Revelation - Structure page 1
Revelation – Structure • Smyrna (2:8-11)
Many moons ago, when you were studying Shakespeare
or plays by some other dramatist, you may remember that
they were divided into various acts and scenes and they
had stage directions scattered all the way through them.
Tonight we're going to divide the book of Revelation into
its various scenes – only we don't have them clearly
identified for us. We have to work them out ourselves.
Moreover, we have to contend with the chapter numbers
and verse numbers put in later that don't always give the
best idea of where the various scenes begin and end.
What's the most significant number in Revelation – the
number that stands out as coming up again and again?
Seven. What sevens spring quickly to mind?
• The seven churches
• The seven seals
• The seven trumpets
• The seven bowls
• The seven years
• The seven lampstands and seven stars
• The seven thunders
Tonight I want to examine the structure of Revelation by
looking at these sevens – and some other sevens that
aren't quite so obvious. We'll start with the obvious ones.
Seven Letters
Once you get past the title and greetings of the book of
Revelation, the first section you come to is the letters to
the seven churches. The seven letters themselves are in
chapters 2 and 3.
• Ephesus (2:1-7)
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• Pergamum (2:12-17)
• Thyatira (2:18-29)
• Sardis (3:1-6)
• Philadelphia (3:7-13)
• Laodicea (3:14-22)
Each letter follows the same pattern – we'll look at that in
a few weeks.
The seven letters, however, have an introduction that
belongs with them – 1:9-20. How do we know this
belongs with the seven letters?
• Verse 11 – a loud voice says: Write on a scroll
what you see and send it to the seven churches.
And then the seven churches are named.
• Verse 20 – the image of the seven lampstands and
the seven stars are explained: the lampstands are the
seven churches and the stars are the angels of the
churches. Each letter in chapters 2 and 3 is
addressed to the angel of the church.
• Verses 13 to 18 – John has a vision of Jesus that
includes a number of different elements: feet like
bronze; eyes like blazing fire; double-edge sword
coming from his mouth; and so on. The elements
of that vision are taken up in the letters in chapters
2 and 3. For example 2:18
These are the words of the Son of God, whose
eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like
burnished bronze.
Revelation 1:9-20 introduces the seven letters in chapters
2 and 3 and belongs very much with them. That, then, is
the first major section in the book. I don't think there's
much disagreement about that. Some even treat that
somewhat separately from the rest of the document.
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Seven Seals
The next obvious lot of seven is the seven seals in
chapters 6 and the beginning of chapter 8.
• Seal 1 – the white horse (6:1-2)
• Seal 2 – the red horse (6:3-4)
• Seal 3 – the black horse (6:5-6)
• Seal 4 – the pale horse (6:7-8)
• Seal 5 – the souls under the altar (6:9-11)
• Seal 6 – destruction (6:12-17)
• Seal 7 – silence (8:1)
Now, you probably noticed I skipped an entire chapter.
Chapter 7 forms an interlude between seal #6 and seal #7.
It deals with sealing the 144,000 and is not, in itself, an
expression of judgment like with the six previous seals –
and yet 7:3 indicates it's still connected with that judg-
ment.
Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we
put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.
It seems apparent that the seals don't finish till we get to
the seventh one, and so this chapter should be included
with the section on the seals.
What about the two chapters between letter #7 and seal
#1? Can we say anything about those? First, 4:1-2
introduces a change in location.
"Come up here, and I will show you what must take
place after this." At once I was in the Spirit, and there
before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting
on it.
John's vision moves from the isle of Patmos to the very
throne room of heaven. The significant change in locat-
ion indicates a new section in the book of Revelation.
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Secondly, these two chapters introduce the seven seals.
As there was an introduction to the seven letters, so also
with the seven seals.
• Chapter 4 introduces the One sitting on the throne –
God Himself.
• Chapter 5 introduces the scroll with seven seals in
God's hand and raises the question as to who can
open the seals.

Verse 2 – the angel asks: who's worthy to break
the seals.

Verse 3 – no one's found.

Verse 4 – John weeps because no one's found.

Verse 5 – an elder tells John the Lion of Judah
can open the seals.

Verse 7 – the Lamb takes the scroll from God.

