Leaders Guide Revelation Lesson 2

Revelation Lesson 2 -- Leader's Notes

OPEN with Prayer. You, as the leader, begin the lesson with a short prayer such as this:

Father, as we come tonight to study Your Word and to look at the Big Picture of the Book of Revelation, we ask that You will lead and guide the discussion tonight. Help us to learn and understand the things that You want us to know. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

The Suggested Visual Aid for this lesson is to have 22 Columns numbered 1-22, one column for each chapter of the book of Revelation. Title the Visual Aid: THE BIG PICTURE OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION. Your Visual aid, then, should look something like this:

THE BIG PICTURE OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION

1...2...3....4....5....6....7...8....9....10...11...12...13...14.....15....16.....17....18....19....20....21...22

If you can get a Large Whiteboard or Blackboard, great. If not, try to get a long piece of blank newsprint paper or paper from any long roll, such as the rolls that are used to cover tables for banquets and etc. If you are able to obtain paper for this chart, then, be sure to KEEP the chart you make during this class discussion, so that you can refer back to it from time to time during the rest of this course. If you are meeting in a place where you can leave the chart on a wall or in a conspicuous place, this will certainly help your class keep things in better perspective as you continue through this course. (TIP: If you use paper instead of a whiteboard, you will probably want to use CRAYONS to write on the chart instead of markers, because markers will bleed through the paper and stain the wall or whatever you have placed your paper on as you are writing, and colored chalk will smear if you have to roll or fold up the chart for storage at the end

of each class.)

Begin the lesson and your Visual aid by saying something like: "This week, for our homework assignment, we read the entire book of Revelation and we briefly summarized what is in each Chapter. Now, in this discussion time, we are going to put those main events (No details -- they will be covered later in this course) on the Visual Aid. And, as we record your information on our visual aid, in addition to seeing the Big Picture of Revelation, we will also see if there are any patterns or repeated events or actions that might give us some clues as to what is occurring and when and why. Remember, this book is unsealed'. Therefore, we are expected to be able to understand it. So, let's start understanding."

Now, ask the class to tell you what happened in Chapter 1....and write down (in summary form) what they tell you. For example, they will probably say "John was on the island of Patmos, worshiping, and saw the Lord Jesus and an angel and 7 lampstands and 7 stars...etc....and was told to write down a message to the 7 churches and to give a prophecy of what is to occur in the future". Now, of course, that is toooooo much to write in a narrow column on your chart... so you could summarize what they just said by writing: "John sees Jesus and is told to record the things (prophecy) in Revelation." Then, you, the leader, using a different colored pen or crayon, circle, in PURPLE, the word, PROPHECY. Why are you doing this? Because in Chapter 10, there is another reference to Prophecy when John is told to "PROPHESY AGAIN." So, when you get to that point in the chart, you will want to also circle that phrase in Purple and explain to the class that this is probably an important thing to note.....ie. that there is a new or expanded or continuation of the original prophecy which began in Chapter 1.

By the way, you should strongly encourage your class members to make a copy of this chart for themselves and record on a piece of paper everything that you put on the visual aid. This will be a very helpful thing for them to have in their notebooks as they continue working through the assignments of this course.

Now ask: What happened in Chapters 2 and 3? And, they will say "John wrote the messages to the 7 Churches in Asia". Then, you can circle the columns numbered 2 and 3 and write "Messages to the 7 Churches" on the chart in the space for columns 2 and 3.

Then ask: What happened in Chapter 4? And the class will probably say: "John goes to heaven and sees God and the throne of God in Heaven, and sees God being worshiped....." Summarize what they say and write something such as "God is in Heaven on His throne and is being worshiped" . Then ask the class what happens in Rev. 4:5? When they tell you that there are "flashes of lightening, rumblings, and peals of thunder," write this on the board and put an ORANGE or RED circle around the phrase. This phrase or a similar one is also found in Chapter 7, before the 7th seal; in Chapter 11 at the 7th trumpet; and in Chapter 16 at the 7th Bowl. Hmmmm. This is, therefore, an important phrase! So, when you get to those chapters on your visual aid, be sure that you record and circle (Highlight) in the same Red or Orange, these phrases on the visual aid, so that your class will see that this phrase is being repeated and might be very important. You do not have to discuss WHY it is important or WHAT this phrase is indicating. Just record the information. Remember, we are only getting the BIG PICTURE of events in this lesson. Later, these things, and all the other things that we will also be discovering and recording and highlighting, will become more significant as we continue through this course.

Then, continue on through all 22 chapters, briefly recording the events which occur in each chapter. AND, as you record the events, be sure to record and highlight the following key phrases or words when they occur, in a similar way that you highlighted PROPHECY and FLASHES OF LIGHTENING, RUMBLINGS...etc.

In Chapter 6 (6:12), be sure to note the EARTHQUAKE and highlight it by circling it in Yellow or Brown. There will also be references to earthquakes in Chapters 8, Chapter 11 two times, and Chapter 16. Record and highlight these words as you come to them. Again, you are not expected to discuss the significance of these events in this lesson. You are merely recording them for future understanding.

Also, in chapter 6, be sure to record the phrase "The Great day of their wrath has come," and put a big black box around that phrase.

