Lamentation over the coming judgement

Let's proceed here. This is not like teaching an epistle of Paul, or of Peter, or of John, or anybody else. Or the Book of Acts, right? Bob, Heidi, Kevin, the people who attend our meeting, which will be this Tuesday. But let's look as we usually did the review, and last week is the lesson that we had on Micah 1, 2-7, the judgment coming on Israel.

And to summarize very briefly, the Lord will descend from his holy temple to tread on the high places with great destruction to follow. We've related that maybe to Assyria in the immediate future, the day of the Lord, the end times, the tribulation. or ultimately the new heaven, new earth time. So we reflected that that could be possible in all three of these circumstances and we'll not spend any more time on that today. But the prophecy in context is for both Israel and Judah and the theme of the harlot relates to the unfaithfulness manifested by the spiritual idolatry that was present in both the northern kingdom and in the southern kingdom. All right, so the title of today's lesson is Lamentation over the Coming Judgment.

Let's first look at the geographic location of all the cities mentioned here. Now, I'm amazed. Look at this. So you can see the northern kingdom shown above, listed here as Samaria, and Judah is the southern kingdom, and the 11 cities mentioned in Micah 1, 10 through 15 look like They're a half-hour drive away from where we're at right now if we're looking at Holly Hill's Bible Church. So these are all distinct locations. And by the way, in the upper left, it's kind of small, but the numbers then relate to the numbers below that are in the red box. So we can see everything's pretty close here.

You can't believe that, you know, an after-church meeting might be, or after-synagogue meeting might be, you know, multiple cities gathered together. Anyway, I'm just speculating about that. So I thought that would be important to look at how much directed these messages are to the various cities in that region.

The closest that was to Gaza. Yeah, I know, it is. I know, it's amazing. The West Bank. Well, if you watch in the archaeology, there's that guy that Andrew got us connected up with. He has a whole series of stuff he's done. There's just so many verifications of scripture from what they've dug up. It's just incredible.

A lot of the excavation wasn't done currently. It was done in the early 1900s. Now you can't get to some of the places at all because of the war. The same guy that did the Nineveh story? If you go to Google, he has tons and tons of stuff. He's really good. All right. Good. Thank you. And I showed this last week. In fact, I think this is the same. You've sent this out, Roger, but Andrew showed this a couple of weeks ago.

And here we're looking at, again, the various kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom, Israel, 10 tribes, Judah, Judah and Benjamin being the two tribes in the Southern Kingdom. Ultimately, the years going from 750 B.C. to 670, keeping in mind that the Northern Kingdom went into captivity in the year 722 B.C. and the Southern Kingdom, Judah, will not go into Babylon for another hundred years after this.

And so Micah overlaps with Isaiah and Hosea, important to keep in mind because ultimately the timetable in terms of interpretation of Old Testament scripture really relates to where people are at in terms of the times in which these prophets were employed by God will bring a message. All right, and Andrew modified what Roderick sent out here, and I think we've got to remind ourselves always that in the Hebrew, this is a Hebrew poetic pattern. And our ability in English to go back into that pattern and understand what it means in terms of both the pronunciation and the ultimately interpretation is somewhat challenging. But nevertheless, keep in mind that written to the Jew in Hebrews, it has perhaps a little bit different and more intense meaning than it does for us today.

So here we are in number two, the doom of the cities of Judah, verses 8 through 16. And last time again was the judgment against Assyria, which also really extended to Judah. We looked at that last week. And so next week we'll begin with some of the social evils that are ultimately brought up and denounced.

Who's teaching next week? Actually, Miles is. Miles is, okay. Is Miles with us today? I didn't see him. I didn't see him, Harold. Okay, good. I'm here. Oh, you're all here. Miles away, right? We'll leave it there. Bob, just one thing back, just go back to your chart.

What's cool is, I think, is that the folding point, the focus, you know, is our Savior, right? It's the rules, you know, ruler of Bethlehem is going to come. So it's interesting that all these patterns, I mean, this pattern focuses on the Savior, you know, because it focuses on that, then it goes back out again, but it's neat. Ruler of Bethlehem, that'll be the 5-1-8. You know, the titles here are very informative in terms of what these various sections of the prophet really were.

