Five Alone

(The Five Solas of the Reformation)
For God’s Glory Alone
(watch the video)
by Bob Burridge ©2014

The 16th Century Reformers identified
Five things that Stand Alone.

These five principles challenged the church at that time to get back to the Bible and its teachings. They were a summary of the foundations of a truly biblical Christian faith. These are what our lives should be based upon so that we truly please God.

Not all were convinced by the work of the Reformers, but though these basic principles many found the transforming power of the Gospel of God’s Grace.

Things had become confused back then because what God said had been blended with commonly accepted beliefs and practices that didn’t come from God’s word. The result was a popular and powerful church that was misleading and manipulated the masses.

First, a brief review of these Five Principles

The first is Sola Scriptura — Scripture Alone.
The Bible as God’s word should be our only standard for faith and practice. In that collection of books, God tells us in his own words what’s right and true. We don’t need any human experts to add to that word. The best our teachers and counselors can do for us is to help us understand God’s word.

The next is Sola Gratia — Grace Alone.
Salvation doesn’t come by anything we earn or deserve. It’s ours by God’s undeserved mercy with nothing added or needed from us. We’re all merely sinners saved by grace.

It’s ours by nothing but Christ Alone — Soli Christi
Jesus Christ accomplished by his life and death all we need to be made right with God. He suffered and died in place of his people to fully pay their debt of moral guilt.

Then there is Sola Fide — Faith Alone.
We are declared innocent by faith in the work of Jesus Christ, and by that alone. There’s nothing we can add to make what he did effective for us. There are no merits to accumulate, no good works we can do, no church rituals to engage in. This Saving Faith is ours by God’s mercy. By it we rest in the promise of God in Christ.

We conclude with the final point: Soli Deo Gloria – to God’s Glory Alone.
We should live our lives in thankfulness, making sure that it’s all lived for God’s glory.

The Apostle Paul summarized this final principle.

1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

This is a general rule which applies to all situations, for all people, all the time. All breathe his air, drink his water, and eat the nourishment he created for them. They build houses on his land, and use the materials he provides. They work with skills and opportunities God alone gives them. They enjoy the company, love and security of others the Lord brings into their lives.

For anyone to fail to live gratefully all the time and for all things is to steal glory from God. As thieves of his glory, no one should be surprised that the good things they have don’t satisfy them.

If a person doesn’t have the glory of God as the central motivating concern in his life there will be something noticeably missing. Life and all we get in it will seem to have an element of emptiness and futility. People busy themselves with all sorts of entertainment and material gains to try to fill that emptiness, but nothing else can really satisfy the need.

Blaise Pascal was an important mathematician, physicist, and philosopher. He spoke of man having a “God-shaped vacuum” in his soul. Only God can fill that central place that acts as the focal point of our lives. Nothing else fits, not even those carefully designed substitutes. The soul was emptied in Eden when humanity in Adam lost fellowship with God.

People are often thankful for what they have, but not always thankful to God as the giver. When they talk about “Thanksgiving”, it’s more a “Thanksgetting”. They fail to honor the God who gave all things to them.

It’s encouraging when we hear children learn to say “thank you” when you give them something. It shows us that their parents are trying to help them learn the importance of courtesy to show others that what they gave them was appreciated.

We should all do the same with all God gives us. He’s the source of all we enjoy and need for our lives. We should live our whole lives in gratitude, offering our thanks to him. We do that directly in worship and prayer, and in our behavior and attitudes.

Our Shorter Catechism begins by asking,
“what is the chief end of man?”

The profound answer to that question takes us right to the main purpose of life here on earth. It says, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

This doesn’t mean you make God glorious, or add to his glory. He’s already perfectly glorious. It means you recognize his glory. It means you live in ways that show you appreciate his glory, and display it here in this world he created.

Our gratitude to God needs to go far deeper than a prayer of thanks over a meal. While this is very important, your thankfulness has to go deeper than just that. After you pray are you still mindful of God’s giving you your food as you eat it?

Are you so thankful that you use all he gives you in ways that please him? Do you care enough about showing the qualities of Christ in your life, that you’re devoted to changing to be more merciful, patient, forgiving and kind? Do you work on making sure your language doesn’t dishonor God and his holy ways? Do you keep his Creation Sabbath Day holy, all 24 hours of it? Do you bring all of God’s tithe to him to enable his church to carry out it’s work? Does it concern you when you see others neglecting Christ or not honoring their Creator? Do you speak out for Christ offering him to others as their only hope of being made right with God?

Don’t let your busy schedule keep you from making time to serve Christ in your life. Don’t let your hobbies, sports, entertainment, and opportunities tempt you to miss worship, or your times of Bible study, prayer, and Christian fellowship. Don’t let the love of the gifts God gives lure you into forgetting the one who gave them.

This verse says that in whatever you do, in all of life, it needs to focus on God’s glory, even when things don’t go the way you would have wanted, even in suffering.

In Acts 3 Peter healed a lame man and explained
to the crowd that Jesus was the Promised Messiah.

He reminded them that they had brutally and unjustly killed this Promised One. He talked about resurrection from the dead, a teaching the observing Sadducees had rejected. He called the people to repentance and faith in the Savior. In the next chapter we see that about 5,000 believed the message of the Gospel.

The next day Peter and John were arrested (Acts 4), and were asked by what power they healed and spoke about Jesus as they did. The accusers were impressed and marveled at Peter’s response in verses 8-12, “He said, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

The ones arresting them had nothing to say in response. They just told the Apostles to say nothing more about Jesus, then threatened them. Peter then explained that God’s command must be obeyed over the commands of men. The Jews were confounded, but could do nothing but let them go.

