For they deliberately suppress this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water.

Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day.

Since all these things are to melt away in this manner, what sort of people must we be, conducting our lives in holiness and godliness,

while waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God? Because of this day, the heavens will be burned up and dissolve, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze!

This is what we proclaim to you: what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and our hands have touched (concerning the word of life --

Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.

Now by this we know that we have come to know God: if we keep his commandments.

But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.

Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. We know from this that it is the last hour.

Who is the liar but the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist: the person who denies the Father and the Son.

Now this is the promise that he himself made to us: eternal life.

(See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God's children -- and indeed we are! For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know him.

And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure).

The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil.

By this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: Everyone who does not practice righteousness -- the one who does not love his fellow Christian -- is not of God.

For this is the gospel message that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another,

We have come to know love by this: that Jesus laid down his life for us; thus we ought to lay down our lives for our fellow Christians.

And by this we will know that we are of the truth and will convince our conscience in his presence,

Now this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave us the commandment.

And the person who keeps his commandments resides in God, and God in him. Now by this we know that God resides in us: by the Spirit he has given us.

By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God,

but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world.

We are from God; the person who knows God listens to us, but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

By this the love of God is revealed in us: that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him.

In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

By this we know that we reside in God and he in us: in that he has given us of his Spirit.

By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world.

And the commandment we have from him is this: that the one who loves God should love his fellow Christian too.

By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and obey his commandments.

For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments do not weigh us down,

because This is the conquering power that has conquered the world: our faith.

If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, because this is the testimony of God that he has testified concerning his Son.

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

The one who has the Son has this eternal life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this eternal life.

And this is the confidence that we have before him: that whenever we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us insight to know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This one is the true God and eternal life.

(Now this is love: that we walk according to his commandments.) This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning; thus you should walk in it.

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, people who do not confess Jesus as Christ coming in the flesh. This person is the deceiver and the antichrist!

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not remain in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who remains in this teaching has both the Father and the Son.

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house and do not give him any greeting,

I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are living according to the truth.

Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy aloud, and blessed are those who hear and obey the things written in it, because the time is near!

(Look! He is returning with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes on the earth will mourn because of him. This will certainly come to pass! Amen.)

The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

"To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write the following: "This is the solemn pronouncement of the one who has a firm grasp on the seven stars in his right hand -- the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands:

But I have this against you: You have departed from your first love!

But you do have this going for you: You hate what the Nicolaitans practice -- practices I also hate.

"To the angel of the church in Smyrna write the following: "This is the solemn pronouncement of the one who is the first and the last, the one who was dead, but came to life:

"To the angel of the church in Pergamum write the following: "This is the solemn pronouncement of the one who has the sharp double-edged sword:

"To the angel of the church in Thyatira write the following: "This is the solemn pronouncement of the Son of God, the one who has eyes like a fiery flame and whose feet are like polished bronze:

But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

But to the rest of you in Thyatira, all who do not hold to this teaching (who have not learned the so-called "deep secrets of Satan"), to you I say: I do not put any additional burden on you.

"To the angel of the church in Sardis write the following: "This is the solemn pronouncement of the one who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: 'I know your deeds, that you have a reputation that you are alive, but in reality you are dead.

"To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write the following: "This is the solemn pronouncement of the Holy One, the True One, who holds the key of David, who opens doors no one can shut, and shuts doors no one can open:

"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write the following: "This is the solemn pronouncement of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the originator of God's creation:

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so no wind could blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree.

For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them.

Then the four angels who had been prepared for this hour, day, month, and year were set free to kill a third of humanity.

Now this is what the horses and their riders looked like in my vision: The riders had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and sulfurous yellow in color. The heads of the horses looked like lions' heads, and fire, smoke, and sulfur came out of their mouths.

If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and completely consumes their enemies. If anyone wants to harm them, they must be killed this way.

If anyone is meant for captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed by the sword, then by the sword he must be killed. This requires steadfast endurance and faith from the saints.

This calls for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the beast's number, for it is man's number, and his number is 666.

This requires the steadfast endurance of the saints -- those who obey God's commandments and hold to their faith in Jesus.

Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write this: 'Blessed are the dead, those who die in the Lord from this moment on!'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "so they can rest from their hard work, because their deeds will follow them."

(This requires a mind that has wisdom.) The seven heads are seven mountains the woman sits on. They are also seven kings:

As much as she exalted herself and lived in sensual luxury, to this extent give her torment and grief because she said to herself, 'I rule as queen and am no widow; I will never experience grief!'

For this reason, she will experience her plagues in a single day: disease, mourning, and famine, and she will be burned down with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is powerful!"

Then one powerful angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone, threw it into the sea, and said, "With this kind of sudden violent force Babylon the great city will be thrown down and it will never be found again!

So I threw myself down at his feet to worship him, but he said, "Do not do this! I am only a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony about Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were finished.) This is the first resurrection.

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death -- the lake of fire.

(Look! I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy expressed in this book.)

But he said to me, "Do not do this! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets, and with those who obey the words of this book. Worship God!"

Then he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy contained in this book, because the time is near.

I testify to the one who hears the words of the prophecy contained in this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.

And if anyone takes away from the words of this book of prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book.