Good morning. Please be seated. Would you turn with me in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 8? You'll find your place beginning in verse 11. While you're finding your place, let me say a few words of introduction. In 1962, our nation had perhaps a crisis that brought us closer to nuclear war than we've ever been. The Soviet Union moved missiles into Cuba. And when the President presented that truth to the American people, our nation worried. People were fearful. And over the course of about two weeks, they wondered, would war break out with the Soviet Union? Would hostilities break out? Fortunately for our country, our leaders were able to negotiate a settlement that brought us back from the brink of war. But for a time, People who were alive then understood what it's like to worry for your life because of international conflict, because of international threats. In 735 BC, the kingdom of Judah faced a similar threat. But their king didn't deal with the threat wisely. He tried to deal with it the way that most kings on earth would deal with it. But he didn't deal with it from a position of faith. And in the wake of that event, the prophet Isaiah spoke to the faithful remnant of Judah, and he called them not to follow their king or the people, but to follow the Lord and to trust him through what would happen next, through all the consequences that came because of their king's unbelief. So as we come to our passage this morning, we'll find that word from the prophet Isaiah. I'll read beginning in verse 11 and we'll read through chapter nine, verse seven. For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts Him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken. They shall be snared and taken. Bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples. I will wait for the Lord who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. Behold, I and the children the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells on Mount Zion. And when they say to you, inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living to the teaching and to the testimony, if they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. They will pass through the land greatly distressed and hungry, and when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God and turn their faces upward and they will look to the earth. But behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. and they will be thrust into thick darkness. But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior and battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Let's pray. Father in heaven, as we come to your word this morning, we pray that you would give us the kind of faith that we see your servant Isaiah call for in this passage, the kind of faith that waits for you to fulfill your promises, that endures whatever may come in our lives and trusts you, trusts that you are good and that you are true, that you will do all that you say you do and will do. Pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Let's step back for a moment as we look at this passage. If it were a mountain, it would be as if we're climbing toward the summit. And that summit would be these last seven verses that I read, verses one through seven of chapter nine. We'll find that as we begin our climb, the way is easy. We can move quickly. But as we approach the summit, it becomes harder and will slow down. And I want to step back to the base of the mountain, as it were, back to Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 1. I won't read it, but what I want to do is, drawing from Isaiah 7 and also 2 Kings 16 and 2 Chronicles 28, I want to paint the picture of what's going on in Judah at this time. The king is Ahaz. He came to the throne in 735 BC, and immediately he had a problem on his hands. The dominant kingdom in the region was Assyria to the east. Their ruler was named Tiglath-Pileser, and he wanted to conquer. He had his sights set on Israel, the northern kingdom, and Syria. It was important trade routes that went through those two countries, as well as important resources along the Mediterranean coast. And so the king of Israel and the king of Syria formed an alliance, and they wanted Ahaz to join them. This caused Ahaz to worry. He knew the Assyrian strength. He knew that Tiglath-Pileser was not a king to be messed with. So he did not want to join their alliance. He wanted to remain neutral. He hoped that if he simply stayed out of it, the king of Assyria would leave him alone. But that created a problem for him because the kings of Syria and Israel would not leave him alone. In Isaiah 7, verse 1, we read, In the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin, the king of Assyria, and Pekah, the son of Ramalia, the king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. When the house of David was told Syria is in league with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. See, they weren't threatening Judah per se. They wanted Judah to be on their side. They were threatening Ahaz. They wanted to remove him as king and install a king of their own choosing, not from the line of David, who would be sympathetic to their cause and would join with them in an alliance. So Ahaz was caught in a difficult situation. At that moment, God sent Isaiah to speak to Ahaz, to bring a message of hope and encouragement, to call him to trust the Lord in faith. He says to him, go out to meet Ahaz, you and his son. and say to him, be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands at the fierce anger of Rezan and Syria and the son of Amalia. Essentially, what God tells Ahaz to do is nothing. Don't be afraid and be careful to do nothing. But Ahaz is not convinced. He was not a faithful king. He had already turned to other gods. He had instituted pagan and idolatrous practices in Judah. He had shut up the temple and started worship on every mountain and every field. He even, as kings and