Final
Mysteries Unsealed
What we have referred to as the
"fourth" vision of Daniel that began in chapter ten, now reaches its
grand climax in chapter twelve with its prophecies about the Great Tribulation,
the resurrection of Old Testament saints, the sealing of prophecy until the
time of the end, and the abomination of desolation. Everything we have studied
to this point has been prologue to the magnificent conclusion of Daniel's
prophecy. We begin chapter twelve with references to Daniel's people-the Jews-and
to the archangel Michael, the protector of the nation of Israel-an assignment
that has already been a full-time job for him throughout the ages and, in some
ways, has only just begun.
DANIEL
12:1-3
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great
prince which standeth for
the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never
was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy
people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the
earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt.
And they that be wise
shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to
righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
While Michael has been the
protective overseer of the Jews throughout their history, his work will become
even more critical in the days ahead. The end-time reality for the Jews,
according to prophecy, will deteriorate into something worse than anything
anyone has ever witnessed in world history. Therefore, when you and I think we
have it difficult at any given moment, we must remember that the pain and
sorrow we may be suffering will pale into insignificance when compared with the
trials and tribulations yet to come to so many. Jeremiah 30:7 says:
"Alas!
for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is
even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it."
Jesus confirmed Jeremiah's prophecy
in Matthew 24:21 when He said,
"For
then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the
world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."
However, Jesus says that Michael the
protector will also be there on the scene, doing battle with Satan in the heavenlies (Revelation 12:7-8). In Daniel 12:1 we see
Michael "standing for the people of Israel." Why will Michael
be there? So that the Jews might be saved physically.
That's Michael's job, and the Jews-at the time of the end-will never need his
assistance more than during this time of "Jacob's trouble"-that
period during the Tribulation hour when Russia marches down to the Middle East
after the Antichrist has broken his peace contract
with Israel-forty-two months after the contract has been in effect.
Everything will be relatively smooth
sailing up to that time, the epitome of economic and political sweetness and
light, and then Bam! Everything is smashed to pieces at the midpoint of the
Tribulation period (Daniel 9:27) as Russia goes up against "the land of
unwalled villages ... to them that are at rest, that
dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor
gates" (Ezekiel 38:11). This is the beginning of the time of great
persecution for the Jews as Satan is cast out of heaven, with his primary
assignment to obliterate the Jewish people from the face of the earth
(Revelation 12:13). For all these reasons, Michael will be there to stand up
for his people, as revealed to Daniel in the first verse of chapter twelve.
Those
Who Sleep Will Awake
If you are a Jewish person, I want
you to know that your Old Testament teaches the promise of a resurrection, and
that there will be life beyond the grave. Unfortunately, many Jews do not know
that Daniel 12:2 is in the Bible. This end-time event is something one should
look forward to if one has come to recognize that the expected Messiah is the
Lord Jesus Christ and has received Him as a personal Savior. If you are a
Gentile who loves the Jewish people, it is paramount that you share this text
with your Jewish friends and encourage them to understand that there will also
be a place for them during these end-time events. Here's the scenario-and it is
a critical one for us to understand in some detail. It all begins with the
resurrection of the righteous at the time of the Rapture.
We read in John 5:28-29,
"Marvel
not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all
that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that
have done good, unto the resurrection of life."
That is the Rapture. Then
"they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of
damnation,"
That is when the lost are raised at
the conclusion of the thousand years-to stand before Jesus Christ at the Great
White Throne judgment (Revelation 20:11-15).
Revelation 4:1 says,
"After
this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice
which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be
hereafter."
At this
juncture, we who are believers are gone-caught away to be with Christ. This is
confirmed in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 which says,
"For
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead
in Christ shall rise first." Then, we who are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them-the dead-in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air.
Not
a Pretty Sight
At this point, the horrible
Tribulation hour begins to unfold. To those who may disagree with what I'm about
to write, I would like to say this: I am only the messenger of what is stated
categorically in God's Word. These are not my thoughts, but rather the words of
God taken from holy Scripture. So during this time of
Tribulation, great numbers of both Jews and Gentiles will be killed for
refusing to receive the mark of the beast (Revelation 13:15). Revelation 20:4
adds:
"And
I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I
saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the
word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither
had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived
and reigned with Christ a thousand years."
