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Reading Revelation with hope

Read audiences, symbols, worship and new creation without inventing calendars.

1. 1. Read and discover - Read lesson

   World English Bible

   Revelation 21:1-5

   ¹ I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more.

   ² I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

   ³ I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people; and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

   ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more. The first things have passed away.”

   ⁵ He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He said, “Write, for these words of God are faithful and true.”

   Read the full chapter

   Understanding the passage

   The vision culminates in God’s presence and the end of tears; it offers hope to suffering communities, not permission to despise the present.

   Reflect

   • What hope does this vision offer to people who are suffering?

   Put it into practice

   Offer an act of care consistent with this hope.

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2. 2. Reading Revelation as testimony - Read lesson

   World English Bible

   Revelation 1:1-8

   ¹ This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John,

   ² who testified to God’s word and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw.

   ³ Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is near.

   ⁴ John, to the seven assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from God, who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne;

   ⁵ and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood—

   ⁶ and he made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father—to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

   ⁷ Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen.

   ⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

   Read the full chapter

   Understanding the passage

   The introduction addresses real churches and blesses hearing and keeping the message; reading begins with audience and testimony.

   Reflect

   • What does Revelation’s introduction invite its listeners to do?

   Put it into practice

   Identify audience and purpose before interpreting an image.

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3. 3. A vision for the churches - Read lesson

   World English Bible

   Revelation 1:9-20

   ⁹ I John, your brother and partner with you in the oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God’s Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

   ¹⁰ I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet

   ¹¹ saying, “What you see, write in a book and send to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

   ¹² I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lamp stands.

   ¹³ And among the lamp stands was one like a son of man, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest.

   ¹⁴ His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire.

   ¹⁵ His feet were like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters.

   ¹⁶ He had seven stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.

   ¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last,

   ¹⁸ and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.

   ¹⁹ Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter.

   ²⁰ The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamp stands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies. The seven lamp stands are seven assemblies.

   Read the full chapter

   Understanding the passage

   John locates the vision amid tribulation and companionship with the churches; its imagery presents presence and authority in their experience.

   Reflect

   • How does John describe his situation and that of the churches he addresses?

   Put it into practice

   Read an image alongside the explanation supplied by the text itself.

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4. 4. The Lamb and worship - Read lesson

   World English Bible

   Revelation 5:1-14

   ¹ I saw, in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, a book written inside and outside, sealed shut with seven seals.

   ² I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book, and to break its seals?”

   ³ No one in heaven above, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book or to look in it.

   ⁴ Then I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look in it.

   ⁵ One of the elders said to me, “Don’t weep. Behold, the Lion who is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome: he who opens the book and its seven seals.”

   ⁶ I saw in the middle of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the middle of the elders, a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.

   ⁷ Then he came, and he took it out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

   ⁸ Now when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

   ⁹ They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals, for you were killed, and bought us for God with your blood out of every tribe, language, people, and nation,

   ¹⁰ and made us kings and priests to our God; and we will reign on the earth.”

   ¹¹ I looked, and I heard something like a voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders. The number of them was ten thousands of ten thousands, and thousands of thousands,

   ¹² saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who has been killed to receive the power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing!”

   ¹³ I heard every created thing which is in heaven, on the earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing, the honor, the glory, and the dominion, forever and ever! Amen!”

   ¹⁴ The four living creatures said, “Amen!” Then the elders fell down and worshiped.

   Read the full chapter

   Understanding the passage

   The vision presents the Lamb as worthy and gathers voices from all creation; victory is expressed through self-giving and worship.

   Reflect

   • Why is the Lamb described as worthy of worship?

   Put it into practice

   Compare this picture of power with violent domination.

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5. 5. Life and healing for the nations - Read lesson

   World English Bible

   Revelation 22:1-5

   ¹ He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb,

   ² in the middle of its street. On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

   ³ There will be no curse any more. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will serve him.

   ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

   ⁵ There will be no night, and they need no lamp light or sun light; for the Lord God will illuminate them. They will reign forever and ever.

   Read the full chapter

   Understanding the passage

   The vision joins water, tree, light and service; final hope is shared life and healing rather than violent triumph.

   Reflect

   • What hope is conveyed by the water, the tree and the light in this vision?

   Put it into practice

   Practice an act of restoration consistent with this hope.