The passage concludes in Acts 4:21,

“So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done.”

In the face of all the opposition, the Apostles and the other believers turned the focus to what needs to be the center of all our thoughts, actions, and intentions. They Glorified God.

This Gospel had become confused again in the 16th Century.

The church had elevated herself to a place of mystical glory on earth. The Ministers again called themselves “Priests”, wore fancy expensive robes, and were treated as royalty. Power over lost souls was claimed to rest in the clergy alone. The leaders of the church didn’t present themselves as sinners saved by grace. They considered themselves to be special power-brokers of God’s forgiveness and blessings. The elements of the Lord’s Supper were imagined to have magical powers. Showy cathedrals accumulated unimaginable wealth for the Priests and Bishops.

Scripture no longer stood alone. It was supplemented by what the church had added. Grace was seen as dependent upon things we do, instead of resting upon God’s eternal decree and the work of Christ Alone. Faith was a trust in the church’s powers, rather than in the promises of God. Justification was seen as earned by good works or purchased, rather than obtained by trusting in Christ Alone. The glory had shifted from the Creator and Savior to the marketers of religion.

Another Reformation took place in the early 17th Century,
just 100 years after the Protestant Reformation,

The Church of England had become horribly corrupt abandoning the Five Solas of the Reformation.

Believers who remained in the church fought hard for its spiritual purity. They were called Puritans. They suffered intense persecution by a powerful union of the church and civil government. Some decided to separate from the church . They were called Separatists.

Things got so bad that a group of Separatists left England and moved to Holland to find religious freedom. They stayed for awhile, but were troubled by the worldly life style they found there. There was also a growing threat of being caught up in a deadly war between the Dutch and the Spanish. So in 1620 they left Holland, and sailed to organize their own settlement in the new world.

Edward Winslow (3rd signer of the Mayflower Compact when they first landed) described a celebration of thanksgiving in the following year of 1621. To show their dedication to the glory of God alone he wrote, “God be praised. We had a good increase of Indian corn and our barley ….our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might, after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the first fruit of our labors… by the goodness of God, we are far from want, that we wish you partakers of our plenty.”

Still today, many things compete to be the center of our attention.

When God’s glory isn’t first, other things will dominate our lives. The glory shifts from God to become centered on ourselves. Self-esteem replaces humble esteem of Christ above all. To feed what seems most important to him, the fallen soul tries to boost that self-esteem. The honoring of God is suppressed.

A self-centered person becomes a god to himself. His own mind and feelings become the test of truth. Some come to think of their salvation as depending upon their own efforts, accomplishments, and choices. What benefits them in this life becomes the goal and measure of everything else. He imagines his self-esteem, possessions, popularity, and power to be his best hope for happiness. He, his children, and all those he influences, miss out on the greatest hope for happiness which is: living for the honor and glory of his Creator, and submitting to and loving the truth that sets us free. If God through Christ isn’t appreciated above all else everything becomes empty, unsatisfying.

When God’s given the glory, a true inward confidence and joy becomes possible. There have been no happier and joyous people in all of history than those who have found salvation in Christ and who learn to give Glory to God alone. That’s the way the Creator made us to live. That’s why no other way works. Rather than steal honor from the One who made us, we need to live and worship for God’s glory Alone.

We need to understand and proclaim
the 5 solas in our confused world.

Truth mixed with even the tiniest error, is no longer truth. Adding to Scripture, supplementing Grace, looking to more than what Christ accomplished, or trusting in things other than the proper object of Saving Faith, produces a false religion and honors a false god. When these don’t stand alone the one True God is not honored in your life.

The first of the 10 Commandments summarizes one of the basic moral truths of the universe: The Lord said, “You shall have no other Gods before me.”

Either God’s glory stands alone as our motive and goal in all things, or everything becomes flexible, imaginary figments of our needs, rather than the foundation of reality. If our foundation is mixed with other things, then the mixture is our foundation, not the foundation laid down by God’s authority. Paul calls a mixed religion another gospel.

Evil works in a most subtle way. Rather than tempting us to reject obvious truths revealed by God, it entices us to dilute them with false assumptions.

Reformation must continue if we are to be holy and happy, and to honor our King. When you leave the place of worship to get back to your work, family, friends and personal interests, where will God be in all your thoughts? Will his moral commandments fade into the background, replaced with the lure of temptations? Will you remember to live thankfully to him for all you have and enjoy? for your health? opportunities? family and friends? Will he take first place in what you value and consider important? Will knowing and understanding his word be more important than
your phone calls, e-mails, entertainment, the daily news, hobbies, and possessions?

Taking time to see God and his care in all these things makes everything more valuable to us. Without him there is no real value in them at all. He gives life it’s meaning and purpose.

Psalm 92 begins this way in verses 1 and 2, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night,”

Don’t miss out on the wonders of God’s creation and the amazing grace that opens your eyes to appreciate the loving provision of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Make God’s wonder the center of your thoughts and desires. Give thanks to God — for this is good.

Bible quotations are from the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

Back to the index for “Five Alone”

Lessons in the Book of Habakkuk by Bob Burridge ©2013, 2015 Understanding God in Troubled Times (Video #3)

Lesson 3: The Holy Perfections of God Habakkuk 1:12-17

The Prophet Habakkuk wrote during very troubled times. The Jews as a nation had drifted into evil and immorality. Foreign powers invaded their cities again and again. Jeremiah warned that God would soon judge and bring captivity to the Jews.

Habakkuk was confused (1:2-4). How could a Holy God allow such oppression and evil to continue against his own people? But Habakkuk’s confusion was not doubt. In his unfailing trust in the truth of God he turned to the LORD for understanding. God answered him.