This is the resurrection for those
who endured the Great Tribulation hour- those who were saved through the
preaching of the 144,000 converted Jews of Revelation 7:4-8. Because
of these faithful servants, millions of people-Jews and Gentiles alike-invite
Christ into their lives as Savior and Lord. These are the ones who've
come out of the Tribulation and who have washed their robes, making them white
in the blood of the Lamb. Millions will physically survive the seven-year
Tribulation period and will also be saved spiritually.
In Matthew 25:31-46, Christ returns
to judge the nations and to begin His thousand-year reign, allowing those who
survived the 2,520-day period to enter the millennium in their natural bodies.
At this point, the previously raptured saints return with Christ (Jude 14). That's
the moment when He returns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation
19:16). The armies of heaven follow Him to the descending Holy City-the new Jerusalem which hovers above the earthly Jerusalem-for
one thousand years.
This city, containing twelve gates,
honors each of the twelve Jewish patriarchs of the Old Testament by inscribing
their names on the gates. How do the Jews arrive in this scenario? Simply answered-the resurrection of Jewish believers in this
chapter, verse 2. Millions who died during the Tribulation hour, of both
Jews and Gentiles, plus all believing Old Testament Jews covering a period of
four thousand years, are raised to live with Christ for one thousand years, at
this juncture, when our Savior returns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords
(Revelation 19:16; 20:4). These Old Testament Jews strongly believed in and
looked forward to Messiah's first and second coming and founded their faith in
Him as their redeemer-based on Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22.
These resurrected Jews who lived a holy
life, such as Daniel, receive rewards just as the Church did at the judgment
seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10; Romans 14:10; 2 Timothy 4:7-8;
Revelation 4:10-11). So whether we are Jews or Gentile believers, there will be
rewards for all the faithful. Remember that all these saints assemble at this
time for one reason only: to live and reign with Christ for one thousand years.
If you do not believe that Jews and Christians rule equally in Christ's kingdom
on earth, I urge you to re-study Ephesians 2:14-22 and Revelation chapters
twenty-one and twenty-two, the basis for this glorious promise. All
this-although not in such detail-is what Daniel is being told in his vision.
Daniel
12:4-13
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal
the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge
shall be increased.
Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood
other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that
side of the bank of the river.
And one said to the man clothed in linen, which
was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be
to the end of these wonders?
And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was
upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand
unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be
for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter
the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O
my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
And he said, Go thy way,
Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried;
but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but
the wise shall understand.
And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall
be taken away, and the abomination that maketh
desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
Blessed is he that waiteth,
and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of
the days.
Shut
Up the Words ... Seal Up the Book
Daniel is told in no uncertain terms
that his vision is not for today-and that his revelation will only be
understood at the time of the end. For this reason many of the prophecies
dealing with the revived Roman Empire, mentioned in Daniel chapter two in the
form of the image, as well as the four beasts so accurately described in Daniel
chapter seven, would not be understood until the time of the end when the book
would be unsealed and revealed.
Historically, none of Daniel's
vision made much sense to Bible scholars until 1890, when Dr. Gabaelein began to teach that a revived Roman Empire would
come into play during the time of the end. Therefore, the terminology
"shut up the words until the time of the end" only became operative
in an unprecedented way at the beginning of the twentieth century.
This is when we also began to
understand clearly that a great nation would march against Israel (Ezekiel 38
and 39) and that this enemy would come from the north. We've already seen in
Daniel 11:40 how the king of the South (Egypt) and the king of the North
(Russia) would unite to engage in a blitzkrieg, the likes of which the world
has never seen previously. No one could make much sense of Daniel's vision
until certain world events began to reveal themselves to God's servants.
Today, we understand how it will all
happen. But when does it occur? "When many run to and
fro and knowledge is increased." There is a dual interpretation in
this text. First, travel is reaching unparalleled proportions and knowledge is
doubling every twenty-two months.
The secondary meaning is that during
the time of the end an inordinate fascination for knowledge about latter-day
predictions would increase, with people running "to and fro" to learn
everything possible concerning the prophecies about the returning King. This is
where we are today in this sequence of end-time events. Soon, the Savior will
call His Church away to be with Him, after which He returns seven years later,
with His people, to rule and reign. It's all beginning to take shape-just as
the Holy Spirit, through Daniel, said it would.
Time,
Times, and a Half Time
Again, Daniel is joined by two
angels who come to give him further insight into historical matters concerning
the time of the end. Daniel remains inquisitive. He wants to know what is going
to take place in the long run-and he is especially curious as to what will
happen to his people, the Jews, during the latter days before the Messiah
appears. The one angel responds by saying that time, times, and a half time
will bring all these things to a conclusion. What things, and what is meant by
this expression? The angel is referring to the terrible battle that takes place
in Daniel chapter eleven when the king of the South (Egypt) ultimately invades
Israel, leading an Arab federation and joined by the king of the North
(Russia).
