How Revelation Proves Postmillennialism
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WHAT THIS IS… AND WHAT IT ISN’T (DISCLAIMER)
Whenever one attempts to write on the subject of eschatology (in general) and about Revelation (in particular), it won’t be long before an army of “what-about-thissers” and “what-about-thatters” come crawling up to the surface to pummel you with a litany of questions. This is not necessarily a bad thing, so long as the questions are relevant and connected to what the author is attempting to accomplish. For that reason, I thought I would explain my very narrow purpose in this article with the hope that men and women would read it through the lens in which I am intending it. One can hope, right?
With that in mind, this article will not be an extended exposition of Revelation 20 and how Postmillennialism is the only right view of the millennium arising from that text. That certainly would be a very good and necessary endeavor, and one to which I intend to accomplish in full very soon. In fact, I am planning a full scale series on the book of Revelation for my podcast in 2025, so more will be coming on that in the months ahead. I will also not be revealing who the Beast or his prophet is, what the mark of the beast is, who the 144,000 are, or any of the other worthwhile pursuits that many might hope an article like this will explore. Again, I will save those details for my future series.
Today, my hope is to show explore the structure of the book of Revelation and how that proves a postmillennial vision. If you are down for this most modest goal, then onward Christian soldiers!
THE DIFFICULTY WITH THE BOOK OF REVELATION
The most natural expectation that a reader can have is that a book's conclusion will actually conclude the story. After investing hours into a plotline, perhaps over multiple volumes, the reader should expect that the end of a book will bring the book to an end. This seems obvious. Chronologically speaking, the final pages of a book are supposed to describe the final events in the story arc. Nothing of significance is supposed to happen afterward. And yet, contrary to our expectations, this is not how the book of Revelation functions in the Biblical canon.
On the one hand, the Book of Revelation functions as a grand conclusion, but not in the way we may have thought. We come to the last book of the Bible, expecting it to tell us about the final moments of human history. This is not its purpose. However, because it contains the final chapters of the Bible story, we assume it must deal with the final moments of human history, which is why so many people become confused by this book.
Instead of being a conclusion for our story or describing the future end of all material reality, Revelation describes the end of the Jewish age. Revelation envisions, through apocalyptic imagery, how Jesus fully and totally brings the old covenant world of types and shadows to a climactic end and unleashes upon the earth a new world, a new city, a new temple, and a new covenant era where He will redeem everything that was lost. So, in this sense, Revelation 1-19 tells the explosive ending of the old covenant world, and Revelation 20-22 describes the beginning of a new world, the world of Jesus and His Church, that will eventually transform everything that was broken, twisted, and mangled as a result of the fall.
This structure is reminiscent of storytelling techniques seen in literature and popular media, such as J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring. In this first volume of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the primary plotline—Frodo's journey and the formation of the fellowship—reaches a resolution. However, the book doesn't end there. Instead, it sets up new challenges and unresolved issues, leaving the reader with a cliffhanger leading to the next volume.
Similarly, Revelation concludes the story of the Old Covenant world by chapter 19. Instead of closing out the story, it immediately begins a new narrative arc by establishing a new world, thus bridging the past with the future in a way that both concludes and continues aspects of the Biblical narrative. This approach helps us understand that Revelation, while being the final book in the Bible, serves as both a conclusion to the old story of Adam and Israel and the glorious introduction of Christ and His Church. If you do not understand this feature, the book of Revelation will be sorely confusing.
Another aspect that makes the book of Revelation so difficult (among many aspects) is that we do not know what John is attempting to accomplish with this book. Let me explain it this way. John's Gospel is the only Gospel that does not contain an Olivet Discourse. This is the section of the Gospels where Jesus is prophesying about the end of the Jewish age (Mt. 24:3), where the Temple will be destroyed brick by brick (Mt. 24:2), wars and rumors of wars will be unleashed upon the land (Mt. 24:6), false prophets will lead the people astray (Mt. 24:11), famines and earthquakes will break out in the Roman world (Mt. 24:7), the Church will be persecuted for a very intense season (Mt. 24:9), and for her covenant crimes against God, Judah will be totally destroyed (Mt. 24:15-22), such that the only thing left of them will be what the vultures peck off of their bloody cadavers that were left by the Romans to rot in the ash heap that once was Jerusalem (Mt. 24:28).
Matthew's Gospel has this dramatic prophecy of Judah's end described for us in Matthew 24, Mark covers it in Mark 13, and Luke enumerates it in Luke 21. But John does not even mention it! The most remarkable prophecy that any man had ever uttered, that came true with the most astonishing clarity, is not even alluded to by the fourth Gospel. Why? Many point to John's Gospel being written with a particular purpose. His purpose was for people to believe in Jesus so they could have life in His name (John 20:31), which is undoubtedly true. But, it is also true that instead of John writing a mere chapter concerning Jesus' prophecy, as the Synoptics had done, John wrote an entire book on the topic, which we know now as the Book of Revelation.
