"Self Doubt"

All right. Friends, today we continue our sermon series on the letters that we find written in the

book of Revelation. And thus far in this series, we have encountered several letters dictated by

Jesus to different churches, and most of these churches have been rebuked by Jesus. Most of

these churches have struggled with sins like sexual immorality, moral complacency, lukewarm

faith, false teaching, idolatry, and so on. And all of these sins have spoken warnings and rebukes to us

and to our church here and now. But with the letter we are reading today, we have a different church.

We have a church that Jesus does not rebuke. This church, it turns out, labored under oppression

and under slander and gossip and rejection and weakness and loss of worldly identity and loss

of family connections. Yet in all this, they remained faithful to Christ. What does Jesus

have to say to this kind of church and this kind of Christian? As we will see, friends,

he speaks much words of assurance and comfort, and he encourages them to embrace their identity

in Christ and not their identity in this world. And he offers them many promises. Throughout the

sermon series, we have read the letters in Revelation as if they were written to us. So this morning,

let us hear the words in this letter as if Jesus spoke them to us. And what Jesus' letter says to you

is to not be conformed to this world, but to embrace your identity in Christ, your citizenship

in heaven, your membership in the body of Christ. And this is especially true for those of you who've

been rejected by others because you follow Jesus. The letter to the church that we're going to read can

be found in the book of Revelation. It's to the church in ancient Philadelphia. It's on page 966 in

your pew Bible. This is Revelation chapter 3, verses 7 through 13. And that's again page 966.

Revelation 3:7–13

And this letter reads like this.

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write the words of the Holy One, the true one,

who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens.

I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut.

I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not but lie.

Behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.

Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial

that is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth.

I am coming soon.

Hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown.

Friends, let's pray together.

Let's pray together.

Oh, Father, we submit ourselves to your word.

We pray that we would be like this ancient church in Philadelphia,

that we would stand fast in times of trial.

Lord, I pray that you would help us to understand your word,

your figures of speech, which sometimes are hard to understand.

I pray that you would open our hearts to listen,

that you would give us ears to what the Spirit says to the churches.

Father, we submit to you in your will, and we pray all this in the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

The structure of the sermon this morning will go like this.

First, we're going to look at how Jesus introduces himself in this letter to the Philadelphians.

And then secondly, we'll examine a little bit about what kind of things the church in Philadelphia was suffering.

And then most of our time will be spent meditating upon the promises and exhortations that Jesus gives to the church in ancient Philadelphia.

And therefore, what promises and what exhortations that he gives to you regarding your identity in Christ?

We begin in verse 7.

There Jesus says,

There Jesus says to the angel of the church in Philadelphia,

Right, the words of the Holy One, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

Jesus starts by declaring certain things about himself.

He says that he is the holy one.

He's the true one.

He's sanctified.

He's set apart.

From Jesus, we derive our holiness.

From him, we derive the truth.

There is no lie found in Jesus.

And this true one, this true one, this Jesus, he is the one writing to the church in Philadelphia.

Now, all that is clear to most people in this verse, but the other things Jesus says about himself are a bit more confusing.

What I wonder is the key of David that Jesus says he possesses.

And what does opening and shutting have to do with Jesus and the Christian life?

Revelation in this passage borrows from Isaiah the prophet, chapter 22, verse 22, where God says,

And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David.

He shall open and no one shall shut.

He shall shut and no one shall open.

The context of this passage in Isaiah shows that several hundred years before Revelation was written,

God spoke through Isaiah about a new steward who would be appointed over the house of David in Isaiah's time

and who would be given David's key so that he might manage all the affairs of the kingdom

and have authority to permit and to prevent, to allow and to forbid all manner of activities and all manner of people.

In the scriptures, the kingdom of David, of course, is the very kingdom of the Messiah.

It's the kingdom that the Messiah would inherit and rule forever.

It was that kingdom which the Messiah would elevate from just an earthly kingdom into a heavenly one.

And if we put all these things together, we see that the key of David in Revelation symbolizes the power to manage the affairs of the Davidic kingdom.

The Messiah's heavenly kingdom.

And Revelation says that it is Jesus who possesses it.

He is the one who has the authority to open and close privileges in this kingdom to others.

