those who are willing to study the principles of chiastic structure and apply them to Scripture, the aesthetic, literary, and theological rewards are considerable. Chiastic structures should always be examined as part of biblical exegesis. Chiasmus is significant and demonstrates the narrator's skill, which is interwoven beneath the surface of the text.


Definition

Chiasmus, also spelled sometimes as "chiasm", is derived from a Greek verb meaning "mark with two lines crossing like

an ‘X’" (chi, the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet). The following graphics illustrates this idea.

In general, chiasmus refers to an inverted parallelism or sequence of words or ideas in a phrase or clause, sentence, paragraph, chapter, or an entire literary work. The uniqueness of the chiastic structure lies in its focus upon a pivotal theme, about which the other propositions of the literary unit are developed, whereby the author may compare, contrast, or complete each of the flanking elements in the chiastic structure. Thus, technically speaking, "chiasmus" refers to an author’s literary structure whereby he produces balanced statements, in direct, inverted, or antithetical parallelism, constructed symmetrically and encompassing a central idea. The abrupt repetition by which the last elements of the first half of the system become the first elements of the second half, draws attention to the central terms (A/B/X/B’/A’).


The Chiasms in Revelation

There are many Chiasms in Revelation as can be expected. Below I present examples of five types that I have defined in the Book referred to at the beginning which will mainly be in heptads with the fourth element being the Centre of the Chiasm. For Chiasms within chiasms, the fourth chiasm will be the Central Message of the Major chiasm.

Detail in Chiasm

The person determining the chiastic structure from the ordinary text has a choice to the detail of the passage or literary

unit. Chiasms are drawn up based on similar text, theme, parallels, inclusions, etc.

Detail in Chiasm The person determining the chiastic structure from the ordinary text has a choice to the detail of the passage or literary unit. Chiasms are drawn up based on similar text, theme, parallels, inclusions, etc. Example Revelation 8:2-6 forms an inclusion (statements enclosed by similar words at the beginning and end) which is immediately followed by the individual trumpets. The Chiastic structure is as shown below:- A Seven Angels with Seven Trumpets (verse 2)

B Another angel (verses 3-5) A’ Seven Angels with Seven Trumpets (verse 6)


One might even go further and suggest a more detailed structure of the same passage. Note the symmetry around the centre of the Chiasm. A Seven angels with seven trumpets (verse 2)

B Angel, altar, censer (verse 3a) C Incense, prayers of the saints (verse 3b)

D Altar before the throne (verse 3c) C’ Incense, prayers of the saints (verse 4)

B’ Angel, censer, altar (verse 5) A’ Seven angels with seven trumpets (verse 6)

Figure 0

The Literary Structure of Revelation

The Four Heptads

Revelation contains four visible structures: the Seven Churches, the Seven Seals, the Seven Trumpets, and the Seven

Bowls. These blocks of text are obviously there. The key is how to define where they begin and end. We can begin by

dividing the text as follows:-

1. Seven Churches 2:1-3:22 2. Seven Seals 6:1-8:1 3. Seven Trumpets 8:7-11:19 4. Seven Bowls 16:2-16:21 Unclassified material: 1:1-20, 4:1-5:14, 8:2-6, 12:1-16:1, 17:1-22:21.


Each of the heptads (Sevens) has a "preparation-execution" pattern.

Revelation's Opening and Closing

Rev. 1:1-8 is the Prologue (Preface) to the book. We also find at the end of the book several verses which serve as its Epilogue (Closing). The closing starts at Rev. 22:12. This results in the following outline: Prologue 1:1-8 1. Seven Churches 1:9-3:22 2. Seven Seals 5:1-8:1 3. Seven Trumpets 8:2-11:19 4. Seven Bowls 15:1-16:21 Epilogue 22:12-21 Unclassified material: 4:1-11, 12:1-14:20, 17:1-22:11.

