© 1998 "Yes Lord" Ministries
Leader's Guide for Lesson 9
Trumpets and Bowls
Rev. Chapters 8-18
Open with Prayer: and, as always, you do the praying.
Introduce the Lesson:
I began by saying: "Well, we covered a lot of ground in our homework for this lesson. But, actually, Chapters 8-18, for the most part, describe events that occur in a 7 year time period. So, in order to get the big picture, we studied many chapters at one time, but this helped us to be better able to fit smaller details into their proper places. And speaking of details, there certainly were a lot of them. And, to tell you the truth, I personally am not sure where some of the details fit. But, in our discussion tonight, let's at least see where the things fit that we do understand and can be kinda sure about. So, knowing that we will NOT be able to dot every i and cross every t, let's begin."
Suggested Visual Aid:
At this point, I began to draw a "time line" on the visual aid board. I put it about 2/3 of the way down from the top of the visual aid, leaving room above and below the line to write descriptions, identifiers, and etc. during the class. I did NOT title the visual aid this week.
I began by drawing a long black line ....from left to right... on the visual aid. At the far left, where the line begins, I put an exclamation point and said: "This is the beginning of the world...God created the world and everything in it... Adam and Eve were created and the history of mankind on planet earth begins."
Then I said... of course.. this will not be to scale... because our emphasis is going to be on the END of Earth's time line....but I just want to remind you of the scope of history and what has happened in the past.
Then I went a short distance (about 2 or 3 inches) to the right of the ! and drew a short (about 3 or 4 inches long) blue wiggly line vertically that crosses the time line...and said... here is the FLOOD..... (on the sample time line that I drew for you with this lesson, I indicated the location of your 'flood' with a \ )
Then I went another 1 or 2 inches and said...and here is the where the Tower of Babel event took place....and drew a tiny stick figure type tower....it looked kinda like a TV or Radio tower.... (on the sample time line that I drew for you with this lesson, it looks like this: ^ )
Then, I went another 4 or 5 inches ..and drew a little Blue Stick figure and put a Blue Star of David over his head and said... this is Abraham...this is where the Jewish race began.......... (on the sample time line that I drew for you with this lesson, I indicated this location with an X)
Then I went about 12 inches to the right and drew a RED CROSS and said... this is where Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection occurs.... (on the sample time line that I drew for you with this lesson, I indicated the location of the Cross with a T)
Next, I wrote the words "Church age" in GREEN on the part of the time line between the Cross and the beginning of the 7 years and boxed off that area by putting a GREEN box around the section of time represented by the Church. This area extended from the Cross to the ?.
I put a ? at the place where the rapture probably occurs and a / just next to it to represent the Bema Judgment of the Christians, as I told them: "This ? is where the rapture probably occurs and the / is where the Bema Judgment probably occurs.
Then I boxed off an area in BLACK...to represent the 7 years and wrote in BLACK the words, "The 7 Years" on the time line inside the black box and said "this is what we will be discussing tonight, we will be back to this in a few minutes, but, for now, hold that thought and let's continue putting on our time line what is still to come. (Note to leader: try to give yourself at least 24 inches of space or more if possible, for this 7 year segment of your time line.... because this is where almost ALL of the lesson will be focused. So you want lots of room to write in this area and above and below it. Also, when you give this small period of time such a large part of the time line, be sure to once again remind your class that this is NOT to scale...and tell them "since we will be spending most of our time tonight in this part of the history of the world, we are giving more room for this than would be normal") When I told my class this, one student said, "Well, it will probably SEEM that long to anyone going through it!" Good point!!!!!
Just after the end of the 7 years part of the time line and just before the place where the 1000 years begins, I put the letter "n," and said, "this is where the Judgment of the Nations occurs."
Then I boxed off the 1000 year period of time and used ORANGE for this section. I wrote in this box in orange, the words: "the 1000 years." As I did this, I said, "we will study this in our next lesson. Right now we just want to put it on the line so you will know where it is."
