2 Samuel 11-12; 1 Kings 3; 6-8; 11

Oh hear in heaven your dwelling place, and forgive. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:26

I'm in the the hallway of a hotel in the corner, and I scared the living daylights out of a person in a stairwell. So here we are. If it's a little echoey, I apologize, but listen, anything for the plot. And I'm excited to be here today. Let's get into it. So last week we talked about David and Goliath. And now this week we're gonna talk about basically David's David's downfall and then the rise of Solomon. And David was a good king, but in this moment is kind of the turning point for David's kingdom. And it's an interesting, it's a very interesting setup, and so we're gonna get into that. An important note because we will eventually, I don't think that much, but we will eventually be getting into Chronicles. And so it's important to note that there are two different tales, two different versions, I guess, of the history of the kings of Israel. We have 1st and 2nd Kings, then we have 1 and 2nd Chronicles, and 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, and 2 Kings are all a part of the same narrative, and then 1st and 2nd Chronicles are kind of a retelling of this narrative. And within this, we get basically in Chronicles was written after the exile. So it has, or during the exile, so it has uh more of that flavor. They're looking back um at a monarchy. Um they don't write as much about the kings of Israel, they write about um way more about the the tribes of Judah, right? Because those are the only ones, uh the tribe of Judah, because those are the kings that survived the kingdom of Israel is gone after the exile, right? After we split and the exile goes. And um 2 Samuel as well is way more critical of David as a king than Chronicles is. Um and this is interesting, um, maybe presenting a little bit more of the humanness because they're closer to him versus during Chronicles when he kind of has become a legend, when you're looking for kings and you're you're thinking back to the days of um monarchy, kind of as your goal. And yes, there are still some critiques because they realized that having a king was was not that great and it led them to exile in some ways. Um, but looking to king, by that time, David has become a little bit more of a legend figure. But today we're reading about kind of again the more humanness of both Solomon and David. And um, so let's let's just begin. So um, and it's important to note here that um Latter-day Saints um in our reading of the Bible are are unique in our emphasis of this story. I mean, it's a part of every story uh and of every Bible, and so it's not like other Christians don't read it and understand the uh the critique of David, but particularly because Joseph Smith received his revelation in Doctrine and Covenants, in which he emphasizes the fact that David, um, because of his actions here, um lost his exaltation. Um, we we look at that, and we'll go a little bit more into that. We don't know fully what that means, and that's kind of what I wanted to discuss today as we go through. Um but but let's just uh let's begin. So the Come Follow Me this week is is called, sorry, let me just pull it up really fast. But it is Hear Thou Heaven in their prayer. Hear thou in heaven their prayer. And it's first uh 2 Samuel 11 through 12, 1 Kings 3, 6 through 9, and 11. So let's start with um 2 Samuel 11. So the first um verse is in the spring of the year, the time when the kings go out to battle, um, David sent Joab with his officers and all of Israel with him. They ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained at Jerusalem. So let's give some context. Um, in the ancient world, because you were basically always going to war, I mean, unless years of peace, right? But there was a certain time that you fought. We can see this in the Book of More, and we can see this in all ancient sources, which is you can't be fighting all year. You all kind of agree that you need to be eating food. Um, you all have to eat food, and there's certain agricultural things that you have to do. Um, and uh also in the winter you can't fight as much, right? And so there's a certain time that you're gonna fight, and in the ancient year east, that's gonna be in the spring of the year. That's when you're gonna fight. And so this is the time when when everyone's really fighting. But David doesn't go there, he stays in Jerusalem. But kings are supposed to be there and fighting. Um, why he wasn't there, we don't know. But um, and this is a part that's really been emphasized lately, which is why was not why was he not where he was supposed to be in the first place? And being in not being in the place where he was supposed to be is what led him to to be tempted and ultimately to commit um two uh one one not so good act and then another act that obviously is very, very bad, meaning killing an innocent man. And so that's what the Comfollow Me emphasizes. I just would like to read what it says. It says, um, sometimes we look at people who seem strong in their faith