Matthew 17:1-13

Well, now we turn to the preaching of God's Word.

As James had mentioned this morning,

next week we will be continuing our series in the book of Exodus.

This evening, though, we'll be looking at a text from the book of Matthew.

Matthew 17, verses 1-17.

Matthew 17:1–17

This is the story of the transfiguration.

So if you have your Bibles, you can turn there with me.

And as you do, as we prepare to read this passage tonight,

I want us to first consider our hearts and our attitudes

in how we approach the text,

and also how we respond to the text.

Most of you may know Charles Spurgeon,

who was the famous English minister from the 1800s.

He was a powerful preacher,

a great orator who would speak in front of thousands

and captivate the hearts and minds of those people.

We know that many people were led to open displays of emotion when he preached.

And though Spurgeon didn't really care about senseless emotion

just for the sake of emotion,

emotion that lacked any sort of spiritual depth,

he saw an appropriate place for emotion within the church.

He once wrote this.

He said,

And I thought of that quote tonight,

especially pertaining to this text,

because I think this text kind of does an emotional check for us.

I think this text can really evoke emotion within our hearts.

And while emotion in itself isn't the object of our aim,

when we look at this glorious passage,

we should have the desire to see the reality of Christ's identity.

That we may look at this glorious passage

and that we may experience the beauty of the Gospel.

That it might stir within us this deeper affection for Christ,

this longing that we see His face.

And so let's turn to this passage.

Matthew chapter 17, verses 1 through 13.

Matthew 17:1–13

And after six days,

Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, His brother,

and led them up a high mountain by themselves.

And He was transfigured before them.

And His face shone like the sun,

and His clothes became white as light.

And behold, there appeared to them

Moses and Elijah talking with Him.

And Peter said to Jesus,

Lord, it is good that we are here.

If you wish, I will make three tents here.

One for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them.

And a voice from the cloud said,

This is my beloved Son,

with whom I am well pleased.

Listen to Him.

When the disciples heard this,

they fell on their faces and were terrified.

But Jesus came and touched them,

saying, Rise and have no fear.

And when they lifted their eyes,

they saw no one but Jesus only.

And as they were coming down the mountain,

Jesus commanded them,

Tell no one of this vision

until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.

The disciples asked Him,

Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?

He answered, Elijah does come,

and He will restore all things.

But I tell you that Elijah has already come.

And they did not recognize Him,

but did to Him whatever they pleased.

And so also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.

Then the disciples understood

that He was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

This is the Word of God.

Will you pray with me?

Almighty God, You are the Father of lights.

And so we ask, Lord,

that You'll shine in our hearts and in our minds

that we might understand Your message

as You speak to us through Your Word.

May the Gospel come to us not only in word,

but also in the power of Your Holy Spirit this evening.

May He guide us in truth

and strengthen us to all obedience

so that we may glorify You.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Now I wonder how many of us have had the opportunity

to share the Gospel before.

Maybe some of us haven't been so blessed

as to somewhat ask us so bluntly,

so who is this Jesus character?

What did He do?

What does He say?

What is His message?

But perhaps some of us have.

Maybe we've had the opportunity

to share the Gospel before,

to share the narrative of Jesus' life.

And the question,

when you have that opportunity,

or if you ever have that opportunity in the future,

what stories will you include

in the life of Jesus

as you retell it?

Certainly, I would imagine

you may start with the nativity scene,

talk about Jesus being born of a virgin,

being placed in a manger

in the city of Bethlehem,

His birth announced to the shepherds.

You may talk about something about His ministry,

Him feeding the 5,000,

or turning water into wine,

healing the sick and the lame.

Maybe something about His message,

what He has done,

what He says about the Kingdom of God,

what He says about Himself.

Certainly, we'd include

the passion narrative in there

where Jesus is arrested and crucified,

how He's resurrected and ascends to Heaven.

But would we choose to include

this story of the transfiguration?

Do we find it important

and essential to the life

and ministry of Jesus?

My guess is that probably many of us

would probably not include it.

I don't know personally if I would include it

until I look at this text

and prepare for it this evening.

And I wonder if it's in part

because we may not really understand

where this fits into

the narrative,

Matthew's narrative

of His Gospel.

