This week, we heard the good news preached from Revelation chapters 8-11. In these passages, we receive blessing and confidence through seeing that though our world is broken and unstable, the growth of the kingdom of Christ and the progress of the church in the love and good works He has intended for us are unstoppable.
Throughout the book of Revelation, we have been challenged to use our imaginations to see, hear, feel, smell and even taste what John experiences as he writes the visions that God gives him. As you read the following passage, imagine what John might have felt and tasted:
So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter (10:9-10).
Can you tell about a time when God’s word has been bitter to you, hard to swallow? How have you been unsettled, convicted or challenged by it?
Can you tell about a time when God’s word has been a sweet blessing to your soul? How have you been given courage, confidence and assurance by it?
Especially for children: What is the sweetest thing you’ve ever tasted? What is the most bitter thing you’ve ever tasted? What do you think it means that God’s word can seem both sweet and bitter to us?
Pray: Gracious Father, we thank you for revealing yourself to us through your Word. We thank you for the activity of your Holy Spirit in bringing the gospel of Jesus deeper and deeper into our hearts as we are convicted and encouraged through what you have written for us. Thank you for loving us so well and faithfully. We are amazed at how you challenge and correct us AND encourage and assure us, all in perfect love.
We often suppress and try not to think about the hard things in our world and in our lives and relationships because we want our lives to be easy and comfortable. Read the following picture of reality from Revelation 8. It is crazy unstable! There’s disruption and destruction in the natural world and in the human community: disease, calamity, evil, and brokenness. As you read about these calamities, think about the disasters and disruptions that you have heard about or experienced in your life:
Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter. The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night (8:6-12).
It’s bitter to face the evil that is present in the world and the weight and toll of sin on our lives and relationships.
What are some of the difficult issues in your life right now that you would rather just ignore than acknowledge and deal with them?
What are the consequences of suppressing or stuffing down these hard things?
It’s sweet to turn toward reality and find connection with others and see Jesus at work healing and restoring the world.
What is sweet about talking about and connecting with the people who love us about the hard things in our lives?
What is sweet about paying attention to the hard things that are happening in our world as it cries out for restoration?
Especially for children: How has Jesus responded to the brokenness of our world? How can we respond when we see people who have been hurt or things in our world that are wrong?
Pray: Lord Jesus, give us courage to name and face what is real even when it makes our lives more complicated. Our courage is not in our ability to figure out our problems and fix them, but in your victory on the cross and your promise that you always finish what you’ve started. Thank you that you have not left us in our brokenness, but have come to us with forgiveness and healing. Open our ears to the cries of our world as it aches for your restoration. Strengthen us to love as you have loved and to give of ourselves as you have given of yourself.
One of the settings we've been given a vivid picture of in the book of Revelation is the throne room of God. As you read the following declaration of Christ’s victory over evil, sin and death and the accompanying worship of God by his people around his throne, think about what is permanent in our reality and what is temporary:
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign” (11:15-17).
What does it mean to you that the throne of God is the true reference point for all of reality?
Have there been any headlines, news stories or recent cultural trends that have made you fearfully distracted?
How might you turn toward God’s throne to reorient your thinking about these issues?
Especially for children: Have you ever heard something on the news that made you afraid? What was it? How does it help you to remember that evil is limited and can never accomplish anything that is outside of God’s control?
Pray: Jesus, our king, we acknowledge how easily we are distracted by things in our world that are unstable because we perceive them as threatening. Help us to remember that no threat, no matter how powerful, can destroy or reverse the progress of your kingdom. Help us to come to you with our distractions and grow in groundedness in the good news that the kingdom of this world has become your kingdom, and you shall reign forever and ever.
It’s cool to find connections with things in the book of Revelation to things we’ve already seen in the New Testament. In this passage from I Corinthians, we see God using trumpets to get our attention. As you read below, look for the exciting events that this trumpet announces:
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain (15:51-55).
We have been thinking together about the real and actual victory of Jesus over evil, sin and death. What are some of the things Jesus has accomplished that this passage shows us?
Starting with the word “therefore,” Paul begins to talk to us about how we should be living and what we should be doing in light of Jesus’ victory. What are some of his instructions?
How does this way of living mirror what Jesus came and did for us?
Especially for children: Is a bee scary if it can’t sting you? What do you think it means that Jesus has taken the “sting” out of death?