We're turning to the book of the Revelation, chapter 22. Let's begin our reading at the beginning of verse number eight, Revelation chapter 22 and the verse number eight. And let's hear God's word. Let's hear it reverently. And I, John, saw these things and heard them. And when I heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou, do it not. For I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book. Worship God. And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. He which is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and they enter in through the gates into the city. For without her dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and adulterers, idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, and the bright in the morning star, and the spirit and the bride say, come, And let him that heareth say, Come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He, which testifieth these things, saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Let's briefly pray together. Our loving Father, we come to Thee in Jesus' name, and pray now, Lord, for the help of Thy Spirit, as I come to preach the Word, and as the congregation comes to listen, We pray, Lord, that Thou wilt help our hearts to be receptive. Lord, we recognize, Lord, that we simply are here to preach that which Thou has given. Help me, Lord, to do that, I pray, and guide us through this service, we cry to Thee. We offer prayer now, in and through the Savior's holy, precious, and worthy name. Amen. It has already taken us six weeks to consider the various names and the various titles that are given to the Lord Jesus Christ by the Apostle John in this closing book of the New Testament canon. In our studies together, we have considered names and titles like the Faithful Witness, the First Begotten of the Dead, the Prince of the Kings of the Earth, The Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the Almighty, the First and the Last, the Morning Star, the Lamb, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, King of Kings, the Lord God Omnipotent, Faithful and True, and the Word of God. Now, whether this has not been exhaustive in any way, our studies have enabled us to turn the kaleidoscope of God's Word in order that we would get a different view of the Lord Jesus Christ, the person around which the entire Scripture centers upon. Each name, each title has revealed something different about the Son of God. For this service, I want us to come for a final time to the book of the Revelation and consider from its contents one last name, one last title that is given here to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, as we've come to our self-ascribed name, because we find the Lord Jesus Christ as he comes to close out this particular chapter and particularly this book, he comes once again to do the same thing. He ascribes names, he ascribes titles to himself. He does that in the verse number 13, as he did at the start of the book. He says there, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. However, it's really his declaration in the verse number 16 that we want to consider in this service. I, Jesus, and so Christ is the speaker here, the Lord Jesus Christ, the speaker here, I, Jesus, have sent mine angel or my pastor, my messenger, to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and the morning star. If you have been awake throughout these messages, you'll know that we've already dealt with that final title, The Bright and Morning Star. We considered that title in one of our messages. And so, what we want to simply do today is to look at this title, The Root and the Offspring of David. Jesus Christ says, I am the root and I am the offspring of David. You think about it, there must be a significance, there must be something significant with regard to this title, because whenever you think of it, this is the final way in which God the Son chooses to reveal Himself to us in the whole of Scripture. This is the last picture. This is the last representation. This is the last revelation that Jesus Christ gives of Himself here. This is, as it were, to be the abiding thought, the abiding picture that is to be in the mind of the reader of Holy Scripture. This is how you are to remember Him. He is described here as the root and the offspring of David and the bright and the morning star. Trust that we'll be able maybe to prize out then the significance of this title in the moments that are left to us of this meeting. Now the thing that we must first consider together, and the first thing that needs to be said, is that this is not the first time that the Son of God has spoken off in terms of being a root. I am the root and the offspring of David. If you turn in your Bible to the book of Isaiah, for you'll find this title given to Christ in the Old Testament. Isaiah chapter 11. In Isaiah chapter 11, we want to read from the opening verse and read a number of the verses that we have here. Look out for this thought, this truth, this word, the root. Look out for it as we read through these verses. So we're in Isaiah chapter 11 in the verse number one. And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them, and the cow and the bear shall feed. Their young ones shall lie down together, and the ox shall eat straw like the ox. The lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall be put his hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign or a banner for the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious. These verses, they are messianic in their import. This chapter is undoubtedly a prophecy concerning the coming Messiah and gives us an account of his descent into this world. This is one who would arise from the household of Jesse. He