Subject 11 : The Tabernacle
[11-25] The Altar of Incense Is the Place Where God Grants His Grace (Exodus 30:1-10)
(Exodus 30:1-10)
“You
shall make an altar to burn incense on; you shall make it of acacia
wood. A cubit shall be its length and a cubit its width—it shall be
square—and two cubits shall be its height. Its horns shall be of one
piece with it. And you shall overlay its top, its sides all around, and
its horns with pure gold; and you shall make for it a molding of gold
all around. Two gold rings you shall make for it, under the molding on
both its sides. You shall place them on its two sides, and they will be
holders for the poles with which to bear it. You shall make the poles of
acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And you shall put it before
the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat
that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you. Aaron shall burn
on it sweet incense every morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall
burn incense on it. And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he
shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout
your generations. You shall not offer strange incense on it, or a burnt
offering, or a grain offering; nor shall you pour a drink offering on
it. And Aaron shall make atonement upon its horns once a year with the
blood of the sin offering of atonement; once a year he shall make
atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the
LORD.”
If
we were to step inside the Holy Place, the House of God, we would first
see the lampstand, the table of showbread, and the altar of incense.
The altar of incense was put in front of the entrance to the Most Holy,
where the mercy seat was located, past the lampstand and the table of
showbread. The length and width of this altar of incense were both one
cubit, while its height was two cubits. In the Bible, a cubit is
approximately 45-50 cm in today’s measurement. So the altar of incense
was a rather small square, measuring around 50 cm in length and width
and 100 cm in height. And like the altar of burnt offering, the altar of
incense also had horns on its four upper corners. Made of acacia wood,
the altar of incense was completely overlaid with gold.
The Altar of Incense inside the Sanctuary Had Four Horns
When
the High Priest offered the sacrifice of the Day of Atonement once
every year, he had to put the blood of the sacrificial animal that bore
the yearly sins of the people of Israel on the horns of the altar of
burnt offering located in the court of the Tabernacle. In the same way,
the High Priest also had to put this blood on the horns of the altar of
incense. As this blood was offered to God, it solved the problem of sin
that was blocking the people of Israel from God. All of us have received
the remission of sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, and in the present age of the New Testament, this faith of ours
is what enables us to remove all obstacles when we come into the
presence of God to pray. Even the righteous commit sin while living in
this world. However, because we believe in the baptism of Jesus and His
blood of sacrifice foreshadowed by the Old Testament’s sacrificial
system, we can still come before God and pray to Him boldly.
Even
the righteous may feel hesitant to come into the presence of God
because of the sins that they commit in this world, but in times like
this, they can still come out to God boldly by trusting in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit. As we believe in Jesus Christ’s gospel of the
water and the Spirit, we can come out to God boldly even though our
bodies and minds may be still weak. That’s because we have already
become righteous by our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit,
and the Lord has already delivered us once and for all from all our
transgressions through the Truth of salvation which is manifested in the
blue, purple, and scarlet thread of the Tabernacle door. We must
therefore always ruminate on the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Jesus has accomplished our perfect salvation once and for all through
the baptism He received from John the Baptist and the blood He shed on
the Cross, and there is a fundamental difference of faith between those
who believe in this salvation and those who don’t. The righteous believe
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. That’s why they can pray to
God without any hesitation, for they believe that Jesus accepted all
their sins once and for all through His baptism and shed His blood for
them. Everyone therefore must also believe that Jesus bore all their
sins through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, and that He
was condemned for all their sins by shedding His blood on the Cross.
Only then can one become a priest of faith before God and pray for both
himself and other sinners. Believing that God has saved us from all the
sins of this world is what the real Christian faith is all about, and
the basis of this faith is the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Through
the gospel of the water and the Spirit, all of us can discover the
Truth of salvation manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread
and the fine woven line of the Tabernacle door. And all of us can enter
the Kingdom of God by believing in this gospel Truth. So I ask you to
believe that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is your salvation, that
He bore all your sins, and that He was condemned for all your sins on
the Cross. You will then be freed from all your sins forever. It’s only
by believing in the gospel of the covenant of God, in the gospel Word of
the water and the Spirit, that you can receive the remission of sins,
become a righteous saint, and obtains God’s approval for having the
right faith. Once you reach your salvation by believing in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit, the very first thing to do is praying to God
for His work of salvation, that is, for the spread of the gospel of the
water and the Spirit all over the world. The righteous believers in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit pray to God like this so that they
may shine the bright light of the gospel on this world through God’s
Church, the lampstand of the Holy Place of God. Faith is all the more
necessary for us to support the ministry of God’s Church and bring the
gospel to full bloom all over the world. It’s by hearing and believing
in the precious Word of God preached by His servants that everyone
throughout the whole world can receive the remission of sins and grow in
faith.
