I was talking to someone this week who said they were in the ministry where our son Caleb is down in South Carolina, and he was doing an Ask the Pastor forum. And the person said to me, did he get that idea from you? I said, yes, I think he did. He's probably much better at it than I am, and I'm proving that this evening by going back to a question that we answered last week. Well, we tried. I left last week feeling like the question that we start with this evening was very poorly answered. And I was agitated about that. I felt like we got the plane flying in the air and never really landed it. And I had a couple of questions about it after the service. So I thought, let's come back at that. You ever answer a question and feel like that was really bad? That's how I felt all week. So I'm going to try to redeem myself on this question this evening. Some of it may sound familiar. But bear with me, if you will. We're taking our Bibles and turning to 1 Corinthians 11, because the question is, 1 Corinthians 11, 14, considers it a dishonor for man to have long hair. Most depictions of Christ have him wearing long hair. Should we surmise that the depiction of Christ is false and that he has short hair? And I got off on a couple rabbit trails last week. They were fun, but I don't know if they were very helpful. The 14th verse, not the 4th verse of 1 Corinthians 11 says, does not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it's a shame unto him? And I noted last week, and I'm going to note it again this week, this is a very important question for us to answer. because the word nature that's used in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 14 is the very same word that's used in Romans chapter one and verse 26, where the word of God says, even their women did leave the natural use to do that which is against nature, speaking about lesbianism or homosexuality in Romans chapter one. I say that because If we say hair length is a cultural consideration and the Apostle Paul uses the argument that it's against nature for a man to have long hair, if we interpret that to be, well, nature for the time or in the culture, then you're going to have to use the same argument when you're discussing homosexuality. So you've gotta land this plane really carefully, right? Did you follow with me there? The argument here in 1 Corinthians 11, the Apostle Paul says, it's against nature. Does not even nature itself teach you that for a man to have long hair, it's a shame unto him. We dare not say this is a cultural matter. Because if we make hair length a cultural matter, then you're gonna have the same argument coming back in Romans 1, with regard to homosexuality. So, I looked up Weist, Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, and this is what Weist had to say about 1 Corinthians 11, 14. He interpreted it this way, does not the innate sense of propriety itself, parentheses, based on the objective difference in the constitution of things, that is the difference between male and female, teach you that if indeed a man allows his hair to grow long, it's a disgrace to him. That's pretty clear. Amplified Bible does it this way. Doesn't common sense itself teach you that for a man to wear long hair is a dishonor, it's degrading, it's humiliating? So the nature that's being spoken of here is the natural God-designed difference between men and women. So God has designed a difference between male and female, and one of the ways that that difference is demonstrated is in how a man, how a woman would care for his or her hair. Now, DNA plays a part in this. Those who are endowed with testosterone tend to lose their hair. Natural hair loss is more natural with men than with women, amen? Amen. I'll say amen to that one. Okay. So reality is, when you look at the history books, the Greek and Roman men tended to wear their hair short. The Greek and Roman gods, however, are depicted with long hair. It's just interesting. When you look at a sculptured bust of a Roman man, some of you right now can imagine in your mind, the imagery that you've seen of Nero or of Caesar. And you remember how they kind of curl their, you know, their sideburns out a little bit this way, but it's all short, sometimes with a wreath on top, it's short. The Greek and Roman gods, however, were depicted typically with longer hair. So when we asked the question, how did we get the idea that Jesus had long hair and why do artists typically depict Jesus with long hair? Historians give one of two answers. One answer, that when Constantine married Rome to the church, of course he did that as a syncretist and brought in a lot of other false religion. And when he did that, the false religions of the mystery gods of the Romans and the Greeks were brought into the Christian mindset Consequently, people began to imagine Jesus with long hair as the other gods would have been depicted. And so Jesus comes to have long hair in the portraiture they're following. Other people say no, probably more a matter of confusion between the word Nazarite and Nazarene. Jesus was from the village of Nazareth. He was a Nazarene. The Nazarite took a vow Part of the vow meant he could never touch a dead body, he could never drink wine, he could not cut his hair. And so Samson, a Nazirite, had long hair, and some would say, no, the pictures of Jesus with long hair probably come from people misinterpreting Nazirite with Nazarene. All that is interesting, but what's most interesting, and this is the part I think I lost sleep over a little bit, In Deuteronomy chapter 22 and verse 5, the Old Testament gives a declaration of a principle