So in the first verse, Jesus declares that he is holy.

He is true.

He is the steward over the messianic kingdom.

And whomever he chooses, the privileges of this kingdom will be granted.

Now, as we know what Jesus says to the church in Philadelphia,

he in many ways says to us here at Trinity.

What he says to the church in Philadelphia, he says to you specifically.

So do not be mistaken then.

When Jesus says that he has the key of David,

and when he says that what he shuts no one may open,

and what he opens no one may shut,

do not be mistaken.

For when he says these things, he's speaking not just to the ancient church, but to you.

And there is one privilege in particular that Jesus has opened for you, O Christian.

In the next verse, in verse 8, Jesus says this,

I know your works.

Behold, I have set before you an open door,

which no one is able to shut.

This verse tells us that Jesus knows your works.

He knows your deeds.

And behold, he uses his authority over the messianic heavenly kingdom

to set before you an open door,

which no one is able to shut.

This door is nothing less than the entryway into this heavenly and eternal kingdom.

Now, the translation we use here at Trinity

says that Jesus sets before you an open door.

But a translation that is perhaps a bit more faithful to the Greek,

instead of reading an open door,

it would read an opened door.

That is a door that has been opened.

A door that had once been shut,

but now is open.

You see, in this verse,

Jesus communicates that that entry

into the kingdom of God is impossible for us.

That door was shut.

We could not open it.

But thanks be to God, we have a Savior,

Christ the Lord, who's gone into the heavens

and opened this door for you,

his beloved.

And no one can shut it.

And so Jesus says,

I've set before you an opened door,

which no one is able to shut.

Christians, this is a profound gospel truth.

Those whom Christ has appointed to live in his heavenly kingdom

cannot be cast out.

The door has been opened.

No one can shut it.

Jesus proclaims this specifically in the Gospel of John.

He says,

I give them eternal life and they will never perish,

and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

So do not fear, Christian,

when you are rejected in this world for Christ.

The devil cannot touch you when you are with Jesus.

Your enemies cannot harm you.

Death and sin cannot reach you.

They may roar.

They may gnash their teeth.

They may bear their claws.

But you are safe with Jesus.

The door to eternal life has been opened by Christ,

and no one is able to shut it.

And be especially assured of this truth.

If you are weak today,

or if you are lonely in this moment,

if you are slandered at this time,

or gossiped about because you follow Christ,

if you have in any way lost your worldly identity,

if you are struggling with who you are,

if you are oppressed because of your love for Jesus,

then as you will see,

Jesus has you specifically in mind in this letter we are reading.

Because if you are struggling with these things,

if you're weak or slandered or rejected by others,

if you have lost your identity on this earth because of Jesus,

then you are much like the church in Philadelphia,

because they too were suffering the same things.

And Jesus goes on to comfort them and exhort them.

So let us now turn to look a little bit

at the kinds of things that the church in Philadelphia was suffering.

We can glean these things by jumping around a little bit

in verses 8, 9, and 10.

We start in verse 8.

Jesus says,

I know that you have but little power,

and yet you've kept my word and have not denied my name.

In verse 8,

Jesus says that he knows that the Christians of Philadelphia have little power.

Therefore, it seems that the Christians in Philadelphia

were weak by worldly standards.

And verse 8 also goes on to say that even though they were weak,

the Christians kept his word and did not deny his name.

This implies to us that not only were the Philadelphian Christians weak,

they also faced opposition.

Yet in this they remained faithful,

and they did not deny the name of Jesus.

And jumping to verse 10,

Jesus says something similar.

He says,

You have kept my word of patient endurance.

So not only are the Christians in Philadelphia weak,

not only have they faced oppression,

this oppression seems to have gone on for some time

because Jesus says they were patiently enduring.

We do not know the specifics of what the church in Philadelphia was suffering,

but we get a hint of it in verse 9.

There Jesus says,

He speaks of a synagogue of Satan

who say that they are Jews but are not,

and lie.

This kind of oppression

that the church in Philadelphia was experiencing

seems to have at least in part involved

being slandered by contemporary Jews who lived in their city.

We saw this a few weeks ago

in Jesus' letter to the church in Smyrna.

To reconstruct what was going on,

we have to read between the lines a little bit here

and also draw from the historical context.

