The Law Paralyzed (Habakkuk 1:1-4)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:05.360 Habaca Kabaka, chapter one. I'll just read the first four verses. Listen, 2 00:00:06.519 --> 00:00:11.630 for this is the word of the Lord, the Oracle that Habaca, 3 00:00:11.750 --> 00:00:19.510 the Prophet saw. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry for help and 4 00:00:19.750 --> 00:00:25.899 you will not hear? Or cry to you violence and you will not save? 5 00:00:27.500 --> 00:00:32.179 Why do you make me see iniquity? Why do you idly look at 6 00:00:32.340 --> 00:00:40.009 wrong? Destruction and violence are before me, strife and contention arise, so 7 00:00:40.250 --> 00:00:46.929 the law is paralyzed and justice never goes forth, for the wicked surround the 8 00:00:47.009 --> 00:00:53.520 righteous. So justice goes forth perverted. That's for the reading of God's word 9 00:00:53.600 --> 00:01:03.549 me. He bless it to us. May Be seated. That's right, 10 00:01:07.030 --> 00:01:11.390 our gracious henly father, we ask that you would take your word, that 11 00:01:11.469 --> 00:01:17.269 you would apply your word to our hearts by Your Holy Spirit, help us 12 00:01:17.269 --> 00:01:21.379 to cling to your word this evening, help us to see our savior here 13 00:01:21.579 --> 00:01:25.540 in these words. And we asked that you would length in our faith in 14 00:01:25.579 --> 00:01:30.900 Christ this evening, help us to see your victory for us, that we 15 00:01:30.980 --> 00:01:34.090 would respond and praise to you. But then it's in Jesus name that we 16 00:01:34.209 --> 00:01:42.489 pray. Amen. Well, I'm not a full time pastor. I used 17 00:01:42.489 --> 00:01:49.079 to be. Now during the school week I get to hang out with middle 18 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:53.799 schoolers and one of the things I do during the school year is I teach 19 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:57.959 middle schoolers, severn, the eighth graders, history, ancient history and medieval 20 00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:00.950 history. And it's been a few years I've done this now and I realize 21 00:02:00.989 --> 00:02:06.230 that I spend a lot of my time in the classroom, possibly more time 22 00:02:06.349 --> 00:02:13.229 in the classroom answering questions, more time answering questions then going over the lesson 23 00:02:13.389 --> 00:02:17.180 that I've spent hours preparing, and I really enjoy this. Right when when 24 00:02:17.219 --> 00:02:22.939 students come to you with questions, they're frequently very curious. There there means 25 00:02:22.979 --> 00:02:27.060 they're interested, it means they're engaged in the subject. They want to know 26 00:02:27.219 --> 00:02:31.210 more about some battle, usually the one to fill in some missing details about 27 00:02:31.250 --> 00:02:35.409 a person's life. Maybe they want to know how some of these ancient laws 28 00:02:35.530 --> 00:02:40.689 actually worked and applied in everyday situations. But there's many questions that are far 29 00:02:40.810 --> 00:02:46.560 more mundane. In a classroom of twenty six students, you can imagine the 30 00:02:46.599 --> 00:02:52.199 kinds of mundane questions you get. What's Today's date? Right? Can I 31 00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:54.680 go to my locker? Can I get a drink of water? Right? 32 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:59.110 All these things that kind of interrupt the flow of a class. But every 33 00:02:59.150 --> 00:03:00.229 once in a while, I mean the iron middle schoolers, every once in 34 00:03:00.270 --> 00:03:08.110 a while you get a question that's downright rude and truly I know that they're 35 00:03:08.189 --> 00:03:14.979 being rude when they ask how much longer is there in this class? Really, 36 00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:21.180 do I really have to take notes on this subject? Well, yes, 37 00:03:23.419 --> 00:03:27.729 and all of us, from a very early age, are well practiced 38 00:03:27.770 --> 00:03:35.930 at using questions to complain, aren't we? When will they be done with 39 00:03:36.090 --> 00:03:42.960 these roads? Why don't they ever listen? Well, that's