John

Replying to @andrew

Same. James and me were in the boat with Dad, mending nets. He called us. We got out and left Dad in the boat.

Replying to @simonpeter

You were still talking when a bright cloud covered us and a voice said this is his Son, the one he loves. Listen to him. We fell on our faces, terrified.

At the Passover table he said one of us would betray him. We went round one by one. It’s not me, is it?

Replying to @johnzebedee

Judas asked too. It’s not me, is it, Rabbi? He said, “You’ve said it yourself.”

Anyone know what “rising from the dead” means? Can’t say why I’m asking.

Saw a man driving out spirits in his name. Told him to stop, he isn’t one of us. Jesus said don’t. Whoever isn’t against us is for us.

He sent Peter and me into the city to get the Passover ready. Told us to follow a man carrying a water jar. There he was. Big upstairs room, all set up. Exactly like he said.

In the beginning, there was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Life was in him, and that life was light for everyone. The light shines in the dark, and the dark hasn't put it out.

The Word became a human being and lived among us. We saw his glory with our own eyes. He was full of grace and truth.

Nobody has ever seen God. The one and only Son, right at the Father's side, has shown us what he's like.

He told Nathanael he'd see bigger things than that. Heaven wide open, and God's angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man.

Jacob@jacob · BethelSlept out with a stone for a pillow. Dreamed of a stairway from earth to heaven, with God’s angels going up and down on it. And the LORD standing above it, telling me he’s with me, he’ll watch over me wherever I go, and he’ll bring me back to this land.

Wedding in Cana. Things that happened: 1. The wine runs out. 2. His mother tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 3. Six stone jars filled to the brim with water. 4. It's not water any more.

Replying to @cana_feastmaster

The servants knew. They'd drawn it from the water jars.

His first sign. That's when we believed in him.

John@johnzebedee · Cana, GalileeWedding in Cana. Things that happened: 1. The wine runs out. 2. His mother tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 3. Six stone jars filled to the brim with water. 4. It's not water any more.

Passover in Jerusalem. He made a whip out of cords and cleared the temple courts. Sheep, cattle, money changers, the lot. Tables over.

Replying to @jesus

He meant his body. We only got it after he rose from the dead.

One night he had a visitor. Nicodemus, a Pharisee, one of the leaders. Came after dark and said: we know you're a teacher who's come from God. Nobody could do these signs unless God was with him.

Replying to @johnzebedee

Jesus told him nobody can see God's kingdom unless they're born again. Nicodemus: how can anyone be born when they're old? Go back into their mother's womb a second time?

Replying to @johnzebedee

He asked how this can be. Jesus asked how Israel's teacher doesn't understand it.

He told Nicodemus this too. Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, and the Son of Man has to be lifted up the same way, so everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

Someone who was bitten@bitten.livedGot bitten. Looked up at the bronze snake on the pole. I’m alive.

Replying to @jesus

And he didn't send his Son to condemn the world. He sent him to save it.

Noon at Jacob's well. He's worn out from the walk, so he sits down while we go into town for food.

Sign number two.

A royal official@capernaumofficial · Cana, GalileeMy son is dying. Jesus said, “Go. Your son will live.” I believed him. Heading home.

Now they want him dead. Not just for the Sabbath. He's calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Yesterday he fed over five thousand people. A boy had five loaves and two fish, and that was it. Twelve baskets of leftovers.

They wanted to grab him and make him king. He just walked off into the hills on his own.

Replying to @fromthecrowd

His answer: it wasn't Moses who gave you bread from heaven. It's my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.

Replying to @follower

A lot of them stopped following him after that day.

Replying to @hisbrothers

Even his own brothers didn't believe in him.

Quick note: the oldest copies of this book don't have the next story. Most Bibles still print it, so here it is.

Replying to @templecourts

It was a trap. They wanted something to accuse him with. He just bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger.

They picked up stones for that. He slipped out of the temple.

Jesus@jesusBefore Abraham was born, I am.

Replying to @askhimhesoldenough

They were afraid. Anyone who said Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.

Stones again.

Jesus@jesusThe Father and I are one.

Replying to @marthaofbethany

He loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard, he stayed where he was two more days.

Jesus wept.

“Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out.

Replying to @johnzebedee

Hands and feet still wrapped in linen, a cloth round his face. “Unwrap him and let him go.”

