Genesis 16:10

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.

For this is he, of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

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

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.

As it is written in the prophets, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you:

Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father.

‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to myself.

As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.

Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken of to you.”

“Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.

He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as the stars of the sky for multitude.

All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.

And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,

He said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John.

Besides hope, Abraham in hope believed, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So will your offspring be.”

Therefore as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead.

By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.”

that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your offspring greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gate of his enemies.

These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments: twelve princes, according to their nations.

I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and will give all these lands to your offspring. In your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed,

He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a paved work of sapphire stone, like the skies for clearness.

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ”

and in the wilderness where you have seen how that Yahweh your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went, until you came to this place.”

No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you.

So this was for the rest of the children of Manasseh according to their families: for the children of Abiezer, for the children of Helek, for the children of Asriel, for the children of Shechem, for the children of Hepher, and for the children of Shemida. These were the male children of Manasseh the son of Joseph according to their families.

They put away the foreign gods from among them and served Yahweh; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.

Your servant is among your people which you have chosen, a great people, that can’t be numbered or counted for multitude.

He said, “At this season, when the time comes around, you will embrace a son.” She said, “No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your servant.”

We can’t reach the Almighty. He is exalted in power. In justice and great righteousness, he will not oppress.

I will tell of the decree: Yahweh said to me, “You are my son. Today I have become your father.

He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly. He doesn’t allow their livestock to decrease.

In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.

For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make the way of the Lord ready! Make his paths straight!”

This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

Turning to the disciples, he said, “All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is, except the Father, and who the Father is, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son desires to reveal him.”

The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness.

No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.

For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse.

For this is a word of promise, “At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.”

What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets,

This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will come out of your body.

Yahweh’s angel appeared to the woman, and said to her, “See now, you are barren and childless; but you shall conceive and bear a son.

He covers himself with light as with a garment. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.

He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by their names.

Paul said, “John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.”

We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing.

God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.

I will also make a nation of the son of the servant, because he is your child.”

With him, I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles; and he shall see Yahweh’s form. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?”

Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now Yahweh your God has made you as the stars of the sky for multitude.

But David didn’t take the number of them from twenty years old and under, because Yahweh had said he would increase Israel like the stars of the sky.

Isaiah said these things when he saw his glory, and spoke of him.

I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Yahweh brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So your offspring will be.”

“As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations.

He said, “I will certainly return to you at about this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.

She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, “Don’t let me see the death of the child.” She sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice, and wept.

Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him with your hand. For I will make him a great nation.”

Yahweh’s angel came and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites.

Yahweh said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. He bore them, and carried them all the days of old.

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies.

No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.

He alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.