“From the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel;
there they have continued.
Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah?
When I please, I will discipline them,
and nations shall be gathered against them
when they are bound up for their double iniquity.
“Ephraim was a trained calf
that loved to thresh,
and I spared her fair neck;
but I will put Ephraim to the yoke;
Judah must plow;
Jacob must harrow for himself.
Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap steadfast love;
break up your fallow ground,
for it is the time to seek the LORD,
that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.
“You have plowed iniquity;
you have reaped injustice;
you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your own way
and in the multitude of your warriors,
therefore, the tumult of war shall arise among your people,
and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,
as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle;
mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
Thus, it shall be done to you, O Bethel,
because of your great evil.
At dawn the king of Israel
shall be utterly cut off.”
Scripture gives me scant hope for God’s continued blessing on our nation. Speaking with a woman some weeks past, we were discussing the moral climate of the nation. As we spoke, I commented that witnessing the moral choices being made by many professed Christians, I was distressed, disappointed. She agreed, noting that many of her single friends were promiscuous—they were openly sleeping with multiple sexual partners—and the women of whom she spoke were professing Christians. Excusing immorality appears to be rather common among the professed people of God; demands for holiness from the pulpit are increasingly rare.
Reading morning devotions one crisp morning a few weeks past, I heard the voice of God speaking through Jeremiah. Jeremiah warned the nation, “‘Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!’ declares the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: ‘You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the LORD. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the LORD’” [JEREMIAH 23:1-4].
Soon after Jeremiah had written these words, the LORD again spoke these arresting words through His prophet.
“In the prophets of Samaria
I saw an unsavory thing:
they prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray.
But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
they commit adultery and walk in lies;
they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his evil;
all of them have become like Sodom to me,
and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets:
‘Behold, I will feed them with bitter food
and give them poisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has gone out into all the land.’”
[JEREMIAH 23:13-15]
Even as Israel was facing invasion by a cruel nation, the religious leaders were deceiving the people by prophesying peace and prosperity. It was not unlike the days foretold by the Apostle Paul which are coming soon. The Apostle warned Christ-followers, “Concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape” [1 THESSALONIANS 5:1-3].
Tragically, the shepherds whom Jeremiah described had enriched themselves at the expense of the people they were to serve. Because of their focus on their own interests rather than the LORD’s will, they had destroyed the LORD’s flock, scattering them through deliberate distortion of the Word of God. Prophets of the northern kingdom had turned to outright idolatry, bringing God’s judgement upon the nation. However, religious leaders of the southern kingdom had committed an even greater sin, if such was possible; they had excused evil through their failure to warn of the consequences of sin. Even the religious leaders had begun to participate in wickedness. In short, they had become idolaters, worshipping their own fallen desires.
I must wonder whether contemporary Christendom is not guilty of the same spiritual malady that brought the LORD’s solemn rebuke against the shepherds of Israel. I must wonder, when contemporary Christians spend more on facilities than on sending the message of life throughout the world, whether we who direct the work of God do not deserve His condemnation. I must wonder when we Christians spend more time praying for relief from aches and pains than is spent in prayer for lost family members to be saved, whether we are now under divine censure. I must wonder when missionary agencies always desperately seek missionaries to declare the message of life, whether we are not guilty of focusing on our own comfort to the exclusion of being committed to following the Master whatever the cost. Is it not time that we seek revival? Is it not time that we break up our fallow ground?
Only by breaking up our hardened hearts can we who follow the Christ hope to witness revival in our homes and in our nation. We must strive to make each church a lighthouse to rescue people whose marriages and families have been ravaged and torn apart. However, if our churches are to be lighthouses, we who follow the Saviour must first experience revival in our own hearts and homes. The Bible gives a prescription for such revival in the Book of Hosea. Reading this prophetic word, you will note the importance of breaking up what Hosea identified as “fallow ground.”
The text before us contains an admonition to take care not to allow our hearts to become sclerotic. “Sclerosis of the heart” is not a term that is common in a religious context, though it is certainly descriptive. Perhaps we would be more familiar with the term hard-hearted; it is the same thing. To speak of people as hard-hearted implies that they have become “impervious” to the Word of God. To say that a professed believer is hard-hearted says that the individual is infected with a spiritual virus that ensures that their life that shows no fruits of the Spirit of God and that they are becoming known “more for resistance than receptivity.”
The passage before us contains a command to follow God completely, to make a complete commitment to Him and to His cause. For followers of the Saviour, this means ridding our hearts of secret sins and habits that dishonour the Lord God. Additionally, it means that we will forsake outward sins and avoid attempting a walk with Christ that is devoid of passion. If an individual does not confess the sins marring his or her life, that person’s walk with God will never get better—it will only get worse.
