Interpretive Issues :

• What are the apocalyptic elements in this selection of the text?  What, if any, are distinctly non-apocalyptic elements?
• What are the major rhetorical elements being employed by John in this selection of the text?  What is their function?
• What is the purpose of the worship scene at the beginning of Rev 15?  What is the “temple of the tent of witness”?  What is the Old Testament source for the image of saints singing beside a fiery sea after victory over their enemy?  What is the Song of Moses?  How is it changed when it becomes the Song of Moses and the Lamb?
• What are the “golden bowls”?
• What is the source of the imagery for the 7 plagues / bowls?  What is the purpose of these plagues in Rev 16?
• How are the 7 plagues similar to the two previous series of 7: the seals and the trumpets?  How are they distinct?  Be able to make specific connections and contrasts.  What does this tell us about the chronology of Revelation?
• What is Armageddon / Harmagedon?  Is the name literal or symbolic?  What is its traditional meaning?  Be able to discuss the Jewish tradition of a final battle with Israel’s enemies and the judgment of the nations by God on the “Day of the Lord.”

Theological Issues :

• According to Revelation, why do the innocent die?  Why do the guilty survive?
• What is meant by “justice” in the Book of Revelation?