All right, let's go ahead and open up with prayers as we get started. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for this time that we can spend together studying this great work from Athanasius. We ask that you would bless our time this evening and that it would be a time that is profitable for us, encouragement to our souls as we consider our great savior, Jesus Christ. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so this week we're coming up to chapter six of Athanasius' work on the incarnation. And here in chapter 6, we have kind of a pivot in terms of what exactly he's addressing and dealing with. Previously, he's been focusing on the doctrine of the incarnation. He's been defending the resurrection, his victory over death, presenting all these proofs for Christ's true divinity and his true humanity at the same time. But here in chapter six, he's now going to start to deal with opposition from outside groups, groups outside of Christianity. And he has two main groups that he's going to be interacting with. This chapter focuses on the Jews. So those that, you know, believe in the Old Testament but reject Christ. And so he's going to be addressing them and presenting arguments and proofs of why they should accept Jesus as the Messiah, as the Word of God, as the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Next week, we'll begin looking at his section. The chapters after this, he starts dealing with addressing the Gentiles. So these are the non-Jews, the pagans, whether Egyptians or Romans or Greeks or all the outside groups, and all their various reasons for why they don't accept Christ, and he's going to defend why they should. And so this should remind us, this is kind of similar to, you know, Paul talks about how, you know, the cross is a foolishness to some and a stumbling block to others. That's kind of what we see early Christians dealing with as well. They have to do apologetics against the Jews, and they also have to do apologetics against the pagans. So this chapter is focusing specifically on the Jews. And dealing with it as the way he puts it, you know, they view the cross as being something unfitting or incongruous. And the idea of the word becoming man at all, like it just doesn't make sense to them that God would become man, that God would go to the cross, like that whole thing is something that doesn't make sense to them. And so he's going to try to defend it to both those groups of people. So he starts off in chapter six and responding to the Jews and you probably noticed that in this chapter he heavily focuses on scripture like there are I'm not sure how many here we got 6, 12, 13, 18, 21, 22, like 22 different quotations from scripture in just these few pages. Because what he's doing is he's saying, hey, this is what the Bible says. You accept these as the word of God, and Christ is the fulfillment of this. And so you should believe. As he says and this is the the second paragraph there under number 33 They're believed has its refutation in the scriptures Which even themselves read for from cover to cover the inspired book clearly teaches these things both in its entirety and in its actual words And then he starts off by appealing to the virgin birth and he quotes from Isaiah 7 14 the virgin birth, that the virgin shall bear a son, they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God is with us. So the implication is, of course, that God is going to come among us in some way. He then goes on and he quotes from Numbers chapter 24, quotes twice from Numbers 24, there shall arise a star from Jacob and a man from Israel, and he shall break in pieces the rulers of Moab, And then he quotes, how lovely are thy dwellings, O Jacob, thy tents, O Israel, like woodland valleys, they give shade, and like parks by rivers, like tents which the Lord has pitched, like cedar trees by streams. There shall come forth a man from among his seed, and he shall rule over many peoples. Does anyone know by off chance which, numbers 24, what that, who's speaking there when he says this? Does anyone recognize these verses? I'm curious. These are from Balaam. So this is that section where one of the other kings hires the false prophet to come and prophesy against Israel. And basically what Balaam does is he just blesses Israel. And one of the interesting things that Balaam prophesies is the coming of Jesus, that there shall be a star that shall rise from Jacob, that there shall come forth a man from among his seed, and he shall rule over many people. And so Athanasius pulls that from the Old Testament as a prophecy regarding Christ. He quotes from Isaiah again, Isaiah 8 verse 4, the fact that a man shall appear, and that this man shall then be Lord over all. And then he quotes from Isaiah chapter 19. And then very famously, he quotes from Isaiah 11.1, it is from Egypt also that the fathers call him back saying, out of Egypt have I called my son. So this first section, he's building up this argument that You Jews believe someone is coming, and you've got all these prophecies. There's going