But the best historical estimate

is that in Philadelphia,

there was a community of Jewish Christians,

and they seem to have worshipped in the local synagogue.

As mentioned in the sermon a few weeks ago,

it was common for Christians in the early church

to do this, to worship in the synagogues.

We see Christians, even the apostles,

doing this in the book of Acts.

But evidently, the Jews in the synagogue of Philadelphia

were criticizing Jewish Christians

and saying that they could only be Jewish

if they did not confess Jesus as the Messiah.

Christians in Philadelphia

were therefore suffering under slander,

and they had probably been excommunicated

from the synagogue.

They were likely cut off from friends and family.

This would have meant that they would have lost

their ethnic, their religious, their cultural,

even their national identity.

And if we put all these things together,

we learn a little bit,

about what the church in Philadelphia was suffering.

They were weak.

They were oppressed.

They were slandered.

They were vulnerable.

They were lonely.

They were rudderless in a sea

without a worldly home or worldly identity.

But despite all of this,

they kept the word of Jesus,

and they did not deny his name,

and they patiently persevered.

So I ask you, friend,

are you suffering these things?

Are you weak?

Are you downtrodden?

Are you meek or weak or hurting

or buffeted back and forth?

Are you slandered or oppressed

or weary or lonely?

Have you been cut off from friends or family?

Are there those in your workplace

or in your school

who gossip about you behind your back

because you follow Jesus?

Have you lost your identity in this world?

And in all these things,

are you keeping Jesus' word?

Are you refusing to deny his name?

The church in Philadelphia suffered like you.

They had no strength.

They were oppressed,

it seems, by both Jews and Gentiles.

They were slandered.

In all probability,

they were rejected by friends and family.

Yet unlike some of the churches in Revelation,

most of the churches in Revelation,

they kept Jesus' word

and they patiently persevered.

Friends, it is no wonder

that Jesus goes on in his letter

to assure these Christians of their salvation

and to comfort them

and to promise them many things

regarding that heavenly kingdom

Jesus is preparing for them

and for you

and also to assure them

about their new identity

he is giving to them

and to you as a Christian.

So let's turn to these promises now.

And before I start,

I must say that these promises

can be a little difficult to interpret,

so we'll go through them one by one.

First, in verse 9

of his letter to the Philadelphians,

Jesus refers to those

who slandered and opposed

the Christians of Philadelphia.

He says,

Behold,

I will make them come

and bow down before your feet

and they will learn

that I have loved you.

What could this mean?

It might sound

as if these persecutors

will be forced to worship Christians.

It might sound that way in English,

but in the original Greek,

I think it's a bit more clear.

These enemies are not

worshiping Christians.

Instead,

they are worshiping God

in front of the Christians

that they persecuted.

This touches upon Judgment Day

when every tongue will confess

and every knee will bow,

when the nations

will be gathered before Jesus,

when all people will come

and they'll come from the east

and from the west

and from the north

and from the south

and they'll cast their crowns

before him.

And we will all be together

on that day,

every one of us.

And Scripture says

that not only will every Christian

be there,

but every non-Christian,

and not just every human being,

but every being

on heaven and on earth

and under the earth.

All creation,

all the angels will be there,

the demons will be there too,

and we will all fall

before the throne of Jesus.

And Jesus gives

specific comfort

to those of you

who have suffered under lies

or been slandered

or rejected

for the sake of Christ.

Jesus says

that whoever has lied

about you,

whoever has done so

on account of me,

whoever has slandered you,

whoever has rejected you

because of me,

on that day

they will be made to learn

that I have loved you.

Friends,

make no mistake,

we are called

to love our enemies.

Scripture commands us

to pray

for those who persecute you.

Bless those who curse you.

Turn and offer your left cheek

when struck on the right.

Do good

to those who do evil.

Forgive

those who have wronged you

because vengeance is mine,

says the Lord.

I will repay.

Scripture is also clear

that the love of God

has been poured out

in your heart,

not because of anything worthy

that you have done,

not because of your works,

not because you've earned it

as a wage

that is due to you,

but only

and simply

because God

in His glory

set His love upon you

and rescued you

from the domain of darkness.