what I thought 40 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:46.400 of this evening. When I turn to Habaka, Chapter One. In our 41 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:52.599 passage we're let in on the prayer of Habakak. He's a prophet and he's 42 00:03:52.680 --> 00:03:58.830 praying to the Lord. And yet as he's bringing questions with his prayer, 43 00:03:58.870 --> 00:04:02.990 as he's bringing crushed questions before the throne of grace, we quickly see these 44 00:04:03.030 --> 00:04:11.060 questions are actually complaints. Just look at the first couple verses. Right, 45 00:04:11.419 --> 00:04:17.740 oh Lord, how long shall I pry for help and you will not hear? 46 00:04:19.220 --> 00:04:26.050 Or cry to you violence and you will not save? Why do you 47 00:04:26.209 --> 00:04:35.449 make me see iniquity? Why do you idly look at wrong? Do you 48 00:04:35.569 --> 00:04:44.480 hear then the desperation with these very questions, the desperation in habaccocks prayer. 49 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:50.000 He tells us here of the trials that he is enduring as a prophet in 50 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:56.430 Judah. He's looking around at all the violence, at all, the destruction, 51 00:04:56.470 --> 00:05:00.709 at all of the sin that he's seeing. The reason for there to 52 00:05:00.750 --> 00:05:06.819 be so much strife and contention is, as he says, because justice isn't 53 00:05:06.899 --> 00:05:12.860 being rendered. I mean, when there's no justice, there's no stability. 54 00:05:14.500 --> 00:05:20.139 When there's no justice, power and fear just take over. I mean, 55 00:05:20.220 --> 00:05:25.689 the law is supposed to uphold the righteous and judge the wicked, but when 56 00:05:25.769 --> 00:05:29.970 the wicked, as he says, outnumber and surround the Righteous, then the 57 00:05:30.089 --> 00:05:38.040 law is ineffective. He's describing for us here a disturbing breakdown in this society, 58 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:43.360 and he doesn't really have a plan, does he? He doesn't know 59 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:48.720 how to fix this problem. He's just crying out for help. Do you 60 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:53.629 feel the despair in that? It's not. Why aren't they listening to me? 61 00:05:53.990 --> 00:05:59.829 It's a Lord. Why aren't you answering he's looking out at a world 62 00:05:59.870 --> 00:06:03.899 that has been turned upside down. The righteous suffer and the wicked or prospering. 63 00:06:03.939 --> 00:06:12.300 Lawlessness is trampling over law and order. It's as if words have lost 64 00:06:12.379 --> 00:06:17.459 their meaning, as the wicked get to interpret what is just and unjust. 65 00:06:18.970 --> 00:06:23.490 That the means that the justice which gets administered is not justice at all, 66 00:06:24.290 --> 00:06:30.250 but is the height of lawlessness, coming from the very courts. And as 67 00:06:30.290 --> 00:06:35.040 violence gets rewarded, as the powerful prey on the weak, the law, 68 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:44.399 which ought to defend the upright, goes forth rendering the rewarding the ungodly punishing 69 00:06:44.439 --> 00:06:49.949 the righteous. And so do you see how desperate this is, which explains 70 00:06:49.949 --> 00:06:55.709 why he's not really crying out to the people to fix themselves. He's not 71 00:06:55.829 --> 00:07:00.230 even crying out to the king of Judah to solve this problem. He's crying 72 00:07:00.269 --> 00:07:05.220 out to the Lord. And although we don't know much about the prophet have 73 00:07:05.339 --> 00:07:10.579 Bacca, this opening line tells us a lot. As he cries out to 74 00:07:10.620 --> 00:07:14.540 the Lord, we see that this isn't the first time he's called out for 75 00:07:15.220 --> 00:07:24.290 relief. It indicate that he's been seeking the Lord in prayer frequently. Surely 76 00:07:24.329 --> 00:07:29.050 He's been making request after request, as things only get worse and worse. 