to be a virgin birth. There's going to be the star that rises out of Jacob. A man shall appear. He's going to rule over the people. Out of Egypt, I'm going to call my son. All these prophecies exist in the Old Testament. Then he goes further. This is paragraph 34, where he says, the scriptures are not silent even about his death. And so here he starts to talk about how there are prophecies regarding the death of this person to come. And he points out that this death is not for his own sake, but for the sake of bringing immortality and salvation to all. And they record also the plotting of the Jews against him and all the indignities which he suffered at their hands. And then basically, the rest of paragraph 34 is him just quoting Isaiah 53. He quotes three times from Isaiah 53, starts at the beginning, middle, and then the end. And the point of quoting from Isaiah 53, of course, Isaiah 53 is one of the most famous prophecies about Jesus, but what is Isaiah 53 famous for? Like, the explicitness of its message. What is it famous for, for proving about Christ? It's the suffering servant he's gonna die, you know, he is pierced for our Transgressions, you know, we're the reason That we cause, you know, we cause this to happen. He does it for our sake we have strayed like sheep and gone astray and so that he is led like a lamb to the slaughter and Heman says the scripture anticipates the surmises of any who might think from his suffering that he was just an ordinary man and shows what power works in his behalf So Isaiah 53 isn't just talking about a normal man Isaiah 53 even when it within itself when it says who shall declare what lineage he comes is also saying that this this one who comes who suffers and dies is actually of divine origin he is more than than just a man. And so here he's building his argument. You Jews believe that someone is going to come. Not only is this someone going to come, but this person is going to have to suffer and die, and he's going to suffer and die on our behalf. Paragraph 35 gives more specifics where he's arguing not only is he going to die, but he's going to die by a cross. Now, I have to admit, this particular section has, I think, some of his weaker arguments from scripture. Let me explain what that means. He quotes three passages, Deuteronomy 28, 66, Jeremiah 11, 19, and Psalm 22, 16 through 18. The Deuteronomy 28, 66 verse is, you shall see your life hanging before your eyes and shall not believe. Jeremiah 11 19 says but as I an innocent lamb brought to be offered was yet yet yet ignorant of it They plotted evil against me saying come let us let us cast wood into his bread and wipe him out from the land of the living living And then of course Psalm 22 very famously. They pierced my hands and my feet. They counted all my bones They divided my garments for themselves and class cast lots for my clothing and then he summarizes and says this the important lines from each of those the first line from Deuteronomy 28 is The important line is, you shall see your life hanging before your eyes. The Jeremiah 11 one, the important phrase is, let us cast wood into his bread. And then Psalm 22 is the piercing. And so he summarizes, now a death lifted up and that takes place on wood. It can be none other than the death of the cross. Moreover, it is only in that death that the hands and feet are pierced. The last part, Psalm 22, I think is a good argument that what's being talked about there is the death on the cross, because the piercing is very, very clear. You don't have many deaths that have that kinds of piercing. That's a good argument. The Deuteronomy 28, 66, the senior life hanging before your eyes, I struggle to see that actually talking about Jesus in context. And then the Jeremiah 11 19 the ESV translates it differently. I think this is a section where the the Hebrew is a little weird and His way of translating interpreting that doesn't actually fit very well And so I don't think that's a reference to the cross either. And so this is one of those things when you're reading when you're reading anybody they're not always right on everything. I think the first two thirds of his argument aren't very convincing, but his last one is spot on. And so he is correct in his conclusion, it's just his particular examples left a little bit to be desired. You could also, I guess you could take in the time frame compared to where he's writing from the fourth or fifth century. Yep. And in another place later on, it does appear, I didn't go back and check this with all of these, but it's most likely, especially with the Old Testament, he's quoting the Septuagint, because there's a place where he quotes the Septuagint, and it's a little different than the Hebrew, and the translator makes a footnote about that. And so most likely he's trans he's He's citing the Greek version of the Old Testament Not the original Hebrew because this book was originally written in Greek and so it makes sense for him to quote the Greek translation And so that probably contributes a little bit to this as as well Deuteronomy 28 66 So, let me just read it for you. That'll be That'll be easiest. So the chapter is, this section is the Curses for Disobedience. And before this, verse 64, And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. And among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot. But the Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and a languishing soul. Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. And so when it says, your life shall hang in doubt before you, that doesn't seem to be a reference to the cross as much as, I mean, as the end of the verse says, you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. I mean, it's talking about how bad your situation is. And so it seems to be, he's taking that word hang and he's saying, oh, that's cross. But hang doesn't always mean that. Hang has other meanings depending on context. Not quite sure it fits here. It is interesting, though, that at the end of that first paragraph under 35, he then goes on, and this is an idea he will develop later, He then goes on to talk about how the Savior dwelt among men, or besides this, since the Savior dwelt among men, all nations everywhere have begun to know God, and this too Holy Writ expressly mentions. There shall be the root of Jesse, it says, and he who rises up to rule the nations, to him nations shall set their hope. And that's a quotation from Isaiah 11.10, which again, Isaiah 11 is a very famous prophecy of the Messiah. But what's interesting is the argument he's making here is this. What's happened after the coming of Christ proves the truthfulness of who Christ is. Because people are being converted. because the pagans are leaving the pagan ways behind and are now following the God of Israel through Jesus Christ. All nations everywhere have begun to know God. He'll develop this later on, but this is a writing in the, you know, the 300s. Now that's not a very long time. That's, you know, a couple centuries after Jesus. But I think that's actually an incredible argument that we should be using today, because we have 2,000 years of history where we can point to these truths of this little sect. You had Judaism, that was a known religion at the time, but Christianity started as a sect of Judaism, became its own thing, and yet that has taken over the whole world for 2,000 years. That's not normal. And that's an argument that he's using back then that I think we should be using today to defend the truthfulness of what we claim about Jesus Christ. He then goes on to develop his arguments where he says, he develops first from the argument of the virgin birth. He says, okay, so we have these prophecies in the Old Testament. You know, this thing's gonna happen. Well, who's the fulfillment of it? None of the patriarchs of the Old Testament were ever born of a virgin. We can trace all their lineages. So who is it? Who is it? And at the end of the day, his argument will actually, a couple sections later, he'll say it's Jesus. He argues from the star as well. Which of all those people had his birth announced to the world by a star in the heavens? When Moses was born, his parents hid him. David was unknown even in his own neighborhood. Samuel had to ask if there was any other sons. Abraham didn't have anything like that. Only with Christ is it otherwise. The witness to his birth was not man, but a star shining in the heavens whence he was coming down." So again, he's developing this argument that these expectations of the Jews from the Old Testament and these various prophecies find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. So let me pause there for a second. Are there any questions so far before we move on to Section 36? Just one comment. At the time he was writing, as you said, it developed from a Jewish sect into a worldwide religion. But 2,000 years now, in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, Well, and part of what he'll argue later on is that The fact that all the pagans are coming to Christ, it should be evidence to the Jews so they also would believe, but they are being stubborn in their unbelief, which I think connects. He doesn't make this explicit connection, but I think it connects well with Romans 11, where Paul says that the coming in of the Gentiles is to make Israel jealous so that they will finally turn. And I believe one day they will return and come back to their God. and hasn't happened yet. You get, you know, little seeds of it here and there, but. I think it does happen in other parts of the world, but in Israel and in the Middle East, it's not really happening. Right, not yet. Yeah. Yeah. But we'll see what God does. So, all right. So section 36, Section 36, he uses this argument, what king that ever was reigned and took trophies from his enemies before he had strength to call father or mother? And this is actually just developing the argument we just talked about, where he talks about, you know, different kings, they come to age, even with Joash, it was, you know, age seven, you know, they're grown to a certain extent. But here, and he speaks to