There are several forms of eschatology that understand the visions from Revelation chap 4 up through 22:5 as referring exclusively to a future time immediately preceding the end of history.

The most popular form is dispensational futurism, which interprets very literally and generally sees the order of the visions as representing the historical order of future events:

The word dispensation is a Scriptural term. It occurs in 1 Corinthians 9:17, Ephesians 1:10, Ephesians 3:2, and Colossians 1:25. The Greek word is oikonomia. It is a compound word derived from the words oikos (house) and nomos (law). The literal meaning is house rule and the general meaning is stewardship, economy, or government. Dispensational truth simply means that God has dealt with the human race or the Jews under different economies or responsibilities.

Dispensationalism may be defined as that system of theology which interprets the Bible literally, according to normal usage, and places primary emphasis on the major biblical covenants, Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic, New, and sees the Bible as the unfolding of distinguishable economies in the outworking of God’s major purpose to bring glory to Himself.

It is laid out like this:

1The restoration of ethnic Israel to its land (apparently beginning directly prior to the events depicted in 4:1–22:5),
(2) the church’s rapture into heaven,
(3) a seven-year tribulation,
(4) the antichrist’s reign,
(5) the assembly of evil nations to fight over Jerusalem,
(6) Christ’s second coming, when he defeats the evil nations,
(7) his millennial reign,
(8) Satan’s final rebellion at the end of the millennium, when he gathers together unbelievers from throughout the world to fight against Christ and the saints, and
(9) Christ’s eternal reign together with the saints in a new heaven and a new earth.

RAPTURE

Often, the only focus some people have about Revelation is, when is the rapture.

The word rapture is not found in the Bible. It is a term from the Latin translation meaning to be “caught up” (1Th 4:17). There are basically three views as to the time the rapture occurs: (1)pretribulation rapture, (2) midtribulation rapture, and (3) posttribulation rapture. Posttribulationalists suggest that the Tribulation is not a time of God’s wrath but rather of Satan’s wrath.

Because last things succeed past and present things, one’s whole Biblical perspective of human history is involved in the rapture question.

MILLENNIUM

As is the case with the word rapture, the word millennium is also not found in the English Bible. It comes from the Latin word mille, which means “thousand.” A key verse which lies at the heart of the controversy over the millennium is Revelation 20:4:

“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a THOUSAND years.”

A question arises: Is this verse to be taken literally or symbolically? How one answers this question directly affects where he ends up in his eschatology. (It should be noted that the Greek word chilioi [hence, chiliasm], translated in the above verse as “thousand,” is used six times in the context [cf. Rev 20:2–7].)

The Historic premillennialism view was held by the Church for the first two centuries of her existence.

As theological systems developed, three clearly definable positions concerning the millennium emerged: (1) amillennialism, (2) postmillennialism, and (3) dispensational premillennialism.

VIEWS CONCERNING LAST THINGS

Amillennialism

Second Coming of Christ
Single event; no distinction between rapture and second coming; Introduces eternal state.

Resurrection
General resurrection of believers and unbelievers at second coming of Christ.

Judgments

General judgment of all people.

Tribulation

Tribulation is experienced in the present age

Millennium

Tribulation is experienced in this present age.

Israel and The Church

Church is the new Israel. No distinction between Israel and church

Postmillennialism

Second Coming of Christ

Single event; no distinction between rapture and second coming; Christ returns after Millennium.

Resurrection

General resurrection of believers and unbelievers at second coming of Christ.

Judgments

General judgment of all people.

Tribulation

Tribulation is experienced in this present age

Millennium

Present age blends into Millennium because of progress of gospel.

Israel and The Church

Church is the new Israel. No distinction between Israel and church

Historic Premillennialism

Second Coming of Christ

Rapture and second coming simultaneous; Christ returns to reign on earth.

Resurrection

Resurrection of believers at beginning of Millennium. Resurrection of unbelievers at end of Millennium.

Judgments

Judgment at second coming. Judgment at end of Tribulation.

Tribulation

Posttrib view: church goes through the future Tribulation.

Millennium

Millennium is both present and future. Christ is reigning in heaven. Millennium is not necessarily 1,000 years.

Israel and The Church

Some distinction between Israel and church. Future for Israel but church is spiritual Israel.

Dispensational Premillennialism

Second Coming of Christ

Second coming in two phases: rapture for church; second coming to earth 7 years later.

Resurrection

Distinction in resurrections:
1. Church at rapture.
2. Old Testament/Tribulation saints at second coming.
3. Unbelievers at end of Millennium.

Judgments

Distinction in judgment:
1. Believers works at rapture;
2. Jews/ Gentiles at end of Tribulation.
3. Unbelievers at end of Millennium.

Tribulation

Pretrib view: church is raptured prior to Tribulation.

Millennium

At second coming Christ inaugurates literal 1,000-year Millennium on earth.

Israel and The Church

Complete distinction between Israel and church. Distinct program for each.

The variances between these systems of theology, are very well defined. Note again how interdependent each of the aspects of each particular theological system is.

