Description
Preview
What you get:
- Tips for teaching Revelation in a Bible study
- Over 130 discussion questions WITH answers
- Atlas of 32 high resolution maps about Revelation
- 99 PDF pages of resources
Sample 3D-style map in Revelations Atlas
The end
This is the story of the end of the world.
The universe, too, it seems.
“Earth and sky were gone…Both had served their purpose” (Revelation 20:11).
A mysterious man named John, exiled to an island, sees it all happen in a graphic and violent stream of unconsciousness: visions, trances, and perhaps out-of-body experiences. It’s hard to tell which.
An angel carries his spirit into God’s sprawling throne room in heaven. There he sees someone who talks like Jesus: “I was dead, but I’m alive for good now. I’ve shown that I’m stronger than death and the grave” (1:18). This spirit being tells John, “Write down what you’re going to see that’s happening now and that’s yet to come” (1:19).
Some of the horrors John reports sound very much like what first-century historians said Romans did to Christians.
Some details also sound like what happened to Christians and Jews living in the Jewish homeland when Romans invaded in AD 67 to crush a Jewish revolt. Romans leveled Jerusalem and destroyed what became the last Jewish Temple.
"Babylon," code for "Rome"
Later, Babylon—a code name for Rome—falls. John sees it and reports it, presumably, as a message of hope to Christians facing Roman persecution and martyrdom. Rome apparently got its code name “Babylon” because Romans did what Babylonians had done in 586 BC: they leveled Jerusalem and destroyed the Jewish Temple.
Some of John’s reporting doesn’t seem to fit on history’s timeline. John writes many events into the future.
He sees worldwide disasters that begin with a series of wars, famines, and diseases that wipe out a fourth of humanity. A massive earthquake erupts, leveling mountains and sinking islands. Then John says falling stars pummel humanity into what sounds like a new Stone Age. “Terrified, everyone hid in caves” (6:13, 15).
Satan mounts a final attack on God’s people, with coalition forces from nations all over the world. But a white-horse cavalry of celestial beings, led by Jesus it seems, destroys the army, captures Satan, and doggone well pitches him into a lake of fire.
An angel takes John to a mountaintop for the perfect view of New Jerusalem floating down from heaven. He says he saw the new heaven and earth God had made for his people. He said he heard a voice say, “Look at that! God has moved in with people! He’s going to live right there with them.” (21:3).
John's extreme symbolism
John doesn’t write in journalistic style, most Bible experts seem to agree. He writes in a genre that’s closer to poetry than prose: apocalyptic lit. It’s famous for its extreme symbolism and code words. That makes it hard to know when to take him literally or when to dive deeper and look for the hidden meaning—which might be tougher for us to figure out than it was for his readers who might have known the code.
Though it can be tough to follow John’s meaning from one dramatic scene to the next, it’s hard to miss where it all leads.
Bad guys lose. Satan is toast. Heaven is real.
In addition to Revelations Leaders Guide & Atlas
You might consider the Comprehensive Bible Atlas
Best resource for comparing other Bible translations: Bible Gateway. This isn’t an ad. It’s a recommendation from the Casual English Bible.
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