For the sake of some who were not here last night, I probably need to give a very short introduction before we go on this morning.
We mentioned that God promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the land. But as we read the Word of God, we find that even after the children of Israel were delivered out of Egypt, led through the wilderness by Moses, and able to enter the promised land under Joshua, they never fully possessed their possession.
During the time of the judges, on the contrary, we find that they seemed to fail deeper and deeper. When we come to the time of Samuel, until the day when God raised up Samuel, we find that the condition of the children of Israel was at its lowest ebb.
Even though God raised up judges from time to time to deliver them, they were a people not only under oppression, but also very low spiritually. This can be summed up not only by the last sentence in the Book of Judges: “There was no king; therefore everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” It is also summed up in the days of Eli: the Word of God was rare, very rare, and visions were not frequent.
Eli was old and feeble. He was blind, and the lamp of God in the temple had not yet gone out, but it was almost gone. That was the condition of the people of Israel. They seemed to be farther and farther away from the realization of God’s promise.
Now, in such a situation, you will find God reacting. God begins to do the work of recovery—not only to restore all that was lost, but to recover His people to the original intention of God.
In doing the work of recovery, He had to find vessels—men through whom He could do this precious work. So we find God raised up three men: Samuel, David, and Solomon. Through these three men, a trio, God was able to bring His people into the full realization of His original purpose.
It was under these three men that Israel finally entered into the full possession of God’s promise. Brothers and sisters, we are today living in a time of recovery.
When we read the Book of Acts, especially the beginning chapters, we find how God raised up His church to be a vessel bearing the testimony of Jesus in fullness. But throughout the centuries, we find that the church has lost much. It seems as if the church is farther and farther away from God’s purpose.
Sometimes God’s people begin to wonder and ask: Can God’s people, can the church, ever fulfill God’s promise? Can it ever enter into the whole meaning of the church as God means it to be—a vessel for the full testimony of Jesus in this world?
But thank God, God is reacting in love and mercy. In doing this work of recovery, God has to find men. God cannot do His work of recovery without finding proper vessels.
We believe that by fellowshipping together on the lives of Samuel, David, and Solomon, we may know what kind of men God is looking for—not in the sense of a particular man or a particular woman, but the kind of man or woman for whom God is looking.
Samuel represents a spiritual principle: the principle of revelation. God is looking for a man or woman with vision, with revelation. In other words, in the work of recovery, the first basic essential is to see.
We must see what God sees. We must be able to see God’s purpose. We must be able to see what God is after. Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; the people perish; the people become undisciplined.
The first thing that God’s people need today is revelation. Oh, that we may see! Revelation begins all the work of God. We cannot simply start out and try to do something. We have to see; and seeing, we are able to fulfill what God is after.
That is the first essential in God’s work of recovery. This morning, we would like to go on to the second one, and that is David. Let us read a few passages first.
1 Samuel 16:11-13
And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children?
And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep.
And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him; for we will not sit down till he come hither.
And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look upon.
And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him; for this is he.
Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren:
and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.
So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.
1 Samuel 16:18
Then answered one of the young men, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite,
that is skilful in playing, and a mighty man of valor, and a man of war, and prudent in speech,
and a comely person, and the Lord is with him.
1 Samuel 17:31-37
And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul; and he sent for him.
And David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him:
for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.
And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep; and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock,
I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth:
and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.
Thy servant smote both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them,
seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.
And David said, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear,
He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.
1 Samuel 17:45-47
Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a javelin:
but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand; and I will smite thee, and take thy head from off thee;
and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day unto the birds of the air,
and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel:
and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear:
for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hand.
1 Samuel 19:18
Now David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him.
And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth.
2 Samuel 5:4-5
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months;
and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah.
Samuel represents revelation. What does David represent?
You know, every person in the Bible represents something. The reason God uses people to represent principles is because God’s principles are not theories. God’s principles are living and operative. Therefore, you find that these principles are personified in certain characters.
As Samuel represents the principle of divine, or spiritual, revelation, so David represents the principle of divine, or spiritual, authority.
When you read the genealogy of our Lord Jesus in Matthew 1, you find that many names are mentioned who were actually kings. Yet only David is mentioned by the Holy Spirit as “David the king.” Why? Because David, in Scripture, stands for kingship; and when you think of a king, you think of authority.
God establishes and holds this universe by His authority. If there is no authority, then this cosmos must return into chaos.
The thing of Satan is the thing of rebellion. The devil is trying to overturn God’s authority. Because Satan is the god of this world, the spirit of this world is a spirit of rebellion.
