Darkness and Dawn

Texts:  Isaiah 9:1-7; 2 Kings 15:27-29; Matthew 4:12-17

“REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM of heaven is near!”

Is this good news for you, or bad news, or no news at all?

The kingdom of heaven is at hand, and every kingdom must have a king.  The King is coming!  Will you rejoice, will you cower in fear, or will you ignore Him and go about your business?

But this King you can’t ignore.  A governor or president serves at the will of the people.  His term ends in a few years and then he has to give up his office.  Dictators usurp power and cling to it until they die, but eventually their lives do end and their hold over the people ends, too.  Modern-day kings and queens hold ceremonial roles.  But the King of the Kingdom of Heaven truly reigns over all, He assumes His power by right, on His own authority, and His rule will never, ever end.  Get ready, repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near, and you are a subject of that kingdom whether you want to be or not.

       Nearly two thousand years ago Jesus of Nazareth returned to His home country of Galilee making just that proclamation.  Gradually He would reveal that He Himself was the King of the kingdom, the one to whom, as St. Paul says in his letter to the Philippians, every knee must bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord.  But the people of Galilee don’t know that yet.  That is what Jesus is getting ready to prove.

What kind of king will He be?  Will His reign bring joy or fear, darkness or light?

St. Matthew writes his gospel primarily to Jews, Jews who were expecting the kingdom of heaven.  Because he is writing to Jews, who hold the name of the Lord especially sacred, he avoids the term “kingdom of God.”  But we can assume that Jesus used both expressions and they both mean the same.  The coming of the kingdom of heaven or of God meant that everything on earth would finally bow the knee to God, from the widest galaxy down to the thoughts of every human heart.  It’s Matthew’s purpose to prove that the crucified and risen Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the King of the heavenly Kingdom, the long-expected Messiah who Himself is Lord and God.

To prove this Matthew cites texts from the Old Testament prophets.  “See!” he says, “The Word of the Lord said the coming King would do all these things, and this is exactly what this Jesus has done!”

And so in our passage from Matthew chapter 4 the evangelist cites Isaiah 9, verses 1 and 2.  He paraphrases, he doesn’t quote word for word, but his message is this: For those who were dwelling in darkness, the light has come.  The King comes as the bringer of daylight and dawn.  So repent!

  The first verse of this passage from Isaiah 9 evoked deep and painful memories in the hearts of the ancient Jewish people.  They are our spiritual ancestors and we need to put ourselves in their place and understand what the problem was– and still is.

For that we turn to our reading from II Kings.  The name I want you to notice first is that of Jeroboam son of Nebat, at the end of verse 28.  Jeroboam was one of King Solomon’s officials who rebelled against Solomon’s son Rehoboam back in the later part of the tenth century before Christ.  Ahijah the prophet, speaking in the name of the Lord, had said that God would give the ten northern tribes to him and if he kept God’s commands he would be granted an earthly dynasty as enduring as the one the Lord had promised David.  But even after God kept His promise and Israel was in Jeroboam’s hands, he didn’t listen.  He sinned by setting up golden calves in the northern cities of Bethel and Dan.  He said to his people, “Here are the gods who brought you up out of Egypt.”  And the people worshipped them there, instead of worshipping the Lord in the Temple in Jerusalem.

The great sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat was idolatry.  It was blaspheming the Lord by giving false gods the glory for the salvation God alone had accomplished.

And the Israelite kings after him followed his pattern, down to Pekah king of Israel, mentioned in verse 27, who reigned from around 749 to 730 BC.  He kept up the same old idolatry.  It was politically expedient, you see.  Wouldn’t want the northern tribes going down to Judah for Passover and thinking about reuniting, now would we?  On top of that the people committed all the usual sins we human beings commit when we turn our backs on God.

For their sins the Lord God brought the Assyrians against Israel. He had sworn to Moses that if they did not keep His commands He would wipe them out of the land He was giving them and hold them to account just as He had the Canaanites before them.  So as the writer of II Kings tells us,  “in the time of Pekah king of Israel, about 734 BC, Tiglath Pileser [III], king of Assyria, came and conquered the northern Israelite cites of Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, and Hazor,” in Zebulun and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and you can see their ruins to this day.  “He took Gilead and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and deported the people to Assyria.”