Your
faith in Jesus as your Savior must be grounded in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. And as a righteous saint saved from all your sins,
you must come out to the altar of incense and stand before the mercy
seat in the Holy Place. Why is this so necessary? It’s because you need
God’s grace continuously. The altar of incense is the place where we
offer prayers to God, for the incense here implies the prayers of the
saints (Revelation 5:8). We put on God’s grace whenever we come out to
the altar of incense and pray to God. The altar of incense in the Holy
Place shows us that praying to God by faith is the path to finding God’s
grace. That’s why we the believers in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit must continue to come out to the altar of incense and pray to God
ceaselessly by faith, so that we may put on God’s grace time after
time.
The Altar of Incense Is the Place Where We Ask God for His Help
Although
we have received the remission of sins by believing in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit, we still need God’s help for the rest of our
lives. For us to unite ourselves with God’s Church and bear spiritual
fruit as the light of this world, God’s grace is always indispensable.
So it’s very important for all of us to pray to God ceaselessly, asking
Him, “Lord, please help me. Hold me steadfast. Give me faith. Strengthen
me in both body and spirit. Strengthen my faith so that it may never
waver. Cut off all my heart’s desires to follow the world. Remove all my
ungodly wishes.” God wants us the righteous to come out to the altar of
incense, kneel before it, and pray to Him like this so that we would
find His grace in all things and receive His blessings in both body and
in spirit. That’s why it’s so imperative for every righteous saint who
has received the remission of sins to continue to lead a prayerful life
at the altar of incense.
Although
we the righteous have been born again and saved from all our sins by
believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, it’s still
necessary for us to pray to God to bestow His grace on us in our
everyday lives. That’s because even though we the righteous have
received the remission of sins, unless we continue to be clothed in
God’s grace, we cannot walk on the narrow way of life that the Lord
wants all of us to follow. It’s when the righteous pray to God that He
bestows grace upon grace on them. And this is possible only when we
abide in God’s Church and obey His Word. Put differently, the righteous
put on God’s grace when they carry out His good work in unity with His
Church. As mentioned, the High Priest put the blood of the sacrificial
animal on the horns of the altar of incense once a year. This implies
that whenever we the righteous come before God, we ought to confess our
faith and say to Him, “Lord, You are my Savior. You forsook Your divine
glory and came to this earth incarnated in the flesh of man; You bore
all my sins by being baptized; and You shed Your own blood in my place,
all to save me.” Only when we have this kind of unwavering faith that
God is our own God and Savior can we put on His abundant grace. No
matter how hard the circumstances of our lives may be, Jesus Christ is
still our God and our Savior. He is the very God who has saved us from
all our sins and all our condemnation. It’s when we pray to God by this
unwavering faith that we are clothed in God’s grace.
We Can Affirm Our Salvation Once Again in Our Every Prayer
It’s
in our prayer that we can affirm once again that God is our own God.
And this faith is what brings God’s blessings to us. Put differently, we
are compelled to kneel before God’s throne of grace because we are
absolutely convinced that God will bless us for sure. Our faith in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit guarantees that God will surely
answer our every prayer whenever we pray to God. God listens to each and
every prayer of the righteous and blesses them all. So, whenever we
pray to God, we should first ruminate on His grace as follows: “Lord, I
believe in Your righteousness. I know that my life is full of
shortcomings. Even though I want to live according to Your will, I have
too many shortcomings. But Lord, I also know that You came to this earth
incarnated in the flesh of man, that You bore all my sins by being
baptized by John the Baptist, that You were crucified to death in my
place, and that you have thereby become my Savior. You are my Messiah
and my God of salvation. So I believe with all my heart that You will
bestow Your grace on me, for You are my Lord.”