77 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:38.839 There's this frustration that attends his complaints. He's been crying out to the Lord 78 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:44.509 so regularly that he's now to the point where he can conclude that God is 79 00:07:44.829 --> 00:07:50.870 neither hearing nor saving. As much as the Prophet is disturbed by the violence 80 00:07:50.910 --> 00:07:55.790 and the destruction that surrounds him, do you hear what disturbs him even more? 81 00:07:58.149 --> 00:08:03.860 What's worse? The suffering, the injustice that he sees? Or is 82 00:08:03.899 --> 00:08:09.699 it that God seems to be silent to the injustice, to the suffering? 83 00:08:11.860 --> 00:08:16.050 I mean, doesn't that ring true for you in the midst of your own 84 00:08:16.129 --> 00:08:22.930 suffering? When things are wrong, when things are broken, doesn't it feel 85 00:08:22.970 --> 00:08:28.199 like anything that's not fixing the problem is only making it worse? I mean, 86 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:33.639 imagine getting ambulance to a hospital only to sit in a waiting room, 87 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:39.679 or calling nine hundred and tent one only to be put on hold. When 88 00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:43.350 things are that desperate, anything not rushing to your aid is only making it 89 00:08:43.990 --> 00:08:54.029 worse. So do you hear this frustration in in the Prophet's prayer, calling 90 00:08:54.110 --> 00:09:00.379 out right that that by delaying, you're letting the toxins advance? By staying 91 00:09:00.580 --> 00:09:05.139 silent, you're letting the infection take hold. By not responding, aren't you 92 00:09:05.220 --> 00:09:11.009 letting the criminals escape, get away with it for the profit here that the 93 00:09:11.129 --> 00:09:18.490 longer things stay broken, the worse they're going to get. And with all 94 00:09:18.529 --> 00:09:26.840 of his questions that he's asking, what does Ha Baccic ultimately want? What 95 00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:31.159 is he really crying out for it? Does he want answers to these questions, 96 00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:41.389 or does what he really want actions? Here's a little bit of pastoral 97 00:09:41.470 --> 00:09:54.059 wisdom for you. If someone ever asks you why do you never blank do 98 00:09:54.259 --> 00:09:58.820 the dishes, mow the lawn? At that point they're not looking for a 99 00:09:58.980 --> 00:10:05.620 discussion. No words can satisfy that kind of frustration or complaint. Right when 100 00:10:05.659 --> 00:10:11.610 someone's asking that question. They want action, not answers. The Prophet here 101 00:10:11.690 --> 00:10:16.570 is looking for the Lord to act and it's the Lord's apparent inactivity which is 102 00:10:16.649 --> 00:10:24.799 driving his frustration. So do you see the problem? The Prophet sees only 103 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:31.279 violence and destruction and not justice, and the Prophet only hears silence from the 104 00:10:31.399 --> 00:10:37.350 Lord in response to such sins. And if I could take just one more 105 00:10:37.429 --> 00:10:46.029 minute and show you how much worse the situation is, it's even more awful 106 00:10:46.029 --> 00:10:48.429 than everything I've said up to this point. What makes this situation even more 107 00:10:48.629 --> 00:10:58.659 desperate is that these laws, which are being twisted and ignored and abused are 108 00:10:58.860 --> 00:11:05.250 not simply the laws of men. This law that is being rendered in effective 109 00:11:05.409 --> 00:11:11.649 and paralyzed is not just the wisdom of some counsel or the edict of a 110 00:11:11.769 --> 00:11:20.399 king, it's the very law of God. And it's not just another pagan 111 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:28.120 nation that's committing such atrocities of injustice. This is in Jerusalem, it's Judah. 