This was a time of great darkness in the history of Israel and Judah.  Before there had been the darkness of willful sin; now add to that the darkness of war, famine, conquest, exile, and shame.  About this time, down in Jerusalem in Judah, the word of the Lord came to Isaiah the prophet.  God revealed it was not Tiglath-Pileser of his own will who had humbled the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, he had only been an instrument in the hand of the Lord, to execute His just vengeance for sin.

The Lord speaking through Isaiah describes the people remaining in Galilee as “walking” and “living” in darkness.  Matthew in his paraphrase rendered both these words as “living” or “sitting” in darkness.  The point is the same.  Both the remaining native Israelites and the foreign people Assyria brought in were living without the light of the Lord.  They continued on in their sins, or if they were aware of them, they saw no hope of salvation.  The favor of the Lord all seemed to rest on Judah in the south, on Jerusalem.

About ten years later the rest of Israel was deported to Assyria.  Finally in 586 BC Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians and Judah went into exile, too.
The Lord had mercy on them, and seventy years later the Judeans, that is, the Jews, were allowed to come back to the land and rebuild Jerusalem.  But things were never the same.  In the days our Lord walked this earth the whole land from south to north was under the control of Rome.  In His day the Jewish people from Judea to Galilee longed for the coming of the Messiah, the One who would save them from the darkness of sin and oppression.

But it was always considered that Judea had the edge when it came to readiness and righteousness.  That’s where the revived religion was the most pure, where the Pharisees were the most righteous.  When God’s Messiah came preaching the good news of the kingdom of heaven, surely He would do it on the streets of Jerusalem, or at least somewhere close by.

John the Baptist preached and baptised in the Desert of Judea, and our Lord was baptised there.  We even read in John’s Gospel that Jesus performed many miraculous signs in Jerusalem during the first Passover of His ministry.  He and His disciples went out into the Judean countryside (John 3:22) and baptised there, at the same time that John was still carrying on his ministry by the Jordan.  Surely it would be Judea and Jerusalem that would be the first to be blessed, not the second-rate, Gentile-infected lands to the north.

But the word of the Lord to the prophet Isaiah came true after John the Baptist was put in prison.  At that time Jesus returned to Galilee, to the land of those dwelling in darkness, to the place traditionally overrun by Gentiles, and made His first formal announcement that the night was over and the dawn had come: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”  He didn’t go where people were the most “deserving,” He went first to the place of greatest need.

. . . on those living in the land of the shadow of death,
a light has dawned.

That is the kind of Saviour He is.  But does He say, “There, there, all is well, go on doing what you’ve always done, it’s okay?”  No, Jesus commands the people to repent.  Reject the apathy, the idolatry, the immorality.  Turn back to the Lord your God for salvation and healing.  Stop loving darkness and come into the light.

This is Christ’s message for us today, though the kingdom has progressed since then.  Since then Jesus has died for our sins and been raised for our justification.  Since then He has poured out His Spirit and formed His Church out of all the peoples of the world.  Even so, He commands us, Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is no longer merely near, it is here among us in the Church He has called.  The day is fast approaching when all His elect will be gathered in and the kingdom of heaven will indeed come in its fulness.  At that time every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.  As the hymn says, the Lord our God will surely “come and take His harvest home:

. . . from His field shall in that day
all offenses purge away.

Therefore He calls us His people to live as kingdom citizens, as children of light, as we turn from the sins of this world to the love of Him who died to make us His own.

This world is not as bad as it can be.  But the darkness looms over us and daily it’s getting worse.  Overseas and even in America radical Islamic groups are brutally killing Christians simply because they are Christians. Here in America men we’ve looked up to as models turn out to be the worst of sinners, and our citizens justify riot and murder for the sake of their cause.  More and more, people would rather spend another day shopping and acquiring rather than taking time to give thanks to God.  And it isn’t just other people.  The darkness of sin still keeps a foothold in our hearts, and we, too, need to hear Christ’s message: Repent– for the kingdom of heaven is here.