shall grow out of Jesse's roots. A branch shall grow out of his roots. It goes on to speak about his qualifications, the qualifications of his office as king and as judge, and the performance of it. It speaks about the peaceableness of his kingdom, pictured in the wolf lying down with the lamb, and the leopard lying down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion. and the fattling living together it speaks about the spread of his kingdom among the Gentile nations by the preaching of the gospel so that then the Gentiles will seek after him and they will come to experience the glorious race that is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But notice how the Messiah is referred to in the verse number 10. There he is called the root of Jesse. It's very interesting that the Apostle Paul, he takes this verse, this verse in Isaiah, and he employs it over there in Romans chapter 15 in the verse 12. And he does so as he finishes out his letter to the Christians there in the city of Rome. And he does so for the purpose that he wants to remind those believers, those Gentile believers, that their coming to Christ, that their seeking of Christ, that them entering into the glorious rest that is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ was something that was predicted and foretold by the Old Testament prophets. You see, you'll hear in dispensational circles, you'll hear with regard to their teaching that the New Testament, the church was an afterthought. The New Testament church, the workings of God among the Gentiles was simply an afterthought of God, that simply God's plan and purpose was with regard to the Jews. And whenever the Jews rejected Christ, then God had another plan, God had another purpose. He had to then make his gospel known to the Gentiles, but that is not the case. Simply the case is that God had a global plan from the beginning of the world. A plan that would involve nations, Jew and Gentile, coming to Christ and enjoying the glorious rest that is found in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Messiah here is predicted by Isaiah as being from the root of Jesse, the father of David. Now jump forward 42 chapters to the chapter number 53, to that much-loved chapter in the book of Isaiah, because we find this thought, this word again brought to our attention. You'll find the same designation given to the Lord Jesus Christ, the suffering servant of Jehovah, the one who would die for sins, the one who would be smitten, the one who would be wounded, the one who would be bruised, the one upon whom our chastisement of our peace would be placed upon him. We read these words in the opening verse, Who hath believed our report? Have you believed our report concerning Jesus Christ? Can I pause there? Can I speak to you, unconverted person? The report concerning Jesus Christ, who He is, the eternal Son of God, who became the Son of God, who lived in this world, who became man, who dwelt among us, who honored and satisfied and upheld the law. The one who then suffered and bled and died for sin upon the cross, the one who was raised again from the dead, the one who ascended back into heaven and is at the Father's right hand and is coming again in power and glory. Have you believed the report? Have you believed the gospel report? Who hath believed our report? There are those in this meeting and you have not believed that report. You have not believed it to the saving of your soul. Oh, believe, believe the report. Believe that he's coming again. Believe that he's going to judge this world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained, and he has proven it, that he has raised him from the dead. Believe the report. Who has believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root. Out of a dry ground he hath no form nor comeliness, and when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him. And so the Lord Jesus Christ is referred to by Isaiah again as a root out of a dry ground. But even if we were to confine our studies exclusively to the book of the Revelation, you'll find that this again is not the first time that John employs this This picture, this term, this phrase with regard to Jesus Christ in chapter 22 in the verse 16. Because in chapter 5 and the verse number 5, one of the 4 and 20 elders who stand before the throne of God, they refer to the Son of God in this way. Speaking to John in Revelation 5 verse 5. One of the elders said unto me, weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. The one who has the moral authority, the one who has the legal right to open, as it were, the sealed book, is the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David. And we believe that this is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. It's very interesting regarding this title. Let me go a little bit further. Let me say that it's very, it's astonishing. that the Lord Jesus Christ does not speak of himself as being the seed of David. Now he does, that is a way in which he is referred to by Paul. Paul refers to Jesus Christ as the seed of David over there in the book of Romans and the chapter one, verse three, and also in 2 Timothy, chapter two and the verse eight. But rather he comes to say here, first of all, he says that I am the root of David. And by employing that term about himself, he's making something very clear. Not only am I born of the seed of David, but I am one who made David in the first place. I am the root of David. In other words, from me, David came. From me, David came. We all know that trees have roots. Before the trunk of a tree and its branches ever come to appear above the ground, the tree's root develops. That root predates the trunk, predates the branches of the tree. And