The Beautiful Gospel That Allows You to Have the Holy Spirit Dwell in Your Heart] (Isaiah 9:6-7)
(Isaiah 9:6-7)
“For
unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government
will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful,
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the
increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the
throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with
judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of
the Lord of hosts will perform this.”
What allows the Holy Spirit to dwell in believers?
The beautiful gospel of the water and the Spirit
The beautiful gospel of the water and the Spirit
In
order to receive the Holy Spirit, we need to have faith in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit. Our Lord is named Wonderful, Counselor, and
Mighty God. Our Lord referred to Himself as the pathway to Heaven.
Jesus Christ presented everybody with the gift of the beautiful gospel.
However,
in this world, there are so many people who still live in darkness.
They try to escape from this darkness but because they do not know of
the beautiful gospel, they can never escape from their sins. Instead
they wither away from their belief in false doctrines. In contrast, for
those who seek the truth, they will encounter the beautiful gospel and
live the rest of their lives fulfilled with God’s blessings. I believe
it is God’s special blessing that allows me to help them find the
beautiful gospel and cleanse them of their sins.
Therefore,
freedom from sin would be impossible if it weren’t for His blessing. If
we have met the Lord and received the Holy Spirit then we are very much
blessed. Regrettably, many people are not aware that God’s blessing
comes from faith in this beautiful gospel.
God’s
blessing results from believing in the beautiful gospel that was given
to us by Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. Jesus is the One who saves
us from the sins of the world and blesses us with His mercy. No one
else can save us from our sins nor help us erase the guilt in our
hearts. Who could possibly save himself from his own sins and the pain
of eternal death?
God
tells us, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the
way of death” (Proverbs 16:25). People establish their own religions
and drive themselves toward destruction and death. Many religions boast
that they emphasize righteousness and show their own ways to save people
from their sins but it is only the gospel of the water and the Spirit,
which our Lord gave us, that can save us from all our sins. Only Jesus
is the Savior who can save sinners from their sins.
In
John 14:6, our Lord said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He
gave His own flesh and blood to those on their way to death. He also
referred to Himself as the way to true life. God says that if one does
not believe in Jesus’ beautiful gospel, he cannot enter the Kingdom of
Heaven.
We
must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, be forgiven for
our sins and believe that He is our Savior in order to enter the
Kingdom of Heaven.
Once in ancient Israel!
“Now
it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of
Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of
Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it,
but could not prevail against it” (Isaiah 7:1).
Israel
was originally one nation. However, Israel became divided into south
and north. The temple of God was in Jerusalem of Southern Judea, where
Rehoboam, the son of King Solomon, ruled. Later, Jeroboam, one of
Solomon’s servants, established another nation in the north and so
Israel became divided. From that time, faith in God deteriorated. The
deterioration of faith became the source of today’s heretical religions.
Jeroboam thus became the originator of heretics. He amended the law of
God because he needed to keep his throne and therefore, became the
father of heretics. He created a different religion for His people in
Israel, the Northern Kingdom and he even tried to invade Judah, the
Southern Kingdom. Almost 200 years passed by, but the hostile relations
between two kingdoms were unchanged.
However,
God spoke through Isaiah, “Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of
Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying, ‘Let us go up against
Judah and trouble it, and let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves,
and set a king over them, the son of Tabel.’ ─ thus says the Lord God:
‘It shall not stand, nor shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is
Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years
Ephraim will be broken, so that it will not be a people. The head of
Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If you
will not believe, surely you shall not be established’” (Isaiah 7:5-9).
At
that time, God prophesized through Isaiah to King Ahaz, but the king
had no faith in Him. Ahaz was merely worried that he wouldn’t even be
able to hold out against Syria’s army, but hearing about the invasion of
Syria and Israel in alliance with one another, he shivered in fear. But
a servant of God, Isaiah, came and told him, “In less than sixty-five
years, north Israel will be broken. And the evil conspiracy the two
kings have plotted will never come true.”
God’s
servant told King Ahaz to seek a sign from God. “Ask a sign for
yourself from the LORD your God; ask it either in the depth or in the
height above” (Isaiah 7:11). “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small
thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore,
the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive
and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:13-14).
This was His prophecy: That He would save His people from their sins.
Who is the enemy of God?
