Community Group Questions - September 25th 2022
Revelation 1:9-20
Vision of the Son of Man
I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
- How does the book of Revelation contradict the false teaching of the prosperity gospel? What are some of the particular dangers of prosperity teaching?
- Do you think that the church of Jesus Christ has always been in tribulation or is there a greater tribulation to come? Do you usually think of suffering in terms of how you yourself suffers? What would be some examples of how we suffer as an entire church, not just as individuals?
- What other points in Scripture connect our relationship with Christ to suffering? Why do you think God made it that way instead of our relationship with Christ being an end to earthly suffering?
- John's vision seems to be focused on both comfort and judgment, both rooted in the presence of Christ in the church. How do you think those things work together?
- Revelation seems to be drawing a lot on the Old Testament. Do you agree? Does it help you understand Revelation as you're reading it to know about those Old Testament allusions?
- Which of the descriptions of Jesus impacts you the most and why?
- This week how will it impact you knowing that Jesus is the First and the Last, the one who lives forever and ever?
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