Subject 11 : The Tabernacle
[11-14] The Veil That Was Torn (Matthew 27:50-53)
(Matthew 27:50-53)
“And
Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom;
and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were
opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;
and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the
holy city and appeared to many.”
The
Most Holy was the place where God dwelt. And only the High Priest could
enter into the Most Holy once a year, on the Day of Atonement, carrying
the blood of the sacrificial goat for the remission of the sins of the
Israelites. He did so because the Most Holy of the Tabernacle, the House
of God, was a holy place where he could not enter unless he took the
blood of the sacrifice, on whose head his hands were laid, to blot out
the iniquities of sinners. Put differently, even the High Priest could
not avoid God’s condemnation unless he had received the remission of his
sins by offering a sacrifice before entering into His presence.
When
was the veil of the Temple torn? It was torn when Jesus shed His blood
and died on the Cross. Why should He shed His blood on the Cross to die?
Because Jesus the Son of God, coming to this earth in the flesh of a
man, had taken upon all the iniquities of sinners by being baptized by
John in the Jordan River. Because Jesus had taken upon all the sins of
the world through His baptism, Jesus could end all the condemnation of
sin only if He shed His blood on the Cross and died. This is why the
veil that had separated the Most Holy from the Holy Place in the House
of God was torn from top to bottom. This means that the wall of sin that
had separated God from mankind fell down once for all.
In
other words, through the baptism that Jesus received and the blood that
He shed on the Cross, He has made all sins disappear. With the baptism
and blood of Jesus Christ, God the Father has blotted out all our sins
once for all and opened the way to Heaven, so that anyone can now enter
Heaven by believing in the these baptism and bloodshed of Jesus.
When
Jesus died on the Cross, darkness fell on where He was for three hours.
Having shouldered all the sins of the world through His baptism in the
Jordan River, Jesus, crucified and nearing His death, cried out, “Eli,
Eli, lama sabachthani?”, which meant, “My God, My God, why have You
forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). He then said His last words, “It is
finished!”, and then died. And in three days He rose form the dead
again, bore witness for 40 days, and then ascended to Heaven before the
eyes of His many disciples and followers.
Did the Father Really Forsake Jesus?
The
pain that Jesus suffered was so intense that He felt as if His Father
had forsaken Him. The suffering of the condemnation of sin was that much
great. Because Jesus took upon the sins of the world by being baptized
by John, it is true that He was momentarily averted by the Father when
He bore the condemnation of sin on the Cross. God the Father had to
punish anyone who had sin, and because all the sins of the world had
passed onto Jesus, Jesus had to be pierced and shed His blood on the
Cross as the punishment for these sins.
Because
Jesus, who is God Himself in His essence, took upon all the sins of
mankind by being baptized, the sins of the world were shifted onto His
own holy body. So Jesus, having taken upon the sins of the world, now
had to be averted by God the Father for a moment, suffer death on the
Cross to pay the wages of all our sins, and thereby save mankind from
all sins. This is why Jesus had to be subjected to the extreme suffering
of the condemnation of sin, and why God the Father could not but turn
His face away from His Son briefly.
But
this does not mean that Jesus was forsaken by the Father forever.
Rather, it just means that Jesus had to bear the vicarious condemnation
of our sins, and therefore He had to be forsaken by the Father only
momentarily. But as Jesus shouted out in His pain, “My God, My God, why
have You forsaken Me?” it was because Jesus suffered such extreme agony
of sin that we have been saved from the condemnation of sin. We had been
someone who had to be abandoned by God for our sins, but Jesus took
upon our sins, suffered the pain of the condemnation of sin on the
Cross, and, moreover, was even forsaken by the Father for a while for
our sake.
As
you might already know, after the construction of the Temple during the
reign of the King Solomon, the Tabernacle was substituted by the
Temple. But the basics of the Tabernacle system were still applied to
the Temple exactly as they were applied before its construction. So
there was also a veil that separated the Most Holy Place from the Holy
Place of the Temple. And at the very moment when our Lord shouted out on
the Cross, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” this veil of the Temple was
torn from top to bottom. The truth spoken by this event is that because
the Lord has washed away our sins with the baptism that He received and
the precious blood that He shed on the Cross, the gate of Heaven has now
been flung open, so that all who believe may enter it. Now, by
believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we can all enter
Heaven by faith.
Through
the revelation of the Tabernacle system, the people of the Old
Testament also believed in Jesus to come as the Messiah, and therefore
they were also remitted of all their sins and became God’s children. In
the New Testament, all God’s righteousness of the remission of sin was
fulfilled once for all when our Lord was actually baptized in the Jordan
River and died on the Cross. The reason why we have thankful hearts,
having heard and believed in the gospel of the remission of sin that the
Lord has given us, is because we have the gospel of the water and the
Spirit.