112 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:35.029 It's the people of God, those set apart by God himself to be 113 00:11:35.269 --> 00:11:41.230 his own possession. This is the same people who were set in distinction from 114 00:11:41.269 --> 00:11:46.940 the nation's called to be wholly even as God is holy. This is the 115 00:11:46.980 --> 00:11:52.500 people who have received the very words of God, they have received the law 116 00:11:52.659 --> 00:11:58.980 of God. This is the nation which received a holy charter from the mountain 117 00:11:58.059 --> 00:12:05.169 of God, from the very mouth of the Lord. And so it's not 118 00:12:05.289 --> 00:12:11.169 just any law which is paralyzed here. It's God's law which is not bringing 119 00:12:11.210 --> 00:12:18.120 about justice. And it's not just any people who are choking down the righteous, 120 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:22.000 it is the people of God. And so do you see how silence, 121 00:12:24.279 --> 00:12:30.710 silence to this issue, brings so much deeper pain, so much more 122 00:12:31.389 --> 00:12:41.549 dread. So can you understand the Prophet's complaints here? Can you understand those 123 00:12:41.669 --> 00:12:48.019 fears and the frustrations that he's feeling. And yet, and yet, do 124 00:12:48.100 --> 00:12:54.340 you notice that even here, even at the height of his questioning and complaining, 125 00:12:54.700 --> 00:13:05.250 what is he doing? He's praying, he's still praying. Such confusions, 126 00:13:05.370 --> 00:13:09.250 such questions, are not driving him away from prayer, it's not driving 127 00:13:09.250 --> 00:13:13.720 him away from God. In fact, it's such questions which are driving him 128 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:22.600 to his Lord, where he addresses God as Lord, as Yah Way, 129 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:28.669 using his covenant name by which God made himself known to his people. He's 130 00:13:28.710 --> 00:13:33.870 not just crying out to a physician, to any old judge, he's not 131 00:13:33.990 --> 00:13:37.629 just requesting help from a human who may fail to hear or act recklessly. 132 00:13:39.830 --> 00:13:43.340 He's calling out to the Lord, to the very author of justice itself. 133 00:13:48.940 --> 00:13:54.100 Now, in reading these few verses and reading this prayer of Habacic, a 134 00:13:54.179 --> 00:14:01.090 part of me really wishes I could make it simple for you. Party wishes 135 00:14:01.169 --> 00:14:07.250 I could just tell you either either don't really pray like Habaca right, with 136 00:14:07.450 --> 00:14:13.320 prayers and attitudes that that challenge God's timing, or maybe question God's reasons. 137 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:16.279 I wish I could tell you never do that, or maybe I should tell 138 00:14:16.279 --> 00:14:20.039 you to pray more like Habacca, with the with the honesty to pray with 139 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:26.870 boldness, crying out to God even in times of doubt. The actual answers 140 00:14:26.909 --> 00:14:31.149 probably somewhere in the middle of those things, and that's fine. But, 141 00:14:31.269 --> 00:14:35.350 but, no, that that's not why the Lord inspired the Prophet with these 142 00:14:35.470 --> 00:14:43.899 words. He's not really giving us a lesson in prayer here. Either do 143 00:14:43.059 --> 00:14:48.179 this or don't do this. Right. The reason God inspired this prayer from 144 00:14:48.179 --> 00:14:56.690 the lips of the Prophet is to bring us to his same concern. Do 145 00:14:56.809 --> 00:15:00.809 you feel the same concern? Do you feel the same questions, the same 146 00:15:00.850 --> 00:15:07.360 dread, the same confusion? As HABACCA raises these questions. The Lord would 147 00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:15.720 have you to understand this complaint so well in order that you would truly understand 148 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:22.950 the answer he brings throughout this book. For God is doing here is he 149 00:15:22.110 --> 00:15:28.950 is raising this all important question. When sin, when violence, abound, 150 00:15:31.350 --> 00:15:37.820 is it the law that is paralyzed, the law which offers blessing in life 151 00:15:37.980 --> 00:15:43.379 to the righteous, the law which promises curses and death to the disobedient? 