Law & Grace - Matthew 5:1-10 Beatitudes & blessing
Matthew 5:1-10 · Vern Peterman · Jun 19, 2011
Law & Grace, No. 23
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926238283620

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We have actually sort of an eventful day here and after all the traveling around, we actually have all three elders here at once. Now just to let you know, what had taken place is actually a few weeks back now, Katie and Laban took their girls and traveled out to West Liberty, Ohio or somewhere close to there. And then just Thursday of last week, Craig and Jessica Johnson went with Nancy and myself. We eventually did get on a plane. And we landed there at the Dayton Airport and traveled from there by car, rental car, at West Liberty, Ohio. I did some of the driving, and Craig did some of the driving. And most of the time, Craig's driving was pretty reasonable. So anyway, we got there just fine. And Chris Smucker, who many of you may recall. He's been here among us and taught with us.

They were married on Saturday, June 11. So as of today, they've been married for coming up on eight days. And so it actually did happen, and they both seem happy about the whole thing. It's funny, in both the pictures, Beth's dad's hand is off to the side, and I'm not sure whether he's in shock or clapping.

So anyway, it all seemed to work out. Now, it so happens that just the very next day in Fort Collins, just north of us here, A wedding took place and in that event here Mark Henderson and Angie were married there on June 12th and so that took place apparently a very nice wedding attended not only by the Hendersons, but as you can tell from this picture, some Hemenways were also involved in this shot. At any rate, everybody seemed to live through it all. So anyway, that brings us back to now at this point where we actually have all three elders here at the same place. And you may like it, in fact, that all three elders are back at Holly Hills at once because, well, for instance, it's kind of fun to see Vonnie levitating her way across the room since her oldest son got married.

I mean, it's really kind of been entertaining, you know. So that may be the case. It's much less likely to have Mike making up for the other two elders being gone by talking three times as fast. So that's not likely to be the case. The other thing you may enjoy about having all three elders here at once, you're far more likely to serve the entire Lord's table when all three elders are here. So anyway, some of you may want to catch up on the joke there.

Meanwhile, back at the Sermon on the Mount. This is where we are in our study. We've had a little break from it this last Sunday, but looking at the Sermon on the Mount, we're going to begin the content of that today, and be doing so by looking at what is commonly called the Beatitudes. Randy read the first portion of it. In fact, the Beatitudes continue on into the portion that we'll be looking at next week.

But this Sermon on the Mount, as we mentioned, was actually from probably about this spot that you see here overlooking the Sea of Galilee. And Jesus spoke to a crowd gathered there at the northwestern part of the Sea of Galilee. So we have the question, how did Christ intend that we view the Sermon on the Mount? Well certainly, I can tell you that some look upon the Sermon on the Mount as entirely directly applicable to us in the church now.

But in fact, it was spoken to Jews in the land of Israel who were all under the law of Moses. And unless you're a Jew in the land of Israel under the law of Moses, there'd be at least some question of whether that fits. So is this a time for a Bible fight? Let's hope not.

Others look at the sermon as being addressed to the Jews during the coming kingdom. And I would suggest to you, because Jesus spoke to Jews in anticipation of the Kingdom, that this is actually what was intended. It was spoken to Jews at the time of Jesus' ministry in anticipation of the coming Kingdom. Later on in the Sermon on the Mount, He is going to talk about entering the Kingdom. So you're not in it, right? So that's the viewpoint that it is spoken from. It is spoken to Jews in anticipation, in their anticipation, of entering the kingdom. So anticipating the kingdom is the perspective that it's looking at here. It would apply to the Jews of the time of Christ's ministry. It still has applicability during the coming seven-year tribulation period when the Jews will be looking forward to, at least some of them will, looking forward to the coming kingdom. So it is not to be set aside, at least for that reason.

Now, comparison and contrast. That's a principle that we brought up before. We'll bring it up today, actually at the beginning and here at the end. Knowing that we'll find some things that are the same between ourselves and the Israelites who believe, and some that are different, we compare what's the same or similar, and we contrast what's different. We start by saying, what did it mean to them? And then we say, OK, knowing that, what does it mean to us? And so there's a comparison and contrast. And this is an appropriate Father's Day picture, right? Like father, like son. There's something to compare and there's something to contrast, isn't there? So that's the point and the principle here.

