In another vision the LORD showed me the High Priest Joshua standing before the angel of the LORD. And there beside Joshua stood Satan, ready to bring an accusation against him.

the LORD Almighty had said: "If you obey my laws and perform the duties I have assigned you, then you will continue to be in charge of my Temple and its courts, and I will hear your prayers, just as I hear the prayers of the angels who are in my presence.

Micaiah went on: "Now listen to what the LORD says! I saw the LORD sitting on his throne in heaven, with all his angels standing beside him.

Around him flaming creatures were standing, each of which had six wings. Each creature covered its face with two wings, and its body with two, and used the other two for flying.

They were calling out to each other: "Holy, holy, holy! The LORD Almighty is holy! His glory fills the world."

"I am Gabriel," the angel answered. "I stand in the presence of God, who sent me to speak to you and tell you this good news.

Again I looked, and I heard angels, thousands and millions of them! They stood around the throne, the four living creatures, and the elders,

And yet, I am the God who forgives your sins, and I do this because of who I am. I will not hold your sins against you.

I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean from all your idols and everything else that has defiled you.

You were baptized into union with Christ, and now you are clothed, so to speak, with the life of Christ himself.

So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus.

But all those things that I might count as profit I now reckon as loss for Christ's sake.

and be completely united with him. I no longer have a righteousness of my own, the kind that is gained by obeying the Law. I now have the righteousness that is given through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is based on faith.

"I don't know, sir. You do," I answered. He said to me, "These are the people who have come safely through the terrible persecution. They have washed their robes and made them white with the blood of the Lamb.

"I have sinned against the LORD," David said. Nathan replied, "The LORD forgives you; you will not die.

Happy are those whose sins are forgiven, whose wrongs are pardoned.

Happy is the one whom the LORD does not accuse of doing wrong and who is free from all deceit.

Close your eyes to my sins and wipe out all my evil.

I said, "There is no hope for me! I am doomed because every word that passes my lips is sinful, and I live among a people whose every word is sinful. And yet, with my own eyes I have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

He touched my lips with the burning coal and said, "This has touched your lips, and now your guilt is gone, and your sins are forgiven."

The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, "There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

For sin pays its wage---death; but God's free gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.

I will forgive their sins and will no longer remember their wrongs."

To give to those who mourn in Zion Joy and gladness instead of grief, A song of praise instead of sorrow. They will be like trees That the LORD himself has planted. They will all do what is right, And God will be praised for what he has done.

Jerusalem rejoices because of what the LORD has done. She is like a bride dressed for her wedding. God has clothed her with salvation and victory.

But the father called to his servants. 'Hurry!' he said. 'Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet.

God puts people right through their faith in Jesus Christ. God does this to all who believe in Christ, because there is no difference at all:

Some of you were like that. But you have been purified from sin; you have been dedicated to God; you have been put right with God by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God.

and have put on the new self. This is the new being which God, its Creator, is constantly renewing in his own image, in order to bring you to a full knowledge of himself.

Let us rejoice and be glad; let us praise his greatness! For the time has come for the wedding of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself for it.