With that, I am arguing that the book of Revelation is John's Olivet discourse. This book is John's expanded 22-chapter Olivet prophecy from Jesus that deals with the inauguration of Christ's new Bride, the Church, and the downfall of the Old Covenant whore called Judaism. With this in mind, I intend to show how the Olivet Discourse is clearly and unmistakably about the first-century end of Jerusalem. And then, as I am demonstrating this, I also want to show how the book of Revelation perfectly follows this Olivet structure, which means Revelation is telling the same story about the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 as Matthew 24 is. Ultimately, we will see precisely what the book of Revelation is about and how it is the perfect postmillennial end to a postmillennial Bible.
So, with that introduction, let us begin our Final Biblical episode of this series by looking at John's Olivet Revelation.
COMPARING THE OLIVET DISCOURSE AND REVELATION
1) OPENING TIME FRAME REFERENCES
As Jesus leaves the temple mount for the final time, after cursing the city for her covenant crimes, He indicates when God's wrath is going to be poured out on that wicked and adulterous town. According to Jesus, all of God's wrath that had been stored up since Cain killed Abel was about to be poured out on that very generation (Matthew 23:35-36), which would result in the imminent destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and the holy city within forty years (Matthew 23:37-38; 24:1-3). This means that as Jesus began His most detailed and expansive prophecy against the Jews, He took the time to indicate the time frame for its fulfillment, so that none of us would be confused. Instead of having us believe these things are about the end of the world, He told us that these things refer to what would happen to that generation. These are not events that are far off in the distant future, they were imminent judgments against the ones who crucified Him, persecuted His Church, and turned wholly against their God (Matthew 23:34). The timing of Jesus coming in judgment against Jerusalem in the Olivet Discourse is imminent.
The same can be said of the book of Revelation. The book begins with Jesus alerting the reader about things that are soon to come to pass (Revelation 1:1) because the time of His judgment coming is near (Revelation 1:3).
Thankfully, you do not need to be a linguistic scholar to understand what words like "soon" and "near" mean! These are not the kind of words Jesus would use if the fulfillment were thousands of years into the future. That would be utter insanity. Jesus used the kinds of words that would let us that He was coming in judgment against the Jews and that all the ones who pierced Him would see His return in judgment (Revelation 1:7).
Remember, none of us 2000 years after the fact did the piercing of Jesus. You may say, that mine and your sin was a part of what nailed Him to the cross and in a spiritual sense you would be correct. But in a physical sense, you and I did not hammer the nails into His wrist. We did not stab him in the side with a spear. And we did not deliver Him over to Pilate and assume the guilt of the trespass, saying things like “His blood be on us and our children” (Matthew 27:25). So, when Revelation says that He is returning, and the ones who delivered Him over to be pierced are the ones who will witness it, then He is talking about a near-term return, a return that would happen very soon after the writing of the book of Revelation, where Jesus comes in judgment against the ones who pierced Him. This happened in the downfall of Jerusalem.
In both the Olivet Discourse and the Book of Revelation, Jesus began the prophecy with a time frame reference, which lets us know they are talking about the same first century events.
2) THE BIRTH OF THE CHURCH
Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation speak about the same exact window of time. Forty years between the resurrection of Christ and the downfall of Jerusalem. That forty year period of time is compared by both sections of Scripture to a pregnancy, which is not coincidentally forty weeks (which is 1 week for every year).
In Matthew 24, Jesus describes the earliest eras of the church as the "beginning of the birth pangs," such as a woman experiences in her first trimester of pregnancy. Like a human pregnancy, that occurs over forty weeks in three trimesters, this period of forty years will occur in three increasingly hostile phases, with the intensity increasing steadily till the very end, when the child joyfully arrives. Thus, we see how Jesus in Matthew 24 compares this era to a pregnancy, which is what the book of Revelation does as well.
For instance, in Revelation 12, John envisions a woman who is in hard labor, crying out in pain as she gives birth to a male child. This child symbolizes the Church, who comes under the constant threats and berating of the dragon (Satan), and his illegitimate progeny, which Jesus has already identified as the first century Jews (John 8:44). In both the Olivet Discourse and the Book of Revelation, the Church comes into the world through violent travails, like a woman in the throes of labor. In both Scriptures, the baby, symbolized by the church is attacked by the Jews. And in both sections of Scripture, Christ will put away the Jewish opposition so that His child, the church, exists without rival.
For a moment, let us dive a little deeper into each of these three periods, that we are calling trimesters, to see how Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation are saying the exact same things.
3) THE FIRST TRIMESTER
The conception of the Christian Church accounts as the second most consequential pregnancy in all of history, proceeded only by incarnation of Christ through the virgin's womb. In these forty gestational years of the Church’s establishment, Jesus predicted that she would experience all kinds of tribulations and pains before her delivery. For instance, after Jesus ascended into heaven, the newly conceived Church almost immediately witnessed the rise of false messiahs (Matthew 24:4-5), rumors flying around about wars in an era of Roman peace (Matthew 24:6), earthquakes (Matthew 24:7), famines (Matthew 24:7), the initial stages of persecutions upon believers (Matthew 24:9), and a growing number of apostates who were leaving the church because of persecution and pain (Matthew 24:10).