I’m operating from the premise that God’s people are never truly content with being less than spiritually energised. We may settle into a sort of spiritual malaise, but we are never truly satisfied with the miasma that envelopes us. We want a vibrant relationship with the Master. We want to walk in harmony with fellow believers. We want to see God work in power again. In short, we want to be revived. How can we be revived? Realise that revival does not start in the church, revival starts in the home. There are steps to revival that must be implemented if we will again witness the power of God at work in our midst. I believe you want that revival. Therefore, I bring this message to encourage revival among God’s people.
REALISE YOUR SINFUL CONDITION — If we will see revival, we must realise our sinful condition. I believe I am addressing people who are moving toward perfection. Even if we are not deliberate in our movement toward the revelation of the image of God’s Son in our lives, He is working to express His image through us. This is seen repeatedly throughout the Word. For instance, we read, “Those whom [God] foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” [ROMANS 8:29]. The Father is moving each of us toward conforming to the image of Christ the Lord.
What the Apostle wrote to the followers of Christ in Rome echoes the promise delivered in the First Corinthian Letter. There, we are promised, “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” [1 CORINTHIANS 15:49].
This process of transformation won’t be completed until the Master Himself returns. That this is the case is evident from several Scriptures. One example of this promise is given in Paul’s Letter to the Christians of Philippi. There, the Apostle wrote, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” [PHILIPPIANS 3:20-21].
Another example is well-known to you, or at least I hope it is well-known since I refer to it so often. John writes, “Little children, abide in him, so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” [1 JOHN 2:28-3:3].
The promises that I have just cited all point to an outcome that we can anticipate. However, this is not some mystical event that suddenly happens at the coming of the Saviour, this is a process that has already begun. It is a process in which we are encouraged to participate actively. Writing the Christians in Colossae, the Apostle urges us, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” [COLOSSIANS 3:5-10].
In the flesh, we are not suited for Heaven, but we are being prepared for Heaven. When the flesh reigns, we will not be holy, we will not be godly, we will not be ready for revival. However, we can prepare ourselves for God’s effective work in our lives through working with the Spirit to move toward perfection. You may remember how Paul spoke of his desire to press on toward perfection, an aspiration that lies within the heart of each follower of the Lord Jesus. “[I am not] already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained” [PHILIPPIANS 3:12-16].
Here is the point to be grasped—Christ Jesus did not come to make us better people; He came to redeem us, making us new people! What is needed is not a better society; what is required is a new society. And that new society comes as men and women are born from above. Redeemed, people will transform the world in which they live. Lost, they will continue in their downward transit, all the while boasting that they are progressive. Lost people are progressing, to be sure—progressing toward judgement and eternal condemnation. They are heaping up sin against the day of judgement.
The LORD God was grieved with His people during the days of the prophets, just as He is grieved with people in this day. Long years past, the LORD cried out through His prophet,
“‘Ah, stubborn children,’ declares the LORD,
‘who carry out a plan, but not mine,
and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit,
that they may add sin to sin’”
[ISAIAH 30:1]
Peter informs those reading his second letter, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” [2 PETER 3:9].
I am convinced that we who are saved want to be revived! I don’t mean that we are always conscious of our inertia, but I do mean that we know what should mark our lives. We cannot be content with the “same old same old.” Even when we have settled into the status quo, Latin for “the rut we are in,” we want to live in vibrant, vital relationship with the Living Saviour. We are tired of dead faith—tired of going to church where we drowse through a boring recitation of pious platitudes, tired of boring prayer meetings that are nothing less than an organ recital, tired of sitting through another repetitious service as we furtively glance at our watch and wonder whether there will be a long line at White Spot, tired of the same old same old! We want to see Christ move in power, if not in our life than surely in the lives of others. We want to see sinners fall under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. We want to witness with our own eyes the power of the Spirit falling on God’s people, making them bold and enabling them to speak with power that cannot be ignored! This will not become a reality until the people of God see their own sinful condition and abhor that sin! Realise that even settling for “what is” is sinful.
This is the repeated message of the servants of our God. Listen to Paul as he writes. “You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” [ROMANS 13:11-14].
Again, writing the saints in Corinth, Paul admonished, “What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’ Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’ Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame” [1 CORINTHIANS 15:32-34].
Consider one further admonition. “Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
‘Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” [EPHESIANS 5:8b-17].
I do want to caution that we are not to manufacture some sinful thought or action just to check off a necessary issue to bring revival. Each of us struggle with our own situations that require honesty before God. Neither am I suggesting that we need to develop a sort of morbid personae with which we trumpet our sin so that others can commiserate with us. I am suggesting that when we are conscious of sin, we must deal with that sin—immediately! And each of us is aware of those sins that plague us in our walk with the Master. This is the basis for the admonition found in the Book of Hebrews: “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” [HEBREWS 12:1-2a].
