ARKCODEX
Revelation
Ch. 21–22
The New Heaven and the New Earth
1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth disappeared, and the sea vanished.
2And I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared and ready, like a bride dressed to meet her husband.
3I 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.
4He will wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain. The old things have disappeared.”
5Then the one who sits on the throne said, “And now I make all things new!” He also said to me, “Write this, because these words are true and can be trusted.”
6And he said, “It is done! I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end. To anyone who is thirsty I will give the right to drink from the spring of the water of life without paying for it.
7Those who win the victory will receive this from me: I will be their God, and they will be my children.
8But cowards, traitors, perverts, murderers, the immoral, those who practice magic, those who worship idols, and all liars—the place for them is the lake burning with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
The New Jerusalem
9One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came to me and said, “Come, and I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
10The Spirit took control of me, and the angel carried me to the top of a very high mountain. He showed me Jerusalem, the Holy City, coming down out of heaven from God
11and shining with the glory of God. The city shone like a precious stone, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
12It had a great, high wall with twelve gates and with twelve angels in charge of the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of the people of Israel.
13There were three gates on each side: three on the east, three on the south, three on the north, and three on the west.
14The city's wall was built on twelve foundation stones, on which were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15The angel who spoke to me had a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.
16The city was perfectly square, as wide as it was long. The angel measured the city with his measuring stick: it was fifteen hundred miles long and was as wide and as high as it was long.
17The angel also measured the wall, and it was 216 feet high, according to the standard unit of measure which he was using.
18The wall was made of jasper, and the city itself was made of pure gold, as clear as glass.
19The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. The first foundation stone was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald,
20the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh yellow quartz, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chalcedony, the eleventh turquoise, the twelfth amethyst.
21The twelve gates were twelve pearls; each gate was made from a single pearl. The street of the city was of pure gold, transparent as glass.
22I did not see a temple in the city, because its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb.
23The city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God shines on it, and the Lamb is its lamp.
24The peoples of the world will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their wealth into it.
25The gates of the city will stand open all day; they will never be closed, because there will be no night there.
26The greatness and the wealth of the nations will be brought into the city.
27But nothing that is impure will enter the city, nor anyone who does shameful things or tells lies. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of the living will enter the city.
Revelation 22
1The 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
2and 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.
3Nothing that is under God's curse will be found in the city. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him.
4They will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads.
5There shall be no more night, and they will not need lamps or sunlight, because the Lord God will be their light, and they will rule as kings forever and ever.
The Coming of Jesus
6Then the angel said to me, “These words are true and can be trusted. And the Lord God, who gives his Spirit to the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must happen very soon.”
7“Listen!” says Jesus. “I am coming soon! Happy are those who obey the prophetic words in this book!”
8I, John, have heard and seen all these things. And when I finished hearing and seeing them, I fell down at the feet of the angel who had shown me these things, and I was about to worship him.
9But he said to me, “Don't do it! I am a servant together with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all those who obey the words in this book. Worship God!”
10And he said to me, “Do not keep the prophetic words of this book a secret, because the time is near when all this will happen.
11Whoever is evil must go on doing evil, and whoever is filthy must go on being filthy; whoever is good must go on doing good, and whoever is holy must go on being holy.”
12“Listen!” says Jesus. “I am coming soon! I will bring my rewards with me, to give to each one according to what he has done.
13I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
14Happy 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.
15But outside the city are the perverts and those who practice magic, the immoral and the murderers, those who worship idols and those who are liars both in words and deeds.
16“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to announce these things to you in the churches. I am descended from the family of David; I am the bright morning star.”
17The 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.
Conclusion
18I, John, solemnly warn everyone who hears the prophetic words of this book: if any add anything to them, God will add to their punishment the plagues described in this book.
19And if any take anything away from the prophetic words of this book, God will take away from them their share of the fruit of the tree of life and of the Holy City, which are described in this book.
20He who gives his testimony to all this says, “Yes indeed! I am coming soon!” So be it. Come, Lord Jesus!
21May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with everyone.
Hebrews
Ch. 11–13
Faith
1To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.
2It was by their faith that people of ancient times won God's approval.
3It is by faith that we understand that the universe was created by God's word, so that what can be seen was made out of what cannot be seen.
4It was faith that made Abel offer to God a better sacrifice than Cain's. Through his faith he won God's approval as a righteous man, because God himself approved of his gifts. By means of his faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
5It was faith that kept Enoch from dying. Instead, he was taken up to God, and nobody could find him, because God had taken him up. The scripture says that before Enoch was taken up, he had pleased God.
