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Message at HBC—Psalm 27:1-6
October 12, 2008
Three Certainties That Make Prayer Possible
Jews who maintain the traditional holy days have just observed a period called (in
English) the Days of Awe (Yamim Noraim) or Days of Repentance: ten days in
autumn, beginning with Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish New Year and
also the Day of Judgment, and ending with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This
year, Rosh Hashanah began at sunset, September 29 (Monday, the week before), and
Yom Kippur ran from sunset October 8 through nightfall October 9 (just this past
Wednesday and Thursday). It is a time for self-examination, repentance, and
atonement because modern Jews think that repentance, prayer, and good deeds
(especially charity) can change God’s decrees of judgment, written down in the Sefer
Chaim (Book of Life).
On Rosh Hashanah it is written, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed, how many shall leave
this world, and how many shall be born into it, who shall live and who shall die, who
shall live out the limit of his days and who shall not, who shall perish by fire and who by
water... who shall be at peace and who shall be tormented.... But penitence, prayer,
and good deeds can annul the severity of the decree. (Rabbi Joseph Telushkin,
quoting from Jewish Literacy, 623).
For an entire month (beginning August 31, this year), Psalm 27 is recited to prepare for
the Days of Awe as part of morning and evening prayers.
A modern rabbi writes that Psalm 27 has been used this way because “more than any
other prayer,” this psalm of David expresses the desire for the daily presence of God.
[Next year 2009, Rosh Hashanah begins at sunset, September 18, and Yom Kippur
falls between sunset September 27 and nightfall September 28.]
So Psalm 27 has been loved by Christians and often quoted. It is one of the 73 psalms
ascribed to David. We can easily see how David might have written and sung this
Psalm because of the many times his life had been in danger when armies were literally
encamped against him. Not only his life but also the life of God’s holy nation was at
stake.
Some commentators have tried to guess at the historical situation that may have
inspired the writing of Psalm 27. Even Spurgeon fell to this temptation and asked about
the events hinted at in the Psalm, “Do not all these meet in the time that Doeg, the
Edomite [I Samuel 21-22], spoke against him [David] to Saul?” Others have agreed,
and they have suggested that the Psalm was written after David sought help from
Ahimelech. Still others have wondered if the feelings described in the psalm could
have arisen after David’s nephew and one of his military commanders, Abishai, rescued
David in his old age from the Philistine giant Ishbi-Benob (II Samuel 21). Or others
have tried figuring out at which anointing (there were three for David) would his parents
have already been dead and so David, at the very time of his coronation, might have
felt abandoned. Still others guess that Psalm 27 once again refers to the rebellion of
Absalom, David’s son, also late in David’s kingship.
No one seriously tries to argue for one event over another mainly, I think, because all
the guesses together end up showing us that the Psalm clearly belongs to David. God
had so worked in David’s life that any or all of the events would contribute to the Psalm
is saying: whether it was David being anointed by Samuel at Bethlehem or by the men
of Judah at Hebron; whether he was being hunted down by Saul at Nob, at Ziph, or at
En Geddi or being anointed king over all Israel by the elders of Israel and making
Jerusalem his capital (II Samuel 5); whether fleeing Jerusalem because of Absalom’s
rebellion (II Samuel 15) or retaking Jerusalem and putting down Sheba’s rebellion (II
Samuel 20). Any or all of these events together could be connected to the words of
Psalm 27:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the [stronghold] of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war should rise against me,
In THIS I will be confident.
(7)
One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD
And to inquire in his temple.
For in the time of trouble
He [will hide me in his shelter;
He will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
He will lift me high upon a rock.]
(11)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(12)
(13)
(14)
(6)
And now my head shall be lifted up above my
enemies all around me,
Therefore, I will offer sacrifices of joy in His [tent];
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.
Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me!
[You have said, "Seek my face."
My heart said to you, "Your face, LORD, I will
seek."
Do not hide your face from me.
Do not turn your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me or forsake me,
O God of my salvation!
When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the Lord will take care of me.
Teach me Your way, O LORD,
And lead me in a [level] path because of my
enemies.
Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
For false witnesses have risen against me,
[And they breathe out violence.]