Replying to @johnzebedee

A lot of the people who'd come to be with Mary saw it and believed in him. Some of them went off and told the Pharisees what he'd done.

Word of Bethany got back to Jerusalem. The chief priests and Pharisees called the council together. Their worry: if we let him carry on, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans come and take away our temple and our nation.

Replying to @johnzebedee

Then Caiaphas, high priest that year, told them they knew nothing. Better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.

Replying to @johnzebedee

He didn't say that on his own. As high priest he was prophesying that Jesus would die for the nation. From that day they planned to kill him.

It was Mary, Lazarus's sister. A pint of pure nard, on his feet, and she wiped them with her hair. The whole house smelled of it.

The woman with the perfume@alabasterjar · BethanyHe was eating at Simon’s house in Bethany. Simon the leper, people call him. I came in with a jar of very expensive perfume and poured it on his head.

He didn't care about the poor. He kept the money bag, and he used to help himself to what was in it.

Judas Iscariot@judasiscariotThat perfume was worth a year's wages. Why wasn't it sold and the money given to the poor?

Replying to @judasiscariot

He said to leave her alone. She'd kept that perfume for the day of his burial. We'll always have the poor with us, he said, but we won't always have him.

Replying to @lazarus

Because of him, a lot of people were going over to Jesus.

Replying to @thecrowds

On a young donkey. We only understood what that meant later.

Replying to @crowd.thunder

It was a voice from heaven: “I have brought it glory, and I'll do it again.”

Plenty of the leaders believed in him too. Quietly. They loved praise from people more than praise from God.

He got up from supper, tied a towel round his waist and started washing our feet.

At supper he said a psalm had to come true, the one about someone who shares your bread turning against you.

David@davidEven my close friend, the one I trusted, who ate at my table, has turned on me.

He tells us one of us is going to betray him. We just looked at each other.

Replying to @simonpeter

I was right next to him at the table, so I leaned back and asked. He said it's the one he gives this piece of bread to. He dipped it and gave it to Judas.

Judas took the bread and went out. And it was night.

Replying to @simonpeter

He told Peter the rooster wouldn't crow before he'd denied him three times.

Replying to @jesus

He doesn't call us servants any more. He calls us friends.

He prayed for everyone who would ever believe because of what we told them. That they'd all be one. That's you.

After supper we crossed the Kidron Valley to an olive grove. We'd often met there, so Judas knew the place. He came with soldiers and officers from the chief priests. Torches, lanterns, weapons.

He asked who they were looking for. Jesus of Nazareth, they said. He said, I am he. And they fell to the ground.

It was Peter with the sword. His right ear. And the servant's name was Malchus.

Matthew@matthewOne of us drew a sword and cut off the high priest’s servant’s ear. Jesus told him to put it away. Everyone who draws the sword will die by the sword.

Replying to @johnzebedee

He told Peter to put the sword away. Wasn't he supposed to drink the cup the Father had given him?

Annas questioned him about his disciples and his teaching. He said he's always spoken openly, ask the people who heard him. One of the officers standing there slapped him across the face for answering the high priest like that.

The disciple who knows the high priest? That was me. The friend I got in was Peter. He said no three times that night, and right as he said it the third time, a rooster crowed.

The girl on the door@gatekeeper.courtyard · The high priest's courtyardOn the door at the high priest's tonight. One of his disciples knows the high priest, so he got in, then came back and asked me to let his friend in too. Asked the friend: you're not one of that man's disciples too, are you? He said: I'm not.

Pilate has him flogged. The soldiers twist thorns into a crown and put it on his head, dress him in purple, and hit him in the face. “Long live the king of the Jews!”

Replying to @pontiuspilate

The chief priests and officers saw him and shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

He carried his own cross to the place called the Skull, Golgotha. They crucified him there, between two others.

Pilate's notice on the cross: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. In Aramaic, Latin and Greek.

The soldiers drew lots for his tunic rather than tear it. It was seamless, woven in one piece. Scripture said they would.

The scripture I meant is the psalm where they split up his clothes and draw lots for what he's wearing. That's exactly what the soldiers did.

David@davidThey look at me and laugh. If he trusts the LORD so much, they say, let the LORD rescue him. They've pierced my hands and my feet. They're throwing dice for my clothes.

