Chapter 1–10
Then I saw another angel, flying high overhead,
sent to announce the Gospel of Eternity to all who live on the earth, every
nation, race, language and tribe.
He was calling, ‘Fear God and glorify him,
because the time has come for him to sit in judgement; worship the maker of
heaven and earth and sea and the springs of water.’
GOSPEL OF ETERNITY
Prologue
Seeing that many others have undertaken to draw
up accounts of the events that have reached their fulfilment among us, as these
were handed down to us by those who from the outset were eyewitnesses and
ministers of the word, I in my turn, after carefull going over the whole story from the beginning, have decided to
write an ordered account for you, God-Lover, so that your Excellency may learn how well
founded the teaching is that you have received.
1. The beginning of the Gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
In the beginning was the Word*: the Word was with God and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things came being, not one thing came into being, except through him.
What was come into being in him was life, life that was the light of
men; and light shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it.
A man came, sent by God. His name was John. He came as a witness, to
bear witness to the light, so that everyone might believe through him. He was
not the light, he was to bear witness to the light. The Word was the real light
that gives light to everyone; he was coming into the world.
He was in the world that had come into being through him, and the
world did not recognise him. He came to his own and his own people did not
accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of
God, to those who bealive in his name who were born not from human stock or
human desire or human will but from God himself.
The Word became flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the
glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the God, full of grace and truth.
*the Word or Wisdom of God
2. The birth of John the Baptist foretold
In the days of king Herod of Judaea there lived a priest called
Zecharyah who belonged to the Abiyah section of the priesthood, and he had a
wife, Elizabeth by name, who was a descendent of Aaron. Both were upright in
the sight of God and impeccably carried out all the commandments and
observances of YaHWeH. But they were childless: Elizabeth was barren and they
were both advanced in years.
Now it happened that it was the turn of his section to serve, and he
was exercising his priestly office before God when it fell to him by lot, as
the priestly custom was, to enter YaHWeH’s sanctuary and burn incese there. And
at the hour of incese all the people were outside, praying.
Then there appeared to him the angel of YaHWeH, standing on the right of the altar of incense.
The sight disturbed Zecharyah and he was overcome with fear.
But the angel said to him, ‘Zecharyah, do not be afraid, for your
prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son and you shall
name him John. He will be your joy and delight and many will rejoice at his
birth, for he will be great in the sight of YaHWeH; he must drink no wine, no
strong drink; even from his mother’s womb he will be filled with the Holy
Spirit, and he will bring back many of the Israelites to YaHWeH their God. With
the spirit and power of Eliyah, he will go before him to reconcile fathers to
their children and the disobedient to the good sense of the upright, preparing
for YaHWeH a people fit for him.’
Zecharyah said to the angel, ‘How can I know this? I am an old man
and my wife is getting on in years.’
The angel replied, ‘I am Gabriel, who stand in God’s presence, and I
have been sent to speak to you and bring you this Good News. Look! Since you
did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time, you
will be silenced and have no power of speech until this has happened.’
Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zecharyah and were surprised
that he stayed in the sanctuary so long. When he came out he could not speak to
them, and they realised that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. But he
could only make signs to them and remained dumb.
When his time of service came to an end he returned home. Some time
later his wife Elizabeth conceived and for five months she kept to herself,
saying, ‘YaHWeH has done this for me, now that it has pleased him to take away
the humiliation I suffered in public.’
3. The annunciation
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in
Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the
House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her,
‘Rejoice, you who enjoy God’s favour! YaHWeH is with you.’
She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this
greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you
have won God’s favour. Look! You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name him
Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. YaHWeH God
will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of
Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’
Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I have
no knowledge of man?’
The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the
power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be
holy and will be called Son of God. And I tell you this too: your cousin
Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she whom people called
barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’
Mary said, ‘You see before you YaHWeH’s servant, let it happen to me as you have said.’
And the angel left her.