the Jews, he says, let the Jews who have investigated the matter tell us if there was ever such a king in Israel or Judah, a king upon whom all the nations set their hopes and had peace, instead of being at enmity with him on every side. And then he talks about the history of all these enemies of Israel. Israel doesn't have friends. There's always these enemies that come against them. Did not the nations always regard Israel with implacable hostility? then it is worth inquiring who it is on whom the nations are to set their hopes. There must be someone for the prophecy. But did any of the holy prophets or of the early patriarchs die on the cross for the salvation of all? Was any of them wounded and killed for the healing of all? Did the idols of Egypt fall down before any righteous man or king that came there? Abraham came there certainly, but idolatry prevailed just the same, and Moses was born there in Egypt. But the mistaken worship was unchanged. And then he's kind of bringing these things together. Jesus is the fulfillment. No one in the Old Testament, the Scriptures doesn't have any individual who's the fulfillment of all these prophecies. There's no Old Testament prophet or king or priest who is pierced, who is hung on a tree, who was the perfect sacrifice for the salvation of all. And then he goes on to talk about, That's his argument. You have these prophecies, you have these expectations. The Old Testament doesn't give you the answer of who it is, but here is the answer. The word, the divine word is the one who fulfills all this. He is the common savior of all. He's the one that proceeds from the virgin. He's the one who appeared as a man on the earth. You can't trace his earthly lineage because he doesn't have a father. He was the one who had the star announce his bodily birth as he came down from heaven. And even he is the one that all the nations are coming to. These are the ones that the nations are believing in. We need to remember as well, Athanasius was an Egyptian. He was in Alexandria, his entire ministry was essentially in Egypt. And so for him, like there's a there's a there's a personal aspect to this of like, you know, he lives in a biblical country with that biblical history, with that relationship with the Jews in the Old Testament. And he's saying, you know, when in our history did we give up our false worship and idols? We never did until Jesus. And that's an incredible argument. Why do cannibals... I'm broadening this, but you have cannibalistic islands, where people have this abominable practice of eating each other, and they've been doing it for centuries. They have no memory of life not doing it. And they finally change because the gospel comes, and they're converted. That's not normal. And yet every time the gospel goes forth to a new country, a new place, it has that kind of profound effect. It changes the entire history of that country and people and culture. And Athanasius is talking about this. It's prophesied that this one who comes, the nations are going to go to him. Who are the nations going to? They're going to the word. They're going to Jesus. He it is who was crucified with the sun and moon as witnesses, and by his death salvation has come to all men, and all creation has been redeemed. He is the life of all. And he it is who, like a sheep, gave up his own body to death, his life for ours, and for our salvation." He's the fulfillment of all these things of the Old Testament. So was Athanasius the Coptic? Say again? I mean at this point you just had you had one church because like there there is now a separate Coptic I Think they're part of the Orthodox tradition. I think they split off Hold on a sec Well, a lot of those Eastern groups were heavily persecuted by the Muslims when the Muslims come around, you know, four or five centuries later That's Yeah, they're still competent Christians. Yeah I can't remember now something very Yeah, they break off and I can't remember at one point because there's a there's a number of Eastern Different groups if you have the Eastern Orthodox you have the Oriental Orthodox You've got the the Coptic Christians and I think there's some other groups too, and I can't remember what their relationship Yeah, yeah, so I mean he is Eastern in the sense that he's you know, he's one of the Greek speaking fathers You have certain church fathers that speak and write in Latin Athanasius was in Greek And he was in Egypt, but it's also interesting because you know Augustine was also in in Egypt But he's part of the Latin Western tradition. So But they were all part of one church at that point. Yeah, you didn't have the the split offs and the divisions yet. Those come later on Does that answer your question? That was very convoluted way to get there Okay. Let's see here. So he goes on paragraph 38. The Jews disbelieve this. They're not satisfied by these arguments. And so then he goes on to give additional arguments. It's like, okay, you haven't been satisfied by this. Let's consider these things. So he talks about a prophecy from Isaiah 50 or 60 65 