His mother was standing by the cross, and I was next to her. He said to her, “Here is your son.” And to me, “Here is your mother.” From then on she lived with me.

“I'm thirsty.” Then: “It is finished.” He bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

A soldier put a spear into his side, and blood and water came out. I saw it. I'm telling you the truth, so you can believe too.

Peter and I ran. I got there first.

Replying to @simonpeter

Then I went in. I saw, and I believed.

Doors locked. And he's standing among us. “Peace be with you.”

Replying to @johnzebedee

He showed us his hands and his side. We were overjoyed.

I wrote these down so you'll believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and so that by believing you'll have life in his name.

Someone on the shore says throw the net on the right side of the boat. Now we can't haul it in.

Replying to @johnzebedee

It's the Lord.

On the shore there's a charcoal fire, fish on it, and some bread. “Come and have breakfast.” None of us dared ask who he was. We knew it was the Lord.

He told Peter what kind of death he would die. Then: “Follow me.”

Replying to @simonpeter

So a rumour went round that I wasn't going to die. He didn't say that. He said if he wants me to stay until he comes back, what's that to Peter?

Jesus did so much more. If it were all written down, I don't think the whole world could hold the books.

He was taken up while we watched, and a cloud hid him. We just stood there, staring at the sky. Then two men in white were beside us, asking why we were standing there looking up. This same Jesus is coming back, they said, the same way we saw him go.

They’ve ordered us not to speak or teach in Jesus’ name at all. Peter and I said the same thing: you decide whether it’s right in God’s eyes to listen to you rather than him. We can’t stop talking about what we’ve seen and heard.

What was there from the beginning. We heard it. We saw it with our own eyes. We looked at it and touched it with our own hands. The Word of life. We’re telling you so you can share in it with us.

John@johnzebedeeIn the beginning, there was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

This is the message we heard from him and are passing on: God is light, and there’s no darkness in him at all.

If we say we have no sin, we’re fooling ourselves. If we confess our sins, he’s faithful and fair, and he’ll forgive us and wash us clean of every wrong.

My little children, I’m writing this so you won’t sin. But if anyone does, we have someone who speaks for us to the Father: Jesus Christ, the one who always does what’s right.

Anyone who says “I know him” but doesn’t do what he says is a liar. Whoever says they live in him has to live the way Jesus lived.

It’s not a new command I’m writing to you. It’s the old one you’ve had from the start. And it is new, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

Jesus@jesusI'm giving you a new command: love each other. Love each other the way I've loved you.

Anyone who says they’re in the light but hates their brother is still in the dark.

Don’t love the world or the things in it. The world is passing away, and everything people want in it. Whoever does what God wants lives for ever.

Replying to @johns.churches

They went out from us, but they never really belonged to us. If they had, they’d have stayed. Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ is the liar.

Look how much the Father loves us: we get called God’s children. And that’s what we are! What we’ll be hasn’t been shown yet. But we know that when he appears, we’ll be like him, because we’ll see him as he really is.

Don’t be like Cain. He belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why? Because what he did was evil and what his brother did was right.

Moses@mosesThen Cain asks his brother to come out to the field with him. And out there, he attacks Abel and kills him. The first death in the world is a murder, and it’s a brother.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus laid down his life for us. So we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

Jesus@jesusNobody has greater love than this: to give up your life for your friends.

If you’ve got plenty, and you see a brother in need, and you shut your heart to him, how can God’s love be in you? Little children, let’s not love with words or talk, but with actions and truth.

Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts. He knows everything.

Dear friends, don’t believe every spirit. Test them, to see if they’re from God. Lots of false prophets have gone out into the world. Here’s how you tell: every spirit that says Jesus Christ came as a real flesh-and-blood human being is from God.

Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever doesn’t love doesn’t know God, because God is love.

This is how God showed us his love: he sent his one and only Son into the world, so we could live through him. That’s what love is. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the sacrifice that takes away our sins.

Jesus@jesusGod loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won't perish but will have eternal life.

Nobody has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is made complete in us.

John@johnzebedeeNobody has ever seen God. The one and only Son, right at the Father's side, has shown us what he's like.

There’s no fear in love. Perfect love drives out fear.

We love because he loved us first.

If someone says “I love God” but hates their brother, they’re a liar. If you don’t love your brother, who you can see, you can’t love God, who you can’t see.