The Two Cities of Revelation

The last of the blocks of text engulfs six chapters. The section contains two obviously antithetical cities, the Whore of Babylon and the Bride of Christ. Both of these cities are introduced by one of the seven bowl angels who appears and takes John to see the city. The accounts also end the same way. After John has seen the city, he tries to worship the angel and is told not to. Then the angel makes one more comment to him (19.10c and 22.10f) and disappears from the text. After this John does not see the angel (or the city) anymore. This gives us two, more readily discernable sections. Each is defined by the presence of a bowl angel.


This makes our outline: Prologue 1:1-8 1. Seven Churches 1:9-3:22 2. Seven Seals 5:1-8:1 3. Seven Trumpets 8:2-11:19 4. Seven Bowls 15:1-16:21 5. The Whore of Babylon 17:1-19:10 6. The Bride of Christ 21:9-22:11 Epilogue 22:12-21 Unclassified material: 4:1-11, 12:1-14:20, 19:11-21:8.

The Seven Last Visions

In reading the section between the description of the two cities (19:11-21:8), we notice it contains John saying "I saw." The text is divided into seven narrative sections; each introduced by the phrase "I saw." The seven sections begin at 19:11, 19:17, 19:19, 20:1, 20:4, 20:11, and 21:1. 1. "I saw" the Lord Jesus and "the armies of heaven" 2. "I saw an angel standing in the sun" 3. "I saw the Beast and the kings... and their armies" 4. "I saw an angel coming down out of heaven" 5. "I saw thrones on which were seated..."/"I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded" 6. "I saw a great white throne"/"I saw the dead" 7. "I saw a new heaven and a new earth"/"I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem"


John is sees leader--angel--leader--angel--thrones--Throne--New Heaven and Earth. The revised outline becomes: Prologue 1:1-8 1. Seven Churches 1:9-3:22 2. Seven Seals 5:1-8:1 3. Seven Trumpets 8:2-11:19 4. Seven Bowls 15:1-16:21 5. The Whore of Babylon 17:1-19:10 6. Seven Last Visions 19:11-21:8 7. The Bride of Christ 21:9-22:11 Epilogue 22:12-21 Unclassified material: 4:1-11 and 12:1-14:20

The Seven Signs?

The Seven signs are found between the Trumpets and Bowl Judgements. Starting with chapter 14 we find it contains three main blocks of text. The first of these is the Lamb and the 144,000 on Mt. Zion (vv. 1-5). Following this, three angels make announcements (vv. 6-14). And finally there are two harvests (vv. 15-20). Chapter 13 contains only two blocks. The first of these introduces the Beast from the Sea (vv. 1-10) and the second introduces the Beast from the Earth (vv. 11-18). To determine the remaining two elements of the heptad, we notice that at the beginning of chapter 12, John tells us that "A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven" (12:1). Shortly thereafter he tells us "another sign appeared in heaven" (12:3).


The seven derived signs are therefore:- 1) the Woman clothed in the sun (12:1) 2) the Red Dragon with 7 Heads and 10 Horns (12:3) 3) the Beast from the Sea (13:1) 4) the Beast from the Earth (13:11) 5) the Lamb and the 144,000 (14:1) 6) the Three Angels (14:6) 7) the Two Harvests (14:14) The resulting outline becomes:- Prologue 1:1-8 1) Seven Churches 1:9-3:22 2) Seven Seals 5:1-8:1 3) Seven Trumpets 8:2-11:19 4) Seven Signs 12:1-14:20 5) Seven Bowls 15:1-16:21 6) The Whore of Babylon 17:1-19:10 7) Seven Last Visions 19:11-21:8 8) The Bride of Christ 21:9-22:11 Epilogue 22:12-21 Unclassified material: 4:1-11


