Well, this morning we come to yet another controversy, and that is the identity of the scroll with seven seals. And there are numerous theories out there. In fact, I had to make out a big spreadsheet when I was studying this with all of the theories across the top intersecting with 31 clues about this scroll that are given later on in the chapters of Revelation. and then making check marks for every theory that can give some kind of a credible explanation of these various clues. And I'm not going to take you through all of the hard work that goes into trying to dissect, you know, the identity on various theories. We've got a whole bunch of charts like this for various things in this book. But when you look at that spreadsheet, and you look at the checkmarks, you're going to see that every single theory has at least some checkmarks beside them, and you would expect that. People wouldn't adopt a theory if there wasn't some evidence for it in the book. But what we are looking for is a theory that can take account of all the evidence, 100% of the evidence. And rather than just giving you the answer, although I've kind of done that by giving you an outline, right? Rather than just giving you the answer, I thought I would give you a little bit of a taste of the kind of investigative work that needs to go into figuring out its identity. And I'm not going to bore you with all 31 clues. I think five should be sufficient. And the reason we're spending some time on this, as I mentioned earlier, is that your view of this scroll has the potential of completely skewing your view of the rest of the book. There's a reason why Two Kingdom people and antinomians and others take a different take on this scroll. There are reasons for why people go. in different directions, but it is that important that I really think we need to settle this once and for all before we start diving into the fun stuff later on in this chapter and the later chapters. So put on your detective hats, pretend you're a detective, we're going to do a bit of investigation. It's sometimes helpful to just know what the various theories are that are out there. And I haven't written these theories down for you in your outline, so you'll have to write them down yourself. There are a ton of theories out there, actually. Some of them are absolutely bizarre, occultic theories, you know, that liberals come up with. I'm just gonna stick to the 11 that evangelicals hold to. And the oldest and the most common view in the past is that this scroll was the Old Testament because it's already written. It is being fulfilled in the chapters that come after this. And unfortunately, most of the more recent commentaries have abandoned this view. They've ditched it. And I've examined all of their exegetical reasons, and I think the exegetical reasons that they give can actually be better explained by this traditional theory. So the traditional theory, and this is the view that I hold to, is that the large scroll is the Old Testament canon, and that the reference to the small scroll in chapter 10 is a reference to the book of Revelation. And this morning I'll give you a sneak peek, a preview, into the subsequent chapters on how the canon of Scripture was being closed off, how it was developed, And it was finally sealed, the New Testament, by the time we get to the end of this book. But verse 7 shows that John has gone in vision and kind of time travel. He's gone back to 30 AD when Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father. In fact, when the seals on this book begin to be opened up, And people wonder, why is it going back in time? Well, there's a reason why it goes back in time. When you get into chapter six, the first seal is Caesar Augustus. That's the emperor who was ruling at the time that Christ was born. So anyway, that's theory number one. The second theory is that it is an unfolding revelation in general, and it can include the Old Testament, the New Testament, as well as any prophetic. content that God had given. The third theory is that it is the New Testament, not the Old Testament, just the New Testament. The fourth theory is that it's the book of Revelation, And then the fifth theory is that it is just a portion of the book of Revelation. And one of the things you're going to see in common with all of these theories is that they see this as a revelation of from God to man in some form of scriptural. revelation, although one of them includes non-scriptural revelation as well. The sixth view is that it is the book of life, you know, the book of Revelation talks about the book of life, that shows forth the redeemed people and God's whole new creation plan. It's actually a rather intriguing theory. And I believe that at least the central concepts of that theory can be accommodated by theory number one, because the Old Testament does indeed prophesy about those new creation realities. So it doesn't have to be either or, and I think the same is true of the remaining theories. The seventh theory is that it is God's covenant lawsuit against Israel. Very, very common theory. The eighth theory is that it's God's covenant lawsuit, not just against Israel, but Israel and Rome. The ninth theory is God's divorce certificate against Israel. That's Ken Gentry's view. Tenth, this is God's title deed, gift of planet Earth to Jesus. So He has purchased planet Earth and all of the redeemed with His blood and God now with this title deed hands over planet Earth to Him in 30 AD. And then 11th, they say that it's God's secret decrees