Whoever has the Son has life. Whoever doesn’t have the Son of God doesn’t have life. I’ve written all this to you who believe in his name, so you’ll know you have eternal life.

Little children, keep yourselves away from idols.

From the elder, to the chosen lady and her children. I was so happy to find some of your children living in the truth, just the way the Father told us to.

Dear lady, I’m not writing you a new command, just the one we’ve had from the start: love one another. And this is love: living the way he told us to.

Lots of deceivers have gone out into the world, people who won’t say Jesus Christ came as a real human being. If anyone comes to you without this teaching, don’t take them into your house. Don’t even say hello.

I’ve got loads more to say, but I’d rather not do it with paper and ink. I’m hoping to come and talk to you face to face, so our joy can be complete.

Honestly, nothing makes me happier than hearing my children are living the truth. Gaius, send them on their way in a way that honours God. They went out for the Name and took nothing from anyone outside. We should support people like that.

Gaius@gaius.belovedGot a full house at the moment. Some believers travelling for the Name are staying with me. Never met any of them before.

I wrote to the church about this. But Diotrephes, who loves to be first, won’t have anything to do with us.

Replying to @johnzebedee

If I come, I’ll bring up everything he’s been doing, and all the nasty nonsense he’s been saying about us.

Dear friend, don’t copy what’s evil. Copy what’s good. Whoever does good is from God.

Demetrius: everyone speaks well of him. So does the truth itself. So do we, and you know what we say is true.

Lots more I could write, but not with pen and ink. I’m hoping to see you soon, and we’ll talk face to face. Peace to you.

This is what Jesus Christ showed me, through his angel, about what has to happen soon. Whoever reads it out loud is blessed, and so is whoever hears it and keeps it. The time is near.

He’s coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him. Even the ones who pierced him.

John@johnzebedeeA soldier put a spear into his side, and blood and water came out. I saw it. I'm telling you the truth, so you can believe too.

I’m John, your brother, going through the same hard times as you. I’m on the island of Patmos because of God’s word and what I’ve said about Jesus. On the Lord’s day I was caught up in the Spirit, and I heard a loud voice behind me, like a trumpet. It told me to write down what I see and send it to seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.

I turned round to see whose voice it was. Seven gold lampstands, and among them someone like a son of man. Hair white as wool, white as snow. Eyes like blazing fire. Feet like bronze glowing in a furnace. A voice like the roar of rushing water. His face like the sun at full strength.

I fell at his feet like a dead man. He put his right hand on me and told me not to be afraid.

Liked by Jesus

His message for Ephesus: he knows all that. But he has this against you. You’ve left the love you had at first. Remember how far you’ve fallen, turn back, and do what you did at the start. If you don’t, he’ll come and take your lampstand away. Whoever wins through, he’ll let them eat from the tree of life in God’s paradise.

The church in Ephesus@church.ephesus · EphesusWe work hard and we don’t give up. And we don’t put up with fakes. People turn up calling themselves apostles, so we test them. Caught a few lying, actually.

For Smyrna: he knows how hard it is for you, and how poor you are. But you’re rich. Don’t be afraid of what you’re about to go through. Some of you will be thrown into prison. Be faithful, even if it costs you your life, and he’ll give you the crown of life.

For Pergamum: he knows where you live. He calls Antipas his faithful witness. But some of you are following Balaam’s old teaching, eating food offered to idols and sleeping around. Turn back.

The church in Pergamum@church.pergamum · PergamumWe live where Satan has his throne. Antipas, one of us, was killed here, right among us. We didn’t deny the name.

For Thyatira: he knows your love, your faith, your service and how you keep going, and you’re doing more now than at the start. But you put up with that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and leads his servants into sleeping around and eating food offered to idols. He’s given her time to turn back. She won’t.

Replying to @church.thyatira

For you, he says: no other burden. Just hold on to what you have till he comes.

For Sardis: you’ve got a name for being alive, but you’re dead. Wake up. Strengthen what’s left before it dies too. If you don’t wake up, he’ll come like a thief, and you won’t know what time.

For Philadelphia: he’s put an open door in front of you that nobody can shut. He knows you’ve only got a little strength, and you’ve kept his word anyway and not denied his name. He’s coming soon. Hold on to what you’ve got.

