Study Desk

"But I also have a message for the rest of you in Thyatira who have not followed this false teaching (‘deeper truths,' as they call them—depths of Satan, actually). I will ask nothing more of you

"Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: "I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead.

Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God.

"Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

"I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me.

So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see.

"You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased."

And they sang a new song with these words: "You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth."

When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of all who had been martyred for the word of God and for being faithful in their testimony.

They shouted to the Lord and said, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?"

For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to survive?"

For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes."

When the Lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll, there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour.

They were told not to kill them but to torture them for five months with pain like the pain of a scorpion sting.

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

Then the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were turned loose to kill one-third of all the people on earth.

Their power was in their mouths and in their tails. For their tails had heads like snakes, with the power to injure people.

But do not measure the outer courtyard, for it has been turned over to the nations. They will trample the holy city for 42 months.