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DECEMBER 25
having on His head a golden crown, and in His
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hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came
out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to
Him who sat on the cloud, “Thrust in Your 14:19 winepress. This vivid imagery signifies
sickle and reap, for the time has come for You a horrendous slaughter or bloodbath (Is.63:2,3;
to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Lam.1:15;Joel 3:13).Here it refers to the slaugh-
16 So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sick- ter of all the enemies of God who are still alive,
le on the earth, and the earth was reaped. facing the destruction at Armageddon, the
17 Then another angel came out of the temple final battle against God’s enemies, staged on
which is in heaven, he also having a sharp the Plain of Esdraelon. The bloody imagery
sickle. comes from the fresh juice of stomped grapes
18 And another angel came out from the altar, splattering and running down a trough from the
who had power over fire, and he cried with a upper vat to the lower vat of a stone winepress.
loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, say-
ing, “Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather
the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her of the wrath of God. And the winepress was
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grapes are fully ripe.” So the angel thrust his trampled outside the city, and blood came out
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sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of of the winepress, up to the horses’ bridles, for
the earth, and threw it into the great winepress one thousand six hundred furlongs.
DAY 24:What is known about Zephaniah, and what was his message for Judah?

Little is known about the author, Zephaniah. Three other Old Testament individuals share his
name. He traces his genealogy back 4 generations to King Hezekiah (ca. 715–686 B.C.), standing alone
among the prophets descended from royal blood (1:1).Royal genealogy would have given him the ear
of Judah’s king,Josiah,during whose reign he preached.
The prophet himself dates his message during the reign of Josiah (640–609 B.C.).The moral and
spiritual conditions detailed in the book (1:4–6; 3:1–7) seem to place the prophecy prior to Josiah’s
reforms,when Judah was still languishing in idolatry and wickedness.It was in 628 B.C. that Josiah tore
down all the altars to Baal, burned the bones of false prophets, and broke the carved idols (2 Chr.
34:3–7); and in 622 B.C., the Book of the Law was found (2 Chr. 34:8–35:19). Consequently, Zephaniah
most likely prophesied from 635 to 625 B.C. and was a contemporary of Jeremiah.
Zephaniah’s message on the Day of the Lord warned Judah that the final days were near,through
divine judgment at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar,ca.605–586 B.C. (1:4–13).Yet,it also looks beyond to
the far fulfillment in the judgments of Daniel’s 70th week (1:18;3:8).The expression “Day of the Lord”is
employed by the author more often than by any other Old Testament writer and is described as a day
that is near (1:7),and as a day of wrath,trouble,distress,devastation,desolation,darkness,gloominess,
clouds, thick darkness, trumpet, and alarm (1:15,16,18).Yet even within these oracles of divine wrath,
the prophet exhorted the people to seek the Lord,offering a shelter in the midst of judgment (2:3) and
proclaiming the promise of eventual salvation for His believing remnant (2:7;3:9–20).

to dwell in your paneled houses, and this tem-
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December 25 the LORD of hosts: “Consider your ways!
ple to lie in ruins?” Now therefore, thus says
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“You have sown much, and bring in little;
Haggai 1:1–2:23 You eat, but do not have enough;
You drink, but you are not filled
In the second year of King Darius, in the
1 sixth month, on the first day of the month, with drink;
the word of the LORD came by Haggai the You clothe yourselves, but no one
prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, is warm;
governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of And he who earns wages,
Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, “Thus Earns wages to put into a bag with
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speaks the LORD of hosts, saying: ‘This people holes.”
says, “The time has not come, the time that 7 Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider
the LORD’s house should be built.” ’ ” your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring
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3 Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai wood and build the temple, that I may take
the prophet, saying, “Is it time for you yourselves pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the LORD.
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