⁴⁶ I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness. ⁴⁷ If anyone hears my words and doesn’t keep^(A) them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world^(B) but to save the world.^{(C) 48} The one who rejects me^(D) and doesn’t receive my sayings has this as his judge: ^[a] The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.^{(E) 49} For I have not spoken on my own, but the Father^(F) himself who sent me has given me a command to say everything I have said. ⁵⁰ I know that his command is eternal life.^(G) So the things that I speak, I speak just as the Father has told me.”^(H)

⁶ Jesus told him, “I am^(A) the way,^(B) the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

The Lord’s Glory in Zion

The Light of the Gospel

4 Therefore, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy,^(A) we do not give up.^{(B) 2} Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful things, not acting^(C) deceitfully or distorting the word of God,^(D) but commending ourselves before God to everyone’s conscience by an open display of the truth.^{(E) 3} But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴ In their case, the god of this age^(F) has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,^[a](G) who is the image of God.^{(H) 5} For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord,^(I) and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake. ⁶ For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”^(J) has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge^(K) of God’s glory^(L) in the face of Jesus Christ.

¹² Then I turned to see whose voice^(A) it was that spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,^{(B) 13} and among the lampstands was one like the Son of Man,^[a](C) dressed in a robe^(D) and with a golden sash wrapped around his chest.^{(E) 14} The hair of his head was white as wool—white as snow^(F)—and his eyes like a fiery flame.^{(G) 15} His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace,^(H) and his voice like the sound of cascading^[b] waters.^{(I) 16} He had seven stars in his right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from his mouth,^(J) and his face was shining like the sun at full strength.^(K)

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man.^(L) He laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last,^{(M) 18} and the Living One.^(N) I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever,^(O) and I hold the keys^(P) of death and Hades. ¹⁹ Therefore write what you have seen,^(Q) what is, and what will take place after this. ²⁰ The mystery^(R) of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels^[c] of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands^[d] are the seven churches.^(S)