Anyway, just, yeah, go on. No, that's good. I think, you know, I think, you know, I mentioned this to my boys who were both here last week, but anyway, they think showing this each week is important for reminding us the history and where we're at, you know, historically in terms of the interpretation of the scripture. So, anyway, I'll let Miles make that up. Next week is whether he feels this is needed or not, but I find it useful just to remind us about the nature of the prophet.

All right, lamentation overcoming judgment. Let's first look at the geographic location, which we've done already, and now we're going to look at the verses. And we're not going to read them all this morning. We're just going to read them in context as we study them, verses 8 through 16. We've got a pretty big task ahead of us, so we're going to keep moving here. Therefore, and this is New King James, and if you go to the New American Standard, I think sometimes it's a little clearer, but I've chosen to stick with the old habit of using the New King James.

But if I feel that we need to have the other version read, just throw up your hand and read it for me to help clarification. Therefore, I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked, and I will make a wailing like the jackals and a mourning like the ostriches.

Now does this verse, do you think, relate at all to the harlot mentioned in verse 8, the last verse we covered last week? Or does it relate to Jewish history by grieving and lamenting and wailing? What do you think? In terms of going naked, is that related to the harlot being mentioned last time? I don't think so. Okay? No. So let's think that the second interpretation is more likely to be correct. And you know, Isaiah signed against Egypt and the Egyptians was very similar. And so if we look at scripture here, Isaiah 22, at the same time, the Lord spoke by Isaiah, the son of Abbas, saying, go and remove the sackcloth from your body and your sandals off your feet.

And he did so walking naked and barefoot. And by the way, walking naked is removing the sackcloth. And the sackcloth was this rough and coarse garment that was worn over the upper body. It wasn't going entirely naked. So nakedness was simply not having, you know, once these football games, you know, the college games, all these guys got Utah on their chest or something. They have nothing above their waist. Well, that's what we're talking about here. I presume they had shoes on their feet. I'm talking about the people at the football games down back here.

So this is just a sign that, by the way, other scriptures are mentioned here that are listed there for you. This is a sign of wailing and mourning. Well, that seems to be the culture. When you were mourned over something, you did something like this to show how it affected your life. It was significant. This is how you, you know. So that's a message to others, is it not? I mean, it's a self declaration, but it's also a message to others going forward. OK, let's continue. OK.

I think Jeremiah kind of predated the and predicted the end times to follow. And ultimately, we see here in Jeremiah 25, 34, whale, shepherds and cry roll about on the ashes. Your leaders of the flock for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are fulfilled. You shall fall like a precious vessel.

So ultimately, he's looking at the times that are ultimately looking forward, whether he's talking about the immediate future or the end times is debated. But ultimately, and clearly, this wailing gives evidence of what's to come. Now, jackals and ostriches, which are owls, by the way, were nocturnal animals that lived alone. They are today, perhaps, too, and were notable for their wailing sounds. So, I think that's why the metaphor here of using the animals as an example of this wailing and mourning that was taking place.

Alright, verse 9, for her wounds are incurable for it has come to Judah and has come to the gate of my people and to Jerusalem. So I think what comes up here is whose wounds? Presumably those of Samaria, the northern kingdom, right? Or Israel. And what were their wounds? So is he referring that they've been taken away? By Assyria? Okay. Yeah, they've been taken over. The wounds were actually those that reflect the history, recent history, in the Northern Kingdom that really have spiritually damaged the Northern Kingdom. All right.

Can Judah blame Samaria for their sin? How often can you, personally or just collectively sometimes, you blame somebody else, right? I mean, the principle of God is we're all responsible, right? Adam and Eve are most responsible, and darn it, we should pay the price for that even today. So no, they can't blame Samaria for their sins. And what did Adam say?

It was that woman you gave me. You're pointing to Margaret there, Brian. That wasn't the intent. You and I must talk privately. Maybe you should talk to Margaret. Back to scripture. Why is the gate so significant here? I'm trying to pose questions about this Hebrew poetic pattern that we have here. The gates of a city in the Old Testament refers to judgment coming to a city. All right. And where was the gate? Where was the gate? We're talking about Jerusalem. Yes, exactly. Because it's in Judah.