Unsurprisingly, the book of Acts confirms what Jesus said would happen in Matthew 24. Acts 5:36-37 mentions the rise of false messiahs like Theudas and Judas of Galilee, who led people astray. Acts 11:28 records a great famine during the reign of Claudius, that affected the entire known world at the time, and led the disciples to send relief to the believers in Judea. Persecution of believers was a recurring theme in Acts, with early instances such as the beating of James and John (), the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:54-60), and the persecutions led by Saul (Acts 8:1-3) against the early church (). These persecutions led to a scattering of believers, with some of them turning away from the faith, as indicated by the various warnings and exhortations for believers to remain steadfast (Acts 20:29-30). All of these events confirm the accuracy of Jesus' predictions in Matthew 24 and show how the early Church faced significant challenges and tribulations in that first gestational era of its development.
Also unsurprisingly, this same pattern shows up in the book of Revelation. Like Matthew 24, where Jesus gathers His disciples around them to teach them, Jesus gathers seven churches from Asia Minor to encourage them and strengthen them in their faith (Revelation 2-3). After this, He ascends into heaven, sits down on His throne to rule over His Church (Revelation 4-5). From His throne room in heaven, Jesus initiates the very same tribulations and trials that He predicted in Matthew 24. For example, in Revelation 2:2 and 2:14-15, Jesus reveals that false apostles and teachers arose within the church community. As Jesus opens the seals in Revelation 6, wars are depicted (Revelation 6:3-4), followed by famines, earthquakes, various pestilences (Revelation 6:5-6, 12), and the persecution, martyrdom, and apostasy of some believers (Revelation 2:10 and 6:9-11), which perfectly mirror the sufferings anticipated in Matthew 24.
In both the Olivet Discourse and the book of Revelation, you have the same imminent time frame references, the same language of pregnancy that defines the period, and the same tribulations that this Church will face in its first forty years. These similarities continue as we go further in, demonstrating how the book of Revelation - despite all of its fantastical images and apocalyptic symbols - borrows from the structure of the Olivet Discourse and is telling the same story.
4) THE SECOND TRIMESTER
As the Church continued into its second and third decade, and began to increase from Jerusalem (Acts 2:41-47) and spread into Judea (Acts 8:1), Samaria (Acts 8:5-8), and to the uttermost parts of the Roman world (Acts 13:47; 28:28), a new phase of more intense sufferings emerged, akin to a woman transitioning from the easier first trimester into the more challenging second. These increasingly difficult trials were marked by increased persecution, internal conflicts, and external threats, all of which were part of the birthing pains that would prepare her for her delivery.
According to Jesus, the persecutions present in the first period would drastically increase in Judea and specifically in Jerusalem the further along things progressed (Matthew 24:9). Along with increased persecutions, the Jewish people would go from one degree of immorality to another. Jesus describes them as undergoing a complete moral unraveling, becoming increasingly unhinged the longer they persisted in their unbelief and unrepentance for killing Jesus (Matthew 24:12). Instead of the Jews maintaining, or even improving, with every decade they were becoming a mangled and satanic version of themselves, spiraling into the kinds of sins they would not have been able to stomach a couple of decades before. It was clear that God was giving them up to insane degrees of depravity, and over those four decades they descended into a kind of doomed and insatiable madness.
In fact, as Josephus records, by the fifties AD, the city of Jerusalem had descended into a state of lawlessness and chaos, just as Jesus predicted. The high priests and ruling classes engaged in violent power struggles, even going so far as to assassinate one another to gain control over the city. The Zealots, a militant Jewish sect, incited rebellions and slaughtered those they perceived as collaborators with the Roman authorities. The Temple itself became a battleground, desecrated by the bloodshed and corruption of those who claimed to defend it (Josephus, The Jewish War, Book 4, Chapter 3). Brigands and robbers roamed the countryside, plundering villages and towns and causing widespread fear and suffering among the people. This period of increasing lawlessness and brutality within Jerusalem and Judea happened because God abandoned them. Without the God of the Law, the people of the Law had indeed slipped into lawlessness, showing the emptiness of religious rituals devoid of God. This descent into moral repugnance set the stage for the catastrophic judgment that Jesus had foretold, demonstrating that without a relationship with God, even a society built on the Law and order can degenerate into chaos and brutality. Jesus predicted it and it came true with awful certainty as the Jews flagrantly marched to their own destruction.