The
enemy of humanity is sin and sin originates from Satan. And who is the
Savior from our sins? The Savior is none other than Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. Man has fundamental weaknesses of flesh and therefore cannot
but commit sin. He is under Satan’s power. A great many people still
visit fortunetellers and try to live their lives exactly as these false
prophets instruct them. This is direct evidence that they are under
Satan’s control.
The
Lord gave Isaiah evidence of salvation, saying that a virgin would give
birth to a Son and name Him Immanuel. It was God’s plan to send Jesus
in the likeness of sinful flesh of a man and have Him save sinners from
Satan’s oppression. In accordance with the prophecy, Jesus came into
this world as a human being born of the virgin Mary.
If
Jesus had not come to us, we would still have been living under the
reign of Satan. But Jesus came into this world and was baptized by John
and died on the Cross in order to give us the beautiful gospel that
would save all sinners from their sins. Therefore, many people believed
in the beautiful gospel, received forgiveness for their sins and became
children of God.
Even
nowadays, many theologians argue as to whether Jesus Christ is God or
man. The conservative theologians say “Jesus is God,” but some New
Theologians retort by arguing that Jesus was Joseph’s illegitimate
child. What a lamentable assertion this is!
Some
New theologians say that they cannot believe that Jesus had the ability
to walk on water. They say, “Jesus actually walked on a low hill over
the horizon and His disciples, seeing Him from far away, thought He was
walking on water.” Present-day doctors of divinity who belong to the
schools of the New Theology aren’t all great men of theology. Most of
them choose to believe only what they can comprehend in the Bible.
To
give another example, the Bible says that Jesus fed 5,000 people with
two fish and five loaves of breads. But they remain very skeptical
regarding this miracle. They explain it in the following terms. “People
were following Jesus and were starving to death. So Jesus asked His
disciples to gather together all the leftover food. Then a child gave
Him his meal voluntarily, and all the other adults were touched and took
out their own food. So after they had gathered all the food together
and eaten, twelve baskets were left over.” These kinds of theologians
simply try to make God’s words fit their own very limited understanding.
Believing
in God’s truth is simply having faith in the beautiful gospel God gave.
Faith neither means believing one thing just because it seems to make
sense nor failing to believe in something else because it doesn’t.
Whether we can comprehend it or not, we must trust Him and accept His
words as they are written.
The
fact that Jesus came to us as the Son of Man means that He was sent to
save us from all our sins. Jesus, who is God, came to this earth to save
us. Isaiah had prophesied that He would come to us as the Son of Man,
born of a virgin.
In
Genesis 3:15, the Lord God said to the serpent, “And I will put enmity
between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall
bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” This means that God
had planned to send Jesus, in the appearance as a man, as our Savior to
save mankind from their sins.
In
the Bible, it is written, “‘O Death, where is your sting? O Hades,
where is your victory?’ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of
sin is the law” (1 Corinthians 15:55-56). The sting of death is sin.
When a man sins, death makes him its slave. But our Lord promised, “The
seed of the woman shall bruise your head.” This means Jesus would
destroy the sting of the sin that Satan brought.
Jesus
came into this world, was baptized to take away all the sins of the
world and was crucified and judged for them. He saved from their sins
all those who believe in the beautiful gospel. When Adam and Eve sinned,
God promised to save mankind from Satan’s power. In the modern world,
the enemy of God is those who do not believe in the beautiful gospel.
Why was Jesus born in this world?
God
gave us the law and the beautiful gospel to save us from our sins.
Under the law of God, people became sinners in His presence. Likewise,
the law was given so that people could come to know their sins. When
people became slaves to sin and to the law itself, our Lord came into
this world to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law.
Jesus
was born under the law. He was born in the age of the law. The reason
people needed the law was that they needed to know their sins in order
to receive forgiveness for them. People clean the dirt from their
clothes only when they realize they’re dirty. Likewise, in order to
recognize their sins, people should know the law of God. If there was no
law, there wouldn’t be any sense of sins, and Jesus would not have had
to come into this world.
If
you know the law of God, then you have a chance to meet Him. We knew of
the law and therefore were able to learn about our sins. Only after we
knew of our sin did Jesus Christ bring the beautiful gospel for us to
believe in. If God did not grant us the law, then we would not be
sinners and judgment would not exist. Thus, God gave us the law and
presented us with the beautiful gospel to save all sinners from their
sins.
