1. Mon: Acts 17-19
  2. Tue: Jeremiah 50
  3. Wed: Ezra 7-10
Thursday · Week 48
The Epistles & Revelation

Revelation 9-11

Week 48 · about 11 min
  1. Fri: Zechariah 1-4
  2. Sat: Ecclesiastes 1-4
  3. Sun: Deuteronomy 22-25

More trumpets sound, John eats a little book, two witnesses prophesy, and the seventh trumpet announces Christ’s reign.

Sweet in the Mouth, Bitter in the Belly

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Revelation 11:15 (KJV)

The trumpets bring plagues, including strange locusts from the bottomless pit. One of the most sobering lines in Revelation comes after them: they “repented not of the works of their hands.” In chapter 10 an angel gives John a little book to eat. It’s sweet as honey in his mouth and bitter in his stomach, a lot like Ezekiel eating his scroll. God’s word is sweet, and its message of judgment is hard to swallow. Two witnesses prophesy, are killed, and are raised. Then the seventh trumpet sounds: “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.” Handel set those words in his Hallelujah Chorus.

Reflect: What part of God’s word is sweet to you, and what part is hard to swallow?

Revelation 9

1And the fifth angel sounded his trumpet: and I saw a star out of the heaven fallen to the earth; and there was given to it the key of the pit of the abyss.

2And it opened the pit of the abyss; and there went up smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke of the pit.

3And out of the smoke came forth locusts on the earth, and power was given to them as the scorpions of the earth have power;

4and it was said to them, that they should not injure the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but the men who have not the seal of God on their foreheads:

5and it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months; and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.

6And in those days shall men seek death, and shall in no way find it; and shall desire to die, and death flees from them.

7And the likenesses of the locusts were like to horses prepared for war; and upon their heads as crowns like gold, and their faces as faces of men;

8and they had hair as women's hair, and their teeth were as of lions,

9and they had breastplates as breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to war;

10and they have tails like scorpions, and stings; and their power was in their tails to hurt men five months.

11They have a king over them, the angel of the abyss: his name in Hebrew, Abaddon, and in Greek he has for name Apollyon.

12The first woe has passed. Behold, there come yet two woes after these things.

13And the sixth angel sounded his trumpet: and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,

14saying to the sixth angel that had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound at the great river Euphrates.

15And the four angels were loosed, who are prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they might slay the third part of men;

16and the number of the hosts of horse was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.

17And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those that sat upon them, having breastplates of fire and jacinth and brimstone; and the heads of the horses were as heads of lions, and out of their mouths goes out fire and smoke and brimstone.

18By these three plagues were the third part of men killed, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which goes out of their mouths.

19For the power of the horses is in their mouth and in their tails: for their tails are like serpents, having heads, and with them they injure.

20And the rest of men who were not killed with these plagues repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and the golden and silver and brazen and stone and wooden idols, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.

21And they repented not of their murders, nor of their witchcrafts, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Revelation 10

1And I saw another strong angel coming down out of the heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow upon his head, and his countenance as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire,

2and having in his hand a little opened book. And he set his right foot on the sea, and the left upon the earth,

3and cried with a loud voice as a lion roars. And when he cried, the seven thunders uttered their own voices.

4And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write: and I heard a voice out of the heaven saying, Seal the things which the seven thunders have spoken, and write them not.

5And the angel whom I saw stand on the sea and on the earth lifted up his right hand to the heaven,

6and swore by him that lives to the ages of ages, who created the heaven and the things that are in it, and the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be no longer delay;

7but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God also shall be completed, as he has made known the glad tidings to his own bondmen the prophets.

8And the voice which I heard out of the heaven was again speaking with me, and saying, Go, take the little book which is opened in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the earth.

9And I went to the angel, saying to him to give me the little book. And he says to me, Take and eat it up: and it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey.

10And I took the little book out of the hand of the angel, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth as honey, sweet; and when I had eaten it my belly was made bitter.

11And it was said to me, Thou must prophesy again as to peoples and nations and tongues and many kings.

Revelation 11

1And there was given to me a reed like a staff, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship in it.

2And the court which is without the temple cast out, and measure it not; because it has been given up to the nations, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty-two months.

3And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.

4These are the two olive trees and the two lamps which stand before the Lord of the earth;

5and if any one wills to injure them, fire goes out of their mouth, and devours their enemies. And if any one wills to injure them, thus must he be killed.

6These have power to shut the heaven that no rain may fall during the days of their prophecy; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth as often as they will with every plague.

7And when they shall have completed their testimony, the beast who comes up out of the abyss shall make war with them, and shall conquer them, and shall kill them:

8and their body shall be on the street of the great city, which is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

9And men of the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations see their body three days and a half, and they do not suffer their bodies to be put into a sepulchre.

10And they that dwell upon the earth rejoice over them, and are full of delight, and shall send gifts one to another, because these, the two prophets, tormented them that dwell upon the earth.

11And after the three days and a half the spirit of life from God came into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon those beholding them.

12And I heard a great voice out of the heaven saying to them, Come up here; and they went up to the heaven in the cloud, and their enemies beheld them.

13And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and the tenth of the city fell, and seven thousand names of men were slain in the earthquake. And the remnant were filled with fear, and gave glory to the God of the heaven.

14The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe comes quickly.

15And the seventh angel sounded his trumpet: and there were great voices in the heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world of our Lord and of his Christ is come, and he shall reign to the ages of ages.

16And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,

17saying, We give thee thanks, Lord God Almighty, He who is, and who was, that thou hast taken thy great power and hast reigned.

18And the nations have been full of wrath, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead to be judged, and to give the recompense to thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to those who fear thy name, small and great; and to destroy those that destroy the earth.

19And the temple of God in the heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail.

Darby Translation (Darby). Public domain.