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Q5. What is the significance of the exalted Jesus walking among the lampstands? (1:12-20) What does this teach us about the church? What does it teach us about Jesus? 1. God in Christ still truly walks among us today. The Church is ALIVE with His presence. If I don't sense that, I must question my spiritual state of fellowship with the Lord and take steps (prayer) to remedy that. 2. Christ is walking among us especially in the Church to continue our perfection prior to our eternity with Him. Therefore, it is of utmost significance that I remain a faithful member of THE Church, not A church!! 3. Even after the resurrection and all that has gone before, He is still our Shepherd - ever leading His flock homeward.

Q4. The vision of Christ among the lampstands (1:12-20) is much different than the Carpenter-Teacher who walked the roads of Galilee and Judea. Why? What overall emotions is this vision of Jesus among the lampstands designed to evoke in the reader? Why is this understanding of Jesus important to a balanced faith? 1. In Galilee, Christ's human side was dominant as He walked among men and gathered His faithful as a shepherd - weak and despised by society and the rulers. In Galilee, only a select few were permitted to see His divine side. Here in Revelation, He is fully revealed as the powerful, omnipotent God, walking among men (the churches). 2. Evokes awe, fear, and respect. 3. We must see Jesus as fully God and fully man able to do both perfectly.

Q3. In what countries are Christians presently experiencing tribulation or persecution for the faith? How can the Book of Revelation be a comfort and encouragement to them? 1. Persecution is SEVERE through the Middle East, Asia, North Africa, China, and the Indian sub-continent. 2. Having not been persecuted for my faith, I can, again, only speculate that reading Revelation would cause any true believer to be overcome by the glorious visions of God presented in the book.

Q2. What does this tell us about the Father? The Father is the speaker here in 1:8 and in 21:6. But Jesus is the speaker in 1:17 and 22:12-13. What is the significance of this for our understanding of who Jesus is? 1. 1:8 speaks of God the Father as the author and finisher of all things who purposefully reveals Himself to us in His time. 2. Jesus speaks in like manner to the Father revealing that He is truly God. This is a great comfort to all who read Revelation.

Q1. Revelation is written to encourage and strengthen a church facing intense persecution. Why is the theme of testimony and witness so important to that purpose? How is Jesus as the "faithful witness" (1:5) supposed to encourage us? Why are we afraid to be clear witnesses in a culture where we aren't persecuted? 1. The themes of testimony and witness speak of personal, firsthand actions and knowledge on the part of a Christian. And our faith - to be genuine - must be personal and firsthand. Genuine Christian witness can allow a person to see, in me, a faint glimpse of the image of God and be strengthened, as no earthly agent could do. 2. Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, fully and faithfully revealed God to us. "If you've seen me, you've seen the father." We can be sure that we're experiencing the "real deal" when we experience Jesus Christ in our lives. I'm encouraged knowing that this Jesus, fully God, the first fruit of the new creation, is what I'm destined to become like. That's the substance of the Power unseen in me - the power to change lives. 3. Seems like the key word here is "clear". We can all witness to a degree. Having never been persecuted for my faith, I can only speculate that persecution somehow purifies the witness so that the result is a clearer image of the Lord. I'm often afraid to be a clear witness because my witness is impure containing elements of my own making (sin).

Hi There, I'm pretty excited about this study and particularly the method. My wife and I are big Internet users as well as our kids (17, 14, 11). As of late, I've been looking for a Bible study and method to get our family involved in some deeper study. I found Joyful Heart while surfing and liked what I read on the website. This study will be a time to evaluate whether this method can work for us in a family setting (my kids will participate some). I'm also anxious to see how the Forum aspects work as we've always been anonymous Internet users. I'm an engineer for the U.S. Army at Ft. Hood, Texas. I'd characterized myself as a spiritually seeking Christian who has been in church all my life, but born again for the last 25 years. I've attended many different types of Christian churches. God is good, life is good and at 50, I'm just getting started in this faith walk!!!