The life of men

In the beginning,

Was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. In Him there was life, and the life was the light of men. When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples, but the Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And we all, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

For unto us a child is born.