The First Seven Visions

Section (4:1 – 5:14), also contains a recurring literary formula where visions John saw start with: "I saw" or “I heard” as well. These seven sections begin at 4:1, 4:2, 4:4, 5:2, 5:6, 5:11, 6:1 and these become the 7 First Visions. And looking at what John tells us we have: 1. "I saw Heaven opened” / "I heard a Voice saying Come up." 2. "I saw a Throne was set in Heaven” / “ONE sat on the Throne” 3. "I saw four and twenty seats and four and twenty elders sitting” 4. “I saw a Scroll in the right hand..” 5. “I saw a Lamb as it had been slain " 6. "I saw multitudes of Angels round about the Throne” 7. "I saw when Lamb opened one of the Seals..” John sees: Heaven – THRONE – Seats and Elders – Scroll and Mighty Angel - Lamb – Angels – Lamb. The final outline becomes:- Prologue 1:1-8 1. Seven Churches 1:9-3:22 2. Seven First Visions 4:1-5:14 3. Seven Seals 6:1-8:1 4. Seven Trumpets 8:2-11:19 5. Seven Signs 12:1-14:20 6. Seven Bowls 15:1-16:21 7. The Whore of Babylon 17:1-19:10 8. Seven Last Visions 19:11-21:8 9. The Bride of Christ 21:9-22:11 Epilogue 22:12-21


Explanation (Parenthetical) Visions/Passages Parenthetical/Explanation Visions/Passages break the chronology of the Book from beginning to end. There are nine (9) of them and they include:-

1. The Mystery of the 7 Stars and 7 Lampstands and Letters to the 7 Churches [1:20 – 3:22] 2. The Sealing of the 144,000 and Multitude before the Throne [7:1-18] 3. The Mighty Angel and The Angel, Temple, 2 Witnesses and Beast [10:1-11:13] 4. The Woman and the Red Dragon [12:1-17] 5. The Two Beasts [13:1-18] 6. The Harvest [14:1-20] 7. Mystery Babylon and the Woman [17:1-18] 8. The 3 Spirits like Frogs and Armageddon [16:13-16] 9. The Bride of the Lamb and the City [21:9-22:9]

The Nine Main Vision Sections can be represented in tabular form as below:---

The Lord + 7 Churches

The 7 First Visions

The 7 Seals

7 Trumpet Judgements

The 7 Signs

The 7 Plagues

7 Proclamations on Babylon

The 7 Last Visions

The Bride + Lord


The resulting Chiastic Structure is as below:-


The Line Diagram that includes the parenthetical/explanation passages can be represented as below:-

Lord + 7 Lampstands 7 Seals 7 Signs Babylon Bride + Lord 7 Visions 7 Trumpets 7 Plagues 2nd Coming

The Structure of Revelation from Chapter Divisions Using the Chapter divisions in the English Bible (KJV) and grouping a few of the chapters together results in an outline of nineteen (19) units composing chapters 1, 2-3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8-9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15-16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 as described below:-

1. It is obvious that chapters 2 and 3 are part of the same literary unit. The letters were written to the 7 Churches in Asia and there is no rationale in splitting the letters.

2. Chapters 8 and 9 detail the trumpet judgements and belong together. Chapter 11 has two sections, the Temple, Two Witnesses and the Beast and the 7th Trumpet. The 7th trumpet is found in chapter 11a [11:14-19]. To arrange the visions chiastically (see below), John had to include parenthetical visions that explain or give background to the other visions.

3. Chapters 15 and 16 belong together as they detail the 7 Bowls of Wrath of God’s judgement.

1. Mystery

2. 7 Churches.

1. Mighty Angel

2. 2 Witnesses

1. Son of Man

2. Harvest

1. 144,000

2. Multitude

1. The Bride

2. The City

1. The Harlot

2. Woman

1. 3 Spirits

2. Armageddon


There is overlap between chapters as shown in the individual and parallel Chiasms derived.

The units can be arranged as shown in the Table Below with Revelation 12 as the Centre of the structure. Because of how prolific the number 7 (heptad) is in Revelation, the Units are shown in a 3 x 7 Table:-

1

2-3

4

5

6

7

8-9

10

11a

12

13

14

15-16

17

18

19

20

21a

21-22

Because of its symmetrical nature chapter 12 can be divided to give a 21 Unit table. Chapter 12 can be divided into three sections. 12a (verses 1-6) which describes the Woman, the Dragon and the Manchild has a parallel chiastic


correspondence with chapter 12 c (verses 13-17) which describes the Manchild, Dragon, the Woman [and the Remnant of the Woman’s seed]. The centre literary unit is the War in Heaven which is the centre of the whole Book. The 21 fold Structure is shown below:-

1

2-3

4

5

6

7

8-9

10

11a

12a

12b

12c

13

14

15-16

17

18

19

20

21a

21-22

Some of the Visions have a parallel relationship with each other as described below.