that sometimes causes controversy, but it really shouldn't. Deuteronomy 22.5 says, a woman is not to wear that which pertains to a man, not to put on his garments. In other words, I'm sorry, a woman is not to wear that which pertains to a man or a man to put on the woman's garments. So that's a reference that causes controversy because people will say, well, you know, is a woman wearing slacks wearing something that pertains to a man? I think that's a pretty anemic way of looking at that passage. I've said in times past, this evening I'm wearing what would be considered pretty much an Oxford cloth shirt. That's not blue, it's striped blue and white, but I'm sure that Ladies have in their closet Oxford cloth blouses. The difference between my Oxford cloth shirt and their Oxford cloth blouse is my buttons go a different direction. But once they're buttoned, you can't tell which direction they went. Am I wearing that which pertains to a woman tonight? Or would she be wearing something that pertains to a man if she puts on an Oxford blouse? That same argument goes with slacks. There are some slacks that are made for women. and there's some slacks that are made for men. If you can't tell the difference by now, we need to talk. I told our pastoral staff a long time ago, I know a lot of pastors who go into skinny jeans, that will never happen in my lifetime. There are different cuts and styles. That's an interesting comment, but really, I said that's an anemic view of Deuteronomy 22 because the real Consideration, Deuteronomy 22, is cross-dressing. Purposeful cross-dressing. And the Bible is saying, uh-uh, buddy, don't you put on something that pertains to a woman. And honey, don't you put on something that pertains to a man. If you wanna look like a man, you're dressing the wrong direction. Now, let's come back to 1 Corinthians 11, and Lord willing, we'll land the plane a little better this week. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, The Apostle Paul is making that principle really clear. So look up at verse six, the principle of distinction, distinctiveness between the man and the woman and the way they appear. So in verse six, if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn. But it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head for as much as he is the image of the glory of God. So he's talking about in verse five, a woman with a head shaved, and he's gonna say, that's a shame. Cross-culturally, it's not just a matter of, while it's true, the Corinthian priestesses who were very sexual in their worship in the Corinthian temples would typically appear in this fashion. It's a cross-cultural consideration that they were shearing their heads And he says, that's a shame. Even so now, on the other side, for the man to have long hair, we're looking at the crossing over, the blending out of the male-female distinctiveness. So somebody mentioned afterwards, well, in the Old Testament, you have Absalom. Long hair, cut it every year, wade the hair, right? And in the Old Testament, you have Samson. And both Old Testament examples of men with long hair don't end well. Now Samson was doing it as a Nazirite. Even so, the loss of his hair meant the loss of his strength. His vow was defiled. And Absalom, I don't think anybody would want to imitate Absalom in any area. And isn't it ironic that at the end his hair is what's caught in the myrtle tree? as he dies, that which he took to be his glory. So I think last week in the end as I wrestled with this thinking I didn't land that very well, I think what I did is I convoluted a little bit when I brought in a discussion about powdered wigs and men during colonial times. Should have never done that. But having done that, I did a little bit of research on it. I found this really interesting. So powdered wigs came in around the 17th century, in the 1600s, when Louis XIV of France started going bald at the age of 17 and wanted to hide the shame of his baldness. He brought in a new style, a powdered wig. Some of what I read said, Men like Washington did not wear powdered wigs, though they're depicted with them, again, artistically. They may have powdered their hair, because distinct white hair was considered a fashion statement, and Washington was redheaded. And so he may have powdered his hair, but the powdered wigs came from Louis XIV out of France, and they would powder them, this was interesting, to keep the stench down, because they didn't have good shampoos to clean them, and to reduce the lice. It was horse and goat hair they were making those things out of. And I even found a place where you can go and see some of them, not that I'm terribly interested. And so I'm going to end by saying this, I make no defense this evening for powdered wigs. I honestly think last week I brought that topic in and thought, I need to defend the forefathers, right, the founding fathers. I don't think I can. As I think about, you know, Louis XIV and the way the Frenchmen dressed, Deuteronomy 22 comes to mind. Okay, you know, all the frills and ruffles and all that, not really where I'd wanna be. So when we come to the, you know, if we go to the Founding Fathers and say, they wore long hair, isn't it okay? Maybe not. In fact, I'm gonna say no. Nature teaches us there's a distinct difference and we're gonna say with the French this evening, vive la différence. Okay, long live the difference. Praise the Lord for it. Now, any follow-up on that? I feel better, Anita. Amen. Yeah. So Anita brings up something. I'm right with you. So Anita said, we make too much off of the visual arts and that's caused church