For Laodicea: you’re neither cold nor hot. Lukewarm. And he’s about to spit you out of his mouth. You say you’re rich and don’t need anything, and you can’t see that you’re miserable, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Buy gold from him, refined in the fire. White clothes to cover you. Ointment for your eyes, so you can see.

The church in Laodicea@church.laodicea · LaodiceaNot to brag, but we’re rich. We’ve done really well for ourselves. Don’t need a thing.

After that I looked, and there was a door standing open in heaven. The trumpet voice again: come up here, and I’ll show you what has to happen next.

A throne in heaven, and someone sitting on it, shining like jasper and carnelian. A rainbow round the throne, green like an emerald. Twenty-four more thrones round it, with twenty-four elders in white, gold crowns on their heads. Lightning and thunder coming from the throne. And in front of it, something like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

Round the throne, four living creatures, covered in eyes. One like a lion, one like a calf, one with a man’s face, one like an eagle in flight. Six wings each. Day and night they never stop saying it: holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.

And every time they do, the twenty-four elders fall down in front of the one on the throne and throw their crowns down before it: you’re worthy, our Lord and God. You made everything.

Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one on the throne, sealed with seven seals. An angel shouted: who’s worthy to break the seals and open it? Nobody. Not in heaven, not on earth, not under the earth. And I cried and cried.

Replying to @johnzebedee

One of the elders told me to stop crying. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has won. He can open it. Then I saw a Lamb, standing in the middle of the throne, looking as if it had been killed.

The Lamb took the scroll, and the creatures and the elders fell down in front of him. They had harps, and gold bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. And they sang a new song: you’re worthy, because you were killed, and with your blood you bought people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

Then angels. Thousands upon thousands of them, all round the throne, loud: worthy is the Lamb who was killed. Then every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea joined in. The four creatures said amen, and the elders fell down and worshipped.

The Lamb started opening the seals. With each of the first four, a horse rode out. A white one, its rider out to conquer. A red one, and peace was taken from the earth. A black one, its rider holding scales, and a quart of wheat for a whole day’s wages. A pale one, and its rider’s name was Death.

Fifth seal. Under the altar, the souls of people who’d been killed for God’s word. They were calling out: how long, Lord? Each of them was given a white robe and told to rest a little longer.

Sixth seal. A great earthquake. The sun went black, the moon went red, and the stars fell like figs off a tree in a gale. Kings, generals, the rich, slaves and free, all hiding in caves and begging the mountains to fall on them. The great day has come, they said. Who can stand?

Before anything else was harmed, God’s servants were marked with his seal on their foreheads. I heard the number: 144,000, from all the tribes of Israel.

Then I looked, and there was a crowd nobody could count. From every nation, tribe, people and language, standing in front of the throne and the Lamb. White robes, palm branches in their hands, shouting: salvation belongs to our God, and to the Lamb.

Replying to @johnzebedee

One of the elders asked me who they were and where they’d come from. I said, you’re the one who knows. He said they’re the ones who’ve come out of the great suffering. They’ve washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Replying to @johnzebedee

He went on. They’ll never be hungry again. Never thirsty. The sun won’t beat down on them. The Lamb will be their shepherd and lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.

Then the Lamb opened the seventh seal. And heaven went silent. For about half an hour.

Seven angels, seven trumpets, one after another. Hail and fire. Something like a burning mountain thrown into the sea. A star called Wormwood falling on the rivers and turning the water bitter. A third of the sun, moon and stars gone dark. Then smoke out of the Abyss, and locusts. Then four angels let loose at the great river Euphrates, and an army of two hundred million.

And the people who survived still didn’t turn from their idols, gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which can’t see or hear or walk.

A mighty angel came down, wrapped in a cloud, a rainbow over his head, one foot on the sea and one on the land. When he shouted, seven thunders spoke. I was about to write down what they said, and a voice from heaven told me not to. Seal it up.

Then I was told to go and take the little scroll from the angel’s hand. He told me to eat it. It’d be sweet in my mouth and bitter in my stomach. It was. Sweet as honey, then my stomach turned.

The seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven: the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.

Then a great sign in the sky. A woman dressed in the sun, the moon under her feet, a crown of twelve stars on her head, about to give birth. And a huge red dragon, seven heads and ten horns, waiting in front of her to devour the child the moment it was born. She had a son, who’ll rule all the nations, and her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. She fled into the wilderness, to a place God had ready for her.

