Today’s passage: Revelation 12:7-17

Helpful thoughts:

• Satan is defeated.  He desires to destroy the people of God.  He will fail.
• After Satan is unable to “devour the woman” (Israel?), he pursues the rest of her offspring (Romans 8:29).  This is thought to be a reference to the church, or believing Israel, or the remaining saints in the last days.
• The knowledge of his sure and coming defeat drives Satan to rage against the people of God, but even in his rage, Satan ultimately loses.  Christ will be victorious.  God’s people will be vindicated.

Questions to consider:

1. By what is Satan defeated (verse 11)?  How does the cross, the gospel message, and the testimony of those who are in Christ defeat our enemy?  How does it result in victory for you today as well?
2. If Satan was conquered by the blood of the Lamb, when might this defeat have occurred (or at least begun)?
3. What picture do we see of the throne of God and our place when we realize that Satan accuses us day and night before the Father (verse 10) but that Christ intercedes for us at the Father’s right hand (Romans 8:34)  Why is our place in Christ secure?  How is it kept secured?  On whom do we rely for our salvation, security, victory?

Today’s passage: Revelation 12:1-6

Helpful thoughts:

• Verse 19 from chapter 11 would be good to read first as we enter into chapter 12.
• Three major characters are depicted in this vision: The woman, her son (the male child), and the great red dragon.
  • The dragon refers to Satan (2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6)
  • The child refers to Jesus Christ (Psalm 2:9, Acts 2:33-36, Revelation 2:27)
  • The woman refers to Israel (Genesis 3:15, concerning the amount of time, 3.5 years Daniel 7:25)
• When the dragon sought to devour the child, the child thwarted the hopes of the dragon and eternally pardoned and purchased the people of God (Colossians 2:13-15).
  • The child was caught up to His throne in Acts 1:6-11, and is at the right hand of the Father’s throne today (Romans 8:34).

Questions to consider:

1. When we think of the Old Covenant, why does it make sense to refer to the woman as Israel?  From whom (What people group) was Christ born?  From the perspective of the New Covenant, who all could be included in this group that is “the woman?” (Romans 11)
2. Is this a passage of loss or of victory?  In what ways?  Who wins?

Today’s passage: Revelation 11:15-19

Helpful thoughts:

• The seventh and final trumpet sounds and Christ is king.
• This passage is held by most as the second coming of Christ.
• This confirms the idea that the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments are not necessarily in exact chronological order.  There is overlap in the times they take place.
• Verse 19 could be understood as the first verse of the next vision.

Questions to consider:

1. What is promised for God’s people (and for the world) when Christ returns?
2. For what is the Lord worshiped by the elders at the sounding of the seventh trumpet?
3. If this is what is to come, how should we live now?  If this is what is in heaven presently and simply yet to be revealed and completed, how should we live now?  How do these truths and promises impact our confidence, assurance, identity, and purpose?

Today’s passage: Revelation 11:1-14

Helpful thoughts:

• The Lord reveals the coming of two witnesses who will prophesy for 3.5 years (42 months/1,260 days).  These prophets will be invincible until their prophesying work is completed, then they will killed by the “beast that rises from the bottomless pit” (likely the Antichrist – 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4).
  • These 3.5 years are considered to be the first half of the seven year tribulation period by those who hold the premillennial view of the end times.
  • Daniel 7:21-27, Daniel 9:24-27.
• The death of these prophets will be celebrated around the world with parties and the exchanging of gifts (a spontaneous global holiday)!
  • But the celebration will be cut off when the prophets are risen from the dead by God and their prophecies bolstered by God’s calling them to heaven and bringing judgment through an earthquake in Jerusalem (the “great city” of verse 8 is Jerusalem).

Questions to consider:

1. There are many understandings/interpretations of what is happening in this passage and who all these characters are.  Why do you think that is?  Why might it make sense (for instance) to interpret the fire coming out of the mouths of the prophets to be symbolic of God’s Word and yet to interpret the length of time (42 months/1,260 days) to be a literal period of time?  How does this showcase the challenge of reading apocalyptic literature in the Scripture?  How many possibilities are there?
2. What things can we be sure of from reading this text?  What do God’s people appear to be doing?  What does Satan, the Antichrist, and the world appear to be doing in response?  Who holds the true power?  Why is it right for the world to be terrified and give glory to God?
3. How does the death, resurrection and ascension of these witnesses serve as a model and comfort to Christians even today?  What will come of all those who put their faith in Christ and obey His command to make disciples?