This first wave of troops was
discussed in chapter eleven. Next, China enters the fray with her two hundred
million soldiers, accompanied by the remnants of Russia's previously defeated
army, for the second wave of the Armageddon campaign (Daniel 11:44). This is
the information Daniel received, but it was not necessarily the message he
wanted to hear.
But what about the seemingly cryptic
phrase that time, times, and a half time will bring all these things to a
conclusion? Remember that Russia begins her move into the area during the
middle of the Tribulation hour-just after the Antichrist breaks his peace
treaty with Israel. Time=one year; times=two more years; and a half time=half a
year, the total of which is three and one-half years-precisely the concluding
portion of the Tribulation period. The forty-two months of Revelation 13:5 are
translated as 1,260 days in Revelation 11:3 and 12:6. These terrible battles
will occur for forty-two months, right up to the exact moment that the beast
and his armies battle Jesus Christ as recorded in Revelation 19:11-21.
This is the third and final portion
of the Armageddon campaign as thoroughly explained in the previous chapter.
Then as Christ appears, the words of Isaiah 2:4 become a reality: "He
shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall
beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks:
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." But it is going to take the real
Prince-the Lord Jesus Christ-to bring history to this final, tranquil
conclusion, the one whose name is the "Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).
Tribulation
Works Patience
At this time, because of the mayhem
and terror that's taking place in the Holy Land, the people will flee and be scattered.
Matthew 24:16-21 says,
"Then let them which be in
Judea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down
to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him
which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe
unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But
pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither
on the sabbath day: For then shall be great
tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no,
nor ever shall be."
Imagine how Daniel must have felt as
he once again heard the prophecies of gloom and doom coming from the mouths of
two angels who informed him that everything he now heard was for the time of
the end.
The angel said one more thing. It
was about many being purified, or made white, people who would have
understanding and also about those who were wicked, and who, in their
wickedness, would not be able to understand the things of God. First
Corinthians 2:14 says that the natural man, the one who is unsaved, does not
understand the things of God. To such people they are foolishness. They can't
understand them because they have no spiritual discernment. On the other hand,
God's people-especially those who've gone through the mill- will have divine
insight into these things because they, as God's faithful servants, have
experienced such trials and have been purified through these times of testing.
The apostle Paul said that
tribulation works patience within us. It makes us into something. Therefore,
those who have been through pain and suffering-but who, in the process, have
remained close to the Lord, and have read His Word, and have prayed in faith,
believing, and have understood the things of God through the Holy Spirit's
enlightenment-will have all these predictions revealed to them. But those who
have hardened their hearts through wickedness will go to the time of the end
totally ignorant of and carelessly indifferent to the latter-day predictions.
1,260
days... 1,290 days
If you've done the arithmetic found
in this text, you may be wondering how the angels come up with 1,260, then
1,290, and then 1,335 days. Again, the Word of God is always meticulously
correct and on schedule. With this in mind, an announcement is made that soon
the millennial Kingdom will be established, but that a time of consecration is
first necessary. To help us understand why this is so necessary, let's take a
quick side-trip to 2 Chronicles 30:2-4 where we read,
"The king had taken counsel,
and his princes, and all the congregation in
Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month.
For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified
themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to
Jerusalem. And the thing pleased the king and all the
congregation."
King Hezekiah said that there could
be no Passover because there was a need to consecrate the priests- something
that would take thirty days. This is a beautiful picture of why an additional
thirty-day period will be necessary for God's people to prepare themselves
spiritually to rule and reign with Christ for the greatest event in history.
So, as we look at the additional
number, 1,290 days, instead of seeing a discrepancy, we simply need to
investigate other portions of Scripture, as we just did, to see the reason. But
there's another forty-five-day period mentioned in our text. Here's why: When
Christ returns, He judges the nations and their people, and His decree decides
whether or not they're qualified to enter His glorious kingdom for a thousand
years (Matthew 25:31-46). This judgment undoubtedly takes an additional
forty-five days! Thus, we end up with a total of seventy-five days in addition
to the 1,260 days. There is no contradiction. Here's why-forty-five days are
needed to determine who enters the millennial period, and thirty days are
needed to train God's people for Kingdom service for administering the laws of
the Kingdom, as described in Matthew chapters five through seven.