On account of this,

you should not take passages

as the one we have before us

to lord it over those

who made you suffer.

Instead,

take these passages

to walk with humility.

Take them as a comfort

that when you suffer for Christ,

when you are rejected by others,

God will vindicate you.

You don't need to worry

about vengeance.

You don't need to justify yourself

before those who gossip

or slander about you.

You don't need to be anxious

over whether you'll be found innocent.

And do not believe

any of those things they say.

Christ is for you.

Who can be against you?

For Jesus has promised

that all those

who have rejected

or mocked you

will be made to know

on that day

that God has loved you

when He comes

to judge the earth.

Well, friends,

let us move on

to a second promise

I want to highlight.

This is in verse 10

where Jesus says,

because you have kept

the word of my patient endurance,

I will keep you

from the hour of trial

that is coming

on the whole world

to try those

who dwell on the earth.

This verse has occasioned

much controversy

in theological circles.

Many faithful Christians

have taken this verse

to mean that Jesus

will spare Christians

from the trials

mentioned in the book

of Revelation

because this verse

promises to rescue Christians

from the great trial

that is coming

on the whole earth.

Other faithful Christians

disagree and point out

that Revelation

does seem to include

Christians as suffering

the trials that are to come.

For instance,

in Revelation 6.11

seems to reference

Christians being killed

and you can see

similar things

in chapter 7.14

or 12.11, 12.17

and verses like that.

Now, in this

alternative perspective,

what Jesus promises

to spare the Philadelphians

from is either

the terrible woe

in Revelation 9

where only those

who are sealed

with God's name

are spared.

Or perhaps

what he's talking about

is the great trial

of the lake of fire

that is prepared

for all those

who reject Christ.

We may touch

on these things

in a later sermon

but whatever the case,

remember friends

that we must read

Revelation with humility.

There are mysteries

in it that will not

be made clear

until they are fulfilled.

Remember also

that the finer points

about the end times,

these friends

are secondary

or even tertiary issues

and we don't want

to be divisive about them

or focus on them

over much.

So regardless

of your view

on the end times,

what we know

is this.

In this present life,

Christ calls us

to bear our crosses

and he tells us

that suffering

will come to us

whether or not

it comes in the end times

or not.

And we also know

that Christ promises

to welcome us

into his kingdom

and to make all know

that he has loved you.

So take heart, friends.

Jesus promises

to spare you

from the coming trial,

whatever that may be.

Friends,

I could go on

about this passage

for some time

but let's hasten on

because Jesus

has more promises

for those of you

who are faithful

to Christ

when suffering

rejection by others.

Verse 12 reads this.

Jesus says,

To the one who conquers,

I will make him

a pillar in the temple

of my God.

Never shall he go out of it.

The phrase,

To the one who conquers,

this refers to those

who continue to persevere

in the faith.

To these,

God will make a pillar

in the temple of God,

the temple that's located

in the coming

heavenly kingdom.

Never will they

leave his presence.

With this,

Jesus, of course,

doesn't mean that

he's actually going

to turn you

into a pillar of stone.

Instead,

he's speaking figuratively

or symbolically here.

And to understand

this promise,

we must know

that a pillar in Scripture

signifies permanence,

steadfastness,

immovability,

constancy.

So by using

symbolic language,

Jesus communicates

that you

who have persevered

in the faith

in times of trial

or in being rejected

or in losing

your worldly identity

or your community.

To you,

Jesus says,

you will be spared

not only the coming trial,

but you will also be

in God's presence

forever in his temple.

You will no longer

be rejected.

You will be with him

and more than that,

you will be a necessary,

a crucial aspect

of the functioning

of the temple of God.

Just as a pillar

crucially upholds

a building,

so you will not

be worthless.

You will be an integral part

of the kingdom of God.

Whatever your worth is now,

you will not be worthless then.

Christ will make you fit

for valued service

in his kingdom

just as a pillar

upholds a temple.

And not only that,

Jesus goes on to say

in that same verse,

and I will write on him

the name of my God.

Again, friends,

this doesn't mean

that we're going

to literally walk around

with the letters of God

scribbled all over our face.

Instead, again,

this is an example

of symbolic language.

Inscribing God's name

on you means

that you are set apart

for God.