From the beginning of the covenant, God had warned Israel that if they rebelled against His Covenant, He would bring foreign heathen nations against them to chastise them. As a loving parent God will not let such things continue uncorrected in his children. They would recognize this judgment by people speaking other languages coming against them.

What the heathen intend for evil, God uses for His holy purposes. This does not make their evil morally right. They will be held guilty for what they do (1:11).

Habakkuk Replied to God’s Answer.

Habakkuk rejoiced in the Covenant promises of the God of Israel.

Habakkuk 1:12-13a, “Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for correction. You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness. …”

In verse 6 God reminded the Prophet that Jehovah is Sovereign over all. In verse 11 he was reminded that the heathen remain guilty. This lead him to praise God for all His amazing perfections. These perfections are the Foundation of our Covenant Hope.

First, Habakkuk found hope in the eternality of God. Psalm 90:2 tells us, “From everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” Troubled times may come and go, but God is never taken by surprise. God is and always has been God even before the Chaldeans existed, before Israel was a nation. Recent events, even if he could not understand them, were well within the plans of the Eternal Creator.

Habakkuk also found hope in God’s eternal and personal covenant love. This promise is found in many places in Scripture. It was written long before by Moses in Deuteronomy 7:6, “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.” Later the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:4, “… He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world …”

Habakkuk uses the covenant name of God, “Jehovah” (Yahveh, יהוה). Here it is translated as “LORD.” He is “the self-existent one”, the “I AM.” He depends upon nothing but Himself. This is the name God used in revealing His Law and plan for their deliverance from Egypt. It shows the determination of God to redeem His fallen people.

He calls him “My God”, personally declaring that he saw himself belonging to this God as one of his Covenant People. The heathen make their own strength to be their god. This is the essence of humanism where the human creature and his perceived abilities are honored in place of the Creator (Romans 1:25). The God of Habakkuk is the One who made him. He is the source of all power, even that of his enemy. Proverbs 21:1 assures us, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.”

With confidence Habakkuk says, “we shall not die.” God is always faithful to His covenant promises. God’s people will not ultimately perish. Any sufferings He allows are for His own purposes. In this case the suffering was to purify and to chastise His rebellious nation to correct them.

Habakkuk found hope in the Holiness of God. He calls Him the “Holy One” (qa-dosh’, קדושׁ). God is morally unique, unlike any other. He cannot approve of evil. The passage here says of God, “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness.” He cannot allow wickedness to go unjudged. He cannot allow His people to remain in their rebellion for long.

The Prophet found hope in the Sovereign rule of God. He calls him the “Rock” (Tsur, צוּר), one who is firm, strong, a secure place to shelter His people. This is what Jehovah is called in Deuteronomy 32.

Deuteronomy 32:4, “He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.”
Deuteronomy 32:15, “… Then he forsook God who made him, And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation.”
Deuteronomy 32:18, “Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, And have forgotten the God who fathered you.”

He is an unchangeable refuge for His faithful covenant people, but not for those who rebel against His moral principles. God had in the past appointed a heathen nation to judge His people. In Isaiah 10:5 God had called Assyria … “the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hand is My indignation.” “Rod” and “staff” are the same Hebrew words David used in Psalm 23, “Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” But for those who are the enemies of God, the rod and staff are used to strike out at them in judgment. Assyria was used to chastise the Covenant people when they became an idolatrous and evil nation.

In the time of Habakkuk, Israel again deserved the covenant curse of judgment as a nation. God was about to use the Neo-Babylonians to remind them of their obligations to the covenant, and that their standing is by grace alone.

Yet the prophet’s questions continued.

Habakkuk 1:13b, ” … Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours A person more righteous than he?”

The prophet brings his confusion before the LORD. He wondered why nothing was being done to the treacherous and wicked. God’s holiness did not seem to fit in with what he was seeing.

God had made it clear that He viewed these pagan nations as evil and guilty. The problem was that Habakkuk was measuring God’s blessing by the world’s standards. In our fallen world the lost use every means they believe will help them get what they want. They rejoice in the conquest of the moment with no real concern about the long-term dangers of immorality and ungodliness. The world cannot see the temporary nature of the pleasures of sin.

He asks why God seemed silent when the wicked swallow up those who are more righteous than the oppressors? Though the nation of Israel had rebelled, there were some who still faithfully rested in the promises and righteousness of God. They were suffering in a way that was hard to understand.

But God’s seeming silence was not really silence at all. God had already spoken very clearly in His word. His warnings about the consequences of disobedience by his people were not unknown. Even this punishment by a foreign nation had been clearly revealed. The curses of God’s Covenant were as certain and as real as the promise of his blessing.

Why did God make men like fish?

Habakkuk 1:14-17, “Why do You make men like fish of the sea, Like creeping things that have no ruler over them? They take up all of them with a hook, They catch them in their net, And gather them in their dragnet. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice to their net, And burn incense to their dragnet; Because by them their share is sumptuous And their food plentiful. Shall they therefore empty their net, And continue to slay nations without pity?”

It appeared to Habakkuk that God was treating His people like fish and creeping things. The word translated as “creeping things” is “re’-mes (רמשׂ). It was commonly used to describe reptiles or fast moving little animals. It’s the same word used in Genesis 1:21 of God creating the “moving” things that swarm in the waters.

Like the animals, Israel seemed to be without a real leader to protect and shelter them from their enemies. According to Romans 13:1-7 God’s purpose in human government is that is should be a “minister for good,” to punish evil, and protect the innocent. Leaders are to maintain public safety, dealing out justice to lawbreakers and invaders. At that time Israel seemed to have no such leader.

