Patient Endurance and Faithfulness of the Saints
Comments for Study 9
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I. The Woman and the Dragon (12:1-17)
* The drawing is called "The Woman and the Great Read Dragon". It was in the "September 1522 Luther Bible", the first Bible translated into German. Luther's New Testament was published in September of 1522, with a second edition coming out in December of the same year both adorned with woodcut illustrations by Lucas Cranach.
>1. What is a sign? (Gen. 1:14, 9:12-13; Dan. 6:27; Matt. 2:2, 24:30-31; Luke 21:10-11, 25-28)
* Genesis 1:14 "And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years,"
* Genesis 9:12-13 "And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth."
* Daniel 6:27 "He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions."
* Matthew 2:2 "and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
* Matthew 24:30-31 "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other."
* Luke 21:10-11 "Then he said to them: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven."
* Luke 21:25-28 "There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
>Where did the first sign appear?
* "in heaven"
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>What sign appeared and who does the sign appear to depict? (1-2, 5)
* Revelation 12:1-2 "A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth."
* Revelation 12:5 "She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne."
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>Where did the second sign appear? (3)
* Revelation 12:3 "Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads."
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>What did the dragon do? (4)
* Revelation 12:4 "His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born."
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>What do these two signs mean?
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>What did God do for the woman? (6)
* Revelation 12:6 "The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days."
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>2. What does verse 7 reveal about the spiritual battle?
* Revelation 12:7 "And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back."
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>Who is the dragon? (Rev. 12:9; Gen. 3:1; Isaiah 27:1)
* Revelation 12:8-9 "But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him."
* Genesis 3:1 "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
* Isaiah 27:1 "In that day, the LORD will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea."
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>What else does verses 10 and 11 reveal about the spiritual battle?
* Revelation 12:10-11 "Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death."
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>When is our salvation made complete?
* "Now have come the salvation"
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>3. Who is the women?
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>Why might Satan go after the woman? (12-13)
* Revelation 12:12-13 "Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short. When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child."
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>What did the Lord do for her? (14)
* Revelation 12:14 "The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach."
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>How was Satan's second attack thwarted? (15-16)
* Revelation 12:15-16 "Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth."
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>4. What does verse 17 mean?
* Revelation 12:17 "Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring--those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus."
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II. The Dragon and the Beast with Ten Horns (13:1-10)
* The drawing is called "Two Beasts". It was in the "September 1522 Luther Bible", the first Bible translated into German. Luther's New Testament was published in September of 1522, with a second edition coming out in December of the same year both adorned with woodcut illustrations by Lucas Cranach.
>5. What did John watch as the dragon stood on the shore? (1-2)
* Revelation 13:1-2 "And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority."
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>Why might people who do not believe in Jesus' resurrection be amazed at the beast's resurrection? (3-4)
* Revelation 13:3-4 "One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"
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>6. What does it mean to be given authority? (5)
* Revelation 13:5 "The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months."
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>What is in a heart that blasphemes? (6)
* Revelation 13:6 "He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven."
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>7. Why would our Lord give such authority to the beast as mentioned in verse 7? (Rev. 3:10; Gen. 22:1; James 1:12)
* Revelation 13:7 "He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation."
* Revelation 3:10 "Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth."
* Genesis 22:1 "Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied."
* James 1:12 "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him."
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>What does it show about the inhabitants of the earth at the time when they worship the beast? (8)
* Revelation 13:8 "All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast--all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world."
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>How are we to respond? (9-10)
* Revelation 13:9-10 "He who has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints."
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>When someone came forward that acts like the beast what do you do?
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III. The Beast Out of the Earth (13:11-18)
* The drawing is called "The Woman and the Beast Out of the Earth". It was in the "September 1522 Luther Bible", the first Bible translated into German. Luther's New Testament was published in September of 1522, with a second edition coming out in December of the same year both adorned with woodcut illustrations by Lucas Cranach.
>8. What else did John see? (11)
* Revelation 13:11 "Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon."
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>What position did this beast have? (12)
* Revelation 13:12 "He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed."
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>How did he prove he was good at this position? (13)
* Revelation 13:13 "And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men."
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>What was his intent? (14)
* Revelation 13:14 "Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived."
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>9. What might be an image that needs breath? (15; Gen. 1:27, 2:7)
* Revelation 13:15 "He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed."
* Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
* Genesis 2:7 "the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."
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>What is Satan apparently doing?
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>10. What did he force on the worshipers? (16)
* Revelation 13:16 "He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead,"
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>How? (17)
* Revelation 13:17 "so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name."
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>What does it mean to calculate man's number? (18)
* Revelation 13:18 "This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666."
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>What can be learned about mankind under Satan's rule from this study?
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