Today’s passage: Revelation 10

Helpful thoughts:

• In between the sixth and seventh trumpet judgment, other visions are inserted.  This happened in a a similar manner in between the sixth and seventh seal in 7:1-17.
• This great angel announces the end of God’s delay in bringing the His promises to fulfilment.  When the seventh trumpet sounds, the end will come, God’s promises to the prophets of the Old Testament would be fulfilled.
• John is given this scroll to eat in the same way Ezekiel was instructed in Ezekiel 3:1-3.  The picture is of a prophet receiving the Word of God before speaking it (or writing it) for the rest of us to hear and read.
  • John’s prophecies are not just concerning Israel or their surrounding region, but “many peoples and nations and languages and kings” (verse 11).

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways does this angel appear to represent the One who sent him to bring this message?  What are the visual characteristics that link him to the Lord and the throne of God?
2. What does the fact that John was not allowed to reveal all he heard require of us?  Do we need to know (or get to know) everything that is going to happen with perfect accuracy?  In whom must we place our trust?  Why can we be confident the end will occur exactly how it should, when it should?
3. What could have caused the Word of God to be sweet to the taste but bitter in the stomach of the Apostle John?  Why was the truth good to eat?  Why might it have made him feel sick?  When some avoid the truth because they know it will make them “feel sick” what do they miss out on?  Why/How does the truth set us free?

Today’s passage: Revelation 9

Helpful thoughts:

• The fifth and sixth trumpet judgments are described.  They are also referred to the first two of three “woes.”
• Our imaginations could run wild with these explanations from the Apostle John.  We could err by taking all of the explanations too literally.  We could err by trying to naturalize every description.  We could also err by trying to predict with exact detail what all of these things, people, creatures will be.  I think the specificity is yet to be revealed.
• Some things we can be sure of from this passage:
  • Satan is a destroyer, even of his own followers.
  • Satan and his demons can do nothing without God’s permission.  God is sovereign over all.
  • Even with all the devastation conveyed in this text, the world still will not repent.

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways can we see similarities with these judgments and the plagues in Egypt?  Are there any correlations?  What (If anything) should we make of that?
2. How do verses 1 and 11 go together in a way that seems to indicate Satan is the angel being referred to in this passage as “Abaddon” and “Apollyon”? (These words mean “destruction” and “destroyer”)
3. How do verses 1 and 15 give evidence of God’s continued sovereignty over the devil?  Even if the devil thinks he is getting away with doing whatever destructive thing he desires to do, whose ultimate purpose is he still serving?  How fickle is it for anyone to think they can go a different direction that the sovereign will of God?  Why is it absolutely right to follow Jesus Christ?

Today’s passage: Revelation 8

Helpful thoughts:

• The opening of the seventh seal ushers in the next series of seven in the judgments of Revelation, the seven trumpets.
  • With the constant worship ongoing in heaven, this half an hour of silence would be full of suspense.  This suspense is fitting given the judgment which is to be executed.
  • The coming judgment is depicted as a response to the prayers of the saints.
• The first four trumpets are described in chapter 8.  Trumpets five and six will be explained in chapter 9.  The seventh trumpet will not be blown until chapter 11.
  • The judgment of God destroys a third of things on earth ranging from plants on land, to the sea, to rivers, to the sky (What we can see when we look to the sky (The sunlight, moonlight).
    • These trumpet judgments bring with them the death of animals on land and sea, as well as the death of many people.
• Wormwood is a bitter tasting plant with a poisonous extract.
• The judgments listed here in the first four judgments will not compare with what’s to come in the final three trumpets.

Questions to consider:

1. What does it seem the silence in heaven represents?  To what are all the hosts of heaven giving the attention?  What would their silence (in the presence of God) seem to indicate concerning the information that was being presented to them?  If God is continuously worthy of all glory and praise, how would it be glorifying to God for all of heaven to silence themselves in these moments?
2. If these trumpet judgments are describing specific historical events yet to take place, how do you think they would look?  What type of events would John be describing?  How would the world respond in the midst of such destruction?
3. How does the content of this chapter point to the majesty of God?  As much as it might draw our attention to speculation and imagination of life on this earth, what does it tell us about Him and the honor that is rightly due Him?  How should we respond?

