weird and scary stuff in the Bible Revelation New testament letters

Revelation Sunday School lesson

We have come to the FINAL Bible lesson in our two-year cycle.  Or it would be two years if I’d posted every single week just like I teach every single week in my Sunday School class.  And, I’m gonna have to go back and add in some stuff I didn’t get posted at the time, and a few other odds and ends.

But, it’s the final lesson!

Revelation Sunday School lesson

Thoughts on Revelation

When I took Acts and New Testament letters as a freshman in college my professor said, “If I put a question about Revelation on the Final, then all you have to write is: ‘Jesus wins in the end.’  Everything else is just details.”

And that’s the truth of the matter.  While you can spend years obsessing over every single detail of this book, in the end, look at the final couple of chapters and that’s the big idea:  Jesus wins.

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t study the book.  When Jesus came for the first time He was disappointed the Jewish scholars didn’t recognize He had come.  All of the signs were there, but they didn’t know Him.

In the same way, we should study Revelation so we can have some idea of what’s to come, not in the “Jesus is coming back at 2:57 on June 14, 1997” (yes I got an email forwarded to me once saying that).  But, we can read the prophecy and look ahead.

What’s in Revelation?

The first three chapters are advice to seven churches.  Those are fairly straightforward in what they say, but it’s once you pass those it gets weird.

Revelation Sunday School lesson up in heaven

Next, you get a few chapters of John up in heaven seeing future events, it’s awe-inspiring and a bit like Isaiah’s time in heaven.

Revelation Sunday School lesson judgements

The bulk of Revelation however is made up of judgments and horrid events.  Stars falling, the world burning, earthquakes, floods, disease, plagues, and that’s just the highlights.

Revelation Sunday School lesson weird stuff

This is where everyone starts disagreeing.  What do the Trumpet judgments mean, what are the Bowl judgments, and what about those scrolls?  Why is a dragon chasing a lady wearing stars?

Mountains of books have been written on this, and I’m not going to tell you what it means.

Revelation Sunday School lesson

Revelation Sunday School lesson for elementary

I’m not going to tell you what it means because I don’t know for sure.  I can give you lots of theories, but I could be wrong (and I give a few in the video of my Revelation Sunday School lesson).  I’ve read the bad writing that is the Left Behind books (in all honesty the writing level is about the same as The DaVinci Code, and both of them have been hyped too much).

I can tell you there will be hard times for humanity, and it’s not going to be pleasant.  People are going to be scared, and many are going to die.

But in all of that there is hope, God is there, and He is coming.  That may not seem like a big deal, but it is.

Revelation Activities

To be honest we didn’t do a lot with Revelation beyond the lesson.  When I teach the Revelation Sunday School lesson we end with a party to show how God ends with a celebration, but since I knew we were having lots of candy and cookies later in the week for a different activity I opted not to repeat that.  But that’s what I would normally do.

Follow Ticia Adventures in Mommydom’s board New Testament letters on Pinterest.

More Revelation Sunday School ideas

Not too surprisingly I don’t have a lot of suggestions here.  It’s a hard topic to teach, and it’s not usually tackled with kids.


Comments

2 responses to “Revelation Sunday School lesson”

  1. I wish you were my Sunday school teacher! You are very gifted at this.

    1. Thank you. The more I do this, the more I become convinced it’s exactly where I should be. I love it.
      It’s just a quick hop across the pond and a “short” car ride to join me 🙂

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