An important tool in our understanding of what Jesus intended to convey will be to define words that are the same for Israel in the church, but mean something different. such as the word blessed. That occurs, as you heard Randy read several times, the word blessed here. You see it also on the first page of your handout. Blessed.

Did it mean the same thing to the Jews, to the Israelites, as it does to us? And as we'll see increasingly as we go through here, the answer is no. It means something different. There is some part that's identical, but some part that's different. Israel, according to what the Old Testament says, Deuteronomy 28, 1-14 is the A central passage there, Israel can be blessed in earthly ways in the land if they obey the law of Moses, but cursed in or even from the land and made subject to God's wrath if they disobey the law of Moses. That was something believing Israel that was disobedient could actually be subject to God's wrath. That was a part of the Old Testament law principle.

We in the body of Christ, however, are blessed in heavenly places, in Christ, regardless of what we do or don't do. Once we have believed, we are in Christ and we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, and we are promised never to be subject to God's wrath. Never to be subject to God's wrath. So it's a different place. We're blessed heavenly. Israel is blessed earthly. We are blessed unconditionally. Israel is blessed only on the condition that they obey. We are promised never to be subject to God's wrath. Israel was in fact subject to God's wrath multiple times, and they were told so.

Okay, here you have kind of the poetic listing of of the verses that Randy read for us here in Matthew 5, 3 through 10. And we have at the title there this word inclusio. Now you may be looking at this word inclusio and thinking, what's inclusio? Is that some Italian boy's name? No. What it is, it is a writing that starts and ends with something that is either identical or very similar.

And Jesus begins in verse 3 with, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And he goes on to verse 10, blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That's the inclusio form of literary writing here. Everything in between has that pattern of blessed are, which we'll take a look at shortly. The general form of all these Beatitudes are blessed are and then it gives some condition of the heart or an outward expression of the heart for, as in because, this will be the fulfillment in the kingdom. That's the pattern carried throughout these verses.

Blessed is given in a sense in the law of Moses in that the blessing is conditional. It's conditioned upon the heart condition or the expression, blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. What happens if you aren't merciful? You won't get the mercy, right? So it's conditional. It's conditioned upon the heart condition, gentle, merciful, or the expression, peacemakers, right?

The word Beatitudes, which is what we commonly hear this called, is from a Latin word that means Beatus. It means blessed, happy, blissful. The one way in which this word blessed is different from the way we saw it in Ephesians 1-3, where we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, and even from the Greek Old Testament in Deuteronomy 28, This is different in that it means more the subjective experience. It's a different Greek word. It means more the subjective experience of blessing rather than the objective being blessed. A few different Greek words are translated as blessed in the New Testament, so we need to identify this one as more of the subjective experience of happy and blissful and in that way feeling blessed.

So the Israelites were blessed if they obeyed the law of Moses and cursed if they disobeyed. Anybody want to volunteer for that kind of principle? Would you like that? Well, probably not. They were blessed conditionally, that is, if, in earthly ways in the land of Israel. However, we are not blessed conditionally. There's no if.

Ephesians 1.3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.

It isn't until chapter 4, he says, now let's start talking about your stealing and lying. In the Old Testament, that would be you're done for. Under the law, you'd be done for if you did that. But Paul says, no, you've been blessed with every spiritual blessing. Now let's talk about your lifestyle.

All their blessings are in the heavenlies, not in the land, and are in Christ, not in Moses. Israel was baptized into Moses. That's what 1 Corinthians 10 tells us. We, in the body of Christ, are baptized into Christ, Romans 6. All of the blessings in Matthew 5 are conditioned upon the heart of the Jew, of the Israelite, either of their heart condition or their heart expression.

So here is this inclusio in Matthew 5, 3 through 10, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This poor in spirit, this is the first of several paradoxes in the Beatitudes where recognizing a deficiency is the basis for blessing.