and purposes for planet Earth. Now let's just see if we can quickly eliminate any of these theories just with the clues that are in this passage here. There's a bunch of clues later on. I don't think we need to look at them. But I think John has given us enough to clearly identify this scroll. The first clue relates to the position and the movement of the scroll. Okay, it's not kept in God's closed hand. Now you would expect it to be in God's closed hand, the scroll, you know, in his hand like this, if it really was symbolic of the eternal secret decrees of God, but it is not. Deuteronomy 2929 says the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever and ever. And this smacks much more of revelation than it does of secret decrees that are being hidden. So let's just take a look at the movement. Notice in verse one it says, and I saw upon the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll. So the Greek is quite clear. It's not in his closed hand, it's upon. an open hand. If you know the Greek, it's epi with the accusative. So God is holding out a scroll in His hand. He's holding it out like this. He's presenting it. It's an open hand. It doesn't look like something being hidden. Second, the son takes the scroll in verse seven. Third, he starts opening up that scroll in chapter six by breaking one seal after another, and then he shows John the results. So it's obviously not secret anymore to the apostle John. He's shown it, and actually John shows it to us. So it's really not that God's secret decrees. So as far as I'm concerned, that completely rules out theory number 11. The position and the movement of the scroll speaks of revelation. Now just in terms of application, I would say that this shows to us that God does not leave us in the dark. He loves to reveal His will to us. Now we're going to see He only does so through Christ, but He wants us to know. He is the God of revelation. I want you to notice the next word in verse 1. Verse 1 says that the content of this scroll is written. It's written. That would speak to the inscripturation of the revelation. Inscripturation just means it's a written document. It's made into scripture. Well, if this is some form of written revelation, then this clue really narrows the scope of legitimate theories down from 11 down to four of the first five theories. So let me just remind you of the first five theories. It's the Old Testament is theory number one. Theory number two is it's the Old and the New Testaments and any other nonverbal revelation. Well, if it's written, that kind of rules that theory out. Third one is that it's the New Testament And we could say, yep, check, that works, that's a written document. Fourth one, the book of Revelation, check, that works. And a portion of the book of Revelation, so that theory fits as well. So I think we're making major progress here as we start narrowing down. With our detective investigation, we've only got four theories that fit so far. Now, of course, some people will object. Everything I give you this morning, there are going to be objections that people give. And one of the objections that the other theories will give is, hey, Kaiser, this is written in heaven. It is not written on earth. And my response to that would be threefold. I would say, first of all, in chapter four, verse one, John is invited to come up and to look at what God is going to show him. So he goes up to heaven. What does he see? He sees the scroll. So it's no longer a secret to John, is it? John knows it, and he's a prophet. His responsibility is to see and to communicate what he has seen. In fact, in chapter one, verse 19, he was commanded to write down the things that he sees in heaven. So it's written in heaven, but it also gets communicated to the earth. And in third, and I think this point is conclusive, the two Old Testament passages that Beal and other commentaries have said and demonstrated structure every facet of Revelation 4 through 5 are Ezekiel 2 through 3, that's the first passage, and Daniel chapters 7 and 12. And the almost every verse of Revelation 4 through 5 is in some way impacted by those two passages. So what difference would that make? Why is that significant? Well, both of those Old Testament background passages refer to a scroll that is written and held out in God's hand, and in connection with the giving of that scroll, There is a prophet who is given some revelation and he is told to prophesy those things. So that implies the same thing's going to be happening here. And everybody agrees that the scroll in Ezekiel is scripture. So I think that is conclusive. It's a written revelation, not just in heaven, but on earth. Now let me give you just one application from this point. One of the things that the book of Revelation will emphasize is that written revelation from God is the gold standard because it is objective. It's something that cannot be destroyed. And every other form of revelation must be tested by the written revelation of scripture. Now, 2 Peter 1 doesn't deny that God revealed himself in other ways. It says, yes, he did. But he says, we have been given a more sure word of prophecy that's almost like, you know, middle of the day daylight compared to the other revelations. And what is that more sure word of prophecy? It is the scriptures. And let me illustrate why it is more sure. Has God revealed his law in man's heart? And we say, yeah, obviously, that's general revelation. So it's a kind of revelation that every man has written inside of him. That's why