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The Eschatological Timeline

My own chart, rebuilt whole, with verses added

This is the timeline I drew by hand, redrawn clean and kept entire, nothing trimmed. It reads left to right: the Book of Revelation spans the whole age; the run-up gathers at the Cross; the long Church Age is the spiritual temple being restored, with God's people tried and sealed throughout; and it ends in the judgment, the eternal state, and the parable of the two servants. (The simpler four-views comparison lives on the Eschatology at a Glance page.)

←   Revelation spans the whole age   →
REVELATION spans the whole age, not the last seven years of it Enoch & Elijah taken up Elijah's spirit on John the Baptist Christ's ministry · Satan falls like lightning Resurrection · enemies under His feet Righteous dead raised (Matthew 27:52-53) Ezekiel 37 · the spiritual temple being restored Life to the bones: Judah and Israel and all the nations united in one Spirit, through the Body of Christ, His Church and Temple, which is God and Christ: our only true temple of believers since the beginning. The fulfilled priesthood is restored in Christ and the faithful believer. Mercy, justice, and righteousness replace sacrifices, because God always desired those over sacrifice. The believer in the Spirit has the mind of Christ, the gifts of the Spirit, and adoption as an eternal son of God. Outpouring of the Holy Spirit sealing the living, joining the dead in Christ The Cross Church Age "time as we experience it" 2nd Coming Eternal State Judgment of the Wicked When Christ's Body is complete, everyone is in their eternal state I BELIEVE WE ARE HERE Sinai to the Cross: the reign of death (Romans 5:14) the spirit of antichrist · the 70th Week of Daniel, fulfilled in Christ Sinai covenant to Israel · reign of death 1000 years, David to Christ: generations followed, generations departed, but never without a remnant (1 Kings 19:18) Pentecost: the Spirit-filled believer the stone temple destroyed, AD 70 Tribulations, trials, disciplining, testing of believers Individual Abraham, David, Paul, the disciples, and Christ our Lord, whom we must follow National Egypt, Babylon, Israel, Sodom, the Flood, the wilderness Tested and tried parts of the Body joined to the ever-growing Body of Christ Salvation to the faithful alive at His coming, sealed in the Holy Spirit; the perishable shed for the imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:53) The Spirit: in the prophets, on the chosen → received and taken from King Saul → received and remains on King David → the disciples and Spirit-filled believers, given authority over evil And it ends where Jesus ended it, on the two servants (Matthew 24:45-51) "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

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One honest note on the line. Where it runs from the Second Coming straight to the Eternal State, it follows Augustine, who read the "first resurrection" of Revelation 20 as the new birth and the thousand years as this age. Irenaeus, Justin, and Papias read it as a bodily rising of the just and a reign on a renewed earth before the final judgment. The church held both without dividing; this chart draws one and honors the other, and the four traditional lines are compared on the Eschatology at a Glance page.

The whole chart, redrawn. The content follows below, zone by zone.

The run-up: before and at the Cross

Even before the Cross the line is being prepared. Enoch and Elijah are taken up without dying (Genesis 5:24; 2 Kings 2:11). Elijah's spirit rests on John the Baptist (Luke 1:17). In Christ's ministry, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven" (Luke 10:18). Then the Cross, the Resurrection, and the enemies put under His feet (Psalm 110:1; 1 Corinthians 15:25), with the righteous dead raised (Matthew 27:52-53), and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, sealing those alive and joining the dead in Christ. The chart also marks the Reign of Antichrist, "the 70th Week of Daniel" (Daniel 9:24-27); on the antichrist as a present spirit rather than only a future ruler, see the Antichrist.

The Spirit's pattern

The Spirit runs all through it: the Spirit in the prophets and the chosen; the Spirit received and then taken from King Saul; the Spirit received and remaining on King David (1 Samuel 16:13-14).

The Church Age (now): the spiritual temple restored

This is the long middle, "time as we experience it," and the chart names what God is doing in it, straight from Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 37:5, 14 · KJV

Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live… And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land.

What the chart writes beside it, in the author’s own words: Life to the bones, the uniting of Judah and Israel and all the nations in one Spirit, through the Body of Christ, His Church and Temple, which is God and Christ, our only true temple of believers, since the beginning; that spiritual temple is being restored.

The believer and the church are that temple now (1 Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 2:21-22; see the Temple). And "the fulfilled priesthood is restored in Christ and the faithful believer. Mercy, justice and righteousness replace sacrifices, because God always desired those things over sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8; Matthew 9:13).

Throughout the age: trials and testing of believers

Running under the whole line is the disciplining and testing of God's people, the chart's recurring theme:

The consummation: sealing, judgment, the eternal state

At the end of the line: the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, sealing those alive and joining the dead in Christ (Acts 2:17; Ephesians 1:13-14). "Salvation to the faithful who are alive, attaining that for which they were sealed in the Holy Spirit, by the shedding of the perishable for the imperishable" (1 Corinthians 15:51-54; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Then the Judgment of the Wicked (Revelation 20:11-15), and "when Christ's Body is complete, everyone will be in their eternal state" (Matthew 25:46).

The hinge: the two servants

The chart ends, rightly, on the two servants, who was found faithful and who was not:

Matthew 24:45-47 · the faithful servant

Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.

Matthew 24:48-51 · the wicked servant

But if that wicked servant says to himself, "My master is delayed," and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him… and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

See also Daniel and Revelation, Read Together. Christopher Gaith DeMaria's own eschatological timeline, redrawn and kept whole, with Scripture references added (KJV, linked to BibleHub; the servant passages as the author rendered them). The four-views comparison is on Eschatology at a Glance.