Next I put a PURPLE * and said: this is the place where the GWT (the Great White Throne Judgment) Judgment occurs. And I said, "we will study about this in a future lesson."
Then I put another ! (which was also PURPLE) followed by a few PURPLE 'tilda' squiggles (~~~) and said, " and here is where eternity begins with everyone living FOREVER in either heaven or hell. We will study about this later in the course, also."
All of this drawing of the time line and putting the marks on it and telling what each represents should have taken NO MORE THAN 5 minutes at the most. This is NOT a time to discuss ANY of these things, but to just simply put your class into the BIG BIG picture of the history of mankind so they will understand where the 7 years FIT in the big scale of things. And, while you are doing this, you are NOT asking the class any questions. You are just simply stating the facts. So, at the end of this 5 minutes or less, your time line should look something like this:
! __\ __ ^ _____ X __________ T ___church age____ ?/ < ____the 7 Years____ >n ( the 1000y) * ! ~ ~~
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Ok, you have your skeleton time line on the board. Of course, you can and should make your little marking indicators more elaborate than I did on this illustration for the Internet. Since I didn't want to waste memory by scanning in drawings, I just put these little symbols. But, in real life, I drew a blue squiggly line for the flood and a little tower looking thing for the Tower of Babel. I also drew a stick figure of a man wearing a Purple robe and with a star of David over his head for Abraham. And instead of a T, of course, I drew a Cross. And, above or below each of the symbols, I also wrote the word of what this represented. For example, above the ?, I wrote the word RAPTURE? and above the / , I wrote the word, BEMA ?. Above the n, I wrote "Judgment of Nations." For the GWT Judgment, instead of a *, I drew a little purple Throne and above it, I wrote "Great White Throne Judgment" (I know that Purple is NOT white, but since I am using a whiteboard for my class, I decided that purple, the Royal color, would be ok. You do whatever you want, of course.)
Now it is time to start involving your class in this discussion. So, at this point I said: "Ok, now we have the big picture of what happened and will happen in the history of the world. Now, let's look at some detail at the events that were recorded in Chapters 8-18 of Revelation. These are mainly the events that occur during the Trumpets and the bowls (vials / plagues)."
"Now, some of these are simple and easy to put on the time line. But many are not clear. So, let's start with the easy. And maybe some of those that are not as clear will become more clear.....and if they don't, well, just remember, we will not be the first, nor the last, to be scratching our heads and wondering over what goes where and when and how and why. There are, as you know.... MANY differences of opinion about the placement of and identification of and etc. MANY of these things. For example, I heard Hal Lindsay say recently that the first seal is the ONLY event of the seals, trumpets, and bowls that occurs in the first 3½ years! Imagine that! He puts the other 6 seals and ALL the Trumpets and ALL of the bowls in the last 3½ years. And other people put the events in other locations and in different time sequences.... soooooo.. there is NO 100% agreement on these things.
But, with that in mind, and knowing that there are a LOT of differing opinions and views about these things, let's start with the obvious and then see if we can build upon them and put some other things into place as we go through these chapters. OK? OK.
Then I said...."Ok, here is an easy question..... how LONG is the "time of Jacob's trouble" which is also often called the Tribulation ?
Answer = 7 years. When they tell you this, point to the area boxed out on the board in black which has been labeled "the 7 years" and say: YES... and that is what we will be looking at in this lesson.
Then say... we learned that this 7 year period is divided up into 2 main divisions. What were they? = 2 divisions of 3½ years each. YES. At this point you draw a vertical line in the midpoint of the 7 years dividing it into 2 equal halves.
Then say, these 3½ year divisions were also named in some other time unit ways. What were they? Your class should give you one or both (hopefully both) of the following answers:
= 42 months
= 1260 days
When they do, write them on the board twice... under each of the 3½ year segments...and explain that on the Jewish calendar a month is always 30 days (instead of 28,29,30, or 31 as we have on our calendars) so, 30 times 42 is 1260 days.....
