Welcome to this week’s online youth group lesson. We recently started a series on the book of Revelation. Check out the series and our other online youth lessons here.
Our kickoff song today is an older one from Phillips, Craig & Dean, aptly named the “Revelation Song.” pay close attention to the refrain in the song … you will hear it again as we peel back the layers of Chapter 4 of Revelation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsiDukXIeVY
Prayer needs continue for the coronavirus situation, especially with concern within Midd-West schools about potential cases. Please remember front-line workers and others connected to COVID-19 … along with people who have been impacted financially and in other adjacent ways.
Please continue to pray for Sally and Pastor Paul Sheets during her ongoing regimen of treatments and testing. We also ask for continued prayer for Trina Eia and her family, for the outreach impact of the recent Trunk or Treat event and for our youth members who are each dealing with their own issues, insecurities and other hurdles.
Over the past two weeks, we have started a series looking at Revelation based on numerous requests from our youth. The first week was an overview of the book itself, last week we tackled the concept of the seven letters to seven churches and how it could impact us now … and today, we will take a quick look at Chapters 4-5 before delving more deeply into the seven seals discussed in Chapter 6.
After John deals with the seven letters to seven churches, the revelation experience God provides him allows John to get a glimpse into Heaven. He gets to see God’s throne in all its splendor and tries hard to use very human concepts to describe an environment that likely is beyond description. Read the verses from Chapter 4 here.
During this vision of Heaven, John notices four creatures, that like a lion, one resembling an ox, another having the face like a man and the fourth being like a flying eagle. These creatures were continually singing God’s praises, referencing a line from Isaiah 6:3 (NIV): “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,” adding “who was and is and is to come.” Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Like from the song above.
John also witnesses 24 elders also worshipping God, laying down their crowns before His throne and honoring Him.
In Chapter 5, we are introduced to the Scroll and the Lamb. The scroll is in the right hand of God on the throne and is sealed with seven seals. No one in heaven or on earth could open the scroll until the Lamb appears and can open them.
For more analysis on these two chapters and some of the symbolism, check out this video:
Which brings us to Chapter 6, where we learn more detail about the seven seals, what they represent and how they could foreshadow events yet to come. A good video to help us delve into that is from Allen Parr, although a note. He mentions briefly in this video about Rapture. The Rapture is an event in Revelation that is interpreted in different ways — especially in when/how it happens. We will look more deeply into the concept of Rapture and the different viewpoints at a later time.
What I like about this video focused on the seven seals is that Allen Parr compares passages from Revelation to some from Matthew previewing some of the same events. Notice how closely they resemble each other.
Symbolically, the seven seals are widely understood to represent:
- Introduction of the antichrist.
- Warfare
- Famine
- Massive death
- Martyrs … or those who died in defense of their belief in God
- Natural disasters and astronomical issues
- Prelude to the trumpet judgements and introduction to the 144,000.