Verse 9 – we're told the Lamb's worthy to open
the seals.
Chapters 4 and 5 are the prelude to opening the seals –
they explain what the seals are and who's worthy to put
them into effect.
Seven Trumpets
The next lot of seven comes almost immediately – the
seven trumpets. Here there's no change of location – just
the introduction of the seven angels. 8:2
And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and
to them were given seven trumpets.
There's a brief interlude while fire's thrown to the earth
and there's thunder and lightning and earthquake. Then
the trumpets are blown.
• Trumpet 1 – against the earth (8:7)
• Trumpet 2 – against the sea (8:8-9)
• Trumpet 3 – against rivers and springs (8:10-11)
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• Trumpet 4 – against the sun and stars (8:12)
• Trumpet 5 – the torment of people (9:1-12)
• Trumpet 6 – destruction (9:13-21)
• Trumpet 7 – God's kingdom (11:15-18)
Again, there's a gap between trumpet #6 and trumpet #7 –
at least in the way I outlined it above. What happens in
there?
• There's an angel with a little scroll and the mention
of the seven thunders (10:1-7).
• John, under instruction, takes and eats the scroll
(10:8-11).
• There's reference to the two witnesses and what
happens to them (11:1-13).
Are these an interlude – as with the seals? Or are they
part of trumpet #6? We'll come back to that in later
weeks.
The important thing for tonight is to see them as part of
this bigger section dealing with the trumpets. The conn-
ections are made in the text. Revelation 8:13
As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in
midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to
the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpets
blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!"
Revelation 9:12
The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.
Revelation 11:14
The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming
soon.
The connections are made throughout the passage.
Seven Bowls
The next fairly obvious seven is the seven bowls. These
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come in quite quick order.
• Bowl 1 – on the land (16:2)
• Bowl 2 – on the sea (16:3)
• Bowl 3 – on the rivers and springs (16:4-7)
• Bowl 4 – on the sun (16:8-9)
• Bowl 5 – on the throne of the beast (16:10-11)
• Bowl 6 – on the Euphrates (16:12-16)
• Bowl 7 – destruction (16:17-21)
They're over fairly quickly. The only possible interrupt-
ion is Revelation 16:15
"Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays
awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may
not go naked and be shamefully exposed."
It seems to be a warning that interrupts the flow of bowl
#6.
This section also has a fairly short introduction. It's so
short, I'll read it all. Revelation 15:5
After this I looked and in heaven the temple, that is,
the tabernacle of the Testimony, was opened. Out of
the temple came the seven angels with the seven
plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen
and wore golden sashes around their chests. Then one
of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels
seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who
lives for ever and ever. And the temple was filled with
smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and
no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues
of the seven angels were completed.
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to
the seven angels, "Go, pour out the seven bowls of
God's wrath on the earth."
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Seven Visions
That brings us to the end of the more obvious sevens.
We've covered a significant portion of Revelation, but
there are still some fairly big chunks left – chapters 12 to
14, and chapter 17 onwards. Can we say anything about
these? Michael Wilcock in his commentary on Revelat-
ion in the Bible Speaks Today series suggests we can.
Look at the following verses:
• 13:1b – and I saw a beast
• 13:11 – then I saw another beast
• 14:1 – then I looked, and there before me was the
Lamb
• 14:6 – then I saw another angel flying in midair
• 14:14 – I looked, and there before me was a white
cloud
• 15:1 – I saw in heaven another great and marvell-
ous sign
• 15:2 – And I saw what looked like a sea of glass
Seven things John sees.
It doesn't look quite as impressive in English, because on
two of the above occasions the NIV uses the word looked
instead of saw. However, in Greek, it's the same two
words used each time: και ειδον. It seems John deliber-
ately uses these words to mark each new item in this next
lot of seven.
What then do we do with chapter 12? It forms the intro-
duction to the seven visions. 11:19 seems to mark the
beginning of a new major section:
• The temple in heaven is opened.
• There is lightning, thunder and earthquake.
They're the sort of markers found at the beginning of
other sections as well.
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Then there are two main sections in chapter 12:
• 12:1-6 introduces three main characters: a woman,