Perhaps we don't really understand

when it talks about Moses and Elijah,

what do they have to do with this story?

What do they have to do

with God's overall plan of redemption?

But it's my hope

as we walk through this text tonight

that we gain a better appreciation

for who Jesus is

and a better understanding

for how this narrative

fits into God's plan of redemption.

And so then I think it's important

as we begin

to understand the context of this passage.

At the very beginning in verse 1,

it begins after six days.

So it's important to understand

what was happening

before chapter 17 was recorded.

After six days.

What happened six days ago?

Well, if we look back in Matthew 16,

starting in verse 13,

we see that Jesus and His disciples

have arrived in Caesarea Philippi.

And we see this important conversation

that's recorded by Matthew

here in His Gospel.

Because Jesus turns to His disciples

and He says,

Who do people say the Son of Man is?

Disciples respond,

Well, some say it's John the Baptist,

some say Elijah,

some say another prophet.

And Jesus asks them bluntly,

Who do you say the Son of Man is?

Peter responds,

You are the Christ,

the Son of the living God.

So we see Jesus' response.

First, He blesses Peter

for recognizing His true identity.

But then He tells His disciples,

Don't tell anyone that I'm the Christ.

And He goes on from there

to say how He must go to Jerusalem,

how He must suffer and be killed,

and how He will rise again

on the third day.

And so Peter, maybe,

because he had a little confidence

in getting the first answer right,

he responds again to Jesus and says,

Far be it from you, Lord.

This will never happen to you.

We know how Jesus responds.

He turns from blessing Peter

to rebuking Him.

He says,

Get behind me, Satan.

You are a hindrance to me.

Not only was Jesus going to suffer,

but He was calling on His disciples

to suffer with Him.

And so we see then

that this transfiguration,

this story really stands

at a pivotal moment

in Jesus' ministry.

It's really a watershed

because if you look to the one side,

it's all that's happened

in Jesus' ministry

to bring Him to this point

where Peter recognizes

that He is truly the Christ.

And then we look from here

the transfiguration onward,

and this is Jesus' journey

to the cross

where He is to suffer and die.

And so these themes

that Matthew begins in chapter 16,

He's continuing on to chapter 17

where Jesus,

talking about who Jesus is

and what He is to accomplish.

And so that's what I want

our focus to be tonight.

First, to think about Jesus' identity

and secondly, Jesus' mission.

And so let's look first

at Jesus' identity.

You've probably heard the expression

know your audience, right?

It's advice that's given

to public speakers

and maybe others

in a large group

or maybe a small group

when they want to communicate

effectively or persuasively

to those around them.

In order to do that,

you have to know your audience.

You need to know their background.

You need to know their story,

what they're going to understand

about what you're communicating

to them.

And so that's what we really see

Matthew doing here

throughout his Gospel.

Matthew is largely writing

to a Jewish audience.

And so he's very careful

to point out

as he goes along in his Gospel

exactly who Jesus is.

He's not just a good teacher.

He's not just a good leader or man.

He is truly the Messiah,

the one who has been anticipated,

the one who Jewish tradition

and prophecy

and history points to.

And so he directly links

who Jesus is,

talks about Jesus fulfilling

Old Testament prophecy

and that's what we begin to see

in this passage here,

these allusions going back

to the Old Testament,

primarily the book of Exodus.

So while we're not studying

the book of Exodus tonight,

we're going to be turning back there

quite a bit to see these allusions

that Matthew uses.

If we look at verse 1,

after six days,

Jesus took with him

Peter and James

and John, his brother,

and led them up

on a high mountain

by themselves.

Now if you were a Jew

in that day and age

and you were familiar

with the Old Testament,

this may trigger a memory

from Exodus 24

where God commands Moses

to come with Aaron

and Nadab

and Abihu to worship.

And as Moses ascends

Mount Sinai,

it says that he's covered

by a cloud for six days.

Then in verse 2 here

we see in our text,

Matthew,

he immediately enters

into this glorious vision

and Jesus was transfigured

before him

and his face shone

like the sun

and his clothes

became white as light.

And so we see here

this glorious unveiling.

This word transfigured,

it can be translated

as transformed.

It's actually only used

a few times

in the New Testament

apart from Matthew and Mark

talking about

the transfiguration story here.

