[Generated Manuscript]

Keep your scriptures in the hand and Revelation there and turn over to chapter 6. We’re reading verses I’m going to read the whole chapter. The focus of the sermon will be on verses 9 to 17, but I’m going to start at verse 1. Revelation chapter 6, starting at verse 1.

Please give your full attention. This is the Word of our God. And before I read the text and preach, let’s ask the Lord’s blessing once more. Join me in prayer on asking His grace and blessing upon those very things. Let’s pray together. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we come again before you, and as we delight to be in your presence and to raise to you our songs of worship and praise, and we pray that in your goodness that you would indeed now as we hear your word and we hear from you that you would press down upon our lives with the weight of your word that humbles our pride but also that by your grace lifts us up into your presence that we may indeed delight in hearing your voice and having you work upon our lives as you minister to us through your word and by your Holy Spirit and so we pray dear Lord that by Your grace and Your Spirit, through Your Word, You would grow us together into the likeness of our Savior, our blessed Redeemer, Jesus Christ. We ask this all in His name, and all God’s people said together, Amen. Amen. Revelation chapter 6, starting in verse 1, this is the Word of God. Now he watched when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and he heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, Come.

And he looked, and behold, a white horse, and its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer. When he opened the second seal, he heard the second living creature say, Come. And out came another horse, bright red. This rider was permitted to take peace from the earth so that the people should slay one another. He was given a great sword.

When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, come. And I looked, and behold, a black horse. And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, a quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine. When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, come. And I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And his rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him.

And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword and with famine, with pestilence and wild beasts of the earth. And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness that they had borne.

And they cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, How long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? and they were each given a white robe and told to rest for a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. When he opened the sixth seal, I looked and behold, there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth and the full moon became like blood and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, and the great ones, and the generals, and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks and mountains, calling on the mountains and rocks, fall on us. and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come. Who can stand? The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord indeed endures forever.

I can recall shortly after I began reading the Bible as a new believer, I heard about, as you hear about everything in the place where I grew up, on the radio of this conference. It was a conference called The Time of the Signs. And it was a truly weird event. I went to it as a novice, not knowing anything. It was a firehose of information with great leaps and jumps, shoehorning every possible piece of data, current events, esoteric history, into a particular view of the times, the times of the ends. It was very sensationalistic, to say the least, but it was not quite fitting or convincing, really.

And that particular view of the end times, as I’ve said before, I’m convinced must be taught from the outside. People don’t come to those or that view because just from studying the scriptures, right? It has to be taught from the outside, some external component, person, fact, or teaching.

And man, you know, has an insatiable hunger for knowledge in general, and the dissatisfaction with the lack of knowledge. But also, surely, regarding spiritual things as well, not just general things. And even believers’ hunger for knowing, not just what the Bible says, not merely to increase knowing what’s been revealed, but more. They need more special knowledge, secret knowledge.

That, of course, is an ancient problem going back to the first man. And history is littered with heresies and heretics and heretical groups seeking special knowledge beyond what God has revealed. It’s not good, to say the least, brothers and sisters. I’m sure you know, I’m not telling you anything new.

And we as God’s people, as sons and daughters of the King, we want to be satisfied fully with what God has given us in his word. It is sufficient and it is glorious. So we have to ask, is it sufficient? Is his word enough? Or is it inadequate? So we need something else outside of it. That’s a huge question. Many things, many problems creep up in an attempt to seek from outside sources something else. Is his word and his description, who he is enough? Do we need to make images of him? And so forth. Is it adequate? Is it sufficient? Is it enough? And you know, brothers and sisters, oh, it is indeed sufficient. It is indeed adequate. It is truly enough.

And that is a truly glorious blessing and truth and a grounding to lay hold of with all of our hearts and all of your minds. And so let’s spend some time and energy mining the riches as we continue on of what is here for us in this book. It’s not an easy book. It’s not a fantastical, sensationalistic, sensual fiction that we hear so much about that leads us astray and worry our souls and even torment our spirits. So let’s catch up to where we are, where we’ve been, shall we? Where are we?

We’ve seen that Christ is the Lord of his church. Christ is present with his church to buttress, to encourage, to give hope. Christ gives, through John, this letter, this book. Revelation, the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ, the apocalypse, the word for revelation. And remember, what is this book? It’s a revelation. It reveals, not conceals. It’s Christ-centered. It had a historical audience. It is scripture-saturated. It’s full of the Old Testament, full of quotations from scripture. And it’s an encouragement to faith. Revelation is an encouragement to faith, to the faithful walk, and also to faith in our Triune God.

