Think of what he went through; how he put up with so much hatred from sinners! So do not let yourselves become discouraged and give up.

In the same manner Christ also was offered in sacrifice once to take away the sins of many. He will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are waiting for him.

The LORD has hidden himself from his people, but I trust him and place my hope in him.

Those who go to Egypt for help are doomed! They are relying on Egypt's vast military strength---horses, chariots, and soldiers. But they do not rely on the LORD, the holy God of Israel, or ask him for help.

"Turn to me now and be saved, people all over the world! I am the only God there is.

But I will watch for the LORD; I will wait confidently for God, who will save me. My God will hear me.

"I will fill the descendants of David and the other people of Jerusalem with the spirit of mercy and the spirit of prayer. They will look at the one whom they stabbed to death, and they will mourn for him like those who mourn for an only child. They will mourn bitterly, like those who have lost their first-born son.

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 what my Father wants is that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life. And I will raise them to life on the last day."

Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see the time of my coming; he saw it and was glad."

We, however, are citizens of heaven, and we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven.

And now there is waiting for me the victory prize of being put right with God, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that Day---and not only to me, but to all those who wait with love for him to appear.

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

We write to you about the Word of life, which has existed from the very beginning. We have heard it, and we have seen it with our eyes; yes, we have seen it, and our hands have touched it.

What we have seen and heard we announce to you also, so that you will join with us in the fellowship that we have with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

and keep yourselves in the love of God, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy to give you eternal life.

It was only right that God, who creates and preserves all things, should make Jesus perfect through suffering, in order to bring many children to share his glory. For Jesus is the one who leads them to salvation.

The father at once cried out, "I do have faith, but not enough. Help me have more!"

The apostles said to the Lord, "Make our faith greater."

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.

"I am the first and the last," says the Lord God Almighty, who is, who was, and who is to come.

It said, "Write down what you see, and send the book to the churches in these seven cities: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea."

When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man. He placed his right hand on me and said, "Don't be afraid! I am the first and the last.

"To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: "This is the message from the one who is the first and the last, who died and lived again.

For the Law of Moses could not make anything perfect. And now a better hope has been provided through which we come near to God.

With one sacrifice, then, he has made perfect forever those who are purified from sin.

You will do everything you have promised; LORD, your love is eternal. Complete the work that you have begun.

that you have not failed to receive a single blessing, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be faultless on the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And so I am sure that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it on until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus.

You made them for a little while lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor,

But we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, so that through God's grace he should die for everyone. We see him now crowned with glory and honor because of the death he suffered.

When he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him,

And so I am thankful and glad, and I feel completely secure,

You will show me the path that leads to life; your presence fills me with joy and brings me pleasure forever.

The LORD said to me, "I have a greater task for you, my servant. Not only will you restore to greatness the people of Israel who have survived, but I will also make you a light to the nations--- so that all the world may be saved."

The LORD says, "It was my will that he should suffer; his death was a sacrifice to bring forgiveness. And so he will see his descendants; he will live a long life, and through him my purpose will succeed.

And so I will give him a place of honor, a place among the great and powerful. He willingly gave his life and shared the fate of evil men. He took the place of many sinners and prayed that they might be forgiven."

Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his glory?"

I am telling you the truth: a grain of wheat remains no more than a single grain unless it is dropped into the ground and dies. If it does die, then it produces many grains.

When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me."

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

After Judas had left, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man's glory is revealed; now God's glory is revealed through him.

And if God's glory is revealed through him, then God will reveal the glory of the Son of Man in himself, and he will do so at once.

After Jesus finished saying this, he looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your Son, so that the Son may give glory to you.

And eternal life means to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

For David said about him, 'I saw the Lord before me at all times; he is near me, and I will not be troubled.

And so I am filled with gladness, and my words are full of joy. And I, mortal though I am, will rest assured in hope,

"All the people of Israel, then, are to know for sure that this Jesus, whom you crucified, is the one that God has made Lord and Messiah!"

He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death--- his death on the cross.

And so, in honor of the name of Jesus all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will fall on their knees,

They tried to find out when the time would be and how it would come. This was the time to which Christ's Spirit in them was pointing, in predicting the sufferings that Christ would have to endure and the glory that would follow.

For this reason, when Christ was about to come into the world, he said to God: "You do not want sacrifices and offerings, but you have prepared a body for me.

Then I said, 'Here I am, to do your will, O God, just as it is written of me in the book of the Law.' "

Then he said, "Here I am, O God, to do your will." So God does away with all the old sacrifices and puts the sacrifice of Christ in their place.

Every Jewish priest performs his services every day and offers the same sacrifices many times; but these sacrifices can never take away sins.

From that time on Jesus began to say plainly to his disciples, "I must go to Jerusalem and suffer much from the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. I will be put to death, but three days later I will be raised to life."

"Listen," he told them, "we are going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. They will condemn him to death

and then hand him over to the Gentiles, who will make fun of him, whip him, and crucify him; but three days later he will be raised to life."