Paul uses it

a couple times

and he's not talking about

a physical transformation

so much as a spiritual transformation.

You may know Romans 12 too.

Paul writes,

do not be conformed

to this world

but be transformed

by the renewal of your mind.

And so we see in this case

it's not only talking about

a spiritual transformation of Christ

but this physical transformation.

But we need to understand

when this transformation

is not as if Jesus

is changing in some way

but rather

this previously hidden dimension

of his glory

is now being revealed

to his disciples.

As if all the dullness

of earthly conditions

were temporarily stripped away

so that his true nature

could be revealed

to these men.

And so again,

the question is

does this remind you

of anything from the Old Testament?

If we look back to Exodus 34,

Moses up on Mount Sinai

for 30 days and 40 nights.

40 days, 40 nights

where he receives

these Ten Commandments

and he returns

to the people of Israel

and it says

the skin of his face shone

to such a degree

that it scared the Israelites.

He had to wear a veil

over his face

so they wouldn't be afraid.

And so while we see

some differences here,

this allusion

to the Old Testament,

there's actually

some obvious differences

as well

because while Moses' face

shone as a reflection

of God's glory,

we see here in our passage

that Jesus shone

with his own innate glory.

Jesus here is the source

of light.

It's a glory of such intensity

and such otherness.

It again reminds us

of the story in Exodus

where Moses comes to God

and he asks,

may I see your glory?

God responds to him,

you cannot see my face

and live.

So he puts Moses

in the crack of a rock

and he passes over him

with his hand in front of him

until he has passed by

and Moses is allowed

to see his back.

And so this is the glory of God.

This incomparable glory

that we see

throughout the Old Testament

is now what we see

displayed in Christ here.

And so while Jesus

has been transfigured,

he's transformed,

this glimpse of his glory

is being seen,

we see with him also

Moses and Elijah

appear with him.

And I think this may be

at the point

that we may become

confused a little bit.

What role do they

have to play here?

I think even Jesus' disciples

were a little confused.

We see Peter

in his request,

hey, how about I build

some tents for you guys?

We'll talk about that

in a second,

but here we must question

what is the purpose

of Elijah and Moses

in this text?

I think maybe

most common interpretation

that we hear nowadays

is that maybe

Moses represents the law

and Elijah represents

the prophets.

And while there may be

some level of truth there,

we need to consider

this passage

in the context of that day,

how it would have been

received by the disciples

and others

when they read

Matthew's account.

Because Moses wasn't

only considered

a lawgiver in that time,

he was considered

a prophet himself.

He's spoken of

as a prophet

in the Old Testament.

Not only that,

but Elijah,

would he have been

considered as a representation

or representative

for all the prophets?

Maybe, maybe not.

He wasn't one

of the writing prophets.

And so what do we do here

with this image

of Elijah and Moses?

I think the most

compelling argument

may be this.

One commentator writes

that their appearance

sums up the entire drama

of the old order

from beginning to end.

Moses being the predecessor

and Elijah being

the precursor

of the Messiah.

And so these men,

as they stand

within the Old Testament,

they point

to the coming

of the Messiah.

The one who would come

to provide salvation

for his people.

And so,

though they add

to the drama

in this narrative,

this isn't the climax

of Matthew's story.

Because we see that Matthew,

he really cuts Peter off

as he's kind of

making this request.

Let me build you some tents.

He says,

Behold,

he focuses our attention

on this bright cloud

that's overshadowing them.

Again,

it may remind the reader

of the story

of Exodus

where God's presence

is repeatedly seen

appear in a cloud.

Not only on Mount Sinai,

but also in the wilderness,

leading the people of Israel

through the wilderness.

But it's not only

the appearance of the cloud

that's important

in this text,

it's the voice coming

from the cloud.

Matthew is directing

our focus here

to the climax

of the passage,

which is the voice

of God from this cloud.

This is my Son

whom I love.

With Him I am well pleased.

Listen to Him.

And so in these

two chapters,

16 and 17,

we see repeated

a profession

of Christ's identity

from Peter.

And now,

a proclamation

from the voice

of God Himself.

Jesus is

the Son of God.

And so you might have

heard these words before.

These are the words

that were recorded

by Matthew

in Matthew chapter 3

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

after Jesus' baptism.

