And so let us hear, then, the word of our God. Revelation chapter 1, verse 1. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place. And he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near. John, to the seven churches which are in Asia. Grace to you and peace from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him, even they who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. Even so, amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. Amen. May God add his blessing to the reading and hearing of his holy word. Amen. As we begin here today, I want you to think of the variety of movies that have been made over the last, whatever, 50 years that focus on the end of the world. the great apocalypse or something like that. And so let me list a few of them. Maybe you have seen some of these. And no particular order here. Maybe the Will Smith movie, Independence Day, or I Am Legend, or The Day After, the Bruce Willis movie, Armageddon, Deep Impact, The Day After Tomorrow, Miracle Mile, Mad Max, or some older ones, Dr. Strangelove on the beach, War of the Worlds, And you probably can think maybe of some others. But as we consider these movies, their message is one typically of terror and fear and some savior of some kind can rise up and save the day and stop the end of the world or whatever it is. Well, when we think about the apocalypse, this is what we typically think of in our culture. This is not what John is thinking of, not in the same way. And so, with this briefly in mind then, last week we spent some time talking about the broader issues surrounding this last book in the scriptures. John the Apostle, not a different John, but John the Apostle received these visions and wrote them down. And this took place approximately 95 AD during the days of Domitian while he was on the island of Patmos. And as I read for you, there are many historical witnesses that speak of this time frame. He wrote this letter, of course, to the seven churches in Asia Minor, encouraging them to persevere in the face of growing persecution. But he uses not words only, you might say, but signs and visions to help us to understand. And so this message was not merely for the first century believer in those events, nor was it merely referring to the very end in the days of the tribulation, but rather What we have here, as we read even in Daniel, is a philosophy of history. In particular, a philosophy of history that governs the church age, the time from the first coming of Christ until his return. Now, our goal here is obviously to try to let the text speak for itself and let that guide us to the right view. Our goal here is not to say, well, this view is right and this view is wrong necessarily, but the text is going to lead us to the right understanding. And hopefully we can do that as we go along. But as we go along and as we begin, we have to be aware of some of these things. And so I reviewed briefly last time the Preterist view, the Historicist view, the Futurist view, and the Idealist view. Whatever view we hold to is going to impact literally every verse that we interpret. And so we must be very careful that we have the right view and let the text lead us to that. And so we spent some time on that last time. Now, the other thing that we have to keep in mind and something we'll see here in verse one, and I alluded to it somewhat last week, is that our approach to the text cannot be a literal approach. We must approach the text looking at the symbols, the signs, and understand the principles that are given to us behind that. As we read in Daniel, what's the gold about, or the silver, or the bronze, or these mixed toes, and so forth? We're not to think of a literal statue, but what does it represent? And what does that message mean for us as God's people? Well, due to the challenges of this book, I have added about 50% to my normal study to try to better understand where the different views are coming from and what the text is teaching to us. I reviewed briefly which texts I am using and sources, and I'll certainly make reference to those at different times as we go through this. The goal here, as I just said, is to let the text speak to us. And any teaching, any sermons that are true to God's word are like the images we see here, a word that is placed in the mouth of the speaker. And in so doing, as that mouth opens, it helps us to uncover the truth that is contained within. And so this becomes, again, even more necessary as we come to such a complicated and challenging genre. Now, if you were not here last week, I encourage you to listen to the sermon from last week. If you were not here during the Sunday school lessons where I spent some more time spelling out some of these background things, I encourage you to listen to those as well. And I mentioned also the handouts. Make sure you look at those. They will benefit you as we go through this. All right, well, we come here now, and the first main section, as I mentioned already, is verses 1 to 8, the opening introduction. And it breaks down into two parts, verses 1 to 3 and verses 4 to 8. Because verse 4 begins like a normal letter of the first century would begin, some have argued that verses 1 to 3 were added later, but by John, not necessarily by another author. And if that's the case, and the connections of verses one to three to the very end, and the connections of verse one to three throughout the book are so thorough, you might say, that John did an