I've always avoided the study of Revelation, because it was too hard to understand. But I finally had to tackle it as I wanted to have a better grasp of the judgment of God.

At the conclusion of a year of study, there was a discussion of whether to share the results publicly, because my conclusions contrasted sharply with other established scholarly work. But in consideration of those before me and, with deep respect for their work, this study of Revelation is being released to inspire others to read this difficult book and discover the joy of having some sense of clarity that objective biblical hermeneutics can bring.

The approach I used was to understand Daniel thoroughly and Ezekiel and Zechariah partially (they're hard to understand!) before attempting Revelation. Because of the challenges of figurative speech and unnatural events, a large chart was made of each observation of the text on a 12 x 9 foot wall in my dining room. By using painters tape, the table could change how observations were classified to enable a better understanding of the text. The picture on the right shows an early version of the table.

The beauty of this methodology is that the observations can be easily checked and validated by peer review. Inferences can also be evaluated to determine if it is evidence based, or an interpretative error based on an error in biblical hermeneutics.

I am indebted to my wife as she allowed this work to stay in place while we had several dinners with a variety of believing and non-believing friends. To say the least, it stimulated an interesting range of dinner conversations.

My understanding of Revelation is presented in three different formats:

1. Systematic Study: You can start the systematic study by clicking the "next" button on the lower right hand corner of this page. The systematic study is a short summary of in-depth articles ( For deeper study) you may encounter at the bottom of various pages of this study that may help you see what I saw and understand the conclusions that I made.

Personally, I find the best way of understanding this book is to 1) use the printable table to track, verify, and annotate your observations starting with the seals, and then 2) match up your observations of Daniel and the gospels with your observations of Revelation. From those observations, read and compare the in depth articles with your observations and draw your own interpretations.

If this study is correct, it answers many commonly asked questions such as:

1. Were there one or two great earthquakes (sixth seal and seventh bowl)? View systematic study summary or in-depth article.

2. Why was there 30 minutes of silence in heaven before the seventh seal? View systematic study summary or in-depth article.

3. What is rapture? Is it different from resurrection? View systematic study summary or in-depth article.

4. If Satan, Antichrist and False Prophet are thrown into the lake of fire, what happened to fallen angels? View systematic study summary or in-depth article.

5. How was the Abrahamic Covenant fulfilled? View systematic study summary or in-depth article.

Revelation is a very difficult book to understand and interpretations abound. As a rigorously tested objective study, I hope this will cause you to test your own hypothesis and discuss it with your friends, wrestle with some of its observations and publish your work. In sharing your work, God will use you to help all of us grow closer to Him. Let's start this systematic study on Eschatology!