1. The Trumpet Judgements in chapters 8-9 parallel the Bowl Judgements in chapters 15-16. 2. Chapter 10 which describes the Angel with the little scroll parallels chapter 14 that describes the harvests. 3. Chapter 11a which speaks of the Angel, Temple, 2 Witnesses and the Beast from the bottomless pit parallels chapter

13 which talks about the Sea Beast who is worshipped with the Dragon and the Land Beast who deceives the earth dwellers to receive the mark of the Beast and worship the image of the Beast.

The resulting Chiastic Diagram is shown below:-

The Woman

+ Red Dragon Angel, Temple 2 Witnesses The 2 Beasts Mighty Angel The Harvest The People Mystery Of God Babylon 7 Seals Babylon the Great The Lamb The 2nd Coming The Throne Great White Throne 7 Churches The Bride The Lord The Lord


Revelation Detailed Structure The expression, “The Temple of God was opened in Heaven” occurs in 11:19 and 15:5. Since the Book is arranged Chiastically, the derived detailed structure is:-

1. The Overview [1:1 – 11:19], 2. The Focus [12:1 – 15:5], and 3. The Details [15:5 – 22:21]

This results in the following Chiastic and Parallel Correspondence:- 1. Lord, 7 Lampstands 1. Sign… Woman 1. 7 Angles, 7 Bowls 2. Letters to 7 Churches 2. Red Dragon 2. 7 Bowls poured out 3. The Throne 3. War in Heaven 3. The 7th Plague 4. Beasts, Scroll, Angel 4. Dragon, Woman 4. Mystery Babylon 5. The Worthy Lamb 5. Sea Beast 5. 2nd Coming 6. The 7 Seals 6. Land Beast 6. Angel binds Satan 7. The 7th Seal 7. Angels 7. The Great Throne 8. The 7 Trumpets 8. Mark of Beast 8. The Bride, City 9. The 7th Trumpet 9. 7 Angels + Bowls 9. Bride, Lord Parallel Chiastic


This structure allows one to be able to compare visions and come up with correct interpretation.

Comparative Chiastic Correspondence Comparative chiastic correspondence brings out the similarities or differences between 3 characters or events in particular visions. This is represented pictorially as per diagram below.

Examples include:- 1. The Lord when compared to the Churches and to the Bride. The third comparison is that of the Churches with the

Bride. 2. The Church compared to the Whore of Babylon and the Bride. The third comparison would be between the Whore

and the Bride.


The Two Women in Revelation

A The Woman, Manchild and the Dragon (12:1-6)

B War in Heaven (12:7-12) C Dragon and the Woman (12:13-17)

D The Sea Beast (13:1-10) E The Land Beast (13:11-18)

F Lamb with 144,000 on Mt. Zion (14:1-5) G Angel with everlasting gospel (14:6-7)

H Angel proclaims fall of Babylon (14:8) I Angel warns about taking Mark of the Beast (14:9-11)

J The Patience of the Saints (14:12-13) K The Harvest of one like the Son of Man (14:14-16)

L The Angels Harvest of Wrath (14:17-20) A’ The Woman rides the Beast (17:1-7)

B’ War with the Lamb (17:14) C’ 10 Kings and the Woman (17:15-18)

D’ Babylon the Great is fallen (18:1-2) E’ Nations drunk wine of fornication (18:3)

F’ Come out of her my people (18:4-8) G’ Angel Proclaims of reaction to Babylon’s burning (18:9-20)

H’ Angel proclaims how Babylon is thrown down (18:21-25) I’ Final judgement on Babylon (19:1-5)

J’ Invite to the Marriage of Lamb (19:6-10) K’ The Coming of the Lord (19:11-16)

L’ The Battle of Armageddon (19:17-21) Figure 2


Chiasm A, A’- John sees a great sign in heaven of a Woman clothed with the Sun in travail to give birth and the Great

Red Dragon standing before her to devour her child as soon as it is born in A. In A’ he is taken into the wilderness and is

shown a Woman clothed in purple and scarlet sitting upon the Scarlet Beast.