Now I think that probably got people's attention. Wait, wait, wait, hold on. You mean I'm happy if I'm poor? How does that fit? It's a recognition of my deficiency. And why is that a good thing? Because in recognizing deficiency, then I recognize that I need the Lord.

The person who doesn't recognize they have a deficiency has a real problem. What's the problem? They don't realize that they need the Lord. The one who is poor in spirit is the one who realizes he is greatly lacking in spiritual assets of his own. His spiritual pockets are empty. I don't have what it takes. I need the Lord. And Christ says this is the first step. The one who recognizes that he is poor in spirit knows that he must look to God to meet the deepest needs of his heart.

The ultimate provision for that for the Jew will be in the kingdom. Why? Because the Old Testament promises in almost a dozen places that the Jew in the coming kingdom will have the Holy Spirit in his heart every Jew all the time to do what? To know all 613 laws of the Law of Moses. Not to need even one rabbi. No rabbis to teach because they will know it by heart and they will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to live it out. That's why it will be fulfilled in the kingdom. They will have adequacy. But they need to be looking forward to that. The next one, blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

It's interesting, if we look at Isaiah 61, 1-3, we find this. In Christ's first coming, He goes into the synagogue in Nazareth. This is recorded in Luke 4, 14-21. And Christ reads there in the synagogue, He says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted and to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, comma, and he stopped there.

Mid-sentence, mid-verse. They must have thought, well, go ahead. Nope. Why? The reason is he told them this is being fulfilled right here among you, right now, right in your presence. His first coming, this part of the passage was fulfilled. Christ was doing that. Why did he stop? He stopped because the next line and the verses after it were about Christ's second coming not yet fulfilled. So that's why he stopped mid-verse, mid-sentence. and quit reading and put it down and said this is being fulfilled in your day because the second coming is a day which could come as soon as seven years from now.

And it reads like this, in the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn and grant those who mourn in Zion, sounds like Israel, right? Giving them a garland instead of ashes and the oil of gladness instead of mourning. the mantle of praise instead of the spirit of fainting. So it will be called Oaks of Righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified.

That'll be Christ's second coming when he'll come on the earth to the land with us. Us as resurrected beings in every single one. There'll be none of us in these bodies there that day. Entirely Entirely resurrected bodies, but all of us every believer here in this room will be included Okay But Christ didn't read that part yet, but that's about the morning and that's about the comfort in the kingdom when he comes Now the next one blessed are the gentle for they shall inherit the earth this word gentle the King James has the word meek in there and It's from the same root in the Greek as the word gentleness, obviously a similar word even in English.

It's listed among the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5, 22 and 23. Blessed are those who are gentle. Now there is something in common between what is desired of the Jews at heart and what is produced in the Christian. Why? Why is that in common? It's in common because you have the same God of the same character eternally behind that.

The gentle among the Israelites will be those who inherit the earth. Will you be inheriting the earth? No. The Israelites inheriting the earth, that's a part of their set of promises, not ours. The Israelites have an earthly inheritance. Inheritance among us who are in the body of Christ is in Christ. What's your inheritance? It's in Him. That's your inheritance. You're not going to go over to Israel to a place... How many of you have been to Israel? A few of us? That's great. I haven't been there yet. But the inheritance isn't there. Not in the land. It will be in the Christ who will be in the land. It's in Him. That's where an inheritance is, in Him.

The next one, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Here is righteousness in the kingdom. Here's Isaiah 61, the same Chapter from which Jesus had read there in the synagogue. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord My soul will exult in my God for he has clothed me with garments of salvation is wrapped me with a robe of righteousness Okay as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland and as a bride adorns herself with jewels It's it's attractive It's dressed to the hilt with righteousness. Okay, for as the earth bring forth its sprouts now, this is earthly, right? and a garden cause the thing sown in it to spring up, so the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations." That's the, in the Greek, the ethnos, the ethnic ones, the Gentiles. So this is a Jew and Gentile theme.

Isaiah 62, 1 and 2 carries on that theme quite well. But what do we mean by righteousness? To the Jew, the righteousness meant this. Having righteousness was seen in terms of practicing and living out the law of Moses. If you did everything right, that was righteousness.

