Brother Ahwatukee,
If you want to believe that Revelation is one continual timeline, that's up to you.
I don't believe that, I have replied in detail in the thread, "Attention all prophecy seekers"
You do have some real problems with your theory, as I'm sure you are now aware of.
If you would like to pick up where we left off, we can return there and continue our discussion.
This thread is about the binding of the dragon in Rev 20, shall we discuss that?
The dragon with 7 heads and 10 horns is Rome isn't it, a nation? Rev 12:3. The beast of Rev 17?
What is there to discuss John? The chronological order is clear:
1). Jesus returns to the earth to end the age (Rev.19:11-21)
2). The beast and the false prophet are thrown alive into the lake of fire (Rev.19:20)
3). Satan is bound in the literal location of the Abyss for a thousand years
4). The thousand year reign of Christ begins
This is the order of these events in Scripture. Forgive me for saying, but just as Paul spoke about, you are blown about by every wind of doctrine. It is near impossible to present scripture to preterist and amillennialists and that because they ignore the literal meaning of scripture and allegorize and symbolize it. They have no discernment! From Rev.20:1-7 the words "thousand years" appears 6 times. Whenever you see something mentioned repetitively like this, a good rule of thumb is to believe what it is literally saying, unless there is other evidence that it is symbolic.
Another problem with their interpretations is the misapplying of unrelated of scripture. As far as I am concerned these teachings are a form of brain-washing. They have learned a pre-package interpretation for most of the end-time topics and so when those topics are brought up, they are immediately ready with that pre-packaged answer and nothing else that you say matters.
The dragon with 7 heads and 10 horns is Rome isn't it, a nation? Rev 12:3. The beast of Rev 17?
The dragon/beast represents several individual things:
1). The dragon as Satan:
"Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth"
"The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him."
"He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years."
2). The Beast as a kingdom:
" And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion."
"After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very
powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was
different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns."
"Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.
Head of Gold = Babylon
Chest and Arms = Medo/Persia
Belly and thighs = Greece
Legs of Iron = Rome when it was in full power
Feet of partly iron and partly baked clay = A revived/extended Roman empire which is yet to come, but weaker with a mixture of people so that it doesn't have the same power.
3). The Beast as a person:
"One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against him?”
"But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
"The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction." (Rev.17:11) Note: this is the future king, the head, which is a king, who receives the fatal wound in Rev.13.
"While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully"
"The beast was given a mouth to speak arrogant and blasphemous words, and authority to act for forty-two months. And the beast opened his mouth to blaspheme against God and slander His name and His tabernacle—those who dwell in heaven. Then the beast was permitted to wage war against the saints and conquer them, and he was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. And all who dwell on the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain."
The Seven Heads of the Beast:
"The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while.
"The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction."
The Ten Horns of the Beast:
"The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast."