Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If any one desires to follow me, let him renounce self and take up his cross, and so be my follower. For whoever desires to save his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake shall find it. read more. Why, what benefit will it be to a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give to buy back his life? For the Son of Man is soon to come in the glory of the Father with His angels, and then will He requite every man according to his actions. I solemnly tell you that some of those who are standing here will certainly not taste death till they have seen the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom."

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! thou who murderest the Prophets and stonest those who have been sent to thee! how often have I desired to gather thy children to me, just as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not come! See, your house will now be left to you desolate! read more. For I tell you that you will never see me again until you say, 'Blessed be He who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

Then calling to Him the crowd and also His disciples, He said to them, "If any one is desirous of following me, let him ignore self and take up his cross, and so be my follower. For whoever is bent on securing his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News, will secure it. read more. Why, what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? For what could a man give to buy back his life? Every one, however, who has been ashamed of me and of my teachings in this faithless and sinful age, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in His Father's glory with the holy angels."

But He remained silent, and gave no reply. A second time the High Priest questioned Him. "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" he said.

But He remained silent, and gave no reply. A second time the High Priest questioned Him. "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" he said. "I am," replied Jesus, "and you and others will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the divine Power, and coming amid the clouds of the sky."

"I am," replied Jesus, "and you and others will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the divine Power, and coming amid the clouds of the sky." Rending his garments the High Priest exclaimed, "What need have we of witnesses after that?

Rending his garments the High Priest exclaimed, "What need have we of witnesses after that? You all heard his impious words. What is your judgement?" Then with one voice they condemned Him as deserving of death. read more. Thereupon some began to spit on Him, and to blindfold Him, while striking Him with their fists and crying, "Prove that you are a prophet." The officers too struck Him with open hands as they took Him in charge. Now while Peter was below in the quadrangle, one of the High Priest's maidservants came, and seeing Peter warming himself she looked at him and said, "You also were with Jesus, the Nazarene." But he denied it, and said, "I don't know--I don't understand--What do you mean?" And then he went out into the outer court. Just then a cock crowed.

And He said to all, "If any one is desirous of following me, let him ignore self and take up his cross day by day, and so be my follower. For whoever desires to save his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake shall save it. read more. Why, what benefit is it to a man to have gained the whole world, but to have lost or forfeited his own self. For whoever shall have been ashamed of me and my teachings, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own and the Father's glory and in that of the holy angels. I tell you truly that there are some of those who stand here who will certainly not taste death till they have seen the Kingdom of God."

Then, turning to His disciples, He said, "There will come a time when you will wish you could see a single one of the days of the Son of Man, but will not see one.

"If any one loves me," replied Jesus, "he will obey my teaching; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

"Yet it is the truth that I am telling you--it is to your advantage that I go away. For unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

For there is a truth, brethren, not revealed hitherto, of which I do not wish to leave you in ignorance, for fear you should attribute superior wisdom to yourselves--the truth, I mean, that partial blindness has fallen upon Israel until the great mass of the Gentiles have come in; and so all Israel will be saved. As is declared in Scripture, "From Mount Zion a Deliverer will come: He will remove all ungodliness from Jacob;

Carry out these injunctions because you know the critical period at which we are living, and that it is now high time, to rouse yourselves from sleep; for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first became believers.

Let your forbearing spirit be known to every one--the Lord is near.

For this we declare to you on the Lord's own authority--that we who are alive and continue on earth until the Coming of the Lord, shall certainly not forestall those who shall have previously passed away.

For you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.

and then the Lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will sweep away with the tempest of His anger, and utterly overwhelm by the awful splendour of His Coming.

So you also must be patient: keeping up your courage; for the Coming of the Lord is now close at hand.

But, above all, remember that, in the last days, men will come who make a mock at everything--men governed only by their own passions, and, asking, "What has become of His promised Return? For from the time our forefathers fell asleep all things continue as they have been ever since the creation of the world." read more. For they are wilfully blind to the fact that there were heavens which existed of old, and an earth, the latter arising out of water and extending continuously through water, by the command of God; and that, by means of these, the then existing race of men was overwhelmed with water and perished. But the present heavens and the present earth are, by the command of the same God, kept stored up, reserved for fire in preparation for a day of judgement and of destruction for the ungodly. But there is one thing, dear friends, which you must not forget. With the Lord one day resembles a thousand years and a thousand years resemble one day. The Lord is not slow in fulfilling His promise, in the sense in which some men speak of slowness. But He bears patiently with you, His desire being that no one should perish but that all should come to repentance.

He laid hold of the Dragon--the ancient serpent--who is the Devil and the Adversary, and bound him for a thousand years, and hurled him into the bottomless pit. He closed the entrance and put a seal upon him in order that he might be unable to lead the nations astray any more until the thousand years were at an end. Afterwards he is to be set at liberty for a short time. read more. And I saw thrones, and some who were seated on them, to whom judgment was entrusted. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded on account of the testimony that they had borne to Jesus and on account of God's Message, and also the souls of those who had not worshipped the Wild Beast or his statue, nor received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands; and they came to Life and were kings with Christ for a thousand years. No one else who was dead rose to Life until the thousand years were at an end. This is the First Resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the First Resurrection. The Second Death has no power over them, but they shall be priests to God and to Christ, and shall be kings with Christ for the thousand years. But when the thousand years are at an end, the Adversary will be released from his imprisonment,