4. The visitation
Mary set out at that time and went as quickly as she could into the
hill country to a town of Judah. She went into Zecharyah’s house and greeted Elizabeth.
Now it happened that as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth
was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women
you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I
be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? Look, the moment your
greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is
she who believed that the promise made her by YaHWeH would be fulfilled.’
The Magnificat
And Mary said:
‘My soul proclaims the greatness of YaHWeH
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour;
because he has looked upon the humiliation of his servant.
Yes, from now onwards all generation will call me blessed,
for the Almighty has done great things for me.
Holy is his name,
and his faithful love extends age after age to those who fear him.
He has used the power of his arm,
he has routed the arrogant of heart.
He has pulled down princes from their thrones and raised high the lowly.
He has filled the starving with good things, sent the rich away empty.
He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his faithful love
-according to the promise he made to our ancestors-
of his mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’
Mary stayed with her some three months and then went home.
5. The birth of John the Baptist
The time came for Elizabeth to have her child, and she gave birth to
a son; and when her neighbours and relations heard that YaHWeH had lavished on
her his faithful love, they shared her joy.
Now it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the
child; they were going to call him Zecharyah after his father, but his mother
spoke up.
‘No,’ she said, ‘he is to be called John.’
They said to her, ‘But no one in your family has that name,’ and
made signs to his father to find out what he wanted him called.
The father asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’
And they were all astonished. At that instant his power of speech
returned and he spoke and praised God. All their neighbours were filled with
awe and the whole affair was talked about throughout the hill country of Judaea.
All those who heard of it treasured it in their hearts. ‘What will
this child turn out to be?’ they wondered.
And indeed the hand of YaHWeH was with him.
The Benedictus
His father Zecharyah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:
‘Blessed be YaHWeH, the God of Israel,
for he visited his people, he has set them free,
and he has established for us a saving power
in the House of his servant David,
just as he proclaimed,
by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient times,
that he would save us from our enemies
and from the hands of all those who hate us,
and show faithful love to our ancestors,
and so keep in mind his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham,
that he would grant us, free from fear,
to be delivered from the hands of our enemies,
to serve him in holiness and uprightness
in his presence, all our days.
And you, little child,
you shall be called Prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord
to prepare a way for him,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the faithful love of our God
in which the rising Sun has come from on high to visit us,
to give light to those who live in darkness and the shadow dark as death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.’
Meanwhile the child grew up and his spirit grew strong. And he lived
in the desert until the day he appeared openly to Israel.
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born.
His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child
through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being an upright man and wanting
to spare her disgrace, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his
mind to do this when suddenly the angel of YaHWeH appeared to him in a dream
and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your
wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will
give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is
to save his people from their sins.’
Now all this took place to fulfil what YaHWeH had spoken through the prophet:
Look! the virgin is with child and will give birth to a son
whom they will call Immanuel,
a name which means ‘God-is-with-us’
When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of YaHWeH had told him to
do: he took his wife to his home; he had not had intercourse with her when she
gave birth to a son.
Now it happened that at this time Caesar Augustus issued a decree
that a census should be made of the whole inhabited world. This census-the
first-took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria, and everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.
So Joseph set out from the town of Nazareth in Galilee for Judaea,
to David’s town called Bethlehem, since he was of David’s House and line, in order to be registered together with
Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
Now it happened that, while they were there, the time came for her
to have her child, and she gave birth to a son, her first-born. She wrapped him
in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for
them in the living-space.
7. Visit of the shepherds
In the countryside close by there were shepherds out in the fields
keeping guard over their sheep during the watches of the night. An angel of
YaHWeH stood over them and the glory of YaHWeH shone round them. They were
terrified, but the angel said, ‘Do not be afraid. Look, I bring you news of
great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is
Christ the Lord. And here is a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in
swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.’
And all at once with the angel there was a great throng of the hosts
of Heaven, praising God with the words:
The Gloria in excelsis
‘Glory to God in the highest Heaven,
and on earth peace for those he favours.’
