Monday Night, January 7, 1974 — Richmond, Virginia
Ministry given by Brother Stephen Kaung.
In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,
Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,
If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any food, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.
Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.
Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before Me, saith the Lord; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.
And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord:
Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty vessels, there were but twenty.
I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the work of your hands; yet ye turned not to Me, saith the Lord.
Consider, I pray you, from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider it.
Is the seed yet in the barn? Yea, the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.
And the word of the Lord came the second time unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,
Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth;
And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms; and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.
In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, My servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet; for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts.
We have been considering together the relationship of prophetic ministry to the work of recovery. God was doing a work of recovery among His people Israel through the remnant who returned from Babylon to Jerusalem.
God was recovering the temple, and He wanted to restore the wall of Jerusalem. But in accomplishing such a work, you find that prophetic ministry occupied a very important part. It was through the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah that the temple was rebuilt.
So, brothers and sisters, we do believe that God is doing a work today. As a matter of fact, most of God’s works are works of recovery. When you read the whole Bible, probably the first two chapters contain God’s work in the first place. Then, starting from Genesis 3 onward, it is all the work of recovery.
Something had happened; something had failed and gone wrong. God was out to recover to His original purpose. Especially in the case of the children of Israel, you find how they had failed God. God raised them up as a testimony of Himself on earth, but they failed God completely.
Jerusalem was destroyed. The temple was destroyed. The people were taken into captivity. God was called the God of heaven, but He was not called the God of heaven and earth at that period. Why? There was no testimony.
But God was out to recover the people, to recover Jerusalem, to recover the temple, and, most of all, to recover His own testimony on the earth. But His testimony on earth was committed to His people.
Brothers and sisters, it is just what God is doing today. He is doing the work of recovery. He is recovering His people to where they should be, to be what they ought to be.
He is recovering their life together with God, as typified by the temple. He is recovering the life of God’s people one with another, as represented by the rebuilding of the wall.
When God’s people are being built up together, one with another, and as God’s people can serve God as one people, then the testimony of Jesus on earth will be established. This is what God is doing all the time.
But in doing such a work, there needs to be prophetic ministry. Again, by prophetic ministry, we do not mean that some people may be able to foretell certain things concerning certain people or certain events. No.
By prophetic ministry, essentially, it means that God has shown His mind concerning His people, concerning the present situation. God has made known His mind to some as to what He wants His people to do and what He expects of His people.
Through such prophets and their ministry, the people of God are made to know God’s mind and be restored to what God expects of them. Now, this is prophetic ministry.
During our time, we do need to look to the Lord that He will raise up some prophets—true prophets of God: those who seek God’s face, those who inquire of God for His mind concerning His people today, those who are able to share with us God’s mind, that we may know what we should do and how we can please God and glorify His name.
Here you find that God raised up one man during that period: Haggai. Evidently, he was an old man. I do want to encourage old people. Probably he was in his nineties, around ninety years old. But because he sought God, God raised him up as a prophet.
The time of his prophesying was rather short—only three months. He spoke only a few times, on three different occasions.
On the first day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius, God’s word came to him twice. On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, God’s word came to him once. On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of the same year, God’s word came to him twice. Altogether, five times on three occasions.
Very brief, very short—not much. But nevertheless, these were God’s messages to His people. And thank God, Zerubbabel and Joshua and the remnant hearkened to the voice of God.
As a matter of fact, it is not in much speaking that things are accomplished. If only God will speak, then it will be done.
Brothers and sisters, how we need to ask the Lord that He will always speak to us. How we need to look to the Lord that we may have a ready ear to hear, that we may hear what He wants us to hear and respond to Him.
The first time God’s word came to Haggai, it was a challenge. God challenged His people. The people said, “It is not time to build the house.” So God challenged them by saying, “Is this a time for you to dwell in your ceiled houses?”
How can you live in your own houses—panelled houses—and allow the house of God to lie waste for forty years without doing anything?
Do you not realize that during these years you labor much, but get little? You sow a lot, but reap little. You eat, but it does not satisfy you. You drink, but your thirst is not quenched. You are clothed, but you do not get warm. You earn wages, but the wages are put into a bag with holes.
Do you realize what has happened to you all these years? Why is it that your life is so unsatisfying? Why is there never a fullness? Why?
Do you not know? It is because you run to your own houses and allow My house to lie waste. Do you not know that you are under the discipline of God? Consider.
If only you will obey, go up to the mountains, bring down the wood, and build the house, God said, “I will be pleased with it, and I will be glorified.” Amen.