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I should see the goodness of the LORD
In the land of the living!
Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait [. . . ] on the LORD! (NKJV, [ESV])
What do you think of Psalm 27? Isn’t it beautiful? Doesn’t it make you want to cry out
to God yourself and draw close to Him just in the first reading?
But there may be a huge problem with this psalm, and perhaps you haven’t seen it yet.
Some scholars have noted that Psalm 27 isn’t really one psalm. It is actually two
psalms that somehow got stuck together somewhere back in time, and for some reason
they remained stuck together even though they are clearly two very different psalms.
And some not so very observant editors didn’t realize how mismatched they were, and
so here they are in our Bible, obviously mismatched and accidentally stuck together.
One can clearly see that one psalm is made up of verses 1 through 6. The psalm made
up of the first six verses is clear, positive and confident. But the psalm made up of
verses 7 through 13 is uncertain, full of distress, and not a little fearful. How can
someone in the same psalm declare “The Lord is the stronghold of my life / Of whom
shall I be afraid” then a few stanzas later (in the English translation, anyway) beg “Do
not deliver me to the will of my adversaries”?
But actually, it makes sense that Psalm 27 (and I do think it is one psalm) reads this
way. The psalm has come down to us as possibly one of the so-called royal or
coronation psalms. Originally written by David, it came to be used as part of the
ceremonies annually commemorating a coronation.
At that commemoration, the king might declare his confidence in God because of God’s
faithful deliverance of the king and the kingdom. Then he would offer prayer that
expressed his own desire to be faithful to the Lord. These things—the deliverance of
the king and the kingdom, the desire of the king to seek after the one thing he desires—
they would have been certain and clear because God would have accomplished them.
But the king would also seek the Lord’s deliverance in present trouble. The outcomes
of the present are not clear. Partly because they hinge on the king’s faithfully doing
what God has commanded him to do, the outcomes are not certain. So the king
fervently prays, crying out for mercy and help. He is literally inquiring in the Temple.
The last verse might have been spoken by a priest to the king and the congregation. It
would be the oracle, answering the prayer of the king.
The certainties of verses 1 through 6 make the prayer of verses 7 through 13 possible.
I am going to continue from Psalm 3, which we looked at together four months ago. At
that time, I focused on the Psalm 3 as the first prayer that emerges in the Book of
Psalms after we are introduced to the Psalms through Psalms 1 and 2.
The first two psalms give us the grounds for prayer: meditation on and obedience to
the Word of God, and taking refuge in the Son of God. They are the ground from which
prayer grows.
Psalm 3 showed us how important prayer is to the believer and how it can spring from
something very simple: trouble. Not only our being in trouble and needing help but
also our taking trouble for others, being troubled for them and so being driven to prayer.
So Christ, even now, takes trouble for us and intercedes constantly for us.
Then because of what God has purposed for us in Christ, we saw from Psalm 3
how victory for the believer is inevitable. By God’s grace alone in Christ Jesus,
though tens of thousands set themselves against us and our enemies say that
God will not save us, salvation belongs to God and “This is the will of Him who
sent Me,” Jesus tells us (John 6:40), “that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."
I hope that Psalm 3 troubles us enough and encourages us enough to drive us to
prayer. But now I’d like to look at three certainties in Psalm 27 that should also
encourage us to pray and seek God.
The Certainty of Salvation Accomplished
The Certainty of Our Heart’s Desire
The Certainty of the Lord’s Beauty
Next week, I’d like to look at the second prayer we find in Psalm 27. We’ll call that
message “The Positive Uncertainties of Prayer.”
1.
The Certainty of Salvation Accomplished
How did it come about that David could declare
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the [stronghold] of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
A large part of the answer appears to be David’s history. For David, it is seems almost
literally true that
When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
What happened after David was anointed by Samuel, even while Saul was still
sitting enthroned as king over Israel? Saul tried to eat up his flesh, to destroy
David. But Saul’s own son, Jonathan, helped David escape Saul’s jealousy.
