MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION

THE THINGS THAT THOU HAST SEEN

1:1-2 - "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John:  who bares record of the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw."
1:19 - "Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter."

THE THINGS WHICH ARE

2:1-3:22 - Seven messages to seven churches.

THE THINGS WHICH MUST SHORTLY COME TO PASS

4:1-2 - "After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven:  and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, (since the Church is not mentioned even once during the Tribulation, and the Word calls the period "time of Jacob's Trouble - Jer. 30:7, I believe John's ascension is a picture of the Rapture) and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.  And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne."
4:3-6:1- John witnesses the events in heaven leading up to God's wrath being poured out on earth.
6:2-11:19 - The first half of the seven-year Tribulation (Dan. 9:27; Mt. 24:3-15; etc.).
12:1-17 - A parallel picture of Christ's First Advent.  [Just as was the case with Mary (singular) being "with child" (Jesus; singular), Herod (singular) trying to kill Him, and the family escaping to Egypt; so too is the woman (corporate Israel), her child (corporate Body of Christ), and Satan (corporate - one third of the angels) tries to destroy Israel (corporate), which is "And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time...." (12:14) - the word translated "caught up" is the Greek ἁρπάζω (harpazō), the same word used by Paul in 1 Th. 4:17 - it means "to be taken up by force;  unlike Jesus who ascended in to heaven, the Church will be "snatched up by force."]
13:1-18 - The Beast (Antichrist) and another Beast (the False Prophet), are revealed to Israel by the Abomination of Desolation, and that is when they "escape" (Dan. 9:27; Mt. 24:15; etc.).
14:1-18:24 - The second half of the Tribulation; Jesus identified this three and a half years as the Great Tribulation (Mt. 24:21)!
19:1-21 - Christ's Second Advent!
20:1-7 - Christ's Millennial Kingdom!
20:8-15 - The Great White Throne Judgment!
21:1-22:17 - Eternity begins with a New Heaven, a New Earth, and a new Jerusalem!
22:18-20 - WARNING:  DO NOT MESS WITH THIS BOOK!