It All Ends in Fire Trivia Quiz

Answer: John

Revelation 1:1,2 - "The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw-that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ."

John was on the island of Patmos when he received his visions of the end times from God. He explained at the beginning of his letter to the "seven churches in the province of Asia" (1:4) that he had been banished there for testifying about the Christ (1:9).

On Patmos today, the Cave of the Apocalypse, where tradition says John received the revelation, is a popular pilgrimage location.

Answer: ears

John saw Jesus standing amongst seven golden lampstands (representing the seven churches) with seven stars in his right hand (the seven angels of the churches) and a double-edged sword coming from his mouth. In each letter he gave a warning, but also a promise:

To the Church in Ephesus: "To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God." (2:7)

To the Church in Smyrna: "The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death." (2:11)

To the Church in Pergamum: "To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it." (2:17)

To the Church in Thyatira: "To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations." (2:26)

To the Church in Sardis: "The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels." (3:5)

To the Church in Philadelphia: "The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name." (3:12)

To the Church in Laodicea: "To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne." (3:21)

Answer: A lamb

At first, John had wept when the question of who was worthy enough was asked, because there was no one. But then one of the 24 elders (with thrones around God's throne) pointed out a Lamb, saying, "See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals." (5:5)

And as the Lamb took the scroll from the right hand of God, the elders and the four living creatures sang:

"You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased for God
persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth." (5:9,10)

And then thousands upon thousands of angels joined in, singing:

"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!" (5:12)

And then every creature in heaven and on earth joined in, singing:

"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!" (5:13)

Answer: Brown horse / Conquest

When the Lamb broke the first seal, a WHITE horse came out, and its rider "held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest." (6:2)

From the second seal came a fiery red horse, whose rider "was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword." (6:4)

A black horse was released with the third seal, and its rider "was holding a pair of scales in his hand." (6:6). This horseman was accompanied by a voice detailing the costs of wheat and barley, making evident by their expense (and the scales used during famines) the severity of the famine to be brought upon the world.

The fourth horseman released when the fourth seal was broken rode a pale horse, and he "was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." (6:8)

The fifth seal revealed souls who had died for their faith. They were given a white robe and told to wait a little longer. With the sixth seal came a mighty earthquake, and the sun turned black and the moon turned blood-red.

Answer: Trumpets

Of course, a 'trumpet' as referred to in the Bible bears little resemblance to our modern trumpets. Where we have valves and tubing, biblical trumpets would have been metal versions of the shofars (hollow ram's horns). After being given the trumpets, they each sounded them in turn, wreaking havoc upon the earth:

The First Trumpet: "...there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up." (8:7)

The Second Trumpet: "...something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed." (8:8,9)

The Third Trumpet: "...a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water ... A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter." (8:10,11)

The Fourth Trumpet: "...a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night." (8:12)

The Fifth Trumpet: caused a great Abyss to open, out of which came darkness and an army of locusts that "...were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes." (9:4,5)

The Sixth Trumpet: "...four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind." (9:15)

The Seventh Trumpet: "...God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm." (11:18)

Answer: the dragon

The dragon, as described in Revelation 12:3,4, is much more fearsome than depicted in my photo: "an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth."

The dragon was unsuccessful in its takeover bid of heaven, as described in verse 9: "The great dragon was hurled down-that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him."

Answer: 666

Again, the Beast as described in Revelation 13 is much more hideous than this goat:

"And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion." (13:2)

Tradition holds that this beast is the antichrist. Following the arrival of this beast from the sea, John also saw a second beast rise up out of the earth:

"It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast." (13:11,12)

Answer: Bowls

The first angel poured out his bowl, and "ugly, festering sores broke out on the people." (16:2)

The second angel poured his bowl on the sea, and "it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died." (16:3)

The third angel's bowl also turned the rivers and springs into blood.

The fourth angel poured his bowl, and "the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire." (16:8)

The fifth angel poured his bowl onto the beast's throne, "and its kingdom was plunged into darkness." (16:10)

The sixth angel's bowl was poured onto the Euphrates, drying it up (allowing for enemy invasion into the beast's territory).

When the seventh angel poured his bowl, a voice declared "It is done!", and "Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake." (16:17,18)

Answer: A chain

Why did the angel need those two items? To secure the devil, of course:

"He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended." (20:2,3)

After the thousand years, Satan will be released again for a short time (I don't know why, but that's what it says), and wage one final war.

Answer: Lake of Fire

This is my favourite part:

"And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever." (20:10)

Along with Satan and all those who rejected Christ (or were not among the 144,000 from the tribes of Israel), death and Hades also are cast into the lake of fire.