Your visual aid will now look something like this (I am only showing the 7 year part, of course, and you would not put the periods in... that is just what I have to do to make things line up on my web browser):
< ____the 7___ |____Years____ >n
......3½ y..................3½ y......
...1260 days..............1260 days
.....42 mo....................42 mo...
.
Then continue in your easy questions. Ask, when did we see B1, the Antichrist, first mentioned in these chapters and what was he doing?
= in Chapter 13. He is given authority for 42 months (13:5)
Which 42 month period does this seem to be referring to? The first or the second?
= the second.
When they tell you this, draw a line from above the area of the mid point of the 7 years and label it............B1 begins to rule for 42 months
Ask, "is Rev. 12:5 describing the midpoint of the 7 years when B1 defiles the temple by going into it and blaspheming God by saying that he is God?"
Ans. = possibly or probably....
Briefly discuss what happens during this 42 month rule.
= B2 (the False Prophet) rules with him (B1), there are miracles, people are forced to take the mark, etc....
Also discuss the characteristics and descriptions of B1 and B2 based on what they studied in their homework. The main points to draw out here are where B1 and B2 get their authority, how they use it, some of the things they do (set up image, etc....), the consequences of taking the mark, and the fact that B1 and the devil are being Worshiped instead of God. As you ask various questions of your group to get these topics discussed, you do NOT need to write much on the board, just discuss these things. But you probably will want to put the fact that the Mark is given in the last 42 months
By now your time line will look something like this: (again, ignore the dots)
...................................................B1 begins to rule for 42 months
T12345.................................?T6...................................................?T7
< _________the 7___________ |____________Years___________________ >n
....................3½y.........................|.........................3½ y..................................
..................1260 days..................|...................1260 days..................................
....................42 m........................|.....................42 mo.......................................
....................................................|.B1... &..... B2...... rule...the....world.............
....................................................|....the Mark given and enforced.....................
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Concerning the 2 Witnesses. Try to locate them on the time line. Use reasoning in your Q and A's to help your group as you ask your questions so that your group tells you that they witness for 1260 days, then die and are raised again to life and are taken to heaven. Then, try to decide in which 1260 day period they were witnessing. Your group will probably decide it was the FIRST one. Put that on the visual aid.... You can also discuss WHO these 2 witnesses are. As you are probably aware, there are various views concerning their identity, so we did not discuss this in the homework, but you can point out that various choices as to who they are include: Elijah (because he never died and because he did such things as withhold rain, etc), Enoch (because he never died), Moses (because God buried him and the devil tried to get his body and because he and his brother Aaron did such things as turning water into blood and striking the earth with plagues)..... You can let your class discuss this briefly but don't force a conclusion because this is not something that has been cast in stone. However, most students of prophecy lean toward them being Elijah and Moses. And Enoch is thought to be a "type" representing the Rapture.
Now begin to put the trumpets on the time line.... assuming that the first trumpet is at the beginning of the 7 years.... Probably you will have trumpets 1-6 within the first half of the 7 years.
The important things to emphasize about the Trumpets are not so much WHERE they go on the time line but what happens in them and why. Be sure in your Q and A time to also bring out the facts that the things that happen in the trumpets affect 1/3rds whereas things that happen in the bowls affect ALL (ie 100%) of things. Help your class to reason that the Ts and Bs are NOT the same things happening again as some people teach, but are distinctively different events.
I indicated where our class located the Trumpets on the time line by putting a T1, T2, etc. at the locations where they placed them..But you do whatever your class seems to see based on THEIR study the BIBLE... (and not based on what some friend, author, or important person says). IF there is no real Bible proof, it is best to just put the trumpet up in a general area and put a big question mark by it. And, instead of T1, T2, etc... I drew little golden horns with a number (1,2,3, etc) on the side. Actually Trumpets 1-5 were even closer together than it seems on this visual aid, as Ts1-4 seem to be able to occur over an interval of a day or so each. Trumpet 5 lasts 5 months, of course. And we were not sure if T6 began at or during or immediately after T5 ... or if there was a gap of time. We opted for the gap, but we decided that the Bible is NOT clear so we put a ? By it...