So let's read a couple of verses from Isaiah 1, 1-4. For the vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzzah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and then I'm going to skip down. A last sinful nation of people laden with inequity, a broad of evildoers, children who are corruptors. They have forsaken the law and they've provoked the anger, the Holy One of Israel, and they've turned away that word.

So the gate to the holy temple to Jerusalem is what ultimately is being ultimately violated. Now we'll find out in a couple of verses that it was not violated. I mean, Sennacherib never got into Jerusalem. But the gate, approaching the gate, Bob, go ahead.

What I find interesting is Micah, who's in Judah, not Samaria, starts off his prophecy by showing everything that happened in Samaria. But then he suddenly, in verse 9, everything that happened there has come down to Judah. It's actually come down and it's going to affect us as well. Well, do you think Micah is blaming Samaria for this sin that's reaching Judah?

No, he's just simply saying, we're in it too. Welcome to the Sin Nature, everybody. We're all playing the same game here. All right. So this is the minor prophets and this is what Roger sent out to us as a reference. And that's Feinberg, I guess, is the author of this text. But I'm quoting him a couple of times today.

So he's quoting here, punishment reached the gate of Jerusalem in 701 B.C. when Sennacherib attacked the city, but the Lord turned back the invader. And that scripture is in Second Kings, if you want to look at it. Now, ultimately, he goes on to say, yet the gate of which the foe, meaning Sennacherib, came unto, he did not enter. Okay, so Sennacherib came to Jerusalem, but he never conquered it during his pursuit. And Isaiah 37 will quote this. By the way, we'll be quoting Old Testament scripture off and on here, because we're not quoting New Testament scripture, at least at this time, in the Book of Micah, but we will.

Okay, then the angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000 and when people rose early in the morning there were the corpse all dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home and remained at Nineveh. The Lord wouldn't let him in the gate. Look how many people the Lord that were part of Sennacherib's army to prevent the gate into the temple to be opened.

Amazing, the work of the Lord of the Old Testament. Now we can think of maybe, never mind, today's the kind of miracles we might be looking for. All right, let's now go into the cities. There are 11 of them and we're going to talk about all of them, not in much detail, but enough to kind of give us an interpretation.

Tell it not from death. Weep not at all in Beth-aphra, or Ophrah. Roll yourself in the dust." Constable, quoting him, the prophet used several clear word plays in this poem to describe the desolation that God would bring on Judah. He selected towns and villages near his own hometown in Judah's Sheffelta, whose names were similar to the coming devastations or to other conditions that he described. Now, why not tell it in Gath, do you think? Any thoughts about that one?

Well, because this is the advice of Micah to the Israelites, because Gath was a Philistine enemy camp. And because of that, that might encourage their rage. So they formed Gath because they were close, because this was really a Philistine town. inhabited by the Philistines, they didn't want to provoke their rage. So that's the interpretation of why not tell it and gap. That's Micah's advice. Second Samuel 120, tell it not gap, proclaim it not in the streets of Eshelon. Let the daughters of the Philistines rejoice less than daughters of the uncircumcised tribe.

So in a sense that is supporting Samuel to what's covered here. It's so neat, isn't it, to look at the Bible and how not only repetitive it is, but how confirmatory it is of the messages that we see. And how often in the New Testament do we see that the Lord himself, but also the people writing the epistles, refer to the Old Testament. I mean, to me that justifies biblical truth as the truth of all time more than anything else. So, just a point here in the Old Testament. I would say this too.

It also shows people who don't believe. that the Bible is real. I mean, there's plenty of information to really go back and see all these historic things. If they just want to believe in the history, it confirms. And you can find these. And these places have been dug up. Archaeology supports this.