The
law that must exist between the Creator and His creation is God’s law
of salvation. This is the law of love. God told man, “But of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat” (Genesis 2:17). This
was the law God granted us, and the law became the basis of the love
with which God saved us all from our sins. The law of salvation had its
foundation in the forgiveness of our sins. God tells us that He is our
Creator and that everything came to exist according to His will. This
means that God is the Absolute Being and that people should believe in
the law of salvation that was accomplished through the beautiful gospel.
The
Absolute God is absolutely good. God’s love for this world prompted Him
to sacrifice His only begotten Son, who became the Savior of all
sinners. If God made us and did not give us the beautiful gospel to save
us from our sins, we would have raised complaints against Him. But God
wanted to save us from our own destruction and therefore established the
law of salvation. Because of the law, we were able to realize our sins
and by looking at them directly, start to believe in Jesus’ beautiful
gospel. When we violate God’s word, we are manifested as sinners before
the law, and after all we sinners kneel down to beg for His mercy of
forgiveness of sin before God.
Jesus
was born of a woman and came into this world to save mankind from sin.
Jesus came into this world as a man to fulfill God’s plan for us. We
believe in His beautiful gospel. Therefore, we praise the Lord.
Some
complain, “Why did God make me so fragile that I fell so easily into
sin and have suffered so much for my wrongdoing?” But God never wanted
us to suffer. He allowed us to suffer because we were skeptical of
Jesus’ gospel. God gave us both suffering and the beautiful gospel so
that we would have the same power as Him as His children. This was His
plan.
But
the demons say, “No! No! God is a dictator! Go ahead and live as you
wish. Be independent! Make your fortunes through your own efforts!” The
demons also try to block mankind’s belief in God. But those who choose
to live apart from God are barriers to His plan for salvation. Jesus
came into this world and called those who are under the power of Satan
to renounce their sins. We should not live apart from God.
Man is born a sinner who is destined to Hell
There
is no truth on this earth that does not change. But the beautiful
gospel of Jesus is the unalterable truth. Therefore, people can depend
on that truth and be delivered from the power of Satan. Mankind
inherited the sins of Adam and Eve and without Christ’s intervention
would be doomed to the fires of Hell. Instead, thanks to His sacrifice,
man was blessed with the power to become a child of God. “Nevertheless
the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed” (Isaiah 9:1). God sent
His Son to this world and glorified those who believe in the beautiful
salvation.
“The
people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt
in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined”
(Isaiah 9:2). Today, this word comes true to you and me. By believing in
the beautiful gospel, we were blessed with eternal life, which we
cannot have on this earth. Jesus Christ saved mankind from all the sins
of the world and to those who believe in the beautiful gospel, He gave
eternal life and the Kingdom of Heaven.
He shed the beautiful light of the gospel on those who were hopeless
Man,
like a fog, exists in this world for a while but soon disappears. His
life is like that of annual plants and grass. Grass retains its life
force for only a few months during the year and disappears according to
the Providence of God. All is vanity in our lives as meaningless as this
grass. But God gave the beautiful gospel to our exhausted souls and
with His righteousness, made us His children. What an amazing grace this
is! Our meaningless lives became eternal lives thanks to God’s love and
we were also blessed with the right to become His children.
Here is the confession of a soul who was blessed with God’s grace by believing in the beautiful gospel.
“I
was born in a family that did not believe in God. Therefore, I was
brought up thinking it beautiful for my mother to pray to the gods of
heaven and earth for the well being of my family every morning with a
bowl of water in front of her. As I was growing up, I did not know of my
value or the reason for my existence, which made me believe that it
really didn’t matter whether I lived or died. Because I was unaware of
my worth, I lived in solitude.
This
kind of life exhausted me and so I rushed to get married. My married
life was a good one. I had nothing to wish for, so I lived a quiet and
serene life. Then I had a child and from that time I found that love
started to appear in me. I began to lose my selfish desires but I also
feared the loss of those closest to me.
Thus,
I began searching for God. I was fragile and incapable and therefore,
needed an Absolute Being to keep watch over my loved ones. So I started
to attend church but my faith was little different from that of my
mother as she prayed in front of the bowl of water ─ my prayer was only
based on vague fears and hopes.