Now it happened that when the angels had gone from them into Heaven,
the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go to Bethlehem and see this event
which the Lord has made known to us.‘
So they hurried away and found Mary and Josepf, and the baby lying
in the manger. When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told
about him, and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shephrds said
to them. As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her
heard. And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had
heard and seen, just as they had been told.
8. The circumcision of Jesus
When the eighth day came and the child was to be circumcised, they
gave him the name Jesus, the name the angel had given him before his conception.
Jesus is presented in the Temple
And when the day came for them to be purified in keeping with the
Law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to YaHWeH-observing what is written in the
Law of YaHWeH: Every first-born male must be consecrated to YaHWeH-and also to
offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is prescribed in the Law of YaHWeH,
a pair of turledoves or two young pigeons.
Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and
devout man; he looked forward to the restoration of Israel and the Holy Spirit
rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not
see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of YaHWeH. Prompted by the Spirit
he came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do
for him the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:
The Nunc Dimittis
‘Now, Master, you are letting your servant go in peace
as you promised;
for my eyes have seen the salvation
which you have made ready in the sight of the nations;
a light of revelation the gentiles
and glory for your people Israel.’
As the child’s father and mother were wondering at the things that
were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
‘Look, he is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel, destined
to be a sign that is opposed-and a sword will pierce your soul too-so that the
secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’
There was a propheetess, too, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the
tribe of Asher. She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had
been married for seven years before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four
years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and
prayer. She came up just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke
of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.
When they had done everything the Law of YaHWeH required, they went
back to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
9. The wise men
After Jesus had been born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of
king Herod, suddenly some wise men came to Jerusalem from the east asking, ‘Where is the infant King of the Jews? We
saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage.’
When king Herod heard this he was perturbed, and so was the whole of
Jerusalem. He called toghther all the chief priests and the scribes of the
people, and enquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
They told him, ‘At Bethlehem in Judaea, for this is what the prophet wrote:
And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
you are by no means the least among the leaders of Judah,
for from you will come a leader
who will shepherd my people Israel.’
Then Herod summoned the wise men to see him privately. He asked them
the exact date on which the star had appeared and sent them on to Bethlehem
with the words, ‘Go and find out all about the child, and when you have found
him, let me know, so that I too may go and do him homage.’
Having listened to what the king had to say, they set out. And
suddenly the star they had seen rising went forward and halted over the place where
the child was. The sight of the star filled them with delight, and going into
the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees
they did him homage. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of
gold and frankincense and myrrh. But they were given a warning in a dream not
to go back to Herod, and returned to their own country by a different way.
10. The flight into Egypt
After they had left, suddenly the angel of YaHWeH appeared to Joseph
in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother with you, and
escape into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to
search for the child and do away with him.’
So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, left
that night for Egypt, where he stayed until Herod was dead. This was to fulfil
what YaHWeH had spoken through the prophet:
I called my son out of Egypt.
The massacre of the Innocentes
Herod was furious on realising that he had been fooled by the wise
men, and in Bethlehem and its surrounding district he had all the male children
killed who were two years old or less, reckoning by the date he had been
careful to ask the wise men.
Then were fulfilled the words spoken through the prophet Jeremyah:
A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamenting and weeping bitterly:
it is Rachel weeping for her children,
refusing to be comforted
because they are no more.
From Egypt to Nazareth
After Herod’s death, suddenly the angel of YaHWeH appeared in a
dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother with
you and go back to the land of Israel, for those who wanted to kill the child
are dead.’ So Joseph got up and, taking he child and his mother with him, went
back to the land of Israel.
But when he learnt that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as
ruler of Judaea he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the region of Galilee. There
he settled in a town called Nazareth. In this way the words spoken through the
prophets were to be fulfilled:
He will be called a Nazarene.
And as the child grew to maturity, he was filled with wisdom; and God’s favour was with him.
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