Not every number or every chapter stands out as representing significant Bible truth, but the 50 chapters in Genesis correspond to the 50 year sabbaths when the Israeli's had their land returned to them; essentially giving them a new start -- the 400 year hiatus between the end of Genesis and the beginning of the Exodus (when the Law was given to the Israeli's by Moses) may be seen as symmetry to the 400 years between Malachi and Matthew. Therefore, the "Pre-Law" of the Genesis period is a marked separation from the Book of Exodus.

    The armies of Alexander the Great had brought the Greek language to the Land of Israel, (so says the historical and apocryphal Book of Maccabee) so by the time of Christ many there were no longer familiar with the Hebrew language and alphabet; and perhaps didn't even try to do acrostics in the Greek language, but it isn't till the Book of Revelation was written that we learned about Jesus being the "Alpha & Omega", the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.   Today in America we see Greek letters used mostly as names of college fraternities or sororities.

THE SEVEN CHURCHES - "I [John] was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. Rev1:10

Past/Present/Future: "Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter".. Rev1:19     Some scholars see these seven churches as evolving with time (one after the other), so that the Apostles Church at Ephesus, to the Ephesians, was the first and best, and now the Laodicean Church represents the last and worse.

Other scholars see these seven churches as representative (all still here in this 21st Century), and yet a third view is that the Ephesus Apostolic church was succeeded by the Smyrna Church about 300AD, and thereafter by the other churches up until present times. At various times the Catholic, Coptic, Protestant, and Orthodox or Others have been predominant in various worldly areas. The Church at Philadelphia (means "brotherly love") is recognized as better than that of Laodicea so it may be that these last two churches will both be present when the Lord returns for his Bride..

#1Ephesus left her first love!   "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love". Rev2:4

#2Smyrna included a synagogue of Satan.

#3Pergamos held to the doctrine of Balaam.

#4Thyatira had the name of Jezebel to overcome.   "Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols". Rev2:20

#5Sardis is threatened with names blotted out...

*6Philadelphia may be kept from the hour of temptation which is coming on the whole earth, and the overcomers to be made pillars in the Temple of God.

#7Laodicea is neither hot nor cold and will be ‘spued" — this 7th church seems to be worse than the previous six.   "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked". Rev3:17

Twenty Two chapters in Revelation, and it appears likely that we are still in the PRESENT at this time (2011), in chapter five, and that the seventeen chapters ahead are still in the future. When the Four Horses of chapt six start riding; better hang on tight and watch your back!!

REVELATION Highlights

Chapter One	Intro: Jesus tells John what to write. We are Kings & Priests.(Prov31:4)The 7 angels and 7 candlesticks are the 7 churches.
Chapt.2 and 3	Intro to the "Seven Churches" of Asia Minor:       Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea
Chapt.4	Door opens to show 24 elders and 4 beasts: lion calf man eagle ..
Chapt.5	Book with 7 seals - who will open? 10,000x10,000   Now the Church leaves?
Chapt.6	The four beasts, plus 4 horses ride as 6 seals are opened.. then a Great earthquake-#1, and moon as blood. (greater than the 8.9 in Japan, you spose?).
Chapt.7	4 angels, 4 winds, etc, and sealed 144,000 of Israel from Great Tribulation (Joseph and Manasses included, but not Dan or Ephraim).
Chapt.8	30 min. silence, then 7 angels with 7 trumpets at the 7th Seal, and a great star named Wormwood falls from heaven. Three (3) woes after the fourth angel.
Chapt.9	Bottomless Pit (abyss), the 5th Angel, and 4 angels in Euphrates River.
Chapt.10	A little book to Eat, and angel clothed with cloud and rainbow..
Chapt.11	Two Witnesses prophesy for 3 1/2 yrs=42 mos.=1260 days; then dead bodies for 3 1/2 days before resurrected. 3rd Woe + G.earthquake#2
Chapt.12	Pregnant woman flies on eagle wings, plus dragon w 7 crowned heads and 10 horns. WAR IN HEAVEN!   Flood of Satan swallowed by the Earth.
Chapt.13	Wounded beast w power from dragon, and  666 number of the beast:(37x18)
Chapt.14	144K with Lamb and Elders, singing New Song.   Babylon fallen and Reaping beginning w blood to the horses bridles.
Chapt.15	Sea of Glass and 7 angels w 7 last plagues. Temple in heaven opened.
Chapt.16	Angels dispense plague; Armageddon G.earthquake#3 + "It is done"
Chapt.17	7 angels w vials, and the woman w golden cup of filth is a "great city".
Chapt.18	The Great City is burned in one hour, and millstone from angel is cast.
Chapt.19	Rejoicing at Judgment and announce the Marriage of the Lamb and Bride, plus war in heaven and the WORD on a white horse!
Chapt.20	Satan bound for 1,000 years; as saints reign with Christ. LAKE OF FIRE!
Chapt.21	New heaven and Earth! New Jerusalem as "bride". Precious stones for gates. lwh all equal..pyramid?
Chapt.22 -the end-	River of Life! with Tree of Life on both sides, bearing 12 manner of fruit. Alpha and Omega again, and Jesus "the bright and morning star".

