Daily Reader's Bible - Flipbook - Page 15
told the Jewish leaders that it
was Jesus who had healed him.
So the Jewish leaders began
harassing Jesus for breaking the
Sabbath rules. But Jesus replied,
“My Father is always working,
and so am I.” So the Jewish
leaders tried all the harder to
find a way to kill him. For he
not only broke the Sabbath, he
called God his Father, thereby
making himself equal with God.
So Jesus explained, “I tell you
the truth, the Son can do nothing
by himself. He does only what he
sees the Father doing. Whatever
the Father does, the Son also
does. For the Father loves the Son
and shows him everything he is
doing. In fact, the Father will show
him how to do even greater works
than healing this man. Then you
will truly be astonished. For just
as the Father gives life to those he
raises from the dead, so the Son
gives life to anyone he wants. In
addition, the Father judges no
one. Instead, he has given the Son
absolute authority to judge, so
that everyone will honor the Son,
just as they honor the Father.
Anyone who does not honor
the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him.
“I tell you the truth, those
who listen to my message
and believe in God who sent
me have eternal life. They will
never be condemned for their
sins, but they have already
passed from death into life.
“And I assure you that the
time is coming, indeed it’s here
now, when the dead will hear my
voice—the voice of the Son of
God. And those who listen will
live. The Father has life in himself,
and he has granted that same
life-giving power to his Son. And
he has given him authority to
judge everyone because he
is the Son of Man. Don’t be so
surprised! Indeed, the time is
coming when all the dead in their
graves will hear the voice of God’s
Son, and they will rise again.
Those who have done good will
rise to experience eternal life, and
those who have continued in evil
will rise to experience judgment. I
can do nothing on my own. I
judge as God tells me. Therefore,
my judgment is just, because
I carry out the will of the one
who sent me, not my own will.
“If I were to testify on my own
behalf, my testimony would not
be valid. But someone else is also
testifying about me, and I assure
you that everything he says
about me is true. In fact, you sent
investigators to listen to John the
Baptist, and his testimony about
me was true. Of course, I have no
need of human witnesses, but I
say these things so you might be
saved. John was like a burning
and shining lamp, and you were
HERE IS THE MAN CALLED THE BRANCH
I looked up again and saw a scroll flying
through the air.
“What do you see?” the angel asked.
“I see a flying scroll,” I replied. “It appears to
be about 30 feet long and 15 feet wide.”
Then he said to me, “This scroll contains the
curse that is going out over the entire land. One
side of the scroll says that those who steal will
be banished from the land; the other side says
that those who swear falsely will be banished
from the land. And this is what the LORD
of Heaven’s Armies says: I am sending this
curse into the house of every thief and into
the house of everyone who swears falsely
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excited for a while about his message. But I have a greater witness
than John—my teachings and
my miracles. The Father gave me
these works to accomplish, and
they prove that he sent me. And
the Father who sent me has testified about me himself. You have
never heard his voice or seen
him face to face, and you do not
have his message in your hearts,
because you do not believe
me—the one he sent to you.
“You search the Scriptures
because you think they give you
eternal life. But the Scriptures
point to me! Yet you refuse to
come to me to receive this life.
“Your approval means
nothing to me, because I know
you don’t have God’s love within
you. For I have come to you in
my Father’s name, and you have
rejected me. Yet if others come
in their own name, you gladly
welcome them. No wonder you
can’t believe! For you gladly
honor each other, but you don’t
care about the honor that comes
from the one who alone is God.
“Yet it isn’t I who will
accuse you before the Father.
Moses will accuse you! Yes,
Moses, in whom you put your
hopes. If you really believed
Moses, you would believe
me, because he wrote about
me. But since you don’t
believe what he wrote, how
will you believe what I say?”
[ZECHARIAH 5:1–6:15]
using my name. And my curse will remain in
that house and completely destroy it—even
its timbers and stones.”
Then the angel who was talking with me came
forward and said, “Look up and see what’s
coming.”
“What is it?” I asked.
He replied, “It is a basket for measuring
grain, and it’s filled with the sins of everyone
throughout the land.”
Then the heavy lead cover was lifted off
the basket, and there was a woman sitting
inside it. The angel said, “The woman’s name