her male child and a dragon.
• 12:7-17 tells us what happens between these main
characters.
These two sections provide the background for the seven
things John sees in the following chapters. They provide
the context for understanding those visions.
Seven Words
That brings us to the end of chapter 16 and gives us five
lots of seven – churches, seals, trumpets, visions and
bowls. 17:1 begins a new major section – for there's a
change of location. John's carried away into the desert
(17:3). The next major scene after that starts at 19:11
where John sees heaven open. What can we say about
the passages in between?
Michael Wilcock suggests.
Here, as in Scene 4, John's revelations are both visual
and aural. But that Scene is chiefly a series of Visions,
while this one is almost entirely concerned with what
John hears; hence what we shall call the "seven
Words". One cannot claim to find in it an
unmistakable seven-fold structure; but the analysis
offered here nevertheless seems to yield good sense.1
In other words, there are no key words – like seal or
trumpet or και ειδον – that identify the separate sub-
sections of this major section.
The sub-sections Wilcock suggests are:
• 17:1-6 – about Babylon
1
Michael Wilcock, I Saw Heaven Opened (BST; Leicester: IVP, 1975) 159 fn.
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• 17:7-18 – the mystery of Babylon
• 18:1-3 – the fall of Babylon
• 18:4-20 – the judgment of Babylon
• 18:21-24 – the death of Babylon
• 19:1-5 – the doom song of Babylon
• 19:6-10 – the successor of Babylon
That's all I want to say about that major sub-section this
evening. The overall limits of it are fairly clear – the
issue of how do divide it up isn't so clear. We'll give
some more thought to it when we come to look at those
actual chapters.
Seven Further Visions
The next lot of seven is a bit easier – although I warn you
in advance that there's one problem with it. Have a look
at the following verses:
• 19:11 – I saw heaven standing open
• 19:17 – and I saw an angel standing in the sun
• 19:19 – then I saw the beast and the kings of the
earth
• 20:1 – and I saw an angel coming down out of
heaven
• 20:4 – I saw thrones on which were seated
• 20:11 – then I saw a great white throne
• 21:1 – then I saw a new heaven and a new earth
There's another series of seven visions –with the same
two Greek words being used again: και ειδον.
There's no particular introduction to this major scene –
simply the indication that John saw heaven open (one of
the keys that seems to introduce major sections).
The difficulty is this: in these chapters there's an eighth
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use of those two Greek words – 20:12
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before
the throne, and books were opened.
The content of verses 11 to 15 suggests they're all part of
the one vision. However, this additional use of the two
key words does suggest a slight hiccup in the system.
The Seven Revelations
We've now had seven major scenes – and perhaps one
would expect Revelation to end there. In a book where
the number seven's so significant, why would you go past
seven main scenes? Yet, it does. There are still one and
a half chapters to go. What's going on?
Michael Wilcock suggests two helpful analogies. You
don't have to agree with him if you don't like his
suggestions – they're only suggestions.
• First, he looks at the seven that's part of our lives –
the week. We have six days of work, followed by a
day of rest. When did Jesus die? On the sixth day
of the week. He rested on the seventh day and rose
on the eighth day.
• Secondly, if this analysis of Revelation is correct,
we not only have seven major scenes – we also
have seven major scenes of seven. Where in the
Bible do we have mention of seven lots of seven?
The period leading up to the Jubilee.
Thus, Wilcock suggests an eighth scene isn't out of place
– especially an eighth scene that doesn't deal with the
present earth or world order at all. The eighth scene deals
entirely with the future after the end of this age.
He then proceeds to divide that eighth scene into seven
smaller sections which he calls seven revelations. He
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doesn't really explain how he makes these sub-divisions –

except to relate them to the seventh vision of the seventh
major scene.
• 21:2 = 21:10-21 – God's city
• 21:3 = 21:22-27 – God's dwelling
• 21:4-5a = 22:1-5 – God's world renewed
• 21:5b = 22:6-10 – God's word validated
• 21:6a = 22:11-15 – God's work completed
• 21:6b-7 = 22:16-17 – God's final blessing
• 21:8 = 22:18-19 – God's final curse

One Further Note

With the groups of seven within each major scene, one
further thing's worth noting. In some scenes a further
pattern can be noted.
• The first four items are grouped together – such as
with the seals, trumpets and bowls.
• Then the next two items are grouped together.
• The seventh item in each group is the climax –
often a move beyond history and into the world to
come.