I was made manifest to those who did not seek me. I was found by those who had not asked for me I said here here am I to the nation that had not called upon my name I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gained same people his argument is well Who is this one that's made manifest? Jesus Christ was the one who was made manifest. He's the fulfillment of this Later on in that paragraph, he goes on to talk about the various prophecies, such as Isaiah 35, of the different signs that are going to appear. "'Be strong, hands that hang down and feeble knees. "'Take courage, you of little faith. "'Be strong and do not fear. "'See, our God will recompense judgment. "'He himself will come and save us. "'Then the eyes of blind men shall be opened, "'and the ears of deaf men shall hear, "'and stammerers shall speak distinctly.'" He goes on to argue, well, you have some of these appearing in the Old Testament. You know, this prophet did, you know, one thing, and this prophet did, you know, maybe this other sign, but you don't see all of these together except for Jesus Christ. And he doesn't quote this, but we would be reminded, of course, when John the Baptist doubted, what did he do? He sent some of the disciples to Jesus, asked, are you the one we're looking for, or should we look for another? And what was Jesus's response? Yes, tell him what you saw, tell him what you witnessed, and he's referencing this kind of prophecy. I can't remember if it was this specific one or not, but this kind of prophecy of, like, these are the signs, this is what's happening, this is the one. Yep, and Athanasius is saying, he's using that same kind of argument for the Jews of, like, hey, this is what the Old Testament expected to see, to see these signs. And you see those signs with Jesus such that, and then he quotes John 9, He says even the Jews Testified that this was incredible what was going on and he quotes from John 9 since the world began It has never been heard of that Anyone should open the eyes of a man born blind if this man were not from God he could do nothing So even in Jesus his own ministry, they're like, oh this guy's different Yeah, yeah Yep, and so athanasius is drawing these things together. Okay, you don't you know, you're not convinced by those other arguments consider these You have this prophecy about the one being made manifest. That's jesus christ. You have those prophecies about the signs That matches with jesus christ. He's the one uh who performs these things He goes on in section 39 surely they cannot fight against plain facts And so it may be that, without denying what is written, they will maintain that they are still waiting for these things to happen and that the word of God is yet to come. And that's kind of like their big thing is, you know, the Jews are still waiting for the Messiah. And you can see how that kind of sounds a little pious. You know, we just it's not that we're saying, you know, we're not discounting all these prophecies of the Old Testament. We're like, we just don't believe they've been fulfilled yet. We're still looking forward to it. He says, that is a theme on which they are always harping most brazenly in spite of all the evidence against them. And then he goes on, they shall be refuted on this supreme point more clearly than on any, and that not by ourselves, but by the most wise Daniel. And so what he does here is he says this, the scriptures are very clear, not only as to the character of this person, the death that this person's supposed to have, the virgin birth, the signs. But the Old Testament actually tells us when. And he goes to Daniel's prophecy of the 70 weeks. which we looked at during our eschatology series. And he quotes that and says, this is part of his response. Not only does it expressly mention the anointed one, that is the Christ, it even declares that he who is to be anointed is not man only, but the holy one of holies. And it says that Jerusalem is to stand till his coming and that after it prophets and visions shall cease in Israel. It goes on, you know, David was anointed, but he wasn't spoken of this way. Solomon was anointed, he wasn't spoken of this way. You know, the prophets, but they don't fulfill this. Quote, those men who were anointed were called holy certainly, but none of them was called the holy of holies. And then in section 40, he really drives the point home. The Jews are indulging in fiction and transferring present time to future. The things that are present, that have happened, they're saying no, they're still future. That's the fiction. When did prophet and vision cease from Israel? Was it not when Christ came, the Holy One of Holies? It is, in fact, a sign and notable proof of the coming of the Word that Jerusalem no longer stands. neither is prophet raised up nor vision revealed among them and it is natural that it should be so for when he that was signifying had come what need was there any longer of any to signify him and when the truth had come what further need was there of the shadow so the point he's making here is