And we’ve seen in this series that those signs that Jesus gave in answer to his disciples when asked about the signs of the end of the age, Wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, sickness, famine, birth pains, Jesus called them in Matthew 24 as he answers them in their question.

It was these that appear again, we read in Revelation, when the Lamb took the scroll and opened its seven seals. And remember last time we were together, I spoke of those four horsemen, as we just heard, going forth in judgment, taking peace from the earth, bringing famine, pestilence, and death upon the earth’s inhabitants. And the judgments contained within these seals are the first recall of a series of cycles of judgment.

They’re rehearsals, some have called them. They’re preparations for the final judgment yet to come at the end of the age when Christ returns and he comes to judge the world and to raise the dead and to make all things new. The same one who spoke of the signs of the end is the only one we read worthy to open the scroll and execute the judgments within. God is directing all of history, all of the drama of redemption to its appointed end, and that is the wrath of the Lamb. Indeed, the triumph of the Lamb. We’re in this section, Revelation 6, chapters 6 and 7, even into 8, where John’s second vision, right, where the lamb opens the mysterious scroll and its seven seals that were sealed until the time of the end.

And with the opening of these first four seals, these colored horses, and its rider goes forth to execute just that, God’s judgment on the earth, to scatter his enemies and to vindicate his people. With the first two seals open, as the Lamb does, there’s a white horse and its rider representing conquest, and the red horse, whose rider was given a sword. And these two riders go forth, and as they go forth, peace is removed from the earth. This means that the entire period of time between the Lord’s first coming and his second advent are characterized by what?

By wars and intensification, rumors of wars, which increase in intensity as we draw near to the end of time. And when he opens the third seal, a black horse goes forth, bringing famine and economic hardship on the earth. And then the fourth rider on a pale horse named Death, Hades follows. behind him, writing forth in judgment. And John says that as a result of these judgments is that one quarter of the earth’s population will die. And so these first four seal judgments remind us of what? That because of human sin, the earth groans beneath our feet. And when the Lord removes peace from the earth, the wickedness of the human heart produces wars, leading to the horrible slaughter shown in these particular judgments. But there are three more seal judgments yet to come that we’ll get to in time.

But remember from last time, when we looked at these first four seal judgments, these first four of the seven seals, the seal judgments represent the first of these three cycles, right, groupings found in Revelation. The trumpet and the bowl judgments we’ll see in Revelation 8 to 11, and then 15 to 16. And each of these cycles, each of these cycles use this entire period between Christ’s first coming and second advent from a different perspective, a different vantage point. This period of time. we read spoken of as the time of the end, or the last days, or the thousand years. And the seven seal judgments refer to events that occur between John’s time at the end of the first century until the present, and which will continue until Christ indeed comes on the last day.

And there are two senses in which these cycles of judgments intensify. Remember we talked about the trumpet is more intense, more severe than the seal judgments, and the bowl judgments more intense and severe than the trumpets. And each of these cycles also intensifies internally within itself.

Meaning that there’s this intensification, these judgments during the course of the present age before their culmination at the second coming of Christ will indeed continue to increase. And this is why Jesus spoke, remember, of the sign of the end similar to birth pains. The signs become so intense that it’s impossible to tell which particular sign is the final bringer of that end, which will be the end. We can’t tell which one will be the last.

We should also note that in each of these cycles of judgments, there are seven individual judgments. It’s the way apocalyptic literature is working, the way that he’s cycling through. And throughout the book of Revelation, we’ve talked about the number seven symbolizing perfection, or divine fullness. And within these cycles, of sevens, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls, as they run their course, when they do, God’s wrath will come to an end with the second coming of Christ, the culmination of it all, who removes the curse and brings about that final judgment, moving history, the history of redemption, to its final goal, a redeemed people, a new creation, where there are no more tears, no more pain, no more suffering, and where God dwells with his people in his temple.

Just as it was in Eden before the fall. On that day, one day, we shall see him face to face. And so in this part of Revelation, John maps out the general course of human history. Setting it against the big picture, the grand scope of redemption. He’s not foretelling specific historical events, a particular war or an earthquake or particular events in Israel geopolitical currently or in the Middle East. No, what he’s doing through these vivid, vibrant word pictures is what apocalyptic literature does. John’s showing us how Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecy using these, and that all wars and famines and earthquakes and the struggles of man point us ahead to the final judgment yet to come. And these things constantly remind us that because of Adam’s fall and the sin of man, all is not right in the world. Things are not as they ought to be.