Once,
I attended one of the small meetings held at the local church and while
I was praying, tears started to fall from my eyes. I was embarrassed
and tried to stop crying, but the tears continued to fall. The people
around me laid their hands on my head and congratulated me for receiving
the Holy Spirit. But I was bewildered. I wasn’t even familiar with
God’s words and my faith in Him was only vague, so I had no confidence
that this force was of the Holy Spirit.
The
church that I attended was associated with the Pentecostal-Charismatic
Movement, and many had experiences like me and almost everybody spoke in
tongues. One day, I was invited to a revival meeting led by a pastor
who people said had been filled with the Holy Spirit. The pastor
gathered numerous people at the church and said He would heal someone’s
sinusitis as it was in his spiritual powers to do so. However, I thought
sinusitis was an illness easily healed in hospitals, so I was more
interested in how he had received the Holy Spirit. But after the pastor
appeared to succeed in his attempts at healing, he began to boast that
he could predict whether a high school student would succeed in his or
her university entrance exam or not. A lot of people praised his powers
as if they were God’s.
But
I could not understand him. And I could not say that whatever power the
pastor had, had anything to do with the Holy Spirit. I didn’t think it
was important whether he could heal sinusitis or forecast someone’s
success on an exam. So, I could not take his apparent miracles as the
works of the Holy Spirit.
The
power and love of God that I had in mind was different from what I saw.
For that reason, I stopped attending that church and avoided the people
who believed in the pastor’s powers. After that, I attended a quieter
church, which I chose because I believed it dealt more with God’s words.
I learned of the law and through it that I was very unrighteous. God
became the object of my fear and I learned that I could not look
honorable in His presence and that His Spirit appeared to be neglecting
me.
In
Isaiah 59:1-2 it is written, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened,
that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your
iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden
His face from you, so that He will not hear.” This appeared to fit my
situation. It was impossible for me to become His child and receive the
Holy Spirit because everything I did or thought was sinful.
I
feared God and so consistently gave prayers of repentance. No one told
me to do so, but I wanted to stand honorably in front of God. Because I
was sinful, I earnestly offered even more prayers of repentance. But
these prayers failed to wash away my sins. All I did was show Him my
thoughts and sincerity so my sins were still in me. From that time, I
began to issue complaints against God. I wished to be perfect in His
eyes but I couldn’t be perfect right away, so my complaints and sins
piled up.
During
this time of religious confusion, my father had a stroke. He suffered
for 40 days in operating rooms and hospital beds before he passed away.
But I could not once pray for my father. I was a sinner, so I thought
that if I prayed for my father, his pain would only worsen. I was
distressed at my lack of faith and I wished to follow God but couldn’t,
so I continued to complain and at last turned away from Him. My
religious life ended like that. I thought if I believed in Him, His
Spirit would dwell in me and I would find peace, but that was not the
case. After that, my life became even more meaningless and I lived in
fear and unhappiness.
But
the Lord did not desert me. He caused me to encounter a believer who
had truly received the Holy Spirit through God’s words. I learned from
this person that Jesus had taken our sins through His baptism by John
and that He had been judged for them on the Cross. Therefore, all the
sins of this world, including mine, were all forgiven. When I heard and
came to understand this, I could see that all my sins were cleansed. God
helped me receive forgiveness for my sins, gave me the blessing of the
Holy Spirit and granted me a peaceful life. He silently led me, gave me a
clear understanding of good and evil and endowed me with the power to
overcome the temptations of this world. He answered my prayers and
helped me live a righteous and worthwhile life. I truly thank God for
giving me the Holy Spirit.”
Every
one of us is blessed with the Lord’s grace and is capable of receiving
the Holy Spirit. I thank the Lord for giving us His beautiful gospel.
God blessed the righteous with such happiness. The hearts of the
righteous are joyous. The Lord granted us eternal happiness. We know how
precious God’s salvation, love and grace are and we are thankful for
them. The Lord gave us happiness through the beautiful gospel of Heaven.
This is something that cannot be bought with money. God sent us the
Holy Spirit as well as the beautiful gospel in order to make us jubilant
and upright. The beautiful gospel is what makes our lives blessed. The
Lord gave us the beautiful gospel and He is happy that the righteous
ones enjoy a blessed life.