You find rebellion everywhere—whether in family life, social life, national life, or international life. You find rebellion everywhere. Why? Because rebellion is the mark, the character, of this world.
But, brothers and sisters, God is restoring His authority on this earth. First, He established authority in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When the Son of God came into this world, He came to initiate authority into this world. People do not know what authority is. They do not know what divine authority is. We are not talking about human authority. We are not talking about positional authority. We are talking about divine authority.
The world does not know what divine authority is. But when the Son of God became man, He initiated into this world what authority really is.
He learned obedience through suffering; therefore, He was given authority. In heaven and on earth, all authority has been given to Him. Because He emptied Himself, because He became obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross, therefore He was highly exalted and given a name above every name.
At that name every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. So, brothers and sisters, we find in Christ the embodiment, the initiation, and the establishment of the authority of God.
Because He has brought divine authority to this earth, the church today is to be the vessel of divine authority. Where can you find God’s authority in this universe today? If you cannot find it in the church, where can you find it?
The church is the place where God’s authority is respected, demonstrated, and exercised. The church is the place where God’s authority is known, recognized, and obeyed.
Unless God’s authority is known and established in the church, you do not have the reality of the church.
I remember Brother T. Austin-Sparks once mentioned something that I cannot forget. He said that there are two things most essential today among God’s people: life and authority.
God’s people need more life. What life really is! We know rules and regulations. We know rites and rituals. We know forms and systems. But we know very little of life—divine life, spiritual life, eternal life, the life of the Son of God in us.
Because we do not know life, how can we build the church without life?
But having life, we need to know authority. If we do not know authority, then this life is not disciplined, this life is not trained, and this life is not directed. You will find that there is no ability.
I am afraid that God’s people today, even though the church is supposed to be the place where divine authority is known, know very little of authority. Even the very mention of the word authority frightens them.
It is not a popular term. We live in a free world. We want to be free; we do not want authority. But, dear brothers and sisters, there can be no ability, and there can be no recovery, unless authority is recovered.
Authority is not what we think. We tend to think of authority in terms of power—to break, to crush, to command, and to destroy.
But that is not authority. You do not need authority to destroy; anyone can do that. You need authority to build up.
You find Paul mentioning in 2 Corinthians 10 through 13 that the authority God gave him was not for putting people to shame. The authority God had given him was for building up and not for overthrowing.
We think authority overthrows. But divine authority builds up. It takes authority to build up.
This is something we have to learn before the Lord. What is authority? How can we know it? How do we enter into God’s authority? How should we exercise it? What will be the effect if there is authority? All these things we have to learn before the Lord.
The life of David is very full and varied. We are not able to go through his life in detail, but if you read the Word of God, you find that the life of David can roughly be divided into three periods.
The first period is from his birth through his public manifestation to the nation of Israel by killing Goliath. During that period, David was mainly a shepherd.
The second period was when he entered into public life and was hunted and persecuted by Saul until Saul’s death. During that period, David was a fugitive.
Lastly, you find David the king. He was king in Hebron for seven years and six months, and he was king in Jerusalem over all Israel for thirty-three years—altogether, forty years.
So David’s life can be divided into these three periods: David as shepherd, David as fugitive, and David as king. But remember, we are not trying to go into his whole life. We are taking David’s life in this particular aspect to see how the principle of divine authority works.
We want to learn the lesson of divine authority.
We do not know much about David’s life from his birth to his public manifestation. All we know is that he was a shepherd. He was the youngest of the eight sons of Jesse, and he was tending his father’s sheep.
You know, the life of a shepherd is sheltered from the eyes of the world. No one notices a shepherd. If you are brought up in a palace, if you are a prince or princess, then the eyes of the world will be upon you. People will want to know everything about you, and reporters will follow you wherever you go.
But a shepherd—nobody notices a shepherd. There is nothing to report concerning the life of a shepherd. Therefore, David’s life was sheltered from the view of the world.
Aside from the glimpse we receive in 1 Samuel 16, we know very little. Somehow, one young man had met David as a shepherd and knew something about him. When the evil spirit troubled Saul and Saul needed someone to play music to soothe him, this young man said, “I know a son of Jesse, a shepherd. He is skilful in playing the harp; he is a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and of good presence; and the Lord is with him.”
We knew nothing else about David until he came to kill Goliath. Then David himself told us something about his past history. He said, “When I was tending my father’s sheep, sometimes a lion would come, and sometimes a bear would come, and they would take a lamb out of the flock. But I would follow them, take the lamb out of the lion’s mouth, and if the lion rose up against me, I would seize it by the beard and smite it.”
“The Lord delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear. And who is this uncircumcised Philistine? God will deliver me out of his hand and deliver him into my hand.” Brothers and sisters, that is about all we know of David during that period.