Then war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought the dragon, and the dragon lost. He was thrown down to the earth: the ancient serpent, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.

Then a loud voice in heaven: the one who accuses our brothers and sisters day and night has been thrown down. They beat him by the blood of the Lamb and by what they said about Jesus, and they didn’t cling to their lives, even facing death.

A beast came up out of the sea, seven heads and ten horns. Like a leopard, with a bear’s feet and a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave it his power, and the whole world followed it. Who’s like the beast, they said. Then another beast, out of the earth, with two horns like a lamb and a voice like a dragon. It made everyone take a mark on their right hand or their forehead. Without it nobody could buy or sell.

This takes wisdom. Whoever has insight can work out the number of the beast. It’s a man’s number. 666.

A voice from heaven told me to write this down: the people who die in the Lord from now on are blessed. Yes, says the Spirit. They’ll rest from their work, and what they’ve done goes with them.

Beside something like a sea of glass mixed with fire stood the people who’d beaten the beast, holding harps, singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb: everything you do is great and wonderful, Lord God Almighty. Who won’t fear you? You alone are holy.

Moses@mosesWho’s like you, LORD? Holy and majestic. Fearsome. You do wonders.

Then seven angels with seven bowls, the last plagues. Sores. The sea turning to blood. The sun scorching people. Darkness. The Euphrates drying up, and the kings of the world gathered at the place called Armageddon. Then a loud voice from the throne: “It is done.”

An angel carried me into a wilderness to show me the one he called the great prostitute: a woman sitting on a scarlet beast. Dressed in purple and scarlet, covered in gold and pearls, a gold cup in her hand. Written on her forehead: Babylon the Great. I was completely stunned. The angel asked me why I was so amazed.

Another angel came down, and the whole earth lit up with his glory. He shouted: Babylon the great has fallen. She’s fallen. Then another voice from heaven: come out of her, my people. She tells herself she sits like a queen, she’s no widow, she’ll never grieve. Her plagues will come in a single day.

A mighty angel picked up a boulder like a huge millstone and threw it into the sea. That’s how Babylon will be thrown down, he said. No more harps or flutes or trumpets heard in you. No craftsmen. No sound of a millstone. No light of a lamp. No voices of a bride and groom.

Then a roar like a huge crowd, like rushing water, like thunder: Hallelujah! The Lord our God Almighty reigns. The wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has got herself ready.

The angel told me to write: the people invited to the Lamb’s wedding supper are blessed. I fell at his feet to worship him. He told me not to. I’m a servant like you, he said. Worship God.

Heaven standing open, and a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True. Eyes like fire, many crowns on his head. His name is the Word of God. Written on his robe and on his thigh: King of kings and Lord of lords.

An angel came down with the key to the Abyss and a huge chain. He grabbed the dragon, the ancient serpent, the devil, Satan, and locked him away for a thousand years. After that he’s let out for a short time to deceive the nations again, and then the devil is thrown into the lake of fire, for good.

Then a great white throne, and the one sitting on it. Earth and sky fled from him. The dead, great and small, standing in front of the throne. Books were opened, and one of them was the Book of Life. Everyone was judged by what they had done. Then death itself, and the place of the dead, were thrown into the lake of fire.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first ones had gone. And there was no more sea.

I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, dressed like a bride on her wedding day. And a loud voice from the throne: God’s home is with people now. He’ll live with them. They’ll be his people, and God himself will be with them.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. No more death. No more mourning. No more crying. No more pain. All of that has gone.

The one on the throne said, “I’m making everything new.” Then he told me to write it down, because these words are faithful and true.

He said: it’s done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the A and the Z, the Beginning and the End. Anyone who’s thirsty can drink from the spring of the water of life. Free.

The angel took me up a great high mountain and showed me the city. It shone with God’s glory, like a precious jewel, clear as crystal. Twelve gates, each one a single pearl. The main street pure gold, clear as glass.

I didn’t see a temple in the city. The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. It doesn’t need the sun or the moon either. God’s glory lights it, and the Lamb is its lamp. The gates will never be shut, because there’s no night there.

Then the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the street. On each side, the tree of life, with fruit every month. Its leaves are for healing the nations. No more curse.

They’ll see his face.