and we assume that they're unaffected by temptation. Um, and then David shows that this is clearly the case. What choices did David make that lead him to an increasingly sinful path? Um, and then so I like this because we can we learn that um David's downfall in a way is also presented um in slow ways, in a progressing ways. And I think it's a a good reminder to each of us that just as we can progress line upon line, precept upon precept, we can also decress, decrease, degress, line upon line, precept upon precept. Maybe regress is the right word there. But and this is what's happening. David is first not in the place where he should be. He should, as the king is having this duty, he should be in a certain spot, and he's not there. And because he's not there, he's seeing Bathsheba, who is washing herself. And now, interestingly enough, this she's probably ritually washing herself. She's probably not there's like uh taking a bath on the roof, right? And a lot of times Bathsheba has been presented like this, like she was tempting David. She knew he could see, he could see her, she was fully, you know, naked or anything like that. But the reality is, um, some biblical scholars, and I like this interpretation, is that she's ritually washing herself, right? And so and and but he's on the roof of the palace, so he's at the best place to sleep, right? He's taking a break, and and we know this she is washing herself ritually because it does say she is um purifying herself after her period, right? And so she's she is going through this the menstrual cleaning, and so then he sees her and he, you know, sleeps with her. And I want to just give a little bit of perspective for Bethsheba. Again, sometimes she's used as a a figure um adjacent to Eve, where people are like, see, she's uh promiscuous or wanted this. And I just want you to think for a second. I mean, obviously, we don't have any um story for how Bethsheba felt about this, and so I don't want to be putting words in her mouth, but I just want to give another perspective, which is maybe she could be feeling this way. But also, if the king asks you to do something, are you not gonna be doing it? I mean, he is using his power a little bit over her. Again, this isn't the best act. Um, you know, committing adultery against your husband who's always at war, who is away at war, but also David is supposed to be there, um, and he does have authority over her, right? And so um in this moment, Bathsheba is also used um completely as an object that is being acted upon. David is the one doing the action. Um, and all of the verbs in Hebrew, she is being acted upon. She's a passive character in this. It's not really focusing on Bathsheba, this story. This one is focusing on David. Um, and so I think we all can in the way of like, okay, what's what's actually happening with David here? And the answer is that he's following, he's he's falling into this not good path. And so um then he calls Uriah to come up from war. He calls him back so that he's like, what did I just do? He calls him back so that he can sleep with his wife. Um so then when Bathsheba is pregnant, everyone can think that it is Uriah's baby, including Uriah. But the problem is that um Uriah, who is a soldier, soldiers were not supposed to sleep with their wives, as obviously um because they were far away, but also I um via the law of Moses, right, um, to keep themselves particularly uncle uh particularly clean or pure, ritually pure. So he refuses to. He sleeps at his um at the king's door. He says, the king calls me, I need to be there, but you need to be ready to serve. And he says, No, go to your house. Um and he did not. And then David's like, I'm fine, I'll give you food and eat to drink. Like, please go sleep with your wife. And uh he did not. He never went down to his his house. He was he's trying to be loyal to David in this moment, to the king. So then David basically gets angry, sends Uriah out to the battlefield to be killed, and then this is seen as murder. Um, this is seen as um a a heinous, heinous act that David does in order to cover up his sin. And so then in verse 12, we get uh we get Nathan condemning David, and so um I mean, I mean, Bathsheba mourns, but then they get married, right? And then Nathan condemns David. Nathan realizes what's done. Nathan is this new prophet, so he comes and he gives this uh this um parable and he says, Okay, there's an old man who only has one sheep, and then there's a man who has many, many sheep. But he goes and he steals, he's he's he he's stolen the uh this lamb of this old man who and David gets angry. He says, What man would do that? I need to I need to kill that that man that's stolen that that lamb. And he goes, Um he says, That man deserves to die. And Nathan says in verse 7, you are the man. Thus saith the Lord, thus says the Lord the God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel, I rescued you from the hands of Saul, telling him everything's done. I give you a master's house, master's wives, right? I he's he has a lot of wives, and um, like we said, this