Discussion Questions
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What advice would you give a new Christian who wants to read the book of Revelation?
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I would recommend some background research prior to reading so as not to lose the understanding of its real meaning.
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Anyone who wants to read Revelation should first gain a general understanding of all of Scripture. This would include some familiarity with other prophetic and apocalyptic writings in scripture.
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The advice I would give to a new Christian who wants to read the book of Revelation is to be very prayerful about it. “Veteran Christians” don’t all agree upon it’s meaning. New Christians will clearly have more confusion on the subject than Christians that have been studying the Bible for years. I would suggest they stay in the Gospels and get a better understanding of those texts before jumping into the deep end.
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I would advise to interpret literally when possible but be aware that there is symbolism present for express reasons that should be looked into from a conservative viewpoint. I recommend a pretribulation, premillenial point of view. Also keep a positive frame of mind remembering we are blessed in reading it (1:3)
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I would share they need understand scripture and the character of God (lion/lamb) before they should embark of that story.
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What new things about interpreting the book of Revelation did you learn from this lesson?
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I learned that there are several different ways to interpret the book of Revelation and we should be open minded and accepting of these different interpretations.
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I have heard from various places and pastors of the seven seals, trumpets, and bowls. But they were just an overview of what I read and listen to in this course so far. To this point of the lesson, not the whole book, is quite interesting learning how John and God talked, the letters to the churches, the trumpets, seals, 144,000, and the witnesses. I find it all fascinating.
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One thing that reframed my thinking was the clarification on Jesus telling his people not be lukewarm. We automatically assume being on fire/hot for God is the good and being cold is turn away from Christ. Instead, to be hot is to be therapeutic through our faith and to be cold is to be refreshingly cold.
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From this lesson I learned that there are four different ways that people interpret the book of Revelation.
I really enjoyed reading the video transcript after watching, it helped me to dissect and revisit the analysis portion of this lesson on Revelation (I read it multiple times). I gathered new learning in the sections on “Readership, Circumstances, and Date”.
I was reminded that Revelation was corroborated by the prophecies of Ezekiel and Daniel.
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I found it more confusing then anything.