I, John, heard and saw all this. And I did it again. Fell down at the feet of the angel who’d shown me, to worship him. Same answer: don’t. I’m a servant, like you and the prophets. Worship God.

John@johnzebedeeThe angel told me to write: the people invited to the Lamb’s wedding supper are blessed. I fell at his feet to worship him. He told me not to. I’m a servant like you, he said. Worship God.

The Spirit and the bride say come. Whoever hears, say come. Whoever’s thirsty, come. Whoever wants it, take the water of life. Free.

Replying to @jesus

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all God’s people. Amen.

Replying to @thebelievers

Peter and I are being sent into the city. Instructions: follow a man carrying a jar of water. That’s it. That’s the plan.

All of us round the table. The first thing he says: he’s really wanted to eat this Passover with us before he suffers.

He got up in the middle of dinner, took off his outer clothes, wrapped a towel round his waist, and started washing our feet. That’s a servant’s job.

Replying to @thomasthetwin

It was night.

Replying to @thebelievers

He said the greatest should be like the youngest, and the leader like the one who serves. And he’s among us as the one who serves. He’d just washed our feet.

Replying to @thomasthetwin

His answer: he is the way, and the truth, and the life. Nobody gets to the Father except through him.

He talked for a long time tonight. The bits I keep going back to: don’t let your hearts be troubled. Love each other the way he’s loved us. Nobody has greater love than someone who gives up his life for his friends. And we’ll have trouble in this world, but be brave. He’s overcome the world.

He’s woken us up. Get up, let’s go, he said. The one betraying me is here. There are torches coming.

Replying to @matthew

Jesus said: Judas, you’re betraying me with a kiss?

He walked out to meet them. Who are you looking for? Jesus of Nazareth. I am he, he said. And they all stepped back and fell on the ground.

Replying to @malchus

Peter.

They’ve tied him up and taken him to Annas first. He’s the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest this year.

Replying to @thomasthetwin

He kept the money bag. Turns out he’d been helping himself from it all along.

He told me who, at dinner. Peter nodded at me to ask him, so I leaned back and asked quietly. He said it was the one he’d give this bit of bread to. Then he gave it to Judas and told him: whatever you’re going to do, do it quickly. None of us understood why he said that.

Simon Peter@simonpeterHe just said one of us at this table is going to betray him.

Peter and I followed them. The high priest knows me, so I got into the courtyard. Peter’s stuck outside the door. Going back to have a word with the girl on the gate.

Replying to @annas

One of the guards slapped him for that. Is that how you answer the high priest? He said: if I said something wrong, tell me what. If I spoke the truth, why hit me?

I’m the one who got him in through the gate. I was right there in that courtyard. Three times, and then the rooster.

Simon Peter@simonpeterMay God curse me if I’m lying. I do not know the man.

He came out carrying his own cross.

Nine in the morning. They crucified him. A criminal on his right, one on his left, and Jesus in the middle.

Pilate had a notice put up over him. JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. In Aramaic, Latin and Greek, so everyone can read it.

His mother is standing by the cross. Her sister too, and Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. I’m with them. He saw her, and me next to her. Here is your son, he said to her. Then to me: here is your mother.

He said: I’m thirsty. They held a sponge of sour wine up to his mouth on a hyssop stalk. He took it. Then he said: It is finished.

Replying to @cross.detail

I saw it. I’m telling you the truth, so that you’ll believe too.

His mother is with me. At my house.

Mary Magdalene just burst in. Someone’s taken the Lord out of the tomb. Peter and I are running.

Replying to @johnzebedee

Outran Peter. Got there first.

Replying to @johnzebedee

Linen strips lying there. The cloth from his head folded up on its own, separate. Then I went in too. I saw, and I believed.

Doors locked. We’re scared of the leaders. And he’s standing here with us. Peace be with you.

Replying to @johnzebedee

He showed us his hands and his side.

Replying to @thomasthetwin

He told him: you believe because you’ve seen me. Blessed are the ones who haven’t seen and still believe.

Someone on the shore at first light. Friends, haven’t you got any fish? No. Throw the net on the right side of the boat. Now we can’t haul it in.

Replying to @johnzebedee

It’s the Lord.

A charcoal fire on the shore, fish on it, and bread. Come and have breakfast, he said. None of us dared ask who he was. We knew.

Replying to @simonpeter

Three times that night by the fire. Three times by this one.