6No one can please God without faith, for whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and rewards those who seek him.
7It was faith that made Noah hear God's warnings about things in the future that he could not see. He obeyed God and built a boat in which he and his family were saved. As a result, the world was condemned, and Noah received from God the righteousness that comes by faith.
8It was faith that made Abraham obey when God called him to go out to a country which God had promised to give him. He left his own country without knowing where he was going.
9By faith he lived as a foreigner in the country that God had promised him. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who received the same promise from God.
10For Abraham was waiting for the city which God has designed and built, the city with permanent foundations.
11It was faith that made Abraham able to become a father, even though he was too old and Sarah herself could not have children. He trusted God to keep his promise.
12Though Abraham was practically dead, from this one man came as many descendants as there are stars in the sky, as many as the numberless grains of sand on the seashore.
13It was in faith that all these persons died. They did not receive the things God had promised, but from a long way off they saw them and welcomed them, and admitted openly that they were foreigners and refugees on earth.
14Those who say such things make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own.
15They did not keep thinking about the country they had left; if they had, they would have had the chance to return.
16Instead, 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.
17It was faith that made Abraham offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice when God put Abraham to the test. Abraham was the one to whom God had made the promise, yet he was ready to offer his only son as a sacrifice.
18God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that you will have the descendants I promised.”
19Abraham reckoned that God was able to raise Isaac from death—and, so to speak, Abraham did receive Isaac back from death.
20It was faith that made Isaac promise blessings for the future to Jacob and Esau.
21It was faith that made Jacob bless each of the sons of Joseph just before he died. He leaned on the top of his walking stick and worshiped God.
22It was faith that made Joseph, when he was about to die, speak of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, and leave instructions about what should be done with his body.
23It was faith that made the parents of Moses hide him for three months after he was born. They saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king's order.
24It was faith that made Moses, when he had grown up, refuse to be called the son of the king's daughter.
25He preferred to suffer with God's people rather than to enjoy sin for a little while.
26He reckoned that to suffer scorn for the Messiah was worth far more than all the treasures of Egypt, for he kept his eyes on the future reward.
27It was faith that made Moses leave Egypt without being afraid of the king's anger. As though he saw the invisible God, he refused to turn back.
28It was faith that made him establish the Passover and order the blood to be sprinkled on the doors, so that the Angel of Death would not kill the first-born sons of the Israelites.
29It was faith that made the Israelites able to cross the Red Sea as if on dry land; when the Egyptians tried to do it, the water swallowed them up.
30It was faith that made the walls of Jericho fall down after the Israelites had marched around them for seven days.
31It was faith that kept the prostitute Rahab from being killed with those who disobeyed God, for she gave the Israelite spies a friendly welcome.
32Should I go on? There isn't enough time for me to speak of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.
33Through faith they fought whole countries and won. They did what was right and received what God had promised. They shut the mouths of lions,
34put out fierce fires, escaped being killed by the sword. They were weak, but became strong; they were mighty in battle and defeated the armies of foreigners.
35Through faith women received their dead relatives raised back to life. Others, refusing to accept freedom, died under torture in order to be raised to a better life.
36Some were mocked and whipped, and others were put in chains and taken off to prison.
37They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were killed by the sword. They went around clothed in skins of sheep or goats—poor, persecuted, and mistreated.
38The world was not good enough for them! They wandered like refugees in the deserts and hills, living in caves and holes in the ground.
39What a record all of these have won by their faith! Yet they did not receive what God had promised,
40because God had decided on an even better plan for us. His purpose was that only in company with us would they be made perfect.
Hebrews 12
God Our Father
1As for us, we have this large crowd of witnesses around us. So then, let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way, and of the sin which holds on to us so tightly, and let us run with determination the race that lies before us.
2Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God's throne.
3Think 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.
4For in your struggle against sin you have not yet had to resist to the point of being killed.
5Have you forgotten the encouraging words which God speaks to you as his children? “My child, pay attention when the Lord corrects you, and do not be discouraged when he rebukes you.
6Because the Lord corrects everyone he loves, and punishes everyone he accepts as a child.”
7Endure what you suffer as being a father's punishment; your suffering shows that God is treating you as his children. Was there ever a child who was not punished by his father?
8If you are not punished, as all his children are, it means you are not real children, but bastards.
