Dispensationalism – Why Should I Care?

"This is the record that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life," 1 John 5:11-12. "He who believes on Him is not condemned: but he who believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God," John 3:18. "For there is no other Name under heaven given among men and whereby we must be saved," Acts 4:12. "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and not of yourselves it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast," Ephesians 2:8-9, "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing is able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord," Romans 8:38-39. "For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to Whom be the glory forever," Romans 11:26." Amen.

Before we begin our study this morning let's go to the Lord in prayer: Father, we are so thankful we can be here today. Your Word is such a comfort. It is a source for us because it is truth, because it is Your Mind; it is your thinking and it reveals to us Who you are, who we are, and how we are to live in conformity and consistency with Your creation. Father, as we begin a new study this morning and we begin a new series; we look forward to what we will learn about Your plan and Your purposes for the human race and for us individually. That we might learn to live for You and not for ourselves; and we pray this in Christ's Name, Amen.

Dispensationalism: now that doesn't sound like a 'user friendly' word. It's not a term that we can intuit its meaning; neither can we be too successful at understanding its significance through the normal lexical analysis. If you look at the word dispensationalism, does it have something to do with dispensing? Yes it does, but you are probably not going to come up with it just by analyzing the word. Does it have to do with a dispensation, sort of a get our of jail free card so to speak, when you hear it used in a phrase like a papal dispensation? So what exactly is this word dispensationalism? As a result of the fact that this is a little bit of an antiquity in terms of the word, an antiquated usage; for many Christians its meaning remains opaque. When they hear the word their brain fogs over. Nevertheless, for hundreds of thousands of these same Christians, they have been exposed through popular literature, books such as Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth, fictional works, such as the Left Behind series, by Tim LaHaye, and by numerous sermons and Bible studies conducted where the pastors or the Bible teachers never use any form of technical vocabulary; yet they still teach the basic principles of dispensationalism.

I remember a conversation I had with a family friend some ten years ago where I used the term dispensationalism and she looked at me as if I had just lost my head. This was a woman who should have known better. She had a couple of brothers who were missionaries in a major conservative denomination. She had spent her life growing up in church and had been in all kinds of Bible studies; and yet the term dispensationalism was as foreign to her as any other deep theological term. So the term itself seems a little off footing for some people, so we need to somehow try to unscrew the inscrutable in this series.

Millions of Bible students over the last two hundred years have had their soul enlightened through the discovery of dispensational truth. For many of them the apparently murky message of the Bible suddenly cleared as they learned to interpret the Bible in a consistent literal manner; a manner consistent with the plain, normal use of language, which is really the foundation of dispensational truth. So this morning, in light of the fact that we're about to begin our annual Bible conference for Chaffer seminary; I want to do two things with this message:

1. The first is to provide an introduction to what we will learn during the coming few days in our conference related to dispensationalism.

2. And second, this is the introduction to the new series that we're going to continue on Tuesday nights now that we have finished our Acts series this last week.

So, following this week we will be in this series on Tuesday nights. It is something of a redo of a series that I taught back in 2000 when I was at Preston City Bible Church. But as with many of the series I taught there that are available now only in audio format; this needs to be in a visual format. Because, as many of you know, because you have learned dispensational charts since you were knee high to a grasshopper; this is a visual-based series. It is helpful to have visuals and charts in order to work our way through an understanding of dispensations. Also, over the past 14 years I have learned a thing or two more than when I taught this 14 years ago. There is a lot that goes on, but this is still going to be a basic series. I am not going to get into a lot of the more advanced issues related to dispensationalism. It is something that we all need to understand a little more clearly as to why we believe what we believe.