RECOGNISE DIVINE JUDGEMENT — Those seeking revival are aware that sin brings judgement. We know that “The wages of sin is death” [ROMANS 6:23a]. The sin that contaminates our lives exacts a dreadful cost. If our sinful condition is never confronted by God Who gives life, we will be eternally separated from Him. The Word of God identifies this eternal separation as “the Second Death.” Do you recall the dark words John recorded near the end of the Apocalypse?
The Revelator has written, “I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” [REVELATION 20:11-15].
I recall a saying that was often heard during earlier days of my walk with the Saviour. “Poor soul, what will you do, if you begin to die naturally, before you begin to live spiritually! How will you look, if the tabernacle of nature be taken down, before the temple of grace be raised up! What must you feel, if your paradise be laid waste, before the tree of life be set in it! How can you bear to give up the spirit, before you have received the Holy Spirit! Eternal will be your darkness, if the sun of your life should set within you before the Sun of righteousness shines upon you. Woe be to you, if your body be turned into the earth, before your soul be fit to be taken into heaven. If the second birth has no place in you, the second death will assuredly have power over you.” Such a thought-provoking challenge! One must ask whether it has any impact in the lives of those among whom we live in this day?
Why does a preacher speak of the judgement of sin? I suppose it is a caricature of the cleric to picture him with a scowling face and raised fists, thundering out imprecations on the damned. Perhaps there is enough reality to the parody to make a preacher uncomfortable. However, speaking for myself, I warn of judgement because of love. I love the Saviour, and my love for Him impels me to speak the truths that He has revealed. Additionally, I love the people of God, and I want them to understand the consequences of sin in their own lives and in the lives of their loved one. Finally, I love the lost and seek to turn them from the certainty of judgement.
Throughout the Word, we are warned of impending judgement. Though there are people who, in their ignorance, imagine that God is a cosmic ogre sitting in the heavens looking for a reason to strike people down, the caricature does not fit with the repeated testimony of Scripture. In the Word, we see God revealed as a God of love [see 1 JOHN 4:8; 4:16].
When Israel faced imminent judgement, the LORD God pleaded with the people.
“Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the LORD,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged.
“Why will you still be struck down?
Why will you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.
From the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
and raw wounds;
they are not pressed out or bound up
or softened with oil.”
[ISAIAH 1:4-6]
These are not the pleas of an ogre. This is the plea of the God Who longs to do good to those who are suffering. This reveals the heart of the LORD as He mourns the self-inflicted injury sustained by those whom He calls His own people.
We also witness the LORD God pleading with His people to turn from their sin so that judgement may be averted as He speaks through Ezekiel. “I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live” [EZEKIEL 18:30-32].
The Lord seeks to bless, and not to harm. God possesses the ability, and the right, to do as He wishes. The Psalmist warns those who set themselves in opposition to God,
“He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
‘As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.’”
[PSALM 2:4-6]
The steps to revival will lead the one following the Saviour to realise her own sinful condition, just as it will compel her to recognise divine judgement. This understanding is not a matter of treating our fallen condition lightly; rather, it is an issue of taking seriously the transformation that has taken place when we came to faith in the Son of God. We are more aware of our fallen nature than ever, but we do not despair because we know that we have been redeemed. However, we understand that we have been left here to the praise of His glory. We who are twice-born take seriously the admonition, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” [MATTHEW 5:16].
Perhaps we are tempted to push far from us the accountability that we must each give before the Risen Son of God; however, such is an impossibility. And even were it possible to somehow shove accountability far from us, it would not change reality. The lost have no prospect of revival; it is not possible to revive what has never been “vived.” It is impossible to quicken that which never had life in the first place, and sinners are dead to God. God is very clear concerning the condition of the lost. Concerning the lost, God has stated in His Word, “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity” [EPHESIANS 4:18-19]. Christians alone can be revived, and in order for this to happen, they must confess their own sinfulness. Otherwise, there is no possibility of experiencing the revival so desperately required.
In recognising that God must judge sin, even sin that is revealed in His own child, we are recognising our need for mercy. We are realising our need for God to deal with us on the basis of His grace. It is a return to our first exposure to the Living God. We read the words, but we don’t always realise how they will reflect on us throughout the days of this pilgrim journey. These are the words of which I am speaking, “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Then, there is the corollary that is too often neglected. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” [EPHESIANS 2:8-10].
CONFESS YOUR SIN — If we ever hope to be revived, we must confess our sin. This is not a plea to make a generalised admission of communal sinfulness, though such may be warranted. Neither is this a call to manufacture some particular sins just so we will have something to confess. If we will ever be revived, we must acknowledge our particular sins, naming them for what they are and forsaking them as we turn to God for cleansing and refreshment.