Brothers and sisters, where is our heart? Is there a spiritual lethargy descending upon our spirit? Are we as keen and sensitive to God’s need as we were in the beginning?
Is it because time has passed that we can see the same thing day in and day out until it has lost its impression, its impact upon us?
The greatest danger with God’s people, who have once heard God’s call, who have once been given a vision of what God needs, and who had once answered God—the greatest danger to such people is spiritual lethargy.
From time to time, we need to be aroused and awakened through prophetic messages, that we may consider, put our heart—set our heart—upon it, understand what is our present situation, repent, and be restored to our first love.
As soon as their spirits were stirred, immediately, even before they set their hands on the work, God’s promise came to them and said, “I am with you,” saith the Lord.
So, brothers and sisters, when God’s word first came through Haggai to the remnant of the Jews, it was a challenge, and then a promise.
By the twenty-fourth of that month, Zerubbabel and Joshua and the remnant began to work on it.
Almost a month later, on the twenty-first day of the seventh month—in other words, about a month—God’s word came through Haggai again. Why? Because there was a real need.
You know, it took the remnant four years to rebuild the temple, but it did not take them a month to realize that what they did could never be restored to the glory of the temple built by Solomon. That depressed and discouraged them.
Within a month, the remnant began to realize that what their hands were working on, if compared with the glory of Solomon’s temple, was as nothing in their eyes. If it were nothing, was it worthwhile to do it at all?
Brothers and sisters, if you do not have a heart for the Lord, you can see the temple in ruins as if you have not seen it. You can pass by everything; it does not bother you.
But once your spirit is stirred, once your heart is set on the house of God, the temptation always is this: if it cannot be restored to the former glory, then what is the use of doing it at all?
Now that is the problem. We want to put our hands on it and restore it to the full glory of Solomon’s temple, because that is what we think we should accomplish. If this cannot be accomplished, if what we can do can never be compared, then why do it?
Oftentimes, when I read Ephesians 1, 2, 3, and 4, I see the glory of the house of God—the spiritual house filled with glory. Then I begin to see my hand, and I say, “Lord, is it worth it? It cannot be restored to that. Why begin?”
So the word of God came through Haggai to this remnant. It was a comfort: “Who is there among you who has seen the former glory of Solomon’s temple?” A few of them did see it. Haggai himself probably saw it.
“And now see what you are doing. Do you not say in your heart that it is as nothing at all?” Oh, God said, “Do not say it is nothing. Do not say that.”
In the eyes of God, it is not what is visible that is important. It is that which is invisible. It is not the physical, but the spiritual. It is not the outward appearance; it is the inward reality that matters.
The temple built by Solomon was majestic, glorious, and splendid—built with precious materials, with great abundance, massive and huge.
And this temple which the remnant was rebuilding was nothing—was nothing. But God said, “I do not look at outward appearance. I do not put My value upon material things. It is the heart that I am looking into.”
What is built there which is of the Spirit, which is real, that will last. All the physical, outward materials will sooner or later fade away.
God said, “Yet a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the land.” Everything that is material, everything that is physical, everything that is merely outward, all these things will be shaken.
The temple of Solomon was destroyed. Even this temple which they built, later enlarged by Herod the Great, was also destroyed in A.D. 70. But that which God has built can never be destroyed.
There is a city with foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God, and that can never be destroyed.
God said, “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former glory.” How can it be?
To the remnant, they looked at the temple they were building and said, “Well, this was the second temple, and the glory of the second temple can never be compared with the glory of the first temple.”
But God said, “You are mistaken. I have only one house. I do not have many houses.”
The tabernacle built by Moses, the temple built by Solomon, this temple which you are building, and later the spiritual house that Christ will build—they are just one house.
One house. Eventually, all will be consummated in the holy city, the New Jerusalem. What will remain there? Not the gold and silver that Solomon put into his temple.
It is the gold of the nature of God. It is the silver of the redemption of Christ. These will be found in the holy city, the New Jerusalem. What your kings put into the temple is nothing; it is not important.
Do not be discouraged. Even just little things, almost nothing, if they are done in the right spirit, if they are done for the glory of God, if they are done in the will of God, it is God’s house.
Oh, brothers and sisters, if only you can see that, you would never be discouraged.
God comforted them with a second word. So it was a word of comfort. If you read 1 Corinthians 14, you find that he who speaks prophecy speaks for edification, exhortation, and comfort.
We may say that the first word that came from Haggai to his people was a word of encouragement. God encouraged them to start the building of the house. The second time the word of God came through Haggai, a month later, it was a word of consolation. God was comforting His people through prophetic utterance.
