Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor;
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor;
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’ ”
John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Jehovah, thou hast been favorable unto thy land;
Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people; Thou hast covered all their sin. Selah
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem; and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she hath received of Jehovah’s hand double for all her sins.
But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.