You belong to him.

You are part

of his household.

You are cherished by him

and protected by him.

This is similar

to Exodus 28,

Exodus 28:36–38

verse 36 through 38,

where the phrase

holy to the Lord

is inscribed

on the gold plate

mounted on the high priest's forehead.

To write God's name

on the high priest

was a marker

claiming that the high priest

was set apart

specifically for God.

It indicated

that he belonged to God

and was set apart

for service to God

in a special way.

In the same way, Christian,

you who have been faithful

to Christ

in times of trial,

in times of being rejected

or slandered,

in times of suffering

for Christ,

you belong to God now.

You have been purchased

by him.

You are in his household forever.

You are safe with him,

protected by his shield.

You are under his banner

and you have been purchased

by his blood eternally.

For this reason,

the Apostle Paul says,

you are not your own.

You were bought

with a price.

And to indicate all of this,

Jesus in Revelation

symbolically promises

to write the name of God

upon you.

But Jesus

has more words of promise

for you, Christian,

who are persevering

in trial

and worldly rejection.

He says he will not just

write his name on you.

He says in verse 12,

I will also write

the name of the city

of my God,

the new Jerusalem,

which comes down

from heaven,

from my God.

As we just saw,

being called the name

of someone

meant that you belong

to that person's household.

But here you must know

that in the ancient world,

being called by the name

of a city

meant that you were

a citizen of that city.

So here when Jesus

inscribes the name

of the city of God,

the new Jerusalem,

which comes down

from heaven,

he is proclaiming

in no uncertain terms

that you are a citizen

of that heavenly city

forever.

Your old identity

has passed away.

All these earthly cities,

these earthly countries,

earthly families,

these are as nothing

to that heavenly kingdom

where you,

Jesus says,

have been elected

a citizen by God himself,

a city that will never

pass away

like those on this earth.

Paul the Apostle

writes of this

to the Philippians.

He says in chapter 3

to his epistle,

but our citizenship

is in heaven

and from it

we await a Savior,

the Lord Jesus Christ,

who will transform

our lowly body

to be like his glorious body

by the power

that enables him

even to subject

all things to himself.

Christian,

if you are longing

for citizenship

in an earthly country,

or if your identity

has been taken from you,

if you've been abandoned

by family or friends

or your community,

do not be troubled

by these things.

God has reserved for you

a better citizenship

and a better family,

a better community,

one which can never

be taken away,

which will not be overthrown.

He has gotten for you

an irrevocable citizenship

in heaven

and a permanent,

heavenly identity.

And brothers and sisters,

all of us here at Trinity,

we are just

a small,

humble foretaste

as sampling a token

of that spiritual family

that you've been given

eternally and forever.

But Jesus

is not done yet.

He says he will not only

make you a pillar

in this temple,

he will not only inscribe

the name of God on you

in the name of the heavenly city,

he also says

that he will also inscribe

my own new name.

Again, this indicates

that you now belong to Jesus

just as you belong

to God the Father.

But notice here

that Jesus,

he doesn't say

he's just going to write

his name on you.

He says he will write

his new name on you.

What is this new name?

Jesus is called by many names

in the scriptures.

Of course,

he's called Jesus,

which means the Lord saves.

Jesus is also called

the wisdom of God,

the word of God,

the son of God.

He's called Emmanuel,

which means God with us.

But none of these

are new names for Jesus.

They're old names.

So Jesus can't be talking

about those names.

What then is this new name

that Jesus promises

to write on you?

Friends,

this is one of those places

where scholars and theologians

are not so sure.

This name,

our best guess,

is this name probably

refers to the new name

of Jesus mentioned

in Revelation chapter 19

Revelation 19 · chapter mention

in verse 12.

There in that passage,

the apostle John

is given a vision

of when Jesus returns

in the end of days.

He says,

Then I saw heaven opened,

and behold,

a white horse,

the one sitting on it

is called Faithful and True,

and in righteousness

he judges and makes war.

His eyes are like a flame of fire

and on his head

are many diadems,

and he has a name written

that no one knows

but himself.

He is clothed in a robe

dipped in blood,

and the name of which

he is called

is the Word of God.

And the armies of heaven

arrayed in fine linen,

white and pure,

were following him

on white horses.