Now as we come to the final verse of
the Book of Daniel, this great saint and man of God is in his nineties. The
angel tells him to "go his way till the end be:
for he shall rest, and stand in his lot at the end of his days." The
angel is simply saying that there will be a soon-approaching moment when Daniel
will die and rest from his labors. But the angel adds that a glorious day is
coming when Daniel and all believing Jews shall stand up and be raised from the
dead to rule and reign with Christ.
One group of saints, who lived
through the Tribulation period, are selected in
Matthew 25:31-45 and enter the Kingdom in their natural bodies. Then there's
the group of believers who died during the Tribulation hour and are resurrected
at approximately the time the Jewish Old Testament saints are raised. These
resurrected Old Testament saints and Tribulation believers will dwell in the
Holy City in glorified bodies and will, together, rule and reign with Jesus
Christ for a thousand years along with the raptured believers who return with
the Lord.
That's why the names of the twelve
Jewish patriarchs and the twelve apostles are mentioned upon the gates and the
foundations of the Holy City. They represent all resurrected believers from
among both Jews and Christians. May I reiterate what I've just stated so that
no one can misinterpret or misunderstand the portion of Scripture just analyzed. There will be four groups sharing Christ's kingdom
for one thousand years.
At this point, the angel is saying
to Daniel: "Hallelujah! You will be there among them! You've been through
tough times, Daniel, and have been faithful to the end. Daniel, you will be
greatly rewarded."
Personally, I believe that Daniel
will be one of the rulers during that thousand-year reign of Christ on earth.
Daniel certainly had great administrative experience serving under
six kings.
However, the greatest moment for
this man who prayed fearlessly in front of an open window, who slept serenely
one night in a den of some two hundred lions, who was lied about and set up to
be killed by his palace "friends," will be the moment when he serves
the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ, for a thousand years-a time when you
and I shall also share in God's blessings.
And thus we come to the close of the
Book of Daniel, and a look at the final end-time mysteries that have now been
unsealed. We have seen how the Book of Daniel clearly demonstrates the
sovereign rule of almighty God over the affairs of men. We have seen prophecy
after prophecy fulfilled, all verifiable and documented by secular and
religious history. We have observed that God remains in control and will until
the time of the end, giving the Gentile world dominance until Christ returns.
He
Is Coming Soon
If you are a follower of this One
who is coming soon, you can be assured that you will not have to endure the
pain and suffering of the Great Tribulation hour. Such cannot be said for those
who continue to turn their backs on God, and who choose to live out their own
agendas. Now is the time of salvation. Our Lord Jesus Christ is coming soon.
Will you be caught up to meet Christ-to later return with Him as he establishes
His millennial Kingdom? There are simply too many signs pointing to the time of
the end not to take this message to heart. The Book of Daniel has finally been
unsealed and revealed for those who have eyes to see. The time for Christ's
return is near.
It is my prayer that you have not read
this book just as so much interesting ancient history. It is much more than
that. It is a carefully crafted blueprint for the time of the end. But the key
to understanding this book is not in being able to understand every nuance,
each beast, the little horn, or any other veiled prophecy contained in this
work. Instead, it is in knowing the living Word-the Lord Jesus Christ-the One
who is coming soon.
I close this volume with a quote
from one of the most respected biblical scholars of our era, Dr. John F. Walvoord, who stated in his book Daniel: The Key to
Prophetic Revelation:
For
Christians living in the age of grace and searching for understanding of these
difficult days which may be bringing to a close God's purpose in His church,
the book of Daniel, as never before, casts a broad light upon contemporary
events foreshadowing the consummation which may not be far distant. If God is
reviving His people Israel politically, allowing the church to drift into
indifference and apostasy, and permitting the nations to move toward
centralization of political power, it may not be long before the time of the
end will overtake the world. Many who look for the coming of the Lord
anticipate their removal from the earth's scene before the final days of the
time of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
When the
plan of God has run its full course, it will be evident then with even more
clarity than at present that God has not allowed a word to fall to the ground. As Christ said while on earth, "Till heaven and earth pass,
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled"
(Matthew 5:18).'
To which I
only add, Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Maranatha!