Saul’s daughter Michal married David and helped David escape her father. God
put Saul at David’s mercy twice. David could have killed Saul, but David refused
to assassinate God’s anointed. Saul, on the other hand, crossed God’s will
several times until finally God abandoned him, leaving him in the dark, completely
without guidance. Finally, Saul was defeated by the Philistines, who killed three of
his sons, including the beloved Jonathan, and Saul, not wanting to fall into the
hands of the Philistines, fell on his own sword.
What happens when Abner, Saul’s cousin, attempted to set up Saul’s son
Ishbosheth as King of Israel? There was warfare between the house of Saul and
the house of David. Ishbosheth questions Abner about a concubine. Abner, the
ablest of Ishbosheth’s supporters and obviously the man behind Ishobosheth,
offended by Ishobosheth’s ingratitude, defected to David. Then Abner fell, killed
by Joab, one of David’s nephews and commander of David’s forces. Then
Ishbosheth fell, assassinated by two captains in his own army.
What happened when Absalom, one of David’s sons, rebelled against his father
and attempted to usurp the throne? Absalom was advised by Ahithophel, one of
David’s best counselors, who betrayed David. Ahithophel’s excellent advice,
which could well have caused David’s defeat, was ignored by Absalom. Absalom
took the advice of Hushai instead. But Hushai had been planted by David to spy
on Absalom. The Lord, we are told, intended to bring disaster down on Absalom
and caused Absalom to believe Hushai and not Ahithophel.
Ahithophel, fallen out of favor with Absalom and knowing how David would treat a
traitor when he got back in power, hanged himself. Absalom was defeated by
David’s forces and ended up hanging from a tree, speared to death by ten of
Joab’s armor bearers.
Anyone who attempted to eat David’s flesh stumbled over his own feet, his own
supporters, and fell. This happened to the small as well as to the great: remember
Goliath; think about Shimei, Nabal, and Michal herself (after she came to despise
David); think about the short-lived rebellion led by Sheba.
And of course in a way we could well understand how such a history might lead to such
clarity, such certainty, such confidence:
Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war should rise against me,
In THIS I will be confident.
Armies WERE encamped against David; war DID rise against him; in desert
wildernesses, the Lord literally set him on rock in the caves at Adullam, Ziph, and En
Geddi and saved him.
And with such a history of deliverances, who would not turn to the God of such
deliverance and pray to Him?
But were those things all that David wanted? Security in his kingship? The defeat of all
his enemies? An Israel united under one king, appointed by God? The proof that God
cared for him by amazing deliverances, miraculous in their nature and in their number?
The psalm does not say that the Lord guided David and so GAVE him light on his way.
It does not say, as one commentator (Calvin) suggested, that God’s DELIVERANCE
was the light at the end of a dark tunnel when David’s enemies nearly engulfed him and
the people of God. It does not say that the Lord SAVED David many times and so
showed how certain salvation is. It does not say that the Lord PROVIDED a stronghold
for David when he was being hunted.
The psalmist says THE LORD IS my light. THE LORD IS my salvation. THE LORD IS
my stronghold.
For David, the LORD HIMSELF is light, is salvation, is his stronghold. Of that he is
certain. But how can that be?
2.
The Certainty of Our Heart’s Desire
David tells us . . .
One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD
And to inquire in his temple.
I have read that there is no other instance of an expression like this being used in
Scripture: “One thing I have desired of the Lord . . .”
After Israel sins at Sinai, making idols for itself even as Moses is receiving God’s Law
on Sinai, the Lord tells Moses that He is still going to give Israel the land promised to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He will, in fact, “send [His] Angel before [them] and drive
out the [tribes in Canaan]” and give them the “land flowing with milk and honey.” But
the Lord will not go with them because they are a stiff-necked people: they are proud
and disobedient (Exodus 33:1-4). Moses’ response is related to David’s Psalm:
Exodus 33:15-16
(15) Then he said to Him, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not
bring us up from here. (16) For how then will it be known that Your people
and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be
separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of
the earth."
God has promised them direction and guidance; He has promised them the possession
of the land; He has promised them the prosperity of that land; He has promised them
protection from enemy nations. He is not even requiring a radical change in their
character. [Hey! Just as I am. Unconditional acceptance.] Only He will not go with
them.
