Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and look at my hands; then reach out your hand and put it in my side. Stop your doubting, and believe!"

Elisha turned to Gehazi and said, "Hurry! Take my walking stick and go. Don't stop to greet anyone you meet, and if anyone greets you, don't take time to answer. Go straight to the house and hold my stick over the boy."

But then they said to each other, "We shouldn't be doing this! We have good news, and we shouldn't keep it to ourselves. If we wait until morning to tell it, we are sure to be punished. Let's go right now and tell the king's officers!"

Go quickly now, and tell his disciples, 'He has been raised from death, and now he is going to Galilee ahead of you; there you will see him!' Remember what I have told you."

Suddenly Jesus met them and said, "Peace be with you." They came up to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.

Don't take a purse or a beggar's bag or shoes; don't stop to greet anyone on the road.

I will tell my people what you have done; I will praise you in their assembly:

Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants is my brother, my sister, and my mother."

The King will reply, 'I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these followers of mine, you did it for me!'

"Do not be afraid," Jesus said to them. "Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me."

Those whom God had already chosen he also set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the first among many believers.

He purifies people from their sins, and both he and those who are made pure all have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his family.

He also says, "I will put my trust in God." And he also says, "Here I am with the children that God has given me."

It was now the day before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. He had always loved those in the world who were his own, and he loved them to the very end.

Jesus knew that the Father had given him complete power; he knew that he had come from God and was going to God.

There are many rooms in my Father's house, and I am going to prepare a place for you. I would not tell you this if it were not so.

Jesus answered him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me.

You heard me say to you, 'I am leaving, but I will come back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father; for he is greater than I.

I did come from the Father, and I came into the world; and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father."

Father! Give me glory in your presence now, the same glory I had with you before the world was made.

And now I am coming to you; I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. Holy Father! Keep them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one just as you and I are one.

Righteous Father! The world does not know you, but I know you, and these know that you sent me.

He goes up to the heights, taking many captives with him; he receives gifts from rebellious people. The LORD God will live there.

He will say to me, 'You are my father and my God; you are my protector and savior.'

And I myself will send upon you what my Father has promised. But you must wait in the city until the power from above comes down upon you."

As he was blessing them, he departed from them and was taken up into heaven.

and ask the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, to give you the Spirit, who will make you wise and reveal God to you, so that you will know him.

and how very great is his power at work in us who believe. This power working in us is the same as the mighty strength

Christ rules there above all heavenly rulers, authorities, powers, and lords; he has a title superior to all titles of authority in this world and in the next.

The church is Christ's body, the completion of him who himself completes all things everywhere.

As the scripture says, "When he went up to the very heights, he took many captives with him; he gave gifts to people."

So the one who came down is the same one who went up, above and beyond the heavens, to fill the whole universe with his presence.

Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Because of his great mercy he gave us new life by raising Jesus Christ from death. This fills us with a living hope,

Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the right to become God's children.

They did not become God's children by natural means, that is, by being born as the children of a human father; God himself was their Father.

Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's children.

God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children.

I will be your father, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

It is through faith that all of you are God's children in union with Christ Jesus.

To show that you are his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, "Father, my Father."

So then, you are no longer a slave but a child. And since you are his child, God will give you all that he has for his children.

My dear friends, we are now God's children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is.

Those who win the victory will receive this from me: I will be their God, and they will be my children.

"I will keep my promise to you and to your descendants in future generations as an everlasting covenant. I will be your God and the God of your descendants.

I will give to you and to your descendants this land in which you are now a foreigner. The whole land of Canaan will belong to your descendants forever, and I will be their God."

Then I will go to your altar, O God; you are the source of my happiness. I will play my harp and sing praise to you, O God, my God.

"This God is our God forever and ever; he will lead us for all time to come."

Do not be afraid---I am with you! I am your God---let nothing terrify you! I will make you strong and help you; I will protect you and save you.

The new covenant that I will make with the people of Israel will be this: I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.

Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors. You will be my people, and I will be your God.

I will live there with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.

The LORD Almighty says, "Wake up, sword, and attack the shepherd who works for me! Kill him, and the sheep will be scattered. I will attack my people

And I will test the third that survives and will purify them as silver is purified by fire. I will test them as gold is tested. Then they will pray to me, and I will answer them. I will tell them that they are my people, and they will confess that I am their God."

Now, this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel in the days to come, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Instead, it was a better country they longed for, the heavenly country. And so God is not ashamed for them to call him their God, because he has prepared a city for them.

I heard a loud voice speaking from the throne: "Now God's home is with people! He will live with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them, and he will be their God.