Well, think about the war going on in Israel right now and how it relates to this whole issue in terms of the Palestinians versus the Israelites. In a sense, things got riled up there. And, you know, they lived in peace. I mean, Kuwaitis had peace for a long time here, but peace is no longer. They're riled up, right? They're riled up probably for appropriate reasons, if you're thinking from the Philistinian or Palestinian perspective. We're not defending them, I'm simply... Hey, Bob? Yeah, sure. Go ahead. Yeah, hi. It's interesting to note that Gath and Ashkelon, I think, all these places in the land of the Philistines, that's all present-day Gaza. That's right. That's true. History doesn't change. Nor does the sin nature, Margaret, right? This goes back to what we were talking about.

When Israel was granted back their land, No Arab country wanted the Philistines. Interesting. The Palestinians. No one. Yeah, you're right. They tried to get, and this is what 1948 or whatever that was. 1948. They tried to have all these other Arab countries take that land or take the Philistines. Right. No one would take them. No one. No Arab country. Even though they're all Arabs.

And there's a reason for that because historically They were a bad, bad, bad, bad dudes. Yeah. And they recognize that the story interesting. So, you know, nobody talks about that. The press. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no So, why? What does rolling in the dust mean, do you think? Humility? Yeah. Okay.

Well, let's turn to the defeated AI that Joshua describes. So, then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until evening. And he and the elders of Israel And they put dust on their heads. And by the way, there are multiplied three or four other scriptures that I could have turned to.

I'm trying to just give an exemplary text that kind of supports what Mike is talking about here. Say, Bob? Yeah, Bob? One of the best illustrations of this lament is Job. Yeah, in fact, you're right, Bob. And I just chose this one, but we could have chosen Temple of Ursus and Job for this too. Thank you. All right, let's continue here.

Sennacherib, the Assyrian, comes up to the gates of Jerusalem and his progress is described in verses 11 through 16 now. So we've left verse 10 with Gath and we're going on to the subsequent verses. Micah 111, pass by in naked shame you inhabit of Japhir. The inhabit of Zanon does not go out.

Bethesda mourns and its place to stand is taken away from you. Okay, kind of Three cities merged into one. Sorry about that. Remember how naked is defined, okay? These are not people with no clothing on. It's people generally without sand or particularly without sackcloth, which is above the waist. All right. And Sapphire is defined as beautiful or pleasant and it resides in the hills of Judah.

Zadon means going out and Beth Ezel is the house of removal. Now, do you think the explanation as to why the inhabitants of Shepher were shamed, those of Zanon were not able to go out, those of Beth Ezel mourned, was the same for all three or different? I mean, I'm asking you to speculate. I can't support this that much, but what are your thoughts about that? Nobody has any thoughts? It's tough, Bob. Alright, let's continue.

So Mars says this, Aphra and Shaphir would be turned into captivity. So he goes on to say that the universal, let me make sure we can, so universal would be that the calamity that Zanon would not come to be well, and the neighboring city of Beth Israel. So in a sense, kind of the same thing. Let's go back and see what Myers says.

He said these two places would be buried into captivity. Buried into captivity. Yeah, my glasses. So, I think, maybe I left the word out. So, universal would be the calamity that Zanin would not come to be. Apparently Zanin was a city that would come to be well or support these other cities and the neighboring city of Bethesda. So, that's his thoughts here. I'm not sure that clarifies much of anything, actually, as I think about it. All right, let's continue.

For the inhabitant of Meroth pined, or was sick of, for sickening for good, But disaster came down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem. Now, what's so special about this inhabitant of Meroth? Well, I'm not sure we really know. What good or better fortune are they expecting here? They're sick for good. Is that a good thing or not so good? Well, morath sounds like the Hebrew word for bitterness. And I think here the sickness is not medical, but spiritual. I think that they're pining for good, but they're pining for good is probably not anything that's pining for good health, but they're pining for, hopefully, spiritual good. Say, Bob, don't you think that all of these cities how they are being described. We're talking about the same type of judgment, except this is poetic. So he's taking each city and taking the meaning of that city and relating it in poetry form.

Let's see what the New American Standard says. It says, for the inhabitant of Meroth, wails for something good because a disaster has come down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem. So that's what the New American Standard says. So they're looking for something good and they're ultimately, you know, their pioneer, their illness relates to their spiritual, you know, state. Nothing medical, but their spiritual state. And they're wishing for something good.