Now, before showing how the book of Revelation says the same things, I want to add that the rest of the New Testament confirms this occurred. The Book of Acts tells us why the persecutions increased in intensity, and it was because the bloodthirsty Jews wanted to see Christians murdered. For example, Acts 12 describes how Herod Agrippa I, who was trying unsuccessfully to hold the nation together, found that the only thing that would calm the Jews down was killing Christians. To curry favor with the Jewish leaders, and to gain their political loyalty, he executed James, the brother of Jesus, and arrested Peter with the intent on killing him as well. He did this because it "pleased the Jews" (Acts 12:1-3).
In addition to the confirmation from the book of Acts, Josephus mentions that Herod was eager to kill Christians because he believed it would appease the Jewish sentiments. If he could annihilate this Jewish rival spin-off who followed Jesus, then he could go back to his vacationing and indulgence-filled life, without fear of an uprising. Jesus predicted this, the book of Acts and Josephus affirm it.
Paul also refers to persecution in his epistles, which are not exaggerations; but reflect a real and growing threat to early Christians. Paul's describes beatings, imprisonments, and constant danger (2 Corinthians 11:24-26) in fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy. In 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15, Paul speaks directly to the Thessalonian believers, acknowledging their suffering is coming by the hands of their own people, the Jews. These references highlight the fact that the early Church's most severe challenges, were the constant barraging attacks by the Jews who wanted to see them obliterated.
The last great sign of this redemptive gestational era was that the Gospel would be preached throughout the whole known world, occurring immediately before the end. Critics might argue that this could not have happened before the fall of Jerusalem, citing how regions like Timbuktu and the Yucatan Peninsula had not yet heard the Gospel by the downfall of Jerusalem. This perspective, however, misses the context in which the New Testament was written and treats Jesus’ words like they were written in twenty-first century English. As we have said in other episodes, the New Testament was written in Greek, and Greek has a much more nuanced view of what the word “world” means. In this case, Jesus did not say the Gospel would be preached in all the "Kosmos," referring to the entire planet, but rather in the "Oikoumene," the inhabited world of the Roman Empire. Paul himself affirmed that the faith of the Roman Church was being proclaimed "in all the world" ("Oikoumene") by the mid-fifties (Romans 1:8), which not only means that the Gospel had been declared throughout the Roman empire, but that the faith of the Roman church had made its rounds as well! In Romans 10:18, Paul reiterates that the Gospel had gone out into all the earth (Oikoumene), meaning that the Roman Empire had been evangelized before the fall of Jerusalem. This may not satisfy the most deluded dispensationalists, who prefer the confusing and cloudy English over the original Greek. But for the rest of us, let us remember that words have meaning and if our theology contradicts with the plain meaning of the words, then let us adopt a better and more accurate theology.
Now, as I have been arguing, everything in the Olivet Discourse is repeated or mirrored in the book of Revelation and that is certainly the case here. In this second era of tribulations, the book of Revelation describes the exact same things Jesus said would happen. For example, Revelation 7:1-17 talks about the Gospel going into all the world through the symbol of the 144,000. This is the number of the elect who are both Jew and Greek, coming out of every tribe, tongue, and nation throughout the Roman world. Both describe this simple fact.
Revelation 13:11-18 points to the emergence of the beast and his false prophets, which remind us of Jesus' warnings about false messiahs and prophets in Matthew 24. The corruption and descent into lawlessness by Jerusalem is laid bare in Revelation 11:2 and 17:1-2, which illustrate the moral decay that characterized this period. Revelation also records Jesus calling the church to persevere and not to defect from Christ into apostasy (Revelation 2:7, 2:10, and 3:10), which again echo Jesus' exhortation to endure to the end despite the rising persecution. This consistent parallelism between the Olivet Discourse and the book of Revelation reminds us that they are both speaking about a first century church, first century tribulations, and the first century collapse of the old covenant world.
5) THE THIRD TRIMESTER
The final period of tribulations and travails, which takes us all the way to the downfall of Jerusalem, occurred in the mid to late 60’s AD. These last years of Jerusalem and the temple represent the heaviest application of birth pangs to date, just as a woman’s pain intensifies in the final stages of labor. For instance, as Jerusalem descended into moral chaos, the Romans had no choice but to put them down like a rabbit dog that was about to bite anyone who came near it. Because Jerusalem was behaving like it had spiritual mad-cow disease, Rome sent its armies as a final solution to the problem, entering the country through the northern region of Galilee, setting fire and pillaging one town after another en route to defiant Jerusalem. As cities were destroyed, those who escaped fled on foot to Judea and to the capital city, Jerusalem, which sat aloft a collection of hills such as Mount Moriah, and was widely thought of as the safest place in all of Israel. This could not be further from the truth.
As Rome ran out of Galilean cities to loot, they made their way into Jerusalem, staging outside the city with three legions of Roman soldiers and cavalry, ready to take the rebel stronghold by a long, protracted siege. If you are unfamiliar with siege warfare, and army would surround your city, cut off your supply lines, and starve you into cannibalism and a slow withering death. Matthew tells us that this is when the Abomination that causes Desolation occurred (Matthew 24:15), which is a very Hebraic way of saying that the pagan Roman armies were surrounding the city, entering it, and defiling it according to Jewish customs. We know this is what Matthew intends, because Luke (who wrote to a Gentile audience, spells it out with unmistakable clarity. He says: “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near.” The abomination that causes desolation occurred when the Romans surrounded the city, plunging her into a runious insanity, leaving the city drowning in unspeakable defilements.
