Tag: bsf revelation lesson 24

BSF Study Questions Revelation Lesson 24, Day 5: Revelation 19:17-21

by atozmom, posted in BSF Revelation

Summary of passage:  An angel calls together all the carrion birds to feast on the flesh of the defeated enemies of Jesus.  The beast and the kings of the earth and their armies made war against Christ and his followers.  The beast and the false prophet were captured and thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulphur.  All their followers were killed and the birds gorged on their flesh.

Questions:

12)  They die and become a feast for the birds.

13)  Any other religion outside of Christianity.  Deluded by the ways of the world.

14)  Personal Question.  My answer:  Not sure if it does.  I know I’m on the winning side.  I live my life the best God wants me to.  I tell others about God and pray about them but ultimately it’s up to their Free Will and God if they turn.  I don’t worry about it and try not to worry about anything.  God has it all!

Conclusions:  No words needed.

We’ve see “how will you live differently questions” so much I have no new answers.  Lesson 24 Day 4, Lesson 14 Day 2  Lesson 11 Day 5

End Notes:  Graphic end to Christ’s enemies.  Ezekiel 39 prophesied this as Gog and Magog which we’ll see in Revelation 20.

The angel is brighter than the sun since he’s standing before the sun.  This is reflective of God’s glory.

Note the repetition of “flesh” 5 times.  This shows how the flesh is to be let go when God arrives and how all in the flesh will be judged.

There are four different suppers in the Bible:

1)  The supper of salvation, alluded to in Jesus’ parable (Luke 14:16-24)
2)  The Lord’s supper, a commemoration of Jesus’ sacrifice
3)  The marriage supper of the Lamb  (Revelation 19:9)
4)  The supper of the great God (Revelation 19:17)

Everyone will attend at least one of these suppers.  But will you be one of those eating or be one eaten?

We saw the inhabitants of the earth gather in Revelation 16:14.

Some ask:  who would be stupid enough to gather together and battle Jesus?  Well, we can never underestimate man’s hatred of God.  After all, we did murder Jesus on the cross–Emmanual incarnate.  Some scholars say the armies were gathered together to fight each other and then Christ arrives.  You make the call here.  Remember:  the End Times will be chaotic.  One horrible judgment after another.  In times of chaos, man does stupid things as panic and the fight for survival thrive.

Note:  THERE IS NO BATTLE.  Judgment is immediate.  Christ uses his sword (the Word) and it is finished.  He is the victor.

Lake of eternal fire is eternal punishment and torment (Revelation 20:10), also what we consider hell.  Note how the beast (Satan) and the false prophet are thrown alive into the lake of fire BEFORE the Great White Throne of judgment holds court (Revelation 20:11-15).  Their fate is doomed from the beginning.

Conclusions to Revelation 19:  We make ready for Christ’s return and Christ wins.  We want to be on the winning side and prepared.

Conclusions to Lesson 24:  We saw “you” or “your” a whooping 10 times this lesson and this doesn’t include Days 1 & 6.  Weak and repetitious.

BSF Study Questions Revelation Lesson 24, Day 3: Revelation 19:6-10

by atozmom, posted in BSF Revelation

Summary of passage:  John heard what sounded like a great multitude, rushing waters, and loud peals of thunder, rejoicing in God for the Lamb’s wedding.  The angel told John to write God’s true words, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”.  John started to worship the angel who chastised him and said only God is worthy of worship.

Questions:

6a)  The time where God is about to fulfill His promises to mankind here on earth, establish His kingdom, and have believers reign eternally by His side.  The imagery of a wedding is used to express the intimate relationship between God and His people (the bride).  See End Notes for more.

b)  Ephesians 5:25-33:  Christ loved the church that he gave himself up for her to be holy by the washing with water through the word, making the church holy and blameless.

2 Corinthians 11:2:  The church is promised to Christ as pure.

John 14:15-21:  Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to live inside of us and be with us forever.

John 15:9-17:  Jesus loves us as the Father loves him to the point he gave his life for us.  We are to love each other in the same way.

7)  Believers or the Church.

8 )  Personal Question.  My answer:  That only God is worthy of worship as man is equal to angels.  Don’t worship the messenger; worship the source.  Praise God more for all His goodness.

Conclusions:  The most poignant lesson out of this is John’s mistake of worshiping the angel, the messenger, instead of God, the master.  John who has seen all these visions of God and been spoken to by God’s messengers and walked with Jesus should have an insanely close relationship with God and yet, here he is, making a grave mistake and is rebuked for it.  How human!  Shows how we all make mistakes, God corrects us and loves us through our mistakes, and then He still invites us in.