Then the wife of Zebedee came to Jesus with her two sons, bowed before him, and asked him for a favor.

like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people."

When they had finished making fun of him, they took the robe off and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

They came to a place called Golgotha, which means, "The Place of the Skull."

They crucified him and then divided his clothes among them by throwing dice.

Above his head they put the written notice of the accusation against him: "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews."

People passing by shook their heads and hurled insults at Jesus:

In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the Law and the elders made fun of him:

He trusts in God and claims to be God's Son. Well, then, let us see if God wants to save him now!"

At noon the whole country was covered with darkness, which lasted for three hours.

Some of the people standing there heard him and said, "He is calling for Elijah!"

But the others said, "Wait, let us see if Elijah is coming to save him!"

"Father," he prayed, "my Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want."

"Now my heart is troubled---and what shall I say? Shall I say, 'Father, do not let this hour come upon me'? But that is why I came---so that I might go through this hour of suffering.

Father, bring glory to your name!" Then a voice spoke from heaven, "I have brought glory to it, and I will do so again."

By his death on the cross Christ destroyed their enmity; by means of the cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God.

Your life must be controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and gave his life for us as a sweet-smelling offering and sacrifice that pleases God.

He gave himself for us, to rescue us from all wickedness and to make us a pure people who belong to him alone and are eager to do good.

Christ himself carried our sins in his body to the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. It is by his wounds that you have been healed.

For Christ died for sins once and for all, a good man on behalf of sinners, in order to lead you to God. He was put to death physically, but made alive spiritually,

You were at times publicly insulted and mistreated, and at other times you were ready to join those who were being treated in this way.

Some were mocked and whipped, and others were put in chains and taken off to prison.

But I am no longer a human being; I am a worm, despised and scorned by everyone!

"You relied on the LORD," they say. "Why doesn't he save you? If the LORD likes you, why doesn't he help you?"

You know how I am insulted, how I am disgraced and dishonored; you see all my enemies.

Insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. I had hoped for sympathy, but there was none; for comfort, but I found none.

Israel's holy God and savior says to the one who is deeply despised, who is hated by the nations and is the servant of rulers: "Kings will see you released and will rise to show their respect; princes also will see it, and they will bow low to honor you." This will happen because the LORD has chosen his servant; the holy God of Israel keeps his promises.

I bared my back to those who beat me. I did not stop them when they insulted me, when they pulled out the hairs of my beard and spit in my face.

But their insults cannot hurt me because the Sovereign LORD gives me help. I brace myself to endure them. I know that I will not be disgraced,

We despised him and rejected him; he endured suffering and pain. No one would even look at him--- we ignored him as if he were nothing.

Then they spat in his face and beat him; and those who slapped him

said, "Prophesy for us, Messiah! Guess who hit you!"

Then Pilate's soldiers took Jesus into the governor's palace, and the whole company gathered around him.

Then they made a crown out of thorny branches and placed it on his head, and put a stick in his right hand; then they knelt before him and made fun of him. "Long live the King of the Jews!" they said.

When they had finished making fun of him, they took the robe off and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

Then they crucified two bandits with Jesus, one on his right and the other on his left.

"You were going to tear down the Temple and build it back up in three days! Save yourself if you are God's Son! Come on down from the cross!"

"He saved others, but he cannot save himself ! Isn't he the king of Israel? If he will come down off the cross now, we will believe in him!

Even the bandits who had been crucified with him insulted him in the same way.

His answer was, "Elijah is indeed coming first in order to get everything ready. Yet why do the Scriptures say that the Son of Man will suffer much and be rejected?

Herod and his soldiers made fun of Jesus and treated him with contempt; then they put a fine robe on him and sent him back to Pilate.

The people stood there watching while the Jewish leaders made fun of him: "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah whom God has chosen!"

and said, "Save yourself if you are the king of the Jews!"

One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!"

As the apostles left the Council, they were happy, because God had considered them worthy to suffer disgrace for the sake of Jesus.

When he was insulted, he did not answer back with an insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but placed his hopes in God, the righteous Judge.

Happy are you if you are insulted because you are Christ's followers; this means that the glorious Spirit, the Spirit of God, is resting on you.

However, if you suffer because you are a Christian, don't be ashamed of it, but thank God that you bear Christ's name.

He reflects the brightness of God's glory and is the exact likeness of God's own being, sustaining the universe with his powerful word. After achieving forgiveness for the sins of all human beings, he sat down in heaven at the right side of God, the Supreme Power.

God never said to any of his angels: "Sit here at my right side until I put your enemies as a footstool under your feet."

The whole point of what we are saying is that we have such a High Priest, who sits at the right of the throne of the Divine Majesty in heaven.

The LORD said to my lord, "Sit here at my right side until I put your enemies under your feet."

who has gone to heaven and is at the right side of God, ruling over all angels and heavenly authorities and powers.