Then, on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, God’s word came through Haggai the third time, and it was a word of edification—of building up.
On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet.
Haggai first prophesied on the first day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius. The remnant started rebuilding the temple on the twenty-fourth day of the same month. The second word came on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, and now it was the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month.
In other words, the remnant had been working on the temple for about three months now—about three months.
The ninth month was the time of the winter sowing, because in our calendar the ninth month would be either November or December. After the Feast of Tabernacles, which was the end of the year, they came to the time of winter sowing and expected the early rain.
If they had the early rain, they would have a good harvest. So this was an important time. Why? Because before this time, God had sent them a drought. The land was dry; there was no rain.
The situation in Palestine was such that it was a land flowing with milk and honey, and yet it was such a peculiar land that it depended completely upon rain. If there was rain, the land was abundant. If there was no rain, then the earth would turn into dust and there would be nothing.
Why did God bring them to such a place—a land flowing with milk and honey, yet completely dependent upon rain from heaven? Because God wanted His people to depend upon Him.
God said, “If you keep My word, there will be rain. But if you do not keep My word, I will shut up the heaven, and then you see what will happen.”
The remnant came back. They came back to Jerusalem and the neighboring cities. They came back to build the temple, but because they stopped building it and began to build their own houses, they sowed seed and began to reap, but God sent drought to them. There was no rain.
They were under the disciplinary hand of God. Now they came to their senses. They started to rebuild the temple, and it had already been three months.
They had sown the winter seed, and brothers and sisters, they began to wonder whether God would send the rain.
According to the law, if they kept God’s word and His covenant, God would bless them. God would bless their crops, their fruit, their cattle, and their sheep. God would give them plenty of food; there would be no lack. God would give them plenty of rain.
This was God’s promised blessing to His people. If you read Deuteronomy 6, you find that. If you read Deuteronomy 28, you find that. God said, “If you keep My word, if you are faithful to Me, then I will bless you.”
Of course, among those blessings was the blessing of nature. But in the same chapter, Deuteronomy 28, you find that God said, “If you are unfaithful, then the curse will be upon you.”
So they had been under a kind of curse, and now they had responded to God. They had put their hands into the work for three months, and they had sown the winter seed, yet still nothing happened.
They began to ask, “Now what? Was it really God’s discipline, or was it just an accident? Now we have returned to God. Will God return His blessing to us?”
As they were working on the temple, maybe they were looking at the sky and wondering what would happen. Oh, brothers and sisters, you have to understand how they felt at that time.
So the word came through Haggai to build up their faith.
It is true: with the children of Israel, being an earthly people of God, all God’s promises and blessings were earthly. If they obeyed God, God would bless them with abundant food, with a big family, making them the first of the nations, and so on and so forth—all earthly blessings.
As God’s earthly people, they expected such blessings. If such blessings did not come, something must be wrong. If God withheld them, their faithfulness was in question.
Because they were God’s earthly people, after they had been faithful to the law for three months, they were daily expecting God’s blessings to come upon them. When God’s blessings were withheld, they began to wonder.
But, brothers and sisters, who are we? Are we God’s earthly people? We are God’s heavenly people.
God promised Abraham that his seed should be as the sand on the seashore and as the stars in heaven. In a sense, the children of Israel were the sand of the sea, and we are the stars of heaven.
As a heavenly people of God, God also promised us His blessings. But what are His blessings? In Ephesians 1, it says God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Should we expect God to bless our barns, bless our fields, bless our business, and make us prosperous, wealthy, and great in this world? Should we expect God in that way?
I do not say God will not bless us in that way, but these things just come along. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” But these are not the principle.
The blessing that God has promised to us is spiritual blessing. If we obey the Lord and follow Him, there will be much fruit in our field—the fruit of the Spirit: love, peace, joy, and so on.
If we really love the Lord, there will be no lack of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. There will be much increase of the life of Christ. These are spiritual blessings.
I am afraid that today God’s people are trying to go back to the old covenant relationship with God. They would rather be God’s earthly people than God’s heavenly people.
Should we ask God to bless us? We should. We should. We cannot live without His blessings, brothers and sisters.
Before we knew God, we could live without His blessing because we did not need Him. But now, since we know Him, we cannot live without His blessing. We need Him. We have to depend on Him.
Jacob could live by himself. He could use his own cleverness to accumulate his wealth. But when God touched his thigh and he was crippled, he clung to the Angel of the Lord and said, “Bless me, or I will not let You go.” Why? “I am crippled. Without Your blessing, I cannot live.”
Oh, brothers and sisters, as God’s people, we should expect God’s blessings. Why? Because we depend on God. If He does not bless us, we can do nothing.