what daniel was talking about with the 70 weeks happened with jesus The temple was destroyed. Jerusalem was destroyed. And of course, he's writing in the 300s, so not as long a period of time, but a couple centuries at that point. That's a significant fact. The Jewish religion was effectively destroyed in 70 AD. And it had to, because the fulfillments had come. Because Jesus had come. There was no more need for any of that. Sorry, go ahead. The 70 weeks of Daniel is prophesying the time between Daniel's time period and that coming of Christ. And those things that he talks about are fulfilled in that moment. That's the period of what the 70 weeks is talking about. Yeah. That was a 70-year period. That's different than the 70-weeks period. But it was 70 weeks of years. Right. So approximately 490 years was the Daniel prophecy about the coming of Christ. That's different than the 70 years of exile, I think it was prophesied by Jeremiah, that I think it was Daniel or someone, maybe it was Ezekiel, recognized that the time was almost up. I think it was Daniel. So there are two different 70s that are two separate prophecies that are talked about. Daniel was in Babylon then. Yes, yeah. When he realized that it would be 70 years that they would go home. Right, yeah, he talks about that, but that's completely different from the 70 weeks. The 70 weeks is a different prophecy. It's in a different section of the book. Yeah. So Athanasius is looking at this and saying, this is, you can't deny this. You have this prophecy of this person, the anointed one, the Holy of Holies. Jesus is the only one that fulfills it. And the fact that these other, you know, prophet and vision are going to cease. When does that happen in Israel? It happens when Jesus comes and then the temple is destroyed afterwards. And so that's the fulfillment. Jesus is This one, and for us, you know, I've talked about this before, the significance of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. That time period from then to now, 2,000 years, is longer than the time frame of Abraham to Christ. And to not have a temple for that long a period of time is, it should be unfathomable. But it proves that Jesus was the Messiah, because there still is a king on David's throne. That prophecy did not fall flat. Because Jesus sat on his throne, and he is still sitting on his throne, and he's that son of David. I want to make one point. I mean, after the way they treated Jesus and crucified him, why would God allow them to have a temple for false worship? That's why he destroyed it. That was his vengeance. I mean, that's part of Christ's vengeance for what they did to him. So he goes on to talk about, this is on the last page, if there is still king or prophet or vision among the Jews, they do well to deny that Christ has come. But if there is neither king nor vision, and since that time all prophecy has been sealed and city and temple taken, how can they be so irreligious and how can they so flaunt the facts as to deny Christ who has brought it all about? They see the heathen forsaking idols and setting their hopes through Christ on the God of Israel. Why do they yet deny Christ, who after the flesh was born of the root of Jesse and reigns henceforward? He goes on to say, of course, if the heathen were worshipping false gods, then that's not an argument. But they're following the true God. And he says this, what more is there for their expected ones to do when he comes? Basically, look at all the stuff that Christ has done and how he all fits with the Old Testament prophecies. What could you expect? Is there anything better you could expect? He's done everything. To call the heathen? They're called already. To put an end to prophet and king in vision? This too has already happened. To expose the God-denyingness of idols? It is already exposed or condemned. To destroy death? It is already destroyed. What then has not come to pass that the Christ must do? What is there left out or unfulfilled that you Jews should disbelieve so lightheartedly? The plain fact is, as I say, that there is no longer any king or prophet, nor Jerusalem, nor sacrifice, nor vision among them, yet the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of God, and the Gentiles, forsaking atheism, are now taking refuge with the God of Abraham through the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, it should be plain." Jesus is that fulfillment. That's his argument. Yeah, Randy? The thing that just keeps going through my mind is, given that Jesus fulfilled so many prophecies, Yeah, this is only a short summary really of the argument. Yeah, what are the Jews? What are they looking for? I mean What could this Messiah they're looking for? Add on to what's already been Shown in the scripture. I know there's probably no answer, but I'm just I just got right Yeah, I think in many ways I think there is still kind of a a Well, you got to remember, especially today, you still have, you know, you've kind of got ethnic Jews versus religious Jews, just because someone's Jewish, it's kind of