The Chaldeans would catch them like fish and rejoice. Their nets were long and weighted so they would go to the bottom with floats at the top so there was no way to escape. The enemy empties them out of the net to consume them for their own pleasure and benefit, enslaving them, taking their property, and abusing them.

Then the emboldened enemies sacrifice to their nets giving glory to their own devices for their imagined success. Worship and glory should only be given to the True Creator, not to nets and theirown skills. The analogy of caring for the fishing nets was easy to understand in that culture. They prized and cared for their means of oppression of civilly innocent people.

God’s Prophet wondered if all this oppression would ever cease. Will the evil ones continue to empty their nets and slay the nations showing no pity? Habakkuk brought these very human questions before God.

The ways of God are far above us!

There are times when we might be like Habakkuk. We know what God has revealed about Himself. We see evil and violence continuing around us. We see unbelievers sometimes make the covenant people suffer. We see unbelief and immorality defended by some who have infiltrated our governments and even our churches.

Even though we know that God may use the wicked to chastise his people, what we see is very hard to accept. We might not understand how to fit it all together, but we do know that in the holy mind of God there is perfect integration of those things which confuse us. And we are assured that our Good Shepherd uses it all for the very best help for his children.

The Confession of Habakkuk reminds us of what should never be forgotten as we try to understand. Our God is “from everlasting.” He has promised to redeem His people by His love and provisions. He remains most Holy in all His actions and permissions. He is Sovereign over all earthly matters.

There will always be questions we have difficulty answering. There will be those temptations of the world to encourage us to adopt its ways as if it would ease our discomforts and suffering.

We must always remember that our real hope rests only in the eternal and unchangeable love of an Almighty God. It cannot be shaken by changing situations. Great is the Covenant Faithfulness of our loving Lord!

(Bible quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Back to the Index of Studies in Habakkuk

Lessons in the Book of Habakkuk by Bob Burridge ©2013, 2015 Understanding God in Troubled Times (Video #2)

Lesson 2: God’s Use of the Ungodly Habakkuk 1:5-11

The Prophet Habakkuk wrote during the troubled times before Judah’s captivity. Assyria had fallen when Nineveh, its capitol, was destroyed in 612 BC. Egypt and the Neo-Babylonians were competing for world dominance. In 609 Judah’s King Josiah was killed in battle against Egypt. His son Jehoahaz became king. It was a period of apostasy and violence. The new king was deposed after three months. Egypt made his brother, Jehoiakim, the new king over the Jews. In 605 Egypt was defeated by the Neo-Babylonians at Carchemish. This New-Babylon marched through Canaan and took hostages (one of them was Daniel).

During this period, foreign powers invaded Israel again and again, and inside the nation known as God’s people, evil and immorality raged. God’s Prophet Jeremiah warned of God’s judgment.

As we saw in the first four verses of this book, Habakkuk was confused. Why did a holy God allow such evil to continue?

But Habakkuk’s confusion was not doubt. He had great trust in the truth of God. He recognized what was evil because he believed God’s law. He didn’t accept evil apathetically, he was appalled by it. He dealt with his doubts and confusion in the right way, he turned to God, not to his own understanding. God answered him.

The Lord revealed that He was very much at work.

Habakkuk 1:5, “Look among the nations and watch — Be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days Which you would not believe, though it were told you.”

The Prophet was told to look around him and see what was going on among the nations, observe! and be astounded! That’s where the judgment will come from.

It will be a most terrible judgment. The manner of the judgment would be unexpected. Those who were rebelling against God had become apathetic. They probably said things like, “See, God isn’t doing anything” “no body ever gets punished”, “it can’t be very serious.” They had forgotten the longsuffering of the True God who made all things, and who rules as King over all kings.

God often reveals himself in most unexpected ways. The coming of Messiah was unexpected. When Isaiah 53:1 speaks of the future coming of the Messiah, literally it says, “who would have believed the thing reported?” His birth as a baby who would grow up, suffer and die was most unexpected.

Paul used this verse from Habakkuk to warn the foolish despisers of the gospel. In Acts 13:41 he said, “Behold, you despisers, Marvel and perish! For I work a work in your days, a work which you will by no means believe, Though one were to declare it to you.”

Jeremiah also spoke of the same thing about which God warned Habakkuk. In Jeremiah 13:20 it said, “Lift up your eyes and see Those who come from the north… .” Jeremiah 25:32 says, “Behold, disaster shall go forth From nation to nation, And a great whirlwind shall be raised up From the farthest parts of the earth.”

The LORD had a purpose in using the Neo-Babylonians

Habakkuk 1:6, “For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, A bitter and hasty nation Which marches through the breadth of the earth, To possess dwelling places that are not theirs.”

The Neo-Babylonians were dominated by Chaldean kings. The terms “Neo-Babylons” and “Chaldeans” are used interchangeably for the people of that Empire.

That pagan nation was struggling against Egypt for dominance. Soon they will be raised up from that struggle to full power. God was revealing that He was going to use this ungodly power for judgment upon his own straying people.

This warning was made clear in the ancient covenant revealed long before through Moses in Deuteronomy 28. It is a warning to Israel that if they should break God’s covenant, calamity will come upon them revealing the wrath of the offended God.

28:25, “The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth.”
28:36, “The LORD will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods — wood and stone.”
28:49, “The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand”

God’s covenant warned from the beginning that if Israel fell into sin God would use a foreign heathen nation to bring judgment upon them. A nation would come to judge them speaking in a language they did not understand (Deuteronomy 28:49).