And one day the Lord himself will return, will come again to undo the effects of human rebellion. And so despite its mysterious nature, it’s a difficult book, but despite that, the book of Revelation is a book of hope. It’s a book of hope reminding us that God is indeed in control of all things. He’s sovereign. And that one day we will realize all of God’s gracious covenant promises when all of creation bows before the Lamb who was slain.

May we never forget that, brothers and sisters, as we’re going through this book, and as we go through our lives, and even to the end of our days in this life. It’s a book of hope, of the God of hope, where the Lamb is victorious over all the sin and evil of this world, and even of your own lives. So let’s go now to our text for today, with the fifth seal, beginning in verse nine. Beginning in verse nine, with the opening of the fifth seal, there’s this dramatic move, if you will notice there. This move that we see from earth to heaven.

While the earth and its people wreak havoc on each other with the removal of peace, God’s people naturally wonder about their own fate. They wonder about their own fate and about those who died at the hands of the devil-driven, satanically motivated beasts in history. And the saints in heaven cry out for justice, we hear, not maliciously, not for their own vengeance or revenge, but because they want to see God’s will done on earth as they have seen already witnessed it being done in heaven. And while the earth and its people cry out in the midst of the disaster brought about by the four horsemen and these seal judgments, The saints before the throne cry out as well.

And we read, John says in Jeremiah verse 9, when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. And they cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

Notice, yes, we see the scene shift from earth to heaven. But also, this is the first mention of the altar that we come across. Remember in the Old Testament, the tabernacle and the temple had two altars. One in the courtyard, you’ll remember if you remember your Old Testament architecture and structure and the way it was laid out. One in the courtyard where the sacrificial animals were slain. And where was the other one? The other altar was in the holy place.

And these altars are designed to teach us that sinful people can approach the holy God only through means of a sacrifice for sin. Sin has to be dealt with. But in heaven, there is one altar. And we know, according to the book of Hebrews, the earthly altars were but copies and shadow of that which is in heaven, right? Hebrews 8, 5 tells us. And in chapter 9 of Hebrews, in verse 11, we read, it says this, but when Christ appeared, as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect hands, not made with hands, that is not of this creation.” It is to this heavenly altar that the prayers of the saints ascend when they cry out for God’s will to be done. How long, O And John sees the souls of these martyred saints under the altar where the sacrificial blood had been shed.

And this is not only proof that life continues on after death. The soul lives even after the body dies. But these are the same people that John sees, you see, in Revelation 20, verse 4, during the thousand years, right? It says, Revelation 24, Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God, and those who had not worshipped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands, and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

They were in the presence of the Lamb, under the altar and before the throne, because they had participated already in the first resurrection. The Apostle John, of course, See my author in John 5, 24, we read there that Jesus says, Therefore all Christian believers cross over from life to death, in that sense, the first resurrection, when we are born again, born anew, born from above by the Spirit, because they’ve already crossed from death to life in that new birth. And when we die, we do indeed take our place in heaven, right, with the martyrs who were killed by the beast, and come to life only to reign with Christ for a thousand years. And while the martyrs cry out for God’s will to be done, back to our Revelation 6, we read in verse 11, Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete who were to be killed as they themselves had been. Clothed in the righteousness of Christ, symbolized by the white robe, the saints in heaven anticipate the great and glorious day when the seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven bold judgments run their course. John says in Revelation 14, “‘And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “‘Write this, “‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. “‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, “‘that they may rest from their labors, “‘for their deeds follow them.'” The last elect sinner comes to faith in Jesus Christ.

When the judgment’s described and the seals are finally completed, Then the number of the servants and brothers will be completed, and God’s wrath will have reached its fullness on that day, when Christ returns to judge the world, to raise the dead, and to make all things new. God will save His people, and He will remove the stain of sin from every corner of creation And this lament of the martyrs crying out brings us to the sixth seal judgment, which describes the second coming of Jesus Christ. At the fifth seal, we learn that the judgments associated with the first four of those were war, famine, pestilence, death. They will not come to an end until the martyrs, all of them, have died and their full number is complete.

But in the sixth seal, we learn that when the end finally comes, God’s wrath will shake the earth. And actually, it will extend not only to the earth, but to the cosmos. The sky turns to darkness. The heavens and the land roll up like a scroll. And this, of course, is a picture that John comes back to later in chapter 21 when he says, then I saw, remember, the new heaven and the new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

And then a chapter back to our Revelation 6.12, he says, when he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake. I listened to the things he sang. The sun became black as sackcloth. The full moon became like blood. The stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree sheds its winter fruit when it’s shaken by a gale. And the sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up. And every mountain and island was removed from its place.

