Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Revelation 12:1-17.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

Revelation 12:1-2 (NIV) 
1  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. 
2  She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.

On verses 1-2:  Who is this pregnant woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head?  According to many commentators, the best interpretation is that the woman represents the nation of Israel.  On what basis do commentators reach this conclusion?  One reason is that for a Jew like John, an image of the sun, the moon and 12 stars together would likely remind him of Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37:9 where Joseph dreams of the sun (symbolizing his father Israel), the moon (symbolizing his mother Rachel) and 11 stars (symbolizing his brothers, the other sons of Israel) bowing down to him.  The idea is that when John sees this woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head (representing the 12 tribes of Israel), John would think of the nation of Israel.  A second reason is that when you consider the entire vision John describes in this chapter and its meaning, the woman as a symbol for Israel seems to make the most sense.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Revelation 10:1-11.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

Revelation 10:1-4 (NIV) 
1  Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. 
2  He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 
3  and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 
4  And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.”
 
On verses 1-4:  Revelation is full of strange and awesome creatures: living creatures, fallen angels, the scariest locusts ever, crazy “horses”, the list goes on.  Sometimes I think that if Pokemon could be transported into the world of Revelation, Pikachu, Charmander and all their Pokemon friends would look at some of the creatures in Revelation and think, “They’re so weird.”  Here in these verses we meet the next awesome creature in Revelation:  a mighty angel whose shout like a lion causes the voices of the “seven thunders” to speak (v3).  What are the seven thunders?  It is not clear.  Also, it is not clear to us what they said because John is commanded by a voice from heaven to seal up what the seven thunders said and not to write it down (v4).

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Revelation 8:1-13. As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!

Revelation 8:1-13 (NIV)
1 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.
4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand.

On verses 1-13: When the Lamb opens the seventh seal, there is about a half hour of silence. Then heaven launches a series of attacks on the earth. First an angel takes a gold censer and fills it with fire from an altar where incense (representing the prayers of God’s people) is burning. That angel hurls the gold censer onto the earth. This causes peals of thunder, rumblings, lightning and an earthquake to occur. After that comes the next series of attacks, where one by one seven angels each with a trumpet in hand blow their trumpet to call forth a specific attack from heaven on the earth. Chapter 7 describes what happens when the first four angels with trumpets blow their horns.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Revelation 6:1-17.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

Revelation 6:1-2 (NIV)
1  I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!”
2  I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

On verses 1-2:  Jesus, referred to here as the Lamb, opens the first of the seven seals, which causes a rider on a white horse to appear.  This rider on a white horse is wearing a crown and holding a bow.  While Jesus Himself will later appear on a white horse (Revelation 19:11), according to many scholars, this particular rider on this particular white horse is not Jesus but the anti-Christ, a powerful figure bent on conquering everything he sees.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Revelation 4:1-11.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

Revelation 4:1 (NIV) 
1  After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
 
On verse 1:  After receiving messages from Jesus for seven churches in Asia (chapters 2-3), John, still in a posture of prayer, sees in front of him a door open to heaven.  The same trumpet-like voice he heard before – Jesus’ voice – invites him to come up to the door and He will show John “what must take place after this”.  In other words, Jesus is about to show John things that will happen in the future.