You got all 613 laws memorized? You're ready to do them all? Don't go to Red Lobster after you're done here. You'll really blow it. You'll eat the wrong things and then you'll have at least One of those 613 laws broken. And then when you go to the store, don't get any fruit with wormholes in it. Because if you eat a worm, that breaks the law too.

And it's okay, because it's Sunday. This isn't the Sabbath. You can actually go ahead and turn the light switch on. It's okay. But not after Friday sundown. If you're going to do that, that's righteousness. You'd follow all 613 laws perfectly, 365 of them are things not to do, and the others are things that you must do. You follow them all correctly, that's righteousness. You do it by yourself, you do it among others, but not for their sake. You do it before God for His glory alone.

That's righteousness to the Jew. For us who are in Christ, the body of Christ, our righteousness is in our position in Christ. You know what righteousness I have? His. You know what righteousness you have? His. It's His righteousness. We are declared righteous by faith in Him and it's all of grace. I didn't earn it. God didn't say, oh Vern is such a nice guy, I think I'll give him righteousness. No, that's not the way it works. I blew it so badly he said he needs my righteousness. That's what it amounts to.

It's Christ's righteousness. Christ who is our righteousness. Now the hungering and thirsting part. Matthew 5, 6 says that those who are hungering and are thirsting after their righteousness as described by the Law of Moses will be fully satisfied, actually literally gorged Are you hungry and thirsting for righteousness in the kingdom? No problem. You'll be gorged with righteousness. Why?

Because the Jew will have the Holy Spirit to write the law in their heart and to be empowered to know and live it out to the law, every single one. They will be gorged with righteousness as the law defines it, by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. What Jesus promised them will be exactly what they'll get.

For us who are in the body of Christ, we are indeed to long for the pure milk of the word that by it we may grow, 1 Peter 2. And we are to be growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're to have a longing for it. A hungering and a thirsting for Him.

You see, the Jew is looking at righteousness as described by the law, but we're looking for righteousness as described by Christ. It's His life that is the satisfaction of righteousness. The next one, blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy. The merciful ones obtaining merciful is similar to the principle of law that says the ones who forgive are the ones who God will forgive.

But then the converse of that, the reverse is, if you don't forgive, you won't be forgiven. And that's exactly what we're going to see in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6. If you want to be forgiven, you had better forgive because it's not going to happen otherwise. That's what the Sermon on the Mount teaches. That's what Jesus teaches the Jews in the land. Mercy in life is an expression of God's very own infinite eternal character in which he is rich. We could even say wealthy. He is wealthy in mercy.

Ephesians 2.4. Under grace, mercy is not conditional.

If we are to forgive because, Ephesians 4.32, we've been forgiven, then we are to show mercy because we've been shown mercy. We are motivated not by the carrot and the stick. We're motivated because of what God has already done, forgiving, showing us mercy. You know when God showed you mercy? The Bible says God showed you mercy when He identified you with Christ. That's what Ephesians 2, 4-7 says. When He identified you with Christ, that's when He showed you mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. The Israelite who would seek to remain pure, and the definition of that is what does the law of Moses describe? Jesus says, those are the ones who will see this coming kingdom. If you wish to be pure, as the law describes pure, then you will see the coming kingdom. Jesus the Messiah in his second coming will indeed be God dwelling on earth and those Jews who will see him that day will see God. They will see God coming in the flesh. The book of Zechariah says something very interesting. Let me sidetrack. Acts chapter 1. Here's the disciples, eleven of them. They see Jesus go up into the air. And there's two angels standing by.

They say the same way that you saw him go up from here at the Mount of Olives, you'll see him come back again. Zechariah says what? That the Messiah will come and he will be God. And He will come back and His feet will touch the Mount of Olives when He returns. Just like the disciples were told in Acts chapter 1. He will come back in the same way, in reverse, in the same place. And it will be God dwelling on earth. Zechariah says so. It will be God whose feet will touch the Mount of Olives.

