Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁶⁸ He said, `Praise the Lord God of Israel! He has remembered his people, and set them free.

⁶⁹ He has chosen one from the family of his servant David. He has given him power to save us.

⁷⁰ That is what he promised through his holy prophets of God long ago.

⁷¹ He said he would save us from our enemies and set us free from those who hate us.

⁷² `He said he would be kind to our fathers. He said he would remember his agreement with them.

^73-75 That was what he promised our father Abraham he would surely do. He promised to set us free from our enemies. He promised that we should be without fear. He promised that we would worship him and be holy and good before him as long as we live.

⁷⁶ `You, my child, will be called the prophet or messenger of the Highest One. You will go ahead of the Lord to make his way ready.

⁷⁷ You will tell his people how to be saved by being forgiven for their wrong ways.

⁷⁸ `Our God is kind. A light from heaven will shine.

⁷⁹ That light will shine on those who are in darkness, and are going to die. That light will show us how to walk in peace.'

²³ These things on earth show in a little way what things in heaven are like. The things on earth had to be cleaned by the blood of animals. But the things in heaven had to be cleaned with better sacrifices than these.

²⁴ Christ did not go into a holy place made by men's hands. The holy places on earth only show in a little way what the true holy place in heaven is like. He went into heaven itself. Now he stands before God for our sake.

²⁵ Christ did not have to offer himself as a sacrifice many times. He is not like the high priest who went into the Holy Place every year and took blood that was not his own blood.

²⁶ If Christ were like him, he would have had to die many times ever since the world was first made. But as it is now, Christ came once in the last days of the world. He came to clean away what is wrong by giving himself as a sacrifice.

²⁷ People must die, and after that they will be judged.

²⁸ So Christ gave himself as a sacrifice only once. He took on himself the wrong things many people have done. He will come a second time. But he will not come to do anything about the wrong things people have done. He will come to save those who are looking and waiting for him.