Jesus the Son of God was born for you, He died for you, He rose for you, that you might come out of darkness and live in the light of His heavenly kingdom.  He is the King who was to come, the King you can’t ignore, the

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
  Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Forever He will reign over you, me, and all the universe, and of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

Nearly two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ came like the breaking dawn to save us, that all who believe in Him might live in His light and peace.  He will come again in the full light of His glory to judge the world.  For those who love darkness, that will be a day of wrath and distress.  But for those who love Him, those whose ears are opened by the Holy Spirit and heed His call, it will be a day of joy and celebration that will last forever.

This Advent season, heed the call of your Lord and King.  Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come to you.  By His grace, may this be the best news you will ever hear.  Amen.

Sought and Found

Texts:  Isaiah 49:1-7; Matthew 2:1-12

THERE'S A HYMN IN THE 1933 Presbyterian hymnal that goes like this:

I sought the Lord, 
            and afterward I knew
He moved my soul to seek Him, 
            seeking me;
It was not I that found, 
            O Saviour true;
No, I was found of Thee.

These words came to mind as I was studying our passage in Matthew chapter 2, and considering what the Holy Spirit wanted me to bring to you from it on this Feast of the Epiphany.

This story of the Wise Men visiting the Child Jesus is an old, familiar one, but the wonderful thing about God's holy Word is that He always has more to bring to us even out of the passages we know and love best.  We can see in these verses how Jesus is the high King of heaven whom the great ones of the earth worship and adore.  They show us how God begins to include the Gentiles in the kingdom of His Christ.  They move us to glory in the light of God's revelation, and to mourn over the blindness of His ancient covenant people, the Jews.  But this year I was struck by the theme of seeking and finding.

It runs all through our Matthew passage.  The strange men from the East come seeking the Child who is born King of the Jews.  Herod seeks to know where the Christ is to be born, and the priests and teachers of the Law find the answer in the book of the prophet Micah.  Herod seeks to know exactly when the star appeared, and commands the Magi to search carefully for the Child.  The Magi continue their search and at last find the Child Jesus and present Him with the gifts they have brought.  They then return to their own country by another route, leaving Herod without the information he wanted to find.

For the Wise Men in particular, the whole journey is an effort of seeking and finding. And we're used to regarding them in that way. Occasionally by the side of the road somebody will put up a signboard that says

                   Wise Men Still Seek Him

And everyone one knows exactly which wise men it's talking about, and Who it was they sought. But what I want us to ask ourselves today is, "Why?"  I mean, why did they go looking for Jesus?  How did they know they should?  Why on earth should a group of Gentile astrologers-- of all people!-- be interested in the infant King of the Jews?  Why should they be watching for His star-- and how is it possible they even knew this new heavenly body was His star?  And once they saw it, and why should they take the trouble to go hundreds of miles from what is now Iraq to pay Him homage?  Let's not take their journey for granted!  After all, what did the King of the Jews have to do with them?  There was no earthly reason these powerful and influential pagan men should have taken all that effort to seek and find the Messiah of Israel who was born in a barn, but they did.  Why?

We can find part of our answer in the course of human history.  Chaldea, where the order of the Magi flourished, was the heart of the old Babylonian empire, where the Jews had been taken in exile six hundred years before.  Even at the start of the 1st century Jews lived in those regions, and they had planted there a strong tradition of their Scriptures and of the knowledge of the God of Israel.  And so we see that these Wise Men, who were dedicated to seeking out ancient truth, came to know the tradition of the great King of the Jews who was to come.

But it didn't follow that this information would be personally  significant for them.  Humanly-speaking, there really was no reason why these Gentiles should search out the Child Jesus and be so full of joy when they found Him.  Let's understand this: It really wasn't their idea, it was God's.  It wasn't as if the Wise Men one day decided to go find the Incarnate God because it'd be the wise thing to do; they sought Him because God Himself in His purpose and wisdom from all eternity from had decided that's what they would do.  The Magi sought Christ because Christ, as the everlasting Son of God, first sought and found them.

