The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday December 23, 2018 (NIV)

Fifth Vision: Gold Lampstand

4 The angel who was speaking with me then returned and roused me as one awakened out of sleep. ² He asked me, “What do you see?”

I replied, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top. The lampstand also has seven lamps at the top with seven spouts for each of^[a] the lamps. ³ There are also two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

⁴ Then I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

⁵ “Don’t you know what they are?” replied the angel who was speaking with me.

I said, “No, my lord.”

⁶ So he answered me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by strength or by might, but by my Spirit,’^(A) says the Lord of Armies. ⁷ ‘What are you, great mountain?^(B) Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain.^(C) And he will bring out the capstone accompanied by shouts of: Grace, grace to it!’”

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to me:^{(D) 9} “Zerubbabel’s hands have laid the foundation of this house,^(E) and his hands will complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of Armies has sent me to you. ¹⁰ For who despises the day of small things?^(F) These seven eyes of the Lord, which scan throughout the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the ceremonial stone^[b] in Zerubbabel’s hand.”^(G)

¹¹ I asked him, “What are the two olive trees on the right and left of the lampstand?” ¹² And I questioned him further, “What are the two streams^[c] of the olive trees, from which the golden oil is pouring through the two golden conduits?”

¹³ Then he inquired of me, “Don’t you know what these are?”

“No, my lord,” I replied.

¹⁴ “These are the two anointed ones,”^[d](H) he said, “who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”^(I)

Sixth Vision: Flying Scroll

5 I looked up again and saw a flying scroll.^{(J) 2} “What do you see?” he asked me.

“I see a flying scroll,” I replied, “thirty feet^[e] long and fifteen feet^[f] wide.”^(K)

³ Then he said to me, “This is the curse^(L) that is going out over the whole land, for everyone who is a thief, contrary to what is written on one side, has gone unpunished,^[g] and everyone who swears falsely, contrary to what is written on the other side, has gone unpunished. ⁴ I will send it out,”^(M)—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—“and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by my name. It will stay inside his house and destroy it along with its timbers and stones.”^(N)

Seventh Vision: Woman in the Basket

⁵ Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me, “Look up and see what this is that is approaching.”

⁶ So I asked, “What is it?”

He responded, “It’s a measuring basket^[h] that is approaching.” And he continued, “This is their iniquity^[i] in all the land.” ⁷ Then a lead cover was lifted, and there was a woman^(O) sitting inside the basket.^{(P) 8} “This is Wickedness,” he said. He shoved her down into the basket and pushed the lead weight over its opening. ⁹ Then I looked up and saw two women approaching with the wind in their wings. Their wings were like those of a stork,^(Q) and they lifted up the basket between earth and sky.

¹⁰ So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the basket?”

¹¹ “To build a shrine for it in the land of Shinar,”^(R) he told me. “When that is ready, the basket will be placed there on its pedestal.”

The Lamb and the 144,000

14 Then I looked, and there was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion,^(A) and with him were 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.^{(B) 2} I heard a sound^[a] from heaven like the sound of cascading waters^(C) and like the rumbling of loud thunder. The sound I heard was like harpists playing on their harps.^{(D) 3} They sang^[b] a new song^(E) before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders,^(F) but no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. ⁴ These are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women, since they remained virgins.^(G) These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were redeemed^[c] from humanity as the firstfruits^(H) for God and the Lamb. ⁵ No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.^(I)

The Proclamation of Three Angels

⁶ Then I saw another angel^(J) flying high overhead,^(K) with the eternal gospel to announce to the inhabitants of the earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people.^{(L) 7} He spoke with a loud voice:^(M) “Fear God^(N) and give him glory,^(O) because the hour of his judgment has come.^(P) Worship the one who made heaven and earth,^(Q) the sea and the springs of water.”

⁸ And another, a second angel, followed, saying, “It has fallen, Babylon the Great^(R) has fallen.^[d] She made all the nations drink the wine of her sexual immorality,^[e] which brings wrath.”^(S)

⁹ And another, a third angel, followed them and spoke with a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰ he will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, which is poured full strength into the cup of his anger.^(T) He will be tormented with fire and sulfur^(U) in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb, ¹¹ and the smoke of their torment will go up forever and ever.^(V) There is no rest^[f](W) day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or anyone who receives the mark^(X) of its name. ¹² This calls for endurance from the saints,^(Y) who keep God’s commands and their faith in Jesus.”^[g]

¹³ Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”^(Z)

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “so they will rest from their labors, since their works follow them.”

Reaping the Earth’s Harvest

¹⁴ Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and one like the Son of Man^[h](AA) was seated on the cloud, with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. ¹⁵ Another angel came out of the temple, crying out in a loud voice to the one who was seated on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the time to reap has come, since the harvest of the earth is ripe.”^{(AB) 16} So the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

¹⁷ Then another angel who also had a sharp sickle came out of the temple in heaven. ¹⁸ Yet another angel, who had authority over fire, came from the altar, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the vineyard of the earth, because its grapes have ripened.” ¹⁹ So the angel swung his sickle at the earth and gathered the grapes from the vineyard of the earth, and he threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.^{(AC) 20} Then the press was trampled outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press up to the horses’ bridles for about 180 miles.^[i](AD)

Psalm 142

A Cry of Distress

A Maskil of David. When he was in the cave.^(A) A prayer.