is a common practice. Um, and via Joseph Smith's um revelations we learn that that David had some wives from God and then other wives that were not um can condoned by God, and that would have been um Bathsheba, right? And he's he says, Why do you do this? Why have you done this? This is evil in the eyes of God. And David is repentant, he says, I have sinned against the Lord. Um but Nathan says to David, the sin has put the now the Lord has put away your sin, you shall not die. Meaning, even though you said that this man deserved to die, the Lord is saving your life. So the Lord is already being merciful to David in many, many ways here. And he um and then Bathsheba's child dies, and David is praying for him, he's in mourning this whole time, but ultimately the child dies, and he he gets up, he says, and everyone's like, Well, aren't you gonna keep praying to the Lord? He's like, No, the child is dead. I need to just continue forward. But the saddest thing for this, um, and I I want my caveat this, which is the reason that the Bible gives that Bathsheba's child dies is because of David's sin. But the Lord never says that, and and I don't want to present that. In fact, um, I'm I'm very careful saying that that's what the Bible presents. Um, but I would say that that's probably not the right. I mean, uh a lot of times when something tragic happens, we look for a reason why it would happen. Um but it could just be there's a high young mortality rate at this time. Um and so uh Bathsheba ultimately also gives birth to Solomon, who ends up being the king, right? So um it it's not like the God saw them as unworthy of having children or anything like that. And so I would like to present that, which is that it it um it this is probably uh there's nothing, I guess, that that says that I can remember from from any sort of other revelation or notes by Latter-day Prophets that this was the punishment, right? I would say that maybe this is an ancient way of looking at at punishment. Um and we would just say it could have happened, and maybe that wasn't the Lord's hand. Um, and the God I know doesn't just kill children um for no reason. And so that's kind of what I would present there. So ultimately, David um basically loses the Lord's full blessing, even though he still is the Lord's anointed, right? Just like Saul. So the Lord still does bless him. And in um the Joseph Smith uh in the Doctrine and Covenants, we learn that he that David loses his exaltation, right? Um but but let's let's learn what that what that really let's let's think about what that really might mean, right? Which is uh, you know, and and this is purely speculation, and I want to be careful about that. Um but I just I want to suggest what it means without knowing fully what the afterlife necessarily looks like. Uh Del NH Oak said we need to avoid speculation, and so I'm trying to as much as I can, especially about the the next life. But losing your exaltation doesn't mean you lose the celestial kingdom, right? That just means you lose the the highest part of it. Um so David is could still be in the presence of the Lord um because of the atonement of Jesus Christ, which clearly he still is faithful to, and he cries for repentance, and the Lord still has mercy upon him. So it's not like the Lord has rejected David forever, right? Um and I also want to point out that David is a special case in that he is the king, um the one who represented God on earth, God's son he was seen as. So he was had a very, very, very important calling, a unique calling that most of us in this life will not have. And so committing a similar sin, whether it be uh murder or whether it be adultery, does not put us on the same plane as David. Um we are all unique and we'll all be judged differently. The only reason that we can say that that happened to David is because the Lord said it, not for any other reason. It's not a universal rule, right? It is only for David. So I think we should avoid um condemning other people as we as we look at and and give examples, which is this is a special case, and the Lord Himself has said it. So that's why we can say it not for any other reason. It's the Lord who judges. But I also love how much mercy the Lord shows David, even as he's done this heinous act. Um, David cannot avoid the consequences of his actions. Meaning, also, I mean, if you kill somebody, there's guilt even in your own life. Um there is a complete you can never give back that person's life, and it's very, very sad. Um he might be seen as untrustworthy after this, right? And then ultimately your leadership might be undermined. So there's a lot of consequences that might come that do come from this that David cannot avoid. But the Lord is as merciful to him as he can be, and he he still blesses David, he gives him the Son and all those things. So even as we commit acts that we can be forgiven from him, and the Lord does forgive us, right? He will um forgive us and give his mercy. The Lord is uh merciful in this way, and um, we can see this then as we go into to the dedicatory prayer of Solomon. Now