152 00:15:43.860 --> 00:15:48.580 When these blessings and curses seem to fall short, is it the law that 153 00:15:48.740 --> 00:15:58.690 is failing, or is the law actually fulfilling its function? This is the 154 00:15:58.730 --> 00:16:03.929 exact issue that Paul wrestles with in Romans seven, when he asks what shall 155 00:16:03.970 --> 00:16:11.159 we say? That the law is sin by no means right. It's not 156 00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:15.120 the the law that is it at fault. The law is not to be 157 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:18.990 blamed. So so who is it fault? As he goes on, if 158 00:16:19.070 --> 00:16:22.669 it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. 159 00:16:25.230 --> 00:16:27.950 And later he says so though the law is holy, the commandment is holy 160 00:16:29.070 --> 00:16:32.789 and righteous and good. Did that which is good then bring death to me? 161 00:16:32.980 --> 00:16:36.899 By no means, he says, it was sin producing death in me 162 00:16:37.500 --> 00:16:41.379 through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin. 163 00:16:44.940 --> 00:16:48.090 Do you see them? For Habaccic? The lack of righteousness means the 164 00:16:48.129 --> 00:16:53.330 law is paralyzed. It means that the law is ineffective. And yet this 165 00:16:53.490 --> 00:17:03.240 is what the law does. It reveals sin to be sin. Was the 166 00:17:03.319 --> 00:17:08.440 law of God, given that life and righteousness might be found through obedience. 167 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:15.950 The law not only reveals the perfect standard of our God, it also reveals 168 00:17:15.509 --> 00:17:22.549 to us and to Israel how sinful and how fallen we are. So it's 169 00:17:22.549 --> 00:17:29.829 not the law that is ineffective or or paralyzed when it reveals what Sin Truly 170 00:17:29.910 --> 00:17:36.420 is. It's our own sinful human heart. It's not the laws fault that 171 00:17:36.500 --> 00:17:41.779 people fail and fall short of its heavenly precepts. It's us, our it's 172 00:17:41.819 --> 00:17:48.089 us, it's ourselves who are to blame. And the law here fulfills its 173 00:17:48.170 --> 00:17:55.089 function in Judah and in ourselves when it reveals our deepest need, for what 174 00:17:55.210 --> 00:18:00.000 the heart truly needs is not new laws or more laws, or even fewer 175 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:07.960 laws, because no law can produce life, because no law can give to 176 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:15.230 us a new heart. Only God can provide that. And so do you 177 00:18:15.309 --> 00:18:22.069 see why the Prophet here praise that he doesn't fully understand, though he questions 178 00:18:22.109 --> 00:18:27.619 and doubts and dreads his circumstances, he still takes his complaints to the Lord, 179 00:18:30.859 --> 00:18:34.180 for even the law reveals it is the Lord who will uphold justice. 180 00:18:37.579 --> 00:18:41.650 And so I love how our Lord here inspires not only the answer to these 181 00:18:41.809 --> 00:18:48.089 complaints, but even the complaints themselves. For here, at the end of 182 00:18:48.289 --> 00:18:52.930 Israel, nearing the end of Judah's time in the land, the Lord is 183 00:18:52.089 --> 00:18:59.720 at work revealing his true plans, his true purposes to his people. His 184 00:18:59.880 --> 00:19:04.319 right ultimate goal for human history is not contained in the peace of a nation 185 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:11.230 like Judah, rather even here, in this complaint, he is drawing our 186 00:19:11.430 --> 00:19:19.109 eyes away from Judah to an ultimate answer to injustice, an ultimate answer to 187 00:19:19.390 --> 00:19:25.819 our own sinful condition. The ultimate answer to strife and to injustice will not 188 00:19:25.940 --> 00:19:30.579 be found in laws, as perfect as they are, nor will the ends 189 00:19:30.579 --> 00:19:37.849 are be found in the Lord casting aside laws. Now, such complaints cause 190 00:19:37.890 --> 00:19:42.890 us to see that that we recognize the need for the law to be fulfilled 191 00:19:45.569 --> 00:19:48.089 and we recognize the sin in our heart which shows that we could never be 192 00:19:48.250 --> 00:19:55.000 the ones to do it. And I love that. This is Paul's exact 193 00:19:55.079 --> 00:20:00.799 point in Romans