As
it is recorded in Luke, Mary said, “For with God nothing will be
impossible… Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me
according to your word” (Luke 1:37-38). The moment Mary believed in the
beautiful words God, as spoken by His angel, Jesus was conceived.
Likewise, through their faith, the righteous conceive the beautiful
gospel in their hearts.
“For
you have broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian” (Isaiah 9:4). Satan
caused all the distress, illnesses, and oppression in our lives but we
are far too weak to overcome him. But God loves us and so He fought
against Satan and defeated him.
“For
unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government
will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful,
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the
increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the
throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with
judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of
the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6-7).
God
promised to glorify us as His children through the beautiful gospel
that Jesus brought. He defeated Satan in accordance with His promise and
delivered us from the power of Satan.
The
Lord came to the earth and with His power promised to take away all the
darkness of sin. So we also call our Lord the Wonderful one. He has
done many wonderful things for us. God’s decision to come to this world
as the Son of Man was mysterious. The Lord says, “Come now, and let us
reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool”
(Isaiah 1:18).
The
Lord promised to save us from our sins and give us eternal forgiveness.
Jesus is referred to as the Wonderful one and, accordingly, He has done
miraculous works for us. “His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor,
Mighty God.” God, as our Counselor, planned our salvation with the
beautiful gospel and carried out His plan to save us eternally from our
sins.
The
foolishness of God is wiser than man. It was His wisdom for Jesus to be
baptized by John and to die on the Cross in order the save us from all
our sins. This is mysterious work that He did for us, but it is the law
of love that saved us from all our sins. The law of love is the gospel
of truth that leads us to receive the Holy Spirit through the water and
His blood.
The
Lord says in Isaiah 53:10, “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; he
has put Him to grief.” Jesus made His soul an offering for sin in order
to do the will of God. He passed on the sins of the world to His Son,
Jesus Christ, and had Him suffer the pain of crucifixion in order that
He would be judged for them. This is the beautiful gospel that saved
mankind from their sins once and for all. Christ offered His life for
us, paid the wages of sin and blessed us with salvation.
The sacrificial system of God
How many sins did Jesus take through His baptism by John?
Past, present and future sins from the time of the beginning to that of the end
Past, present and future sins from the time of the beginning to that of the end
The
Bible speaks of an offering that once resulted in forgiveness for a
day’s sins. A sinner had to bring an animal without blemish and lay his
hands on the animal’s head in order to pass on his sins. Then he had to
kill the sacrifice and hand its blood to the priest. And the priest took
some of the animal’s blood and put it on the horns of the altar of
burnt offerings and poured the remainder at the base of the alter.
In
this way, he could be forgiven for a day’s sins. The laying on of hands
was the way for a sinner to pass on his sins to the sacrifice. Those
who offered their sacrifices in accordance with the sacrificial system
could receive forgiveness for their sins. The sacrificial system was the
way we atoned for our sins in the time before Jesus took away all sins.
God
also had appointed the Day of Atonement so that the people of Israel
could make atonement for the sins committed over the course of an entire
year. The sacrifice took place on the tenth day of the seventh month.
God appointed Aaron, the high priest, as the one who passed on the
year’s sins of all Israelites to the scapegoat. The ritual was carried
out in accordance with God’s plan. The forgiveness of sins came from His
wisdom and love for mankind. This is His power.
“The
horns of the altar of burnt offering” stands for “the Books of
Judgment” (Revelation 20:12), where the sins of mankind are recorded.
The reason the priest put the blood of the sin offering on the horns of
the altar of burnt offerings was to erase the names and their
transgressions written in the Book of Judgment. The blood is the life of
all flesh. The sacrifice took away the Israelite’s sins and the
scapegoat was killed to pay the wages of sin. God had them kill a
sacrificial animal to accept the judgment for their sins. This was a
sign of His wisdom and love for us.
Jesus
Christ came to this world as an offering for sin in order to accomplish
God’s plan. Jesus took away the sins of the world through His
sacrifice. If we look at the words of this promise, we see, “Yet it
pleased the LORD to bruise Him; he has put Him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10)
or “He took away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
“For
unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government
will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called the Wonderful,
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the
increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the
throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with
judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of
the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6-7).
The
mysterious and wonderful promise was that Jesus would carry out God’s
will and give all believers peace by taking away the sins of the world.
God’s promise was a promise of love, by which He planned to bring peace
to all mankind. This is what God promised us, and this is what He did.
Matthew
1:18 says, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His
mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was
found with child of Holy Spirit.” “Jesus” means Savior, the one who will
save His people from their sins. “Christ” means the King Anointed, King
Jesus had no sins, and He is our King and Savior who was born of a
virgin in order to save His people from their sins.
“‘And
she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He
will save His people from their sins.’ So all this was done that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet”
(Matthew 1:21-22).
Jesus took all the sins of the world along with Him through His baptism
It
is written in Matthew 3:13-16, “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at
Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I
need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’ But Jesus
answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is
fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him. When
He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and
behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.”
John
the Baptist appears in this passage. Why did Jesus have to be baptized
by John? Jesus had to be baptized in order to take on all the sins in
the world, and take them all away according to God’s plan.
“The
Government will be upon His shoulder” (Isaiah 9:6). Here “the
government” means that Jesus is the One who has the authority and power
as the Master of Heaven, as the King of the world. This is the authority
granted only to Jesus Christ. Jesus did a wonderful thing to take away
all the sins of mankind. This wonderful thing was for Him to be baptized
by John. What Jesus meant by saying “Thus it is fitting for us to
fulfill all righteousness” is that taking away all sins of the world was
right and fitting.
Romans
1:17 says, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith
to faith.” God’s righteousness is revealed in the gospel. Does the true
gospel of the water and the Spirit really reveal God’s righteousness?
Yes! The true gospel is that Jesus Christ took away all the sins of the
world through His baptism and crucifixion. The gospel of the water and
the Spirit is the beautiful gospel in which the righteousness of God is
revealed. How did Jesus take away the sins of the world? He took away
all the sins of the world when John baptized Him in the Jordan River.
“All
righteousness” is “δικαιοσύνη” in Greek. This means that Jesus took
away all the sins of mankind in the most just and wonderful way. It
means that Jesus’ cleansing of all the sins of the world was absolutely
just and fair. Jesus had to be baptized by John in order to blot out the
sins of the world.
God
knew that Jesus’ baptism was absolutely necessary in order to bring
peace to mankind. Jesus could not have become our Savior, if He hadn’t
been baptized by John and shed His blood on the Cross. Jesus served as
the sin offering in taking away all the sins of the world.
God
says in Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned, every one, to his own way. And the LORD has laid on Him the
iniquity of us all.” Jesus had to accept all the sins of the world in
order to do God’s will. This is the reason that Jesus came as a sin
offering in the flesh of a man and was baptized by John.
Jesus
had to accept all the sins of mankind and be judged for them so that He
could fulfill God’s plan and express His undying love. When Jesus
emerged from the water after His baptism, God said, “This is My beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).
A baby was born unto us
“For
unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government
will be upon His shoulder and His name will be called Wonderful,
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah
9:6). Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the God of Creation who created
the whole universe. Not only is He the Son of the Almighty God, He is
also the Creator and the King of Peace. Jesus is the God who gave
happiness to mankind.
Jesus
is the God of truth. He took away all our sins, saved us, and gave us
peace. Is there sin in this world? No, there is no sin. The reason we
can confidently say that there is no sin is that we believe in the
beautiful gospel, which says that Jesus washed away all the sins of the
world through His baptism and blood on the Cross. Jesus did not lie to
us. Jesus paid the wages of sin with His baptism and blood. He let
everyone who believed in this become His child and gave peace to us all.
He made us live as His sanctified children in faith for eternity. I
praise the Lord and give thanks to Him.
Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
John
1:29 says, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said,
‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” Jesus
Christ appeared again in front of John the Baptist the day after He took
away all the sins of the world through His baptism. John the Baptist
bore witness to Jesus by saying, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world!” He bore witness again in John 1:35-36, “Again,
the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus
as He walked, he said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’”
Jesus
was the Messiah who came as the Lamb of God, just as God had promised
in the Old Testament. The Messiah Jesus Christ came to us as the
Wonderful One, Counselor and Mighty God, and was baptized to save us
from all our sins. A baby was born unto us. He accepted all the sins of
the world through His baptism by John, paid the wage of sin, and became
the Prince of Peace who gives us peace and remission of all our sins.