even the unregenerate cannot get away from the conviction of their sins. It says that the Spirit was sent to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. And because they've got that inward law, the Spirit can easily convict them of the sin that's within. So there is a revelation that men have within them But is that revelation in any way infallible? Absolutely not. We rationalize that. We suppress the truth in unrighteousness. In many ways our sin nature obscures clouds, makes it difficult for us to see. So we have moral mistakes if we do not go to the Scripture. So God gave the gold standard in the Scripture. It's the only infallible communication from God And it makes me sad when people use their so-called subjective revelations to contradict the Scriptures. And I see this over and over again where people have actually thrown out clear, clear admonitions from the Scripture because they say, hey, God's revealed to me that this is okay. I had one man that I was confronting because he was wanting to divorce his wife. And he said to me, well, God has revealed to me that it's OK for me to divorce my wife. And I said, no, he did not. God has revealed right here in these scriptures that I've shared with you that you may not divorce your wife. He has already given you his testimony. And he said, no, God has clearly revealed to me that this is OK. I am in his will. It may not be his perfect will, he said, but it is his will. And my point is that God will never contradict the scriptures, okay? Does God give other revelation? Yes, He does. But He will never contradict the scriptures. Well, let's move on. John's third clue is found in the next phrase. And I saw upon the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and outside. Now, what's weird about that description of the scroll is that no one wrote on both sides of scrolls back in those days. The scrolls were rough on one side, smooth on the other side. They would write on the smooth side of a scroll. So that would immediately make first century readers perk up their ears and pay attention and say, well, what's going on here? This is a very unusual scroll. And if they knew anything about Ezekiel, they would immediately have an aha moment. He is wanting us to be thinking about the scroll in Ezekiel, because that's the only other place in Scripture where there is a scroll written on both sides. Now keep in mind that John, we've been seeing in past weeks, has been very deliberately, point by point, showing the connection between Ezekiel 2 through 3 and Revelation 4 through 5. So they're already thinking about Ezekiel's vision. And I want you to turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 2. We're going to read this as background, not just for this clue, but also for clue number Number four as well as Ezekiel 2 verses 9 through 10 Now Ezekiel's already described the same throne room the same figure upon that throne the same cherubim the same Other beings worshiping before this throne. There are other features that parallel Revelation chapter 4, but now look at Ezekiel 2 verse 9 Now when I looked there was a hand stretched out to me And behold, a scroll of a book was in it. Then he spread it before me, and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were lamentations, and mourning, and woe." So notice that this scroll is written on the front and back as well, and it leads to lamentations, mourning, and woe, just like Revelation does. John's description is a very deliberate allusion to this passage, and since everybody agrees that Ezekiel passage is dealing with scriptural revelation coming from heaven to the prophet, I think that's yet another proof for theory number one. But there's another clue that occurs in both Revelation and in Ezekiel passage, and since you're in Ezekiel, let's look there first. I want you to notice that Ezekiel 2.9 speaks of a scroll of a book, a scroll of a book. In other words, the whole book is not handed to Ezekiel, but only a scroll of that book. The Greek Septuagint translation was translated by Jews from the Hebrew into Greek. And here's how they translated it. The Septuagint translates it as a volume of a book. So Ezekiel's prophecies comprise one of the volumes of a book. And in chapter 3, verses 1 through 3, Ezekiel is told to eat his smaller scroll. In other words, he's to eat his volume and then to prophesy the contents of that volume to the people. So it's got to get into Ezekiel before he can prophesy it out to the people. Well, that's exactly parallel to the way that the book of Revelation is laid out. In Revelation 5, we have a scroll that's already written. It's a big scroll on the top of your sheets, left-hand side. You've got the picture of a gigantic scroll, you know, of the Old Testament there. And The Greek word is Biblion, from which we get the word book. But in chapter 10, when it shows John's scroll being handed to him, the word is Biblidarion, or little scroll. So the big scroll's in Christ's hand, but there's an additional little scroll that an angel gives to John. He's commanded to eat that little scroll and to prophesy its contents. Okay, so he has to be inspired, so God has to put that word infallibly into him before he can infallibly write it out as his prophecy. Now that distinction in Greek words is huge, and I know of no other theory, other than the traditional one, that I'm espousing that can account for a very deliberate change in words from biblion to bibli-derion in chapter 10, the little scroll. So just as the book in Ezekiel 2 