On
our own, we could not be freed from sin, but because of the truth of
salvation that God has given us through the water and the Spirit, we
have been able to be remitted of our sins by believing in this truth. By
believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that Jesus has
given us, our sins have disappeared and we are now able to enter the
Kingdom of Heaven by faith. Given this, how could we not thank God? We
can only thank Him, for we now know that the gate of Heaven was broken
down from top to bottom the moment our Lord died. This is the joyful
news telling us that our Lord took upon all the sins of mankind through
the baptism that He received in the Jordan River, bore the condemnation
of sin with His blood of the Cross, and has thereby delivered from sin
all those who believe.
The
fact that the veil of the Temple was torn from top to bottom when Jesus
died on the Cross teaches us the truth that now in this age, those who
have been cleansed from sin by believing in the gospel of the water and
the blood can all enter Heaven. This is the definitive evidence of the
truth of salvation that the Lord has permitted to us. Because we were
sinners, there was a wall of sin that had blocked us, disabling us from
coming before God, but with His baptism and blood, Jesus has made this
wall of sin disappear once for all. That God tore the veil of the Temple
from top to bottom signifies that anyone who believes in the baptism
through which the Son of God took upon all the iniquities of sinners and
in the blood of the Cross can now be perfectly cleansed from their sins
and thereby enter Heaven unimpeded. God has saved us from sin like
this.
Jesus
tore the veil of the Temple from top to bottom as the evidence of these
works of salvation that He fulfilled. Therefore, Hebrews 10:19-22
states, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by
the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us,
through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the
house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of
faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our
bodies washed with pure water.”
When
Jesus died on the Cross, the entrance of the Most Holy was opened wide
as its veil was torn, and this open door of the Most Holy here is the
God’s Word of the gospel that opened a new and living way to Heaven.
Here, the Bible tells us again that all the sins of our hearts and
bodies were blotted out through His baptism (the pure water) and His
blood, and therefore, we can be cleansed by our full assurance of faith
in His perfect salvation.
For
this, I give all my thanks to God. We could not enter Heaven no matter
how much we tried, but for such people as us, Jesus has saved us from
all our sins with these righteous acts of His baptism and His bloodshed
on the Cross, and He has flung the gate of Heaven wide open, all so that
only those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit may
enter Heaven. Now it has become possible for us to be cleansed from our
sins and enter Heaven by the faith that believes in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit.
Because
the Lord has opened the gate of Heaven for us by being baptized and
crucified, we are now able to wash away our sins and enter Heaven by
believing in this truth. How could we then not thank God? We cannot
thank Him enough for His love of sacrifice. The veil-door of the Most
Holy was torn across by the baptism that Jesus received to take upon our
sins and the sacrificial offering of His body that He made to be
vicariously condemned for these sins of ours.
There Is Only One Way to Enter Heaven
Because
we believe in the baptism of Jesus and the blood of the Cross, we will
enter Heaven. There is no other way to enter Heaven but by believing in
this gospel of truth. It is only by believing in what Jesus has done for
us that we can enter Heaven, for God has done such works for those who
believe in the gospel of the water and blood of Jesus.
This
is why Christians cannot enter Heaven through their own efforts,
devotion, or other such hypocritical attempts. God has determined that
only those who have been cleansed from their sins by believing in the
baptism that Jesus received and His bloodshed can enter Heaven. Those
who believe in this truth are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son
of God, God Himself, and the everlasting Savior who has saved them from
sin through His baptism and bloodshed. It is to such people that God
has permitted the washing of sin. Only through the baptism that Jesus
received and the suffering that He endured on the Cross, God the Father
has enabled those of us who believe in these to enter the Kingdom of
Heaven by faith.
Do
we need money to enter Heaven? If this were the case, we would be
attaining our salvation by paying for it, and so this cannot be the
salvation that is given freely by the Lord. For us to enter Heaven, we
need nothing else apart from the faith that believes in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit. In other words, to enter Heaven, no payment,
act, or effort of our own is ever needed. Nothing that is of human
character is necessary to enter Heaven. For us to be qualified to enter
Heaven, God does not demand any effort, act, will, compensation, or
goodness from us.
There
is only one thing that is absolutely necessary for us to enter Heaven,
and this is the faith that believes in the baptism of the washing of sin
that Jesus received in the Jordan River and the sacrifice that He made
by shedding His blood on the Cross as our own remission of sin. There is
no other way. The only thing we need is the faith that believes in the
gospel of the baptism and blood of Jesus. This is why for us to receive
the remission of sin and enter Heaven, we must believe in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit that Jesus has fulfilled.
Jesus,
the Lord of love, has fulfilled our perfect salvation through the
gospel of the water and the Spirit. Because Jesus has already completed
the salvation of the remission of sin, if sinners were only to believe
in this gospel truth wholeheartedly, they can be saved from all their
sins. Our Lord has remitted all our sins, whether we have many or only a
few sins, and He has enabled anyone to enter Heaven but only by faith.