divisions. I mean, Eastern Europe and Western Europe split over the iconoclastic challenge of making too much of visual arts in worship. Well said. It's interesting when you go to New England and visit the congregational churches in New England, ever so careful. They might have light blue and white, but you're not going to see anything else having to do with pictures, stained glass. There have been many people who over the years have realized, and I take this position with you at some level, Anita. My wife would verify this. Seldom if ever have we watched anything depicting New Testament or Old Testament times. I'm a little bit visually averse when it comes to, I like to keep my Bible reading my Bible reading, and sometimes I know if I watch a movie about that, I read the book now and I see the movie, you know what I'm saying? So I'm not there when it comes to religious movies, presentations of biblical times. I've just never found myself really connecting to that, and I think it's because if the Lord wanted us to have a movie to record the cross, he would have given us a movie. He gave us the written word, and that to me is sufficient. That's a different direction, but I appreciate that, Anita, because it's an important one. Any others this evening on that? Praise the Lord. Good. We'll move on. When we die, we say, absent from the body and present with the Lord. Let's take our Bibles and go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Absent from the body and present with the Lord. So when I die, I'll be in heaven with God. But what's happening at the second coming when you say the dead will rise to be in heaven? Is that our physical body from the grave meeting our soul? 2 Corinthians 5 is a precious, precious passage. We read, beginning in verse 1, For we that are in this tent or this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that we should be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up in life. Now he that hath wrought us for the self, same thing as God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit, therefore we're always confident, knowing that while we're at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We're confident, I say, and willing, rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. And so yes, the Bible gives us confidence that at the moment of our death, we're with the Lord. We're not in a sleep state. The Advent Christian church came up with a soul sleep theory, believing that people, when they die, they sleep awaiting that trumpet that will awaken them from death to resurrection. The Bible does not teach that. The Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter one said he would desire to be absent and with the Lord, which is far better. The Lord Jesus promised the thief on the cross, today you'll be with me in soul sleep. No, no, today you'll be with me in paradise. And so the Bible gives us every indication that upon our death, our spirit soars to be with Him. In fact, take your Bibles and go with me to Revelation 6. There are many places where this seems to be indicated, but Revelation 6 is an interesting place. Because in Revelation chapter 6, we read beginning in verse 9, that he opened the fifth seal. Of course, these are the seals of judgment being opened. Revelation 6 and verse 9, and I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. They cried with a loud voice saying, how long, O Lord, faithful and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood? on them that dwell upon the earth. I saw the souls of them." These are tribulational martyrs. Now, were the tribulational martyrs aware of what was happening on earth? Yes. How long, O Lord, faithful and true, till you avenge our blood? Were they conscious? Yes, they were alert, communicative, visible. John saw. the souls of these. Now, if we page over in the book of the Revelation to the 20th chapter, in Revelation chapter 20, a passage we looked at recently. As the kingdom is about to be inaugurated, Revelation 20 and verse 4, John writes, and I saw thrones and they that sat upon them and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, for the word of God, which had not worshiped the beast. These same souls that he saw under the altar. Neither had his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and they reigned with Christ a thousand years. This is the resurrection of the tribulation saints. Revelation chapter six talked about them before they were resurrected. They were alert, they were visible, they were communicative, they were enjoying heaven, they were aware that vengeance had not been taken yet upon those who cost them their lives. One more passage we're gonna come to, and then we're gonna, I trust, end this discussion. Come with me back to first, we'll go to two passages. 2 Corinthians 5, once again. 2 Corinthians 5, we read by this. So what's happening? Well, we know our spirit ascends to heaven. Absent from the body, present with the Lord, there in heaven, we're alert, we're communicative, we're visible, we're aware. That's seen in Revelation 6. And in 2 Corinthians 5, he says, we read by it in verse two, in this body we're groaning, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. So he's introducing a different kind of body. If so, being clothed will not be found naked, Disembodied spirits. This passage says they're not naked. So when the spirit is released from the body, our desire is not to be a naked spirit. We're in this tabernacle grown, being burdened not that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon. So there's some measure of discomfort that's seeming to be described here. When the spirit leaves the body, It's not our desire to be disembodied spirits. And in Revelation, the souls were visible, aware, communicative. Come back with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Maybe we can put this all together this evening. We might actually have to go to one more passage to put it together. 