By the time the armies were swarming around the city, Jesus had already warned His followers beforehand to flee (Luke 21:20). He told them not to go down into the house to grab their cloak. Not to worry if they had forgotten something that was important. But to flee with all of their might so that they would not get swept up in the destruction of the city. Jesus even warns how hard it will be for pregnant Christians in that day, since they cannot run very fast. You see, there were Christians in the city of Jerusalem because they were on mission to their Jewish neighbors. Many had converted to Jesus and stayed so that they could win as many family and friends as they could to Jesus before the city was eliminated. But, when the armies showed up, Jesus had warned them not to stay a moment longer. This was the time to flee, and flee they did.
Josephus records how the Christians, obedient to Christ's prophecy on the Mount of Olives, left the city and were spared from its destruction. He said this in his book entitled the Jewish Wars: 'But before this war began, the people of Jerusalem had received an oracle in that country, which was that when the city should be taken, a certain people should be driven from it and fly to some remote place beyond Jordan, which so came to pass, for they fled to a city called Petra, beyond the Jordan, where they found safety' (Josephus, The Jewish War, Book 6, Chapter 5). This people who were driven from the city were the Christians. The oracle they received was the prophecy of Jesus in Matthew 24. And Josephus, who was no friend of Christ, confirms all of it!
On top of these things, Jesus also detailed that there would be untold suffering in the city of Jerusalem once the Christians left. As they got up and fled, taking the Spirit of God with them, they abandoned the city to a kind of hell on earth. You see, while they remained, there was a kind of restraining effect that occurred so that the Jews were mercifully protected from the deepest expressions of madness. But as the salt left the city, the stink of the Jewish corpse became putrified and nauseating.
As the Roman legions suffocated the city in siege warfare, Josephus recounts some of the most horrific examples of human debasement ever recorded in human literature. A few examples include the severe famine that gripped the city, leading to unspeakable acts of desperation. Josephus describes how people were driven to consume their own leather belts, shoes, and even the cow-hide on their shields in order to survive. The famine became so severe that entire houses were filled with piles of dead bodies, that the living had neither the strength nor the inclination to bury them. Can you imagine being so frail and so weak, that you only had the motivation to waste away in a room filled with rotting corpses. This is what the blue collar populace was experiencing. Josephus also recounts the heart-wrenching tale of a woman named Mary, a lady of noble lineage who, was driven so mad by her hunger, that she killed, roasted, and ate her own infant son, offering the gruesome remains to those who discovered her. This act horrified even the most hardened soldiers, who confessed that the city was under the heavy doom of God.
The city was also plagued by internal strife and violence among the aristocracy. Those who could afford to eat, divided into different warring factions fighting for control over the city, killing each other, and burning each others food supplies to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. This not only worsened the famine, but aided the Romans in killing them.
Josephus notes that those attempting to flee the city were often captured and tortured, not by the Romans, but by their own countrymen, the Zealots, who accused them of treason and desertion. The city descended into a kind of unique chaos, with acts of murder, looting, and cannibalism becoming commonplace. Bodies were thrown over the walls, and the stench of death permeated the city. blood was reported as coagulating in puddles. Josephus even estimates that 1.1 million Jews died during the siege, which makes this the most prolific destruction of the Jews, per population, in human history. It is estimated that a full 25-30 percent of all the Jews on earth died in the downfall of Jerusalem, which makes those numbers on par or exceeding what happened in the Holocaust.
These accounts from Josephus paint a chilling picture of the horrors that befell Jerusalem, fulfilling Jesus' warnings of great tribulation, unmatched in its severity. The abandonment by the Christians, left the city devoid of divine protection, abandoned, unprotected, and vulnerable to destruction.
In addition to the untold suffering that was occurring in the final moments of Jerusalem, there were also flagrant examples of false messiahs, false prophets, and those proclaiming to perform signs and wonders, which led the people into further rebellion against God. Instead of repenting and following Christ, in the final raving moments of madness, the Jewish people trusted in illegitimate christs who peddled petty parlor tricks, pagan magic, and other such snake oil signs and wonders that led the nation to harden their hearts against their God. Like Pharaoh watching his magicians imitate the miracles of God through Moses, the Jews followed their Satanic-inspired leaders like the mice following their Pied Piper to extermination.