gets a scroll or a volume added to it, the Biblion in chapter 5 gets a little scroll added to it in chapter 10. Are you seeing where this is going? That kind of language is totally consistent with the concept of a canon of scripture, which the next five chapters are going to be very preoccupied with. Now there is a fifth clue, and that's seen in the last words of verse one, sealed with seven seals. Beal points out that the only other place where a scroll gets sealed is in Daniel chapter 12. And about that passage, G.K. Beal and D.A. Carson say, Daniel 12, 8 through 9 implies the future unsealing of the book in a latter day period. Well, that's what's happening in chapters 5 through 6. Jesus unseals the book that Daniel refers to. But actually, Beal and Carson are a little bit wrong when they say it's the only place where a ceiling is mentioned because Daniel chapter 9 also speaks about the ceiling of a book, and we'll get to that in a little bit. But I do want you to turn with me to Daniel chapter 12 and verse 4. And while you're turning there, let me explain that in Daniel chapters 11 through 12, The angel has been giving Daniel revelation of the last days of the Old Covenant leading up to 70 A.D. So just like Revelation 6 will start with history before the time of Christ, will go all the way up to 66 A.D., these two chapters do the same thing. Okay, take a look, Daniel 12, verse 4. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and sealed the book until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase. Then there's some further conversation in verses five through seven. And in verse eight, Daniel explains, although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? But because the end of the temple, the end of the old covenant, the end of the sacrifices that he's been talking about, the end of Jerusalem is going to be so far away, hundreds of years later, the angel refuses to give him any clarification. That clarification is going to be reserved for a later prophet, the apostle John. Instead, verse 9 goes on and repeats the same command. And he said, Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. So what words are closed up and sealed? Well, it's the words of Scripture that have been given, right? This is either a reference to the canon, or more likely, it is a reference to the closing off of the book of Daniel. That's the way that I take it. But either way, it is a technical term for stopping prophetic activity. Stephen Miller explains it this way in his commentary. He says, close up, seitom, and seal, hatam, the words of the scroll, is made up of two synonymous clauses. Close up the words and seal the scroll. As in chapter eight, verse 26, this admonition concerned the preservation of the document, not its being kept secret. A sealed text was not to be tempered with or changed. Then the original document was duplicated and placed or closed up in a safe place where it could be preserved. And I'm going to parenthetically just state here, this happened to every book. The moment it was written in the Old Testament, that book was automatically, there was a copy made of it, and the original was closed up in a central repository. By the way, Jewish synagogues imitated that way of doing things. They have their scrolls closed up in a repository in their in their synagogues. But anyway, Stephen Miller goes on to explain, Gabriel therefore was instructing Daniel to preserve the words of the scroll, not merely this final vision, but the whole book for those who will live at the time of the end when the message will be needed. This future generation will undergo the horrors of the tribulation, time of distress, and will need the precious promises contained in the book of Revelation. So the book is stopped And it is preserved for New Testament times. And several commentaries conclude, concur that there was a finished revelation for Daniel. Once it was given, the scroll had nothing more to be added to it. Earlier in chapter 9, God uses exactly the same word for seal up, not just for Daniel, but he says that all prophecy and all prophets would be sealed up and ended by the time Jerusalem is destroyed and by the time the temple is destroyed in 70 AD. So this is a technical term for a closed book, a closed canon. And my book on Canon delves into that subject in a lot more depth. Now, if that is the meaning of this sealed book in chapter five of Revelation, then it makes perfect sense out of several passages in the upcoming chapters. God is going to be talking about the prophetic mysteries of the New Testament prophecy being finished, completely finished. That's chapter 10, verse 7. And the last two prophets ending their ministry, that's chapter 11. And he ends the book by saying that no one may ever again add to the book of prophecy. In this case, he's not talking about the book of Revelation, Biblidereon. He's talking about not adding to the biblion, to the canon, to the big book. Okay? No more could it be added to that. By the time the last chapter of Revelation is finished, the New Testament canon will be completely finished. It will be just as securely sealed up as this Old Testament canon had been prior to the time of Christ. So in the Bible, we have everything that we need for life and godliness. In the Bible, we have a complete package of everything God wants us to know. And to contradict that contradicts Peter, who says that the canon is going to be giving us all things that pertain to life and godliness. So this major section of the book, by the way, if