T7 is a real toughie.... but we finally decided it is probably near the end of the 7 years since the main things that happen in it are the announcement of the END and the pouring out of the 7 bowls (vials, plagues) seem to follow it or be a part of it... so we put it near the end and with a ?
Another thing to put on your chart, which is easy... are the Woes. Ask questions until your class tells you that Woe 1 is the 5th trumpet, Woe 2 is the 6th and Woe 3 is the 7th. I have indicated these as W1, W2, and W3. But you would probably want to write the word and have it looking like it is coming out of the trumpet... kinda like a note would come out of a horn...
Just before the Bowls are poured out, 3 Angels fly with very important messages (Rev 14:6). I drew these on the visual aid in the form of 3 seagull looking shapes with the numbers 1,2,& 3 on them.....and had the class tell me what the messages were. We discussed the meaning and implications of each briefly. (I noted their location on the timeline for you as v1v2v3)
Concerning the 7 Bowls (plagues/vials), they probably occur at the very end of the 7 years, and probably do not take very long. Our class placed them near the end on the time line. I have indicated these with b1,2,3 etc.
While discussing the Bowls (plagues/vials), and the various things they might represent, ask Qs so that your class understands how horrible they are. For example, how long can a person live when all water and drinking water has turned to blood? (A student at this point also surmised that all the soft drinks and bottled water and etc. turned to blood also. Great thinking! And probably correct!) The fact that everyting thing has turned to blood and is therefore undrinkable, is also another indication that the bowls probably occur at the end of the 7 years) Also....have your class consider how awful the stench of the dead fish, the blood, etc. must be... and the pain of the sores and etc....and the 100 pound hailstones !!!! Think of it... 100 pound hailstones is like TV sets or Microwave ovens falling from the sky!!!! This is really WRATH! And yet, still thepeople cursed God and refused to repent!!! (16:21)
When (IF) discussing the reaping at the end of the 7 years (14:14-20), point out that this is the place that most people who hold to the Post Trib Rapture usually place the rapture and say that this reaping IS the rapture. Others, who do NOT hold that view, say that this reaping is of people who have been saved during the 7 years by trusting in Jesus' atoning blood sacrifice for their sins and have, therefore, decided to follow and Obey GOD and they are now being reaped / harvested to safety just before the battle of Armageddon begins. And there are other views.
If you are limited on your time, you might NOT want to discuss the "Reaping" since it is VERY controversial and a discussion would be rather time consuming. We did not have time to discuss it in our class and we took 2 hours on this lesson instead of our usual 90 minutes.
And there are other things which you will probably not have time to discuss in any detail or perhaps at all, including many or most of the things in chapter 12, which seems to be some kind of an history of the world... although many godly people think that all of the events in Ch. 12 occur at the midpoint of the 7 years and in the last 42 months. Again, this is very controversial, so if you are short on time, you could probably leave this section out or just present the various views and go on without recording anything specifically on the visual aid unless you are absolutely sure you have an unequivocal Biblical basis for what you are recording.
What happens at the end of the 7 years is, however, an EASY thing to put on the time line, the Battle of Armageddon. So put it on. I indicated its location with an A on your suggested time line..(the completed suggested time line is at the end of this leader's guide). Discuss the battle of Armageddon very briefly with your group by asking questions so that they tell you where it is, who comes, who they are fighting, why, etc. Remind the group that we will also mention this again in our lesson next week.
Probably the Reaping at the end of the 7 years, the Battle of Armageddon and the Fall of Babylon are part of the same war scenario or general period of time. You can discuss this possibility with the class. But, again, this is not something you can be dogmatic about.