Josephus tells us much about these false messianic figures and prophets that existed inside the besieged walls of Jerusalem as the city neared its end. He recounts how lawless men, under the guise of divine Revelation, led the Jewish people to believe they would be miraculously delivered from the Roman siege. For instance, one prophet misled a large number of people to the Temple, promising signs of deliverance and freedom, only for them to be among those slaughtered by the Romans. He also described figures like Menahem ben Judah, who dressed up in royal garments and took control of the city by divine fiat, executing everyone who opposed him, including the high priest. His brutal rule was short-lived, however, as he was eventually killed by other rival factions. Similarly, John of Gischala and Simon Bar Giora were influential leaders during the siege, both viewed as potential saviors by their followers. They used their positions to exploit the people's desperation, with John in particular using false prophecies to maintain his grip upon control. These leaders not only failed to provide real hope or deliverance but also contributed to the internal chaos and violence as different factions vied for power amidst the city's dire situation. The presence and actions of these false prophets and messianic figures further fulfilled Jesus' prophecy, illustrating how they led the people astray and exacerbated the suffering and downfall of Jerusalem with false signs and wonders.
After all was said and done, and the Romans were finished with the Jews, Jesus' prophecy had come true with horrifying clarity. He told them that the city would be so utterly devastated, leveled, and turned to ruin that an untold number of dead bodies would lie baking in the Middle Eastern sun, smiling the sky with vultures pecking away and feasting on the rotting meat of those who were slain in the city (Matthew 24:28). The Olivet Discourse has perfectly foretold everything that happened in that final generation of the old covenant world. The same is true for the book of Revelation, which again says the exact same things as Jesus said in Matthew 24.
Revelation 11:1-2 speaks of the abomination of desolation as the “trampling of the holy city”, symbolizing the invasion and desecration of Jerusalem by the Roman armies. Revelation 12:6-16 describes the woman, representing the Church, fleeing into the wilderness to escape the dragon's pursuit, just like the Christians who fled to Petra. Revelation 6:12-17 and 18:4-8, speaks of earthquakes, celestial disturbances, and the outpouring of divine wrath, which echo the great tribulation and judgments described by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse. Revelation speaks of the holy city as "Babylon the Great," the city that was plunged into the kind of rank lawlessness and whoredom that would normally be associated with the most licentious periods of the Babylonian empire. Furthermore, Revelation 13:13-14 warns that lawless messianic figures were perpetrating deceptive miracles in the city. Revelation calls this man “the beast” who performs many signs and wonders that harden the peoples heart and lead them like sheep onward to the slaughter. We do not know precisely who John and Jesus are referring to, but men like John and Simon fit the bill pretty well. Finally, Revelation 19:17-18 describes an angel of the Lord calling the birds to gather for the "great supper of God" to eat the flesh of kings, captains, mighty men, horses, and riders, which is exactly what Jesus predicted. Jesus said the city would be surrounded by vultures. Revelation says that an angel invited a swarm of birds to feast upon the carcasses. Both Scriptures are saying the same things, referring to the same period, and talking about the same city lying in ruins.
Instead of coming to the book of Revelation, assuming it is speaking about things far into the future, we have demonstrated that it is following perfectly with the Olivet Discourse. And since the Olivet Discourse is a prophecy about the first century downfall of Jerusalem, we can safely say that the book of Revelation, which is John’s version of the Olivet prophecy, is working to accomplish the same theme and vision.
CONCLUDING TIME FRAME REFERENCES
Before we draw some conclusions, there is one more point of overlap between the Olivet Discourse and the book of Revelation we need to consider. If you will remember, moments ago we began by talking about time frame references. Jesus began both the Olivet Discourse and the book of Revelation appealing to things which would “soon take place”, “quickly” even, because the time was “near.” This proved that the events Jesus foretold would occur in the first century.
Now, to ensure that no one would be confused, Jesus not only began these Biblical sections this way, He also ended them this way. Notice how at the end of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus tells the disciples, "This generation will not pass away" until everything He predicted had come about (Matthew 24:34). This means that everything between Matthew 23:36 (the first mention of 'generation') and Matthew 24:34 (the final mention of 'generation') would occur within a single forty-year window. These prophecies were not meant to unfold over multiple millennia but were to come to pass within the lifetime of His disciples. This is precisely why Jesus urges His disciples to be vigilant and prepared (Matthew 24:42-44) because some of them would not taste death until they saw these events unfolding (Matthew 16:28). This is also why Jesus was installing His disciples as stewards over His house (the world) because the old covenant house (the temple) would lie in ruins(Matthew 24:45).
This Church, that Jesus brought out of the ashes of first-century Judaism, transcends regional tabernacle and temple boundaries, and is now tasked with stewarding the entire world, transforming it into God's dwelling place and sanctuary. In Judaism, the Jewish Temple was a regional and worshipful center of the nation, but in Christ, the whole world has become the Temple of God, with the Church serving as His Levitical stewards. Like the Levites of old, Jesus assures us that those who follow Him and do His will will come under His blessings (Matthew 24:46), will spread His blessings, and will receive an eternal reward for their labors (Matthew 24:47).