Chiasm B, B’ - In B, the war in heaven between the Dragon and his angels against Michael and his Angels is described

while in B’ the Beast and 10 kings will war with the Lamb at His Second Coming.

Chiasm C, C’ – In Chiasm C, the Dragon wars against the Woman who flees and turns and wars on the Remnant of her

seed while in C’ the ten kings turn in hatred against the Whore and burn her with fire.

Chiasm D, D’ – In D, the Beast out the Sea is described including his receiving the Dragon seat, power and great

authority after the Dragon has been cast out of heaven while in D’ the fall of great city Babylon the Great is described.

The city becomes a habitation of devils and the cage of every foul and hateful bird.

Chiasms E, E’ – In Chiasm E, the Land Beast deceives the world to worship the Sea Beast by means of the miracles he

does before the first Beast while in E’ the nations are made drunk by the wine of Babylon’s fornication.

Chiasm F, F’ – In F, The Lamb is seen on Mt Zion with the 144,000 while in F’ the people of God are called to come out of

Babylon to avoid becoming partakers of her sins and receiving her plagues.

Chiasms G, G’ – John sees an angel who preaches the everlasting gospel to all nations in G while in G’ the angel

proclaims how the judgment on Babylon the Great will be carried out.

Chiasms H, H’ – In Chiasm H an angel proclaims the fall of Babylon the Great while in H’ an angel proclaims how with

violence Babylon is thrown down.

Chiasms I, I’ – In I, the angel warns those who take the mark of the Beast that “the smoke of their torment shall rise

forever and ever” whilst in I’ the smoke of Babylon’s burning is forever and ever.


Chiasms J, J’ – In Chiasm J, one like the Son of Man is seen sitting on a cloud with a sickle to harvest the Earth. In J’ the

Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with the armies of heaven is described.

Chiasms K, K’ – In K, John sees the angel who harvests the grapes for the winepress of God’s wrath while in K’ the

battle of Armageddon is described.

The first eleven chapters of Revelation give the overview of the end of days. Beginning with chapter 12, details are given

of the War on the Saints, the Judgement on the Beast and his kingdom and the setting up of God’s eternal kingdom.

In this second section are found two Women – the Woman clothed with the Sun (12:1) and the Woman sitting on the

Scarlet Beast (17:1). Both narrations end with the Battle of Armageddon.

The Millennium Chiasm The Millennial Chiasm contains events which occur before and after that 1,000 year reign of the Lord. The chiastic structure of the Millennium Vision illustrates this. Since this is a first helping, only the Chiastic structure is given.


A Chiasm I - Revelation 19:6-10 Premillennial Announcement of the Marriage Supper [Old Earth] Centre: Blessed are they who are called to the Marriage (19:7)

B Chiasm II-Revelation 19:11-16 Premillennial Appearance of Christ to Judge, Fight the Wicked [Heaven (Sky)] Centre: His name is called the Word of God (19:13)

C Chiasm III-Revelation 19:17-21 Premillennial Defeat of Those Who War Against God [Earth] Centre: ..deceived …received the mark of the Beast … image (19:20b)

D Chiasm IV-Revelation 20: 1-7 Millennial Reign of Christ, Satan Bound [Abyss/Heaven/Abyss] Centre: They Reigned with Christ 1000 years (20:4)

C' Chiasm V-Revelation 20:8-10 Postmillennial Defeat of Those Who War Against God [Earth] Centre: Fire ..out of Heaven from God and devoured them. (20:9)

B' Chiasm VI-Revelation 20:11-15 Postmillennial Appearance of God to Judge the Wicked [Heaven (Sky)] Centre: And the Sea gave up the dead that were in it .. death and Hell (20:13)

A' Chiasm VII-Revelation 21: 1-8 Postmillennial Recreation of Earth and Consummation of Marriage [New Earth] Centre: Behold the tabernacle of God is with men (21:3) Figure 3 This arrangement shows why Revelation 20-21 seems to repeat much of Revelation 19: Revelation 19 is pre-millennial and Revelation 20-21 is postmillennial. The vision is carefully organized to reveal that though these events are separated by a thousand years, they are similar in form and effect.