1 Corinthians 15, the 35th verse. Some will say, how were the dead raised up? With what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die. Thou sowest not that body which shall be but bare grain. It may be of weed or some other grain. God gives it a body as it pleases Him. Every seed has its own body. All flesh is not the same flesh. There's one kind of flesh of man, another of beast, another fish, another birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial. Heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. The glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the heavenly is one, the glory of the earthly is another. Just like there's one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon. Both are beautiful, but one is more beautiful. So he's saying there's a body that's a heavenly body. So let me just finish it this way. Listen to 1 Thessalonians 4, beginning of verse 13. I would not have you be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which sleep, that you sorrow not as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that the trumpet shall sound and the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible. He will bring them with him, The dead in Christ shall be raised, incorruptible. There's going to be a new fusion of the earthly body now resurrected, like unto his glorified body, with the soul that comes from heaven, which leaves just one little question. Is there an intermediate body? Well, something's going on in Scripture. We know we don't want to be unclothed. We know that those who were there at the altar in Revelation 6 were visible, audible, aware. So most people believe in an intermediate body. It's a heavenly body, but it's not the completed body. Philippians chapter 3 says, we wait for the day because our citizenship is in heaven when Jesus Christ will change our vile body, even if it's been in the grave, so that it might be glorified like unto His glorified body. We're going to have bodies like the Lord one day, and somehow in the mystery of His grace, The redemption work that he's done in us is so wonderful and complete that even the fiber of the body, earthly, the seed that's been placed in shame, 1 Corinthians 15 says, is gonna come out from the ground glorified. And by the way, that's a consideration that causes me to say there's a place for carefulness with regard to that earthly tabernacle that is now disinspirited. When the spirit leaves the body, there ought to be a sacred reverence still over that body that's been left behind. Yeah, Dan. So that's a whole other message, and I might be inspired to preach that message someday. That question may have inspired. Luke 16 gives us the picture, Dan. So in Luke chapter 16, the Bible says, the rich man died, and in hell, or Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torments. And he saw Abraham and Lazarus afar off, and he said, Father Abraham said, Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in the water and cool my tongue. I'm tormented in this flame. And Abraham said to him, between you and us, there's a great gulf fixed. So no one could pass over. So here's what I believe. I believe in the Old Testament time, the Old Testament was far more generic, if you will, about the place of the dead. The place of the dead in the Old Testament is called Sheol. The New Testament, there are a number of different names for the place that we commonly call hell. The Old Testament is Sheol. The place of all the departed, just like Luke 16 shows, there's two compartments. Somehow Abraham had a legitimate conversation with the rich man who was in a different compartment altogether. The rich man was in torments, Abraham and Lazarus were not in torments. There's a gulf between the two, both called Sheol. The book of Ephesians says, that when Jesus died, he went and preached unto the captives and he led captivity captive. And here's what I believe happened. I believe that the souls of those who in Old Testament times had been with Abraham and Sheol. Now, because Jesus Christ has finished the sacrifice, I believe there was a transporting, if you will, of a nearer to heaven situation than they had before. Why? Because access to heaven is gonna require the blood of the sacrifice of Christ. So, yeah, where are the people who die that are gonna be resurrected? Revelation 20 says, the sea gave up the dead which were in them, and death and hell gave up the dead which were in them, and they were raised and they stood before the great white throne. Well, they're confined in a place that's already filled with torment until the day of the resurrection of the lost." And Revelation 20 is telling us of the resurrection of the lost. So I alluded to this, and I don't want to go too far on it, but when we talk about the resurrection, we talk about the judgment. So Christ is the first fruits, that's the first resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15. New Testament saints, second resurrection, 1 Thessalonians 4. Tribulational saints, third resurrection, Revelation chapter 20. I believe there's a resurrection of the Old Testament saints, Daniel chapter 12. I think there's a resurrection, logic tells me this, of those who died during the millennium, And I think there's a resurrection of the lost, that's Revelation 