"While I was thinking about the vision, I saw coming down from heaven an angel, alert and watchful.

I went up to one of those standing there and asked him to explain it all. So he told me the meaning.

Then I saw two men standing by a river, one on each bank.

One of them asked the angel who was standing further upstream, "How long will it be until these amazing events come to an end?"

The LORD came from Mount Sinai; he rose like the sun over Edom and shone on his people from Mount Paran. Ten thousand angels were with him, a flaming fire at his right hand.

I asked him, "Sir, what do these horses mean?" He answered, "I will show you what they mean.

They reported to the angel: "We have been all over the world and have found that the whole world lies helpless and subdued."

Then I saw the angel who had been speaking to me step forward, and another angel came to meet him.

The first one said to the other, "Run and tell that young man with the measuring line that there are going to be so many people and so much livestock in Jerusalem that it will be too big to have walls.

You will escape through this valley that divides the mountain in two. You will flee as your ancestors did when the earthquake struck in the time of King Uzziah of Judah. The LORD my God will come, bringing all the angels with him.

In this way he will strengthen you, and you will be perfect and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all who belong to him.

God revealed to these prophets that their work was not for their own benefit, but for yours, as they spoke about those things which you have now heard from the messengers who announced the Good News by the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. These are things which even the angels would like to understand.

It was Enoch, the seventh direct descendant from Adam, who long ago prophesied this about them: "The Lord will come with many thousands of his holy angels

The angel asked, "Why do you want to know my name? It is a name of wonder."

A child is born to us! A son is given to us! And he will be our ruler. He will be called, "Wonderful Counselor," "Mighty God," "Eternal Father," "Prince of Peace."

"My Father has given me all things. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

"My Father has given me all things. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

One of them asked the angel who was standing further upstream, "How long will it be until these amazing events come to an end?"

All our sacred symbols are gone; there are no prophets left, and no one knows how long this will last.

LORD, will you be angry with us forever? Will your anger continue to burn like fire?

I asked, "How long will it be like this, Lord?" He answered, "Until the cities are ruined and empty---until the houses are uninhabited---until the land itself is a desolate wasteland.

They shouted in a loud voice, "Almighty Lord, holy and true! How long will it be until you judge the people on earth and punish them for killing us?"

It even defied the Prince of the heavenly army, stopped the daily sacrifices offered to him, and ruined the Temple.

People sinned there instead of offering the proper daily sacrifices, and true religion was thrown to the ground. The horn was successful in everything it did.

That ruler will have a firm agreement with many people for seven years, and when half this time is past, he will put an end to sacrifices and offerings. The Awful Horror will be placed on the highest point of the Temple and will remain there until the one who put it there meets the end which God has prepared for him."

Some of his soldiers will make the Temple ritually unclean. They will stop the daily sacrifices and set up The Awful Horror.

"From the time the daily sacrifices are stopped, that is, from the time of The Awful Horror, 1,290 days will pass.

"You will see 'The Awful Horror' of which the prophet Daniel spoke. It will be standing in the holy place." (Note to the reader: understand what this means!)

"You will see 'The Awful Horror' standing in the place where he should not be." (Note to the reader: understand what this means!) "Then those who are in Judea must run away to the hills.

"When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that it will soon be destroyed.

This is the explanation I was given: "The fourth beast is a fourth empire that will be on the earth and will be different from all other empires. It will crush the whole earth and trample it down.

We, your holy people, were driven out by our enemies for a little while; they trampled down your sanctuary.

Some will be killed by the sword, and others will be taken as prisoners to all countries; and the heathen will trample over Jerusalem until their time is up.

What, then, of those who despise the Son of God? who treat as a cheap thing the blood of God's covenant which purified them from sin? who insult the Spirit of grace? Just think how much worse is the punishment they will deserve!

But do not measure the outer courts, because they have been given to the heathen, who will trample on the Holy City for forty-two months.