The relationship between A, B, and C and A', B', and C' is similar to that between the seven trumpets and the seven plagues: they are not the same thing, but they follow a similar order, even to where they occur, alternating low-high-low, earth-heaven(s)-earth. In looking for chiastic correspondence, some of these chiasms are found to be stronger than others. However, even the weakest of them has - strong links with its partner on the other side of the millennium. There are four types of chiastic correspondence:- 1. verbal (identical or closely related words),

2. thematic (same theme, but different words),

3. synonymous (different words for the same thing), and

4. antonymous (related but opposite words). Verbal chiastic correspondence are the strongest evidence of deliberate chiastic structure, even though the repeated words may - be in quite different contexts. Each of these seven chiasms has at least one verbal chiastically correspond; more often it has three. There are five verbal chiastic correspondence between each of the chiasms (where they need not be at the same level in the chiasms). Also significant is the fact that in a number of cases, words or phrases are found several times in a single chiasm or pair which are found rarely or not at all in the others.

Enhanced Chiastic Comparison The visions related to the last 7 Angels which run from chapter 17:1 to chapter 22 (6 chapters in all) demonstrates how the chiastic structure can bring out so much from the book and show that there are many chiasms within chiasms. Again just the chiastic structure is given below.


Chiasm I - Come I will show you the Judgement of the Harlot (17:1 – 8)

The angel speaks of the Beast “ascending.” (17:8)

Chiasm II - I saw Another Angel Descending from Heaven (18:1 – 3)

Fallen Babylon is made a “dwelling place for demons and a prison for every unclean

spirit…because all the nations have drunk …wrath.” (18:3)

Chiasm III - One might Angel took up a great milestone (18:21)

‘Thus with violence shall Babylon … be hurled down…’” (18:21b)

Chiasm IV –And I Saw Heaven opened and behold a white Horse

(19:11-16) and on His thigh He has a name written, King of Kings and

Lord of Lords”

Chiasm V - And I saw an Angel standing in the Sun (19:17-20)

“And the Beast and the false prophet were hurled down into the lake of

fire.” (19:20)

Chiasm VI – And I saw an Angel Descending from Heaven (20:1-3)

Devil is bound…and thrown into the abyss, and locked in…so that he should not

Deceive the nations.” (20:3)

Chiasm VII –Come I will show you the Bride, the Lamb’s wife (22:9 – 15)

The angel shows the holy city “descending.” (21:10)

Figure 4


Using Chiasmus in Interpretation Firstly, as amply demonstrated above, the book of Revelation contains an interesting chiastic pattern in which the

various parts mirror each other. To some degree, we should expect the corresponding chapters also to interpret one

another. Thus, the prophecies in the Overview (chapter 1-11) need to be read in the light of the prophecies of the Details

section (chapter 15-22), and vice versa.

Secondly, at the same time, the chiastic parallels do not necessarily indicate precisely the same message. For example,

in chapters 8-9,11b and 15-16, the 7 Trumpet judgments and the 7 Vial Judgements differ in severity and outcome. The

former affect 1/3 of the Earth, Sea, Waters, Sun while the later affect the whole (3/3) of the same.

Thirdly, the chiastic pattern in Revelation illustrates a phenomenon not often observed by modern-day interpreters.

Few New Testament scholars today see chiasmus in that corpus, for example, even though there is strong evidence that

many books in the Bible are arranged on a chiastic pattern (e.g., Genesis, I & II Samuel, Galatians, Titus, Romans,

Ephesians, I & II Thessalonians, etc.) As many as one third of the Psalms have been arranged chiastically as well.

In the least, we ought to be open to this organizational principle, especially in places where a more traditional outline

ends up in a dead end or results in differing positions being taken among the book’s interpreters.

-End -

Spiritual

The Structure of the Book of Revelation