Read in the book
Chapter 8: The Seven Seals and the Four Horsemen · Chapter 9: Who Can Stand? The Sealed and the Great Multitude · Chapter 10: The Seven Trumpets and the Two Witnesses
Five-day reading plan
Participant guide
Work through the book's own Reflect & Discuss questions for this week's chapters. The last question in each set is personal — no one should be required to answer it.
From Chapter 8 — The Seven Seals and the Four Horsemen
- Read Revelation 6:1–8 and Ezekiel 14:21. What do the four riders bring, and where does the fourth rider’s list come from? What’s the significance of “one fourth”?
- Only the Lamb is worthy to open the scroll. Why does it matter that history is in his hands and not in chance or chaos?
- The martyrs cry, “How long?” and are told, “not yet.” What does the chapter say the waiting is like, and what does it say about God?
- The seventh seal opens into silence, and then into prayer. What does it mean for you that the prayers of God’s people are part of how he acts?
- (Personal; feel free to pass.) Have you prayed “How long?” — and what were you asking God about?
From Chapter 9 — Who Can Stand? The Sealed and the Great Multitude
- Read Revelation 7:1–3 and 7:9–10. What are the angels waiting for before they harm the earth? Who is standing at the end of the chapter, and where?
- In Ezekiel 9:4–6, a mark on the forehead protects people before a judgment. What is similar in Revelation 7, and what is different?
- The multitude “came out of the great suffering” — kept, but not spared. In your experience, what is the difference between being kept through something and being spared from it?
- In your own words, what does “washed their robes and made them white in the Lamb’s blood” mean? What does it not mean?
- (Personal; feel free to pass.) When you picture standing before God, what do you feel? What in this chapter speaks to that?
From Chapter 10 — The Seven Trumpets and the Two Witnesses
- Read Revelation 8:7–12 alongside Exodus 7:20, 9:24, and 10:22. Which plagues on Egypt do the trumpets echo? Why might John want his readers to think of Egypt?
- The trumpets are partial — “one third,” again and again. What does that restraint reveal about God’s heart even in judgment?
- Even after devastating warnings, “the rest of mankind didn’t repent.” Why do warnings alone so rarely change a hard heart?
- The seventh trumpet doesn’t destroy; it declares Christ’s reign. How does knowing the ending change how you read the middle?
- (Personal; feel free to pass.) Where might God be sounding a merciful wake-up call in your own life?
Facilitator plan · about 60 minutes
- Open (5 min). Open in prayer, then read this week's key Scripture aloud together.
- Read (10 min). Let the passage speak first: what did people notice in the five-day readings?
- Discuss (35 min). Walk the participant-guide questions in order, letting everyone share who wants to. Where sincere believers differ, say so, and keep the group's eyes on Christ.
- Close (10 min). Commit together to each chapter's This Week step, and pray for one another.