so how do we come then to square this seeming circle? Because we all know that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem long after David ever grew up in that same Judean town? How do you square the circle? How do you square the circle that Jesus Christ predated David? Well, you come to square the circle by believing the great doctrine of the pre-existence of Jesus Christ prior to His incarnation. You must never think that Jesus Christ came into existence when he was born in Bethlehem's manger. But rather Jesus Christ existed prior to his coming into the world. Actually, he lived prior to even the commencement of the world. In eternity past, before time's clock was ever commenced, God the Son coexisted with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, and thus God the Son, Jesus Christ, predated David in terms of his deity, and thus he is the root of David, but he is also the descendant of David, he is the offspring of David, thus post-dating David in terms of his humanity. This is one of Christianity's great mysteries. And yet it is revealed, Jesus Christ, He existed prior to His coming into this world. Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. Now, you may think, well, preacher, we understand that, we accept that. Can I say down through church history that that has not been accepted? At the beginning of church history, councils and gatherings were held by the church in order to determine this much prized and this much cherished doctrine of the Holy Scripture, the eternal existence of the Son of God. Before time began, He lived, He existed in all of His deity, in all of His Godhood. among and with the other members of the Holy Trinity. You'll find that the Jehovah Witnesses do not believe in the eternal existence of the Son. You'll find many of the cults do not believe in the eternal existence of the Son of God. And so he says, I am the root, I'm the root, and I'm also the offspring of David. And thus we look at it with regard to his deity, and we look at this title with regard to his humanity. As we consider this title of how Jesus Christ describes himself as the root and the offspring of David, we can say a number of things about it. First of all, this title implies the Son of God's identification with humanity. It implies the Son of God's identification with humanity. Jesus Christ is the offspring, the prodigy, the descendant of David. From the family of Israel's greatest king, the Messiah came into the world. John, he speaks in his gospel of Christ, the eternal Son, coming into this world in these terms. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus Christ is truly man as well as he is truly God. In the fullness of time he was made of a woman. He had a true and a real humanity like all humanity with the exception of one thing, sin. He knew no sin. He did no sin. He could not sin. But God comes to identify with his fallen creatures by becoming one of them with the exception of sin. Now the God of Islam doesn't do that. The God of Islam did not become a man. and dwell among the human race. The God of Buddhisms and the gods of Hinduism, they did not do that. And yet God, and I'm taking the words of the Apostle Paul here in Romans 8 and the verse 3, sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. God becomes man and yet never ceases to be God. What a mystery. And we'll come to consider that in coming weeks as we make our way towards Christmas Day, as we think of the incarnation, the manifestation of God into this world, that God is identified with His people. He comes to identify with humanity. He becomes a man. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine the eternal Son takes to Himself humanity? And he enters this world and he leaves heaven. He leaves us the eternal sun and he comes back to heaven clothed in the garments of our inferior clay. Is it any wonder then that the psalmist in Psalm 22 said, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in. What amazement! What astonishment it must have been that the son is left and now he comes back as one clothed in humanity and yet bringing that humanity to a place where Adam never took it to, to a place where that humanity will never fall. That's what he has done for us. And all who are united to Jesus Christ, thank God, those who are in Christ, we will never fall. John Macduff was a preacher from a bygone and he said these words about God taking on flesh. They're worth listening to. He says, what a transition, what a stoop for that infinite being whom we find proclaiming himself the Alpha and the Omega, writing his name on the palace walls of eternity. I am that I am. for the ancient of days to assume the nature and take the form of a cradled infant sleeping on a virgin mother's breast, the plant of heaven renowned to become a root out of a dry ground without beauty or loveliness. We have no plumb line, he said, to sound the depths of that humiliation. no arithmetic by which it can be submitted to any process of calculation. Christ's identification with the human race by His becoming man is important when it comes to the whole matter, the whole scheme of salvation Because as lost and as guilty and as helpless sinners, our only hope of our salvation is found in a substitute that is acceptable to God. And yet that substitute must be God Himself. because it is God that we have wronged, and only God can provide an infinite sacrifice of infinite value, sufficient to pay for the sins of His people. However, that substitute must be something. What must he be? He must be sinless. He must be sinless. A sinless human being, sinless so that the death penalty bore would not be for his own sin, but for the sins of his people. In Jesus Christ I have such a Savior, and