exceptional job to prepare us. And so maybe he initially started in verse four and then added this later, but it sets the foundation for everything in one way or another. So, let's look here at this first verse and spell out some of the details of it. The first part, the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, as I've mentioned, this is the Greek word apocalypse or apocalypsis, and so we get apocalypse or apocalyptic from it. Notice that it's singular, it's not plural, so we're not talking about the revelations But revelation, yeah, there are many visions, there are many symbols and so forth, but there is one revelation, there's one overall message. Now this word is the only time the word is used in the book, which is somewhat surprising. And so some have suggested we should treat it as a title. I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, but nevertheless, it does stand out. Now notice then that there is one message that God here is giving through John the Apostle and such. Now, as I started here just a moment ago, our culture takes this word apocalypse and gives it a very specific meaning typically. And the term typically means some kind of cataclysmic event. maybe a hurricane or flood or earthquake or something to that effect. Or, of course, they may talk about the end of the world, the destruction at the very end. And, okay, yeah, John does speak to some of these things in the book of Revelation. There are great judgments that are to come, but the word itself does not mean destruction. The word itself means to reveal, to uncover, to disclose, to make known even. And so just recognize when you're watching one of these movies or reading or hearing someone speak this way, say, well, okay, but John means this is a revelation. God is giving us an understanding here. So whether you watch the old movie Apocalypse Now with the Vietnam War or Arnold Schwarzenegger and End of Days, notice it's not just about war, but God telling us about history from the first century until the final return of Christ. Now notice then some implications here. Because this is a revelation, the book is not designed to confuse us. Now, if we're sloppy and careless, it will lead to confusion, but it's not designed to confuse. It's not a closed book. It's not so hard for us to understand that we can only get some very general main ideas out of the book. Not at all. It's a revelation, and there are many things for us to learn here. Now, that's not to say it's gonna be easy. It's gonna take discipline. careful analysis and humility. Now, notice then whose revelation it is. It says the revelation of Jesus Christ. It does not say John's apocalypse. It says Jesus' apocalypse. And so note that correction maybe for some. Notice the name of Jesus that is used here. It's Jesus Christ, and he uses this name again in verse 2 and in verse 5, and those are the only times he uses that particular name, Jesus Christ, in the whole book. And so, right from the beginning, John is saying, we are talking about Jesus of Nazareth, who is our Messiah, okay, not some other Jesus. Not some other function here, even, because we're going to see a lot about Jesus governing all things. Remember, he's our Messiah. He's been anointed, set apart to bring salvation and, of course, to govern the church and even all the world. Now, as we go through the book, we do see him using the name Jesus. He'll use the Lord Jesus, but for Jesus Christ, just here in these opening verses. Now what does the word of mean? Well, there are two primary options for us here in this case, the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now some will say this is to be understood as the revelation about Jesus Christ. And certainly there's truth to that. As we read through the book, we're gonna learn more about Jesus. Here in this chapter, we're gonna see this vision of Christ and how that impacts the seven churches. In chapters four and five, we're gonna see about Jesus at the right hand of the father. We're gonna see how he takes the scroll and so on and so forth. He is the lamb that was slain. So we're gonna learn about Jesus here in the book. That is undoubtedly true. But as we read the rest of the verse I think it is better for us to understand the word of as from. This is the revelation from Jesus. Note the next line, which God gave him and then even toward the end he sent and signified it by his angel. So this idea of source is what is primarily intended here. And so this book, is Jesus' message to His people. Again, this isn't John's message, it's Jesus' message here. All right, now let's bring in the next clause, which God gave Him to show His servants. All right, now first of all, we see that God the Father is the one, you might say, who originates the message, and He gives this message, this revelation, to Jesus to make known to us. Now let's turn a moment to chapter five and verses one and following. You may remember I mentioned last time that as we look at how to outline and subdivide the book, that it appears that what John has in mind here is parallel sections. And so chapters one to three go together, and it refers to the church age. Chapters four to seven go together, and it also refers to the church age. and so on and so forth. Not surprisingly, at the beginning of chapter 1 and in verse 1, we see that this message comes from Jesus and it's given by God. And now here in this second section, we see the same point. So, look at verse one of chapter five. I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, right, God the Father, a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Now let me summarize the next verses here. The angel says, who's worthy to open it? There's no one found, verse three. John cries about it, verse four. Verse five, the elder says, do not weep. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals. So verse 6, he looks and sees the Lamb. Verse 7, the Lamb comes. He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. So then everybody worships, verses 8 and following. And then if you look at chapter 6, verse 1, now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and it continues. Do you see the same message? This scroll is going to tell us about history. These seven seals as they're open we learn more of God's plan for history and it's given to Christ and he is making it known to us as he opens the seals. So do you see this parallel thought? This is a pattern we expect to see throughout the book. Now because this is an initial idea we don't see this idea in every one of the seven parallel sections but we do see them here in the first two. And that makes sense. So as we come back to chapter 1 and verse 1, note then this idea that God gave this message to Christ. Now, let me also call our attention to this point. John says it here in the book of Revelation, but he said the same thing in his gospel. Let's look at a few examples here just briefly. If you turn back to John chapter 8, I will do this on occasion as we go through the letter, but the reason why I'm doing it is very simply this. Some have claimed that the John who wrote the Gospel and the John who wrote Revelation are different Johns, and the argument is the two books are so different that it can't be the same author. Well, there are differences, but there are also similarities. Note this. John 8, and first of all, verse 26. John 8 verse 26, Jesus speaking, I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but he who sent me is true and I speak to the world those things which I heard from him. And then note verse 28, when you lift up the son of man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing of myself and as my father taught me, I speak these things. At the same point, if you turn to John 17, there's one more example here. This is the so-called high priestly prayer of Christ. In John 17, note verse 8, the first part of the verse, I have given to them the words which you have given me. So, yeah, there are differences between John's gospel and the book of Revelation, but there's no reason for us to believe they were different authors. Note the similarities here, and there are many others like that. As we come back here to Revelation, let me just say briefly one commentator's statement here about this part of the verse. He says, notice how the Word of God is speaking the words of God. He's received them, and now He's communicating them to us. All right, now, notice the next part of this clause here, which God gave him to show. Here's our other key word here in the verse. We have revelation, and now we have show. This word is used eight times in the book. And then there are others, like to see or vision or something like that. Now, John obviously is using words here, but you might say he's using word pictures. He's showing us the truths by recording the visions that he saw, that God gave to him. You might say that the book of Revelation is the closest we get to a movie. in the Scriptures. But don't go out and get your popcorn and coke and sit back and be entertained. Approach the text carefully. Engage with the scenes to make sure you are seeing what John saw and what we are intended to see and understand. Then notice how this clause ends. It says, servants, to show his servants. Who are the servants of Jesus here? Well, obviously it includes John. Look at the end of the verse, right? His servant, John. But this word is plural. But we don't want to limit it to just those who have some kind of higher knowledge or who are enlightened with this kind of genre or something like that. But in light of what we see from chapter one into chapters two and three, I think we have to understand this to mean that this message is shown to the seven churches, to the believers of the seven churches at the end of the first century. And now here our views come into play. Because I believe that the book of Revelation is to be understood symbolically, that we should understand the millennium symbolically. And so therefore the millennium refers to the time between the comings of Christ. the church age. We are in the millennium now. And so the application here is not merely to the churches at the end of the first century, but to us too. This message that God gave to Jesus to show to us these truths, it's a message for us. It's a relevant message. It wasn't just a message for the first century, and it isn't just a message for those during the tribulation or something like that, but it is a message for all of God's people throughout church history. All right, now let's look at the next part of this. Things which must shortly take place. Now, a more literal translation is this. Things which must be quickly. Things that must be, or must take place, is the New King James, and then you have the adverb here, quickly. All right, now let's talk about the first part of this, the things that must be. These must take place. Why? Because God planned it. This particular word that we translate as