We in the church have a positional purity of heart. Why? Because we're in Him. We're to pursue that purity from our position. We don't try to be holy. We don't do our best to try to be good Christians. We work from a place of already having the position of being holy and being pure. It's from the position that we already have, the holiness and purity that we have because we've been placed into Christ. That's how we, as Paul put it, work out our salvation, not work for it.

It's on the basis of what God has already done graciously, not on the basis of what we try really hard to accomplish. Now the see God part. Christ told the Israelites that if they had a pure heart they would see God in the kingdom and Christ certainly is true deity. He's God in human form. We are called, however, to behold Christ through the Word and so be transformed by the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3.18 Behold the Lord through His Word. You're looking at Him. Right? You're looking at Him. We're not waiting for the Kingdom for that to happen. We do it now. We're doing it this morning. We're beholding the Lord through his word. We're called, Hebrews 12, 2, to look unto Jesus. Now, not wait till you see him coming in the sky. Not wait till you go to see him in the sky. Behold him now. That's what God has in mind, exactly what he has in mind. Then blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."

So does this mean that Jesus intends that all the Israelites go about negotiating peace settlements? That they just scramble around the earth and go around negotiating peace settlements against all these warring factions? Is that what he had in mind? Well, if that is, it's not working very good, right? Because the Israelites are some of the most peace-pressed, if you will, peace-challenged people that there are on the planet.

It's interesting, Proverbs 3, 27 through 30 advises the Israelites in various ways to avoid needless fighting with other Israelites. In Matthew 5, 22 and 25, we're going to see it shortly here, we'll see Jesus urging resolution. So pursuing peace is something that is, in fact, that Israelites are to do. Now, there is a place for standing firm, and resolution should be pursued if possible.

What I found interesting in the book of James, and this is not in your handout there, book of James chapter 3, 17 and 18 includes several of these points from the Beatitudes that we've just looked at. It reads like this. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. See, many of the themes of what we are looking at here in the Beatitudes are spelled out here in the book of James. But notice, it's first pure. It's not compromise at all cost. It's first pure. Peaceable? Yeah. Certainly, even twice in that passage. Even reasonable, right? But first pure. First pure. There is a place for pursuing peace, but not at all costs. Called the sons of God.

Now here's something you can, I say, take it to the bank, but you really can't. The principle is this, throughout the Bible if you say son of, unless it's a literal biological son, it means this, like in character or close in relationship and perhaps both. Like in character or close in relationship. So for example, sons of disobedience. Paul calls the unbeliever a son of disobedience in Ephesians 2. Guess what that means? Like in character to disobedience and close in relationship to the disobedience. Everywhere you see son of or child of in scripture, and you'll see it a lot. And especially in the New Testament, everywhere you see that, if it's not a literal son, that's the meaning. Like in character, close in relationship.

So 1st John 3.10, by this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Children of, son of, Either of those expressions, like in character or close in relationship. The Jews were to do works that showed that they were like in character or close in relationship to be God and so be recognized by others as sons of God. Oh, that person is like in character or close in relationship to God. I can tell because he's a peacemaker. But guess what?

We as Christians in the body of Christ, Galatians 3.26, for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Through faith in Christ Jesus, you are like in character and close in relationship to God. Through faith. Did you do anything to be like in character and close in relationship to God? No. All you did was believe. You believed in what God did, not in the merit of your own works. By faith, you are like in character and close in relationship.

The last one here is, blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This ends the inclusio, even though the blessed are pattern continues after this for a verse or two. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, we've already touched on the righteousness topic, but this persecuted idea is next. Interesting, the previous one said peacemakers, and now we get persecuted.

Very interesting. Now, it's easy to get persecuted for being obnoxious or being an irritant, right? People don't like it when you go screaming and disrupting things and yelling at them. It is quite possible to be obnoxious and to be persecuted for that, but that's not what he's talking about, is it?

Jesus had something else in mind. The Israelites before the start of this coming kingdom, yet to come, and the church saints before Christ takes us home with him, can both be persecuted. Either one. Both of them can be persecuted. John the Baptist was one who was persecuted. What happened? He was imprisoned and eventually beheaded during the time of Christ's ministry. So that was one instance during Christ's own time of ministry when persecution took place.