you want to see in terms of major sections. There's so many overlaying aspects to the. To the outline on the back, it's the first brown box and that is parallel. In many ways, we'll look at some of the parallelisms, even in terms of the dating. of these fulfillments. But that first brown box there, that first section of the book, begins with the Old Testament canon being opened up by Christ himself and added to in the first century. And it ends with the canon being closed once again, once John has written down everything that God has given him to write down. And why does he talk about the ending of the canon in chapter 11? Because chapter 12 goes back to the birth of Christ. If you look at the second to last column of this outline, you will see that there is a double covenant structure. There is a recapitulation. Once you get to chapter 12, he starts all over again. He goes back to the birth of Christ. So what we have is a closing off of prophetic activity in the canon at the end of chapter 11. And then we've got mentioning of the closing off of prophetic activity at the end of the book again. Why? Because it's a double covenant structure that is in there. So the first half of the book ends with the closing of the canon, predicted to imminently take place, and the second half of the book ends with the closing of the canon, predicted to imminently take place. So the canon is opened in 30 AD, it's added to for 40 years, and it is closed in 70 AD. And this morning we don't have time to look at all of the different passages that talk about this developing canon that's going to be closed off in 70 AD. There are several passages. But if you correctly identify the sealed scroll as the Old Testament canon, the numerous issues later on in this book just become so clear. It just opens up the book in a remarkable way. Now, I'll admit, I'll be the first to admit, that none of the 11 theories is free of criticism, but I believe that the traditional view I've just given to you is by far the strongest view, and we're going to be seeing later, it actually accommodates the central issues of the other theories. For example, some people say this is a covenant lawsuit. Well, yeah, it is, and it incorporates that because the Old Testament had prophesied that there was going to be a covenant lawsuit against Israel and against Rome. And some people say, well, it's a divorce certificate, and it's the stoning of the adulterous bride. Well, yeah, the Old Testament talks about that as well. They don't need a separate divorce certificate. It's based upon the law of God, right? Some people say it's the title deed for Christ to inherit the earth and I say well yeah but the Old Testament prophesied that this was going to happen as soon as Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father. And it explains some of the other clues that other theories can explain, but I think it explains them all. It explains them completely. Now next week we're going to be seeing that if the scroll is the Old Testament, then the focus of the scroll is Christ. He was the author, the subject, the fulfillment. He was the one who would carry out the Scripture's redemptive plan. Without Him, none of it makes sense. He is the focus. The Jews were still looking for a Messiah. a Messiah who would meet all of the evidence. And John brilliantly uses Old Testament symbols in verses 2 through 7 to show they're never going to find a replacement for Jesus. He alone can take the book and establish the kingdom. It's he alone that had the redemptive work, could conquer Satan, could ascend to his throne, so that as Hebrews 12 words it, he would shake and remove the old But the Jews are still desperately trying to hold onto. He's going to shake and remove the old and replace it with a kingdom which cannot be shaken. So we'll get to that next week. It's really a wonderful passage. But I want to end by making three additional applications that flow from the correct identity of the scroll. If the scroll is the Old Testament canon, then it implies, first of all, we should value the Old Testament. I think that's a pretty logical application. Now, as we move through the next chapters, we're going to be saying that John wants us to value the New Testament as well as the capstone to the whole canon. But I want you to notice that in verse 7, Jesus takes the scroll. He takes the Old Testament out of the Father's hand and he doesn't throw it away. Okay? He does not throw it away. Instead, what does he do? He opens up the seals to this scroll in chapter 6. He explains it further in the subsequent chapters, and he expects us to value the Old Testament as well. He values the Old Testament. He wants us to value the Old Testament. As I mentioned in my sermon on Revelation chapter 1, verse 2, There are approximately 1,000 allusions to the Old Testament in the book of Revelation. It's really astonishing. You cannot separate the two testaments. I've had people any number of times tell me, well, I'm a New Testament Christian. And my response to them is, hey, if you're a New Testament Christian, you better be an Old Testament Christian too, because the New Testament constantly refers to the Old. In fact, that was the only Bible that Jesus had. That was the only Bible that the Apostle Paul preached out of. That was the Bible the other apostles referred to. You're going to misinterpret the New Testament if you do not have the Old Testament. You do not even understand the book of Revelation if you do not read it in light of the Old Testament. God calls