in Jesus Christ you have such a Substitute, for he is the sinless Son of God. And so this is necessary, the taking of himself flesh. And so he comes out of the tribe of Jesse, out of David's family, out of David's family tree. B.B. Warfield, he wrote, the glory of the incarnation is that it presents to our adoring gaze, not a humanized God or a deified man, but a true God-man, one who is all that God is and at the same time all that man is, one on whose mighty arm we can rest and in whose human sympathy we can appeal. Knowing all the limitations that come from being a human being, And having taken to himself a true humanity with, as I've said, the exception of sin, the Lord Jesus Christ now is able to sympathize with and he is able to succor his people. And that's the very basis or that's the very argument of the writer to the saints of God who were written to in that book of Hebrews, because he comes to make this, he comes to express. With regard to this matter, in Hebrews chapter 2, he comes to write these words concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, the verses 16 through to 18. For verily, speaking of Christ, he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. Make reconciliation for the sins of the people, for in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. O child of God, whatever trial or trouble you're passing through today, let me encourage you to turn to Christ for succor and for relief. The sympathizing Savior knows all, knows all that troubles you today. He is Emmanuel. He is God with us. This title also that we're considering together, it points us to the keenly office that Christ executes on behalf of his people. The title, The Root and the Offspring of David, embodies a reference to the keenly office of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a direct descendant of David, Jesus Christ was the rightful heir, was the rightful heir to David's throne. And it is upon that throne that he reigns today. A vivid representation of the prophet regarding the Christ of God as that of king. whose reign is in peace and truth and equity and righteousness forever and forever. You think of that prophecy over there in Isaiah chapter 9 that is often read during this time of the year. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, and upon the throne of David. and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall and will perform this. Whenever the angel spoke to Mary, he said these words to Mary, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God. Luke chapter 1, verse 30, And behold, thou shalt conceive, and thy woman bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great. And shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him, what? The throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. And so, folks, the last view that you get of Jesus Christ, the last view that you get of Jesus Christ and the Word of God is that of the rightful claimant of David's throne. The last view that we get of him is the reigning king. A reign that will know no end. Now we've thought about Christ as king on quite a few occasions recently, and I'm not going to rehash all that I've said. But brethren and sisters, we need to keep, we need to keep this truth before us. As we look at our world, and as we look at our society that seems to be drifting further and further away from God, and then to the quagmire of sin. We only have to look at what happened in the so-called mother of parliaments in the past week to see where we are as a nation. First, it was the child in the womb, and now it's the individual who nears the tomb that is in danger with regard to life itself. Brethren and sisters, we must remember that Jesus Christ is King. When God the Son said that he was the root and the offspring of David, he wanted us to see him as the reigning King. It's as if he's saying, now this is the view that I want you to keep in your mind. You're not going to read anything more about me at the end of this book. This is the last thing that I'm going to tell you about. And the thing that I'm going to tell you is that I am king. I'm king. And my kingdom and of my kingdom there is no end. And my reign will never end. Oh, let us keep that view before us as we look at our lives and as we look at all that's happening in our world. As King he rules, as King he reigns, he presides all that is happening in our world and in our lives. Oh, there's no doubt that our enemies are many, no doubt that our enemies are mighty, but he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. It's not the dying Christ on the cross It's not the dead Christ in the tomb that is our final view of the Son of God in the Scriptures. That's not the final view. The parting vision that we're given of God the Son is that He is King. He is King. He is the root and the offspring of David. It also points to the humility of Christ, The lowly position that the Lord Jesus Christ took up when he stepped out of eternity and into time is expressed, I believe, in the descriptive word as a root. A root is hidden from view. The Son of God spent the vast majority of his earthly life hidden away in obscurity. It wasn't until the age of 30 that he comes out of the shadows and, as it were, into the limelight. And whenever he did, his true identity was concealed from many as he walked this scene of time in the garments of our inferior clay. He was humbled for a season. He took the lowly place. And in doing so, He provides an example for us all to take a similar position in our lives. He resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble. Oh, let us not be those who seek the prominent place, but the lowly place. He was but a root, but the root in a dry ground. That's all He