The one destined to be king, the one destined to be the symbol of authority, was a shepherd—unknown to the world.
He was not even known by his father. When Samuel came to anoint one of the sons of Jesse, Jesse did not even call David to the occasion. It was a great occasion, but David’s father did not bother even to call him. He gathered seven sons but forgot the eighth one. David continued tending the sheep.
David was unknown to his father. His father despised the youngest son. What could that son do? Just a shepherd—nothing.
And he was misunderstood by his brothers. When his father sent him to see how his brothers were doing during the battle, he went. When he began to inquire concerning what was happening, his eldest brother said, “I know thee. I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart. Thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.”
His brother did not know him. David was unknown practically to everybody. But thank God, he was known of God.
A hidden life with God. A secret life with God. While he was tending the sheep, he was communing with God. He knew God.
He might not have known many other things, but he knew God. He knew God in a personal way. He knew God’s power. He knew God’s deliverance. He loved God. He loved the name of the Lord. He knew the power of that name.
His heart was perfect toward God. He had experience with God. His knowledge of God was not merely by hearsay; his knowledge of God was personal.
Now, brothers and sisters, a hidden life with God—unknown to the world, but known to God—is the foundation of authority.
Did God anoint David out of the eight sons of Jesse? Samuel went to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be king. When Eliab, the eldest son, passed by, he was physically strong and handsome. Even Samuel was deceived, saying in his heart, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.”
Why? Because Saul had been anointed in that fashion. When Saul was anointed king, he was head and shoulders above all the people. Saul was chosen because of his physical appearance and natural attraction.
Somehow Samuel thought this was the way God would choose a king. He forgot that Saul was chosen by the people, not by God. Saul was the people’s choice, not God’s choice. God condescended Himself and allowed the people to have their way.
But God said, “No, I have rejected him. God does not look on the outward appearance; God looks on the heart. This is not the man.”
Brothers and sisters, why did God choose David out of the eight sons of Jesse? It is true that God’s choice is sovereign. God can choose anyone He likes. He is God. He has perfect liberty to do whatever pleases Him, and no one can question Him. That is the sovereignty of God; that is the prerogative of God.
But, dear brothers and sisters, God surely has His reason. God does not choose anyone arbitrarily. God chose David because God knew David had a life with Him.
Life is the reason for God’s choice. That hidden life with God, that knowledge of God, is the basis for divine authority.
What is authority? There is no authority but God. Those whom God has set in authority are authorities over us. In other words, God is the authority of the universe. There is no authority but God.
God can give authority to this one and to that one. But remember, that does not mean this one or that one is authority. Strictly speaking, they may receive authority from God and may be set by God as authorities over others, but they are not authority. God is the authority.
In other words, it is God’s divine life that is authority. If you have the life of God in you, then you have the authority of God in you. The more divine life you receive, the more authority you possess. Why? Because it is God; it is not you.
Sometimes we can be so foolish. When we are given a little authority, we think we have become authorities, and we begin to act like authorities. That is foolishness, because it is God Himself who is authority.
Authority is based upon life. Let me give you an illustration. Why are parents authorities in the family? Because they have more life. They were born earlier, and having been born earlier, they ought to know better. They have more experience of life.
It is life. It is on that basis that they become authority. You know, it is very sad when life and position are separated. If you occupy a position without the proper life, then it is very sad indeed.
But so far as God is concerned, authority is a matter of life. If you want to know authority, you have to know life. God cannot give authority as a thing to a person who does not know Him. That would be disastrous.
Therefore, in the preparation for authority, or in the building of the foundation of authority, David, in God’s sovereign arrangement, became a shepherd.
Brothers and sisters, did David murmur or complain because he was neglected by his father, despised by his brothers, and unknown to the world? Surely he could have complained and murmured against God: “Why is it that You gave me such a bad thing? What have I done wrong?”
But if you know the wisdom of God, you will find that the place into which God put David was the best place he could be. It was in that hidden life that he learned to know God in a real way.
His life with God was the basis of divine authority.
Do you want to know divine authority? Do you want to be God’s delegated authority? Remember, it is a matter of divine life. How much of God do you really know by experience?
How much of God’s deliverance do you know? How much do you know of the power of the name of the Lord? How much do you love Him and love His name? That is the foundation of divine authority.
But after David was anointed—and I believe he was anointed on the basis of life—he was filled with the Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him. Yet he had a very bad time.
After he killed Goliath, the women came out to meet Saul, and they began to sing:
Saul hath slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands.