us to be whole Bible Christians, not simply New Testament believers. The second application is that the Old Testament was complete in the day of Jesus. It did not need to be added to by Rome or by the Eastern Orthodox Church. It was complete. The seals show that nothing can ever again be added to the Old Testament. Now, Rome tried to do so and tried to add the Apocrypha to the Old Testament at the time of the Council of Trent after the Reformation. But they cannot do that. Even the Apostle John could not add a book to this. Only Jesus has the authority to open it, to close it, to add anything to that account. Now, Rome claims that they are the mother, and they use this phrase over and over. The church is the mother of the scriptures, and that the church has the authority to add books to the Bible or to take away books from the Bible. That is blasphemous nonsense. In fact, when you get to the end of the book, He warns people about exactly that. He says anybody who takes away from the scroll, the big scroll, the canon, his name is going to be taken out of the Book of Life. Anybody who adds to that scroll, what's going to happen to him? The plagues are going to be added to him, right? And so the seals were given so that no person would ever again tamper with the canon. My book on Canon shows how God canonized any given book of the Bible the moment it was written. It's not the church that has the authority to canonize. It is self-authenticating. And if you read through that, you'll see you don't have to go further than the Bible to understand what books belong in the Bible. It tells you. It tells you right in there which books belong in the Bible. It is self-authenticating. And if you wonder how in the world could that be without being a circular argument, Read my book on the canon and you will see. Now the third application is that the Old Testament is not sub-Christian. It is perfect. The number seven, seven seals on it, right? The number seven is the number of perfection and it shows the perfection of the completed Old Testament. In the Psalms, the Old Testament scriptures are described as being perfect and refined seven times. In Matthew 4, Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by, what? Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Every word. People say, well what about the ceremonial law? Yeah, you have to live by the ceremonial law. Even though, because we don't have a temple now, we are not subject to the ceremonial laws, They still teach us to live by the gospel, right? They preach the gospel to us, and as Sir Isaac Newton and other scholars have pointed out, the ceremonial laws are an incredibly rich repository of principles for mathematics and geometry and other areas of life. You do not have a complete system of thought if you reject the Old Testament. You simply do not have it. We've got to have the whole Bible. And as my sermon on Matthew 4 verse 4 showed, in the Old Testament we've got a complete system of thought for every discipline in the university. Without it, you don't have the foundation needed for medicine, for logic, for math, for science, for linguistics, for other endeavors of man. So we've got to realize that the New Testament does not replace, does not contradict, does not add any blueprints to the Old Testament. Let me repeat that. The New Testament does not replace, it does not contradict, it does not add any blueprints to the Old Testament. It simply explains what was already in the Old Testament and amplifies upon its themes. That's why 2 Timothy 3, 16 through 17 says that the Old Testament scriptures that Timothy was brought up on as a baby, read the context, he's clearly talking about the Old Testament, Those Old Testament Scriptures are not only profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness, but it says that those Old Testament Scriptures are sufficient to make the man of God complete. That's a very important word. Thoroughly equipped for every good work. Every good work. So all of the blueprints are in the Scriptures. So Matthew 5 says that the Old Testament law will not pass away until heaven and earth passes away. And Jesus said, whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these Old Testament commandments will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. The Old Testament revelation is perfect. So these are my final three admonitions to you. Value the Old Testament. Do not see the Old Testament as needing to be supplemented or replaced. And third, seek to understand the blueprints of the Old Testament and to live them out. It is precisely those Old Testament scriptures that Jesus is going to be opening up and that form the foundation for kingdom living in the rest of the book. And so let's value them. Amen. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You that it is sufficient that You have given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. You have given us sufficient to make the man of God complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. And I pray that You would cause Your church to once again mine for your wisdom and the word as if they were mining for silver and for gold to study it to cherish it and to begin to recognize the wisdom that is in it for all of life help us father to be people of the book not just the Old Testament but the New Testament as well that these chapters go on to describe but help us father to be people who take in those scriptures and live them out in a more and more consistent way. And we pray this in Christ's name, Amen.