And the gate of Jerusalem, I think, refers us back to Jerusalem in verse 9. and disaster after the other cities that have been taken. So I think that, again, these are all neighboring cities and I guess they're put in order for a particular reason. All right, verse 13, O in heaven of Lachish, harness the chariot to the swift steeds or horses.

She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion for the transgression of Israel were found in you. Again, back to the whole issue. The sins of Israel now are those of Judah. It's not blaming them for them, it's simply the environment that existed allowed the sin of nations or cities to be manifested.

All right, let's reflect on the history of Lachish, a town known for its horses and where Sennacherib actually fixed his headquarters. Isn't that the town that he conquered? Yes. It fell. And that's where he really set up shop in the southern kingdom.

And Isaiah 36.2 supports this. Now it came to pass in the 14th year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. Then the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakech with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah. in Jerusalem, and he stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller's Field. We won't go into that last part, but these verses really indicate this history where Sennacherib made camp and set up shop.

Back to the minor prophets again, Feinberg. The reason given for the stroke of judgment on Lachish is that it first introduced idolatry in Judah as Jeroboam, the son of Nehat, had in Israel. Bad kings, right? And the northern king of all of them. It was evidently the link of idolatry between Israel and Judah. And there's no record of this in the historical books of the Old Testament, although it has been suggested that the horses given to the son, 2 Kings 23, were linked to idolatry and were kept there. The same condemning sin of idolatry of the Northern Kingdom was found in Laicish. So she must bear the same punishment. So that's a good, I think, commentation on this whole section.

And what about the impact of idolatry in our church age today? How about the church advice? Let's go to the Book of Revelation. We'll come up here. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ addressing this church, because I have against you that you tolerate your wife, Jezebel, we can interpret that if we want, who calls herself a prophetess and who teaches and who Yeah, who teaches and seduces. My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. So here's a place where idolatry and harlotry was predominant in the church and the Lord is incredibly critical about their condition. All right, turn to verse 14. Therefore you shall give presents to the worship gap. That's where Micah's from, remember? and the horses of Ashtab shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.

I'm doing my best with these pronunciations, so bear with me on this. And the city of Morakesh means possession or inheritance, so it has some meaning. Here, back to Feinberg, the mine of prophets, the parting gift was the gift that a father gave his daughter on the occasion of her marriage. Interesting. Feinberg relates this to such a gift. I mean, I think that's a metaphor here, not a direct relationship, but it does help us interpret it.

And Jason Fawcett and Brown say, Thou shalt give a writing of renunciation to Moresheth Gath. That is, thou shalt renounce all claim to it, being compelled to yield it up to the foe. In other words, this is kind of, we're giving up to this whole place. Your sin is so incredible that we're not going to, in fact, have any hope that you, in fact, can get through this.

Who is you and what do the houses of Isha represent? So let's go back a second. So, therefore, you shall give. What you shall give presents the American sky. So who's you? What do you think? Is he speaking of Judah? Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Well, Jerusalem or Judah is right.

I think that's the best answer was the chief representative of the whole nation of Israel. And the houses were deceitful. There's the Hebrew word to the kings of Israel and their inability to defend against the enemy. So this is the center of the southern kingdom. This is where, in fact, all of the wisdom and strength of the southern kingdoms, both Judah and Benjamin, would be forthcoming.

Verse 15, I will yet bring an heir to you, O inhabitant of Marrakesh, the glory of Israel shall come to Adullam. That's kind of an interesting thing. The heir would make them inhabitants of those who conquer, and that's the Assyrians. So the heir is ultimately making them the inhabitant that stayed in the verse, the Assyrians. And the glory of Israel, I think, is perhaps her leaders.

And they would find safety in Adullam as per David and from there no help would follow. I mean, Adullam was an interesting place. It was a refuge for David and his 400 men. If we turn back to ultimately 1st Samuel 22, 1, David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So what his brothers and all his father's house had heard they went down there to be with him there. So this has a historical perspective as to what it represents. It's a refuge for David historically and now in the time of Micah.

