December 18th, 2022

The First Seal on the Scroll

Then I saw the Lamb open one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, "Come!" I looked, and there was a white horse. Its rider held a bow; a crown was given to him, and he went out as a conqueror in order to conquer.

The Second Seal

When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" Then another horse went out, a fiery red one, and its rider was allowed to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another. And a large sword was given to him.

The Third Seal

When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" And I looked, and there was a black horse. Its rider held a set of scales in his hand. Then I heard something like a voice among the four living creatures say, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, but do not harm the oil and the wine."

The Fourth Seal

When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" And I looked, and there was a pale green horse. Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following after him. They were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by the sword, by famine, by plague, and by the wild animals of the earth.

The Fifth Seal

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and the testimony they had given. They cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?" So they were each given a white robe, and they were told to rest a little while longer until the number would be completed of their fellow servants and their brothers and sisters, who were going to be killed just as they had been.

The Sixth Seal

Then I saw him open the sixth seal. A violent earthquake occurred; the sun turned black like sackcloth made of hair; the entire moon became like blood; the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a high wind; the sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up; and every mountain and island was moved from its place.

Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come! And who is able to stand?"

The Sealed of Israel

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, restraining the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. Then I saw another angel rising up from the east, who had the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were allowed to harm the earth and the sea, "Don't harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we seal the servants of our God on their foreheads." And I heard the number of the sealed:

144,000 sealed from every tribe of the Israelites:

12,000 sealed from the tribe of Judah,

12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,

12,000 from the tribe of Gad,

12,000 from the tribe of Asher,

12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,

12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,

12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,

12,000 from the tribe of Levi,

12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,

12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,

12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,

12,000 sealed from the tribe of Benjamin.

Scripture quotations have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

The words of Amos, who was one of the sheep breeders from Tekoa—what he saw regarding Israel in the days of King Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

He said:

The Lord roars from Zion
and makes his voice heard from Jerusalem;
the pastures of the shepherds mourn,
and the summit of Carmel withers.

Judgment on Israel's Neighbors

The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Damascus
for three crimes, even four,
because they threshed Gilead with iron sledges.
Therefore, I will send fire against Hazael's palace,
and it will consume Ben-hadad's citadels.
I will break down the gates of Damascus.
I will cut off the ruler from the Valley of Aven,
and the one who wields the scepter from Beth-eden.
The people of Aram will be exiled to Kir.
The Lord has spoken.

The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Gaza
for three crimes, even four,
because they exiled a whole community,
handing them over to Edom.
Therefore, I will send fire against the walls of Gaza,
and it will consume its citadels.
I will cut off the ruler from Ashdod,
and the one who wields the scepter from Ashkelon.
I will also turn my hand against Ekron,
and the remainder of the Philistines will perish.
The Lord God has spoken.

The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Tyre
for three crimes, even four,
because they handed over
a whole community of exiles to Edom
and broke a treaty of brotherhood.
Therefore, I will send fire against the walls of Tyre,
and it will consume its citadels.

The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Edom
for three crimes, even four,
because he pursued his brother with the sword.
He stifled his compassion,
his anger tore at him continually,
and he harbored his rage incessantly.
Therefore, I will send fire against Teman,
and it will consume the citadels of Bozrah.

The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing the Ammonites
for three crimes, even four,
because they ripped open
the pregnant women of Gilead
in order to enlarge their territory.
Therefore, I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah,
and it will consume its citadels.
There will be shouting on the day of battle
and a violent wind on the day of the storm.
Their king and his princes
will go into exile together.
The Lord has spoken.

The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Moab
for three crimes, even four,
because he burned the bones
of the king of Edom to lime.
Therefore, I will send fire against Moab,
and it will consume the citadels of Kerioth.
Moab will die with a tumult,
with shouting and the sound of the ram's horn.
I will cut off the judge from the land
and kill all its officials with him.
The Lord has spoken.

Judgment on Judah

The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Judah
for three crimes, even four,
because they have rejected the instruction of the Lord
and have not kept his statutes.
The lies that their ancestors followed
have led them astray.
Therefore, I will send fire against Judah,
and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem.

Judgment on Israel

The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Israel
for three crimes, even four,
because they sell a righteous person for silver
and a needy person for a pair of sandals.
They trample the heads of the poor
on the dust of the ground
and obstruct the path of the needy.
A man and his father have sexual relations
with the same girl,
profaning my holy name.
They stretch out beside every altar
on garments taken as collateral,
and in the house of their God
they drink wine obtained through fines.