When the Spirit of God

descends like a dove

and repeats

these same words,

except here,

Matthew adds

an extra command

at the end.

He says,

listen to me.

So again,

if we were to

look back at the Old Testament,

it may jog our memories

to the text

that Roddy read earlier

from Deuteronomy 18,

Deuteronomy 18:15

verse 15,

where God promises

to send a new prophet.

And He prophesies

through Moses,

the Lord your God

will raise up for you

a prophet like me

from among you,

from your brothers.

Listen to Him.

It says.

So we see here

that Jesus

is clearly

this prophet

that has been prophesied.

God's own Son

has been sent.

So Matthew

is pointing out here

not only the identity

that Jesus shares

in God's glory,

but He also shares

in God's authority.

And we are to

listen to Him.

And so when the disciples

hear this,

it says that they

fall down in fear.

Now it's interesting

when you compare

this narrative

to the Gospel of Mark

and the Gospel of Luke

who both talk about

the transfiguration.

Mark and Luke

both talk about

the disciples' reaction,

their fear,

much earlier on

in the narrative.

But here,

Matthew reserves

this description

of their fear

until after these words

are spoken.

As if it's the appropriate

time for us

and the disciples

to have an emotional response

when we recognize

the identity

and the authority

of Jesus,

the Son of God,

the Messiah.

And it says

when they raise

their heads,

it says literally

in the Greek

they see

only Jesus Himself.

And so left before them

is not Moses,

it's not Elijah,

it's only Jesus.

It's only Jesus

who possesses this glory.

It's only Jesus

who possesses this authority.

It is only Jesus

to whom

we are to listen.

And so imagine

the lasting impact

that this would have

on the disciples.

I mean,

this may evoke emotion

in us who are just reading it,

but if you are there

seeing a glimpse

of God's glory

in His Son,

Jesus.

We think about

the Gospel of John,

how He writes

in John 1.14,

and the Word

became flesh

and dwelt among us

and we have seen

His glory.

The glory

as of the only Son

from the Father

full of grace

and truth.

This is what John

has witnessed firsthand.

We think about

Peter's writing.

2 Peter 1.16,

he writes this,

Therefore,

we did not follow

cleverly devised myths

when we made known

to you the power

and coming

of our Lord Jesus Christ,

but we were eyewitnesses

of His majesty.

For when He received

honor and glory

from God the Father

and a voice

was born to Him

by the majestic glory,

this is my beloved Son

with whom I am well pleased.

We ourselves heard

this very voice

born from heaven

and we were with Him

on that holy mountain.

And so we see

that these men

were moved

by the glory

of God.

But we recognize

that what they saw

was just a glimpse

of Jesus' glory.

Because Jesus didn't remain

in His unveiled glory here.

We know that

as they descended

the mountain beforehand,

Jesus goes back

to as He was before.

And so we may question,

well, why didn't He

remain in His glory?

He revealed Himself

to His disciples.

Why not to everyone else

at this point?

But that really goes

into our second point here,

the mission of Jesus.

We've identified Jesus

as His identity

as the Son of God,

as the Messiah.

Well, what is His mission?

If we look back

to when Moses and Elijah

appear in this text,

we talked about Peter's response,

a rather odd suggestion.

This is a good thing.

We're all here.

How about I build you

a tent, Jesus,

and you one, Moses,

and one for you, Elijah.

We don't really know

what He meant by that,

what He wanted to do

with these tents,

what He expected

to become of this.

But it seems

that He has some sense

that the day of the Lord

was near.

And He had this desire

for the Messiah

to remain among His people.

But the thing is

that this desire

for the immediate establishment

of God's kingdom

that God may dwell

right there personally

among His people,

it goes to show

Peter's continued

lack of understanding.

We already looked

at chapter 16

where Peter rebukes Jesus

for saying,

no, no, no,

Lord,

you're not going to suffer

and die.

That can't be.

We question,

now,

is this just a continuation

of Peter's misunderstanding?

Now, He's saying,

Jesus, look,

you don't have to suffer.

You are here in Your glory.

You can remain in Your glory.

Let's set up Your kingdom now

so that everyone knows it.

But we see Jesus' response

in verse 9

that this is not a part

of His plan.