chronicles tell us, sacrificed his own son to pagan deities. He was not a man who was predisposed to trust the Lord. He was rather more inclined to put his trust and the king of Assyria. Isaiah warned him about this. He even played with him, said, ask the Lord a sign, just as Gideon, many years before, had asked for a sign from God that he would be with him. And in false piety, Ahaz says, I won't put the Lord to the test. But he really had no intention to trust the Lord at all. And so instead of listening to Isaiah, he arranged for a payment. He sent tribute to Tiglath-Pileser and asked him to attack Syria and Israel for him. Syria and Israel attacked Judah. They killed 120,000 men. They carried off 200,000 people captive who only returned when God sent a prophet to confront the Israelites for taking captive their own brothers and sisters. Ahaz's foolish decision brought ruin to Judah, brought ruin to his people. And it showed something very important about this line of David, that ever since David threw Ahaz, no king had arisen. No king had come to the people of Judah. who would be able to faithfully fulfill the will of God and fulfill God's promises to his people. From that time on, no king reigned independently of Judah. They were always vassals of Assyria or some other nation in the ancient Near East. They were always paying tribute to some pagan king in some other far-off country. Ahaz's foolish unbelief brought ruin to his country. But it also left them with a question. When will God provide the king that we need? When will he provide a faithful king who will reign in justice and righteousness? So we come to our passage then in verse 11 of chapter 8. And Isaiah turns his attention away from Ahaz, and he addresses the faithful remnant of Judah. And he calls them to trust the Lord. He begins by, telling them what the Lord has said to me, said to him. He says, for the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me. Speaking to the idea that God didn't just say something to him, but God and his sovereign power was enabling and controlling Isaiah so that he could faithfully fulfill his command. He spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me and warned me, don't walk in the way of this people. What was their way? Very simply put, they were fearful and they had misplaced trust. He says, do not call conspiracy all that the people calls conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. You see, you look at the idea, calling something a conspiracy. In their case, it's not entirely clear what Isaiah is referring to at this point. It could be the conspiracy between Syria and Israel. And in that case, there really was a conspiracy. There really was a threat. And yet God says, don't call it conspiracy. See, the idea of constantly indulging in conspiracy theories like that, in worrying about what other people are doing and how they're threatening us, for the people of God, it reflects unbelief. It reflects a lack of trust. Or perhaps they're looking at Isaiah. And they're saying it's a conspiracy against Ahaz. All the words that you speak, all the things that you say, you claim to be from the Lord. And yet it's always bad. It's always judgment. It's always warning. The Lord warns Isaiah, don't walk in their way. Don't call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy. In other words, don't be afraid of the things they fear. Don't constantly worry as though the Lord is not with you. But instead, the Lord of hosts, Him shall you honor as holy. Let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. As John Oswald observes, it doesn't so much matter what this people feared, what their fear was. What matters is that they know who the people of God fear. When they see us, when they look at us, they know that it's the Lord that we fear, and He is the one that we trust. And there's a promise that comes with this call to trust the Lord. For those who trust him, he will be a sanctuary. It's not just that he'll be a fortress for them. That idea is certainly there, but also that he'll be with them through whatever they go through. God will be with you. He will be a sanctuary with his people. But to those who don't trust him, he'll still be with them, but not as a sanctuary, but as a stone of a fence. a rock of stumbling, a trap and a snare. The idea is that the Lord is there, but because they ignore him, because they refuse to trust him, it's as though they're walking and there's a stone in front of them, and they pay no attention to it, and they stumble and they fall. What does that look like, practically speaking? As we read on, we start to see. Who do they put their trust in? They don't go to the Lord, they don't go to his word, They don't trust his prophets. Verse 19, when they say to you, inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Isaiah asks. It's like that time recorded in 1 Samuel 28, when Saul was fearful of the Philistine armies. And he prayed to the Lord. He sought a word from the Lord and he had nothing. He heard nothing. The Lord didn't answer him. And so he went to a medium in Endor and he asked her for guidance. He flagrantly violated the law of God and consulted with the occult because he couldn't wait for the Lord, because he couldn't trust that God would speak to him. That's what Isaiah says will happen in Judah. That's what he says will happen in Israel. But it shouldn't be that way among the people of God. Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter should not a people inquire of their God. And he says the result of their unbelief will be that they have no dawn. If they do not speak according to the Lord's word, it is because they have no dawn. They will pass through the land hungry, distressed, enraged, and they will speak contemptuously at their God. Why have you not delivered us? Why have you not done what you promised? Rather than praying in faith and trusting the Lord, They'll only be angry with him and hate him. They'll walk in darkness and in gloom of anguish. But for the people of God who heed these words, bind up the testimony, seal the teaching, God would be a sanctuary for them. The idea is not to conceal it or hide it away, but rather to guard it. To guard it from change and from addition. That's what Isaiah is saying. Bind it up, seal it, guard it, commit yourself to it. It's as if to say that the word we have, the testimony we have from the Lord is sufficient. It is enough. We don't need to consult with wizards and witches and whatever it is that this people consult with. We don't need to ask them what we should do. We don't need to seek promises from them or hope from them. Because we have the testimony of the Lord. It's complete. It's sufficient. That's the way that the faithful people of God ought to think in times of trouble and times of uncertainty. And that's what Isaiah calls us to do. Following his example, he says, I will wait for the Lord who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. And so we see the situation in which Isaiah and his disciples lived. They were a faithful remnant, a small group within Judah, but the larger nation had forsaken their God just as their king had forsaken his Lord. They had gone the way of the other nations and the result was ruin. It's at this moment that Isaiah looks forward and he prophesies from the Lord of what will be in latter days. Though they are in anguish, though they are in darkness, though they are in gloom, now, he says, there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. What we see here is that God will begin a work of redemption. He'll begin a work of salvation, and He'll begin it in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali. And why? Because they were the first tribes. Their land was the first land to be conquered by the king of Assyria. They were the first to be carried off, the first to be brought into contempt. And yet, as Matthew tells us, when Jesus began His ministry, He began it in Galilee, of the nations, in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali. In fulfillment of these words, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shown. They would be the first to see the faithful king come into his land and come unto his people. But there's something else here that should arrest our attention. He doesn't just say the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, but he calls it Galilee of the nations. He points to the fact that when this king comes, his ministry will not simply be to the people of Israel, but his ministry will be to the world. Galilee was always a region that was a melting pot. Ever since Israel failed to drive out all the nations in the land, there were people from every nation in the region living in that area. After the Assyrians carried off the Israelites into exile, they resettled the land with others who intermarried, and that land became even more diverse with people from every tribe and nation. So by the time of Jesus, there are Gentiles living there, there are Jews living there, people from the Roman Empire, from Greece, from Assyria, what was formerly Assyria, from the regions of Babylon, and so on and so forth, all resettled in this land. And it's to them that our Lord went when he began his ministry. It's to them that light first dawned. As we look forward then into this passage, we see already that Isaiah is looking forward and seeing the things that God will do through Christ. But let's look specifically at what it is that he will accomplish and what will be the result for his people. He says that those who are in darkness will see a great light. They'll no longer walk in darkness. They'll have knowledge. that God will reveal to them the way of salvation. He'll reveal to them who He is. He'll reveal to them how they might be reconciled to their Maker. There's also joy where there was once anguish. He says, you have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy. They rejoice before you at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. In that ancient world, there were two events that would bring great joy to a nation. Harvest and victory in battle. At harvest, when you bring in all that you spent the entire year sowing and tending to, and you gather that food, it was a cause for joy for people who depended on that harvest every single year, year after year. And likewise, when you looked around and you had threats around you, nations trying to take over your land, trying to seize your resources, trying to remove your kings, and you had victory over them, it was a cause for celebration. Just as when we think of the end of World War I or World War II and the kind of parades and celebrations that ensued in our own country and throughout the world. This is the idea, the joy that God will bring to this people who in Isaiah's day only had gloom and anguish. And how will he do that? Here, Isaiah recalls the exodus with the language we see in verse 4. For the yoke of his burden, the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken. The Lord will deliver them from their bondage. Bondage to Assyria, bondage to Babylon, bondage to the Greeks, bondage to Rome. He'll deliver them from it, but He'll also deliver them from the bondage that binds their own heart. From the sin that controls them. That's what Isaiah looks forward to. Again, he recalls, prior example in the Old Testament, you have broken these things as on the day of Midian, looking back to when God used Gideon and a few hundred men to conquer this great nation, Midian, recorded in Judges 6 and 7. It was clearly a work of the Lord, clearly that something He accomplished, both in the Exodus and through Gideon, because they didn't have the might to accomplish those things on their own. No, clearly Isaiah is looking to a day when God will deliver his people and when it will be clear that he is the one who has done it. Verse five, he goes on to