It is a life of dependence upon God. But, of course, in looking for God’s blessing, we do not look for earthly things. These may be added, but these are not the principle.
In looking for God’s blessing, we should look to the Lord that Christ may be increased in us, that His nature may be found in us, that we may be used by Him for the furtherance of His kingdom and His righteousness, and that we may be fruitful in every side.
These are the blessings for which we should look to the Lord. We should.
When the blessing is withheld, it is time for us to examine ourselves before the Lord. Why is the blessing withheld? We should examine ourselves.
For the children of Israel, after they had been faithful to the law for three months, it was time for them to question. So God answered them. God answered them.
God told Haggai to ask the priests two theological questions—two questions concerning the law. Dear brothers and sisters, I have meditated much on these two questions, and I have to confess that I do not fully understand.
I will try to explain a little bit, but I have to say that I am not satisfied with the understanding the Lord has shown us.
God asked Haggai to ask the priests because the priests were the people who were to explain, interpret, and apply the law.
The first question was this: Is the holy flesh—that is, the meat that was offered to God—wrapped in the skirt of the garment? Then, if the skirt touches the grain, the oil, or food, will it make the food holy? The priests answered, “No.”
According to Leviticus 6, the holy meat that touches anything makes that thing holy. So the holy meat being in the skirt sanctifies the skirt. It does sanctify the skirt. But the sanctified skirt cannot sanctify the food that the skirt touches. You see the point?
The holy meat does sanctify the skirt, but the skirt cannot, in turn, make holy the food it contacts. According to the law, it is no. The priests were right.
Then the second question: if a person is defiled by a dead body—according to the law, if a person was defiled by a dead body, he was unclean for seven days. If he received purification, it took seven days of purification to cleanse him. If he did not go through purification, he would be cut off from the congregation of Israel.
So the question was: if a person is defiled by a dead body and he touches food, does he defile and make the food unclean? The answer was, “Yes.”
Now, brothers and sisters, what do these two questions and answers mean? Really, I do not know. Maybe they tell us something.
The holy meat can make holy the skirt. That is, even holiness does not go beyond the skirt. But the uncleanness from the dead body goes much further.
Under the law, uncleanness has a greater impact than holiness. Why? Because holiness under the law is an outward thing, not an inward nature. Uncleanness touches the nature of a person.
Of course, in New Testament times holiness is no longer an act; it is a Person. Christ is our holiness. If Christ is our holiness, He not only makes us holy, but if we touch others, we are able to exert His increasing impact upon them. Why? Because of Him.
But under the law it is outward. So under the law, you find the evil effect of uncleanness is greater than the good effect of holiness.
Now, that probably is one reason. Another reason is the application. We may not understand the two illustrations, but we know the application. Why? Because God came to Haggai and said, “So is My people. They are like this. Therefore, whatever they do is unclean.”
What does He mean, brothers and sisters? They also sacrificed, and because they offered sacrifices, they were considered a holy nation.
But God looks upon the heart. Even though they sacrificed and were considered a holy nation, their hearts were not circumcised. They were defiled by the dead body—the flesh.
Outwardly, they offered. Positionally, they were known as a holy nation. But inwardly, they still lived in the flesh: uncircumcised in heart, unclean.
They came back to Jerusalem to build the house. They were like the skirt that had wrapped the holy flesh. But they left the house of God in ruins and went about their own business. Their hearts were not right.
God did not go by their outward working. God went by their inward heart. So God said, “Anything you touch is unclean.”
Therefore, when you go to a heap of twenty measures, you get only ten. You go to a wine vat to draw out fifty measures, and there are but twenty. God said, “I smote you with blasting and mildew and hail,” because everything was unclean in My sight.
They said, “But have we not been faithful for three months already? Should not Thy blessing now come upon us?”
When they returned to the Lord, God’s blessing did return to them, but there was a period of testing. These three months were months of testing.
They expected that the moment they returned to God with their heart, the heavens would be opened and the rain would pour down immediately. God said, “Let Me wait for a while. Let Me see whether it is real.”
Not because God does not know, but because we do not know our hearts. So you find that during those three months they were under testing.
Oh, brothers and sisters, if God’s blessing and God’s curse should come so clearly—the moment you turn away from God, the curse comes; the moment you return to God, the blessing comes—then there would be no testing, I think.
But without testing, faith is not precious. So during those three months, God was testing His people.
In testing, there is another thing involved: God wants to see whether they are looking for God’s blessings or whether they are looking for God.
Yes, God promised to bless, but did we return for blessing? Why do you return? For the One who blesses.