All right, the last verse. Make yourself bald and cut off your hair because of your precious children. Enlarge your baldness like an eagle or they shall go from you into captivity. All right, so what's the meaning behind all this grooming? Just more lamenting, right? Exactly.

The custom of shaving your head was prohibited in Deuteronomy 14.1, but it was a custom that exists.

It ultimately relates to mourning. And here's the proclamation against Moab and Isaiah. He has gone up to the temple and debon, to the high places to weep, and mob will wail over Nebo and over Medebo, and on all their heads will be baldness and every beard cut off. So there's an example of an expression of mourning that existed historically in that section of scripture. All right, so the minor prophets, we're going to kind of get to the end here now and kind of summarize what we've said.

The minor prophets state that this chapter one ends with a picture of unrelieved judgment and doom upon the cities of God's people for their indelible sin and transgression of idolatry. Their punishment that awaits them is indelibly impressed in the very names they bear. The most disastrous activity known to man is that of sin. Its consequences are dire and are writ large throughout the pages of the sacred scripture. And a final thought really comes from Constable. I really like this summary of where we've been.

This section, verses 10 through 16, begins with words that recall David's lament at the death of Saul and ends with the name of the cave where David hid from Saul. These dark moments in David's life, from a gloomy backdrop to the description of the fall of the towns of Micah, that's what's being spoke of. I mean, that's something that Kosmo brings forth here that really you wouldn't have picked up unless you really have the intense knowledge of the timing of this whole prophecy. And though he is never directly mentioned here, I mean the figure of David, is not a David standing tall in triumph, but a David bowed down by humiliation. I think that's a good comment. It is as if Micah saw in the fall of each of these towns and central captivity of the two kingdoms, the final dissolution of the Davidic monarchy. like David, the glory of Israel would come to Adilun. So Hansel might think kind of brings David into this, which is really not clearly recognized when you read this part of scripture.

So it's been a challenging topic to have to deal with. Nevertheless, hopefully, you know, you can look at these summaries and forget what Eccles says. This is probably the best thing to take home. thoughts, comments from anyone. It requires some digging, Bob. You did a good job.

Well, it's a challenge because my Old Testament knowledge is needing to be enhanced all the time. And this has helped to some extent, too. And I think what I've learned is it's bringing it all together, how things back earlier in the Old Testament really relates to the timing of these prophecies and how that just justifies the Word of God as being true. I think that's one of the neat things that I care going personally. And Bob, I think we also need to mention that Every prophecy and every prophet in the Old Testament, although they spoke of judgment, they always ended with God coming in righteousness and saving the people. This sounds like doom and terrible things, but you get to the end of Micah and it's wonderful. I think we need to go back here for a second. There we are. The hope that follows, right? So next week, Miles is going to kind of deal with some of these evils and their denouncement.

He has a neat section because the same verses are in Isaiah, right? Am I right about that? Isaiah has the same verses. Yes. Yes, which is going to be kind of interesting. And then there's all this debate about, well, did Micah copy Isaiah? Did Isaiah copy Micah? Was it common knowledge? You know, there's a lot of thought about that. You wonder whether they talked to one another. I don't know. Wasn't Micah a contemporary of Isaiah? There it is, right? Margaret, that's a time out for you. All right.

What it shows so well with all the historic things that have been found is that this is really a history lesson in all of this. And that all this really happened. I know real people have really happened. And real things and real events. Again, for the third time this morning, the justification of Scripture in terms of complementing on itself historically is something you can't deny. I noticed early on in this class that when Roger pointed out that the central part here above the fold is the nearest and best of him.

Well, you know what that X stands for? Christ. It does. Christ is the central portion. Isn't it amazing? In the midst of all this, Christ is there. This is incredible. Yeah. Great. I think we need to be reminded of that more so. There's no question. The Bible is all about Christ, right? Yes.

All right, Tim, why don't you close us in prayer, if you would, please? Father, we thank you so much for your Word, because it points us in the right direction. We just rejoice that you have everything under control, and we rest in that, and relax in the truth that comes from your word. We thank you for all these things, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.