Persecution can happen in our own era. It takes place quite often. More Christians have died for their faith in the last century than all the prior centuries combined. Persecution in our own country is less common, certainly, but that could be changing. And you may have noticed that pattern. There's more opposition, vocal opposition, to Christians and less allowance for Christianity to be expressed, especially in public places.

Being persecuted has its ultimate payoff and that's a part of what Jesus is saying. Israelites in the kingdom will be rewarded for having suffered persecution up to the point of the beginning of the kingdom. They will be rewarded in the kingdom. We in the church are rewarded in heaven. In fact, there is a crown for martyrs. There is a reward for suffering persecution. There's a reward for that. For Christians, we are rewarded when we enter heaven's gates. You'll find the description of that in 1 Corinthians 3, 10 through 15. We are rewarded as we enter heaven's gates. The Israelites are rewarded as they enter the kingdom and are faithful.

Both can suffer persecution. Now as we look at this inclusio, I have some passages listed there on page four where it's the same pattern as we show on the first page, but there are passages that go along with each of those. I am going to bypass the quotation of each of those because we're running out of time. But I want to move on to the comparison and contrast final slide. This is the summary.

Where we find that the attitudes have similarities between what is revealed for Israel and for what's revealed in the church, it's because God is the same God. Is God a God of love? Yes. Is God a God of mercy? Yes. Has God always been a God of love and mercy? Yes. It is God's character that is consistent and is the same. He doesn't change and He doesn't say, I'll switch out with another God.

So when we see something in common, that's why a lot of people will look at that passage and they'll say, oh, that all fits me. Well, you've got to look a little more carefully. But the reality is you will find things in common. Why? It's because we're talking about the same God of the same character. That's why. But that's not all.

There's also common human need. The Jew, if he's honest, will realize, you know, I can't even memorize all 613 of these laws and I don't have what it takes to carry it out. I'm going to need the Lord to pull this off. If the Jew is honest, he'll realize that. And you know what?

We're not called, we in the church, we're not called to live out the law. And contrary to what you might hear at some churches, the law is not written on our heart. It's not. Righteousness for us does not come from looking at the law and trying to make it happen. I would not even recommend that you ask the question, what would Jesus do? It's probably not a good idea. But Christ's life living through us fulfills the righteousness that God requires, that the law was trying to aim for. but we could never pull it off.

So both the Jew in the coming kingdom and the Christian right now have the Holy Spirit in every single one all the time in order to fulfill God's righteousness. See that? But it gets measured in different ways. There is a God who does not change, who has the same character infinitely. He is a God of love and grace and mercy infinitely.

That same God also recognizes the common need among people. And in order to have righteousness expressed, He says, for these Jews, I'm going to give them the Holy Spirit so that they will know and live out the law, every single one, all the time. And for these Christians, I know in order for them to live out Christ's righteousness, they're going to need to have the Holy Spirit indwelling them. And they're going to need to live out Christ's righteousness not by their own efforts, not by trying to be a good Christian, but by Christ's life living in and through them. A common need, the same God.

He does things similarly, but not identical. The variety, the difference between how he deals with Israel and how he deals with us is spiritual harmony that will glorify him forever. When we find there are differences between the Beatitudes and what is revealed to us in the church, it's because God has carried out a different means of expressing himself and meeting needs. God is glorified by making different kinds of angels. There's cherubim and seraphim and different categories of angels and some, boy, we're still trying to figure out, you know, what does this mean? And he makes different categories of people too, different people groups. He expresses his character and all the variety glorifies him. Somewhat comparable to the way a song with harmonies and variation in the music makes a glorious sound.

And that's what God has intended here. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that as we look forward to the day when we will see you face to face, and actually we hope that's soon, when we look forward to that day, between now and then, we thank you for your most amazing grace. We thank you for the way that you have intended to carry out your righteousness and to bring about your peace and to show your mercy in us and in a harmonious way among the Israelites. We thank you for what you've revealed. We thank you that you are the same God, the same Lord from eternity past to eternity future. And you are faithful. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.