That
Jesus has opened the gate of Heaven, so that sinners may enter it by
believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, is the grace of
salvation that is truly special. “The Lord was baptized to bear all my
sins and died on the Cross in my place! He has washed away my sins and
opened the gate of Heaven for me! He loved me so much that He was
baptized, shed His blood, and fulfilled my remission of sin like this!”
In this way, when you thus believe in the truth of salvation, you will
enter Heaven by this faith.
For
people to believe in Jesus as their Savior is not that difficult, but
it is, in fact, rather easy, for all that they have to do is just accept
into their hearts the already accomplished facts that Jesus achieved
when He came to this earth and believe in them. Because Jesus has
blotted out all our sins and delivered us from them through His baptism
in the Jordan River that He received from John the Baptist, and through
the blood that He shed on the Cross and through the Spirit, when we
believe in this Jesus in our hearts, we will all be saved.
“You
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).
Whether our sins are great or small, by being baptized and shedding His
blood, Jesus has made them all disappear. It is by believing in this
gospel of the water and the Spirit, the truth that sets us free from
sin, that we can receive our eternal salvation and encounter the freedom
of this true salvation.
By
fulfilling the gospel of the water and the Spirit, our Lord has flung
the gate of Heaven wide open. Our Lord came to this earth, was baptized,
died on the Cross, and rose from the dead again in three days-this
truth, the gospel of the water and the Spirit, has moved us close to
God, and it has enabled us to make Heaven ours in the future. Now, if
you want to enter Heaven, as well as to be freed from sin and become
God’s children, then you must receive your remission of sin by believing
in the baptism of Jesus and the blood of the Cross. It is this faith
that will enable you to receive the remission of sin and lead you into
the gate of Heaven.
Our
Lord knows everything about us. He knows when we were born, and He
knows all about the sins that we have committed and are to commit. And
He also knows very well that no matter how hard we try, we cannot make
our sins disappear on our own. Because the Lord knows us so well, He
Himself has blotted out all our sins with His baptism and the blood of
the Cross.
Why Did Jesus Come to This Earth?
The
name Jesus means the Savior. Jesus was born on this earth because our
salvation from sin is accomplishable by no human being, but it falls
only within the purview of divine power. Like this, the birth of Jesus
entailed a clear purpose. This is why to save mankind from all sins,
Jesus was born on this earth through the body of a virgin. In other
words, Jesus was born through the body of a woman for the sake of
sinners who inherited sin because of the transgression of Adam and Eve.
To become the Savior who saves all the sinners of this world from all
their iniquities, the Lord came to this world, conceived in the body of a
virgin by the power of God.
Our
Lord was born on this earth through the body of His own creation so
that He Himself may become our unblemished offering. And when the time
came, step-by-step He proceeded with His plan to bring salvation to us.
When our Lord turned 30, he was baptized in the Jordan River. To achieve
the purpose of His birth on this earth, Jesus had to accept the sins of
the world by being baptized, and so it was to fulfill this task that He
was baptized by John (Matthew 3:13-17).
When
three years had passed since Jesus thus accepted the sins of the world
through His baptism, He was crucified. It was because our Lord was
baptized and had taken upon the sins of the world that He was
vicariously condemned for our sins. Through the baptism given by John
the Baptist and His blood of the Cross, the Lord has made all sins
disappear, and He has thereby enabled those who believe to be saved from
their sins.
No
matter in what ignorance people find themselves, in what weaknesses
they are trapped, and what kind of sinners they may be, God has enabled
us believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit to enter Heaven,
the Kingdom of the Lord. It was to pay the wages of sin that Jesus was
baptized in the Jordan River and shed His blood on the Cross. Because of
the salvation that Jesus has fulfilled by paying the wages of our sins
and sacrificing Himself, those of us who believe can now be washed of
our sins only by our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
This is the fundamental truth of Christianity and the core of the
remission of sin.
The
Lord came to this world to become the Savior of all the sinners of this
world. And the Lord has actually saved all of us from sin. Our Lord has
enabled all sinners, no matter who they may be, to enter Heaven by
believing in His works.
This
is the love of the Lord. It was because our Lord loved us so much that
He was baptized and shed His blood to save us. To deliver us from sin,
whom He loved as much as His own body, our Lord fulfilled salvation by
being baptized and shedding His blood. We had been sinners who would
continue to sin until the day we die. Tormented by our sins, we kept
moving away from God only further. To save such people as us, the Lord
had to accomplish the works of salvation that enable us to become united
with Him.
Our
Lord has saved us who were sinners with the love of God. To save us
sinners from our iniquities, He has completed the righteousness and love
of God by receiving His baptism and shedding His blood. We who believe
in this gospel are so thankful for what the Lord has done for us that
words simply fail us to express our thanks of faith as we bow down
before Him. The truth of the remission of sin that our Lord has given us
is such a noble and absolute love that no words of logic, no words of
sweetness can ever describe it.