I'm going to skip over just for today. Um, I mean, we can mention it briefly, but basically, Solomon um asks the Lord for a gift. He he goes and he asks, he says, Lord, will you bless me with something? He says, Yes, I will bless you. What do you want? He says, I really just want, I have a lot. I mean, Solomon has everything, right? So he just asks for the gift of discernment, which I love, and which is what we really need in this day and age of confusing times with the Holy Ghost is wisdom and discernment. And the Lord is very pleased with Solomon because of this, right? You have shown great instead that um, you know, I will, I will, I will give you a mind because you've asked for this and not for yourself a long life or riches, right? So Solomon didn't ask for for things that would benefit himself, but ultimately that he could be a good leader and that he could help other people. And so I think that's ultimately too. What are what are I love this because it's like, what are my prayers looking like? If I am I like, hey, bless me with wealth and riches and all those things, which is good, but what is a better thing to ask for? How about how can I be a better person? How can I be more Christ-like? How can I bless the people around me? And Solomon is a great example of this. And then it gives an example of him doing this, which is um a woman claims that another woman's child died and then she stole hers, and so Solomon needs to decide who's uh who's the real real mother. He suggests cutting the baby in half, and one woman's like yes, and the other woman's like, no, just give it to her, and he gives it to the woman who suggested not cutting the baby up. I don't know really what this means, if I'm gonna be honest. I don't know how this could be a normal response, right? Like uh, but I it seems to be that they were just supposed to show that he was a good king, right? I don't know exactly why this reason doesn't make a lot of it seems like a woman would know that if we cut up the baby that the baby would die, but I don't know. I don't know, maybe she was hysterical. I don't know. That's completely speculation, but ultimately the story is just to show that Solomon does have the gift of wisdom. And Solomon in Hebrew um means peace or a peaceful, so he has peace. And um, we don't get this story, but I would I would add it in to the story is we don't um so later when when David is choosing his successor, he has a bunch of sons, but as Bathsheba that acts and says, No, if you remember um the Lord when Solomon was born, like you Solomon needs to be the king, and she acts. And so just as she was passive through David's story, but when she's active, she brings to pass the God's chosen son, which God made it clear that Solomon was the one who was supposed to lead. And Bathsheba acts to make sure that that happens, and so we get these stories in 1st and 2nd Samuel and um a lot, which is as a woman acts, that's what brings to pass God's plan. I just love that. That's just a fun little tidbit that I found as I've studied. But um, then we get into Solomon building the temple in chapter six, and Solomon here is following a very typical ancient Near Eastern pattern of temple dedication uh dedication. And so uh a BYU scholar wrote an article about it, and and AI summarized it for me, if I'm gonna be honest, but I I just because I need the reminder. But what happens is that in a lot of ancient Near Eastern studies, temples are built, and there's a lot of um dedicatory rocks that have inscriptions on it that kind of or or stories that show how a king or how the temple came to be built, right? And what happens is that most of the time there is a dream, it comes to them in a dream. To a king in a dream or to the builder in a dream. And they get the exact dimensions on how it's supposed to be built. And the king, uh the god says, built it. So then the king builds it, it's it's broken. Um the laborers come, including Siebers from Cedars from Lebanon, right? That's included. And Lebanon is in the north part on the coast, Tyre Byblos Sidon, where the Phoenicians are. That's just a fun fact, because that's why I'm in Malta studying the Phoenicians. So they came from the place in near Israel, and then they they traveled and came all across the Mediterranean. They were great tradesmen, and so they had a lot of money, a lot of fine things, and they were made famous, especially for these cedars, because they were tall, they were really sturdy, and they were really, really nice wood. And so the Egyptians would try to get it, uh, all the Hittites would try to get it, all these different kingdoms were trying to get it, and so Solomon was also trying to get the nicest wood that he could to build this great temple to the Lord. If you remember from last week, um David wanted to build, right, a temple, but the Lord said, No, it will be your son. And so it is uh Solomon building the temple, and then it's built, and then we get the dedicated ceremony, and a lot of time there's a procession um in which the the relics of the deity are brought, in this case