In this period of Judah’s last kings, the Prophets warned of the fulfillment of this covenant promise. Isaiah 28:11 warned, “For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people.” Jeremiah 5:15 said, ” ‘Behold, I will bring a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel,’ says the LORD. ‘It is a mighty nation, It is an ancient nation, A nation whose language you do not know, Nor can you understand what they say.’ ”

In the time of the New Testament after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we see the expansion of God’s Covenant to include Gentile believers drawn to the Savor by the Gospel. Israel as a nation had rejected the promises of Moses and the Prophets culminating in the demand for the death of Jesus, God’s Messiah. Though there were still many who had remained faithful, others no longer followed the words of the Prophets.

God’s sign of judgment was that they would hear foreign language on the streets of Jerusalem, speaking in a language they did not understand. God was about to turn to the Gentiles as He judged Israel as a nation for her unbelief.

In Acts 2 God poured out His Holy Spirit on the disciples who spoke on the streets of Jerusalem in the languages of the Gentiles who were present. A most astonishing way of fulfilling that prophesy. Pentecost was a sign to the unbelieving of Israel that they had broken the covenant and stood deserving of God’s judgment and wrath.

Paul, in writing to Corinth, corrected the Church’s misuse of speaking in foreign tongues. There he said in 1 Corinthians 14:21, ” ‘With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; And yet, for all that, they will not hear Me,’ says the Lord.” He directly quoted the covenant warning of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Deuteronomy. Covenant judgment was about to be poured out upon Israel. God was rejecting their national privilege, and turning to the Gentiles to populate his Covenant Nation on Earth.

Paul also made this clear in Romans 9-11. Israel stumbled at the stumbling stone, the suffering messiah (Romans 9:31-33). Though Israel was many, only “the remnant will be saved” (Romans 9:27).

The Lord described the ungodly.

Habakkuk 1:7-11, “They are terrible and dreadful; Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. Their horses also are swifter than leopards, And more fierce than evening wolves. Their chargers charge ahead; Their cavalry comes from afar; They fly as the eagle that hastens to eat. They all come for violence; Their faces are set like the east wind. They gather captives like sand. They scoff at kings, And princes are scorned by them. They deride every stronghold, For they heap up earthen mounds and seize it. Then his mind changes, and he transgresses; He commits offense, Ascribing this power to his god.”

The evil nations God was raising up to judge his rebellious people were self-centered. They looked to themselves for their power. They had fast horses and were more fierce (more alert, fierce, and sharp) than the hungry wolves that come out to hunt in the evening. They move ahead as a determined army spreading violence. They sweep through like the strong winds from the East gathering up captives that number like the grains of sand. They have no respect for the leaders of other nations. They make a joke out of those who dare to not submit to them.

The mind of evil changes from bad to worse being taken in by successes in conquest. It becomes all the more bold in lawlessness. The evil ones believe pridefully that their own imagined gods have blessed them.

This is the attitude of the evil heart in all ages. Even today there are those who are arrogant and have no honor for God as He reveals Himself in Scripture. They live as if there was no Creator, no moral law, no accountability.

Today, the weapons of force have improved, yet all the more they take whatever they want, and give only when it serves their purpose. They mock authority and law, and believe that “might makes right.” They still look to their own strength and ability as if they were divine and answer to no authority above their own.

Though used by God for his purposes, the ungodly are still evil. God may ordain to use their wickedness, but this does not make it morally right. Acts 2:23 tells us that Jesus was delivered up, “by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death”

Though used of God to complete his plan, those who crucified our Lord were still personally wicked and godless in what they did.

The Lord revealed his attitude toward them.

They will be held guilty. Don’t mistake temporary material victories for true success. God will deal with them according to his plan, but first, He will use them for His own covenant judgment.

How beautiful! He even turns wicked hearts to serve his Sovereign purpose. They intend to be their own god. They do whatever they want. In their very act of oppression, they unknowingly serve the glory of the Creator. But what they do is not going to bring them true blessing. They heap judgment on themselves.

God blesses those in whom he stirs to obedience, and judges disobedience. His covenant is always enforced. His purpose in creation will stand. The glory of His nature and attributes will be made known in full.

The ungodly show the futility of their rebellion, the awful penalty of sin, and the just wrath of God. The repentant show God’s unmerited grace to undeserving sinners, and reveal the merciful blessing and goodness of God. Yet both declare His awesome glory.

How will the plan of God be fulfilled in the ungodly?

Habakkuk learned that the material success of the ungodly is not a reliable measure of their true success. When we don’t see the ungodly punished immediately, or when they seem to be successful in their evil ways, we should not assume that God is beaten or is pleased to turn His head.

God will surely judge all rebellion, secret and open. We should never presume to say to an unbeliever, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” We can’t know that. God will bring ultimate and final judgment upon all ungodliness. Their end will be most awful. He may for a time use the ungodly to bring deserved chastising upon the hypocrites among His own people, and to show his uncompromising wrath upon those left to what we all deserve aside from the work of his grace.

We are called to be among his faithful people. He sent His son to pay a most costly price for the sin of His people, for those who trust in Him. Will we show forth God’s glory in our obedience and in our receiving of His covenant blessing? or will we in our rebellion demonstrate the just curse of His covenant warnings?

Those who look to themselves, will eventually and always reap their just punishment. Those who turn in humble trust to the Lord, who rest in His work of redemption, who seek to walk in his ways, and who turn in humble repentance when they fail, will receive His righteousness, and blessing forever. This is the grace of God as revealed in His merciful covenant.

(Bible quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

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Lessons in the Book of Haggai by Bob Burridge ©2013, 2016 When we put our own interests above those of our Savior, we forfeit great blessings, and offend the One who gave Himself to redeem us.

