Pharisees Test Jesus

16 The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a ^[a]sign from heaven. ² But He replied to them, “^[b]When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ ³ And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the ^[c]appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? ⁴ An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a ^[d]sign; and a ^[e]sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.

⁵ And the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread. ⁶ And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the ^[f]leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ⁷ They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “He said that because we did not bring any bread.” ⁸ But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? ⁹ Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up? ¹⁰ Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets full you picked up? ¹¹ How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the ^[g]leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹² Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Peter’s Confession of Christ

¹³ Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴ And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, ^[h]Elijah; but still others, ^[i]Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵ He *said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are ^[j]the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon ^[k]Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ I also say to you that you are ^[l]Peter, and upon this ^[m]rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth ^[n]shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth ^[o]shall have been loosed in heaven.” ²⁰ Then He ^[p]warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was ^[q]the Christ.

Jesus Foretells His Death

²¹ From that time ^[r]Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. ²² Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “^[s]God forbid it, Lord! This shall never ^[t]happen to You.” ²³ But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on ^[u]God’s interests, but man’s.”

Discipleship Is Costly

²⁴ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. ²⁵ For whoever wishes to save his ^[v]life will lose it; but whoever loses his ^[w]life for My sake will find it. ²⁶ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then ^[x]repay every man according to his ^[y]deeds.

²⁸ “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

Message to Ephesus

2 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks ^[a]among the seven golden lampstands, says this:

² ‘I know your deeds and your toil and ^[b]perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; ³ and you have ^[c]perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. ⁴ But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ⁵ Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the ^[d]deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. ⁶ Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ⁷ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’

Message to Smyrna

⁸ “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

The first and the last, who ^[e]was dead, and has come to life, says this:

⁹ ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰ Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. ^[f]Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. ¹¹ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’

Message to Pergamum

¹² “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write:

The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this:

¹³ ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. ¹⁴ But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. ¹⁵ So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ¹⁶ Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth. ¹⁷ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’

Message to Thyatira

¹⁸ “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write:

The Son of God, who has ^[g]eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this:

¹⁹ ‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and ^[h]perseverance, and that your ^[i]deeds of late are greater than ^[j]at first. ²⁰ But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. ²¹ I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. ²² Behold, I will throw her ^[k]on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of ^[l]her deeds. ²³ And I will kill her children with ^[m]pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the ^[n]minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. ²⁴ But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them—I place no other burden on you. ²⁵ Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come. ²⁶ He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the ^[o]nations; ²⁷ and he shall ^[p]rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father; ²⁸ and I will give him the morning star. ²⁹ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’