Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Crucible of Comfort: Trusting the God Who Raises the Dead (2 Corinthians 1:3–11)

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The Crucible of Comfort: Trusting the God Who Raises the Dead (2 Corinthians 1:3–11) · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reformed Thinking. I'm really glad you were joining
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  us for this deep dive today. Yeah, it is great to be here.
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  We have a lot of ground to cover.
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  We really do. And just to set some ground
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  rules right out of the gate for how we operate here, we're going
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  to take turns speaking fully. We will not talk over each other
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  or interrupt. Right.
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  We want to let each theological point actually land so you can
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  digest it. Spot on.
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  So our mission today is a highly detailed, extensive look at 2nd
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  Corinthians chapter 1, verses 3 through 11.
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  We're looking at how God actively orchestrates absolute,
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  crushing despair to produce a specific kind of consolation.
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  And honestly, this text completely destroys the shallow
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  modern views of suffering that we see everywhere today.
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  Really does. I mean, imagine getting a letter
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  from the founder of your church, a guy you view as totally
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  invincible. You open it expecting a pep
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  talk, but his very first sentence is you know, I was so
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  utterly crushed. I was completely sure I was
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  going to die. Yeah, that historical admission
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  is what makes this passage so striking.
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  We are approaching this text strictly through a Reformed
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  Protestant lens. We adhere to the theology of the
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  Westminster Confession, so we are going to look at this
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  through a robust theology of the cross.
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  Right, because true consolation only comes through the cross.
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  It does not come from positive thinking.
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  Absolutely. The authority here rests in the
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  inspired sufficient Scripture. God governs affliction with
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  precise holy intentions. So to grasp the theology here,
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  we first need to establish the intense historical reality that
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  birthed this letter. The timeline puts us right
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  around 8055 or 56. Yeah, and.
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  Paul is writing from the region of Macedonia, sending this back
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  to the church in the city of Corinth.
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  And the context of Corinth is just fascinating.
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  It was this wealthy, cosmopolitan port city.
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  They hosted the Ismian Games, which were like second only to
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  the Olympics back then. Exactly.
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  I I mean, absolutely. The culture was completely
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  obsessed with physical prowess, rhetorical brilliance, and just
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  outward dominance. And that obsession had totally
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  infiltrated the church there. They loved slick presentation.
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  They had elevated these false teachers that Paul sarcastically
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  calls the Super apostles. Right.
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  Those guys championed a theology of glory.
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  They basically argued that if you were truly blessed by God,
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  you would be wealthy, healthy, articulate, and successful.
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  Yeah, they evaluated your spiritual standing by your
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  visible dominance. And against that specific
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  backdrop of pride, Paul experiences this extreme
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  affliction in the Roman province of Asia.
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  Historians actually debate the specifics of that crisis.
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  Some argue it was the violent Ephesian riot recorded in Acts
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  19. Oh, right, where that massive
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  mob flooded the city theater chanting for hours.
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  That would be a genuinely terrifying threat to his life.
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  Yeah, or others suggest it was a brutal undocumented Roman
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  imprisonment. Maybe solitary confinement in a
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  pitch black dungeon? Whatever the trigger was, the
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  circumstances were so extreme, Paul writes, that he was
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  burdened beyond measure above strength.
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  He states openly that he despaired of life itself.
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  He uses this Greek legal term apocrama.
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  Apocrama, and that translates to receiving a sentence of death.
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  Right spot on. It was an official judicial
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  verdict that he had settled completely in his soul.
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  He looked at his chances of survival and concluded his life
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  was over. OK, let's unpack this with a
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  modern parallel to make the psychology of it real for you.
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  Think of an elite marathon runner who hits the absolute
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  physical wall. Oh, that is a great analogy.
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  Yeah, they push past the red line of human capability until
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  the body simply shuts down. They collapse.
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  The brain says move, but the physical capacity is entirely
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  depleted. No amount of willpower or
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  positive thinking can make them take another step.
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  That is the level of total inability Paul's describing with
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  Apocrypha. He is saying his tank was not
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  just empty, the whole engine was destroyed.
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  But here is the question, why would an apostle intentionally
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  broadcast this massive level of personal defeat to a church that
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  already doubted his authority? Because he is establishing his
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  Apostolic authority on a completely different foundation.