20. So you have at least six different resurrections. And then you have judgments. Every one of those groups has an independent judgment. I believe there's a judgment of the saints, that's the seat of Christ, the Christians. I believe there's a judgment of the tribulation saints, the Old Testament saints, and the last judgment, which is where we were Sunday. as the judgment of the lost. So hopefully that helps a little, Dan. Did I answer your question? Yes. No, no, it's a good question. I don't mean any disrespect, and I have shared this before, and I've wrestled with I don't want to be disrespectful. My grandmother on my mother's side wanted to be cremated, and she said, I don't want God to find me in the judgment. God knows the Adams and calls the Adams by name. There's no escaping God. Adoniram Judson was buried at sea. Adonai Judson's body is gonna be recomposed by the God who gave him that body. I don't understand all that, but I know it's true. And he's gonna give us a body like Jesus' body. That's what Philippians 3 promises us. So when people ask, will babies be resurrected as babies? No, they'll be resurrected to be like Jesus. Will we be resurrected so we can be identified? Yes. 1 Corinthians 15 says, every seed, has its own body. Some may be of corn. I always like to think of it. I can put in my hand a seed of corn, peas on this side, corn on that side, beans, et cetera, dried, ready to be planted, and I know when the stalk comes out, that's corn, that's beans, that's peas. I can see just the stalk. I don't even have to see the fruit. Even so, in heaven, I believe that because 1 Corinthians 15 uses that very picture, I believe I'll recognize Dan Dawson, but you won't look the same. You're just the seed right now, but it's gonna be a glorified body, but it's still your body, personalized, just as God makes every snowflake different and every leaf different. The resurrected body will be like Jesus, but altogether different. Our God brings glory to himself through the variety that he weaves. Great question. Okay, let's jump back in here. We're making some headway, right? I'd like to hear a brief explanation of Psalm 45. I'm laughing because I see the word brief, but I am gonna be kind of brief. Psalm 45, let's turn there. We've got a few minutes. Psalm 45. Psalm 45 is a messianic psalm. Now that's a really important term, messianic psalm. It means the Messiah is seen here. It's a psalm that tells us about Jesus. How do I know that? Well, when you read Psalm 45, the sixth verse says, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Here's the phrase. The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter, a righteous scepter. The sixth verse of Psalm 45 is quoted in Hebrews 1, verses eight and nine, and it's quoted in reference to Jesus. So here comes a rule. If the New Testament reaches back into the psalms and quotes it and applies it to Jesus, that psalm is a messianic psalm. It's a psalm about Jesus, the whole thing, the whole psalm, all of it, not just the verse. It's a wonderful thing to realize. So the gospels, we go to the gospels when we want to know Jesus' words and actions. We see it in the Gospels. It comes alive. If you want to know Jesus' emotions, you go to the Psalms. In the Psalms, you have the emotions of Jesus in technicolor. So here's a Messianic Psalm. We know it because verse 6 is cited in Hebrews 1 and applied to Jesus. The psalmist says, by the way, this is a psalm unlike any other psalm in the Psalter. My heart is indicting a good matter. I speak of the things which I have made touching the King. Who's the King? Jesus. How do I know? It's a Messianic psalm. The whole psalm is about Jesus, all of it, okay? My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men. We sing the songs, and fairer than 10,000 in my soul. Grace is poured into thy lips. What did the people in the New Testament say about Jesus when he spoke? He speaks like no other man. The psalmist predicted that. Grace is poured into thy lips. Therefore, God hath blessed thee, how long? Is there any other king that could be blessed forever? No, Jesus is the king that's the king blessed forever. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty, and in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness, and thy right hand shall teach terrible things. Now, in the Gospels, you don't see Jesus riding upon a horse with a sword girded to his thigh. Where do you see that? Revelation 19. This is a messianic song. Every phrase is gonna tell you something about Jesus. When you meditate upon the messianic songs, the life of Jesus, not just in actions and words, but in emotions, will be seen. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under thee. Every knee will bow. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness. Therefore, God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces." Where have you heard that before? You know the song? The songwriter was accurate. out of the ivory palaces into a world of woe. King's daughters were among thy honorable women. Upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of ophir. Hearken, O daughter, and consider and incline thine ear. Forget also thine own people in thy father's house. So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty. Hearken, O daughter, and consider and incline thine ear. Forget also thine own people in thy father's house." Now he's talking about those who are going to worship this king. And I think we can read there and say, is he talking about those of Jewish heritage or Gentile heritage? Yes. Yes. So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty, for