Over
2,000 years ago, none of us were even born at that time. It was about
2,000 years ago that the veil of the earthly Temple and the heavenly
Temple of the Kingdom of God were opened. We were not even in the wombs
of our mothers at that time, but our Lord already knew all about us. He
knew that you would be born, and that you would all live your lives each
according to your own unique way. And the Lord has loved me—not only
me, but He has loved you and everyone else the same. The Lord has loved
us so much that He has enabled all sinners to enter Heaven by believing
in the gospel of the water, the blood, and the Spirit that Jesus has
fulfilled for us. Through the water and the Spirit (the baptism of Jesus
and His blood of the Cross), Jesus has completed our salvation from
sin.
That
the veil of the Temple was torn from top to bottom is a truly amazing
event. How could this veil of the Most Holy be torn, just because Jesus
died on the Cross? This veil was like today’s carpets. It was woven very
thick and sturdy. In Palestine, even now we can still come across such
thick veils woven like carpets. They are woven so tightly that it is
said that it takes four horses pulling in the opposite direction to tear
them apart. How strong is a horse? Yet the veil that was so strong that
it would have required four horses to tear was ripped from top to
bottom when Jesus died on the Cross.
Why
was the veil torn? It was torn because Jesus had washed away all the
sins that were in the hearts of mankind. It was torn because Jesus had
fulfilled all His righteous works by being baptized and crucified to
death. By accepting the sins of the world through His baptism and being
condemned on the Cross, Jesus opened the way for those who believe to
enter Heaven. All that you have to do now is just believe. The Lord has
opened the gate of Heaven so that you may all enter it just by
believing.
Are Both Jesus’ Baptism and Blood Essential to Our Salvation?
It
was according to the method of salvation planned even before the time
of the Old Testament that hands were laid on the head of Jesus, a ritual
that was reserved only for sacrificial offerings. Because its was the
law of salvation set by God for the sacrificial offering to accept all
sins with the laying on of hands and to die, Jesus, coming as our own
sacrificial offering to save us forever, could blot out all our sins
only by receiving His baptism, a form of the laying on of hands. This is
why to enter into the Most Holy, even the High Priest had to make sure
to take with him the blood of the sacrificial offering which had taken
upon sins with the laying on of hands.
Why,
then, did the High Priest have to enter into this place with blood? For
the life of the flesh is in the blood, God had given it to the High
Priest to make atonement for his soul before he came into His presence
(Leviticus 17:11). All people had to die for their sins, but because
Jesus took upon all the sins of mankind by being baptized in the Jordan
River (all sins were passed onto Jesus with His baptism) and shouldered
them all, Jesus was crucified and has thereby saved us with the blood
that He shed, with His own life. This tells us that when sinners come
before God, they must for sure take with them the faith that believes in
the water and the blood. Only when we wholeheartedly believe in the
water of the baptism of Jesus and the blood that He shed can we escape
from being condemned for our sins.
Now,
Jesus has washed away all sins, so that no one would have to give
prayers of repentance, or fast, or give offerings for his/her remission
of sin. We do not have to give prayers of repentance, nor do we have be
punished for our sins, for Jesus has already given the offering of the
remission of sin and condemnation. All that we have to do is just
believe with our hearts in the salvation manifested in the blue, purple,
and scarlet thread.
All
that anyone has to do is just believe in the baptism that Jesus
received as the blue thread that was used for the Tabernacle of the Old
Testament, and to believe in the blood that Jesus shed on the Cross as
its scarlet thread. And the truth that Jesus is the King in His
fundamental essence is manifested in the purple thread used for the door
of the Tabernacle. As such, if we are washed of our sins by believing
in the remission of sin manifested as the blue, purple, and scarlet
thread, and believe that all our condemnation has already ended, then
any of us can now enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This gospel is the very
gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Why Was the Veil of the Temple Torn When Jesus Died on the Cross? Let Us Consider This One More Time
The
blue, purple, and scarlet thread manifested in the Old Testament is the
gospel that brings the blessings of receiving the remission of sin and
entering the Kingdom of Heaven to those who believe. This is why the
veil was torn when Jesus, having been baptized, died on the Cross. For
those who believe in Jesus, this is the truth of the gospel of the water
and the Spirit given by God Himself. “Ah, it was because Jesus was
baptized by John in my place that He shed His blood and died on the
Cross, and thereby paid the wages of death, the wages of sin. Dying on
the Cross, Jesus said, “It is finished,” and it was at this moment that
He opened the way for us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus
came to this earth to save those who were separated from God by the
wall of sins that they could not avoid but keep building. This was
Jesus’ own will, but at the same time it was also the command of God the
Father and His love for us. Obeying the will of the Father, Jesus
received the baptism that passed the sins of the world onto His own
body. It was because Jesus shouldered the sins of the world through His
baptism that He went to the Cross, was crucified, shed His blood and
died, rose from the dead in three days, and thereby completed His works
of salvation. These are the ministries manifested in the blue, purple,
and scarlet thread, the remission of sin that delivers sinners from
their iniquities, and the completion of the sacrificial system.