Lesson 2: The Blessing of God in Our Lives Haggai 1:7-15

The Jews had returned to Jerusalem after seventy years of captivity. They built an altar, resumed God’s sacrifices, and started to rebuild the Temple which had been destroyed many generations before.

The Elders of Israel did not want the heretical cult of the Samaritans to have a part in that reconstruction. The Temple was to be for the worship prescribed by God himself. The Samaritans persuaded Persia to force the work on the temple to stop. After sixteen years the Temple remained a mere foundation. During that time the Covenant People had become apathetic. Their own material wants distracted them from honoring God’s word.

At that time, the message of the Lord came through Haggai. He rebuked them for working so hard on their own homes and businesses while allowing the house of God to remain unfinished. They came on Sabbath, they brought their sacrifices to the make-do altar that got the job done passably, but God had little importance in their daily lives.
For their disobedience, they suffered a double cursing. They took in little, and had little pleasure in what they did have. There is a moral connection between our obedience and our blessings.

The Lord calls His people to actively serve Him.

Haggai 1:7-8, Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the LORD..

Christianity is not a spectator religion. As God’s people, we are to show loving obedience to our Lord, and sincere dedication to promoting his glory. Believers before the time of Christ looked to the yet to be fulfilled promises with confidence that God will send the Messiah to restore his people to full fellowship with their Creator.

The Lord called them to “Go up to the mountains.” (Haggai 1:8)
This is where they would generally go to get the wood needed for their construction projects. They were to bring their wood to the temple foundation and rebuild the house of God. They were to use their resources, time, and effort to get the materials they needed to correct the problem.

Obedience is the evidence of true biblical faith. James 2:17, “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

If we call ourselves God’s people we are saying that we belong to Him. It doesn’t mean mere agreement the theological facts of the Bible. James 2:19 tells us, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble!”

It’s not that what we believe is unimportant. God calls us to submit to the truths God has revealed. False theology leads to wrong living and a perverted view of God. Our theological convictions alone do not make us to be one of God’s people.

Our cultural and political views do not make us God’s children either. Cultural liberty and political convictions are only honorable within the boundaries of God’s moral law when obeyed out of gratitude for Saving Grace.

The Bible also makes it clear that performing good deeds make no one a true child of God. While it is certainly important to help the truly needy, and to attend times of worship, deeds done without giving glory to our Lord robs Him of His glory.

Those who think they can earn God’s blessings by what they do treat God as an unnecessary element in doing moral good. They deny our fallen nature and our need for redemption. Our obedience must give glory to the Lord as the source of all good. We’re told in James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” And Paul tells us the real motive behind every proper obedience. In 1 Corinthians 10:31 he tells us, “… whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

A true saving faith will change us. It wakes us up from our apathy, and moves us to get busy with what God calls us to be doing daily. Our personal distractions need to be set aside so that they will not keep us from our responsibilities to the One who redeems us. The true believer understands from 1 Corinthians 6:19 that he is not his own. In verse 20 of that chapter Paul explains, “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

We need to confesses that we are made to serve our Creator. Due to sin we cannot fulfill that purpose. God promised from the beginning that He would send a Messiah to meet the demands of His justice, and to deliver His people from evil. Jesus perfectly fulfilled that covenant promise by His obedient life and by his death on the cross in the believer’s place. Through faith in that now completed work of God’s grace, the Christian today has life restored by the Savior.

God calls His true followers to nothing less than full obedience. We are to forsake all else to follow Him It’s not that we can neglect the other responsibilities He gives us in life, but God is our priority. In Matthew 10:37-39 Jesus said, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

If we cling to ourselves more than to our Savior, we are left to wonder whether we really rest in Him alone for our salvation. If we are true believers, we belong to our Savior and are no longer our own.

When redeemed, we will want to serve our God faithfully. We will most humbly repent when confronted with our sins. We will also delight in giving all honor to our Lord as we serve Him.

The Lord promised that He would be pleased with their obedience.
He would be pleased if the Jews newly restored to the Promised Land would worship Him as prescribed in His word (at the finished temple). He would be pleased to bless them again if they put the Lord first. He will turn His cursing into blessing upon the people and the land. He will display His glory in them to be seen by the watching world.

He also reminded them that the cause of their suffering was their disobedience.

Haggai 1:9-11, “You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the LORD of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

It was because of their apathy and self-centeredness that they took in little, and had little pleasure in what they did have.

There is an interesting play on words in the Hebrew text. Verse 4 tells us that the house of the Lord had been left in “ruins.” The Hebrew word there is “kharaev” (חרב). In verse 11 God called forth a “drought” upon the land. The word for “drought” is “khorev” (חרב). Only the vowel pointing of the Hebrew word is changed. They left God’s house “kharaev”, God made their land “khorev”. Both are based upon the same Hebrew root word which means, “waste, desolation, ruin, dried up” When they left God’s temple desolate, God made what they loved more to become desolate.

The LORD calls His people to covenant obedience

Haggai 1:12, “Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him; and the people feared the presence of the LORD.”

They obeyed God.
The word translated as “obeyed” is the Hebrew word “shma`” (שׁמע). It is usually translated as “heard”. It goes beyond simply hearing sounds. It means, “to hear with understanding and to honor what is heard.” Those who obeyed were the remnant of Israel, the ones who remained faithful to God.

They who obeyed, showed a “fear of the LORD”.
This “fear” is not a sense of uncertainty or of being afraid of an unexpected attack or calamity. It is an awareness and respect for God’s awesome powerful and holiness. His word is clear and certain. By it we know that we fall short of His glory. Our fear of God is a holy awe and wonder that humbles us in praise and thanksgiving that the almighty Lord of Hosts (verse 14) has, by the symbol of sacrifice at the temple, revealed His plan to redeem us who deserve only His anger.

