¹⁸ Therefore I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white robes to clothe yourself and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.^(A)

¹⁵ (“See, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and is clothed,^[a] not going about naked and exposed to shame.”)^(A)

⁷ so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.^(A)

An Invitation to Abundant Life

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.^(A)

¹³ Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?”

Three Parables

⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and reburied; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.^(A)

³ he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.^[a](A)

² Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth^[a] shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.^(A)

⁴ Yet you have still a few persons in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes; they will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.^{(A) 5} If you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not erase your name from the book of life; I will confess your name before my Father and before his angels.^(B)