Bible Questions and Answer

In Revelation 1:19, Jesus tells John, "Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later." Many readers, especially futurists and dispensationalists, see this as an outline of the whole book. "What you have seen" is the vision of Jesus in chapter 1. "What is now" is the letters to the seven churches in chapters 2 and 3. "What will take place later" is everything from chapter 4 on, which they see as future events. Revelation 4:1 seems to support this, since the voice says, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." Other scholars think the phrase just describes the kind of message John received, which mixes past, present and future throughout the book. They point out that later chapters include flashbacks, like Jesus' birth in chapter 12. How you read this one verse can shape how you read the whole book.