Walked back to Jerusalem full of joy. We’re in the temple every day now, praising God.

Replying to @zebedee.boats

We didn’t leave Dad on his own. The hired men were with him. Before anyone says anything.

Replying to @simonpeter

He went in, took her hand and helped her up. The fever’s gone.

Passover’s not far off, so it’s spring. The grass on these hills is green.

Replying to @thebelievers

I carried one.

Looking back, he was testing Philip. He already knew exactly what he was going to do.

Philip@philipDude. He just asked me where we can buy bread for all these people. Me.

He knew they were about to come and take him and make him king. So he went off up the mountain again. On his own.

Dark now, and he still hasn’t come to us. Wind’s getting up. Heading for Capernaum.

Three, maybe four miles out. Still dark.

It’s him. He called across the water: “Take courage. It’s me.” And: “Don’t be afraid.”

Peter’s out of the boat. He’s walking on the water. Towards Jesus.

Replying to @simonpeter

Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him. Just like that.

We took him into the boat, and the next thing, we were at the shore. Where we’d been heading.

Still thinking about this one.

John@johnzebedee · Sea of GalileeYesterday he fed over five thousand people. A boy had five loaves and two fish, and that was it. Twelve baskets of leftovers.

Quick catch-up. Last time we were in Jerusalem the leaders picked up stones to throw at him, and he slipped away from them. So we’re back across the Jordan, where John used to baptise. The crowds have followed us out here anyway.

Replying to @johnzebedee

A lot of people out here are putting their faith in him.

Replying to @bethany.messenger

He loves that family. Martha, her sister, Lazarus. All three of them.

Two days since the message came. We haven’t moved.

Replying to @thebelievers

His answer: there are twelve hours of daylight. Walk in the day and you don’t stumble. It’s walking at night that trips you up.

Replying to @thebelievers

We thought he meant actual sleep. He meant Lazarus had died.

Replying to @thebelievers

And he said he’s glad he wasn’t there, for our sake, so that we’ll believe. Then: let’s go to him.

Replying to @thomasthetwin

And we went.

Mary’s crying. Everyone who came out with her is crying. He’s deeply moved. Troubled.

Jesus wept.

He looked up and thanked his Father for hearing him. He knows the Father always hears him, he said. He was saying it out loud for the people standing here, so they’ll believe the Father sent him.

Then he called out, loud: Lazarus, come out!

Replying to @bethany.neighbour

Unwrap him and let him go, he said.

Caiaphas didn’t come up with that himself. He was high priest that year, and he was prophesying that Jesus would die for the nation. And not only for the nation, but for all God’s scattered children, to bring them together into one.

A member of the Council@council.memberThen Caiaphas spoke, the high priest this year. You know nothing at all, he told us. It’s better for you that one man dies for the people than that the whole nation is destroyed.

None of us understood any of this at the time. It was only after he was glorified that we remembered it had been written about him, and that this is exactly what was done for him.

The believers@thebelieversHe’s riding a young donkey. People are throwing their cloaks down on the road in front of him. Others are spreading branches.

Temple by day, and the rest of the time we’re in the upstairs room where we’re staying. The eleven of us, the women, his mother Mary, his brothers. Mostly we pray. Together, all day.

John@johnzebedeeWalked back to Jerusalem full of joy. We’re in the temple every day now, praising God.

Replying to @johnzebedee

His mother’s been staying at mine since that Friday.

Replying to @simonpeter

Twelve again.

Replying to @simonpeter

Peter’s standing up to speak to the whole crowd. The rest of us are standing with him.

Replying to @simonpeter

I’m the one who got him into that courtyard. Today I was standing right next to him.

About three thousand people baptised today. We were a hundred and twenty this morning.

Replying to @johnzebedee

Each other’s houses, it turns out.

Annas again. The last time he was asking the questions, it was Jesus in front of him. This time it’s us.

Annas@annasQuestioned him about his disciples and his teaching. He maintains he has always spoken openly. Synagogues, the temple, nothing in secret. Ask the people who heard me, he says.

Replying to @thesanhedrin

Peter and I gave them the same answer. You decide whether God wants us listening to you or to him. We can’t stop talking about what we’ve seen and heard.

Replying to @simonpeter

Every day since: temple courts, house to house. Jesus is the Messiah. We’re not stopping.