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  The false teachers built their authority on human survival
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  skills and natural charisma. Right.
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  So if Paul claimed he survived because of his own cleverness or
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  physical fortitude, he would just be pointing them back to
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  the idol of self-reliance. Precisely, he would be playing
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  the same game as the Super Apostles.
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  By confessing his natural resources were depleted, he
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  forces the church to look at the only variable left.
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  Which is the sovereign intervention of God.
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  Yes, the authority of his ministry rests entirely in the
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  reality that he is upheld by the God who raises the dead.
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  That makes total sense, and that historical crisis directly
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  shapes the literary structure of his letter.
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  Paul actually breaks all the standard writing rules of his
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  day to make this theological point.
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  He really does. If you look at standards
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  standard Greco Roman papyrus letters from the 1st century,
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  they followed a very predictable formula.
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  Right after the basic from this person to this person, they
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  always included a standard Thanksgiving section for the
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  recipients health and welfare. Like an ancient version of
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  starting an e-mail with. I hope this finds you well, but
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  Paul bypasses this entirely. Instead of a polite wish for
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  their physical health, he just erupts into a doxology.
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  He begins blessing the Father of mercies for providing comfort
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  within the pain. Structurally, he sets up a
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  massive contract of terms here. On one side you have the Greek
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  word for affliction, which is flipsis.
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  And on the other side, the word for comfort, which is
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  paraclesis. Let's look at Slipsis first.
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  The literal meaning of philipsis is heavy.
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  It refers to a wine press or an olive press.
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  To describe the intense physical crushing of grapes under a
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  massive stone until the lifeblood flows out, it is
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  inescapable pressure. And in contrast, Paraclesis is
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  used 10 times in just 9 verses. In English, comfort sounds like
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  a warm blanket, but Paraclesis is not a soft emotional bomb.
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  No, it is a holy fortification. It is a spiritual emboldening to
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  endure that crushing pressure. What's fascinating here is how
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  the literary structure forces the reader to look at God's
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  character before looking at Paul's circumstances.
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  He directs our attention upward to the Father of Mercies before
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  detailing the horror in Asia. Right.
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  God is not presented as an abstract deity or a distant
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  watchmaker. He is The Fountainhead from
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  which all tender pity flows. And by erupting into praise
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  before explaining the trauma, Paul signals that this doxology
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  is the theological gateway to the whole letter.
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  He moves from the doctrinal reality of God the Father to the
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  application for the church, then to his personal narrative, and
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  finally to corporate prayer. He controls the flow of thought
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  with such strict precision you are forced to look at the divine
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  intention behind the tragedy. God is named the God of all
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  comfort, right alongside the reality of the wine press.
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  The 2 are inextricably linked. You know, modern society often
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  views comfort as just an escape from reality.
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  When things get hard, we want the nearest exit door.
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  Yeah, we define comfort as the complete removal of pain.
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  We want a medical fix or a financial bailout.
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  So how does the Greek concept of paraclesis completely shatter
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  our modern, sanitized definition of comfort?
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  Well, the modern definition assumes peace is found
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  exclusively in the absence of pressure, but Paraclesis assumes
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  true peace is found in the presence of divine strength
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  during the pressure. The root of the word involves a
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  calling to one song, right? It implies advocacy and
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  strengthening assistance. Yes.
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  Think of a superior officer stepping into the trench
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  alongside a soldier. He does not pull the soldier out
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  of the battle. His presence fortifies the
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  soldiers resolve to stand firm and face the incoming fire.
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  Precisely when God provides comfort, He provides A robust,
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  sustaining grace that holds the soul steady when the body is
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  feeling. It is an infusion of divine
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  endurance. He does not need to change your
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  outward circumstances to provide absolute stability.
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  The pressure of the Flipsist remains, but the sustaining
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  force of the Paraclesis out matches it.
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  And this literary structure points to a massive theological
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  reality. The crushing was not an
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  accident. It was a specific decree from
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  God. This is where we turn to the
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  Reformed doctrine of Providence. Chapter 5 of the Westminster
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  Confession is so clear on this. Right.
