A Vision of the Last Days
But here’s what I see coming in the last days, when the nations of the world hold power: Every nation—those who come to this land and those on other lands across the earth—will be drunk with wickedness and every kind of corruption. When that day comes, the Lord Almighty will visit them with thunder and earthquakes, with deafening noise, violent storms, and consuming fire. All the nations that attack Zion and make her suffer will find their victories as empty as a dream. It will be like a starving man who dreams he’s eating a feast, then wakes up with his stomach still growling. Or a man dying of thirst who dreams he’s drinking cool water, then wakes up weak and desperate for more. That’s how hollow the conquest will feel for every nation that fights against Mount Zion.
All you who live in rebellion—stand there and be amazed! Cry out in shock. You’ll be drunk, but not from wine. You’ll stagger, but not from alcohol. The Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. You’ve shut your eyes. You’ve rejected the prophets, and because of your wickedness, he’s hidden the seers from you.
The Sealed Book
The Lord God will bring you the words of a book—words written by those who have long since passed away. The book will be sealed, and it will contain revelation from God stretching from the beginning of the world to its end. Because of what’s sealed up inside, these sealed portions won’t be given to the people during their time of wickedness and corruption. The book will be kept from them.
But the book will be delivered to a man, and he’ll share the words—the words of those who died long ago. And he’ll pass these words on to someone else. But the sealed words he won’t deliver, and he won’t hand over the physical book. The book will be sealed by God’s power, and the sealed revelation will stay in the book until the Lord’s appointed time, when they can finally come out. These sealed things reveal everything from the creation of the world to its very end. The day is coming when the sealed words will be shouted from the rooftops. They’ll be proclaimed by the power of Christ, and everything that has ever happened or ever will happen—right to the end of the earth—will be revealed to humanity.
So when the book is delivered to the man I’ve been telling you about, it will be hidden from the world. No one will see it except three witnesses who will see it by God’s power, in addition to the man who receives it. These three will testify to the truth of the book and everything in it. No one else will see it except a few others, according to God’s will, so they can bear witness of his word to the world. The Lord God has said that the words of the faithful should speak as if they were coming from the dead. So the Lord God will bring forth the words of the book, establishing his word through as many witnesses as he sees fit. And terrible trouble awaits anyone who rejects God’s word.
The Scholar and the Unschooled Man
Here’s what will happen: The Lord God will tell the man who receives the book: “Take these unsealed words and give them to someone else. Have him show them to a scholar and say, ‘Please read this.’” The scholar will say, “Bring me the book, and I’ll read it.” He’ll say this for worldly prestige and profit—not to honor God. The man will reply, “I can’t bring you the book. It’s sealed.” Then the scholar will say, “Then I can’t read it.”
So the Lord God will give the book and its words back to someone with no formal education. And that unschooled man will say, “I’m not educated.” Then the Lord God will tell him: “The educated won’t read it—they’ve rejected it. But I’m perfectly capable of doing my own work. So you will read the words I give you. Don’t touch the sealed portions. I’ll bring those out in my own time. I’ll show the world that I can do my own work. So after you’ve read the words I’ve commanded you to read, and after you’ve gathered the witnesses I’ve promised you, seal up the book again and hide it. I’ll preserve the words you haven’t read until I decide, in my wisdom, to reveal everything to humanity. I am God. I am a God of miracles. I’ll show the world that I’m the same yesterday, today, and forever. I work among people according to their faith.”
And the Lord will say something else to the one who reads the words given to him:
Empty Worship and God’s Marvelous Work
“These people come near me with their mouths. They honor me with their lips. But their hearts are far from me. Their reverence for me is just a set of human rules they’ve been taught. So I’m going to do something marvelous among these people—something absolutely astonishing. The wisdom of their wise scholars will disappear. The understanding of their clever experts will be hidden away.”
“Terrible trouble awaits those who try to hide their plans from the Lord! They work in the dark and say, ‘Who can see us? Who even knows we’re here?’ They also say, ‘Your way of turning everything upside down is no different than a potter reshaping clay.’ But listen—I’ll show them,” says the Lord Almighty, “that I know everything they do. Can something that’s been made say of its maker, ‘He didn’t make me’? Can a pot say of the potter, ‘He doesn’t know what he’s doing’?”
A Day of Restoration
“But here’s what the Lord Almighty says: It won’t be long now. Lebanon will be transformed into fertile farmland, and what’s now fertile farmland will seem like a wild forest. When that day comes, deaf people will hear the words of the book. Blind people will see through the fog and darkness. The humble will find fresh joy in the Lord. The poorest people will celebrate in the Holy One of Israel.”
“As surely as the Lord lives, they’ll see the tyrant brought down to nothing. The mocker will be destroyed. Everyone who waits eagerly for a chance to do wrong will be cut off. Those who trap a man over a careless word, who set snares for someone speaking truth in public, who pervert justice over nothing at all.”
“This is what the Lord says—the one who rescued Abraham—about the house of Jacob: Jacob won’t be ashamed anymore. His face won’t go pale with fear. When he sees his children—the work of my hands—in his midst, they’ll honor my name. They’ll honor the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel. Those who have been spiritually confused will gain understanding. Those who complained will learn truth.”