Chapter 8
1 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice,
2 "Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"
3 And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.
4 "What do you want with us, Son of God?" they shouted. "Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?"
5 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads.
6 Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
7 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
8 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry.
9 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him.
10 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.
11 The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"
12 He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
13 The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"
14 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
15 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
16 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
17 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."
18 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were,
19 because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise."
20 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
21 They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him.
22 "We are going up to Jerusalem," he said, "and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles,
23 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise."
24 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"
25 The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.
26 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
27 "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth."
28 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
29 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
30 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all
31 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect
32 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'
33 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
34 Perseverance, character; and character, hope.
35 And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
36 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
37 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.
38 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
39 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!
40 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
41 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."
42 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
43 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.
44 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.