Today’s passage: Revelation 7

Helpful thoughts:

• The question at the end of chapter 6 is answered in chapter 7.  Who can stand against the wrath of God?  Those whom He has redeemed, washed, and sealed (“marked” as belonging to the Lord).
  • The Holy Spirit serves as our seal! (Ephesians 1:13-14)
• It is debated exactly how symbolic the listing of the tribes of Israel in verses 4-8 is.  The numbering of 12,000 per tribe could be symbolic of a massive number or a number of completion.  The number of people could literally be an ingathering of ethnic Jews, or it could be symbolic of the ingathering of the Gentiles into the people of God.  Here are some observations we can make:
  • The tribes are listed in a unique fashion!
    • Judah (The tribe of Christ) is listed first, Reuben (the firstborn) is second.
    • The tribes of Gad, Asher, and Naphtali (all sons of Jacob’s concubines) are elevated above other sons of Leah and Rachel.
    • Levi had not been given an inheritance of land, but he is included in the list.
    • Dan had been given an inheritance of land, but his tribe is not listed (Judges 18).
    • Manasseh is listed, Ephraim is not (but Joseph is, perhaps in the place of Ephraim).
• Regardless of how symbolic verses 4-8 are, there will be a gathering of people from every tribe, tongue and nation (including ethnic Israel) who call on the name of the Lord and are saved!
  • Eternity for all those who are in Christ is depicted in verses 15-18.

Questions to consider:

1. If the “four winds of the earth” are depicting the devastation of God’s wrath against the earth, what can we learn from the fact that those four winds were to be stopped when it came to those who would be redeemed?  What are God’s people saved from, both now and forever?
2. In what way would it make sense to believe this listing of the tribes of Israel refers to ethnic Israel?  In what way could it make sense to believe this listing refers to all the people of God?  How might passages like Romans 11:11-27 and Galatians 6:11-16 help us to think through these possibilities?
3. In the end, is this debate worth breaking fellowship over?  How could either interpretation yield the same results through the redemptive plan of God (especially since those in verses 9-17 are from every people group)?

Today’s passage: Revelation 6

Helpful thoughts:

• Six of the seven seals are opened by the Lamb of God in today’s passage.
  • Only Christ (The Lamb of God) has authority to open these seals, and those who participate in bringing about the trouble associated with each seal only move forward with His authorization.  Christ is in command.
• Seals 1-4 appear are tied together with the illustration of the riders and horses, as well as the command to “come.”
  • The first rider on the white horse appears to be given authority on earth and uses it to the harm of the world.  The rule of the rider on the white horse leads to the next three calamities; war, a ruined economy and famine, and disease.
• Seals 5 and 6 are tied together as well.
  • The fifth seal draws our attention to those who have been martyred throughout history and to those who will be martyred during the tribulation.
  • The sixth seal appears to (at least in part) answer the question of the martyrs.  The rulers of the world and everyone else will hide in fear when the day of their wrath comes.
• No times are given in the text which indicate when the events of these seals will take place or for how long.  The events of Revelation are not always given chronologically, but thematically.  These seals could be an overview of the events throughout the time of tribulation.

Questions to consider:

1. What limited the amount of destruction which was depicted in these seals?  Who kept it from going any farther or getting any worse?  Who is sovereign over all?
2. What can we learn from the promises given to the martyrs?  How was their victory portrayed?  What can we learn from the fact that God intended for more of His children to become martyrs for his name during the time of tribulation?
3. Who can stand against the Lord (verse 17)?  After all of the questioning and speculating we could do after reading a passage like this, what is the only right response?  What must the reader do in relation to the Lord?

Today’s passage: Revelation 5

Helpful thoughts:

• John’s attention is now brought to the scroll.  The scroll would be a writing or representation of God’s covenant or will or decree for mankind, and to break the seals of the scroll and open it is to bring about the events written inside and outside of it.
• There is a sense of dread in John (weeping) when he thinks that no one is worthy or has the authority to bring about the completion of God’s will.
  • The reader is left to feel the devastation of what would be if it were not for Christ!
• All of the elders and angels (And myriads and myriads of other angels) give the same worship to Jesus that were given to God the Father on the throne.  Jesus is God the Son.

Questions to consider:

1. What would the world be (and what would become of us) if it were not for Christ?  Why would it be right for us to weep if Jesus had not done all He has done and if Jesus would not do all that He is yet to do?
2. How is Jesus described in this passage?  How is his appearance in the vision descriptive of who He is?  How is Jesus both a descendant of David and the Root of David (Mark 12:35-37)?
3. For what did all heaven worship Jesus?  What has He done?  What will become of us because of what Jesus did for us at the cross (being the Lamb who was slain for us)?