like, you know, someone's Catholic, but they're not really practicing Catholic. So you do have that aspect where they, you know, it's their tradition, it's their culture, but they don't really believe there's anything coming. It's just their thing. But for those that are religious, I think there's still some kind of similar expectation to like a political leader. Um, like they're, they're looking, you know, just as the first century Jews wanted someone to save them from the Romans, you know, today you've, you've got, that's the kind of thing they're looking for. Um, but there's also the aspect that this is a very spiritual battle that's going on and God has for a time given them over to blindness because they rejected the Messiah. Um, I mean, the Pharisees knew. They had all the evidence right in front of them, and they still rejected him and came up with arguments to try to deceive others, and still hold sway for many today. Throughout the church, you have things like this, where the church makes an argument of, no, come back. This is the Messiah. We are holding to your God, your true God. and trying to make the argument of believe, hear what the scriptures say, believe and come and receive all the promises that you've been given. It's almost as if they've got so much time, talent, treasure invested in not believing that it's almost impossible for them to. I think that it's their pride. There is, yeah. If they admit that it was, if they admit Yep. Right, exactly. And they've been rejecting him for 2,000 years ever since. And yeah, that's... Yeah. That is a lot of pride to swallow. And pride is a very deadly sin. Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. So that's chapter 6. I personally really enjoyed this chapter. This is just a lot of fun. Just the way he makes this argument and setting forth Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Testament is just really enjoyable. So any questions, comments, thoughts before we close this evening? Hopefully that means that it was all straightforward. I just have one comment. Yeah. You know, it's so tragic what happened in Gaza. It's right next door to Israel. Now, if Israel had accepted Christ, then we would have had Yeah Yep, and I mean that's the that's really what everyone needs, you know from our perspective as well that you know, obviously there's you know, political issues, you know, need to be handled and addressed and taken care of. But I mean, the biggest problem the world has is the problem of sin and not knowing Christ. And that's why we need more preachers and missionaries, so that people will hear. When I googled how many Christians are in Jerusalem, three percent. Yep. And they're all Palestinians. Mm hmm. Yep. I don't um yeah I'm not sure yeah yeah all right not see any other questions or comments let's go to a time of prayer for this evening Just one update for you guys on Joelle, for those that weren't here earlier. She's been diagnosed with POTS, which is Postural Orthostatic Tachy-something Syndrome. So, we're gonna be seeking to follow up with some more doctors, because there's probably other stuff going on as well. Um, so it's just going to take some time to, uh, to get that managed and, uh, there's probably other things. So just be praying for her, particularly, uh, just wisdom as we see further medical, uh, assistance and, uh, also just, um, um, for healing and just management of her, of her symptoms. So, uh, appreciate that. Uh, praise God we got back safely. Uh, 17 hours of driving the last two days and, uh, where did you take a plane? Because we had too much stuff We brought some of Joel's stuff back from that was still at her parents house. And so we couldn't fit it all on a plane so So yeah, so we made it safely and that rain weather yesterday We were driving through that was like really we're so close to home and now you're gonna dump on us But it's all good. It was it was fun. So but praise God for for safe travels Anything else for praise or prayer tonight? Yeah. Gotcha. Yep. Yep. Dave and Debbie Duran. Your daughter, Melissa. Two updates on last week. We asked for prayer for Sandy. Merriman's daughter, and it turned out that it wasn't kidney stones. Next morning, the pain was totally gone. So she was able to go home. So that was positive. And then Sunday night, we prayed for David Brown. He had his surgery. And the only thing he said is, it went the way the doctors expected. So that's all I have. Barbara Brown also had a good testimony, too. Yes. In the book, though, that she tested negative for Lyme disease. Ah. Is that normal? It's good. I know it's good. But I thought she tested positive for it. In the end of it, she got it treatment fast enough that it helped. Oh, OK. Everything helped. OK, I understand now. OK. That's fantastic. Sorry, I just always assume that when someone has Lyme disease, that's it. You've got Lyme disease now. OK, good. All right. Anything else? I just thank God for bringing all of us here. I worship that we have eagerness to share the word, to learn. Praise God. Amen. Yes, faithful witness.