When discussing the fall of Babylon, you can explain that there are MANY views about WHAT
Babylon represents and these include:
1. A real city... possibly even the Babylon that is now being rebuild in Iraq by King Hussein.
2. A political system....ie...world government, etc.
3. A religious system...of ecumenical religions
4. America
5. Rome (physically, politically and spiritually)
6. And a zillion other views are out there, too....
Point out that in Rev. 17, Babylon appears to be representative of a political and religious SYSTEM, whereas in Chapter 18, it seems to be a real city. So, POSSIBLY.... ALL of the 6 views listed above are to some degree correct!
Again, the MAIN thing to emphasize, when discussing the Fall of Babylon, is NOT which, if any, view is correct, or its precise location on the time line (though it is probably at the very end and a part of the battle of Armageddon or just preceding it)...but the spiritual principle which is being presented...which is: that ANYTHING that is NOT of God, for God, and by God will be destroyed because God hates adultery, whether it is spiritual or otherwise. Any Worship of any person, system, thing, etc. OTHER than God Himself is spiritual adultery and will be punished!!!!
Please always remember, in this and in ALL of your discussions: do NOT be dogmatic on controversial areas where there is NO CLEAR DEFINITE conclusion that can be cast in stone.... and do not break fellowship if you have people with different opinions. Remember, many things in the Book of Revelation are genuinely controversial areas where there are many differing opinions by very sincere and Godly scholars! What you are trying to do in this lesson is just to let your class know about the various views. So put things on the time line IF they can be supported Biblically and record other things on the time line, but with a ? mark if something is questionable, debatable, or unsupportable with great confidence. You are not trying to start WW3, or to force any particular view (if it is still debatable), but to just see what the Bible Says.
And what you are REALLY trying to do through all of this discussion (and throughout this entire course of Revelation) is to point out the Godly Principles which are being presented.
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In this lesson, the MAIN Godly principles you want to emphasize repeatedly are the facts that
.
1. Even with all the horrible things that are happening, people still refuse to repent (9:20-21,
16:9, 16:11, etc)
2. People still refuse to WORSHIP God (9:20 etc)
3. People continue to worship idols, B1, etc... anything except God (9:20, etc)
4.The events in the 7 years are horrible and are the WRATH of God being poured out on people who are unrepentant and who refuse to worship God.
As you bring your lesson to a close, you can end with a summary statement similar to this one with which I ended:
"Well, we could go on and on, we could spend YEARS discussing these things. But, the main points we need to understand as we leave, are that
God IS in control!
He does know the end from the beginning.
He will punish those who refuse to worship Him.
He will punish all who have harmed His beloved people, the Jews and the Church.
He will punish ALL injustice.
He will let man do his thing for a while, but one day man's time of rebelling will end.
"Next week we will look at what happens at the very end of the 7 years and as the 1000 years of God's Millennial reign occurs. Then, in the next week we will find out about the GWT judgment and see that the Wrath of God, which was poured out in the 7 years on those who were alive at that time is not ALL. There is still a time of judgment and punishment awaiting EVERYONE who has refused to submit to the loving Rule and authority of God!
So, as we leave this discussion, God's message to everyone of us is reminding us that
there is a day coming when He WILL begin to reign, when He will judge the dead and when He will destroy those who destroy the earth! For those of us who are His children, His servants, His beloved people, we say YES! You are just in all your judgments. You are Holy and True, You, God, are the One we Choose to love, serve, honor, obey, and worship! ..... Let's pray:
Close with prayer...and, as always, YOU do the praying.
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
At the end of all your discussion, your visual aid will probably look something like this (of course with colors and little figures and etc...and without all the dots...)
...................................................B1 begins to rule for 42 months
T12345................................ ?T6........................................................?T7
...........W1..............................W2........................................................W3
...........................................................................................................v1v2v3
...............................................................................................................b1234567
< _________the 7___________ |____________Years_____________________A >n
....................3½ y........................|.........................3½ y.......................................
..................1260 days..................|...................1260 days.......................................
....................42 m........................|.....................42 mo............................................
....................................................|........B1 & B2 rule..............................................
....................................................|....the Mark given and enforced.........................
......2 witnesses witness........die/rise
.
.
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