But for Moses (and for Israel) more important than the guidance, more important than
the property, more important than the prosperity, more important than the protection
was the Presence. Why? Because God’s presence meant that they had found grace
in God’s sight and holiness—separation from all the other people upon the face of the
earth. Moses says, in effect: one thing I desire, that I will seek: Your Presence, You.
“If You will not go with us, do not send us,” he says to Yahweh.
And that is what David is seeking, when he says that his one desire is “To dwell in the
house of the Lord / All the days of my life.” He doesn’t mean that he wants to hang
around the tabernacle all day, every day. After all, he is king. He couldn’t perform his
duties properly if he was literally living in the tent that contained the Ark of the
Covenant.
The House of the Lord is the place where God has chosen to make Himself present to
His people. The expression “to dwell in the House of the Lord” is a poetic expression:
David wants to be where God is present to His people all the time. He longs for God’s
presence above all things.
THE LORD IS my light. THE LORD IS my salvation. THE LORD IS my stronghold.
But how is this possible?
3.
The Certainty of the Lord’s Beauty
When David tells us
One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
We understand that he is speaking poetically (but truly) about desiring the Lord’s
constant presence in his life. He desires above everything else to have a close
relationship with this one true, living God, who has a name (Jahweh) and who has
made covenant with Israel and with David. He wants for this relationship to never end
to continue through “All the days of [his] life.”
But the dwelling in the house of the Lord is not just a kind of shapeless, vague kind of
hanging out with the God. David adds two details. He desires to dwell in the house of
the LORD all the days of [his] life
To behold the beauty of the LORD
And to inquire in his temple.
I don’t think that David is exercising some kind of vague poetic imagination here. I don’t
think he is manufacturing beautiful mental images of God in nature or of brilliant multicolored lights or of a beckoning great white light in the darkness. Nor is he
contemplating some mystical abstraction and meditating on the beauty of the idea of
God.
I think David had very specific images in mind when he spoke of beholding the beauty
of the LORD and inquiring in His temple.
David well knew that no man had seen God at any time, not even Moses. But what had
God given men to see in His house?
The priests, the furnishings of the tabernacle, and the ark of the covenant, with its
mercy seat.
All of these persons and things would, in one sense, have been beautifully adorned,
dressed, ornamented, carved and molded, covered in gold. They would have been, in
one sense, physically beautiful.
But what would David or any spiritual man of the time seen in the house of the Lord?
The presence of God among His people.
He dwelled between the wings of the cherubim above the mercy seat. His law was
encased in gold beneath the cover of the mercy seat. His priests instructed His people
in His Word (cf Psalm 73), interceded for them, made offerings for them, sacrificed
animals and sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat to propitiate His wrath and cover
their sins.
That is what David sees when he inquires in the house of the Lord, and what the inquiry
leads him to is the beauty of the Lord.
What if you were an insignificant shepherd boy, the youngest of ten in the family. You
are called from tending the sheep to be anointed king of a nation. You are chased by
the present king from place to place. He wants to murder you. But God protects you
and guides you throughout until by the providences of God, your life is preserved and
the old king is done away with, without your lifting a hand against him, and you are
crowned king. God makes covenant not just with your people but with YOU, promising
you an eternal throne and an heir, a son, who will rule an eternal kingdom. Then God
prospers you so that like no other leader before you, you conquer the enemies all
around you, capture a great city to make it your own capital, bring back the Ark of the
Covenant and install it in a tent/tabernacle in your own city. Your enemies bow down to
you, your people love you, you are known as God’s beloved.
And you decide you want the wife of one of your most loyal officers. You commit
adultery with her. You play on your officer’s loyalty, knowing that he will brave anything
for you, and you make sure he will die abandoned, alone, on the battlefield, fighting
your battle. And for at least a year, you cover up the crimes, enjoying the fruits of your
sins with no apparent remorse.
What should God do to such a person? What did God do with David?
Psalms 32:1-7
(1) A Psalm of David. A Contemplation.
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered.
(2) Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit.
(3) When I kept silent, my bones grew old
Through my groaning all the day long.
(4) For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah
(5) I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,"
And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
(6) For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You
In a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters
They shall not come near him.