it's the Ark of the Covenant, and then there's a prayer and proclamation, and then uh there's a moment where the deity makes their presence known in the temple, and then there's sacrifices, feasting, and blessings, and then it's written down. And so we get this pattern in the temple. Um, and interestingly enough, I think we can point out that we get this also in the Doctrine and Covenants. So, in the dedicatory prayer to the Kirtland Temple, we get a very similar uh story that Joseph Smith was kind of shown what it was supposed to look like, that he was able to um, that it was built and all the laborers, right? And then we get the dedicatory prayer. And then the Lord kind of makes his presence known, right? With the coming of angels, with everyone seeing singing the spirit of God um and and feeling like they felt uh the fiery presence of angels um and and God there. Um, and we get those stories, and so the dedication of the Kirtland Temple is kind of told in a similar way to the dedication um of Solomon's temple. And so the dedicatory prayer is um in Doctrine Covenant section 109, and I'm gonna flip back and forth between Solomon's prayer, which I love, and um which is in chapter 8, and then we get um the stories of uh then and then um Joseph Smith's dedicatory prayer in section 109. So here we get Solomon gathering together, he goes up to the front, and um he he raises his hands uh up above his head to dedicate. That's the way that you would pray in ancient times, is putting both hands above your head. And so he said, he then he then prays, and he says, the Lord, uh, verse 12, the Lord said that he would dwell in thick darkness. I have built um you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell forever. So this was supposed to be where, this was supposed to be God's house, right? Just as it is today. And so he then uh gives a little speech. He says, verse 15, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has by his hand fulfilled what he has promised with my mouth to my father. He's he's kind of giving a history, right, of how good the Lord has been to the people of Israel. And um, right, and so that's what's happening here. And then he gets into the prayer of dedication, dedication. He says, Oh Lord, you know, there's no other God who is like you. This is in verse 22, like no who is up in the heaven above or in the earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love, right? Hesed with your servants who walk before you with all their heart. And in verse one, right, uh, Joseph Smith says, Thanks be to thy name, O Lord of Israel, who keepest covenant and showest mercy unto thy servants who walk uprightly before thee with all their hearts. So it's very, very similar, right? Uh I feel Joseph Smith might be pulling, right, from this in order to do his dedicatory prayer in Kirtland. And he says, The covenant that kept your servant, my father David, right? And he says, Okay, keep like keep the covenant, oh Lord, please. Um, right? Um one of these, I just I just love, my God, hear your servant's. Oh, this is 28, and he has plea, my Lord God, heeding the cry and prayer of your servant that your servant prays to you today. Um, that your eyes may be opened day and night towards this house, the place which you say, My name shall be here, that you may heed the prayer that your servant prays towards this place, hear the plea of your servant and of the people when they play towards this place. Oh, hear in heaven your dwelling place, hear and forgive. And I love that the place, I think a lot of times we see the place of the temple as worship, but I love it as a place of forgiveness, a place of prayer, right? But a place of forgiveness that we go to to be reconciled to the Lord. A lot of times I think we see the temple as a place where I'm not worthy to go, right? I need to be perfect in order to go to the temple. But really, the temple is a place of forgiveness. It's a place where we can be fully forgiven because that's a part of our covenants. The Lord wants to forgive us, he doesn't see it as a as a as a bad thing to do. He doesn't say, oh now I have to forgive them. He wants to forgive us, and so we should go to his house to be forgiven. Right. Um, I'm just looking for the place where where Joseph talks about, right? Um just love it, and that all people who shall enter the threshold of the Lord's house may feel thy power, feel constrained to acknowledge it. Right? Um, when they transgress any of them that they may speedily repent and turn unto thee, this is verse 21, find favor in thy sight and be restored to the blessings which thou was ordained, right? And that's in verse 31 in 1 Kings. If someone sins against a neighbor and is required to take an oath and comes and swears before your altar of this house, then here in heaven and act and judge your serpents, condemning the guilty and vindicating the righteous. Right? If they are defeated here, uh this is verse 33, verse 34, then here in heaven, forgive the sin of your people and bring them again to the land which you gave your ancestors.

unknown 29:04

Right?