he is thy Lord, and worship thou him. Thy beauty? The king desire whose beauty? Why, he's washing a bride for himself. I see that here, and it's not theological imagination. It's back to the rule of the Messianic Psalm. We see him there. The daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift. Even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favor. The king's daughter is all glorious within. Her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment and needlework. The virgins, her companions that follow her, shall be brought unto thee with gladness and rejoicing. Shall they be brought, they shall enter into the king's palace, praise the Lord. Instead of thy fathers shall thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth, I will make thy name be remembered in all generations. That sounds like Isaiah 53, who shall declare his generation. Therefore shall the people praise thee forever and forever. That's just one messianic psalm. But it's a psalm not about Solomon, though some would say that. Ultimately, it's a psalm about the marriage of King Jesus. It's a messianic psalm. All right, there's one more I'm gonna go to this evening. How do Jewish people know what tribe they belong to? I did some reading on this. There are some in Yemen today who believe themselves to be the descendants of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. But they don't have a whole lot of, they really don't have a whole lot of logic to it. It's just a claim that they make. But there are others who have some logic to it. So I'm gonna call on one of them this evening. I've heard David share some of this before. David, if you don't mind, tell the folks your name and where it comes from and what that means tribally. You can stand and do that so they can hear you. I'm going to call on David Kahn. And so I can only give an account, I guess, of my last name. In general, it would be hard for anybody else to claim that they're not of this tribe. I'll explain that in a second. So my last name is Khan. And that's kind of a numericalization of the last name Kohen, which is of the origin, Kohen from the Old Testament, of Kohenim, or priests. So it's a tribe of Levi. Levi, it's another tribe of Levi. And it talks about how the tribe of Levi was spread among all the nation of the Israelites as the priests, or as the priestly tribe. And the Kohenim were the high priests. And they did the ceremonies in the temple. And they would, I guess, I don't know if they practiced in any other synagogues. It's not clear if it was just the one temple, if there were sub-temples or sub-synagogues in those times. So I can say that I'm of the Breslau tribe, and so my name, Kahn, is related to the name Cohen. But of other tribes, I'm not sure if anybody can actually trace it or what it even means. As the pastor said, there are some in Yemen who can claim kinship with certain tribes. And it's the same as in Somalia. If you go to Israel, you see a lot of people who have dark skin. And they're typically of Somali, Ethiopian descent, of what's claimed to be a lost tribe from Ethiopia who have made a lea or immigrated to the land of Israel. But otherwise, I don't think that there is any other way to trace back. I mean, just like I doubt anybody in this room could trace their lineage back for 2,000 or 3,000 years. It's pretty much impossible. All we know is that when that the Jews were sent out of the land of Israel, not just once, but one time for good, or at least for 2,000 years after the Romans sacked Jerusalem and sent the Jews out into the world. And we spread into many parts of the world, and to Africa, and to the Middle East, and to Europe. And so that's the extent of it. And today, Jewish people don't identify their tribes. I would never be in with a group of Jewish people and say, oh, which tribe are you from? That doesn't really happen. It's more a delineation of whether you're Ashkenazi, which is of European descent, that European Jewry, or if you're of the Sephardic, So if you followed that, David, I heard him share this before, and that's why I wanted to share that this evening. His last name being Con, an anglicized form of Cohen, which Cohenim, the priest in the Old Testament. And so the Coens, I'm right in saying this, would typically feel themselves to be Levites by name identification. Revelation chapter 7 talks about 144,000 from every tribe. That's an interesting text because there are two tribes that aren't there. The Danites are not there, the Ephraimites are not there. And the tribe of Joseph is named. So Joseph was promised a double portion. And so his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, become tribal heads. But that's 13 Old Testament tribes. In Revelation 12, Joseph takes the place of two, bringing it back to 12. The Danites are gone and the Ephraimites are gone. Why? Because the Danites did not value Judges 17 and 18, their tribal inheritance. And the Ephraimites had idols. that helped the Danites, and so it seems that God restores Joseph. But God knows the DNA and the identification of every tribal member. David, I appreciate your sharing that this evening. David has recently become a completed Jewish man. He's come to know Christ as Savior. But imagine the double priesthood you have, David. Think about that. tribal relationship, but also every New Testament believer, the Bible says, we're priests before him. So you have a double priesthood. Father, we thank you for the opportunity to gather this evening. Dismiss us with your blessing and help us to be found faithful to the calling you've given to us. In Christ's name we pray, amen.