Covenant obedience brings covenant blessings

Central to covenant blessings is the “Immanuel Principle.”

Haggai 1:13, “Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, spoke the LORD’s message to the people, saying, ‘I am with you, says the LORD.’ “

One of the names of God in scripture is “Immanu-El” (עמּנוּאל). It means, “God with us.” The promise that the Messiah would be Immanuel was made in Isaiah 7:14. This verse was quoted in Matthew 1:23 when God’s angel spoke to Joseph applying this name to Jesus, assuring him that the baby Mary carried had been conceived by the Holy Spirit.

The Lord many times declared, “I am with you.” This is the central covenant promise to his people in every era. In several places Jehovah said, “I will be God to you, and you shall be my people” (for example, Leviticus 26:12, Jeremiah 11:4, and 30:22).

The LORD stirred the spirits of the people.

Haggai 1:14-15, “So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.”

Spiritual renewal and obedience are related in scripture. The revivals in the times of Josiah and Ezra followed a repentant restoration of God’s word.

Since our obedience and love for our Redeemer is a work of grace, doing what God calls us to do is a blessing in itself. When we see him at work in our lives we appreciate all the more the redemption that draws us closer to our Lord. As he draws us to himself we are more and more enabled to honor him with our words, thoughts, and deeds.

Do we want revival in our lives, churches, and nations? If it is legitimate, it begins with the use of the means God has given us: knowledge of His word, prayer, proper worship, and the encouragement and discipline of the church. When we show apathy and atrophy in our spiritual lives we see the need for coming to our Savior repentantly and in faith, trusting his grace to revive us and stir us to obedience to the ways that please our Creator. Rather than looking for excuses, look to the One who can deliver you from that spiritual laziness which is lethal to the soul. Nothing else will ever satisfy.

Go into your mountain, the places where God provides your opportunities. Take advantage of his provisions and do what you are called to do for your Savior. Then, when you see spiritual growth, humbly praise God with worship and thanksgiving for his amazing grace and the work of Jesus Christ.

(Bible quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

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Lessons in the Book of Haggai by Bob Burridge ©2013, 2016 When we put our own interests above those of our Savior, we forfeit great blessings, and offend the One who gave Himself to redeem us.

Lesson 1: The Priority of God in our Lives Haggai 1:1-7

With so many responsibilities, pastimes, and necessities surrounding us every minute we are awake, it becomes hard to keep our priorities straight. We multitask, overextend ourselves, and take breaks so we can recuperate and escape the overload. It is all too easy to forget the priority of God in our lives.

When we put our own interests above those of our Savior we forfeit great blessings and offend the One Who gave Himself to redeem us. The prophesy of Haggai centers on this problem.

The Historic Background of the Prophesy of Haggai

God’s Israel had been taken into captivity as God’s judgment for their disobedience.

Haggai 1:1-2, In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, “Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying: ‘This people says, “The time has not come, the time that the LORD’s house should be built.” ‘ “

In 539 BC the Persians defeated the Neo-Babylonians.
Cyrus, ruler of the empire, Issued a Decree permitting the Jews to return to Jerusalem. About 50,000 of them returned to the land God had once promised them before they rebelled and were taken away into captivity (see Ezra 2:64-67). Their civil leader and governor was Zerubbabel. A man named Joshua became their spiritual leader, and leading priest.

When they arrived back on promised soil, an Altar was set up to resume their long absence from biblical worship. The sacrifices resumed, and work was started on the project of rebuilding God’s Temple. The original one had been destroyed when they were over-run by pagan captors. In the second year of their return the foundation of the Temple was completed.

Trouble came from the Samaritans (see Ezra 4)
Those who lived in Samaria, the neighbor of Israel to the North, had changed the writings of Moses. They modified it to support a counter-culture to God’s Covenant People, the Jews. They had their own writings, and had abandoned Biblical truth.

When the Samaritans heard that the glorious Temple in Jerusalem was being rebuilt, they wanted to have a part in it. Wisely, Zerubbabel and the Elders of Israel refused their offer. It would have been a dangerous compromise that would bring unbiblical teachings and immorality into Israel. Samaria persuaded Persia to issue a temporary restraining order against the Temple construction. That brought the project to a halt for sixteen years.

In time, the Covenant People became apathetic.
After many years in captivity no one alive remembered what it was like back in Jerusalem. They had no memories of the glorious Temple where God was worshiped. Then after another sixteen years with just a foundation laid for the new Temple, they had lost their concern for getting the job done.

The pressures of daily life crowded out what they had come to think of as unimportant. Poverty and failing crops gave them more excuses to use their materials, time, and money to improve their homes and expand their businesses. Their own material prosperity and personal comfort became their priority. Finishing God’s place of worship so they could fully resume the ceremonies mandated by God through Moses was procrastinated indefinitely.

In 520 BC the Lord spoke through Haggai the Prophet.
It was in that setting that Haggai addressed the people telling them what Jehovah told him. The people were saying, “The time has not come, the time that the LORD’s house should be built.”

This message from their God came in late August in the second year of Darius of Persia (521-486 BC). It was the first prophetic word since Ezekiel and Daniel delivered God’s words during the captivity. Two months later Zechariah would also speak in this same period of Israel’s history.

“Haggai” is one of the most commonly mispronounced names in Scripture. The name in Hebrew is “Khag-GAI” (חגּי). The accent on the second syllable which rhymes with “die”. It comes from a root word meaning, “Festive”. The book contains four messages from the Lord to His people.

The Lord rebuked them for their neglect.