It
is because Jesus has fulfilled salvation with His ministries that the
gate of Heaven, which no man could enter so far, has now been opened.
This demonstrates that the door of salvation is no longer opened with
the laying on of hands and the blood of the animal that was used for the
sacrificial offering of the Old Testament, but it is now opened with
the faith that believes in the baptism that Jesus received and the blood
that He shed on the Cross. That the veil was torn manifests the
completion of salvation, that God has now enabled anyone who knows and
truly believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit fulfilled by
the Lord to enter Heaven. This is why the veil of the Temple had to be
torn.
You
must enter the Kingdom of Heaven with the faith that believes in the
baptism of Jesus and the blood of the Cross. Jesus who had no sin at all
came to this earth incarnated in the flesh and was baptized by John to
accept all our sins (Matthew 3:15). Moreover, our Lord gave up the life
of His body as the wages of our sins and has become the everlasting
offering of atonement that we must take with us when we come before God.
Therefore, all of us must believe in this blood that Jesus shed after
being baptized as our salvation. To deliver mankind from sin and make
them God’s own people, Jesus opened the gate of Heaven by tearing His
own body.
When
it comes to Jesus saving us, we must know that He did not just bleed on
the Cross. Three years before dying on the Cross, He had already taken
upon our sins by being baptized in the Jordan River. So Jesus was
baptized by John for the sake of the entire mankind and then was
crucified by Roman soldiers. Even before you and I were born in this
world, Jesus had already cleansed away all our sins by being baptized
and shedding His blood.
That
Jesus was baptized by John was the method of salvation that He had to
fulfill for sure in order to take upon our sins beforehand all at once.
And the blood that He shed was the payment of the wages of all those
sins. Because Jesus is God Himself, the baptism that He received and the
blood that He shed on the Cross could certainly constitute our
salvation from sin. This was our Lord’s perfect sacrifice that He made
for the salvation of the entire mankind. Do you believe that the gospel
Word of the water and the Spirit has cleansed away our sins and
delivered us from all our sins and condemnation?
Through the Baptism of Jesus and the Blood of the Cross, All the Sins of Mankind Have Now Been Washed away
It
was to wash away the sins of mankind that Jesus was baptized by John.
If we look at Jesus’ ministries of salvation by leaving out this baptism
of Jesus from His public life, then the salvation of mankind planned in
Jesus Christ from before the foundation of the world would all turn
into lies. Even before the foundation of the world, Jesus was already
preparing to be baptized to take upon the sins of mankind and to shed
His blood.
This
is why Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, the representative of
all mankind, and thereby accepted all sins (Matthew 11:11-12; Matthew
3:15). For Jesus to wash away the iniquities of sinners by being
baptized was the method of salvation. Jesus accepted the iniquities of
sinners and cleansed them away, and instead of us dying for our sins, He
died vicariously in our place, and by doing so He has delivered those
who believe in this from all their sins and condemnation. Through this
method (the method of being baptized), Jesus could accept all the sins
of mankind onto Himself and bear all the condemnation of sin by shedding
His blood on the Cross. “For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all
righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). That Jesus was baptized in the Jordan
River meant that He accepted all the sins of us sinners.
Brothers
and sisters, are you unable to believe that Jesus came to this earth
over 2,000 years ago, that He was baptized when He turned 30, and that
He shed His blood for you, just because you did not see this with your
own eyes? But knowing all about our insufficiencies, God had already
planned our salvation with the water and the blood even before the
foundation of the world, and by sending Jesus Christ and John the
Baptist to this earth according to this plan, He has fulfilled the
salvation of all of us. To enable us to realize and know all this truth,
God made His servants write down His Word. Through His written Word,
God has revealed everything about the plan of salvation and its
fulfillment to the entire mankind. He has now enabled anyone to realize
through the written Word of God the truth that Jesus was baptized by
John in the Jordan River to take upon all our sins.
All
of us must now believe in the baptism that Jesus received and the blood
that He shed on the Cross as our own salvation. Though we have not seen
it with our eyes of the flesh, we must believe in our hearts. True
faith comes to us when our faith is based on His Word. The Lord said to
Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”
(John 20:29). Jesus has saved you and me with the baptism that He
received and the blood that He shed. God has enabled anyone who believes
in this to enter Heaven.
This
is why God tore the veil of the Temple when Jesus died on the Cross.
Jesus brought down the wall of sin that had blocked us mankind from God.
What Jesus had done was more than sufficient to tear down all the wall
of sin. He has made it possible for anyone to enter Heaven absolutely
unimpeded just by believing in this gospel of the water and the Spirit
in the heart. I thank our Lord for giving us this truth, so that we may
all truly enter Heaven if we only believe in our hearts.
