ATTENTION: Please note that this is The Adult Sunday School Lesson, Thankful Worship, on Revelation 7:9-17 for the 5-15-11 International Sunday School Lesson. You will find the 5-08-11 lesson, Heavenly Worship aka Perpetual Praise, directly beneath this message and on the right side.
Jed
Thankful Worship
Revelation 7:9-17
International Sunday School Lesson
May 15, 2011
Commentary
By
Jed Greenough
The Great Tribulation, The Terrible Suffering, The Great Testing, The Great Distress; different versions of the Bible refer to it in these different ways, but Christ in speaking of this time said:
“For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.” Matthew 24:21-22.
Some would teach us that those who we read about in the verses found in Revelation 7:9-17 from today’s Sunday school lesson are all of those faithful that have lived. In my opinion, however that would be out of context with the whole apocalyptic nature of the book of Revelation. As you know, the entire book is revealing instead a progression. There are starts and stops, looks forward and looks back into what will occur but overall we can view things as a progression. This progression speeds up until the end comes, to borrow from Daniel, like a flood, and the way I picture it when I read the book of Revelation, it is a flashflood.
From our previous Sunday School studies you may recall that Christ in Matthew 24 warned three times about those that would attempt to deceive those of us that are alive at this time. He said that “many will turn away from the faith.”
Christ in that same chapter of Matthew 24 said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” A preaching of the gospel to the whole world is something I am sure you are well aware could not have happened until our time, a time that we are blessed to live in.
This reaching of others wherever they are in the world is the work that we who are here, we who are Christians are to be about. I stress this fact as often as I can. It is why I have the Work of the Gospel Blog in addition to this one to remind myself and others and it is why I mention it often in these lessons.
The whole world; I think sometimes we forget because of our technology what a big world it is. I am sure you can guess that the vast majority of the visitors to this blog are American. But there are also student visitors from a myriad of places around the globe, places as diverse as Russia, the Philippines, South Korea, Germany and so on. They like you are preparing for the same scripture lessons each Sunday. I like this reminder that now we truly are living in the time when the kingdom of the gospel can be preached to the whole world.
How many Christians do you suppose there are now in China? One estimate I just saw in an article concerning a large house church there places the number at a possible 130 million! What about Vietnam or Botswana, Iran or Barbados? Visitors from all those places regularly visit this site and I hope that I have helped them in their efforts, but what more could we do?
It is both inspiring and sobering to remember that those we see in today’s scripture who have come through the Great Tribulation are those from all these places I just mentioned. All our brothers and sisters who are alive at this time will need to be prepared to endure this great testing. Also remember that Christ said that during this time many would turn away from the faith. I have stressed that Christ warned us of the deceit that would occur, Paul warned us about this deceit and the apostasy as well as we read in 2 Thessalonians 2:
“The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”
Just a moment ago I mentioned preparation to endure, and that reminded me of some of the challenges that I face. One is that I not oversimplify, if I do that you might lose interest. On the other side of the scale, I could fail and go the other route and assume you know more than you do and gloss over something I should concentrate on. Hopefully in the end I serve to give some reminders and some enlightenment. Together I pray that we serve as a team to help as many of the saints as possible to be prepared to endure, to endure the great testing, to be prepared to recognize deceit.
Go back and look at the letters to the 7 churches in this book of Revelation and you will again notice Christ’s emphasis on this need for us to have ears that hear so that we can endure and to overcome. We are to have ears that hear the gospel, the great truth, and what it was that Jesus expects from us. This is the complete opposite of the lies that Paul was warning us about in 2 Thessalonians.
I am sure that I must have mentioned this before, but hey, the more I age the more I tend to repeat things! I do not feel we can adequately read about the Great Tribulation in today’s scripture and not go back and read what Christ said about it in Matthew 24. Those that do read it all too often stop at verse 35 but what follows in this chapter is just as important. What follows is that we have a responsibility to each other. You and I are the servant in charge in the latter verses of Matthew 24 with a responsibility to our fellow servants. Let us think of what we can do to reach every tribe including those closest to us so that we can enter the gates of the city together!
Ephesians 6:10-20
The Armor of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
19 Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
For Discussion:
1. How does what you have been taught affect your interpretation of today’s passage?
2. I thought it interesting to share the observation made from one of my study Bibles that the praise for God increases as it goes along. There are three attributes of praise in Revelation 4:11, four in 5:13 and now 7 in today’s 5:12.
3. I think it is important that we ask ourselves why, given all the sights that are revealed in this book, are we so clearly drawn in to note the significance of these in white robes? Why do you think it was so important
4. List all the reasons for Christians to draw hope for their faith from this chapter.
5. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want.” Psalm 23:1
6. Discover the myriad of scriptures throughout the Bible that one can refer to when discussing verse 17 from today.
7. Please read and consider The Parable of the Sower found in Matthew 13 in light of my lesson. What can you do to help your brothers and sisters to be in good soil?
5-22-11: All Things New (New Order of Things) Revelation 21:1-8 or 21:1-8, 22-27 respectively.
5-29-11: Tree of Life (Water of Life) Revelation 22:1-9 or 22:1-9, 13-17
6-05-11: God’s Promises Fulfilled (God Keeps His Promises) Joshua 1:1b-6; 11:16-19, 21-23 or Joshua 1:1-6; 11:16-23 respectively.
6-12-11: God Has Expectations (God Expects Obedience) Joshua 1:7-16 or Joshua 1:7-18
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved
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