In Chapter 7...be sure to record the fact that 144,000 Jews are sealed and underline in Blue, the phrase "144,000 from the tribes of Israel are sealed." (I recorded this on the chart as "144K Jews are sealed" but you can write it 144K or 144,000. Either is fine. But since K =1000, it might be easier to write and to remember. Just a thought.) The important thing is that you record this fact. THEN, when you get to Chapter 14 and record the phrase, "The 144K are on Mt. Zion in Heaven," circle that phrase in Blue. Again, you do not have to discuss the implications of this now. Just record the information. Also, in chapter 7, record the fact that "A Great Multitude appears in heaven...." and circle that phrase in Blue.

Other things to be sure to record on your chart and to highlight are

The 7 Seals: I use the symbol of a seal such as you would see on a diploma or by a notary public. I draw a black circle with little spiky things along the edges around the word seal' and put the number 1,2, 3, etc in the center of the seal so I can tell which one it is.

The 7 Trumpets: I draw an orange (golden color) or yellow symbol the shape of a trumpet on the

word, trumpet, and put the number 1,2,3 etc. on the trumpet.

The 7 Bowls: I draw an orange (golden color) bowl (kinda like a u') and put black inside it so it

looks like it is a bowl filled with yukky back stuff, and put the number 1,2,3 etc. on the top of the black stuff.

Also note Woe 1, Woe 2, and Woe 3 by putting a frownie face' (the opposite of a smiley face') around the phrase.

In Chapter 21, when you record "the 1000 years" (the Millennium)," put a green circle around that phrase.

Of course, there is a lot more than can be done as you look at this whole book of Revelation, but this is just the Overview, the Big Picture. So this is enough for now. Be sure the students have recorded this chart in their workbooks so they can refer back to these things as we continue through this course. Do NOT at this point even think about or try to come to ANY concrete conclusions about ANYTHING. In fact, tell your class that we don't want to do that now and that we are only getting the Big picture, the skeleton, the outline. And remind them that as we work through the rest of the lessons, things should become clearer and that, near the END of this course, we will do a similar chart and at THAT time, we will try to come to some more definitive conclusions. But, for now, let's just be content with seeing the big broad sweep of the events in Revelation. We will try to figure out HOW these things dovetail as we work through the more intricate details in the next few weeks.

Close with prayer. Again, you, as the leader pray. Do NOT call on anyone in the class to pray. You could close with a prayer similar to this:

Father, again, we thank you for what you have already revealed to us in this awesome book of Revelation. We do NOT understand it all. Indeed, we don't understand much of it. But, we ask you to teach us the things that you want us to know in Your time and in Your way. But, Father, we do know that You are God and You are the Sovereign creator and ruler of the Universe. And we thank you that you love us enough to reveal to us your plans. Thank you for what you have already shown and taught us even in this lesson. And, we ask that, as we do our homework in the coming weeks, that you will show us more of the things that you want us to know. Thank You! In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Well, that was the lesson as our classes did it. And, I know you leaders are wondering what my finished chart looked like. Well, these are the things that I wrote in the various columns. Of course they were written sideways on the chart, but, I will list them here for you, And, I have put in bold italics the things that I highlighted and color coded:

1.John sees Jesus and is told to record these things (circled in purple)

2 &3....Messages to the 7 Churches

4. Worship in heaven / flashes of lightening, rumblings, peals of thunder (circled in orange or red)

5. Jesus is worthy to take the scroll and open it / more worship in heaven

6. First 6 seals are broken / Earthquake (circled in Yellow or Brown) / "Great day of Their wrath has come" (put a black box around this phrase).

7. 144K sealed (underline in blue) / Great Multitude appears in heaven (circle this phrase in blue)

8. 7th Seal is broken / Silence in heaven about 1/2 hour / 7 Trumpets given / Golden censure thrown to earth/ Peals of Thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightening (circle this in red or orange) / Earthquake (circle in yellow or black) / First 4 Trumpets are sounded /Eagle calls woe, woe, woe

9. The 5th Trumpet =Woe 1 / star...unlocks abyss and releases locusts that sting for 5 months / 6th Trumpet = Wow 2 announced.

10 Angel and little scroll / 7 thunders speak / no more delay/ John told to prophesy again (circle in purple)

11. John measures temple / 2 Witnesses for 1260 days, then killed, after 3 « days raised to heaven / Earthquake (circle in yellow or brown) / end of 6th trumpet / 7th Trumpet sounds / Temple opened in Heaven / flashes, rumblings, peals... (circle in red or orange) / Earthquake (circle in yellow or brown)

12. Woman and dragon / woman flees 1260 days / war in heaven / dragon knows time is short

13. Beast out of sea (=B1, the Antichrist) given authority for 42 months / Beast out of earth (=B2, the False Prophet) causes all to receive the mark

14. The 144K on Mt. Zion in Heaven (circle in blue) / 3 angels fly (#1 with eternal gospel, #2 says "fallen... is Babylon, #3 warns "if anyone receives the mark...") / earth is harvested

15. 7 angels with 7 Plagues are ready / Those Victorious over the beast are seen in Heaven (circle in blue)

17. John is shown details of the punishment of the woman on the beast and other mysteries are explained

18. Fall of Babylon announced by angel

19 In heaven, everyone is rejoicing / it is time for the Wedding of the Lamb / Jesus comes on white horse to triumph (at Armageddon)

20. The 1000 years (Cirlce in green) / the Last battle / The Great White Throne Judgment

21. The New Heavens and earth and New Jerusalem described

22. Description continued and final words.

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