The Season of End Times

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Get up, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will reveal my words to you.”

³So I went down to the potter’s house, and he was making something on the wheel. ⁴But the pot he was forming out of the clay was ruined as he shaped it with his hands, so the potter formed it into a different pot, whatever he saw fit to make.

⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me.

⁶House of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? declares the Lord. See, like clay in the potter’s hands, that is what you are in my hands, house of Israel. ⁷One time I may say that a nation or a kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, ⁸but if that nation I spoke about repents of its evil, then I will relent and not bring the disaster I had planned to bring against it. ⁹Another time I may say that a nation or a kingdom is to be built and planted, ¹⁰but if they do what is evil in my sight by not listening to my voice, then I will not bring about the good I said I would do for them.

¹¹Now therefore say this to the men of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. This is what the Lord says. Look! I am forming a disaster against you. I am devising a plan against you. Turn from your evil ways, each of you, and reform your ways and your actions.

⁶Then I saw another angel flying in the middle of the sky. He had the everlasting gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth, to every nation, tribe, language, and people. ⁷He said with a loud voice:

Fear God and give him glory,

because the hour of his judgment has come.

Worship him who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water.

⁵Jesus began by telling them, “Be careful that no one deceives you. ⁶Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many.

⁷“Whenever you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled. Such things must happen, but the end is not yet. ⁸In fact, nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places. There will be famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. ⁹But be on your guard! People will hand you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues. You will stand in the presence of rulers and kings for my sake as a witness to them. ¹⁰And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. ¹¹Whenever they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand what you should say. Say whatever is given to you in that hour, because you will not be the ones speaking; instead it will be the Holy Spirit.”

Look! The day is coming, burning like a blast furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble. The day that is coming will set them on fire, says the Lord of Armies, a day that will not leave behind a root or branch for them. ²But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise, and there will be healing in its wings.

²⁴For Christ did not enter a handmade sanctuary, a representation of the true sanctuary. Instead, he entered into heaven itself, now to appear before God on our behalf. ²⁵And he did not enter to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶Otherwise he would have needed to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once and for all, at the climax of the ages, in order to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷And, just as it is appointed for people to die only once and after this comes the judgment, ²⁸so also Christ was offered only once to take away the sins of many, and he will appear a second time—without sin—to bring salvation to those who are eagerly waiting for him.

¹⁹Jesus answered them directly, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: The Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. Indeed, the Son does exactly what the Father does. ²⁰For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. And he will show him even greater works than these so that you will be amazed. ²¹For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to those he wishes.

²²“In fact, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³so that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. ²⁴Amen, Amen, I tell you: Anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He is not going to come into judgment but has crossed over from death to life.

Then at that time, Michael, the great prince who stands over your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress that has not happened from the first time that there was a nation until that time.

At that time your people will be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. ²Many who are sleeping in the dusty ground will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame, to everlasting contempt. ³Those who have insight will shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who bring many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever.

¹¹In the one case, every priest stood ministering day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which are never able to remove sin. ¹²In the other case, this priest, after he offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God. ¹³Since then he has been waiting until his enemies are made a footstool under his feet. ¹⁴By only one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being sanctified.

¹⁵The Holy Spirit also testifies in Scripture to us, for first he said:

¹⁶This is the covenant I will make with them

after those days, says the Lord.

I will put my laws on their hearts

and I will write them on their mind.

¹⁷Then he adds:

And I will not remember their sins and their lawlessness any longer.

¹⁸Now where these sins are forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.

²⁵“Amen, Amen, I tell you: A time is coming and is here now when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who listen will live. ²⁶For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he has granted the Son to have life in himself. ²⁷And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.

²⁸“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹and will come out. Those who have done good will rise to live, but those who have practiced evil will rise to be condemned.”

¹³I kept watching the night visions, and there, in the clouds of heaven, I saw one like a son of man coming. He came to the Ancient of Days, and he was brought before him. ¹⁴To him was given dominion, honor, and a kingdom. All peoples, nations, and languages will worship him. His dominion is an eternal dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.

Grace to you and peace from him who is, who was, and who is coming, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne, ⁵and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood ⁶and made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father—to him be the glory and the power forever. Amen.

⁷Look, he is coming with clouds,

and every eye will see him,

including those who pierced him.

And all the nations of the earth will mourn because of him.

Yes. Amen.

⁸“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, the one who is, and who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.”

³³Pilate went back into the Praetorium and summoned Jesus. He asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

³⁴Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”

³⁵Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”

³⁶Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here.”

³⁷“You are a king then?” Pilate asked.

Jesus answered, “I am, as you say, a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”