The next event on God's prophetic
clock is the Rapture, a word that is derived from the Latin word rapturo, meaning, "a
snatching away." The Rapture is that dramatic moment when the Lord Jesus
Christ comes in clouds of glory to remove from this world all who have died in
Christ along with the living from the Day of Pentecost until Christ comes to
"snatch" His children upward and home in the twinkling of an eye. I
Thessalonians 4:16-18 teaches: "For the Lord himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God;
and the dead in Christ shall rise first; Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with
these words."
This event will occur at breakneck
speed - in the "twinkling of an eye." Scientists have measured the
twinkling in a human being's eye, and it amounts to eleven-one hundredths of a
second. Those left on the earth will not know what hit them. A business
colleague will suddenly be gone. A schoolteacher will no longer stand before
his or her desk as the chalk falls to the floor. A doctor will not show up for
his rounds. There will be no nurses at many hospitals to administer medicine,
take pulses, or follow doctors' orders. Dirty dishes will be left in the sink
as a housewife disappears from the view of her stunned family. The Rapture will
precipitate the greatest traffic jams in history as cars suddenly become
driverless and pedestrians run for cover. It will be that moment in history,
when, without warning, the Lord says, "Come up hither"
(Revelation 4:1). It will be the greatest escape in the history of the world.
There are those who say that the pretribulational viewpoint began in 1830 and was propagated
by Edward Irving, J. N. Darby, and Margaret McDonald, a retarded girl. But as
we shall see, that is not so.
St. Victorinus,
the bishop of Pettau, wrote a commentary on the book
of Revelation in AD 270. he said he saw another great
and wonderful sign: "Seven angels having the last seven plagues, for in
them is completed the indignation of God. And these shall be in the last time
when the church shall have gone out of the midst." St. Victorinus was talking about the Rapture.
Here is more powerful documentation
on a pretrib Rapture. The early Christian writer and
poet Ephraem the Syrian (who lived from AD 306 to
373) was a major theologian of the early Byzantine Eastern Church. To this day,
his hymns and homilies are used in the liturgy of the Greek Orthodox and Middle
Eastern Nestorian Churches. He also wrote a large number of commentaries that
have never been translated in English. Concerning a pretrib
Rapture he stated: "All the saints and Elect of God are gathered, prior
to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the
confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins."
Thus, this teaching is not a
present-day innovation but a doctrinal statement dating back seventeen
centuries to St. Victorinus, and twenty centuries
back to Jesus and Paul. However, there is more. In the sixteenth century there
were also those who expressed absolute assurance of the Rapture. Hugh Latimer,
burned at the stake for his faith in 1555, said, "It may come in my
days, old as I am, or in my children's days, the saints shall be taken up to
meet Christ in the air and so shall come down with him again." Joseph
Mede, the great sixteenth-century literalist, understood I Thessalonians
4:13-18 to teach the catching up of the saints and even used the word Rapture.
This was also 250 years before Irving, Darby, and McDonald.
While the Rapture is not taught in
Matthew, Mark, and Luke, you will find it mentioned twice in the Gospel of
John. This is important to remember: Any other time you read about Christ's
return in the Gospels, it is not referring to the Rapture. Instead, these are
references to the second phase of Christ's return, when He physically comes
back to earth to rule over the earth after a seven-year tribulation period.
Where are the two Rapture texts
found in the Gospel of John? John 14:1-3: "Let not your heart be
troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive
you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." This is not
His coming to the earth, but a time when Jesus receives us unto Himself at the
great Rapture - the snatching away - to be with Him in heaven as the seven
years of torment play out their unbridled fury on the earth.
The second reference to the Rapture
is in John 11:25-26. I must confess that I quoted the passage for years and did
not really understand it. Christ said: "I am the resurrection, and the
life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and
believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?"
Jesus is contrasting those who experience death and live again ("the
dead in Christ shall rise first" I Thessalonians 4:16) with those who
never experience death (because "we which are alive and remain"
are caught up without dying, I Thessalonians 4:17).
In the upcoming weeks, we will
direct our attention to those events that are leading up to the Rapture, the
Rapture itself, and what happens once God's chosen are caught away to be with
the Lord. The Rapture is not science fiction. It's a coming reality. The good
news for the person who is prepared is - when the Rapture comes, believers will
go home to be with the Lord and evade earth's horrendous seven years of
Tribulation. The believer in the Lord Jesus Christ will, at long last, be the
recipient of that blessed hope. There will be no more tears, no more suffering,
and no more dying for those who have received their new, glorified bodies
without sin or sickness for all eternity. It is from this perspective - the pretribulation point of view - that I approach this subject
with godly reverence.