eight, verse three, where he says, for God has 194 00:20:00.839 --> 00:20:07.829 done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do by sending 195 00:20:07.869 --> 00:20:11.869 his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. He condemned 196 00:20:12.470 --> 00:20:18.150 sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be 197 00:20:18.309 --> 00:20:22.539 fulfilled in US, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the 198 00:20:22.619 --> 00:20:30.059 spirit. So, in that context, is the law paralyzed? Yes, 199 00:20:32.099 --> 00:20:38.930 because of our sinfulness. The law cannot produce righteousness. The law cannot produce 200 00:20:40.809 --> 00:20:47.089 what it demands the very righteousness of God, which is exactly why God has 201 00:20:47.170 --> 00:20:53.400 done what the law could not do and makes him both just and the justifier 202 00:20:55.039 --> 00:21:00.720 of the ungodly. As Christ both fulfills the law and pays the ultimate penalty 203 00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:07.630 against Sin, all righteousness is fulfilled and and sinners deserving of death are instead 204 00:21:08.109 --> 00:21:14.710 given life. Is the law, then, contrary to the promises of God? 205 00:21:15.710 --> 00:21:18.779 Certainly not, for if a law had been given that could give life, 206 00:21:19.220 --> 00:21:23.819 then righteousness would indeed be by the law, as Paul says in Galatians 207 00:21:23.859 --> 00:21:29.380 three. But the scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith 208 00:21:29.420 --> 00:21:36.130 in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe the law cannot declare a 209 00:21:36.329 --> 00:21:41.210 sinner to be righteous unless that sinner is clothed in the righteousness of Christ. 210 00:21:45.609 --> 00:21:51.480 Therefore, people of God, believe upon Christ and boldly pray with zeal for 211 00:21:51.559 --> 00:21:56.559 the glory of God, I mean Christ, till taught us to pray your 212 00:21:56.680 --> 00:22:00.039 will be done on earth as it is in heaven, which means that we 213 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:04.029 ought to cry out for for justice. When we see injustice as abound, 214 00:22:07.630 --> 00:22:12.150 means that we cry out for righteousness. And as we cry out for Justice 215 00:22:12.190 --> 00:22:17.339 and for righteousness, we will see those who should know better acting in selfrighteous 216 00:22:17.339 --> 00:22:22.500 ways and we continue to pray for forgiveness, realizing that we rely not upon 217 00:22:22.619 --> 00:22:27.019 our own righteousness, but our strength is to be found in the Lord of 218 00:22:27.220 --> 00:22:34.049 life, for even when we do not find immediate relief from our suffering, 219 00:22:36.369 --> 00:22:40.730 we see how he has already worked all things for our good and for his 220 00:22:40.890 --> 00:22:47.279 glory. In Christ, I mean they're on the cross. Our Lord used 221 00:22:48.119 --> 00:22:56.079 mankind's greatest sin, man crimes, greatest rebellion, the crucifixion of God in 222 00:22:56.160 --> 00:23:03.190 the Flesh. He used this ultimate evil act for our greatest good, life 223 00:23:03.430 --> 00:23:10.349 and salvation in our risen savior. So it as we cry out and in 224 00:23:10.630 --> 00:23:15.660 pain and confusion, asking how long will the powerful tyrannize the week? How 225 00:23:15.740 --> 00:23:19.859 long will the boastful drown out the humble? We're not left with a God 226 00:23:21.460 --> 00:23:27.210 who is silent, as he will even hear answer abacus prayer. Rather, 227 00:23:27.329 --> 00:23:32.329 we have a God who has already spoken, who has already said to us 228 00:23:32.450 --> 00:23:38.450 in revelation twenty two. Behold, I am coming soon. How long? 229 00:23:40.809 --> 00:23:44.480 I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for 230 00:23:44.599 --> 00:23:48.319 what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first 231 00:23:48.359 --> 00:23:52.960 and the last, the beginning in the end. Bless there those who wash 232 00:23:52.119 --> 00:23:56.109 their robes so that they may have the rights to the tree of life, 233 00:23:56.710 --> 00:24:00.269 that they may enter the city by the gates. Amen