So this morning, by way of introduction, I want to begin by addressing the question(s):

1. Dispensationalism, why should I care?

2. What is the significance of dispensationalism?

3. Why is it important to my spiritual life?

To begin we need to at least have a basic working definition; so that for those of you who may be unfamiliar with this term you can at least have some concept of what we are talking about as we work our way through this message. We will come back in the next message and drill down a little bit on the term dispensationalism. If you have been brought up on a modern translation, you will look in vain for this word in your concordance; because it has usually been replaced in the more modern translations from the New American Standard to the New International Version with the phrase 'administration,' which is also an accurate translation of the Greek. But the old King James Version used the term 'dispensation' accurately. So that term is usually linked to a little more antiquated translation of the Bible; although it is one that many of us grew up on and love. But terms like that no longer exist in our Bible; so we need to figure out what this means. We will get into that in the next lesson.

So for a brief working definition: Dispensationalism is a theological system. Now I am going to explain a lot about what I mean by that in the coming lessons. But that is an important issue and an extremely pregnant phrase because there is a debate among and has been a debate among dispensational scholars and writers, pastors, and theologians, over the past twenty or thirty years as to whether or not dispensationalism is a system of hermeneutics or a system of theology. I am telling you this because you may recognize this a few times in the coming conference as you hear the speakers that there may be references to this.

The difference is, if it is a system of hermeneutics then it is a way of interpreting the Bible. If it is a theology then it is the result of a hermeneutic or a system of interpretation. What we would say as dispensationalists, although there are some who would disagree with us; it is not a system of interpretation. It is a theology. The system of interpretation is one that has been understood at the foundation of protestant evangelical theology since the Protestant Reformation in 1517; and that is the principle of a literal, plain interpretation of Scripture. That the language of Scripture should be understood in its normal every day use, normal every day language. It is not something special. It is not a special system of interpretation; it is the result of consistently applying a literal interpretation to the Scripture.

So that is why I start off with this. It is a theological system, which understands that God's sovereignly governs the history of the human race through a sequence of divinely directed administrations.

Now for many of you, when you think of dispensations and dispensationalism, the first thing that pops into your mind is a chart of God's plan for the ages. So for many pew sitters, when they think of the word dispensation, the first thing they think of is a timeline. But time has nothing to do with the term dispensation. The term dispensation form the Greek OIKONOMIA, where we get our word 'economy,' is a word that emphasizes administration, not time. But that administration takes place within a time frame. So we think that in terms of a timeline, but time is not part of the semantic meaning of OIKONOMIA. So it is has to do with God's governing or administrating human history through a sequence of divinely directed administrations marked by distinct periods of time as He works out His plan to destroy sin and evil.

Now you won't find that last part in a lot of your definitions of dispensationalism, but it brings in the fact that dispensationalism for many people usually emphasizes that it is a philosophy of history; that that is part of it and that is very much a part of what dispensationalism provides for us. (It) is an understanding of the meaning and purpose of history; but when you think of the words 'purpose of history,' that means history is going somewhere. Well where is history going? What is the meaning of history? What is the meaning of our life because we often use the term 'meaning of history' when we think of the broad scope, the broad themes of history? But each of our lives is a small part of history; you and I each make up a different little strand, a little different current that is in the broad stream of history. So, that history is going somewhere. It has a purpose; it has a destiny; and that destiny is God is going to end sin and evil.

This relates it ultimately back to, as we will see in a minute, back to the angels. And what we refer to as the angelic conflict or the satanic rebellion or spiritual warfare; there are different terms that are used. And often you have heard that part of the purpose of human history is to resolve the angelic conflict. I bet not one person here could give me an accurate understanding or definition of what that means, 'to resolve the angelic conflict.' That is one of those phrases that sound good. It sounds heavy. I've said it all my life. What does it mean though? It means that once sin and evil entered into the universe through the fall of Satan; God has to resolve that problem by ultimately ending it and removing it from His creation. So that is the ultimate goal of history; (it) is to remove and destroy sin and evil from God's creation.

So that is our working definition; it is understanding God's plan and purposes for not just human history, but as human history relates to that broader idea of the angelic conflict. So, what are some distinctive(s) about dispensationalism?