And remember as we read and we looked at the background, we looked at what John had said up to this point, interacting with the churches, these real churches in Asia Minor and what’s going on. In these seven letters, John’s original audience knew firsthand the destructive power of the earthquakes. Severe earthquakes had shocked Asia Minor, period, in 1817, and then 1876, and then in 1879, the entire Roman world was shocked by the destruction of the city you all know as Pompeii. John warns that a great earthquake, far greater than anything they had known to man in their near or distant future, will yet come to rock the earth. And certainly John has in mind these disasters regionally in Asia Minor, as all of his readers would have too.

But more significantly, there’s a connection he’s making. John has in mind the Old Testament background of the wrath of God, where earthquakes frequently are connected to God’s coming to earth to deliver justice. Remember, the ground quakes as God gives the law at Mount Sinai in Exodus. Creation shakes when God comes as a warrior to lead his hosts out into battle. The earth shudders before the coming of the Lord to judge the wicked through the prophets And in all of these texts, the prophets foretell of a great earthquake which accompanies the day of the Lord. And this great earthquake appears again in Revelation 11 with the two witnesses you’ll recall, and again in Revelation 16 when the angel pours out the seventh bowl of God’s wrath.

And these are all references to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And additionally, the same cosmic signs appear, as we have pointed out, in the Olivet Discourse, where Jesus speaks of the signs of the end. And after describing these signs, what does he say? He speaks of those signs which will accompany his second advent. And he says this, Matthew 24, 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to another.”

The words of Christ. Clearly, Jesus and John are speaking of the same event. And therefore, when the sixth seal is open, Christ returns in judgment. And when he does so, the entire cosmos is purified from sin. But while the Lord speaks of the angels gathering in his elect at his return, in John’s vision we learn about the fate of those who are not prepared to meet the Lord.

Verse 15, then the kings of the earth, and the great ones, and the generals, and the rich, and the powerful, and everyone slave and free, hid themselves in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And the fact that there are seven categories, seven kinds of people listed here, is surely intended to remind us that God’s judgment upon humanity is complete and total. No one will escape. The terror of facing Jesus Christ coming in judgment soon overwhelms these people like a crushing flood He goes on in verse 16, calling to the mountains, these groups of people are mounting the rocks, to fall on us and hide us from the face of him who was seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand? And the answer is, of course, no one. That’s devastating news. That’s very bad, awful news. But we remember the psalmist, right? Psalm 130, if you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning, more than the watchman for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with Him there is plentiful redemption, and He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. While the redeemed never need to fear the judgment of Christ, because He has died for our sins, removing the very record of them. Those who are not Christ would rather be buried alive than face the wrath of the Lamb. He has kept a record of their sin, and they cannot stand in His presence. It’s not been dealt with. Not many think of that, right? Not a popular thing. You don’t hear people, casual conversation, talking about the wrath of the Lamb.

It’s so distasteful in our culture, so offensive, so off-putting. to the ears of many, if not most. The enemy has so weakened and massaged, even in the church and so many of its people, we just don’t want to hear it, let alone speak of it, let alone warn of it. You can have your meek and mild, soft and kind Jesus, not this wrath of the Lamb. But God’s truth isn’t guided or changed by our distaste or our discomforts. And we, frankly, should be far more uncomfortable shaving down his word and truncating the truth than with offending a lost world that’s made it comfortable to ignore what’s really going to happen if they remain in their state in rebellion and rejection of the only rescue of their souls.

Perhaps this is why for many the good news of the gospel seems not so good to many. Because they’ve convinced themselves that there is no bad news. But the wrath of the Lamb for them is certainly very bad news. The wrath of the Lamb. The glorious fact is, that there’s escape from the Lamb’s wrath. If you are His, if you are His, there is escape. You can be assured that you are His. You must know Him. You must trust Him.

We all have different degrees of assurance, of assurance of these things. We all have different degrees of our assurance and it will vary from time to time and the station of life that we’re in because we’re yet sinners saved by grace. We’re yet carrying the old flesh, listening to its lies, entertaining the lies of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

The struggles about these things are real, because we are fallen people. And many struggle mightily with this reality, to know that you are His, to know and be assured that you are His. But when this happens, what do we do? What do we do in these struggles?

Because, you know, this is a very big part of what Revelation is doing. It’s giving hope. It’s giving assurance and saying, regardless of the reality of what’s coming and what’s happening, you are safe. You are mine. You will persevere because of me and what I have done. What do we do? What do you do in your life when you struggle? These very things, these challenges.