Like the Olivet Discourse, Revelation also begins and ends with urgent time frame references, emphasizing the immediacy of the events it describes. The repeated use of terms like "the time is near" (Revelation 1:3) and "I am coming soon" (Revelation 22:7, 22:12, 22:20) prove that the entire book, from beginning to end, and all of the events it prophesies are expected to happen shortly from the vantage point of the author, which means they are limited to a first-century fulfillment, rather than occuring at some point in the far distant future. This indicates that the book of Revelation only describes events that were imminent to its writing rather than predicting distant future things that involve us and our circumstances. As we have said before, we must understand this if we are going to comprehend this book.
Said plainly, Revelation is the apocalyptic account of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse. It is the visionary version of Jesus’ prophecy of the downfall of Jerusalem and the birth of the New Testament Church. When you understand that, the book is no longer shrouded in confusion, but becomes clear, encouraging, and knowable.
HOW DOES THIS PROVE POSTMILLENNIALISM?
Now, after our little foray into the structure of the book of Revelation, we need like a boomerang to come back around to the target. If the book of Revelation is the apocalyptic version of the Olivet Discourse, then it is describing two grand stories. Like a normal conclusion, it is detailing the grand finale of the Jewish age, as it collapses, crashes, and burns. But, unlike a normal conclusion, it also begins a new story that will not find its conclusion in the pages of Revelation.
What do I mean? I mean that Revelation 20-22 describe the birth of Jesus’ Church. After 40 years of tribulations and labor, she is now delivered unto the world where she will grow and mature into the queen that Jesus envisions. Revelation describes the moment of her birth, her infancy, when the first century church was propelled into the world, unrivaled by the temple, sacrificial system, priesthood, and the old covenant rebels who hated her. But, Revelation does not describe what the church will look like in the fourth century, or the fifteenth century, much less what she will look like in the twenty-first. What we get is a paradigmatic description of who she has been called to be, and when we understand that vision, it is a truly and thoroughly postmillennial vision.
Revelation 21 and 22 vividly depict the Church as the culmination of God's redemptive plan, symbolized as the new heavens and new earth, replacing the old covenant system of temples, priests, and sacrifices. In Revelation 21:1, John witnesses a new heaven and a new earth, signifying the end of the old covenant order, characterized by physical temples, hereditary priesthood, and animal sacrifices. This transformation is further illustrated as John sees the holy city, the new Jerusalem, descending from heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Revelation 21:2). This imagery aligns with the New Testament portrayal of the Church as the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-27) and the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16). The declaration that God's dwelling place is now with man (Revelation 21:3) emphasizes that the Church, in its perfected state, fulfills the role of God's eternal dwelling place, without the need for a physical temple (Revelation 21:22). Thus, the vision in Revelation encapsulates the shift from the old covenant to the new, where the Church embodies the new creation, marked by direct communion with God.
The Church is also described as the new bride of Christ, a stark contrast to the whore of Babylon that Judaism had become. In Revelation 21:9-10, one of the seven angels shows John the "Bride, the wife of the Lamb," who is then depicted as the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. This imagery highlights the purity and faithfulness of the Church in contrast to the corruption and unfaithfulness of the old covenant system. The new Jerusalem is not just a city; it is a wall-less community of believers, no longer encumbered by geography, but experience the redemption of the Lord over every square inch of the earth.
In Revelation 21:15-21, the new Jerusalem is described in terms reminiscent of the Holy of Holies in the ancient Temple, yet it is no longer limited by geography or ethnic boundaries. The city's walls, adorned with precious stones, and its streets of pure gold symbolize the beauty and purity of the Church as the only place on earth where the nations may come and know YHWH God. The absence of a physical temple within the city (Revelation 21:22) emphasizes that the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple, indicating that God's presence is fully accessible to all believers and no longer held in the back room of the Holy of holies.
Revelation 21:24-26 speaks of the nations and their kings bringing their glory and honor into this New Jerusalem, highlighting that it is the Church's mission now to disciple the nations and bring them into obedience to Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20). The Church, as the new temple, is not confined to a single location but is a global community through which all people can come to know God regardless of where they live or what kind of people they descend from. This picture of the church anticipates a current reality, that was not present in the old world, but is burgeoning, growing, and intensifying in the new, where the knowledge of the Lord is spreading out and covering the earth as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14). In this new world of Christ and His Church, all of the promises of old will come true: His Kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10); His reign of peace will know no end (Isaiah 9:7); and at some point when its spread is complete, you will no longer need to even tell your neighbor to know the Lord because everyone will know Him (Jeremiah 31:34) in fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12:1-3).
The Church is also portrayed as the new Garden of Eden in Revelation 22:1-5. Here, the river of the life flows from the throne of God, it nourishes the tree of life that bears twelve kinds of fruit, all 12 months of the year, for the healing of all the nations. This garden imagery recalls the original creation in Genesis and points to the restored and consummated creation in Christ. The Church, as the new Eve with Christ as her true Adam, will spread the glories of the garden, feed and nourish the nations, until there is no more curse left to be found.
The Church's role in removing the curse on earth is highlighted in Revelation 22:3, where it states, "No longer will there be any curse." Why is this? Because the Church, empowered by the Gospel and the Holy Spirit, participates in Jesus’ work of redemption by preaching the Gospel, discipling nations, and taking dominion over all areas of life, thus progressively pushing back the curse's effects and restoring creation under Christ's lordship, until His work is finished. In support of this grand vision, Revelation 22:5 declares that believers will reign forever and ever, indicating an ongoing, victorious reign of Christ's people on earth until the very end. This reign is not just a spiritual reality but involves cultural, social, and political dimensions as the Church influences and transforms societies into gardens of grace for the master’s glory. The promise that "the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ" (Revelation 11:15) underlines the postmillennial hope that the world now belongs to Jesus and He will make it conform to His holy vision.
This is what the book of Revelation is about. It covers the downfall of the old covenant world in Revelation 1-19 and the rise of the New Covenant Church in Revelation 20-22. That church, will be successful, she will fill His world with His glory, working faithfully until the end of days, this is the way the Biblical narrative ends.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the book of Revelation, particularly chapters 21 and 22, presents a grand and glorious vision of the Church as the fulfillment of God's redemptive plan, replacing the old covenant order with a new, universal community of believers who will transform the world (Revelation 1-19). This vision aligns with postmillennial eschatology, which anticipates the triumph of the Gospel and the Church's role in bringing all nations to worship Christ. The events described in Revelation were not distant future occurrences but were imminent in the first century, signifying the beginning of a new covenant era that continues to this day, with the Church advancing Christ's kingdom until it fills the earth. This postmillennial perspective offers a hopeful and victorious outlook on the future, affirming that Jesus' kingdom has come and is expanding, and will ultimately cover the entire world, fulfilling the prophecy of Revelation and the promises of Scripture.
Think about it this way, Revelation and the Olivet Discourse describe how the church was conceived by Christ after His resurrection. For forty tumultuous years of gestational growth, she continued until her global unveiling, which occurred after the end of the old covenant world when the whore was put away and the infant queen was born. Then, beginning from infancy in the late first century, the church has continued growing for the last 2000 years, and will continue to grow until she is fully mature and has fully accomplished all that God has given her to accomplish. By my accounting of things, the church is barely into her teenage years. After 20 centuries, she has attained some marvelous maturity, but still is filled with unhealthy emotions, inconsistencies, and confusion (much like a teenage girl). Over time, the Lord will faithfully grow her into a radiant queen, who delivers the nations of this world over unto her soveriegn. But, just like the preteen who longs daily to skip ahead to full maturity, we must be patient, we must continue on with faithfulness and hope, and we must recognize that the Lord will bring the church into her full maturity and beauty before He has finished. He has been faithful for the last 2000 years. Do we dare begin to doubt His faithfulness now?
Again, there is so much more that could be said about the book of Revelation. But it is my prayer, that as you have seen its structure, how it so closely aligns with the Olivet Discourse, you will see Revelation’s purpose. It is about the collapse of Old World Judaism, and the rise of God’s universal and eschatological people. A people who will extend the dominion of Christ into all the world, where His glory will fill the entire earth, and where the world will be made Christian before our King returns. This is what Revelation is all about, what the Bible is all about, and the unified story we have been arguing for in this series.
With that, be of good cheer. Be of constant and prolific hope. We do not serve a God who loses. We are not in a Kingdom that is sinking. The world and its nations belong to Jesus Christ, and through His royal reign, the world will continually become more and more submitted to Him. This may take a long time to accomplish, but the way forward is faith, hope, love, and hard work. May out master, as Jesus concludes in the Olivet Discourse, find us working when He returns. May we never be given over to despair, navel gazing, discouragement, cowardice, or confusion. May we labor for the Kingdom of our King and may we hand off our tools to the next generation who will carry it further than we did. Until next time, God richly bless you and thank you for reading along in this series!
-Kendall
VERSES CITED:
Matthew 24:2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 15-22, 28, 31, 34, 42-44; 23:34, 35-38; 27:25
Acts 2:41-47; 5:36-37; 6:1; 7:54-60; 8:1-3; 11:28; 12:1-3; 20:29-30; 21:31; 28:28
Romans 1:8; 10:18
1 Thessalonians 2:14-15
2 Corinthians 11:24-26
James 2:9; 5:1-6
1 Peter 2:9
Revelation 1:1, 3, 7; 2:2, 7, 10, 14-16; 3:1-3, 10; 4-5; 6:3-6, 9-12; 7:1-17; 11:1-2, 15; 12:6, 14-16; 13:11-18; 17:1-2; 19:17-18; 21:1-2, 9-10, 10-14, 22, 24-26; 22:1-5, 3, 7, 12, 20
CHART COMPARING OLIVET DISCOURSE AND BOOK OF REVELATION
You can find that chart here