The word "great" (Gr: megas) occurs 72 times in Revelation. Also, the word 'millennium' isn't used in the KJV, though it's often used to describe the thousand year events in Rev20.

The Two Witnesses - "And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. 11:6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 11:9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. 11:10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. Rev 11:3-10 KJV

3 1/2 YEARS (1260 days..) and then 3 1/2 DAYS -- the two witnesses are often figured as Moses and Elijah: Moses because he turned the water to blood, and Elijah because he was the one who stopped the rain, in the Old Testament.

The physical-sword vs the figurative or spiritual sword.   The crossed-swords which guarded the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden may be likened to the double-edged "Sword of the Spirit WHICH IS the Word of God": Eph 6:17.

NEW metaphors applied to Jesus include "Lion of the Tribe of Judah", Rev5:5, and "Alpha and Omega", Rev1:8 and 1:11. Calling our attention to the Greek alphabet and reminding us of the Hebrew alphabet and the multiple acrostics of the Old Testament.

And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. Rev5:9

The New Song in Rev5:9, follows the many "new songs" in the Psalms: 33:3, 40:3, 96:1, 98:1, 144:9, 149:1.   The FIRST song, in Exodus 15:1, was about the horse and rider thrown into the sea (during their exodus from Egypt..).

If you'd tell your dream to Joseph, he'd tell you what it meant.. But Daniel went 'one up' on him -- he'd tell you what you dreamt! The DREAM and the INTERPRETATION are like the Old and New... The Abstract and the Literal are both within our view!

Daniel chapter two relates the account of a dream by King Nebuchadnezzar about a weird metal-man having a head of gold, shoulders of silver, belly of brass, and legs of iron with feet of iron and clay. Besides establishing a degree level of rare or precious metals, we learn from Daniel's interpretation how the dream applies to four (4) successive kingdoms.

Genesis expounds on the four (4) generations of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph (father-to-son) and speaks of the four (4) generations they will spend in Egypt.

Joseph was a true son of Jacob, but the Promised Seed Jesus came through the seed of his half-brother Judah.

Apocalypse (Greek: apokálypsis "lifting of the veil", or "revealing") like what Jacob should have done instead of marrying the wrong woman ha.. makes one think of the Book of Revelation, 1:1, and rightly so, but many believe it to apply more to the Book of Daniel, ca 150BC, and especially the prophecies of chapter eleven. The word applies to the end of the world or the revealing of hidden events, such as the Riding of the four (4) horses of Revelation chapter six, and not to be confused with mere "illumination" of a subject by virtue of teaching or study. Any significance to the four (4) Gospels may have been overlooked because of all the attention to other numbers in the Bible; like 40, 7, 12, etc.

THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT IS THE WORD OF GOD! -- "And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength". Rev1:16 cp Eph6:17

A REMINDER: "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him". 1Cor2:9