Brothers and sisters, where is our heart?
When we return to God with our heart, we expect His blessing. Then His blessing seems to be delayed, and we begin to wonder. Is there not a good lesson for us? Did you come back for blessing, or did you come back for God?
That is where the faith of Habakkuk really shines. Oh, brothers and sisters, you know I love to read the faith of Habakkuk.
For though the fig tree shall not blossom,
Neither shall fruit be in the vines;
The labor of the olive shall fail,
And the fields shall yield no food;
The flock shall be cut off from the fold,
And there shall be no herd in the stalls:
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord, the Lord, is my strength;
And He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet,
And will make me to walk upon my high places.
Is that not wonderful? On the one hand, we should expect God to bless us. Yet, on the other hand, our faith should go beyond blessing to God Himself.
“I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord, my God, is my strength.”
God encouraged those people, built up their faith, that they would not lose faith. It is true: they had been under the disciplinary hand of God through those years. Now they had returned to Him with their heart. God was testing their faith.
But God promised them, “From this day onward, I will bless you.”
Oh, brothers and sisters, the blessing of the Lord will come if we remain faithful and patient.
God was building up their faith. Through their faith and faithfulness, there would be God’s blessing; and through God’s blessings there would be much fruit. With much fruit, the work would be done.
But that is not all.
Oh, brothers and sisters, oftentimes I think that when God speaks, He speaks as God. He is just like God because He is God. He does not speak like man.
If He spoke like man, that should be the end of the book of Haggai. But God was not satisfied yet. God said, “And the word of the Lord came the second time unto Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month.”
The second time. We would think the first time God had spoken enough. We are promised His blessing, and our faithfulness will be richly rewarded. That is what we are looking for, and we have it.
But God said, “No, no. I have something far bigger and better in view.”
Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth;
And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms; and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.
In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, My servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet; for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts.
God says, “This is but a little foretaste of My blessing. But what is really My blessing?”
The blessing of the Lord is this: “I will shake the heavens and the earth. I will destroy all the nations, the chariots, and the horses. I will take you as My signet, for I have chosen you.”
Brothers and sisters, do you know what a signet is? It is a signet ring.
In the old days, kings, nobles, and rich people all wore a ring. Their signature, their name, or their initials were engraved on that signet ring.
In every document, in every contract, in everything, they just put their signet on it. In other words, they stamped it or sealed it with their signet, and that was it. That is a signet.
There are two things. In the old days, a person would never be separated from his signet. He kept it and guarded it as his own life. Why? Because if anybody should take your signet, he could put your signature on things and get them.
Your signet represents you—your name, your power, your authority, your possessions, your inheritance, everything that speaks of you. So in the old days, people kept their signets very carefully.
God said to Zerubbabel, “I will make you My signet.” There will be an inseparable relationship between you and Me.
In the Song of Solomon, you find the virgin, the bride, crying out to the Bridegroom, “Set me as a seal upon Thy heart, as a seal upon Thine arm.”
“I will never be separated from Your affection. I will never be separated from Your strength.” An inseparable union.
Oh, brothers and sisters, that is what is meant there.
And number two: when you put the signet on anything, you seal it. Your image is stamped, impressed upon the document, or whatever it may be.
Naturally, Zerubbabel is a type of Christ. God looks forward to that day when the kingdoms of the earth shall be destroyed and when the kingdom of Christ shall come and be established.
Then you find that everything will bear the mark of Christ. He owns everything, and everything reflects His nature.
Is it not the blessing of the Lord that we should be conformed to His image? He is God’s signet that was impressed upon us.
God says, “You are Mine. Not only are you Mine, but you are conformed to My image.” What blessing can be greater than this?
So, brothers and sisters, this is the blessing of the Lord. Oh, thank God. He promised those who are faithful to Him that He will bless them.
He will not only bless us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, but He will bless us with Christ Himself.
There shall be a perfect union—no more separation—forever and forever.
How can the remnant, with what was nothing in their sight, finish the work? How can we? Let us press on, by faith and patience, until our inheritance in heaven—the kingdom of God—shall be realized.
Lord, how we praise and thank Thee. Thou art such a great God. Thou hast promised to bless us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.
And more than that, Thou dost promise that we shall be conformed to the image of Thy Son. We shall be joined to Him in one spirit, never, never to be separated.
Oh, Lord, this is what we look for. Thou hast encouraged us. Thou hast built up our faith that we may go on to please Thee and to build by faith, and to see that Thy work is done.
Unto Thee be all the praise and glory forever and forever, in Christ Jesus. Amen.