Deck 19: Continuing the Apocalyptic Hope

Question 1

In his vision,John describes the eating of a little scroll that initially tastes like honey but turns bitter in the stomach.What is the dual meaning of this symbolic eating?

A)Not all things that taste good are good for you.
B)The message of Revelation is sweet to the faithful but sour to the disobedient.
C)Although God's sovereignty appears sweet,it really is as sour as he is vengeful.
D)Not all that Jesus does is Godly.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The Jesus of Revelation comes to

A)inflict wrathful punishment upon his opponents.
B)forgive sinners.
C)teach.
D)preach a new Gospel for the new earth.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

John of Patmos is the only New Testament writer to present a 1,000-year prelude to Christ's kingdom,during which the martyrs who resisted the beast are resurrected to rule with Christ.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Revelation depicts Jesus as

A)a conquering warrior-king.
B)a suffering servant.
C)a fully human embodiment of divine Wisdom.
D)a baby.

Question 5

What is one reason that many scholars believe the beast's cryptic number could be identified with a specific person?

A)At the time Revelation was written,numbers were represented by letters of the alphabet.
B)At the time Revelation was written,many important officials' names were recorded with accompanying numbers that placed them within an expansive hierarchy.
C)John hinted at it in Revelation.
D)None of these is correct; biblical scholars have proven that no special identification was intended in assigning the number 666.

Question 6

John of Patmos,along with the authors of Jude and 2 Peter,contrasted the hopelessly corrupt present world with the ideal purity of God's planned future world.How was the new righteous order to be brought into being?

A)through compassion and self-sacrifice
B)through reason and understanding
C)through God's direct and violent intervention
D)through the indirect manipulation of Satan (tricking him into destroying the old heaven and earth first)

Question 7

John of Patmos,at the time he was writing (most scholars date Revelation around 95 or 96 CE),regarded Rome as

A)a new Jerusalem.
B)a new Babylon.
C)the future site of the new heaven and earth.
D)the future site of Armageddon.

Question 8

What do the seven angels announce by blowing their trumpets of doom?

A)The first six announce catastrophes and the seventh the eternal reign of Christ.
B)The first four announce global war and the last three the destruction of earth.
C)The first announces the Parousia,the second the glory to come,and the rest the details of the beauty of the New Jerusalem.
D)They all announce the various ways that humanity has been misled.

Question 9

The war between the Lamb and the Dragon in the spirit realm finds its earthly counterpart in

A)Armageddon.
B)WWII.
C)all the Middle Eastern wars,collectively.
D)the war on terrorism.

Question 10

When the Lamb opens each of the seven seals in sequence,what is disclosed on the scrolls?

A)with the exception of the seventh seal,a predestined future event or God's viewpoint
B)an account of human history
C)with the exception of the second seal,the names of those who have died
D)the true nature of God

Question 11

John interprets the symbolism of the smoke rising from burning incense as representing

A)Christians' prayers ascending to heaven.
B)the Dragon's breath.
C)the political and social weakness of Jesus as the Lamb.
D)good deeds as they are acknowledged in heaven,even if not acknowledged on earth.

Question 12

Revelation belongs to the apocalyptic tradition,which is commonly regarded as an outgrowth of what movement?

A)the Diaspora (the scattering of Jews outside their Palestinian homeland)
B)the movement to rebuild the Temple and prepare for the Parousia
C)the fundamentalist movement
D)the prophetic movement in ancient Israel

Question 13

Why did priests take the place of prophets as Israel's spiritual leaders after the time of Ezra (c.400 BCE)?

A)They filled a leadership void after it was determined that authentic prophesy was ending.
B)They won the struggle for political power against the prophets.
C)The people preferred the manners and dress of the priests over the uncouth,dirty prophets.
D)The people discovered too many fake prophets and no longer trusted their pronouncements.

Question 14

What is conspicuously missing from Revelation but emphasized in the Gospels?

A)prophesy
B)the Ten Commandments
C)reference to prayer
D)Jesus' command to love

Question 15

Who hurls the Dragon from heaven?

A)Mary
B)Gabriel
C)Jesus
D)Michael

Question 16

The author of Revelation was the only New Testament author to claim to write under the influence of

A)hypnotism.
B)alcohol.
C)opium.
D)divine inspiration.

Question 17

The canonical Revelation is ascribed to a contemporary member of the first-century church named John,rather than to a figure of the distant past.This makes Revelation

A)fraudulent.
B)suspicious.
C)unique.
D)especially relevant to today's believers.

Question 18

Which of the following are not characteristic of apocalyptic writing?

A)universality,predestination,and exclusivism
B)ethical dualism,cosmic dualism,and chronological dualism
C)inclusivism,cosmic materialism,and ethical dualism
D)limited theology,the use of symbols and code words,eschatological preoccupations,and a portrait of a violent God

Question 19

Why was it thematically appropriate to place Revelation at the end of the New Testament?

A)In the cryptic language of metaphor and symbolism,it is the summation of the previous twenty-six books of the New Testament.
B)It was written last.
C)It conveys the message that we should abandon all hope as we wait for God's judgment.
D)It provides the omega (the end or completion of God's work)to the alpha of Genesis.

Question 20

How many people are (symbolically)marked for salvation on the Day of God's vengeance?

A)none
B)666,000,000
C)144,000
D)5,890

Question 21

By the close of the first century CE,Christians had shifted their eschatological focus from a cosmic scope to a more personal one,giving greater attention to the fate of individuals.

Question 22

Contemporary scholars have found evidence that Domitian personally enforced observance of an emperor cult.

Question 23

Animals were commonly used in Revelation to symbolize the divine right of kings.

Question 24

Another book of the apocalyptic genre,1 Enoch,is quoted as Scripture in Jude but was never canonized.

Question 25

Almost all apocalypses employ symbols and code words that both veil and illuminate their meaning.

Question 26

After the Spirit carries John to God's throne,he is shown a series of future events for the purpose of reporting to his readers that God retains full control of the universe.

Question 27

In the apocalyptic view there are only two kinds of people,the doomed and the saved; only two epochs of world history,the current wicked era and the future age of perfection; and only two levels of existence,material and spiritual.

Question 28

The seven trumpets symbolize the seven churches.

Question 29

After the first beast is slain and revives,a second emerges.After the second is slain and revives,a third emerges.This pattern repeats until the beasts number 144,000.

Question 30

The lake of fire in John's eschatology is a place of punishment in the afterlife.

Question 31

Apocalyptists typically urge believers to not put up barriers between themselves and others.We ought to be inclusive,"breaking bread" with everyone regardless of their social class,race,belief system,etc.

Question 32

Sinners suffering in hell in the afterlife will have an opportunity to repent and be released from their torment when the angel Tatirokos appears.

Question 33

One of John's first visions was of the New Jerusalem.This gave him hope while he endured later horrible visions of disaster and war.

Question 34

The wedding of the Lamb and the Holy City is symbolic of good and evil finally resolving their differences and reconciling.