was. Oh, the humility of our Savior. This title, The Root and Offspring of David, it speaks to us of the hope that is found in Jesus Christ. You see, by the time that the Lord Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, the Davidic dynasty appeared to be, as it were, cut down like a tree stump. It was dead. It was gone. It was severed. There was no one, as it were, claiming the throne of David. That dynasty had appeared to be long dead. To the world, the royal line from David's family seemed to be long dead without any hope of restoration. And yet from this old, seemingly dead tree stump, there would sprout a branch, the Lord Jesus Christ. The phrase that Isaiah uses, a root out of a dry ground, it has connotations of Jesus Christ sprouting unexpectedly from what seemed to be a long dead dynasty, David's dynasty. And from that spiritual barrenness and from that spiritual obscurity, this tender shoot of the Savior grows up before the Lord. And what does that shoot do? It comes to redeem mankind. This root, and this shoot, and this branch appears in the person of Jesus Christ, and it brings hope to a world that is filled with hopelessness. I thought about a verse, a scripture, you'll find it in the book of Job. Job 14, verse 7. For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Such was, as it were, the tree of David's family. It appeared that the royal line of succession had been lost. The tree was cut down, but listen, the root remained. And Jesus Christ in the house of David, he appears in the fullness of time to claim the right, his rightful claim to the throne of his father, David. Where the root existed, there was always hope. There was always hope. From the apparent dead root of David's family, Christ, the root of David, sprang forth to redeem a people for himself. Thus, when the root was still there, there was hope. Maybe you're a father, a mother, a Christian individual, and you believe that the root of the matter is in your child, but at present, they're far from God and they're living in sin. I tell you, if the root is there, there's hope. If the root is there, there's hope. God is able. Where the hope of a tree have ever been cut down, that it will sprout again. Oh, that that would happen in this congregation, individuals. And it appears that you're drifting far from God. Oh, that you would sprout again. God would deal with your heart even today. And so Christ appears in the fullness of time. This one, this rightful claimant to David's throne. And what do they do to their king? They nail him to a tree. That's what they do to him. They nail him to a tree. They do not, as it were, rise up and put the Romans out and set Christ as king, because his kingdom was not of this world. His was a spiritual kingdom, a kingdom of grace, a kingdom of glory. And so they take their king, and they nail him to a cross, and they spit upon him, and they mock him, and they deride him, and they give him a crown of thorns instead of a royal diadem of gold. And they give him a scepter, a simple rod, a stick, to be as a scepter. And they clad him about in the purple robe the garments of his kingship, and they only do it in mockery. They killed the Prince of life and the Prince of glory. Aye, and sinner, you put him to open shame. It's as if you have nailed him to the cross. this King, this King of kings, this Lord of lords, this King of the ages, this rightful King, you have dethroned through sin, and you have enthroned self upon the throne of your heart. Oh, today may there be a rising up, may there be a dethroning of sin and self, May today you say to Christ, King of my life, I crown thee now, thine shall the glory be. Take thy rightful place, take the throne of my heart, and I will submit in humble submission to thy rule and to thy dominion. Oh, may God bring you to himself this day. This is the final view that we are given of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Keep it in front of you, child of God. When the road gets difficult, when all around you seems to be falling apart, Keep in mind the one on the throne, your God, your King. May God bless His word. Let's bow our heads in prayer together. O God, we come to acknowledge that thou art King, King of this world, King of the church, King of our lives, We pray, Lord, for those who know thee not in such a way that today they will come in humble submission. Oh, we thank thee for those wise men. Lord, there in the book of Matthew, they came seeking after the Savior. Where is he that is born? King of the Jews. They sought the Savior. Oh, that there would be wise men and women young people, boys and girls today that would seek after the Savior, that would seek for the King. Oh, we pray that the King would take his rightful place in the hearts and lives of many. Help us, Lord, in these days, these days, Lord, when it seems to be so dark. Oh, help us, Lord, to look ever to the throne where Christ reigns and rules. Oh, we look to heaven. We look to our God. Our King, he sitteth on the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants of this world are only but grasshoppers in his sight. The nations are but as a drop in the bucket. Lord, help us to understand that we are only but a small dust upon the balances. May Christ ever be in his rightful place, and Lord, in turn, where we find ourselves in our proper place, before thy footstool of mercy, before thee in the dust, acknowledging that thou art God and God alone. We pray, Lord, that thou wilt part us with thy fear and with the blessing of heaven, and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit, rest and remain and abide upon all of thy people until the day comes when all shadows will flee away. We offer prayer in Jesus' precious and lovely name. Amen.