say, every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. The idea is that if the warrior's garments and his boots are burned, are disposed of, are removed, surely his weapons are too. Surely the Lord would not leave those things as well. And it's not just for Israel's oppressors. He says every boot, every garment rolled in blood, will be burned as fuel for the fire. What is Isaiah saying? God will bring everlasting peace. Wars will end. There won't be any of that anymore. Every single boot, every single garment, will be destroyed. And how will it happen? Through a child. For to us a child is born. To us a son is given, he says. Already Isaiah has used this motif, this theme of children to show what God is going to do. God had commanded Isaiah in two instances to have a son and to name that son, to give that son a specific name that would speak to what was going to happen to his people. His first son, a weird name, Maharshal al-Hashbaz. A remnant will return, is what it means. The other son, Sher Jashub. What does it mean? The spoil speeds, the prey hastens. You can imagine what that would be like in Isaiah's context. It would be weird for them, too. The boy walking through town, who are you? The spoilspeeds the prey hastens. I'm sorry, the spoilspeeds the prey hastens. Oh, you must be Isaiah's son, you see. But it would have sent a very clear message. Similarly, Isaiah prophesies that the Lord will give his people a sign. another son, whose name will be Emmanuel, God with us. And it's this latter son that we look to again here in chapter 9. It's this son who is given upon whom the government shall rest. The government shall be upon his shoulder, Isaiah says. And again, he tells us what he will be called, but rather than speaking to the relationship between God and his people, God with us, here the name speaks to the character of this child. In that time, the idea of your name was similar to saying his reputation. It's what he will be known for. His name will be what? Wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. You think about these superlative descriptions. Who could they be ascribed to? Surely not just any man. Someone who is not just wise, but a wonderful counselor. Not just strong. He's mighty God. He's not just kind, loving, but he's an eternal, everlasting father, speaking to his compassion and his love and his care for his people. And he's not just peaceful, he's the prince of peace. He's the one who brings peace forever and ever. When we think of the gospel witness to Jesus Christ, we think of the times when he was confronted by the Pharisees and they'd question him. And at the end of all their questioning, what did the gospel writers tell us? No one dared to ask him anything else because he answered all things well. People were astounded when he would teach by his wisdom because he spoke as one with authority. His disciples, when they saw him calm a stormy sea, they said, who is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? When he was hungry, he was tired from ministry, and he came and found a crowd. He looked at them and had compassion on them, for they were sheep without a shepherd. And he fed them, and he ministered to them all day. We see the great love that he had for this people. And after he had risen from the dead, he comes to his disciples, and the words he says to them, Peace be unto you. Peace be with you. He is the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. And Isaiah tells us about this king, that his government will bring peace and it will never end. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. Every leader who's ever ruled or governed a nation has hopefully strived for justice in some respect. Every one of them has failed to bring it in completely and perfectly, even in their own time. We put our trust in our leaders and then we get frustrated. We get angry. because they fail to bring about perfect justice. We don't even know what perfect justice would look like. We just know that we don't have it. And yet here Isaiah looks to one who, when he establishes his kingdom finally and fully, he will uphold it with justice and with righteousness forever and ever. And why will this happen? Just as we began in verse 11 with Words that signified God's sovereign control of this. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. That God, with His zeal, with His jealous love for His people, will do this. This is the King that we wait for. This is the King we look to. We think about these words at this time of season, when we look at passages like We see in Luke chapter one, verse 32, we see what the angel Gabriel said to Mary when he told her that she would conceive and bear a child. And alluding to this passage, the angel Gabriel said these words to Mary, he will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father, David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. There will be no end. And yet, though Christ reigns even now at the right hand of the Father, we do not see His kingdom in its fullness. This passage does not only look to His first coming, but it looks to His second coming as well. It reminds us that we still wait for the fulfillment of this Word. When we think about the prophetic witness, one person has compared it to looking at a mountain range from a distance. If you stand far off from that mountain range, all of the mountains look as though they're next to each other, on top of each other even. But as you approach that mountain range, you realize that many miles separate them. When we look at the prophecies of the Old Testament, it's very similar. Isaiah speaks about Christ's first coming. He speaks about a second coming all at once. Even in this passage, part of it's fulfilled. or begins to be fulfilled when Christ is born. Part of it's not fulfilled yet till he begins his ministry 30 years later in Galilee of the nations. And part of it certainly will be fulfilled when he comes