How
great is this event, that Jesus was born on this earth in the body of a
mere creature to save sinners? It is a truly remarkable event, even
when compared to His creation of the world. It is only a matter of
course that the Lord, the Creator who made all things, would create His
creatures, but that the Creator became like a creature, took upon the
sins of the world by being baptized, and was crucified, cannot be
anything else but the great event of salvation.
How
could the Creator Himself become like one of His creatures? Yet Jesus,
God Himself, lowered Himself to such an extent that He was even baptized
by John the Baptist, the representative of mankind, in the Jordan
River. What an amazing event is this? But this is not the end of it, for
Jesus lowered Himself all the way down, obeying to even His death, to
endure countless cruel sufferings on the Cross, to shed His blood and
die. All these things cannot be anything else but the love of God, His
mercy and His great grace.
All
the sins of mankind were completely cleansed away once for all with the
baptism of the Lord and His blood of the Cross. And having torn the
veil of the Temple, Jesus rose from the dead in three days, and He now
wants to meet in the truth all those who believe in this truth. Like
this, the works of the Lord that have saved sinners are a event that is
greater and larger than even His works of the creation that made this
universe and all things in it. The birth of Jesus, His baptism, His
death on the Cross, His resurrection, ascension and return, and that He
has made us His own children are the works of the love of God.
Our
Lord has saved you and me from all sins. Our Lord has delivered you and
me once for all from the sins of the world through the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. We can therefore become righteous by faith and
thank God. God has bestowed on us His blessing of salvation to its
fullness. Do you believe?
Brothers
and sisters, you and I had been someone who could not but be cast into
Hell. We had been someone who could not but be destroyed for our sins
and live our lives in sadness, but the Lord has saved us from sin with
the salvation that He had planned even before the foundation of the
world. We had no other choice but to live our lives sitting in the midst
of our sins, wailing, resenting, and cursing our fate, but to enable
such people like us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the Lord has
delivered us from all our sins. Our Lord has thus become the Lord of our
salvation.
Jesus
has given us the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and He has also
guaranteed our remission of sin. Jesus Himself has become the Lord of
salvation. Jesus took upon the sins of the world in our place, died in
our stead, and has thereby become our perfect Savior.
Do You Believe in the Baptism that Jesus Received and the Blood That He Shed?
Our
deliverance from sin is fulfilled by believing in the baptism that
Jesus received and the blood of the Cross. For sinners to be saved by
believing in Jesus as the Savior, they must make sure to consider His
baptism and Cross in order, and they must believe that it is by the
union of these two that the perfect salvation is fulfilled.
By
any chance, are you not believing that Jesus was baptized and died on
the Cross? Are you not ignoring the baptism that Jesus received from
John and refusing to believe in it? The righteousness of God was
fulfilled because the baptism that Jesus received was the process
through which He took upon all the iniquities of sinners, and the death
that He suffered by shedding His precious blood was the condemnation of
our sins. As such, when you and I profess to believe in Jesus, we must
believe both in His baptism and His blood of the Cross as one salvation.
God
wrote the necessity of the baptism and bloodshed of Jesus in His Word,
and yet despite this many people still insist that they need to believe
only in the blood of the Cross to be saved. If you are one of them, then
you must seriously reconsider your belief, turn around, and believe in
both these two essentials. If you do not do so but believe only in the
blood of the Cross, you will then end up turning the holy ministries of
the public life of the Lord all in vain. If you happen to have such
faith, then you must turn around from this flawed faith and have the
true faith that is spoken of throughout the Bible. Without His baptism,
what relevance would His death on the Cross have for us? If Jesus had
not been baptized by John the Baptist, His death would have had nothing
to do with our sins.
Brothers
and sisters, if you were to erase your names from a bill, would you not
have to actually bring money and pay the creditor? Debtors must hand
over money for the corresponding amount of their debts, and only then
can they erase their names from the list. Like this, to pay the wages of
our sins, Jesus accepted such sins and iniquities of ours through His
baptism and blotted them out by shedding His blood.
Through
the baptism that He received, the Lord actually took away all our sins,
and this is why He could be condemned for all our sins by shedding His
blood. To pay off a debt, common sense dictates that one should bring a
value that corresponds to this debt. If debtors do not bring money but
only claim to have paid off their debts and demand their names to be
erased from the bill, would their names really be erased? No matter how
seriously they believe that their names have been erased, the fact of
the matter is that their names still remain recorded in the bill.
As
debtors can be freed from their debts only when the debts are actually
paid off, for us sinners to receive the remission of sin, we must have
in our hearts the faith that believes that our sins were passed onto
Jesus through the baptism that He received. We ourselves did not give
this baptism that passed our sins onto the head of Jesus.
