Revelation

Lesson 7Revelation 10

As I’ve mentioned in class many times, I am always amazed by the number of Christians who wonder why we study the Old Testament. I’ve even been in classes where the Sunday School teachers themselves even questioned out loud why the Quarterly Material was dealing with something from the Old Testament. Clearly today our class understands that a complete knowledge of God, His Son Jesus our Messiah, and the Holy Spirit is not possible without a thorough understanding of the Old Testament. As evidence of that I point to the last two week’s study – can you recall the books of the Old Testament we referred to, just for that lesson alone? We looked at references found in - Isaiah, Kings, Zechariah, Daniel, Amos, Genesis, Nahum, Judges, Jeremiah, Joel, and Proverbs. Without them we would have an extremely difficult time understanding the symbols found in Revelation, or how God’s plan for us is fulfilled in the return of His son Jesus at the end of the Tribulation Period. I hope your study so far has blessed you as much as it has me. Hang in there – we have a long way to go!

Last week we concluded our study of two very difficult chapters, chapters 8 and 9. We noted that while environmental disasters will certainly take place during this time of the tribulation, that probably also represented in these passage’s is the fall the National Government of Israel, Satan’s fall to earth – he is cast out of heaven at the Mid-Tribulation point, and the release of demons upon the earth, the likes of which have never been seen before. With this vast demonic army Satan will succeed in leading many on a life of sin, causing them to believe a lie for the truth and to turn against the truth. Many will suffer an agonizing time of torment and eventually a third will die as God judges their murderous and adulterous ways.

We noted from the closing verses that man had turned to sorcery – witchcraft, murder, robbery, etc. The tribulation period will be a time of great spiritualism and the new demonic forces unleashed during this time will cause many things which are false to appear as true. Man will be easily mislead by his sin and millions will die for their persecution of Christ’s prophets – the 144,000 witnesses and their converts.

Bible

The first woe is past, two more woes are to come. It is just after revealing this to John that our study pauses to examine the “ little book”. This week we’ll look at Chapter 10 and the “little book.”

Questions For Our Seventh Week

  1. Just as between the breaking of the sixth seal and the seventh seal we had a pause while the 144,000 were sealed we see in Chapter 10 that a pause is inserted between the blowing of the sixth trumpet (we just finished studying what happens when it blows) and the blowing of the next trumpet – the seventh. Let’s examine this pause and see how it relates to the judgments that have happened, and those that are coming, known as the 2nd and 3rd woes. Who is being described in verse 1 of Chapter 10? (see also Revelation 1:15-16)
  2. In chapter 5 Christ, as the Lamb of God, steps forward and takes the sealed book from God’s hand (Revelation 5:7). That book was sealed and no one can know what’s in it until the seals are broken. Is the little book in verse 2 sealed? What would this tell us about this little book?
  3. What is John told to write down about what the Angel holding the little book says? (verses 3-4)
  4. Verses 2, 5, and 8 tell us the two things the Angel is standing on – what are they? What do you suppose is pictured here if Christ is the Angel?
  5. Look at verse 7. It is telling us two things: (1) that something will be finished and (2) when it will be finished. The verse begins “in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound” and refers to the blowing of the seventh trumpet. What is the event “the mystery of God is finished” referring to - what is the “mystery of God”? (Romans 16:25-26, Ephesians 1:9-10, Ephesians 3: 3-11, and Revelation 11:15.) (Remember “mystery” usually means something previously secret or unrevealed.)
  6. Can you determine what the “little book” is? (In addition to this passage in chapter 10, see Ezekiel chapter 2, and 3:1-3, and Jeremiah 15:16.) Describe what you think the little book is.

Have a great week everyone!

Yours in Christ

Wes

[2006]

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