Here he will suddenly remove the cloud of sorrow that has been hanging over all the nations.

Other nations will be covered by darkness, But on you the light of the LORD will shine; The brightness of his presence will be with you.

Nations will be drawn to your light, And kings to the dawning of your new day.

which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples:

A light to reveal your will to the Gentiles and bring glory to your people Israel."

Now, however, that truth has been brought out into the open through the writings of the prophets; and by the command of the eternal God it is made known to all nations, so that all may believe and obey.

God did what he had purposed, and made known to us the secret plan he had already decided to complete by means of Christ.

which is the secret he hid through all past ages from all human beings but has now revealed to his people.

God's plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God.

and at the right time he revealed it in his message. This was entrusted to me, and I proclaim it by order of God our Savior.

For God has revealed his grace for the salvation of all people.

He had been chosen by God before the creation of the world and was revealed in these last days for your sake.

Through him you believe in God, who raised him from death and gave him glory; and so your faith and hope are fixed on God.

When this life became visible, we saw it; so we speak of it and tell you about the eternal life which was with the Father and was made known to us.

For I am the LORD your God, the holy God of Israel, who saves you. I will give up Egypt to set you free; I will give up Ethiopia and Seba.

The God of Israel, who saves his people, is a God who conceals himself.

Come and present your case in court; let the defendants consult one another. Who predicted long ago what would happen? Was it not I, the LORD, the God who saves his people? There is no other god.

This very day in David's town your Savior was born---Christ the Lord!

and they told the woman, "We believe now, not because of what you said, but because we ourselves have heard him, and we know that he really is the Savior of the world."

God raised him to his right side as Leader and Savior, to give the people of Israel the opportunity to repent and have their sins forgiven.

It was Jesus, a descendant of David, whom God made the Savior of the people of Israel, as he had promised.

I write to Titus, my true son in the faith that we have in common. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior give you grace and peace.

as we wait for the blessed Day we hope for, when the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ will appear.

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior was revealed,

From Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ--- To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have been given a faith as precious as ours:

In this way you will be given the full right to enter the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

If people have escaped from the corrupting forces of the world through their knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then are again caught and conquered by them, such people are in worse condition at the end than they were at the beginning.

I want you to remember the words that were spoken long ago by the holy prophets, and the command from the Lord and Savior which was given you by your apostles.

But continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, now and forever! Amen.

And we have seen and tell others that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

The Sovereign LORD will destroy death forever! He will wipe away the tears from everyone's eyes and take away the disgrace his people have suffered throughout the world. The LORD himself has spoken.

I will not save this people from the world of the dead or rescue them from the power of death. Bring on your plagues, death! Bring on your destruction, world of the dead! I will no longer have pity for this people.

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die;

and those who live and believe in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

So when this takes place, and the mortal has been changed into the immortal, then the scripture will come true: "Death is destroyed; victory is complete!"

"Where, Death, is your victory? Where, Death, is your power to hurt?"

Since the children, as he calls them, are people of flesh and blood, Jesus himself became like them and shared their human nature. He did this so that through his death he might destroy the Devil, who has the power over death,

and in this way set free those who were slaves all their lives because of their fear of death.

Then death and the world of the dead were thrown into the lake of fire. (This lake of fire is the second death.)

So he said to his gardener, 'Look, for three years I have been coming here looking for figs on this fig tree, and I haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it go on using up the soil?'

Does this mean that by this faith we do away with the Law? No, not at all; instead, we uphold the Law.

And we know that our old being has been put to death with Christ on his cross, in order that the power of the sinful self might be destroyed, so that we should no longer be the slaves of sin.

Those of you who try to be put right with God by obeying the Law have cut yourselves off from Christ. You are outside God's grace.

From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will, sent to proclaim the promised life which we have in union with Christ Jesus---

"I am telling you the truth: those who hear my words and believe in him who sent me have eternal life. They will not be judged, but have already passed from death to life.

Just as the Father is himself the source of life, in the same way he has made his Son to be the source of life.

Do not be surprised at this; the time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice

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

But these have been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through your faith in him you may have life.

Some people keep on doing good, and seek glory, honor, and immortal life; to them God will give eternal life.

It is true that through the sin of one man death began to rule because of that one man. But how much greater is the result of what was done by the one man, Jesus Christ! All who receive God's abundant grace and are freely put right with him will rule in life through Christ.

So then, as the one sin condemned all people, in the same way the one righteous act sets all people free and gives them life.

For what is mortal must be changed into what is immortal; what will die must be changed into what cannot die.

While we live in this earthly tent, we groan with a feeling of oppression; it is not that we want to get rid of our earthly body, but that we want to have the heavenly one put on over us, so that what is mortal will be transformed by life.

God's divine power has given us everything we need to live a truly religious life through our knowledge of the one who called us to share in his own glory and goodness.

When this life became visible, we saw it; so we speak of it and tell you about the eternal life which was with the Father and was made known to us.

"If you have ears, then, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches! "To those who win the victory I will give the right to eat the fruit of the tree of life that grows in the Garden of God.

The angel also showed me the river of the water of life, sparkling like crystal, and coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb

and flowing down the middle of the city's street. On each side of the river was the tree of life, which bears fruit twelve times a year, once each month; and its leaves are for the healing of the nations.

Happy are those who wash their robes clean and so have the right to eat the fruit from the tree of life and to go through the gates into the city.

The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come!" Everyone who hears this must also say, "Come!" Come, whoever is thirsty; accept the water of life as a gift, whoever wants it.

If your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be bright all over, as when a lamp shines on you with its brightness."

This was the real light---the light that comes into the world and shines on all people.

So you should not pass judgment on anyone before the right time comes. Final judgment must wait until the Lord comes; he will bring to light the dark secrets and expose the hidden purposes of people's minds. And then all will receive from God the praise they deserve.

I ask that your minds may be opened to see his light, so that you will know what is the hope to which he has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people,

Remember how it was with you in the past. In those days, after God's light had shone on you, you suffered many things, yet were not defeated by the struggle.

After this I saw another angel coming down out of heaven. He had great authority, and his splendor brightened the whole earth.