Texts for the Week: John 8:32; Ezek. 20:12, 20; Rev. 7:1, 2; Rev. 14:1; Joel 2:21–24; Hos. 6:3; James 5:7, 8; Rev. 18:1–4.

Opening Question: “Should we think of time as a circular thing, or a linear thing? Are we going round and round in history, or moving from a beginning to a point of destiny?”

The lesson this week looks at what might be called the closing scenes of earth’s history. It will come as no surprise to anyone who has read widely from the Bible that, in the Bible’s view of reality, time is linear rather than circular. In ...