must is almost always used in this context in the New Testament. It's referring to God's sovereignty in some way or another. And here we see his plan. They must take place because God planned it. He actually wrote it in a scroll and sealed it up. And then he gave it to the lamb who unfolds it and uncovers it and reveals it. And so what he wrote down must take place. And notice, this, if you will, more preachable point, God's control of everything. All events of history are under God's control, including evil, including suffering. God is not so loving but powerless to do anything to show that love, nor is he so powerful without love. He is in control of everything. He is filled with justice and wisdom and love and goodness. God's planned everything. Now, this does not mean that he enjoys watching us suffer, but the idea, of course, is that we suffer because of sin, either our sin specifically or sin in general. But notice the point. If you were in one of these churches and you were facing persecution at the end of the first century, and you heard this message from John, and right from the beginning you heard these things must take place, doesn't that give you some comfort? Doesn't this give you maybe some humility to quit complaining about things? Everything is at God's hand. Everything has been planned by Him. History is not random chance. There's nothing random about the events of life. God has planned it all. And so again, you see our philosophy of history being informed by this very, it's only a three-letter word in the Greek. You must, it must happen. And so keep that in mind as we face some of these things even in our own day. All right, now the next word here is the word quickly or the New King James says here shortly. Yours may say swiftly or soon or something to that effect. Okay, now let me dwell on this word for a little bit. because it becomes a very, very important idea, especially in the Preterist viewpoint. And so let me address it here right from the beginning. First of all, let's turn to chapter 22. All right, the book ends, or excuse me, begins with this word. Notice how it ends as well. Note verse six. Verse six of Revelation 22. Then he said to me, these words are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show his servants the things which must shortly take place. Hey, word for word, isn't it? You see the same wording here at the end as we saw at the beginning. Note also verse seven. Behold, I am coming quickly. Verse 12, behold, I am coming quickly. Verse 20, surely I am coming quickly. Now, these are actually two different words in the Greek. The one in verse six and the one in the other three verses is a different word, but they're related words and a related idea. Now, as I mentioned a moment ago, the Preterists take these words and they make a big deal out of this. In a sense, you could say they are the foundation, this idea, these words are the foundation for the Preterist viewpoint. Maybe that's a bit of an overstatement, but not much, because they believe that because John says these things will happen soon, then that has to refer to things that are happening in John's lifetime. And of course, they point to the fall of Jerusalem in particular. But as I tried to communicate to you last week, the early church did not view it this way. You read at least a dozen sources in the early church that say John's referring to the time of Domitian, not the time of Nero and prior to the fall of Jerusalem. So the historical evidence the preterists view more or less ignore. So how do we take this word then? How should we understand it? Well, the word in our verse today is used eight times in the New Testament. The word here at the end, chapter 22, those three other times, that word is used 18 times. That particular word, universally refers to time in the sense of a chronological next time frame. Okay, so just for example, in Matthew chapter 28, this is the women at the well, and the angel speaks, go quickly and tell his disciples, verse eight, so they went out quickly. Obviously, it's just referring to a matter of moments. Now this other word, the one in our verse here today, can mean that, but it also seems to have a different flavor to it. Let's turn first to Luke chapter 18. And as you're turning there, I'll just read briefly from Acts chapter 12. This one is used when Peter was in prison and the angel came to release him. Okay, and in verse seven it says, angel stood by him, showing the light in the prison, struck Peter in the side, raising him up and said, arise quickly, right, get out of here. But here in Luke 18, notice verse eight in this parable. Notice what it says here. I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. There's the word. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? Notice this word quickly is used in the context of Christ's return. And then if you turn to Romans chapter 16, Romans chapter 16, and in verse 20, Here's some of these last words in the letter. Romans 16 verse 20, and the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. There's the word again. Now, maybe we could say that Paul's referring to something that will happen relatively soon chronologically speaking, but ultimately this is gonna be fulfilled when Jesus comes back, right? The point is, should we take this word quickly in a chronological sense, or should we take it in an eschatological sense? Now those aren't mutually exclusive, but we do have that distinction here. So how are we going to answer this question? Well, let's let scripture interpret scripture. Let's turn now to Daniel and chapter 2. As I mentioned a little bit ago when we read from this, I indicated to you that John very clearly is referring to this passage here in Revelation 1 verse 1. Let me show you how. Now first let me say this, the book of Daniel is a combination of being written in Hebrew and in Aramaic, because Aramaic was becoming the more common language, and when they translated it into Greek, there are actually two different versions. There is one that's the so-called regular Septuagint version, and there's another one called Theodotion. And it appears that John may have had exposure to both of them. Because as we read his wording, sometimes it fits more with the regular one, other times it fits more with the Theodotion version. And so this has raised all kinds of questions. But let me show you what we see. Let's look here first of all at verse 28. Remember the context here, this dream here to Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel is going to interpret it and so forth. And notice in verse 28 these words, but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets. That word is the word apocalypse. And he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar. That word make known is the word to show. What will be is the phrasing, it must take place, same language, but they know the difference. It doesn't say quickly here, it says in the latter days. Look at verse 29. As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed about what would come to pass after this. There's again that it must take place language, and then after this, similar to the latter days. And he who reveals secrets, there's the apocalypse word again, has made known to you, there's that show word again, and notice how it ends, what will be. There's that it must happen idea again. Same language, same words used here. Verse 30, but as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king and you may know the thoughts of your heart. So note again, this language of revealing and making known. So apocalypse and the word for show. It's no accident that John is using these words in chapter 1 verse 1. He is calling our attention back to this. Now if you jump down to verse 45. after telling him what the dream was and its interpretation. Note then verse 45, inasmuch as you saw the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God who has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. Now, in this case, the make known word is the word for signify. We haven't talked about that yet here in verse one today, but it's that word. And then again, you have this come to pass, it must happen language. And again, notice the in the last days or after this language. And then if you look at verse 47, the king answered Daniel and said, truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret. Again, you have this word for apocalypse. There are actually two words for apocalypse. They're a little different, but sometimes you see one, sometimes you see the other. But obviously, it's the same idea. And then again, you have this word for showing. So the repetition here is like, hey, this isn't an accident that John is connecting us to Daniel. All right, now. How can we answer the question of quickly? Notice the change. John is using the same language, but instead of saying, in the latter days, the last days, or after this, he says quickly. Why? Well, it clearly stands out. It appears, in light of the rest of the book and even the rest of the New Testament, and that John is indicating to us that we are no longer waiting for the last days. Daniel was, but now the Messiah has come. We're not waiting for the latter days. We are in them. They began at the first coming of Christ. They began at his death, resurrection, ascension, and the giving of the spirit at Pentecost. Now notice what this is pointing us toward. Understanding the word quickly, not in a chronological sense, but in an eschatological sense. Okay? What is the next event in eschatological history? It's the return of Christ. Now, of course, the dispensationalists will say, well, there's going to be this partial return, and the rapture, and the church will be gone, and then the millennium. Okay, they have a different view in that sense. But they would agree and say quickly should be understood eschatologically and that the next event in redemptive history is the return of Christ. And so when John says this or Jesus says this, as we saw in chapter 22, he's talking about his return. I'm going to come quickly. The next event in redemptive history is my return. And so hence, you've probably heard people use the language of imminence. Okay, I-M-M-I, not A. Okay, so an imminent return. The next event in God's plan of redemption is this. And so as the millennium began at the first coming, it will end at the second coming. We are in the millennium, we are in the last days. Now maybe we're at the end of the last days now, we don't know that. Okay? John didn't know that. We don't know that. We may be here another 2,000 years. We don't know, but it's still soon because it's the next event in redemptive and eschatological history. Of the four different views, only the preterists have trouble with this understanding. The other three, the historicists, the futurists, and the idealist view, all hold to this understanding of the word quickly. And I do as well, I think it makes most sense and