"But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be surcharged with self-indulgence and drunkenness and worldly cares, and that day catches you suddenly like a trap.

The kingdom

"Repent," said he, "for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven," he said, "is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out at dawn to hire workmen for his vineyard.

"The kingdom of heaven," he said, "may be compared to a king who made a wedding-feast for his son.

Ten

Indeed I praise you for remembering me in everything, and because you are holding fast to the traditions just as you received them.

These are they who were not defiled with women; for they are celibates. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been redeemed from among men to be the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb.

Which

"So let your light shine before men that they may see good you do, and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

"Let your loins be girded about and your lamps burning;

that you may become blameless and innocent, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like stars in a dark world,

Went

Henceforth there is laid up for me the garland of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that Day, and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing.

While we look for the blessed hope and epiphany of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

So I think it right, as long as I am in this "tent," to rouse you by way of reminding you,

while you look for and hasten the coming of the Day of God. At its coming the heavens, being on fire, will be dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt with fervent heat.

The bridegroom

"Can the friends fast at a wedding-feast," said Jesus, "so long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom has been taken from them, and then they will fast.

"The kingdom of heaven," he said, "may be compared to a king who made a wedding-feast for his son.

"Can friends of the bridegroom fast while he is still with them?" asked Jesus. "As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

"Can you make the bridal party fast," he asked, while the bridegroom is still with them?

He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. So then this joy of mine has now complete fulfilment.

I have a divine jealousy on your behalf; for I betrothed you to one only husband, even to Christ, that I might present you to him, a chaste virgin.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her,

Let us rejoice and triumph and give him the glory; For the marriage of the Lamb is come, And his bride has made herself ready,

And I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband.