M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The song of the 144,000

14  Then I looked and saw the Lamb standing on a hill called Zion. With him were one hundred and forty-four thousand people. They had his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.

² I heard a sound from the sky like the sound of much water flowing, and like the sound of much thunder. The sound I heard was like people playing music on their harps.

³ They were singing a new song in front of God's chief chair, in front of the four living beings and the leaders. No one could learn that song but the one hundred and forty-four thousand people. They have been bought from the earth.

⁴ They are the people who have not had sex with women. They are clean. They are the people who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They lived among people on earth. They have been bought from the earth. They are the first among men to have been bought for God and the Lamb.

⁵ They never told lies. They are found to be without any wrong ways as they stand before the throne of God.

⁶ Then I saw another angel flying across the sky. He had good news that will last for ever to tell the people who live on the earth. The good news is for every country, tribe, language, and nation.

⁷ He said in a loud voice, `Respect and honour God and give him glory! The time has come for him to judge people, to tell them how good or bad they are. Worship him. He made heaven and earth, the sea, and the rivers.'

⁸ A second angel followed him. He said, `The great city of Babylon has fallen down. It has fallen down because it filled all the countries with its wrong ways. It has made people to suffer God's anger.'

^9-10 A third angel followed the other two. He said in a loud voice, `Any person who worships the beast or its idol, and takes its mark on his forehead or on his hand, will also feel God's anger. He is very angry. That person will be burned with fire and dust that chokes people when it burns. He will be burned in front of the holy angels and the Lamb.

¹¹ The smoke of that fire goes up for ever and ever. Those who worship the animal and its idol, and anyone who takes the mark of its name, will get no rest day or night.'

¹² This is why God's people must be patient. They are the ones who keep the laws of God and believe in Jesus.

¹³ I heard a voice from the sky. It said, `Write this: From now on, happy are those who die believing in the Lord.' `Yes,' says the Spirit. `They will have rest from their troubles. The good things they have done will go with them.'

¹⁴ I looked and saw a white cloud. I saw someone like the Son of Man sitting on the cloud. He had a big gold crown on his head and a sharp harvest knife in his hand.

¹⁵ Another angel came out of God's temple. He called in a loud voice to the one who was sitting on the cloud. He said, `Take your knife and cut the harvest. The time has come to take in the harvest because the earth is ready.'

¹⁶ So the one who sat on the cloud used his knife on earth. And the harvest on earth was cut.

¹⁷ Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven. He also had a sharp knife.

¹⁸ And another angel came from the altar. He had power over fire. He called in a loud voice to the angel who had the sharp knife. He said, `Take your sharp knife and gather the fruit that grows on the vine on the earth. Its fruit is ripe.'

¹⁹ So the angel used his knife on earth. He gathered the fruit of the vine on the earth. He put it in the big place where the water of the fruit is pressed out. This place is God's anger.

²⁰ It was outside the city that they pressed the fruit. Blood ran out of the place. It came up as high as the horses' heads for about two hundred miles.

13 Before the Passover Feast had started, Jesus saw that the time had come for him to leave this world. The time had come for him to go back to his Father. He loved his own people who were in the world. And he loved them the same way right to the end.

² He and his disciples were eating together. The devil had already put it into Judas' heart to give Jesus over to people who hated him. (Judas was the son of Simon Iscariot.)

³ Jesus knew that his Father had put everything into his hands. He knew he had come from God. He knew he was going back to God.

⁴ Jesus stood up where he had been eating. He took off his outer clothing. And he took a towel and tied it around him.

⁵ Then he poured water into a pan and began to wash the disciples' feet. He wiped their feet with the towel he had tied around him.

⁶ He came to Simon Peter. Peter said to him, `Lord, are you going to wash my feet?'

⁷ Jesus answered him, `You do not understand now what I am doing, but you will understand it later.'

⁸ Peter said to him, `You will never wash my feet!' Jesus answered him, `If I do not wash you, then you do not belong to me.'

⁹ Simon Peter said to him, `Lord, wash my feet, and my hands, and my head also!'

¹⁰ Jesus said, `A person who has bathed himself needs to wash his feet only. He is all clean. You are clean, but not all of you.'

¹¹ Jesus knew who was going to give him over to people who hated him. That is why he said, `You are not all clean.'

¹² After Jesus had finished washing their feet, he took his gown and sat down again. `Do you understand what I have done to you?' he asked.

¹³ `You call me Master and Lord. What you say is right. I am your Master and Lord.

¹⁴ I am your Lord and Master and have washed your feet. If I do that, then you should wash one another's feet.

¹⁵ I have shown you what to do. Now you do as I have done.

¹⁶ I tell you the truth. The servant is not better than his master. The one who is sent is not better than the one who sent him.

¹⁷ Do you understand what I have told you? If you do, you will have much happiness for doing it.

¹⁸ I am not talking about all of you but I know the people I have chosen. So God's word comes true. The holy writings say, "He who is eating my bread has turned against me."

¹⁹ `I am telling you this now before it happens. So when it happens you will believe who I am.

²⁰ I tell you the truth. The person who receives the one I send, receives me. He that receives me, receives the one who sent me.'

²¹ When Jesus had said this, he was troubled in his heart. He said, `I tell you the truth. One of you will give me over to people who hate me.'

²² The disciples looked at one another. They did not know which one of them Jesus was talking about.

²³ The disciple Jesus loved was at his right side.

²⁴ Simon Peter nodded to that disciple. He said, `Tell us who he is talking about.'

²⁵ He who was at Jesus' right side said to Jesus, `Lord, who is it?'

²⁶ Jesus answered, `I will put a piece of bread in the dish. Then I will give it to that one.' He put in the bread, then he took it and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.

²⁷ Right after Jesus had given the bread, Satan came into Judas. Then Jesus said to him, `What you are going to do, do right away.'

²⁸ No one at the table knew why Jesus said, `Do it right away.'

²⁹ Judas had the money bag. Some thought that Jesus was telling him, `Buy what we need for the feast,' or that he wanted Judas to give something to the poor people.

³⁰ Judas went out right after he had taken the bread. It was night.

³¹ When he had gone out, Jesus said, `Now the Son of Man is very great. And he has made God's name great.

³² If he has made God's name great, God also will make him great by his own power. He will do it right away.

³³ My children, I am with you for a short time longer. You will look for me. What I said to the Jews I say to you now: "You cannot come to the place where I am going."

³⁴ I give you a new law. That law is, "Love each other." As I have loved you, so you also love each other.

³⁵ This is how all people will know that you are my disciples.'

³⁶ Simon Peter said to him, `Lord, where are you going?' Jesus answered him, `You cannot go with me where I am going now. Later on you will go with me.'

³⁷ Peter said to him, `Lord, why can I not go with you now? I am willing to die for you.'

³⁸ Jesus answered him, `Will you die for me? I tell you the truth. Before the cock calls, you will say three times that you do not know me.'