Haggai 1:3-5, Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider your ways!”

If it wasn’t time to work on God’s house, what time was it then?
Was it time for their houses to be improved, while God’s house lies in ruins? That was their attitude. The people “paneled” their houses covering the inside walls or inlaying them with costly wood-work called “sephunim” (ספונים). This wasn’t inexpensive paneling designed only for looks. It was the best decorative material available. Meanwhile God’s house was left in disrepair. It was only a foundation laid sixteen years ago.

In the time of Moses God had instituted a Tabernacle as the place for Israel to worship. It was a tent that fit their nomadic nature until their representation of God’s Kingdom became clearer by establishing the permanent house of worship in Jerusalem, the Temple built by King Solomon. The Temple was the center of the sacrificial system.

This central worship place was to be where the Covenant between God and his people was administered. It served as a visible sign of God’s presence among them. There they met with God and one another through the rituals of the Levitical system. It was there that the bond-in-blood of the Covenant of Grace was perpetuated in the sacrifices, and the majestic glory of God in the purity of Holiness was shown.

Though they could sacrifice at the temporary altar, the unfinished building did not provide for all God demanded. It was not a full picture of Christ’s yet future redeeming work. Therefore its unfinished condition was a distortion. The structure barely satisfied God’s demands. There may even have been some temporary, make-shift structures constructed. But they were not the ones God had prescribed in his word.

Their neglect and apathy presented the wrong image of God’s covenant people. Instead of declaring to the world that they were redeemed by grace, they didn’t seem transformed by God’s redemption at all. They had some sacrifices going on which they assumed were all that mattered. They were not committed to honoring their Creator and Redeemer in the special way God prescribed. Even the pagans at that time took more care in the worship of their false gods and idols. Perhaps the Jews would come to the Temple foundation now and then, but after their visit their personal lives were proven to be their real priority. They saw God as having little importance in their daily lives.

So, the Lord said, “Consider your ways.”
Literally the Hebrew text says, “set your heart upon your ways.” That is, “take your ways to heart.” God was telling them to take inventory of their lives. Compare them with what God instructed in his word. Things were not as they should be. God wanted His glory and sovereign Lordship to be seen in their lives. Worship is not to be some “value-added bonus” in the lives of the redeemed. It is what we are created for, what Jesus died to restore, what the Temple sacrifices, ceremonies, and furnishings were supposed to mean to them.

They suffered covenant cursings
because of their disobedience

Haggai 1:6-7, “You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.” Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider your ways!”

A Double curse was upon them.
They took in little, and had little pleasure in what they did have.

Verses 9-11 adds more of the suffering God had brought upon them because of their disobedience, “You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the LORD of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

God explained the judgment behind their struggles, “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.” They were not running to the Lord’s house to take care of it when it stood in need. Therefore, heavens were withholding the dew. It was because of their self-centered behavior. They had forgotten the One who causes their crops to flourish. The very things they chose over God’s worship were being effected. Their focus was on their own prosperity, so God kept those things from prospering. They had little for all their misdirected efforts, and they were not finding pleasure or satisfaction in the things they did have.

Long ago Deuteronomy 28 had warned about the blessings and cursings of the Covenant God made with them. There is a moral principle that links our obedience and our blessings. While the obedience of some in Israel was a work of grace, the disobedience of the rest revealed latent sin that needed repentance and faith in the promised Savior. Jesus brought this basic principle into the New Testament era in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

The rebellious of Israel had forfeited the blessings of God’s gracious covenant, and had offended the God who called them to be His own.

What hypocrisy! They certainly had enough to panel their own homes. Perhaps things were not as bad as they perceived or reported. They said they didn’t have enough to work on God’s Temple. As for their own homes, they were not willing to be satisfied with anything but the best they could find. An unfinished foundation may be okay for the house of God, but not for their own homes. They put up their nice interior paneling, but they could not find satisfaction in what they put above honoring their Creator.

They pleaded that there were exceptions that kept them from work on the Temple. They said the times were rough, their resources were low. So they withheld their tithe, their time, their work, their obedience. They allowed the work of the Lord to struggle along.

Sadly, many still today reason that if they first make themselves prosperous, they will be able to better serve the Lord as He deserves. God doesn’t ask us to give as prosperous people. He calls us to give, to serve, and to worship, as His people, and to do that faithfully.

We must make the work of God the true priority in our lives.

Today, the Church God set up by his Apostles is the outward structure of God’s Kingdom. It must not be allowed to lie waste. Worship in union with the risen Jesus Christ must take priority over all other things in our lives. That is the work of God’s people. We need to faithfully provide what is needed for proper worship and the various ministries of the church. We care for its facilities and resources so it can carry out its heavenly assigned work.

We are not called to build extravagant temples, but ones which are able to be good centers of worship and education. They must not be shabby while we raise our standards for our own homes and properties.

We need to supply our churches by faithful giving to support its mission to one another and to the millions living in secularism, superstition, and under oppression in foreign lands. We are called to expand God’s Kingdom into the dark recesses of a growingly godless society.

The work of the church and its agencies for missions and Bible education are important. They should not take second place to the many things we do for our own pleasures. Do the agencies of God’s Kingdom struggle, lying in waste, while we indulge ourselves with the resources God has provided for us? Yet what wonderful pleasures await those who engage in and supporting the work of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 tells us that we belong to our Savior, we are not our own. The redeemed have been bought with the price of their Savior’s death. Their primary duty in life is to glorify God in body and spirit. They are God’s.

Heidelberg Catechism Question #1 asks, “What is your only comfort in life and death?”
Answer: “That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who with his precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that, without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation: and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him.”

(Bible quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

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