These women were innocent, because they did not know what they were singing. They said it in perfect honesty. But when Saul heard it, he could not stand it. He said, “They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands. What can he have more but the kingdom?”
So Saul began to be jealous. He tried to make life very hard for David. He tried to kill David by the hand of the Philistines, and when he could not do that, he tried to kill David himself.
He hunted David for years and years. David became a fugitive because of the anointing of the Lord upon him.
For approximately ten years—perhaps I do not know exactly how many years—David had to hide himself in caves, live in the wilderness, and roam around continually. He had no home and no settled place. He was with four hundred men all the time.
Brothers and sisters, the question may be asked, Why? Why? Did he not know God in a real way? Did not God anoint him to be king? Why should he be hunted and persecuted, having such difficult days? Why did God allow all these things to happen?
It seems contradictory to God’s anointing. But if you want to know David, you must look at his history during that period, from 1 Samuel 19 to 1 Samuel 30. In these chapters, you read the history of David as a fugitive.
He had a most difficult time. He was in despair of life. He was hunted like a partridge, like a flea, like a dead dog. But if you want to know the inward sentiment of David during that period, you have to read the Psalms. Many of the Psalms were written during and for that time.
Out of all these difficult situations, God was teaching him valuable lessons. There were many lessons, but there was one lesson David learned during those approximately ten years: the lesson of obedience.
Authority is based upon life, but you come into authority by way of obedience.
We may think that if we want authority, we have to grasp it. We have to struggle for it. That is how people in this world obtain authority. How do people get positions of authority? They fight for them. They grasp for them. They maneuver and outmaneuver everybody else.
If you are always withdrawing, if you are humble, if you are giving in, you seem to get nowhere. You become nobody.
You remember the disciples of our Lord Jesus. One of the problems among them was that they were always struggling and fighting over who would be chief among the twelve. There were only twelve, but they were seeking authority.
The Lord Jesus said that the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.
In the world, those who rule lord it over everybody. But this is not so in the kingdom of God. He who is greatest is the least. He who is highest is the one who serves.
Brothers and sisters, this is so contrary to the thinking of the world. The way to enter into divine authority is by way of obedience. This is fully demonstrated in the life of our Lord Jesus.
There is a chapter in Watchman Nee’s book Spiritual Authority called “The Obedience of the Son.” Personally, of all the chapters in that book, this is the chapter I love most. All the chapters are precious, but that chapter, “The Obedience of the Son,” is especially precious.
How did the Son come into authority? Not by grasping it, but by emptying Himself, humbling Himself, and becoming obedient.
Even the Son learned obedience through the things which He suffered. This is the way to divine authority.
Brothers and sisters, I remember Brother Nee once saying that the first thing after you enter the church is not to ask, “Whom can I rule?” but, “Whom can I obey?”
Do not ask, “Over whom do I have authority?” Ask instead, “Who are the authorities God has set above me?” How will you learn obedience?
In David’s case, you have an extreme example, but the principle is demonstrated very clearly. Saul was anointed by God, yes, but he was the choice of the people. In one sense, God had already rejected him. He had become rejected authority, yet he still occupied the throne.
David also was anointed, but he was chosen by God. He was anointed to be king. Yet, in a very strange providential arrangement, this man who was divinely chosen to occupy the throne was providentially arranged to be under Saul.
He was not only a general in Saul’s court; he was also Saul’s son-in-law. What could he do?
Here was David, who was destined to represent divine authority, placed under an authority that misused and abused authority—an authority rejected by God. What could David do?
You might say, “If that is the case, because that authority misrepresents God and has been rejected by God, why should we let it stand? Let us get rid of it and take the throne, because this is God’s will.”
He who does not know God certainly will take this course. It seems rational and reasonable. But, dear brothers and sisters, if you read the history of David during that period, you find that he was hunted and in desperation.
If only he could raise his hand and get rid of Saul, God’s purpose concerning him would seem to be fulfilled. Providentially, there were two occasions: once in 1 Samuel 24 and another time in 1 Samuel 26.
His followers said, “Come on. God has put him into your hand.” But when David merely cut off a piece of Saul’s robe, his heart smote him. He said, “I cannot put forth my hand against the Lord’s anointed. God Himself has to get rid of him. I cannot.”
“I have to submit myself. I cannot rise up against him. I am under authority. I am under authority.”
How do you learn authority? If the authority God has set above you always represents God, there is no difficulty in obeying. It is easy, because you see God.
But suppose the authority God has set above you is wrong. Suppose it misrepresents God. Then you have a problem in hand. Should you obey, or should you not obey?
How do you learn authority? You learn authority by obedience.