“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
People
once had no other choice but to die for their sins. Humans were
destined to commit countless sins due to their sinful natures and
eventually be condemned to Hell. They led miserable lives; not one of
them could enter or even dream of the Kingdom of God due to their
weaknesses. Jesus Christ, who is our God, accepted all their sins when
He was baptized by John in the Jordan River and was crucified in
judgment for their wrongdoing. Upon His death, Christ said, “It is
finished” (John 19:30). This was the cry of His witness to the fact that
Jesus saved all mankind from their sins and death, and that He
absolutely delivered anyone who believed in the beautiful gospel.
“Behold!
The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Do you know where
all the sins of the world are? Aren’t they on the body of Jesus Christ?
Where are all the sins and trespasses that humble us in this world?
They were all transferred to Jesus Christ. Where are all our sins? They
are in the flesh of the One with the principality upon His shoulder;
they are in the flesh of Almighty God.
All the sins from birth to the grave!
We
commit sin throughout our lives. We committed sins from the day we were
born until the day we turned 20. Where did all of those sins committed
for 20 years go? They were transferred to Jesus Christ’s flesh. The sins
that we committed between the ages of 21 and 40 were passed on to Jesus
too. No matter how many years a person lives, the sins he committed
from the beginning of his life until the end were transferred to Jesus
Christ. All the sins that mankind committed, starting from Adam to the
last person on this earth, were transferred to Jesus. Even the sins of
our children and grandchildren were already passed on to Jesus. All sins
were transferred to Jesus at the time He was baptized.
Are
there still sins in this world? No. Not one is left. There is no sin
left in the world because we believe in the beautiful gospel that Jesus
Christ gave us. Do you have sin in your heart? No. Amen! We believe in
the beautiful gospel that says Jesus Christ saved us from all our sins.
We praise Almighty Jesus for doing this wonderful work for us.
Jesus
Christ restored our lost lives to us. Now we believe in the beautiful
gospel so that we are able to live with God. Even the people who were
enemies of God – the sinners who had no other choice but to hide in the
dark forests – can now be saved from their sins by believing in the
beautiful gospel.
The
beautiful gospel teaches us that the Lord washed all our sins clean
when He was baptized by John, crucified and resurrected. We became
sanctified children of God by believing in Jesus’ gospel. Jesus offered
His own body as the offering for our sins. He, the Son of Almighty God,
who never committed a single sin in this world, took away all the sins
of the world and saved everyone who believes in Him. Isaiah 53:5 says,
“He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities.”
Jesus
took away all the sins of the world, including both original sin and
actual sins and left out not a single transgression. He paid the wages
of sin with His death on the Cross and thereby saved us from all our
sins. Jesus washed away all the sins of the world through this beautiful
gospel. We have found new life through Jesus. Those who believe in this
beautiful gospel are no longer dead in spirit. We now have new and
eternal life, for Jesus paid all the wages of our sin. We have become
children of God by believing in the beautiful gospel of Jesus Christ.
Do
you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Do you also believe
that He is your Savior? I do. Jesus Christ is the Life to us. We found
new life through Him. We were destined to die because of our sins and
trespasses. But Jesus paid the wages of sin through His baptism and
death on the Cross. He delivered us from our slavery to sin, from the
power of death, and the bonds of Satan.
The
Lord is the God who saved us from our sins and became the Savior of
everyone who believes in Jesus. When we look at Hebrews 10:10-12, 14 and
18, we can see that the Lord sanctified us so that there was no further
need to receive the remission of sins. We enter the Kingdom of God by
believing in Jesus. We were destined to die for our sins and trespasses,
but we are now able to enter Heaven and enjoy eternal life by believing
in Jesus’ baptism and blood.
“The
good shepherd gives his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Our Lord came
into this world in order to save us from the sins of the world through
His baptism, His death on the Cross, and His resurrection. He also gives
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to those who have received the
remission of their sins by believing in this truth. Thank you, Lord.
Your gospel is the beautiful gospel, which can give believers the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah! I praise the Lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment