This week’s readings:Revelation 1–11
Don’t forget to record your impressions and read the ideas outlined in the Come, Follow Me manuals on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
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Scripture Insight
This scriptural insight comes from Verse by Verse: Volume 2 by Andrew C. Skinner and D. Kelly Ogden.
The seven churches of Asia were representatives, or types, of the whole Church (seven being symbolic of completeness, entirety). Seven is used 54 times in the Revelation: seven churches, candlesticks, stars, angels, vials, thunders, heads on the beast, kings, mountains, and one-thousand-year periods.
Study Ideas
These ideas and topics are compiled from Come, Follow Me and have been adapted for specific situations. Check out the manuals online for more ideas, or come up with your own as you study!
For couples:
The picture of Christ standing at a door without a doorknob knocking is based on a scripture found in Revelation 3. As you study this and other scripture symbols in Revelation this week, perhaps you and your spouse can ponder on ways that you can better invite the Lord into your marriage, your home, and your family. As a reminder to yourselves, you might print or find a picture of a door, write what you are going to do to invite the Lord in this week, and then either hang the picture up or make it the background on your phone as a reminder.
For singles:
To aid your study of Revelation, you might consider making art depictions of the symbolism you read about. As you try to understand the symbolism enough to draw, paint, sculpt, or represent the analogy, you might be surprised at the new insights and thoughts that come to your mind.
For families with young children:
Perhaps your family can discuss the concept of becoming clean through the Atonement as you study Revelation chapter 7 this week. You might show or ask your children to think of examples of things becoming cleaning, such as dishes in the dishwasher, erasing a whiteboard, or getting a stain out of their clothes. You could then talk about the symbolism of wearing white to be baptized and what the color white represents in our lives. You might clean some dirty pennies in vinegar and salt and talk about how this relates to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As the pennies become shiny again, you could encourage your children to keep their shiny penny in their pocket or another safe place as a reminder that it is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that we can become clean again.
For families with teens:
In the first part of Revelation, Christ explains that He is aware of the strengths and the weaknesses of His Saints. Perhaps you could help your teenagers both recognize their value and find ways to improve this week by studying these chapters and then having each family member make a personal list of things they feel the Lord is pleased they are doing and some things He might not be pleased with. If someone is struggling to think of things they feel the Lord is pleased with them for, perhaps other family members could share things they have observed about that person. You might encourage your family members to keep their lists on their phones and refer back to them often, or you could spend some time making visual representations of your lists and hanging them somewhere in your home this week as a reminder that the Lord is aware of our strengths as well as our struggles.
Stay in the loop on Come, Follow Me discussions and insights throughout the week by following the Brightly Beams Instagram account, or check out this week's related Come, Follow Me FHE lesson: FHE: Doing It for the Right Reasons.
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