Prepared by William Earnhardt, for Sabbath School class, May 11, 2024.
Main Theme: No matter how hard atheism has tried to silence the Bible, it continues to speak and to be heard.
Read in Class: Revelation 11:3-6. Define the main idea of this passage.
Study: List five identifying features of the two witnesses you discover in this passage.
Apply: Search Zacheriah 4:1-14, John 5:39 and Matthew 24:14. Based on these passages aloing with Revelation 11, who or what do you believe the two witnesses are?
Share: Your friend says that he is a New Testament Christian and does not bother reading the Old Testament because it is now obsolete. What do you tell your friend?
Read in Class: Revelation 11:7-9. Discuss the main idea of this passage.
Study: Remembering that the language is symbolic, what do these verses predict would happen to God’s two witnesses, the Old and New Testaments?
Apply: Revelation 11:9 says that the bodies of God’s two witnesses would lie unburied for “three-and-a-half days” (NKJV), i.e., prophetic “days” representing three and a half literal years. Atheism was at its height in the French Revolution, at least for about three and a half years. This period extended from November 26, 1793, when a decree issued in Paris abolished religion, to June 17, 1797, when the French government removed its restrictive religious laws. In what other periods of earth’s history has atheism tried to silence the Bible? How are people today trying to silence God’s Word? Is even the church trying to silence certain parts of God’s Word today?
Share: Your friend tells you that so many people do not believe in the Bible anymore. Brilliant phillosephers think its all just made up. Your friend asks you why you still believe in the Bible? What do you tell your friend?
Read in Class: Revelation 11:11. Discuss the main idea of this passage.
Study: What prediction does this text make about the Word of God?
Apply: According to Psalm 119:89 and Psalm 111:7-8, why can we trust the Bible?
Share: Your friend asks you what your favorite portions of Scripture are and why? What do you tell your friend?
Read in Class: Revelation 11:15-19. What is the main idea of this passage?
Study: According to these verses, what events take place at the close of time when the seventh trumpet sounds? What did John see opened in heaven? And what did he see as he looked up into heaven?
Apply: How does the striking contrast between the godlessness of the French Revolution and the glorious climax pictured in Revelation 11:1-19 speak to us today?
Share: Who can you share God’s Word with this week? How can you share it with them?