He commands His disciples

not to tell anyone

what had happened

until the Son of Man

is raised from the dead.

And so we see

that this is a repeated command

that's recorded by Matthew

that Jesus says

throughout His ministry.

In chapter 16,

we already looked at it.

When Peter declares

Jesus as the Christ,

Jesus responds by saying

to His disciples,

don't tell anybody.

When Jesus performed miracles

early in the Gospel of Matthew,

multiple times,

He tells these people,

the recipients of these miracles,

don't tell anybody.

And so why the secrecy?

Well, it seems as though

Jesus is wanting to avoid

creating any misunderstanding

of who He is

and what He's here to accomplish.

You may know that the Jews

were expecting Messiah to come,

but they wanted this Messiah

to come set up an earthly kingdom

to overthrow the Roman Empire.

So Jesus wanted this ambition,

this desire,

not to be a distraction

to the people,

not to be a distraction

from what He had actually

been called to do,

what His mission actually was,

to come and suffer and die.

And so we see an allusion

to this mission

when we go back to look

at the voice of God

again in the cloud.

We talked about

that it reminds us

of Jesus' baptism

where the Spirit of God

came down

and spoke these same words

of His Son Jesus,

this is my Son

with whom I'm well pleased.

It reminds us of Deuteronomy

where it talks about

listening to Jesus.

But I think there's

a third allusion here

because when God says

this is my beloved Son

with whom I am well pleased,

that second part

of that phrase,

in whom I'm well pleased,

in whom I take delight,

this again is a repetition

of an Old Testament prophecy

if we go back

to the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 42,

which is one of these

servant songs,

one of several servant songs

in the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 42.1 says this,

Behold my servant,

whom I uphold,

my chosen,

in whom my soul delights.

So God prophesied

through Isaiah

that this Messiah

who was coming,

who would possess all power

and all authority,

was coming as a servant

to His people.

And so we see this theme

more clearly

in the second part

of our passage here.

When Jesus is descending

the mountain

with His disciples,

His disciples are

obviously confused.

They've seen a glimpse

of Jesus' glory.

They've seen Him

talking with Moses

and Elijah,

so they assume

that the day of the Lord

is near,

and they ask,

why do the scribes

say that first Elijah

must come?

Maybe a peculiar question

to us,

but it was obvious

that they themselves

understood another prophecy

from the book of Malachi.

Malachi 4.5 says,

Behold,

I will send you Elijah

the prophet

before the great

and awesome day

of the Lord comes.

And so if the disciples

knew this,

they knew the scribes

knew this,

they had just seen Elijah

with Jesus

in His glory,

if the day of the Lord

is near,

why didn't Elijah

stick around?

What's going on here?

They want to know.

Jesus clarifies

in verse 12.

He says,

I tell you that Elijah

has already come,

and they did not

recognize Him,

but did to Him

whatever they pleased.

So also the Son of Man

will certainly suffer

at their hands.

And so Jesus

is making clear

to His disciples,

once again,

if we look back

in Matthew 11,

He's already said this

to His disciples,

that John the Baptist

is Elijah.

So yes,

this prophecy says

that Elijah will come.

John the Baptist

is the fulfillment

of the prophecy.

John the Baptist

was to prepare

the way for the Lord.

He has done so,

yet He was not recognized

and He was persecuted

and killed.

And so Jesus says,

in the same way,

I too must suffer

and die.

And so Jesus

is making clear here

that this transfiguration

is really only

a mere foreshadowing

of what is to come.

Where Jesus' glory

would be eternally revealed,

where Jesus would live

in perfect communion

with His people,

but that day

has not come.

He's making the point

that the cross

precedes the crown,

that pain

precedes glory,

that His humiliation

precedes

His exaltation.

And so this is

the counterintuitive

plan

of salvation.

Jesus says

later in the Gospel

of Matthew,

in chapter 20,

the Son of Man

came not to be served,

but to serve

and to give His life

as a ransom for many.

This is the good news

of the Gospel,

that the Messiah

has come

to serve His people

and to save them

from their sins.

And so this is exactly

what we read about

if you were part

of a community group

this past week

and looked at

Philippians 2.