9In the case of our human fathers, they punished us and we respected them. How much more, then, should we submit to our spiritual Father and live!
10Our human fathers punished us for a short time, as it seemed right to them; but God does it for our own good, so that we may share his holiness.
11When we are punished, it seems to us at the time something to make us sad, not glad. Later, however, those who have been disciplined by such punishment reap the peaceful reward of a righteous life.
Instructions and Warnings
12Lift up your tired hands, then, and strengthen your trembling knees!
13Keep walking on straight paths, so that the lame foot may not be disabled, but instead be healed.
14Try to be at peace with everyone, and try to live a holy life, because no one will see the Lord without it.
15Guard against turning back from the grace of God. Let no one become like a bitter plant that grows up and causes many troubles with its poison.
16Let no one become immoral or unspiritual like Esau, who for a single meal sold his rights as the older son.
17Afterward, you know, he wanted to receive his father's blessing; but he was turned back, because he could not find any way to change what he had done, even though in tears he looked for it.
18You have not come, as the people of Israel came, to what you can feel, to Mount Sinai with its blazing fire, the darkness and the gloom, the storm,
19the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of a voice. When the people heard the voice, they begged not to hear another word,
20because they could not bear the order which said, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”
21The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling and afraid!”
22Instead, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, with its thousands of angels.
23You have come to the joyful gathering of God's first-born, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, who is the judge of all people, and to the spirits of good people made perfect.
24You have come to Jesus, who arranged the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that promises much better things than does the blood of Abel.
25Be careful, then, and do not refuse to hear him who speaks. Those who refused to hear the one who gave the divine message on earth did not escape. How much less shall we escape, then, if we turn away from the one who speaks from heaven!
26His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, “I will once more shake not only the earth but heaven as well.”
27The words “once more” plainly show that the created things will be shaken and removed, so that the things that cannot be shaken will remain.
28Let us be thankful, then, because we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please him, with reverence and awe;
29because our God is indeed a destroying fire.
Hebrews 13
How to Please God
1Keep on loving one another as Christians.
2Remember to welcome strangers in your homes. There were some who did that and welcomed angels without knowing it.
3Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them. Remember those who are suffering, as though you were suffering as they are.
4Marriage is to be honored by all, and husbands and wives must be faithful to each other. God will judge those who are immoral and those who commit adultery.
5Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never leave you; I will never abandon you.”
6Let us be bold, then, and say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?”
7Remember your former leaders, who spoke God's message to you. Think back on how they lived and died, and imitate their faith.
8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
9Do not let all kinds of strange teachings lead you from the right way. It is good to receive inner strength from God's grace, and not by obeying rules about foods; those who obey these rules have not been helped by them.
10The priests who serve in the Jewish place of worship have no right to eat any of the sacrifice on our altar.
11The Jewish high priest brings the blood of the animals into the Most Holy Place to offer it as a sacrifice for sins; but the bodies of the animals are burned outside the camp.
12For this reason Jesus also died outside the city, in order to purify the people from sin with his own blood.
13Let us, then, go to him outside the camp and share his shame.
14For there is no permanent city for us here on earth; we are looking for the city which is to come.
15Let us, then, always offer praise to God as our sacrifice through Jesus, which is the offering presented by lips that confess him as Lord.
16Do not forget to do good and to help one another, because these are the sacrifices that please God.
17Obey your leaders and follow their orders. They watch over your souls without resting, since they must give to God an account of their service. If you obey them, they will do their work gladly; if not, they will do it with sadness, and that would be of no help to you.
18Keep on praying for us. We are sure we have a clear conscience, because we want to do the right thing at all times.
19And I beg you even more earnestly to pray that God will send me back to you soon.
Closing Prayer
20-21God has raised from death our Lord Jesus, who is the Great Shepherd of the sheep as the result of his blood, by which the eternal covenant is sealed. May the God of peace provide you with every good thing you need in order to do his will, and may he, through Jesus Christ, do in us what pleases him. And to Christ be the glory forever and ever! Amen.
Final Words
22I beg you, my friends, to listen patiently to this message of encouragement; for this letter I have written you is not very long.
23I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been let out of prison. If he comes soon enough, I will have him with me when I see you.
24Give our greetings to all your leaders and to all God's people. The believers from Italy send you their greetings.
25May God's grace be with you all.
Proverbs
Ch. 31
30Charm is deceptive and beauty disappears, but a woman who honors the Lord should be praised.
31Give her credit for all she does. She deserves the respect of everyone.