SPEAKER_00 29:04

So he's kind of foreshadowing, like when you go away, bring them back into this land. Right, so maybe he's seeing the the exile a little bit here, but also just when we've sinned, please let us come back to it. Please let us come back to this temple and be forgiven. Please open your mind and um I love I love it uh in verse 41. It's similar to what Joseph Smith said, which is let just everybody feel how great the temple is, so that they may all acknowledge that you are God, right? And in verse 41, when foreigners who are not of your people Israel come from a distant land because of your name, for they shall hear um, then hear in heaven, in when they when foreigners come and pray, then hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigners ask of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you as your people Israel, so that they may know that your name has been invoked in the house that I have built. And I love that. I love that the temple is not only a place where we can go and be forgiven, or remember our covenants, or help other people as they make their covenants, right? And and be those saviors on Mount Zion. Um, that we can be feel more connected to our ancestors, just as the Israelites did, right? That that we've all that the temple is a place for our ancestors, right? But that we can also, that everybody who goes there can feel peace and know that the Lord is God and that it can be a place that it's like, hey, I feel different here, and I don't know why. It's probably because of the Lord, right? And so I just love that we can we can feel this this peace and and that we have modern-day temples. I'm so grateful for that. Um, I love the temple. I'm not uh perfect at going or or perfect at staying awake when I'm there, but I do love it. Um, and a lot of times I feel guilty when I go just because of who I am, and I'm like, oh, I haven't been perfect. But I love that reading um the scriptures this week is it's okay. It's a place to go and repent and to become better and to just make a covenant again with God, and I'm grateful for that. Um the temple to me is a place of that that shows that little by little progress rather than that little by little regress, right? It's a place to be recentered. Um and it's a it's a special place that I know that as we all go we can feel that peace and that we can receive revelation from God. I have I have seen that as I've gone to the temple many, many times. Um, as I've been in the visitor center uh where I served my mission, um I was able to every day tell people who didn't know, some people who did know, some people who didn't know about what the temple is. And in Italy, um, in the Italy Rome Temple, they actually allow Italians uh to just walk into the temple and they go off into a little waiting room and they watch a video about what it's about. And many times people would comment on that they liked the way that the place felt. Um not everybody was interested. I wouldn't say that everybody who came was like, wow, this is a special place, but but I like to think that they felt the spirit of it and that they were impressed by it. And um one time I had a little little nun come and she was uh she was so cute, and they had just the temple is right next to a to a mall. And so they they just were looking for parking for the mall, but they ended up coming to the temple because it's so close, and they were like, Can we park here? We're like, sure, you can just walk to the mall. Why don't you come in? And so we told them about what we felt, and she was like, Wow, what an what a I feel God wanted us to meet. And I said, I completely agree with you, sister. And I know that the temple can bring that, it brings us all together. The ancestors and us, people who are just curious, who want to come in and see what it's all about. I know that they can come in and they can feel God there. Um and so I invite us to all think about how we how we view the temple and to see it as a place of forgiveness, a house of prayer and fasting, and a house of God where God is, that we can come to know him more, that he is forgiving and loving. Um and and then ultimately the last chapter of this come follow me is that um Solomon again does not continue in in the ways that he's supposed to, but he you know, he keeps going and doesn't put the Lord first. He's married to his wives, he marries a lot of wives, again, some that weren't given to him by God, according to Joseph Smith uh revelations, and he starts following after other gods, which makes sense. I mean, again, I don't know if you can condemn David for not wanting to go up into battle. I don't know if we can condemn Solomon for having married a woman uh who worships a certain way that you don't want to show her that you love her by, you know, worshiping her gods, right? I mean, it it makes sense, logically, even to just keep the peace. Um, but ultimately with that, they're not putting God first in their lives. Um maybe they're putting themselves a little bit too much or or you know, or other people above God. And I think God is forgiving of that. Um but again, why did why would why would uh why would God not give him those wives? Because he could see the consequences of it. He doesn't want him to have to go against his wives, right? And so I think that's those are things that we can think about, which is sometimes the commandments of God are not restricting because he doesn't like the wives, right? It's not like he doesn't love those people, but because he loves us, um, and he he knows the consequences of our actions, right? He knows. He asked David to be the king and to be where he's supposed to be. He knew that if he wasn't, and if he, you know, that he that consequences might happen, right? Um, God cannot protect us always from the consequences, but as we follow him, we can be put in the best places where we can serve other people and that we can be close to God, and that's ultimately what he wants us to be. And uh the truth for for Solomon, the truth for David is that in these stories they keep making the wrong decisions. It's not that they just made a couple of mistakes because we all do. Um, but we can always turn back to God, we can be forgiven no matter what things we have done, right? Just like Solomon prayed. We can always be forgiven as we turn to our Savior Jesus Christ because of his atonement and our loving Heavenly Father who who keeps his covenants, who can be faithful and forgives us, because that's a part of his covenant, so that we all can return to him someday because he loves us each so much. And the scriptures are not always clear on how that's going to work out for everybody. And I don't have all of the answers, but I know that it will because our our God is a loving God who forgives us. And that is shown in these chapters, and that is shown to me in my life every day. And this is Jesus Christ.