But
through an intermediary named John the Baptist, we were able to pass
our sins onto Jesus. Jesus who was baptized by John the Baptist
shouldered the sins of the world, went to the Cross, shed His blood and
died. By believing in His baptism, the antitype and receipt of
salvation, through which Jesus took upon our sins and has saved us, we
can receive the proof of our salvation. By believing in what our Lord
has done for us in our hearts, we are now able to receive the remission
of sin. Why? Because through His baptism and blood, our Lord has given
us new life.
When
Jesus died on the Cross, the veil of the Most Holy was torn into two
pieces, the earth was shaken, rocks were rolled, tombs were opened, and
many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. Through
these events, God showed that He would raise those who believed in His
Word, that Jesus Christ would come and blot out all the sins of mankind.
He showed that Jesus indeed rose from the dead, and that those who
believe in Jesus would indeed be brought alive. Jesus has not only saved
us from sin, but He has also given new life to us who were spiritually
dead. It was to given us new life that Jesus was baptized, died on the
Cross, and lived again. God has enabled us to enter His Holy City and
live in it forever. I give my true thanks to Him with my faith.
The
place where those who have received the remission will live is Heaven.
So do believe that those who have received the remission of sin on this
earth will all enter Heaven and live in it. Heaven belongs to those who
have received the remission of sin. Believing in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit and being born again are not two separate things, but
they are both the same.
If
anyone believes in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, then
this person is born again the very moment he/she believes. When sinners
receive the remission of sin, they become God’s own children, and to His
children, God gives Heaven as a gift. Even though in our flesh we have
no work of our own, looking at just one thing, our faith that believes
in the Savior, our Lord has given us the remission of sin and Heaven as
His gifts for us.
The
fact that our Lord came to this earth, that He was baptized, and that
He shed His blood, is all true. When Jesus died on the Cross, He had
already taken upon the sins of the world with His baptism. Before Jesus
was crucified, having been baptized by John beforehand, He was already
carrying the sins of the world. So it was because Jesus had shouldered
all the sins of the world by being baptized that He had to bear the
punishment of the law declaring the wages of sin to be death. For Jesus
to save mankind from sin, He had to die on the Cross while He was
carrying the sins of the world that He had taken upon with His baptism.
When
Jesus was crucified, people who nailed Him were not Jews, but they were
Roman soldiers. Jesus was crucified by Gentile soldiers. Shedding all
His blood for the sake of our sins, Jesus cried out, “It is finished!”
with His last breath. At the very moment, the veil of the Temple was
torn in two from top to bottom. Moreover, the Bible also tells us that
the earth quaked, the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and
that many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised as well
(Matthew 27:51-52). When the centurion and the Roman soldiers saw what
happened when Jesus died on the Cross, they testified, “Truly this was
the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54). God had made the mouths of these
Gentile soldiers to testify, “Jesus was the Son of the living God.”
Now,
those who must testify the true gospel throughout the world are none
other that us, the believers of the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
It is through the gospel of the water and the Spirit that everyone is
changed. When people receive the remission of sin from Jesus, they are
transformed spiritually without even trying, for the Holy Spirit comes
to dwell in their hearts. And the hearts of the born-again righteous are
renewed everyday, for in God’s Church they can consistently hear the
Word of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. They come to hear the
Word, praise Jesus, and as they praise, they experience that the lyrics
are engraved into their hearts, thereby renewing their hearts everyday.
The righteous have their hearts continuously transformed, and they can
feel such tangible changes in themselves.
And
seeing our changed selves, who have become righteous, unbelievers come
to testify, “They are truly saved. They are real Christians, the people
of God.” Like this, our remission of sin is not the kind of salvation
that is proven by ourselves alone. The Roman centurion and soldiers also
testified this truth, that Jesus as the Son of God had saved sinners
from the sins of the world when He was crucified. Like this, God Himself
bore witness to those who believe in the truth that Jesus has saved us
from all our sins with the water and the blood.
The Gospel of the Water and the Spirit That Made Even the Devil Surrender
The
gospel of the water and the Spirit is the salvation to which even the
Devil has surrendered. When Jesus said, “It is finished” on His death,
the Devil might have said, “Ah! This is mortifying, but there is nothing
I can do about it! He is right. There is no sin in this world anymore.
Everyone is now completely sinless without any exception! It’s eating up
my heart, but I can’t do anything about it!”
In
other words, the Devil himself could not help but also acknowledge this
salvation that Jesus fulfilled. But he still tries to hinder those who
have received the remission of sin from living their lives of faith. As
those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit fulfilled by
Jesus are God’s children, they try to live for Him. But for the Devil,
this can only mean that there would be fewer servants of his who are
enslaved to sin, and so he tries to prevent God’s servants from
spreading this truth all over the world.
If
those who have received the remission of sin continue to spread the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, then there would be even more people
who are remitted of sin. This is why Satan sinks his teeth into the
weaknesses of people and wouldn’t let go, hindering them so that even
just one more person would be thwarted from following Jesus.
