Letters to the Churches

Even gold is tested for genuineness by fire. The purpose of these trials is so that your trust’s genuineness, which is far more valuable than perishable gold, will be judged worthy of praise, glory and honor at the revealing of Yeshua the Messiah.

Without having seen him, you love him. Without seeing him now, but trusting in him, you continue to be full of joy that is glorious beyond words.

And you are receiving what your trust is aiming at, namely, your deliverance.

The prophets, who prophesied about this gift of deliverance that was meant for you, pondered and inquired diligently about it.

They were trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of the Messiah in them was referring in predicting the Messiah’s sufferings and the glorious things to follow.

It was revealed to them that their service when they spoke about these things was not for their own benefit, but for yours. And these same things have now been proclaimed to you by those who communicated the Good News to you through the Ruach HaKodesh sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things!

Therefore, get your minds ready for work, keep yourselves under control, and fix your hopes fully on the gift you will receive when Yeshua the Messiah is revealed.

As people who obey God, do not let yourselves be shaped by the evil desires you used to have when you were still ignorant.

On the contrary, following the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in your entire way of life;

since the Tanakh says, “You are to be holy because I am holy.”

Also, if you are addressing as Father the one who judges impartially according to each person’s actions, you should live out your temporary stay on earth in fear.

You should be aware that the ransom paid to free you from the worthless way of life which your fathers passed on to you did not consist of anything perishable like silver or gold;

on the contrary, it was the costly bloody sacrificial death of the Messiah, as of a lamb without defect or spot.

God knew him before the founding of the universe, but revealed him in the acharit-hayamim for your sakes.

Through him you trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory; so that your trust and hope are in God.

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth, so that you have a sincere love for your brothers, love each other deeply, with all your heart.

You have been born again not from some seed that will decay, but from one that cannot decay, through the living Word of God that lasts forever.

For all humanity is like grass, all its glory is like a wildflower — the grass withers, and the flower falls off;

but the Word of Adonai lasts forever. Moreover, this Word is the Good News which has been proclaimed to you.

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, of all deceit, hypocrisy and envy, and of all the ways there are of speaking against people;

and be like newborn babies, thirsty for the pure milk of the Word; so that by it, you may grow up into deliverance.

For you have tasted that Adonai is good.

As you come to him, the living stone, rejected by people but chosen by God and precious to him,

you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be cohanim set apart for God to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to him through Yeshua the Messiah.

This is why the Tanakh says, “Look! I am laying in Tziyon a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone; and whoever rests his trust on it will certainly not be humiliated.”