1. First of all, dispensationalism begins with Scripture. Dispensationalism begins with Scripture.

Now that is a very important concept, the starting point, the building block, the foundation for dispensationalism is Scripture. Now what I mean by that is that even though other systems of theology; such as, covenant theology, which is usually the system that is thought of in contrast to dispensationalism; but there are also other forms of theology. There is Lutheran theology; there is Roman Catholic theology; there are other forms that are in many ways closely related to covenant theology, but they are not covenant theology per say. We will get into a definition of that a little later on. But there are other theological systems that affirm the infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture; and they too would assert that their starting point is Scripture.

But we have to be careful in all areas of life; (careful) that a lot of people say and claim things that they don't actually do. These systems do not actually demonstrate that they are consistently built upon Scripture. In fact, we see in covenant theology and these others that they have very subtly imported philosophical ideas that they have then imposed or read into the text. That is what is called deductive theology; whereas, dispensationalism is inductive; so Scriptural dispensationalism begins with a high view of Scripture, an extremely high view of Scripture. We believe that the Scripture is the infallible, inerrant message from God to the human race. We are not unique in this, but it is the way we understand that that is important. The way we try to consistently understand and interpret that.

So dispensationalism begins with a high view of Scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that "All Scripture is," the translation usually says, "given by inspiration," but the Greek word, THEOPNEUSTOS, means to be "breathed out by God." God originated Scripture, which He exhaled, so to speak, using that imagery of God breathing, God exhales it into the mind of the writer of Scripture, who inhales from God and exhales through his writing. God is not dictating Scripture to the writer of Scripture, but He is governing the thought processes in the writing of the human author of Scripture in such a way that without voiding or violating the individual volition, personality, writing, style, education background of the individual writer, He guarantees what the writer of Scripture penned in the original autographs was without error; and therefore, it is the very Word of God.

We also have passage like 2 Peter 1:20-21 that tells us that this is done through the Holy Spirit. That in 2 Peter 1:21 "Holy men of God spoke," in reference to the Old Testament (OT) prophets, "as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." The word there for moving is also used of the way wind moves a sailing vessel across the ocean. It is an unseen influence, but it is the determinative influence. So it is the Holy Spirit of God that directs the writers of Scripture. So we learn that the Word of God is a Word from God not a Word about God. But how are we to understand the Bible? How are we to understand what God is saying to us? There are competing views of interpretation. The view that dominated Christianity almost exclusively from about AD 300 until 1517 in the Protestant Reformation was a view called 'allegory.' So there was very little opportunity to develop what we think of as dispensational truth because they were not looking at the Scripture through the lens of a correct way of interpretation. It was symbolic; it was allegorical; it wasn't literal; it wasn't to be understood according to the rules of normal language.

2. So the second distinctive of dispensationalism is our view of interpretation. We believe in a consistent plain literal interpretation. Other systems will emphasize little interpretation, but are not consistent when it comes to areas of prophesy, areas related to Israel and the church. They suddenly think that terms like Israel and the church have certain allegorical or metaphorical meanings. So that Israel does not literally mean Israel, the church does not always literally mean the church, but Israel can mean the church and the church can mean Israel. And that is why people become confused. The language is played with. Once you play with the meaning of words then you can make anything mean anything; and you lose its absolute sense. So we have an emphasis on a consistent literal interpretation. This is referred to as the golden rule of interpretation; that when the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense seek no other sense. Therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context – context rules here.

When the Word of God is speaking in a non-literal or symbolic way, it is clear from the passage. The context gives us clues, verbal clues or contextual clues to tell us that it is not literal. Otherwise, it should be taken literally. So it should be taken literally unless the facts of the immediate context, study in light of related passages, and axiomatic in fundamental truths indicate clearly otherwise. In other words, the default is always to a literal normal use of language unless there is a clear, clear reason not to do that. Unfortunately, there are many systems that don't do that. So as we look at the Scriptures we are emphasizing this consistent plain interpretation.

Another thing that we emphasize in dispensationalism is progressive; the progressive nature of revelation. That God only reveals some truth early on to Adam. He revealed more to Noah. He revealed more later on to Abraham. He revealed more to Moses. He revealed more to Isaiah; He revealed more to Zechariah; He revealed more through Jesus Christ; and revealed more through the Apostle Paul and revealed things to the Apostle Paul that had never been revealed to others before. The term that is used in Scripture is "mystery." Not that it is like a "who done it." Something you have to figure out, but mystery has the idea of a previously unknown or unrevealed truth. So we often use the term 'mystery doctrine of the church age' because the church was not prophesized or know in the OT. It came of a result of Israel's rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. So we refer to the present age as sort of a parenthesis in God's plan before He goes back to His plan for Israel.

So as we look at dispensationalism and the understanding of its progress of revelation, it helps us to understand certain distinctives in Scripture. That is a key phrase that you will hear from dispensationalism "is distinguishing different things." Dispensationalists are known for creating the list, for distinguishing certain things from other things and contrasts and pointing these things out in Scripture. Here are some of the things that we have to come to grips with as we look as these distinctives of Scripture.

1. First of all we see that dispensationalism develops from an inductive study of Scripture. As part of our understanding of progressive revelation and a literal hermeneutic, we see that our understanding is derived from Scripture inductively rather than deductively. Now what that means is that we look to Scripture to see what the Bible says. We try to avoid reading things into Scripture. Now over the course of time, since dispensationalism has developed as a clearly defined system, which has only been since about the 1830s with John Nelson Darby, who was formally an Anglican pastor; but he separated from the Anglican church and due to an injury, was put in bed for awhile; and while he convalesced he reread the Scriptures over and over again. As a result of his study of the Word certain things became very clear to him. It wasn't because he read and studied theology, but he went back to the Bible.

2. So dispensationalism from its inception has been a 'back to the Bible movement.' So rather than imposing certain philosophical ideas upon Scripture, dispensationalism derives from a study of Scripture itself. So it recognizes this progressive nature of God's revelation to man. So we must interpret Scripture in light of that. That helps us to understand some of these distinctions. For example, early in Jesus' ministry He told His disciples to only take the gospel to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but not to the Samaritans or the Gentiles, Matthew 10:5-6. But later on, Jesus commanded His disciples to preach the gospel to all creatures. This is seen in Mark 16:15 and Matthew 28:18-20.

So why does Jesus make a distinction? Why does He send the disciples to Israel first and then to all people later on? Also, we recognize that at one time believers were commanded to bring literal animal sacrifices to one particular temple, but no longer do believers bring animal sacrifices to a temple. Why is that different? Is God contradicting Himself? At one time adulterers were to be punished by death according to Leviticus 20:10. But this is no longer expected in the New Testament (NT), 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. In the OT we read that murderers were not to be punished with death at the beginning. When Cain killed Abel God said He'd put a mark on him so that no one would harm him; and yet later on in the Noahic covenant God mandates the death penalty for murderers. This is reaffirmed in the NT in Romans 13:1-7. In Leviticus there is a mandated dietary law, but in Acts 10 those dietary restrictions are removed. Why is this? We understand this because there is differences in the progress of revelation and that God has different plans and purposes in different periods of history. So this helps us to understand God's plan and purposes.

3. The third thing that we come to understand is that dispensational theology orients us to the entirety of God's plan for all of God's sentient creatures. Now that term means those that are morally responsible and accountable and who can think and reason. That applies to both angels and to the human race. So, dispensational theology orients us to the entirety of God's plan and for all of His sentient creatures, both angels and the human race.

In contrast covenant theology says that the purpose God has in history is only redemptive. It narrows the scope to merely redemption, which doesn't include anything about the angels because angels can't be redeemed. There is no redemption solution spoken of in Scripture. This makes a distinction in terms of dispensationalism. Dispensationalism has a broader sense. In fact, a number of years ago, after reading my book on Spiritual Warfare, a friend said, 'Have you ever noticed that covenant theologians never or rarely talk about spiritual warfare.' Well that was true until recently, but that is because historically, in covenant theology, the purpose is only the redemption of mankind. They really do tend to ignore everything related to angels, not that they deny it, they just don't talk about it. That doesn't fit their framework for understanding the Scripture.

1. So in dispensationalism our understanding of God's plan for the ages begins with His first creation, the angels, and the first failure of creaturely volitional responsibility, the fall of Lucifer, which is described in Isaiah 14:12-14 and Ezekiel 28:12-21. In Isaiah 14:12-14 God defines and lists the sins of Satan that he is fallen from heaven because he said in his heart, "I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." Lucifer sinned because he chose to sin according to his moral responsibility. He disobeyed God and expressed his desire to be like God. That plunged the angels into a fall. Those angels, approximately a third of them that followed Satan, were a part of the angelic rebellion or the angelic revolt. This established a conflict before the creation of the human race.

2. So our second point is to understand that the fall of Adam is directly related to this angelic rebellion. This is seen in Genesis 3:1-7 because it is Lucifer, now known as Satan or the devil, who entered into the serpent to tempt Eve first and then as a result, Adam sinned. So human sin is directly tied to Satan's fall. That connects the two. This is important to understand.

3. The third thing we see in Scripture is that the solution to spiritual death, which is salvation of the human race, is connected to the defeat of Satan. This is announced in Genesis 3:15 when God said that He would put enmity between "you," that is the serpent or Satan, and the "woman and between your seed," the seed of the serpent, "and her seed," the seed of the woman; a reference to the Messiah. So that throughout the OT the focus of salvation was on the promised redemption through the seed of the woman or the Messiah.

4. Then fourth we see that the defeat of Satan is directly related to the coming of the Savior. The Messiah bruises the serpent on the head. It is a fatal wound. It is relates in about four different ways in the Scripture:

a. First, Satan tempts the Messiah, who is referred to as the seed of the woman. This is at the beginning of our Lord's public ministry.

b. Second, we see that Satan is instrumental in the arrest and crucifixion of the Messiah. It is Satan who personally indwells Judas Iscariot and tempts him to betray the Lord Jesus Christ, which he does. It is that betrayal that leads to his arrest and his crucifixion.

c. A third thing we see in Satan's involvement in the death of Christ is that the final victory of our Lord at His return in the future leads to the final defeat and incarceration of the devil and his angels the demons. Now this is brought out in a couple of different passages.

Usually we go to Revelation for this, but I ran across a passage in Isaiah this last week that I've probably read I don't know how many times; and suddenly realized that this is talking about the incarceration of the demons and Satan during the millennial kingdom. The earlier part of this context talks about the judgment in end times known as the day of the Lord concluding with the statement in Isaiah 24:19-23 "the earth is violently broken; the earth is split open; the earth is shaken exceedingly." This is a description of those judgments that occur surrounding the day of the Lord at the end of the Tribulation.

"The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard; it shall totter like a hut; its transgression shall be heavy upon it and it will fall and not rise again. It shall come to pass in that day that the LORD will punish on high the host of the exalted ones," Isaiah 24:21. It is not talking about the judgment on mankind; that is talking about the judgment of the hosts of heaven, the demons. The term "host of heaven" always refers to the angelic hosts, the angelic armies, and this is a description of the fallen angels. "He will punish on high the Host of the exalted ones and on the earth the kings of the earth. They will be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit and they will be shut up in the prison after many days they will be punished," Isaiah 24:21-22. So the many days refers to the Millennial Kingdom. They are imprisoned first and then they are, we learned from Revelation 20, then they are released and then they are judged and cast into the lake of fire; concluding in Isaiah 24:23, "Then the moon will be disgraced; the sun ashamed, for the LORD of host will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem." So this connects it to a millennial fulfillment.

In Revelation 20:1-3 we read that Satan is going to be chained in the bottomless pit. That goes right back to the Isaiah 24 passage. Revelation 20:2 we read that the angel will lay hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan and bound him for a thousand years and cast him in the bottomless pit and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years are finished and after these things he must be released for a little while. Then he will be cast into the lake of fire. So we see that the death of Satan is directly related to the coming of the Savior.

4. And in this last fourth way we see that at the cross sin and evil are defeated as Christ pays the penalty for sin, reveals the love of God, the unconditional love of God for all mankind, in its greatest way at the cross with the provision of salvation.

So from all of this we learn that dispensationalism helps us to understand God's plan and purpose for history and the role that salvation plays ultimately within the broader scope of the angelic rebellion. This is also brought out in passages like Revelation 12, which describes in a panoramic way, the role of Satan and angels in not only the assault on the child that is born in Revelation 12:3, that is born to the woman who later flees into the wilderness, and that is Israel, so that also explains anti-Semitism and the hostility in history to the Jewish people.

Now finally, as we look at dispensational theology, do we recognize it that it provides a framework for understanding the meaning of life, suffering, and history? Just very briefly, the meaning of life is to serve God and to glorify Him. Part of this is seen in Genesis 1:28 where we are created to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it; and to have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. In Genesis 2:15 we read that the LORD GOD took the man Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and to keep it. We were created to serve God and to glorify Him. Because of sin suffering enters into the world; so dispensational theology helps us to understand the meaning of suffering.

The very first book written in the OT was not Genesis. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (the Pentateuch), were penned by Moses approximately between 1446-1406 BC during the time of the wilderness wanderings. But the first book written in the OT was the book of Job. What does the book of Job deal with? It deals with suffering. Who causes this undeserved suffering on Job? It is Satan. We see this in Job 1-2. So the first book that God has written, the first book of Scripture that God reveals is a book to explain to the human race why there is suffering, undeserved suffering in the human history. It is related directly to Satan and to the angelic conflict.

So with dispensationalism we also can come to a better understanding of the meaning of suffering in history as it connects to the angels and as it connects to God's plan and purposes in history. And that is the third area of explanation we get, is that dispensationalism provides us with a meaning for history. That history has a direction and a purpose. It's direction is positive. The reason I say that is because critics of dispensationalism, which holds to premillennialism often sarcastically refers to us as 'pessy millennialists.' We are pessimistic because we see that human history will lead to the Tribulation. But we don't stop with the Tribulation. The Tribulation ends with the return of Christ to establish his kingdom on the earth; and ultimately to completely vanquish evil and sin and to remove it from all human history and God will then create a new heavens and a new earth. So dispensationalism is ultimately positive. It is positive because ultimately God provides a solution.

The solution begins at the cross; and so for every individual there is a responsibility in terms of dealing with sin and evil in their own personal life and that is to look to the cross to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior in that He went to the cross to pay the penalty for sin, to die on the cross as our substitute, so that the penalty for sin, spiritual death, would be paid for and once again the issue comes back to individual volition and individual responsibility. For it is up to us to make the decision to accept Him or reject Him. John 1:12 says, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to be called the children of God, even to those who believe in His name;" and in Ephesians 2:8-9 we read, "For by grace you have been saved through faith." Faith is a personal exercise of your volition to trust in Christ. That salvation through faith is not of yourselves; that salvation "through faith… is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast."

Our personal responsibility before God is to accept Christ as our personal Savior. With our head bowed and our eyes closed. Father, we're thankful for this opportunity to look at this important teaching of Scripture that we refer to as a theology of dispensationalism; that we derived it from Scripture, a study of Your Word. That you have revealed these things to us; that You work in different ways and different periods of time all leading up to a final resolution of the presence of sin and evil in the universe. And Father, we pray for this congregation, for those who are here today, that if there is anyone here who has never resolved this problem in their own life that this is their opportunity to do so, the opportunity to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior. Jesus died on the cross for you. He paid the penalty for your sins. He made it possible for you to have eternal life. But first you must trust in Him and Him alone. Scripture says, "… there is no other Name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved," Acts 4:12. Jesus Christ is the only way. He said, "I Am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me," John 14:6. Now Father, we pray that you would challenge us with what we have studied today and that this may provide a foundation for us as we go forward to understand your plans and your purposes for history as revealed in Your Word; and we pray this in Christ Name, Amen.

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