When Christ walked on earth, the authorities during that period were all wrong. If you look at the political scene, the Roman authorities were wrong authorities. Among the Jewish people, many never recognized Roman rule because they said that God alone was their authority.
If you look at the religious scene, you find the Sanhedrin, the councils, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. Those who did not believe in the supernatural were authorities at that time. The high priests, Annas and Caiaphas, were authorities.
But look at our Lord Jesus. He was placed in such a critical situation. Here was Roman authority; there was Jewish authority; and He had to submit Himself to both. He did not rebel against authority. He submitted Himself. He was willing to die if that was the way they wanted it to be.
There is a very important principle here: obedience. There is a difference between submission and obedience. Submission is an attitude; obedience is an action.
Toward God, there must be absolute submission and absolute obedience. That is to say, before God we must maintain a spirit of submission and an action of obedience.
Toward men, there is absolute submission but relative obedience. We have to maintain absolute submission to the authorities God has set above us, but we cannot always obey. Why? Because when their wishes conflict with God’s will, we have to obey God.
You find Peter and John before the council saying, in effect, “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you rather than unto God, judge ye.” It was a spirit of submission, but they could not obey. They had to obey God.
So, in learning the lesson of obedience, very often God puts you in a situation where the authority is wrong. That is where you learn obedience.
David learned obedience. And when he had learned obedience to the full measure, God removed Saul and put David on the throne.
Finally, David was on the throne, representing God.
There is a verse in Acts 13:22:
I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart,
who shall do all My will.
What is the meaning of authority? What is divine authority for? Authority is given that we may do God’s will. Authority is not given that you may do your own will.
“Oh, if I have authority, then I may do what I want.” No. Divine authority is given that you may do God’s will, because in carrying out God’s will, you need authority.
David, as king, did several things. He used his authority to accomplish several things.
First, as soon as he came to the throne, the first thing David did was take Jerusalem. Is that not strange?
Because in Deuteronomy 12, you remember that God said that after the people of Israel entered the promised land, God would choose a place where He would put His name. The people of God were to go there to worship and sacrifice.
In other words, there would be one place where the name of God was, where the people of God would be gathered together as one. After entering the promised land, they were not to sacrifice God in all the high places.
The people were to come and worship and sacrifice God in the place of God’s choice, where God’s name was. But for many years—for one hundred years, as a matter of fact—that place was still unknown.
During the time of the judges, this place was unknown. People went from here to there. The people were scattered.
But somehow David, as a man after God’s own heart, knew exactly where that place was. So he took Jerusalem. Into Jerusalem he brought the ark of the Lord.
Because of that, you find the people of God began to be united, centered upon God. That was the first thing David did.
That is divine authority. Divine authority is to bring God’s people together as one, centered upon Christ. That is divine authority.
It does not take authority to separate because you are right. It takes authority to unite—to unite God’s people into one, centered upon Christ. That is the exercise of divine authority.
Secondly, under David’s reign, he subdued all the enemies and took possession of the full possession of God’s promise.
From the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates, that whole area was under David’s rule. He subdued all the enemies and brought God’s people into full possession.
That is divine authority. Who can help God’s people enter into the fullness of Christ? It takes authority to do that.
It does not take authority to make people spiritually poor. But it takes divine authority to bring God’s people into the fullness of Christ, which is represented by the promised possession. David did that.
David prepared to build God’s house, the temple. Even though he was not allowed to build it because he was a man of war who had shed much blood, he was given the pattern of the temple by revelation.
Out of his love for God, he prepared much material. From the spoils he took and from his own possessions, he prepared the materials for the building of the house of God.
That is why we say that authority builds the house. Authority will receive the pattern. Authority will gather the materials to prepare a dwelling place for God. That is the exercise of divine authority.
So, brothers and sisters, how needed it is today to have people who know divine authority, who learn authority through obedience, and who can exercise authority to bring God’s people into unity under Christ, into the fullness of Christ, and to prepare for God a resting place.
All these things are typified in the life of David. Now, brothers and sisters, we have only touched the surface. There is much more—much, much more.
I do believe that in these last days, not only will the principle of revelation be recovered, but God’s people will gradually realize that if something is not by revelation, it is not of God. You have to reject everything that is not by revelation.
Only that which comes from revelation is living. And God’s people have to learn what authority is, so that we may be under authority and may be given authority. Authority can do much.
Our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for Thy servant David, a man after Thine own heart, whom Thou didst put upon the throne to do Thy will.
O Lord, we pray that by Thy grace we may learn something of Thy heart; that we may know how to be under authority; that we may learn obedience; and that we may be vessels of Thy authority to bring Thy people into unity, into fullness, and into Thy purpose.
In the name of our Lord Jesus.