Yet I destroyed the Amorite as Israel advanced;
his height was like the cedars,
and he was as sturdy as the oaks;
I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath.
And I brought you from the land of Egypt
and led you forty years in the wilderness
in order to possess the land of the Amorite.
I raised up some of your sons as prophets
and some of your young men as Nazirites.
Is this not the case, Israelites?

This is the Lord's declaration.

But you made the Nazirites drink wine
and commanded the prophets,
"Do not prophesy."
Look, I am about to crush you in your place
as a wagon crushes when full of grain.
Escape will fail the swift,
the strong one will not maintain his strength,
and the warrior will not save his life.
The archer will not stand his ground,
the one who is swift of foot
will not save himself,
and the one riding a horse will not save his life.
Even the most courageous of the warriors
will flee naked on that day—

this is the Lord's declaration.

God's Reasons for Punishing Israel

Listen to this message that the Lord has spoken against you, Israelites, against the entire clan that I brought from the land of Egypt:

I have known only you
out of all the clans of the earth;
therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities.
Can two walk together
without agreeing to meet?
Does a lion roar in the forest
when it has no prey?
Does a young lion growl from its lair
unless it has captured something?
Does a bird land in a trap on the ground
if there is no bait for it?
Does a trap spring from the ground
when it has caught nothing?
If a ram's horn is blown in a city,
aren't people afraid?
If a disaster occurs in a city,
hasn't the Lord done it?
Indeed, the Lord God does nothing
without revealing his counsel
to his servants the prophets.
A lion has roared;
who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken;
who will not prophesy?

Proclaim on the citadels in Ashdod
and on the citadels in the land of Egypt:
Assemble on the mountains of Samaria,
and see the great turmoil in the city
and the acts of oppression within it.
The people are incapable of doing right—

this is the Lord's declaration—

those who store up violence and destruction
in their citadels.

Therefore, the Lord God says:

An enemy will surround the land;
he will destroy your strongholds
and plunder your citadels.

The Lord says:

As the shepherd snatches two legs
or a piece of an ear
from the lion's mouth,
so the Israelites who live in Samaria
will be rescued
with only the corner of a bed
or the cushion of a couch.

Listen and testify against the house of Jacob—

this is the declaration of the Lord God,
the God of Armies.

I will punish the altars of Bethel
on the day I punish Israel for its crimes;
the horns of the altar will be cut off
and fall to the ground.
I will demolish the winter house
and the summer house;
the houses inlaid with ivory will be destroyed,
and the great houses will come to an end.

This is the Lord's declaration.

Social and Spiritual Corruption

Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan
who are on the hill of Samaria,
women who oppress the poor
and crush the needy,
who say to their husbands,
"Bring us something to drink."

The Lord God has sworn by his holiness:

Look, the days are coming
when you will be taken away with hooks,
every last one of you with fishhooks.
You will go through breaches in the wall,
each woman straight ahead,
and you will be driven along toward Harmon.

This is the Lord's declaration.

Come to Bethel and rebel;
rebel even more at Gilgal!
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tenths every three days.
Offer leavened bread as a thanksgiving sacrifice,
and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings,
for that is what you Israelites love to do!

This is the declaration of the Lord God.

God's Discipline and Israel's Apostasy

I gave you absolutely nothing to eat in all your cities,
a shortage of food in all your communities,
yet you did not return to me.

This is the Lord's declaration.

I also withheld the rain from you
while there were still three months until harvest.
I sent rain on one city
but no rain on another.
One field received rain
while a field with no rain withered.
Two or three cities staggered
to another city to drink water
but were not satisfied,
yet you did not return to me.

This is the Lord's declaration.

I struck you with blight and mildew;
the locust devoured
your many gardens and vineyards,
your fig trees and olive trees,
yet you did not return to me.
This is the Lord's declaration.
I sent plagues like those of Egypt;
I killed your young men with the sword,
along with your captured horses.
I caused the stench of your camp
to fill your nostrils,
yet you did not return to me.

This is the Lord's declaration.

I overthrew some of you
as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were like a burning stick
snatched from a fire,
yet you did not return to me—

This is the Lord's declaration.

Therefore, Israel, that is what I will do to you,
and since I will do that to you,
Israel, prepare to meet your God!
He is here:
the one who forms the mountains,
creates the wind,
and reveals his thoughts to man,
the one who makes the dawn out of darkness
and strides on the heights of the earth.
The Lord, the God of Armies, is his name.

Scripture quotations have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.