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Revelation: Blessed?

We are headed for an apocalypse. Science and religion both agree. So in the midst of what seems to be cursed, and all the voices claiming to have the answers, how do we find and know what is really BLESSED? God has John write the book of Revelation to answer the question of “BLESSED?”      #revelation #2022

STARTER

PRAY

Father, we bow before You to ask You to help us have an eternal perspective on blessings and embrace the blessed life You laid out in Matthew 5:1-17. As we go through the book of Revelation, help us to understand that we will not know the times or seasons You have set by Your own authority, but we are commanded to be Your witnesses as you were the faithful witness. (Acts 1:8, Revelation 1:5). Help us to today to realize that whatever we go through, You tell us AFTER THIS… COME LOOK! Amen

STUDY QUESTIONS

"After This…Come Look!”

As you read through Revelation, remember that John has been serving God faithfully for decades in the midst of persecution, death, and blessing as others choose to follow Jesus. He has watched faithful people, including his fellow apostles, be killed for claiming and proclaiming Jesus. John has been exiled to an island (Patmos) full of criminals and sick people because of his faithfulness to Jesus. John is writing down what he is seeing and trying to use his limited vocabulary to describe things no earthly language can fully describe. Revelation is meant to be a blessing of both literal and symbolic meaning. It is meant to call us to the blessing of surrender to a God of pure love, justice, and sovereignty. This book is given for us to know, that whatever we go through, we have the hope of After This…Come Look!

READ Acts 1:6-8

Acts 1:6-8 are Jesus last words to His followers before he left the earth. Why might this be important to remember as we study what it means to be blessed?

READ Revelation 4:1-5:7

  1. Many people in the Bible were given a picture of heaven (Ezekiel 1:1-3:15, Isaiah 6:1-13, Daniel 7, Moses- Ex 24:10, Micaiah-1 Kings 22:19…). John writes 7 letters to the 7 churches and AFTER THIS ****John is actually summoned to heaven to COME LOOK! Our passing universe is a dim reflection to help us see the heavenly reality. Heaven’s perspective is not bound by our sense of time, matter, and natural law.
    1. Why might these things be important to keep in mind as we go through the book of Revelation?
    2. You have people from different places, in different cultures, in different life circumstances, and different socioeconomic backgrounds seeing the same thing about heaven throughout scripture. What should this do for our confidence in the AFTER THIS of life? How should that confidence change how we COME LOOK at things?
    3. In recent years, there has been a popularity of books declaring what people saw about heaven when they died. Most of the time these visions of heaven are nothing like the ones we see over and over in scripture. The Bible says that Satan disguises himself as a angel of light and while he does not know the future, he does know the present, and the past.
      1. Why might these visions not match the biblical ones?
      2. What should our response be to people’s visions?
  2. After John writes to the churches *(church=ekklesia=called out people)* he is given a vision of the heavenly gathering of worship.
    1. How is the worship John describes similar and/or different from how we do worship? Why?
    2. Heaven could declare “loving, loving, loving,” or “just, just, just” and yet God chooses “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Discuss Why? How should realizing the full, holy character of God influence our speech and actions?
  3. At fx, we call people to COME LOOK by living out the Great Commandment to love God and love people, and the Great Commission to make disciples (Matthew 22:36-40, 28:18-20)
    1. What are the essentials we must do if we are going to fullfil those Great things as church family?
    2. Break down the praises being declared in heaven in this passage. What can we learn from these praises about how we should be loving God, loving people, and making disciples?
  4. How are the lives we live everyday through Christ essentially inviting people to the AFTER THIS… COME LOOK!?
  5. How is the weeping and response we see in this passage a similar pattern to what we see in our lives?
    1. Have you ever cried about something that seems like it could not be fixed? What does this passage in Revelation help us realize?
  6. Who is worthy to open the scroll? Why? Have you made Him worthy to COME LOOK into your life?

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