Another lesson from this is we need to be careful we don’t worship the messenger either (people, pastors, false prophets, etc–especially in the End Times).

End Notes:  The sound John heard would be enormous.  So many praising God.  How awesome!

In the Old Testament, Israel is presented as God’s wife (Hosea 2:19-20, Isaiah 54:5, Ezekiel 16).

In the New Testament, marriage is frequently used to describe the union between the church and Christ.  Matthew 22:1-14 is where we also see believers as Christ’s bride.

The bride has made herself ready is how Christians are cleansed by the blood of Christ so we can be pure by wearing fine linen when we appear before God.  Scholars point out how the bride or the people of God have also resisted the beast and remained true to God and thus are ready.

Clean (katharos) reflects purity, loyalty and faithfulness, the character of the New Jerusalem.  Bright (lampros) is the color of radiant whiteness that depicts glorification.

The fine linen is our good works of which we were created for.

The marriage supper in ancient times was when guests were invited to celebrate the betrothal of the bride and groom before the actual wedding.  There is a period of time between the two which is where earth is now.  Believers are awaiting Jesus’ return to take us to heaven and complete the marriage.  We are betrothed but waiting.  The feast itself was the party of the year.  It was a huge celebration and all were expected to attend. (Matthew 8:11; Luke 14:15; 22:16).

We see the Fourth Beatitude in this reading:  Revelation 19:9

Why does John fall in worship at the angel’s feet?  Surely he knows only God is worthy of worship.  Two possible reasons:  1)  He is so overcome by this scene of God’s consummation of His plan that he forgets himself.  2)  He believes the angel to be God or Jesus.

Interestingly, John will make this same mistake again in Revelation 22:8-9.

Prophecy always relates back to Jesus since we are all awaiting Jesus’ return.  His testimony is what we are called to speak.  Prophecy is about Jesus.  Period.

BSF Study Questions Revelation Lesson 24, Day 2: Revelation 19:1-5

by atozmom, posted in BSF Revelation

Summary of passage:  Nothing new here.  The roar of the great multitude praised God’s glory and power and salvation and His just judgments against the great prostitute.  The servants’ blood has been avenged by the burning city and the 24 elders and 4 living creatures fell down and worshiped God.

Questions:

3)  Part personal Question.  My answer:  Salvation, glory, and power.  Salvation means eternal life with God.  Glory is God’s amazing holiness and justice.  Power is God’s control over the universe.

4)  Personal Question.  My answer:  God’s justice, truth, power, glory, and salvation.  Salvation for I am forgiven and promised a place in heaven by God’s side for all of eternity.

We’ve been asked about God’s attributes as well before:  Lesson 2 Day 4, Lesson 14 Day 3

5a)  Salvation, justice, and permanence (the city of Babylon has been destroyed and it will never rise again).

b)  Personal Question.  My answer:  We’ve been asked this before (Lesson 2 Day 4, Lesson 3 Day 5, Lesson 9 Day 2 & Day 5, Lesson 10 Day 5, Lesson 14 Day 3, Lesson 16 Day 4 .  It doesn’t do either of those listed.  My worship stays the same.

Conclusions:  All personal application questions.  Like I said in my summary, no new information here.  It’s a repetition of what we’ve just seen in heaven.  John is summarizing.  This day’s questions should have been combined with the third day’s.  Weak lesson.

End Notes:  In Revelation 18 the inhabitants of the world mourned Babylon’s fall.  Here, God’s people celebrate it.  We see heaven rejoicing throughout the book of Revelation for Christ’s return and God’s culmination of His plan for mankind happening or about to happen (Revelation 4, 5, 7, 11, 15, 16).

We saw the great multitude in Revelation 7:9-14 who came out of the great tribulation.  It was in Revelation 6:10 where the martyred saints cried out for justice and here we see that prayer answered.  Revelation 4 is where we met the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures.

Fun Fact:  Hallelujah appears 4 times here in Revelation 19 but no where else in the New Testament.  Hallelujah is a two-word transliteration of the Hebrew phrase for “Praise the Lord”.  It is found 24 times in the book of Psalm.

In verse 5 the “voice from the throne” could be Jesus but more likely is one of the attending angels at God’s throne.  The words the voice speaks is from Psalm 113:1; 115:13.

Similar language in terms of speaking of the End Times judgement:  Isaiah 34:10 and Deuteronomy 32:43.