we don't have to ignore historical context as the Preterists do in regard to the first century and the evidence of the early church. And so though they make a big deal about this word, unfortunately I think they've built on a faulty foundation. And so I think what we have here is John telling us that the message that God gave to his son is revealed to us, and he is saying the things that are in this book are going to take place quickly because the next event is the return of Christ. Now, time in God's mind is not quite the same as ours, and that's how we should understand this. All right, well, let's look now at the next part. The next part here is, and he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant, John. All right, now do you see the flow here? God is the source. He gives the message to Jesus. Jesus now is giving this revelation by his angel, it says. The angel then brings that revelation to John. And John then writes it down for the servants, for the churches, for us. So God, Jesus, angel, John, and the people of God. Now, as for the angel, who was he? We don't know. In chapter 12, verse 7, Michael is mentioned by name. Maybe it was Michael. Maybe it was Gabriel. Maybe it was another angel. Some have even suggested more than one angel. But it does say angel singular here. So maybe other angels were used, but there is one in particular. So there's a variety of suggestions here. But notice how this angel is closely associated with Jesus. It's His angel. Now, in Galatians 3.19, we are told how angels are used to mediate the law to Moses, and so we have a similar idea here in this way. The word angel actually is used 67 times in the book. There are a lot of connections to angels. We'll see many of them as we go forward, but Jesus is using one in particular, it seems, but even other angels here to communicate this message. All right, now notice the word signify here in this part of it. He sent and signified it. Now, if you have another translation, you might have the word make known or that translation in that way. That's okay. I think to make known by signs would be a better way of translating the word if you're not going to say signify. God is making known his message. showing it by signs, by symbols, by images, and even by auditory kinds of things. And so therefore, as I've been saying, we cannot interpret this literally, or we're gonna miss much. We just saw that with the word quickly. But these things are shown to us, and so use your eyes to see the truth in these images. And then, once you find out what those principles are, then we can apply it literally. And so I'll make mention of that many times as we go along. Now notice how the verse ends. It says, his servant, John. And notice it does not say the apostle John or something like that, but his servant. So notice how John's identifying with the servants who are receiving this message. Remember, this is not John's apocalypse, this is Jesus' apocalypse. So John's not the primary source, Jesus is, God is, so he identifies with the recipients in this way. Note also his humility. John did not seek this out by doing some specialist static experience to divine God's will or something, no, Jesus came to him. And so he is the mouthpiece. John the Apostle is who we're talking about here. All right, let me end with this, just this one thought here. In the first century, there are actually quite a few apocryphal works, and written almost exclusively by the Jews, from what we understand. And so the book of Revelation has many similarities to those other apocryphal works. There are also some key differences and one of the key differences is that those works do not identify the author in the same way that John does here. He says his name four times here in the book and that's unusual. And the other unusual thing is those apocryphal works are not written as a letter. John is writing this as a letter. to the seven churches. And so we will make some connections with some of those apocryphal works, but note here this difference. This is the true apocalypse of Jesus Christ. So, as always, much to say, but here are a few things to help set the foundation of what we are doing and learning here in the book. So we'll pick up with this, Lord willing, next time. Let's pray. Our Father in God, we thank you again for your word. And we are thankful, Lord, that your word agrees with itself. And we are thankful, Lord, that you have given us your spirit to enable us to understand. We pray for that as we make our way now through this book. We praise you, Lord, that you are in charge of all of history. There is nothing that is outside of your plan and purpose. There is nothing that is random or chance. You are in control of all things. And we are thankful, Lord, that you have not left us in the dark, though there are many, many things we don't understand. Yet you have given us some understanding of your plan of history. And as we see that here in the book, we pray that you would give us this understanding so that we would know then how to serve you and to live for you as we await this near return of Christ. And we pray, Lord, that you would be honored as we seek to overcome and persevere, as John calls us to do. And so, Lord, we again pray that you would be magnified in our seeking to understand this challenging book. And so we praise you, our Father, and oh Lord Jesus, and your mercies to us here in this way. And so we pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen.