Adult QuarterlyBehold, He Cometh

A Study in Revelation 10—22

QUARTERLY AIM: The student will learn from the messages Jesus specif-ically gave His churches about the future events that would surround His coming in glory.

7—The Thunder Judgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

14—The Two Witnesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

21—The Great War on Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

28—The Beasts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

5—The Saints and Martyrs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

12—The Seven Last Plagues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

19—The Victory of the Lamb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

26—The Fall of Babylon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

2—The Marriage of the Lamb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

9—The Coming of Christ in Glory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

16—The Millennial Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

23—The New Heaven and New Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

30—Behold, I Come Quickly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

August

Vol. 107, No. 3, Summer Quarter, 2020. Editor in Chief: Kyle W. Elkins, kyle.elkins@bogardstore.org Business Manager: Dean Grigsby, dean.grigsby@bogardstore.org © 2020, Bogard Press, 4605 N. State Line Ave., Texarkana, TX 75503-2928 www.bogardpress.org; 1-800-264-2482

June

July

Dr. David Robinson was born in Greenville, Mississippi and grew up in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was saved in 1956 and was baptized by Cones Road Missionary Baptist Church. He graduated from Hot Springs High School, attended the University of Mississippi and graduated from the Missionary Baptist

Seminary in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1966 earning the Master in Bible Languages and Doctor in Bible Languages Degrees. He surrendered to preach in 1960 and was ordained to the gospel ministry in December of 1962. He has pastored churches in central and southern Arkansas. From 1967 to 1999 he served as an instructor in the Missionary Baptist Seminary. He served as Registrar at the school from 1978 to 1988 and as Chancellor and Editor of the Missionary Baptist Searchlight from 1988 to 1999. He served as Chaplain for the Pulaski County Sheriff ’s Office from 1992 until 2007. He served on the Sunday School Committee of the ABA from 1987 to 1998 and as Pres-ident of the ABA in 1999 and 2000. He has served as Parliamentarian for the ABA since 2001. Presently, he is pastor of Landmark Missionary Baptist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he has served since 1971. He has written Young People’s Sunday School liter-ature, the BTC Adult Quarterly, and he currently writes the Sunday School Adult Quarterly used in the churches of the American Baptist Association. He may be contacted at dcrobinson@aristotle.net.

About the Writer

American Baptist AssociationThrough-the-Bible Series Sunday School Lessons

2029 John 13—21

Ezra; NehemiahHabakkuk; HaggaiMalachi; Esther

1 Peter2 Peter

1, 2, 3 JohnJude

2020

EzekielDaniel

ZechariahRevelation 1—11 Revelation 12—22

Genesis 1—11Job

2021 Genesis 12—50 Matthew 1—13 Matthew 14—28 Exodus

2022 Romans

LeviticusNumbers

DeuteronomyHebrews

JoshuaJudgesRuth

2023 Acts 1—14 Acts 15—28

1 Samuel2 Samuel 1—4

1 Chronicles 1 —10Mark 1—8

2024 Mark 9—16

2 Samuel 5—241 Chronicles

11—291 Kings 1; 2

James1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians

Psalms 1—72

2025 Psalms 73—150 Galatians

1 Kings 3—222 Chronicles 1—24

2 Kings 1—13Joel; Obadiah

1 Corinthians

2027 2 Corinthians

Isaiah 1—392 Chronicles 29—32

2 Kings 17—20Nahum

Isaiah 40—662 Kings 21—23

2 Chronicles 33—35Zephaniah

PhilemonPhilippiansColossians

2028 Ephesians

1 Timothy2 Timothy

Titus

JeremiahLamentations2 Kings 24; 25

2 Chronicles 36

John 1—12

Winter Spring Summer Fall

2026

ProverbsEcclesiastes

Song of SolomonLuke 1—13:21 Luke 13:22—24

Hosea; Amos;Micah; Jonah;

2 Kings 14—162 Chronicles 25—28

June 7, 2020

The Thunder Judgments1Text: Revelation 10:1-11Focus: Revelation 10:1-11

Key Verse: “And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.”

Revelation 10:4

Sunday Devotional: Things Only God Knows, Mark 13:28-32.

Application: The student will accept that his knowledge of end-time events is limited but will be made clear according to God’s timing.

A FIRST LOOK

This chapter reveals the interaction between John and a mighty angel. Angels are mentioned more than sixty times in Revelation. There is an army of the powerful creatures ready to do God’s bidding. Jesus told Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane that there were twelve legions of angels available for Him. We should not underestimate the great power of even one angel. One angel visited Egypt the night of the Passover and every firstborn creature, not protected by the blood of the lamb, died. As far as we know, there has never been an angel harmed or killed in a conflict with human beings.

4

Daily Scripture Reading

M. — Satan Is a Deceiver, 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.T. — We Are Not To Be Deceived, Matthew 24:5-14.W. — Revelation Began with a Book, Revelation 5:2-10. T. — Jesus Did Many Things Not Recorded, John 20:26-31.F. — Jesus Preached from a Book, Luke 4:14-28.S. — Our Redemption Is Near, Luke 21:20-28.

This means that we should pay particular attention to any appearance or message we find in the Bible that has to do with angels. Angels can, and often do, come to comfort us and sustain us in our times of trial. Angels protect us mostly without our being aware of their activity. Angels will play a great part in the final days of the kingdoms of this earth. They are instrumental in the sounding of the trumpets. Keep in mind that there are four series of judgments mentioned in Revelation. They are the opening of the seals, the trumpet judgments, the thunder judgments and the pouring out of the vials of God’s wrath. As we have learned, these are not sequential in the sense that we understand time. We must not assume that one must be completed before the next series is begun. The opening of the seventh seal marked the sounding of the first trumpet. We should pay attention to what we can learn from these verses and try not to get lost in speculation about things we are not told.

I. An Angel from Heaven

This mighty angel immediately reminds us of Jesus. This is clearly an angel, but some of the characteristics that this angel displays also belong to our Lord. This is a mighty angel, which suggests that not all angels are equal in power. Evidently, there are some angels that are not mighty in the sense that this one was.

A CLOSER LOOK

Text: Revelation 10:1-11 5

Revelation 10:1-41. And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:2. And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,3. And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. 4. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

This angel came in a cloud. This is also the manner in which Jesus will come again to the earth (Mark 13:26). Before, John saw a rainbow around the throne of God. Now, there is a rainbow that is a kind of crown for this angel. The rainbow is the sign of God’s promise that He will not destroy the world again using water, and this rainbow is a reminder that God has kept His Word down through the centuries. The face of the angel was shining like the sun and his feet looked like pillars of brass. This reminds us of the appearance of Jesus when John saw Him as recorded in Revelation 1:15. Two other characteristics of this angel remind us of Jesus. He had a book in his hand, and he was standing on both land and sea. We may imagine that this was a huge creature, but there are many places where the sea meets the land and a normal sized person could easily have one foot on the land and the other on the sea. We also note that Jesus easily walked on the surface of the water, so once again this reminds us of our Lord. It should not surprise us that angels in Heaven resemble Jesus. Christ is the image and likeness of God, the living Son of God, and we are fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. So are the angels. As we learn in Hebrews 13:2, angels resemble human beings so much that we are not aware of their presence in our lives. What happened next is very significant. The angel spoke with a voice like a roaring lion, and when he had spoken, seven thunders also spoke. Evidently, these thunders revealed seven different judgments or messages that John was eager to write. Any speculation would be in vain, but it is possible that these thunders were further explanations of the seals, the trumpets and the vials that are yet to come. We do not know because the angel specifically instructed John not to write about the thun-ders. However, the angel did permit John to tell us that he was instructed to withhold this information. This teaches us that we do not have complete information about end-time events. God has told us as much as we can receive, but there are some things about the future that God keeps in His own power (Acts 1:7).

II. An Oath from Heaven

6 The Thunder Judgments

Revelation 10:5-75. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,

Having revealed the thunder judgments to John, the angel now lifted up his hand to take an eternal and binding oath about the message that was to come next. This oath was made in order to show the solemnity of the message the angel was about to bring. This mighty angel was including himself in the plan of God, and he was submitting to the will of God. Although the angel was a messenger, he was also intimately involved with the message he was carrying. This teaches us that we should not be reluctant to publicly acknowledge the things we believe. When we know the truth, we should be willing to share the truth and to include ourselves in the truth we teach to others. The oath of the angel was tied to creation. He referred to creation and the Creator. The foundation of Bible truth is that God created the world. This is how the Bible begins, and this was the truth that was the basis of the oath of this mighty angel. The oath of the angel involved two essential things that we must know about the future. The first is that this announcement marked the end of time. This means that there will be no more delay in implementing the fulfillment of prophecy. We use time as a way to measure eternity. It is a difficult concept to under-stand, but time itself will end, and we will move into the never-ending day of eternity. God created time in the beginning, and when His purposes have been accomplished, He will end time. Since the angel announced that there will be time no longer, we should be very cautious about assigning any events that follow this announcement to our concept of the measurement of time. The second announcement of the angel is similar to the message given to Daniel in Daniel 9:24-27. There God revealed that certain years were determined to bring all prophecy to fulfillment. This mighty angel told John that the things declared to the prophets were about to be fulfilled.