Philippians 2,

it says that

though Jesus

was in the form

of God,

He did not account

equality with God,

a thing to be grasped,

but emptied Himself

by taking the form

of a servant

being born

in the likeness

of men

and being found

in human form.

He humbled Himself

by becoming obedient

to the point of death,

even death on a cross.

And so we see though

that Jesus did not

stay in the grave.

On the third day

we know that He rose

from the grave,

that He ascended

into heaven,

that He sits

at the right hand

of God the Father Almighty

where He will come

to judge the living

and the dead.

So we can be confident

that Jesus will come again,

that Jesus will establish

His eternal kingdom.

And so what does that mean

for us now, believer,

as we stand in between

the already and the not yet?

Yes, Jesus has been

has come and He has provided

a means of salvation,

but He has promised

to come again.

What are we to do?

What's our response

to this narrative?

We see Jesus' command here,

God's command in the cloud

to listen to Him.

It says that in verse 5.

And so not only are we

to admire who Jesus is,

not only are we to respect Him

or even remain in awe of Him,

we are to listen to Him.

And so this command,

it means much more

than just hearing.

It's about hearing and obeying.

Obeying all that Jesus has said.

And then following Him.

Following Jesus on His path

to Jerusalem.

This is what Jesus had just said

in chapter 16.

If anyone comes after Me,

let him deny himself

and take up His cross

and follow Me.

And so not only are we saved

through the blood of Jesus,

we are also called

to become more and more like Him

as we copy Him

and follow Him in His suffering.

It's Jesus that creates

this pattern for us

of being brought low

in order to be brought up.

And so as we continue

in the Gospel though,

this call to suffer

doesn't stand alone.

Because this call to suffer

we see coupled with this call

to share the good news

of the Gospel.

We already looked at

how before Jesus' death

and resurrection,

He wants this to remain a secret.

He doesn't want others

to know of His identity

to that point in time.

But this command changes.

He says,

only do so until after

the Son of Man

has raised from the dead.

And so in the final verses

of Matthew's Gospel,

Matthew 28,

He again peers to His disciples

on a mountaintop

and these are the words

that He says to them.

He says,

all authority in heaven

and on earth

has been given to Me.

Go therefore

and make disciples

of all nations,

baptizing them

in the name of the Father

and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe

all I have commanded you

and behold,

I am with you always

to the end of the age.

And so this is how we respond.

By listening to the Son.

By following in His example.

By sharing this good news

of the Gospel with others.

And we do so

with an eager anticipation

for when we too

will see God's glory.

And because this is the reality here,

that the vision of God

is the ultimate goal

of Christianity.

It's not just that

we may have faith.

It's not just that

our sins may be forgiven.

Our faith is the means

of our salvation,

but our goal

of our salvation

is that we may see Christ.

We are on a pilgrimage

in this life.

A pilgrimage

from faith

to sight.

And so may we long

for the day

when we may see Christ

in all His glory.

When we may behold

His shining face.

In the book of Revelation,

John writes

of his vision

of a new Jerusalem.

We know that Jesus

is coming again.

He's going to establish

a new heaven

and a new earth.

And this is what John says

of this new Jerusalem.

And I saw no temple

in the city

for its temple

is the Lord God,

the Almighty,

and the Lamb.

And the city

has no need

of sun or moon

to shine on it

for the glory

of God

gives its light

and its lamp

is the Lamb.

And so as we conclude,

we can do so

in the same way

that we began

as Spurgeon

urges us

to respond

not only

with our heads

but also

our hearts

that we may rejoice

in the arrival

of the Messiah

who brings salvation

to His people.

That we may long

for His return

when we too

may see God

in all His glory.

And so may that desire

for the vision of Christ

surpass all else

in our lives.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank You

for revealing

just a glimpse

of Your glory

to Your disciples.

That that was recorded

in Your Word

that we may understand

Your true identity.

That we may understand

better Your mission.

And so Lord,

may that compel us

to desire

to see Your face also.

And as we await

for Your return,

Lord,

we pray that we'll be

faithful in listening

to You.

To understand

Your identity.

To see Your suffering

and desire

to follow in it

knowing that we are

made more and more

like You.

God, may it be

our heart's desire

to see the face

of Jesus.

Our Savior,

the Son of God.

We pray this

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.