What we are shown and will be shown again is the ultimate triumph of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the punishment and banishment of evil and a completely new kind of life for those who have put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus. Whatever sacrifices they have experienced in the world, whatever miseries they have known, whatever hardships they went through, especially for the sake of knowing Christ - all that will have gone and we read these wonderful, hope-inspiring words:

Revelation 7:15-17

(NIVUK) ¹⁵ ‘…he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. ¹⁶ ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. ¹⁷ For the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes’.

 

1.⁠ ⁠Tom in his talk said it was “OK not to understand everything in the Bible”  Was he right? Is that an excuse for laziness or avoiding the things we don’t like to think about?
 
Or
 
Tom in his talk quoted Mark Twain”It aint those things in the Bible that I don’t understand bother me. It’s the things that I do understand’ What things in the Bible bother you
 
2.⁠ ⁠Revelation including chapters 6-7 emphasises the overall sovereignty of God. Where do you sit on the tension between God ordering and controlling all things and allowing things, even those things which are terrible?
 
3.⁠ ⁠When the seals of the scroll are opened, mostly terrifying things emerge. Does the fact that the Lamb opens the seal make a difference to the way we feel about these ‘things’?
 
4.⁠ ⁠Read again Chapter 6: verses 12-17. Those calling out cry to be hidden ‘from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.’ We do not talk much about the ‘wrath of God’, although Jesus did and Paul did. How do we hold together our understanding of God loving, merciful, just and also capable of wrath?
 
5.⁠ ⁠The fifth seal (Ch 6: 9–11) refers to the souls of martyrs crying out ‘how long?’ They are told to ‘wait a little longer’ until the number of martyrs is ‘complete’. What do you make of their question and the answer given to them? What situations in the world today – global or personal – are we crying out saying “How long Lord?”
 
6.⁠ ⁠Look again at the songs sung around the throne in chapters 4,5 & 7:
 
Ch 4:8,11
​Ch5: 9-10; 12-13​
Ch 7:12
 
      What words do we say and songs do we sing today that echo any of these songs?  Do you have a favourite song or piece of music that inspires you and brings you closer to God?  (N.B. A lot of Handel’s Messiah is from Revelation!)
 
7.⁠ ⁠Tom spoke about the fact that it is only in the past 80 years that humanity has been capable of destroying itself and the planet with it. What should our response be as Christians to these contemporary threats? Are we helpless and hopeless?  Do we fight them or let them take their course?
 
8.⁠ ⁠Jesus also spoke about end times as well as prophesying the destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem (which happened in AD 70 but before John had his revelation on Patmos). Look at Luke 22: 34–36 and also 2 Peter 3: 14–15. What are we urged to do as Christians in the light that this generation, any generation might be the last one?
 
9.⁠ ⁠Right at the end of Chapter 7, we read that ‘God will wipe away every tear’ from those multitudes standing around the throne of God. Are there any tears you are looking forward to being wiped away that you would be willing to share with the group?