Please keep in mind that we're speaking figuratively. The all-knowing, all wise God doesn't have to "seek" for any of us, because we're always present to Him and He knows exactly where we are at every moment.  But as He works in the hearts of His elect to bring us to Himself, the language of seeking and finding is a very appropriate.

The Wise Men needed God to seek them out before they could seek Him.  And the same goes for every last one of us.  Why?  Because naturally we are lost, wandering, and alone, without God and without hope in the world.  Because as Isaiah says in chapter 9, naturally we are people walking in darkness.  Because as St. Paul says in Ephesians, naturally we are dead in trespasses and sins.  We need God to seek us out by His grace, to find us, enlighten us, and make us alive.  We talk about "making a decision for Christ," and it feels like that's what we do.  But none of us can do any such thing unless God first has made a decision for us.  Look at the chief priests and the teachers of the law in our Matthew reading.  They knew God's Word backwards and forwards.  They didn't have to do any special research to tell Herod where the Christ Child was to be born-- they could quote Micah 5:2 from memory.  But their minds were darkened.  It meant nothing to them that this prophecy was possibly being fulfilled right then, five miles down the road in Bethlehem.  Why did God not choose to break through their darkness and unbelief?  It hasn't been given to us to know that.  But it is given to us, to you and to me, to know that the fact that you and I can be here worshipping our Lord Jesus Christ is a wonderful gift we could never deserve, a gift of pure grace.  God our Creator and Redeemer has sought us and found us, and He will never lose us from this day.

How do we know this?  How can we trust that God's grace will always find what it seeks?  Turn to our reading in Isaiah 49.  Here we see the Servant of the Lord taking up His commission.  He somehow is identified with God's people Israel, but He isn't the nation, because part of His task will be to redeem and restore the tribes of Jacob.  This Servant is the Israel that Israel could never be, the Messiah, the perfect and holy Son of God.  He is, as verse 3 puts it, God's servant Israel, in whom the Lord will display His splendor.  And though it seems as if the task He is given is impossible (for the sinful human heart is harder than any rock), still what is due Him for all His labor "is in the Lord's hand, and [His] reward is with [His] God."  Do you know what that reward is?  It's you who believe in Him and all His faithful saints, whom the Father has given the Son.  The success of Christ in saving us is certain, for God the Father Himself has promised to reward His Son by giving Him all those He has chosen for salvation.

God prepared His Son perfectly for His mission of salvation-- He was like a polished arrow in the quiver of God, and once He was set to the bowstring He would never fail to hit the mark God intended.  Verse 2 says the Lord "concealed me in his quiver," and for long centuries God's plan for salvation was hidden from human knowledge.  Who would have thought that the Saviour would be God Himself come to earth as a helpless Child?  Who could have conceived that the Lord of life would die on a cross to atone our sins?  But that's exactly what He did, and we could never see it or look for it or accept it if God did not reveal it to us.  His grace had to seek us out, so we could believe the good news of Jesus Christ and seek the One who had already found us.

It would have made sense if this wonderful salvation had only applied to the Jews.  Truly, when God sent His Servant the Messiah, it was first and foremost His purpose to redeem the chosen remnant of His ancient people.  Jesus was "formed in the womb," verse 5 says, "to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to Himself."  As Christ said during His ministry, He was sent to seek out the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  But hear what the Lord says to my Lord:

"It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
    to restore the tribes of Jacob
    and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
    that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

A light to the Gentiles, the Christ would be!  And even as a tiny Child our Lord Jesus was fulfilling that prophecy, as His Holy Spirit sought out those Gentiles from the East, Wise Men, nobles, princes of their people.  God found them and enlightened them and drew them to His Son.  And so these words of the prophet began to be fulfilled:

"Kings will see you and rise up,
    princes will see and bow down,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

And the Magi were only the beginning.  We sitting here are Gentiles who have been given the light of Christ, because of the faithfulness of the Lord.  We are chosen in Him, God's beloved Son, Child of Mary, the true Israel and God's holy Servant, in whom the Lord displays His splendor.  In Christ the light of God is revealed to those who were in darkness.  In Christ the grace of God seeks and finds those who would never think of looking for Him.