One pastor I knew had a woman who complained she wasn’t close to God. She didn’t know what was keeping her from drawing near to the Lord, but she was certain that something was keeping her from God. The pastor asked if she knew what was between her and the Lord. She was adamant that she didn’t know what might be hindering her in drawing near to God. “Take a stab at it,” the pastor said, “I’ll bet you get mighty close.” Wise advice! We know what is hindering our prayer life. We know what is keeping us from enjoying the blessings God desires to shower on us. We know what hinders revival.
When Israel suffered because God’s rich blessings had been withheld, Jeremiah’s words were piercing in his exposure of what was keeping the divine blessings from the nation. God’s goodness was withheld, His hand not moving for their good, because Israel sinned. Jeremiah put his finger on the sore, exposing the people of their fraudulent faith.
“Your iniquities have turned [God’s blessing] away,
and your sins have kept good from you.”
[JEREMIAH 5:25]
That message that Jeremiah delivered echoes that which Isaiah penned somewhat earlier.
“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.”
[ISAIAH 59:1-2]
What was true in that ancient day holds true to this day—sin that we attempt to cover, sin that is not confessed, deprives us of divine blessing. God will not send His blessing, and He certainly will not revive His people or refresh them in their service, so long as we attempt to cover sin.
We surrender intimacy with the LORD God when we fail to deal with our sin. Is this not the message we find in the Psalms?
“If I had harbored sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.”
[PSALM 66:18 NET BIBLE]
The Scriptures reveal a choice that must be faced by every follower of the Christ: Ignore sin and remain hard-hearted or confess sin and experience revival in the heart and in the home. God, through Hosea, commanded His people to break up their fallow ground. Fallow ground is unproductive ground; it is hard because it has not been broken up. The rain that falls on such ground penetrates only a matter of millimeters, so the moisture cannot bless as it should. Perhaps seed falling on such soil could push roots downward to loosen the soil, but the sun would likely cause any sprouts to wither quickly. In order to make the soil productive, the plough must be used, and the fallow ground turned. If we choose not to break up the fallow ground of our heart, it could be our final choice in the matter. We come to God on his terms and in his time or we don't come at all.
You may well ask how one breaks up this “fallow ground?” Here are four steps.
• Get alone with God, because the pathway into God's presence is a lonely pathway and must be traversed alone.
• Make a sin list, an account of all the ways the Spirit reveals that you have sinned against God and others.
• Claim God's cleansing by taking that “sin list” and writing 1 JOHN 1:9 on top of it: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
• Go apologise and confess to friends and family against whom you have sinned.
Perhaps you are inclined to say about confessing your sin to those you have wounded, “What they don't know won't hurt them.” I say, what they don't know is already hurting them! By following the prescription of God's Word, Christians can spark revival in our country, in our church, in their lives by taking responsibility for it in their hearts and homes. I cannot tell you how much that our nation needs a spiritual awakening. In a similar manner, I cannot tell you how great the need is for revival in our own congregation. The great truth is that we cannot create revival; but we can create the conditions that permit revival. We cannot revive ourselves; but we can prepare ourselves to be revived. What we can do, is to break up the fallow ground of our hearts. This is not easy, but it is absolutely essential if we should ever see revival.
Throughout my years in British Columbia, I have frequently found opportunity to camp out in winter conditions, though I’m almost too old to continue doing so. On numerous occasions, I’ve been compelled to build a fire in some quite inhospitable situations. When the temperature is minus thirty and the snow is blowing, it is no time to be fumbling with attempts to get a fire going in order to dry wet clothing or heat some water for tea. I know that if I will have a fire, it will be necessary to gather kindling, and to do so quickly. When the kindling has begun to burn, then larger pieces of wood can be added until a fire burns brightly. Unfortunately, kindling will quickly burn out if larger pieces of wood are not present to burn for a longer time. If I want a fire to burn through the night, I will want a back log to shield against the wind and to harbour the coals to slowly burn throughout the night. Without kindling, some dry wood that will catch fire, it will be impossible to get a back log burning or to ensure that a fire can be lit. And without the back log, the fire cannot burn throughout the dark night.
Building a fire provides an analogy to revival. Perhaps there is a powerful servant of God listening today, one who will accomplish great things in the Name of the Saviour in days to come. If that powerful servant would be aflame for God, it will be necessary that a fire be kindled. In order to get a fire lit, it will be necessary to gather some kindling and lay the fire. The fire has been laid—foundational truths have been declared over the preceding months and years and there are logs that are capable of burning for a long time once a fire is lit. What is needed now is some dry kindling that will permit the fire to be lit. You who hear the message today can be that kindling as you repent and offer up your life for the Master’s use. God is seeking some kindling that will get a fire burning. That kindling will serve as the means for revival. Will you be that kindling? Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
