Study Desk

"That is why they stand in front of God's throne and serve him day and night in his Temple. And he who sits on the throne will give them shelter.

I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets.

Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and one-third of the sun was struck, and one-third of the moon, and one-third of the stars, and they became dark. And one-third of the day was dark, and also one-third of the night.

Then locusts came from the smoke and descended on the earth, and they were given power to sting like scorpions.

The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They had what looked like gold crowns on their heads, and their faces looked like human faces.

They had hair like women's hair and teeth like the teeth of a lion.

They wore armor made of iron, and their wings roared like an army of chariots rushing into battle.

They had tails that stung like scorpions, and for five months they had the power to torment people.

But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk!

And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will be clothed in burlap and will prophesy during those 1,260 days."

They have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall for as long as they prophesy. And they have the power to turn the rivers and oceans into blood, and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.

When they complete their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the bottomless pit will declare war against them, and he will conquer them and kill them.

But after three and a half days, God breathed life into them, and they stood up! Terror struck all who were staring at them.

Then a loud voice from heaven called to the two prophets, "Come up here!" And they rose to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched.

And they said, "We give thanks to you, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who always was, for now you have assumed your great power and have begun to reign.

And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.

They worshiped the dragon for giving the beast such power, and they also worshiped the beast. "Who is as great as the beast?" they exclaimed. "Who is able to fight against him?"

And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made.

They have kept themselves as pure as virgins, following the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been purchased from among the people on the earth as a special offering to God and to the Lamb.