(7) You are my hiding place;
You shall preserve me from trouble;
You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
When David desires the presence of the Lord, it is shown to him in the tabernacle, the
house of the Lord. It is full of the righteousness, the holiness, the judgment, and the
grace of God, and it is beautiful.
And beauty is better than logic.
How does this all apply to us?
The certainties of Psalm 27:1-6 are true and applicable for every believer. In Jesus
Christ, we have everything that David enjoyed only more so.
1.
The Certainty of Salvation Accomplished
We may feel that we do not have the victories that David enjoyed. Armies have not
literally encamped against us. Literal war has not been waged against us. An insanely
jealous king has not chased us from city to wilderness to city, trying to kill us. But in
another sense, the armies of the world have encamped against us. Our own flesh has
waged war against us (as Absalom did against David). And an insanely angry fallen
angel roams about seeking those whom he may devour. Sin and death opened up at
our feet, waiting for us to fall into a lake of fire. But . . .
Romans 5:12-21
(12) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death
through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-- , , , (18)
Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift
came to all men, resulting in justification of life.
(19) For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by
one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.
(20) Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where
sin abounded, grace abounded much more, (21) so that as sin reigned in
death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Colossians 1:13-14
(13) He (the Father) has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, (14) in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Romans 6:17-18
(17) But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed
from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. (18) And
having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
In Jesus Christ, you have forgiveness of sins and if His Spirit is at work in you, sin
is being conquered in our bodies. We have victory after victory over sin.
2.
The Certainty of Our Heart’s Desire
Once, we cared nothing for God and never thought of Him. We did not seek Him and
did not want Him. But when His Spirit gave us new life and faith in Jesus Christ . . .
Romans 8:14-15
(14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
(15) For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."
And now, one thing have we desired of the Lord, that we will seek:
Philippians 3:8-11
(8) Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all
things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ (9) and be found in
Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which
is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; (10)
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of
His sufferings, being conformed to His death, (11) if, by any means, I may
attain to the resurrection from the dead.
John 14:6-10
(6) Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through Me. (7) "If you had known Me, you would have
known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."
(8) Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."
(9) Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not
known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can
you say, 'Show us the Father'? (10) Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on
My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
3.
The Certainty of the Lord’s Beauty
2 Corinthians 4:5-6
(5) For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. (6) For it is the God who
commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Where do we see the beauty of the Lord? In Word, in Fellowship, in Sacrament.
69.
How does baptism remind you and assure you that Christ's one sacrifice on
the cross is for you personally?
In this way: / Christ instituted this outward washing
and with it gave the promise that,
as surely as water washes away the dirt from the body,
so certainly his blood and his Spirit / wash away my soul's impurity,
in other words, all my sins.
75.
How does the Lord's Supper remind you and assure you that you share in
Christ's one sacrifice on the cross and in all his gifts?
In this way: / Christ has commanded me and all believers
to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup.
With this command he gave this promise:
First, / as surely as I see with my eyes
the bread of the Lord broken for me
and the cup given to me,
so surely / his body was offered and broken for me
and his blood poured out for me / on the cross.
Second, / as surely as / I receive from the hand of the one who serves,
and taste with my mouth / the bread and cup of the Lord,
given me as sure signs of Christ's body and blood,
so surely / he nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life
with his crucified body and poured-out blood.
It is the certainties of 27:1-6 that drive the prayer for uncertain things in 27:7-13.
In our own lives, the assurance of the
certainty of salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ
certainty of our heart’s desire created in us by God’s Spirit
certainty of the beauty of the Lord
that should encourage us to deeper communion and prayer with our Heavenly Father
and our Lord and Savior.
We’ll look at the Positive Uncertainties of Prayer next week.
Benedictions:
Ephesians 6:24
Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
(23) Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may
your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. (24) He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.
2 Corinthians 13:14
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion
of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
2 Timothy 4:22
The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.
Hebrews 13:20-21
(20) Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the
dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, (21) make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom
be glory forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 5:8-11
(8) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like
a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (9) Resist him, steadfast in
the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
(10) But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by
Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen,
and settle you. (11) To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever.
Amen.
Jude 1:24-25
(24) Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you
faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
(25) To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion
and power, Both now and forever. Amen.