Day 353 – Revelation & the End Times

12 days left, and it’s all in the wonderful book of Revelation!

• Much of what we read in the Old Testament was pointing to an historical point in time – the coming of Jesus. In the New Testament we read about those wonderful events of 2,000 years ago, and the beginning of the church age in which we’re still living. Revelation is unique in the Bible though. It takes us beyond our time, into future events which have yet to happen. These prophetic words are as exciting as they are confusing! As we come to the last few days of our reading plan, let’s be like Paul, and keep running the race well as we dig into these amazing words.
• Who was the physical author of this book, and who was the spiritual author? Where was the book written? Why was John there (Revelation 1:9)? John was probably – although some people disagree – the same John that wrote the gospel.
• The number seven appears many time in this book. It’s a special number in the Bible – it’s used a whopping 860 times in different forms. What times can you remember it being used in the past? What seven things are shown in Revelation 1?
• The doxology (which is a short expression of praise to God) in Revelation 1:4-8 contains some great, but simply-worded, truths about Jesus. What sort of things does it say?
• How is Jesus pictured in Revelation 1:12-16? What do you think all the attributes mean? For example, the double-edged sword in his mouth could signify God’s powerful word, with the judgement it brings. What about the others? Spend a bit of time on this.
• What do the lampstands in the vision represent? How can churches be like “lights”?
• The passages in 1 Thessalonians and Romans have similar messages. What are the main points?
• Do we know, or should we try and work out, when the second coming of Christ will be? Why not?
• Today’s title refers to the fact that Jesus will come to end the “spiritual night”. Heaven is described as having “no more night” in Revelation 22. What do you think the topics of darkness and night might represent? What sort of unhelpful activities often place in the dark? Do you think it’s easier to succumb to temptations when it’s dark? Why?
• Christians are called to “belong to the day”. What does that mean, do you think? What does it look like when we do this?

As we head into the book of Revelation, we’ll be reading some astonishing words about future events to come. Something like Wikipedia would call Revelation “apocalyptic writings”, which means that it is prophecy about the future end of the world. Revelation has the most references to this, but we’ve also seen similar prophecy in sections of the bible like Daniel 7-12, Matthew 24 and Mark 13.

With much of the Bible, Christians look back and trust in events of the past to see how God worked for us. We look back to the events of Jesus’ death and resurrection every week. Christians are challenged, regularly, to show evidence to back up the events of the past. With Revelation, however, that’s not the case. It’s very different. Suddenly we’re not trying to understand events and teachings of the past, but instead evaluating prophecy which haven’t yet happened. It’s a bit like the promises that the Old Testament people had about Jesus, before Jesus came. It will help to remember that as you read over the next week or so.