And He invites us to His Table.  As we eat the bread and drink the cup we do so in remembrance of Jesus Christ who for us died and rose again.  But remember that in this sacrament God Himself does something for us.  Here at this Table God seeks to give us Christ and all His benefits: His love, His mercy, His forgiveness, His assurance, His grace-- all the overwhelming riches of Jesus our Lord, more precious than any gold, frankincense, or myrrh.  Receive Him here by faith. Like the Magi, bow before Him with gratitude and great joy. What you seek is here, for God Himself has first sought you, and what He seeks, He finds.

God's Inclusive Exclusivity

Texts: Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2:1-12

TODAY IS THE FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY. It's the day when the Church celebrates God's revelation of Himself to the Gentiles in the Infant Christ. "Epiphany" means "to show [something] to [someone]," and that's just what the Lord God does when He leads the Wise Men by the star to come and worship Jesus, the newborn King.

But this holy day could also be called "The Feast of Inclusive Exclusivity."

We all know what being inclusive means. When we're talking about people, it means letting everyone into your group and not keeping anyone out. Inclusiveness is a primary virtue in our culture. Everyone wants to be considered inclusive. If you're not inclusive, you must be intolerant or some sort of bigot or something else equally unacceptable.

On the other hand, it's not acceptable at all to be ex-clusive. If you're exclusive, you put up barriers. You let some people in and keep others out. Our culture says it's wrong to be exclusive. Who are we to judge? Better to be caught robbing a bank than to be openly exclusive.

But on this Feast of the Epiphany, God reveals His inclusive exclusivity. We see Him letting people in on the one hand, and keeping them out, on the other.

What is God up to? Is He somehow going against His own rules by being inclusively exclusive? Or is He doing something that should cause us to fall down in worship and adoration? Is He teaching us a lesson we should follow as we do His will in this fallen world?

Our readings from Isaiah and St. Matthew certainly show the inclusive nature of the Lord God of Israel. And I name Him "the Lord God of Israel" on purpose. The Lord called the children of Israel from father Abraham on and made a special covenant with them that they would be His special people and they would be their special God. And unlike what we hear so much of these days, no, not every nation was special to the Lord. Just Israel. Just the Jews.

But Isaiah looks forward to the day when foreign kings and alien nations would come and share in Israel's covenant promises. They would enjoy the peace and prosperity and happiness that up to then God had pledged to Israel alone. All through his prophecy, Isaiah speaks of how foreigners who had no right to God's divine favour would one day be joined to Israel and receive the blessings belonging to the Lord's chosen people.

Then hundreds of years later, St. Matthew is writing his Gospel, and he considers how the Magi came from the East to worship Jesus, the little King of the Jews. And Matthew recognises that as the beginning of the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy.

It's pretty certain that the Magi weren't exactly kings, but they would have been on the upper levels of the hierarchy at the royal court in Chaldea. They would have been royal advisors, like the members of the president's cabinet, and we can assume they carried royal authority and sanction with them. So they indeed represent the Gentile "kings" Isaiah prophesied would come to the brightness of Israel's dawn.

In fact, the Magi represent all the Gentiles that the Lord God of Israel would call and lead to come and be included in the blessings and benefits of glorified Israel. The blessings weren't just for the Jews anymore. As Isaiah says, "Your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm."

This in one sense is talking about the return of children of exiled Jews, born in foreign lands and coming to back to the Promised Land, to Jerusalem for the first time. But the Holy Spirit means more than that. These children, these sons and daughters are those born Gentiles that the Lord on this great day will bring to be included in His glorified Israel. And as the prophet says, every true Israelite will be overcome with joy to see everyone who will be included, everyone who will come join him in the praise of the Lord.

So God is very, very inclusive. The Wise Men themselves, they were from Chaldea, or Babylon. Today, we call that country Iraq. Babylon was a byword for all that was evil, all that was to be rejected by a good Jew. But the Lord God has led even high officials of that hated nation to come and humble themselves at the cradle of the King of the Jews. If Babylonian nobility could come and bow down, if their worship was accepted, how could any Gentile of any nation ever be excluded at all?