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  It states that God, the Great Creator of all things, upholds,
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  directs, disposes, and governs all creatures, actions and
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  things. From the greatest even to the
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  least, God is the primary actor who sovereignly decrees these
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  crushing moments. The affliction is not a failure
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  of faith. It is not some random victory
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  for Satan. Paul makes this explicit using
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  the hyena clause in Greek. Yeah, he and it translates to so
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  that or in order that it denotes specific purpose.
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  He writes that the trial happened so that he would not
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  trust in himself. This brings in the first use of
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  the law, right? Absolutely.
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  The law acts as a mirror, showing our flaws.
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  It exposes what we might call the Arminianism of the heart.
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  That innate wicked human idol of autonomy, we constantly default
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  to trusting our bank accounts or our health.
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  And this text functions to execute that self-reliance.
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  God brings His people to the edge of the grave to expose
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  their total human inability. Their sin, rot, bondage, the
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  sentence of death is a severe mercy designed to shatter those
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  modern idols. When the winepress applies its
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  weight, all false refuges collapse.
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  The intellect cannot solve a terminal illness.
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  The bank account cannot bribe the grave.
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  God removes the earthly props so we fall fully onto the solid
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  rock of Christ. He orchestrates this Crucible so
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  our only option is to abandon self trust.
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  So what does this all mean? I have to push back a bit here
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  because to an honor listener, this sounds harsh.
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  I understand why it sounds that way to the natural mind.
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  If God is truly the father of Murray, how do we reconcile that
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  title with a God who intentionally decrees an event
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  that crushes his children to the point of despair?
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  We reconcile it by understanding the goal of divine Providence.
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  God's primary goal is not our temporary earthly ease.
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  It is our eternal holiness and our absolute reliance on Him.
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  Yes. God kills our self-confidence to
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  give us a resurrection faith. A faith built on earthly ease is
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  incredibly fragile. It shatters the moment a real
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  tragedy strikes. But a faith forged in the
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  furnace of affliction cannot be shaken.
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  The Father of Mercy sees that our self-reliance is a lethal
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  poison. So leaving us in our autonomy
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  would lead to eternal ruin. The crushing is like a surgical
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  removal of a deadly idol. Exactly.
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  I mean that is absolutely right. A surgeon cuts into a patient to
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  remove a tumor, causing temporary pain to save their
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  life. He is not acting out of malice,
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  but profound wait out of massive fatherly love.
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  Right, the Father of Mercies ordains the weight of the wine
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  press to squeeze the idol of self-reliance out of our hearts.
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  Which brings us to the doctrine of union with Christ.
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  The purpose of this severe Providence is to drive us to the
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  only true source of comfort. Paul talks about sharing
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  abundantly in Christ's sufferings.
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  These are not random events, they are participatory.
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  Christ is the quintessential sufferer of the New Covenant.
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  As believers belong to Him, they should expect the world to
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  reject them. The servant is not greater than
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  the master. We have to strongly contrast
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  this text with the false prosperity gospel today.
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  Yeah, that false teaching claims that having enough faith removes
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  trials. It promises continuous health
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  and wealth. But Paul proves that the trial
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  is the very location where God's comfort is most heavily
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  experienced and. From a cessationist perspective,
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  we also have to firmly reject the mysticism that infiltrates
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  these discussions. Absolutely.
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  When believers are under intense pressure, they are tempted to
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  seek new revelations or inward voices.
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  They look for a subjective sign in the sky to validate that God
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  is still with them. But true consolation is found
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  objectively in the sufficient written word of God.
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  The passage centers on the God who raises the dead.
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  Because Christ satisfied divine justice on the cross, our
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  afflictions are no longer penal wrath.
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  They are no longer judicial punishment for our sins.
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  Christ drank that cup to the dregs.
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  For the justified believer, suffering is fatherly
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  discipline. It is redemptive conformity to
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  the image of the Sun. The empty tomb is the
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  theological engine that turns crushing into comfort.
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  It is like finding the antidote hidden inside the venom itself.
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  The suffering does not prove God's absence.
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  It is the exact mechanism he uses to deliver the cure.
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  You get bitten by a venomous snake and the anti venomous
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  synthesize from that very poison.
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  The trial is the delivery system for Grace.
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  The crushing pressure forces the extraction of self-reliance,
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  leaving only space for Christ. But how does focusing on the
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  literal, historical resurrection of Christ change our daily
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  endurance? Say someone is sitting in the
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  hospital waiting room. Focusing on the historical
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  resurrection shifts lifts our gaze from the temporary to the
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  eternal. Because if Christ was just a
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  moral philosopher who stayed in the tomb, our suffering is
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  meaningless. Right, but because he bodily
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  conquered death, it guarantees he has total authority over the
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  physical and spiritual realm. So when you face unbearable
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  pressure, focusing on the empty tomb reminds you that God
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  defeated the final enemy. He is more than capable of
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  managing your present affliction.
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  It stops you from trying to manufacture your own hope.
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  You rest in the completed work of the Savior.
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  Your endurance is fueled by the objective reality that your king
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  lives. And you are legally and
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  spiritually united to him. This union is never meant to
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  stay private, though. Right.
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  It naturally overflows into our duties within the church.
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  This moves us to the third use of the law.
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  Guiding our grateful obedience within the Covenant community.
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  The comfort we receive is instrumental.
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  It is given so that we can comfort others.
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  It is not terminal. Believers must move from
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  spiritual narcissism, being consumed by our own pain, to an
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  outward facing ministry. Paul makes this explicit in
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  verse 11. He highlights corporate prayer,
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  saying You also must help us by prayer.
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  The church participates in God's delivering work through
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  intercessory prayer. There is a multiplication effect
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  the. Prayers of many lead to the
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  Thanksgiving of many. It creates a cycle of doxology
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  within the congregation. And if we connect this to the
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  bigger picture, that cycle completely destroys modern
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  individualism. In the West, we view religion as
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  a private transaction. We treat the church like a
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  spiritual gas station. We fill up our personal tangs
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  and drive off alone. But Paul portrays the church as
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  a tightly knit, interdependent Organism.
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  Prayer is not passive well wishing, it is a vital means of
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  grace and genuine assistance. Paul, an apostle with massive
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  authority, acknowledges his need for the local church.
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  The tears of 1 believer become consolation for the whole body.
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  When God comforts you, that comfort is placed into your
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  hands as a stewardship. You are equipped to find a
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  brother or sister being crushed in their own wine press and
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  minister that same comfort. Here's where it gets really
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  interesting. In our highly individualized
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  self help culture, the instinct is to isolate when hurting.
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  We retreat to our private islands and hide our pain to
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  maintain an illusion of control. So how does a listener
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  practically shift from viewing their pain as a private island
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  to seeing it as a corporate stewardship?
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  The shift happens when you recognize your covenantal
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  identity. You are not a solitary consumer
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  of grace. You are a living stone built
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  into a spiritual house. Practically, you have to fight
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  the urge to withdraw. When you are suffering, you
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  continue to gather with the Saints on the Lord's Day.
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  You allow the body to pray for you.
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  It means being honest about your burdens with your elders and
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  fellow members. And once you receive that divine
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  fortification, you intentionally look for others in distress.
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  You stop asking why is this happening to me and start asking
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  how is God preparing me to assist someone else.
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  You take the objective truths of God's absolute sovereignty and
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  speak them to a fellow believer despairing of life.
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  You move from isolation to intercession, leveraging your
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  scars for the benefit of the body of Christ.
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  Bringing all this down to your immediate reality, the central
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  theme is clear. God empties us of ourselves to
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  fill us with His Son. Every crushed hope is an
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  orchestration by the Father of mercies to prepare you for
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  eternity. We see this most clearly in the
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  sacraments. The theological discussion
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  transitions perfectly to the Lord's Supper.
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  The visible word confirms the audible proclamation.
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  At the table we see the ultimate proof of Divine Mercy, the
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  broken body of Christ. He was crushed in the ultimate
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  winepress of God's wrath. So that we might be consoled, He
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  drank the cup of divine judgment.
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  So our afflictions are changed into instruments of grace.
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  The bread and the wine point directly to the cross and the
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  empty tube. Verifying that our deliverance
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  is secured by His blood, we are pointed away from our own
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  strength. So consider the specific trial
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  crushing you right now. Think about the pressure point
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  in your life that feels completely unbearable.
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  What if that exact pressure point is not the place where God
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  has abandoned you? But the precise anvil where he
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  is forging your ability to save someone else from despair next
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  year. Thank you for taking this deep
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  dive with us. Goodbye.