Inciting
people’s hearts by telling them, “Kill Jesus!”, the Devil made them
crucify Him to death. But just when the Devil thought that everything
ended with this, Jesus, crucified and dying, shouted out loud, “It is
finished!” Satan was shocked by this. Far from being thwarted, by taking
upon all our sins through His baptism in the Jordan River and dying on
the Cross, Jesus had righteously fulfilled the salvation that delivers
mankind from sin and condemnation. The Devil had been oblivious of this
wisdom of God. He had thought that everything would be over if he just
kills Jesus on the Cross, but this was not the case. After taking upon
the sins of the world through His baptism, Jesus completed sinners’
remission of sin by giving up His body on the Cross and dying.
With
the death of His body, Jesus has already paid off all the wages of sin.
As such, sin can no longer be found in people. Why? Because according
to the law declaring the wages of sin to be death, Jesus already died
instead of sinners. We must believe that it was because Jesus had taken
upon all the iniquities of sinners in the Jordan River that He could die
vicariously instead of sinners.
“It
is finished!” This is what Jesus shouted out on the Cross with His last
breath. Because Jesus died, the Devil can no longer say to us, “You
have sin, don’t you?” Because of the birth of Jesus, His baptism, His
death on the Cross, and His blood and resurrection, the Devil suffered a
crushing defeat before Jesus. Though the Devil had estranged our
relationship with God by making us sin all the time, in the end, because
of the wisdom of Jesus the Son of God, His washing of sin and
condemnation, he ultimately could not avoid but be totally defeated.
When
you believe in the baptism of Jesus and the blood of the Cross, do you
still have sin? Of course not! Saying that we have no sin is something
that just cannot be said with the conscience of the flesh. Bu by
believing in the baptism and blood of Jesus, we are now able to declare
boldly that we are sinless. Do you believe the truth that Jesus took
upon our sins by being baptized in the Jordan River, died on the Cross
in our place, and has thereby saved us? By our faith in this truth, we
can say now that we have no sin. And in fact, there can be no sin at all
in our hearts, not even as small as a penny. This is why grateful
hearts spring up in us before God, giving our thanks with faith.
“God,
my faith may not be great, but even with a faith that is as small as a
mustard seed, I still give my thanks you. I was someone who could not
even bear Your great love, but You still came into my heart, and so with
my faith that believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, I now
hold Your love in my heart. My heart is thankful to You everyday, for
the Lord who dwells in my heart and is with me. For giving this heart, I
give all my thanks to You.” Like this, our Lord has given us thankful
hearts. And our Lord blesses us everyday.
So
not only I, but also everyone else who hears and believes in the truth
of His perfect salvation also, we all clearly have no sin at all in our
hearts. Because we believe in the truth of the water and the Spirit, we
have received the blessing of salvation, of becoming God’s own children.
And God wholeheartedly wants all to realize that there is no way for
them to be saved from all their sins without believing in the birth of
Jesus and His baptism and blood, and to return to Him and believe in
this truth.
Acts
4:12 declares, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no
other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” We
believe in Jesus as our Savior. In those who believe in this, thankful
hearts spring up. We therefore have hearts that are thankful to the
Lord. Our Lord has given us salvation, and He has also given us thankful
hearts. The Lord has given us eternal life. We cannot help but glorify
the Lord with our thanks for giving us all these abundant blessings.
Even
if our faith is as small as a mustard seed, if we still believe in what
Jesus has done for us in our hearts, we can all be saved. I beseech you
all to realize that there is nothing else we can do for our salvation
but only believe, to know this salvation that God has given us freely,
and to believe in it. It is because the remission of sin cannot be
attained through our own efforts that God has unilaterally blotted out
all our sins on His own and has given His salvation to those of us who
believe. Now, all that remains for us to do is just receive this
remission of sin by faith.
There
is a saying in Korea that goes, “If you like freebies too much, you
will go bald.” In English parlance, its equivalent might be, “There is
no such thing as a free lunch.” That is certainly true; nothing in life
comes to us for free. And we are apt to ridicule those who expect to
receive gifts without giving anything in return. Nonetheless, being
saved and going to Heaven are achieved by believing in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit, all for free. Baldness from receiving too many
freebies may be unsightly in the flesh, but spiritual baldness to
receive God’s gift is a blessing before God. I pray you would all
realize that God is rejoiced to see our sinless hearts, and that seeing
this, He embraces us in His arms.
We
are fond of God’s free grace. And we cannot but thank the Lord: Our
Lord came to this earth, received His baptism by water, shed His blood
on the Cross, and has thereby opened the gate of Heaven. By tearing the
veil of the Most Holy from top to bottom, He has enabled anyone who is
born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit to
enter the Kingdom of Heaven. You, too, must also enter Heaven by
believing in this gospel of the water and the Spirit in your hearts.
I
thank our Lord for being baptized, shedding His blood, rising from the
dead, and for the grace that has thereby opened the door of the
remission of sin for us.
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