They can't. We can't. People of every tribe and tongue and nation are called to come and receive the blessings God promised to His people Israel.

For as we saw last week, those blessings are made possible and perfect in Jesus Christ, who is the New Israel. He's the one who keeps the law in ethnic Israel's behalf. He's the one who takes the punishment for their rebellion and sin. Jesus Christ is the One who rose again to usher in a new life in God for His people Israel. He's the one who is the true Heir of all the promises God ever made about light and life and glory and prosperity and blessing. He's the new and true Israel. And Jesus is the one who incorporates all of us, Jew and Gentile, into Himself, and so He includes us in the inheritance that is coming to Him.

But we've put our finger right on it. That's God's ex-clusivity right there. It's Jesus Christ. If you want to be included in God's blessings, if you want to be a member of God's special people, you have to get in exclusively through Jesus Christ.

In Isaiah, the Holy Spirit speaks of a glorious dawn that will relieve and lift the spiritual darkness covering all the world. He says nations and kings will come to that light. But that's the point: They have to come, because the dawn comes out of Israel alone. And the source and Sun of that dawn is Jesus Christ, Israel's Messiah.

If God were being "inclusive" as the modern world counts inclusiveness, the new light, the great new morning would have been given to every pagan nation right where they were. They would have had no need to seek and worship the incarnate Son of the God of Israel.

But that's not how God chose to do things. He chose to have the high officials of Chaldea, the wisest of the wise, come all that way to bow down before the Infant King of the Jews! He led them by the miraculous star to come all that way, and the Magi were overjoyed to do it, too.

For they were wiser men than a lot of people who consider themselves really smart today. They knew that if they wanted to be included in God's blessings to Israel, they had to come worship before Israel's true King, because that's where the blessings exclusively were.

You hear a lot of silliness these days about how "religion" should be inclusive. Some people will say, "The heart of Christianity is its inclusiveness. If a church excludes anybody for any reason, it's not really a Christian church." Other people will say, "Christianity is a bad religion. It excludes people who don't believe in Jesus."

Both those statements totally miss the point of God's glorious inclusive exclusivity. Yes, the Lord calls everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, to share in the light and riches of Christ, the New Israel. He is inclusive. But that light and those riches are found exclusively in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the New Israel, the King of the Jews. You have to put your trust in Him and Him alone.

You have to, because there is no other source of blessing and fellowship and eternal life with Almighty God. There is no other way to please God and be acceptable to Him, other than trust in Christ the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. There is no other route to heaven, besides the one Way, Truth, and Life who is God's only-begotten Son.

Because that is Who He is-- the Son of God. If you want blessings from God, if you want eternal life and gracious favor and peace with God and man, if you want your face to be divinely radiant and your heart to throb with holy joy, you have to get all those good things from God Himself. That's where they are. Jesus Christ is the one and only exclusive source of God's light and love and blessing, because He of all human beings is God in human flesh, and He alone. You try to go somewhere else to get them, if you try to make up a way to get all these divine things for yourself, you're wasting your time. And you're a fool, because they won't be there. The blessings of God towards man are found exclusively in God's Son, the Man Jesus Christ.

The Wise Men knew this and were willing to travel mile upon desert mile in order to be included in God's exclusive source of blessing. They didn't turn up their noses at the Lord's exclusivity. No, when they saw the star that told them they were getting close to the Child Jesus, they were overjoyed!

Are we as wise as they? Are we willing to receive our heavenly Father's inclusive gifts in His exclusive way? We don't have to travel hundreds of miles to get them. God's blessings in Christ are as close to us as our church fellowship, as close to us as the Bible on our nightstands, as close as the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts, as close to us as this Holy Supper spread for our spiritual nourishment.

Come to this Table exclusively through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will include you in His blessings of grace and salvation. He died to give them to you. See and touch and taste the bread and the wine. Be refreshed by the sacrifice of His body broken for you, and His blood shed that you might share in His heavenly joy with all the saints of every time and place. Come, be included in the Lord's communion, and know the divine salvation and joy and light that come exclusively and gloriously through Jesus Christ, our Saviour, King, and only Lord. Amen.