The Son of God Speaks

After these, and several others who have carried out the work of teaching us, the Son of God himself will speak in this way: “I indeed sit exalted on a lofty throne, holding heaven in my hand and the earth in my fist; I spread out within and without, inside all things that are made and outside all things that move; I am beyond understanding, infinite in the power of my nature, invisible to sight, beyond the reach of touch. Yet so that I might become the least among you, to subdue the hardness of your hearts and soften your unbelief by sound teaching, I stooped to be born in the flesh. Laying aside the glory of God, I took the form of a servant, so that by sharing with you in bodily weakness I might in turn bring you to share in my glory, through obedience to the command that brings salvation. I restored health to the sick and the weak, hearing to the deaf, sight to the blind, speech to the mute, and the use of their feet to the lame, so that by heavenly signs I might lead you all the more easily to believe in me and in what I had announced. I promised you the kingdom of heaven. And so that you might have an example of escaping punishment, I placed in Paradise the robber who acknowledged me almost at the moment of his death, so that you might follow even the faith of one who was found worthy to have his sins forgiven. And so that by my example on your behalf you yourselves might also be able to suffer, I suffered for you, so that no one might hesitate to suffer for himself what God had endured for man. I showed myself after my resurrection, so that your faith might not be overthrown. I admonished the Jews in the person of Peter; I preached to the Gentiles in the person of Paul; and I do not regret it, for good results followed. [a]

“The good have understood my work; the faithful have fulfilled it; the righteous have completed it; the merciful have brought it to perfection. There have been a great many martyrs and a great many saints. Those I speak of were certainly in the same body and in the same world as you. Why, then, do I find no good work in you, you brood of vipers? You have shown no repentance for your wicked deeds, even at the very end of your life on earth. And what good does it do that you honor me with your lips, when you deny me by your deeds and works? Where now are your riches, where your honors, where your powers, and where your pleasures? I pronounce no new sentence on you: you simply incur the judgment I foretold long ago.”