again and finally puts an end to warfare, finally puts an end to sin, finally redeems his people and reconciles us fully and finally to our God. So what are we to do? What are we to do with a passage like this? How are we to respond? Well, very simply, we're to learn by following Isaiah's example and waiting. When we think of waiting, think of something like waiting at the bus stop, waiting for the sermon to end, waiting for lunch. But when the Old Testament writers used the word waiting, they used it in some ways interchangeably with faith. There is a sense where it's like waiting for a bus, but a better illustration is this. When I was a boy in high school, before I could drive, we didn't have cell phones back then, kids. And so if I got out of practice for football early or school ended and practice was cancelled, I'd have to find a way to get a hold of one of my parents to come and pick me up. They would have told me, my father might have told me, I will pick you up at 5 p.m. Be in front of the store. Well, now it's 4 p.m. and I'm ready to go. I could walk the two miles home, but it's raining. So I'd go to the payphone and if I had a quarter, I'd try and call my dad, hoping he was at his office. Maybe he wasn't. What do I do now? Do I wait an hour? Do I walk home? He said he'd pick me up at five. I start walking in the rain. The rain's pouring. It takes me a long time and all of a sudden I'm about a quarter mile from home and my dad drives by. I went to pick you up. Why weren't you there? You see the idea? You see the illustration? I took matters into my own hands. when I had my father's worth. And similarly, in Isaiah's time, what we see with the people, when God warns them, don't walk in their way, they take matters into their own hands. Just as Ahaz, rather than trust the Lord and do nothing, he sends tribute to the king of Assyria, making him a vassal of that king. The people, rather than resting on the promises they had, the testimony they had, they consult with pagan mediums. But Isaiah resolves, I will wait for the Lord. I will wait for Him to do what He has promised. It doesn't mean inactivity. It doesn't mean doing nothing whatsoever. Otherwise, Isaiah is a contradiction. For he has a long ministry ahead of him. He continues to bear witness and testify to what the Lord will do and who God is and how he will redeem his people. He continues to faithfully trust. He continues to call his disciples to devote themselves to the teaching of the Lord. But he doesn't take matters into his own hands. He doesn't stop trusting the Lord and put his trust in someone else, someone who would fail. That's what Ahaz did. That's what we're prone to do. We get tired of waiting. We get tired of trusting. We want to move on. But here, faith means patiently waiting for God to do all that He promised, knowing that He's good for His word, knowing that He will do everything He said He's done. And do you need proof? Already in this passage, we've seen its fulfillments. We've seen that he's already begun in Christ Jesus to do the things he promised hundreds of years before. Christ did exactly those things. Will he not bring it all to completion? And so we wait. Why do we wait? Because God is not like human leaders or institutions. When Ahaz put his trust in Tiglath-Pileser, he was disappointed. Well, The king of Assyria attacked Syria and Israel. But as 2 Chronicles tells us, when he asked for help against the Edomites and the Philistines, the king of Assyria said, no thanks. You're on your own. And in fact, turned and attacked Ahaz himself. And yet Isaiah says, our king, our Lord, is compassionate, is loving, is zealous for his people. He won't abandon us. He's not like other kings or leaders. We also trust and wait for the Lord because he works in his own time. Not all has been fully accomplished as we've seen. We've only begun to enter the foothills. We're only in the midst of the mountain range, but we have not reached the climactic moment when Christ comes again. So we wait. We can't hasten that day. We can't make it come. We can't do what God has reserved for himself. We can't bring about salvation. We don't need to because we have a God who's promised to do so. We wait for him to work in his time and according to his wisdom, according to his promises. And we wait because he alone can accomplish our salvation. Indeed, we can work for a greater justice. We can seek to do works of mercy in our world, and we should. But not on the scale that we see in Isaiah chapter 9. Not on a scale that's eternal and everlasting and comprehensive for the entire universe. That only Christ can do. The end of war, salvation for the Jew and for the Gentile, righteousness and justice forevermore, His work will be total and complete. When I look at the world without and think on my heart within, my mind overwhelmed with doubt as I consider the depth of our sin. Who is able to save a world as dark as this? Who can come to redeem? Who is sufficient for this? Only a child full of might. Only a king who is love. only one who is light, only a son from above, only a man who is wise, only a prince who makes peace, only one dead who could rise, could make all our warring to cease. As we live in this world full of sin, let us look to the lamb who is slain and trust is an unfailing love as we wait for the Christ's righteous reign. Let's pray. Father, you are good and gracious. You alone are able to fulfill these grand and great promises to your people. Lord, we pray that you would increase our trust, that you would make us faithful in a world full of turmoil, a world full of trouble, in the midst of a world that doesn't trust you. Make them know that we trust you, Lord. Make us to trust. Make us look to Christ, who you sent, and who will come again. May we look to him for our salvation, for our peace, for our light, for his love. May we worship him as we worship you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.