Well, the most important thing you can do is trust what He tells you in His Word. We look at the objective truth of his word. Do you believe? Have you trusted in him for your life? Have you cast yourself upon his offer of mercy and grace and rescue for you? Have you accepted him as your savior and your lord, your king to rescue you and follow with your whole life? Are you his? Is he yours?

He says, believe in me and you will have life. the objective testimony of His Word. Scripture is full of declarations of the one who trusts in Him and believes on Him. Go to those texts for your assurance, for your life, and your comfort, and your hope. And most certainly, dear people, most certainly don’t go from here unless or until you have closed with Him, until you are His even right now. Trust in Him. Trust in Him.

He lived and died so that you, as you trust and believe in His person and work for you and for your salvation, has accomplished all that was required for that salvation, a new heart and a home in glory forever with Him, free of the sins and all the things that beset you and all the things that plague you and torment you. There’s freedom in Christ.

We’ll come back to this amazing and awesome picture from God’s Word next week. But let us go from here today, knowing Him to whom we belong, the faithful witness, the Lord of glory, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth, the Alpha and the Omega, the Lord and Savior of life, the Redeemer of men and women who name His name and seek His glory. And may we rejoice, dear people, that even as broken and stained and befouled and hurting and hurtful people that we are, we are safe from this terrible wrath, the wrath of the Lamb. For that wrath that we deserve was taken to the fullest by this Lamb Himself on that cross for you and for me.

Go trusting and go believing, dear Christian. Praise Him, brothers and sisters. Praise Him and rejoice, for He is the God of our salvation and life through this life and even to the next. Believe and trust and know how your life will be changed. Pray that the Lord will increase your faith and give you the faith to believe and strengthen as you partake of the means of grace, and the Spirit works through them in your hearts for you to strengthen and buttress you to this very end, all to his glory. Rejoice in your Savior. Amen. Let’s pray.

Our great Heavenly Father, we’re so humbled in your presence. We’re not humbled enough, we don’t even realize the magnitude of your great love and power. We stand at the precipice, experiencing just the midst of your great love and power before us, and we feel overwhelmed. We thank you and praise you that you are not only powerful and mighty, but you are our Heavenly Father and that you care for us and that you love us and you seek us good.

We praise you for the gospel. We praise you for giving us life through Christ. Lord God, we do pray that as your word goes out and that you truly would feed your people and that that word would have its full effect not only here in this room, in this city, but around the world. Work, dear Lord, we pray, through those whom you’ve sent out to that end. Lord, we’re to bring people to life through the proclamation of the good news of the finished work of Christ. Protect those missionaries, those people you have sent out, your servants far and near.

We pray, dear Lord, give us a true sense of the victory that is ours in the Lamb, is ours in Christ, the triumph of the Lamb, what a glorious truth. And help us to see who we are, truly united to Jesus, dead to sin, once and for all, and raised to walk in newness of life. Help us all, we pray, dear Lord, to have hearts that are truly full of your love, caring and loving each other, and work through us in these very things to bear testimony and witness to the love you’ve shown to us in Christ. And as a result, Lord, that we to the outside world would have that glorious spiritual aroma of forgiveness and grace and love and hearts that care and live for you, all to your glory.

We praise you that you work even through such weak, weak vessels. Pray for those who suffer in our midst, Lord. Encourage them, we pray. Even through us, we thank you that we can be used in such a way. And we pray, asking that you would grant us, as we endure the comfort of your spirit, and even as you promised, the peace that transcends all of our human understanding. And Lord, we do ask and we pray for the many children of this church. They’re so dear to us and precious to us. We thank you that they are more dear and more precious to you.

We pray that you would bless each of them and that they would love you, Lord, as you lead them along with all of their hearts and that as they struggle in this life and as they grow and as they stumble, And as they suffer, and even as they sin and fall, that fail, that the gospel would become all the more real to them and truly become to them good news as they embrace it by faith themselves time and time again. We pray for the parents here today that they would truly love their children and rear them according to your word and the true and holy faith. Lord, give them, we pray, husbands and wives to love one another. the sacrificial, cruciform love in service to each other. And even for all of us, Lord, married or single, young or old, Lord, help us to have hearts that are fat with your love, so caring for one another and each other, that we would truly be a light to the world for your glory. We praise that you have fed us, even afresh this day, as you promised to do, and as you’re faithful to do, as we have heard your word to us, and as such, may we see that this is our life, and this is our sustenance, even in this time of sojourn, away from our true home, with you in glory, even in sorrow, even in difficulty, even in affliction. Strengthen us, we pray, and be with us, our dear Father. We ask all these things and we bring them to you in the name of our mighty Savior Jesus. Amen.