Text: Revelation 10:1-11 7

6. And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: 7. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

The term mystery, as used here, does not mean a puzzle that we must unravel; rather, it means something that is now known that was previously unknown. This is a truth that is known to God’s people, but unknown to those who have no interest in it. Jesus taught this about the understanding of parables in Matthew 13:9-16. When the events of Revelation begin to happen, the control of God over the physical world will be clear to all, and the plan of God for humanity will be revealed. The signal for these things is the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

III. The Little Book

John heard another voice. This was a voice from Heaven, not the voice of the mighty angel. This was another message about John and his relationship to the things that he saw and heard. Jesus had specifically told John to write the things he had seen, the things that are and the things that will be. The angel had specifically forbidden John to write about the thunder judgments. Now, a voice from Heaven gave John further information about the nature and the effect of knowing things about the future. In 2 Corinthians 12:1-4, Paul told of receiving a revelation from Heaven. He told us that some of the things he saw were unspeakable. He simply could not tell us about them. In Romans 8:26, we read how the Holy Spirit interprets our prayers with groanings that cannot be uttered. There are many things that are simply beyond our comprehension. Not only can we not understand them, we do not even have words to express them.

8 The Thunder Judgments

Revelation 10:8-11 8. And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. 9. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. 10. And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. 11. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

In an interesting exchange, the voice from Heaven told John to approach the angel and take the little book from the angel’s hand. This would again indicate that the angel was not a huge creature since John could reach the angel’s hand and take the book from him. This angel was an awesome creature with a rainbow around his head and a startling countenance, but John was not afraid to approach him. By this time, John had learned to obey without question. John took the little book from the angel. The voice from Heaven did not command John to read the book, but to eat the book. The Word of God is not given to us for examination; it is given to us for consumption. When we eat something, it becomes a part of our bodies and it nourishes us. The Bible will become a part of us when we receive it, and it will provide spiritual nour-ishment. The Word of God is often compared to physical food. The Bible characterizes the Word of God as bread, milk, meat and honey. Jesus told Peter to feed His sheep, and Peter later admonished pastors to feed the flocks that God had given them. When John took the book from the angel, the angel predicted the outcome of the incident. The book would be sweet when it was consumed, but would later be bitter in John’s belly. John ate the book, and the prophecy of the angel came to pass. The sweet-ness turned into bitterness. There are many ideas and concepts that are sweet when we first hear them and we readily receive them, but when we completely digest them, we find that they are bitter. The Word of God is like a sword that will divide good ideas from bad, and that division is not always pleasant to us. The angel then told John about the nature of the things John was writing. At this time, John was exiled on the island of Patmos, but he was writing a message that would echo down through the ages. We are still studying these things more than twenty centuries later, and over the years, many people, nations, languages and rulers have consulted these words seeking to understand God’s eternal plan.

No one knows what they do not know. That is not a riddle; it is the truth. We know in part, and we see things as if we were looking through a dark glass. That is certainly true when we try

Text: Revelation 10:1-11 9

A FINAL WORD

to look into the future, and it is equally true when we look back or when we look around. Often, our eyes are single, not full of light. This mighty angel was showing John and us the limited nature of our understanding by forbidding John to write about the thunder judgments. God was teaching John that under-standing the Word of God is not always pleasant. When we study Revelation, we naturally turn to the prophe-cies and predictions of things yet to come, and we seek to under-stand the timing of these events. It is easy to forget that the book is the revelation of Jesus Christ. The purpose of this book is to show us Jesus, in our past, in our present and in our future. The message of this mighty angel and the voice from Heaven are integral parts in our understanding of how our relationships to Jesus are vital to all parts of our lives. We must accept the things we cannot understand, and we should act on the spiritual truths that we do know.

1. How was this angel different from the others John saw? 2. What happened when the angel cried with a loud voice? 3. What is the significance of the oath of the angel? 4. Name some things that are sweet at first and then bitter later.

10 The Thunder Judgments

FOR CLASS DISCUSSION