Jesus, in this passage,

is called the Word of God.

His robe is dipped

in his own blood

which he shed for you

to redeem you

and to purchase you

and to set you free.

And he rides a white horse

leading the armies of heaven

on that day

when he returns.

But aside from being called

the Word of God,

there's also another name

for Jesus in this passage,

and this name

is written on him,

and no one knows this name

but Jesus himself.

It's plausible,

even likely,

that this is the new name

we read about

in Jesus' letter

to the church

in Philadelphia.

This is the new name

of Jesus

which Jesus will write on you.

It's the name

by which you will be called

on that last day

when Jesus counts you

as his own,

as a member

of his household forever,

as a true child of God

and as a citizen

of his city,

as a brother and sister

a faithful servant

and a friend.

But whereas

when the name of God

the Father

was written on you,

it marked you

as belonging

to the Father's household,

the new name of Jesus

marks you

not just as being

part of that household

but having

the privilege

of the inheritance

as a firstborn son.

for since Jesus

is the only begotten

of the Father,

he inherits a kingdom

and because he has

set his name on you,

you also will inherit

that kingdom

and reign with him.

And more than this,

just as we identify

someone's family name,

someone's family

based on their last name,

so also in heaven

you will be given

a name of Jesus

as a kind of new last name.

Think about this

in your mind now.

You have a first name,

many of you

have a middle name,

you have a last name,

however many names

you have,

they were given

to you by someone

and most of them

indicate your membership

in a family.

And at the end of days

at the resurrection,

Jesus will add

to your names

a final and eternal name,

his new name,

and you will be called

by that name forever.

Your family will be

that of God the Father

and you will partake

in the inheritance

of Christ your brother

and your old identity

will have passed away,

your new will have come.

You belong to Jesus now.

Friends, this letter

has spoken many promises to us

and the sum of them is this.

Your identity

is not in this world.

It is not what people think of you.

It is not in your earthly connections.

It is not in your worldly citizenship.

It is not in your family ties.

It is not in your wealth,

your career,

your education.

Instead, your identity

is in Christ Jesus.

In him, you have

an eternal home,

an eternal family,

an eternal country

in heaven with him,

a forever citizenship.

Be comforted in this,

friends.

Do not fear the rejection

of this world

or the slander of others

because you follow Christ.

Christ.

Well, brothers and sisters,

in view of these promises,

what word of advice

does Jesus have

for those of you

who are faithfully

persevering in this world?

He speaks this in verse 11.

He says,

I am coming soon.

Hold fast what you have

so that no one

may seize your crown.

Amen, friends.

Let me conclude this sermon

with the same exhortation.

Hold fast, dear Christian.

Do not grow weary.

Jesus is coming soon.

Hold fast to what you have.

Do not let anyone

seize your crown.

Pay no attention

when people speak ill of you

because of Christ.

Don't be troubled

of these things.

Instead,

grow in joyfulness.

Grow in mercy.

Grow in long-suffering

and perseverance.

You're king.

He knows your sufferings.

And he comes

to judge the earth.

And there lies in store

for you a citizenship

in heaven,

a membership

in the eternal family of God

which will never fade away.

brothers and sisters,

join me in prayer

thanking God for these things.

Oh, Father in heaven,

we thank you for these promises.

We thank you that you,

by the blood of your son Jesus,

have welcomed us

as your children,

adopted us

as your sons and daughters,

that you have helped us,

you have given us that right

due to nothing we have done

to partake in the inheritance

of Christ.

Father, I pray

for anyone here

who is suffering

under rejection,

under slander,

or gossip,

for anyone

who has been separated

by family or friends

because they follow you.

Father, I pray

you would give them courage,

you would give them perseverance,

you would help them

to hold fast,

to not lose their crown.

Lord, for those of us

who are not suffering

these things,

I pray you would help us

to encourage and exhort

and bear with others

who are,

to build them up

and lift them up.

I pray we would learn

from them too, Lord,

and learn from their wisdom

gotten by perseverance

in the faithful path

of obedience to Christ.

Christ.

Oh, Father,

we also pray

that Jesus would come soon

and we lay ourselves

before him

and it's in his mighty name

that we pray.

Amen.

Amen.