You also are like living stones, and God is using you to build a spiritual house. You are to serve God in this house as holy priests, offering him spiritual sacrifices that he will accept because of Jesus Christ.
Cain and Abel both offered sacrifices to God. But Abel offered a better sacrifice to God because he had faith. God said he was pleased with what Abel offered. And so God called him a good man because he had faith. Abel died, but through his faith he is still speaking.
to be a servant of Christ Jesus for those who are not Jews. I serve like a priest whose duty it is to tell God’s Good News. He gave me this work so that you non-Jewish people could be an offering that he will accept—an offering made holy by the Holy Spirit.
And you began waiting for God’s Son to come from heaven—the Son God raised from death. He is Jesus, who saves us from God’s angry judgment that is coming.
The Lord is the king of Israel. The Lord All-Powerful is the one who will set Israel free. And he says, “I am the only God. There are no other gods. I am the Beginning and the End.
The Lord, the Holy One of Israel, saves you, and he says, “I will send armies to Babylon for you. Many people will be captured. Those Chaldeans will be taken away in their own boats. (They are so proud of those boats.)
Your real husband is the one who made you. His name is the Lord All-Powerful. The Holy One of Israel is your Protector, and he is the God of all the earth!
And they all sang a new song to the Lamb: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were killed, and with your blood sacrifice you bought people for God from every tribe, language, race of people, and nation.