Revelation 1:19 is often seen as the outline of the book: “Therefore, write what you have seen” represents the past, which is described in chap. 1 “and what is” represents the present, which is described in chaps. 2–3; “and what things are about to come to pass after these things” represents the future, which is described in 4:1–22:5.

The Apocalypse symbolically portrays events throughout history, which is understood to be under the sovereignty of the Lamb as a result of his death and resurrection. He will guide the events depicted until they finally issue in the last judgment and the definitive establishment of his kingdom. This means that specific events throughout the age extending from Christ’s first coming to his second may be identified with one narrative or symbol.

The crucial yet problematic task of the interpreter is to identify through careful exegesis and against the original historical background those texts which pertain respectively to past, present, and future.

Classic dispensationalism, has various forms of the theory.

Matthew 24 and Revelation

The most common idea with dispensationalism runs something like this. Matthew chapter 24, verses 4–28 ( possibly verses 15–28) is a description of the seven-year great tribulation before which Jesus comes in secret rapture, and after which Jesus comes in the second advent.

It is argued that everything that Jesus describes from verse 4 on (or at least from verse 15 on) … the description of wars, rumors of wars, the description of persecution, of false christs, then the description of abomination of desolation and so forth, all the way through to more warnings about false christs … has to do with the seven-year tribulation period.

Matthew 24:15When therefore ye see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let him that readeth understand),
27For as the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. 28 Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
29But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished. 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only.44Therefore be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh.

This means that the description that seems to have to do with Jerusalem in verses 15–28 really must have to do with the Jerusalem with a new temple in it, especially when you tie this passage also to Luke 21, where the reference to the city and to the temple becomes quite explicit.

Then, verses 36–40 describe the pretribulation secret rapture. It is argued that the word that in verse 36 refers to something other, something else, something foreign. “No one knows about that day.” Not the day we have been talking about, but that day, some other day. So the pretribulation secret rapture is secret, it is argued. No one knows about that day.
On the other hand, verses 29–35 deal with the posttribulation second advent. Because there we read (verse 29): “Immediately after the distress of those days …” The tribulation, the pieces of those days. That is, immediately after the tribulation, then you have the second advent with the Messiah coming on the clouds of heaven and so forth.

The Futurist Dispensational View of Revelation 4

They see the point of Rev 4:1–2a is to signify that John is being commissioned as a prophet. It is the second such commissioning narrative, after 1:10ff. Both are based on Ezekiel’s repeated nonliteral rapture in the Spirit, which indicated his prophetic commission (see on 1:10ff.; 17:1–3; 21:9–10).

In 4:1 John catches a glimpse of Yahweh’s heavenly council, called as a prophet by being summoned into the Lord’s secret council,

Some there that there is little basis for seeing John’s spiritual rapture in 4:1–2 as symbolic of the church’s physical rapture, so it is not likely that the same description in 11:12 can be understood merely as a literal rapture of the witnesses. This conclusion is supported by the use of ἀποφέρω (“bring or carried) in almost identical nonliteral rapture language in 17:1–3 and 21:9–10, which attest prophetic authorization and are based on the same Ezekiel texts
The Introductory Vision Terminology (4:1–2a)

Just like Daniel 7 and Ezekiel 1, Revelation 4 begins with introductory vision phraseology, such as, “after these things I saw, and behold.” Several OT visionary passages are analogous, so that the wording could be seen as commonplace in such contexts. But it is more than coincidence that v 1a has its closest and almost exact verbal analogy in Daniel 7:6a, 7a.
Μετὰ ταῦτα (“after these things”) does not place the events within the visions in chs. 4–5ff, but after the events narrated in chs. 1–3. It indicates only that a new vision is coming after the vision in chs. 1–3. This is the order in which John saw the visions but not necessarily the historical order of their occurrence as events. The phrase is also used in this way in subsequent sections of the book (7:1, 9; 15:5; 18:1; 19:1).

Most commentators see 4:1 as an introduction to a new section in the book, and the majority of these view it as introducing all the visions up to the end of the book.16 Not only does the language again reflect Dan. 2:28–29, 45 but the allusion is also apparently used in the same way as in 1:1 and 1:19: “I will show you what must come to pass after these things”;

The vast majority of futurist commentators have taken Rev. 4:1 as one of the most obvious indicators of their position. In 1:19, (“after these things”) is likely synonymous with Daniel’s (“in the last days”), so that the visions of Rev. 4:2–22:5 are generally eschatological in scope

If the inference concerning, which come after, in 1:19 is correct and the same use occurs here, then the visions beginning in ch. 4 need not refer exclusively to a period after that of chs. 1–3.18

The significance of the Daniel 2 allusion is that suffering Christians can take heart that God not only has all knowledge of historical affairs but has decreed them and guides them.

Being ushered into the spiritual, timeless dimension of God’s heavenly council means that the time of the events that John sees in vision may be difficult to determine precisely. Some of the symbols may be descriptive symbolism in that they portray what has taken place up to the present.