Like
this, whenever we pray to God to bestow His grace on us, we ought to
ruminate on this grace of God first and put all our trust in it. We can
then have the boldness to ask God for all our needs, and He will say to
us, “Yes, you are indeed My own child. As unwavering as your faith is, I
am truly your God and you are truly one of My own people. So I will
answer your prayer and bless you always. I will meet you on the mercy
seat. I can see from your prayer that your faith in Me is unwavering,
that you have put all your trust in Me alone, and that you believe with
all your heart that I am your God. So I will answer your prayer for all
the people of this world to know that I am indeed your God.”
Like
this, it’s when we believe in our Lord’s Truth of salvation that God
clothes us in His grace and showers us with His blessings. That we have
been saved from all our sins is not the end of the whole story; on the
contrary, if we have indeed been delivered from all our sins, then we
ought to believe that God’s blessings are about to begin. It is
therefore by trusting in the righteousness of God that we put on His
grace every day. Only then are we able to lead a godly life. That is why
we pray to God whenever there is anything that worries us in our minds,
saying to Him, “Lord, please help us. Please help Your Church. Your
Church needs Your help desperately to carry out Your work right now.”
Even when it comes to worldly affairs, if any worries or prayer subjects
come to our minds, we ought to come to the altar of incense and pray
before the throne of grace with faith. We will then see the Lord
clothing us in His grace in all things.
You
should remember here that the altar of incense is the place where we
find grace from God. We the saints should pray to God for no other
reason than to put on all His grace. In other words, it is to receive
God’s blessings that we pray to Him. Now that we have been saved by
faith, it’s absolutely indispensable for all of us to pray to God
ceaselessly if we really want to live the rest of our lives by trusting
in God’s Word of promise and receive all His blessings. Like this, the
altar of incense is there for us to put on God’s grace.
The
biggest obstacle that we face when praying to God is sin. There is no
one in this world that is living a flawless life. So, when we try to
come out to God and pray to Him, the very first source of hesitation is
our sins. That is why it is so important for us to ruminate on the Truth
of salvation again and renew our belief that our Lord has already
blotted out all our sins with the blue, purple, and scarlet thread of
the Tabernacle door. In other words, we must believe unwaveringly that
Jesus Christ, God Himself, came to this earth as our Savior, bore all
our sins by being baptized, and was condemned for all these sins; and
that thanks to our God and Savior, we have already been absolved from
all our sins. Only when we have this faith can we ask God for His grace
and blessings. Only then can we pray to God to bless us. It is to teach
us this lesson, to remind us of the Lord’s work of salvation, that the
blood of the sacrificial animal was put on the horns of the altar of
incense once a year.
Only Someone Who Is Assured of the Remission of All His Sins Can Pray to God Boldly
When
we pray to God, we can ask Him for all our needs without any
hesitation, calling Him our Father or our Savior. We are free to call
Him in this manner because God is indeed our Father, our Lord, and our
Savior. In other words, we have no hesitation to call upon God by
various titles and pray to Him because He is not only our Creator but
also our Savior.
This
is how all of us ought to pray to the Lord: “Lord, thank You for saving
me from all my sins. I really need Your blessings and Your help. So
help me Lord and watch over me every step of the way. I’ve done some
things well, but I’ve also made many mistakes, and I still have some
worries. I entrust them all to You, Lord. I ask you to Help me and guide
my path. Lead me to lost souls so that I may preach Your gospel to them
and bear abundant spiritual fruit for You. Open up their hearts and
plow their hearts’ fields so that I can sow the seed of the gospel upon
them. I ask You to also hold Your Church steadfast and watch over Your
servants. Bless them all so that the gospel of the water and the Spirit
may be preached fruitfully. Let this gospel spread all over the face of
the earth. Your servants need Your protection, and so I ask you to keep
them under Your watchful eyes. Bless me Lord, and bless my family. Bless
my children. Bless the saints as well. Bless all my fellow brothers and
sisters in Christ. Let Your blessings abound so that even the
unbelievers standing outside Your Church would all be saved.” When we
pray and entrust all our hopes and dream to God like this, He will
surely answer our prayers and bless us. That is how we can all receive
God’s abundant blessings through prayer. And that is how we can find
grace upon grace every day.
God
is the God of all those who believe in His righteousness. He is the God
of those who believe in the gospel of water and the Spirit
unwaveringly. God therefore never fails to bestow His grace on all His
believers who boldly approach the throne of grace by their unwavering
faith and ask for His grace and blessings, saying, “Lord, I believe that
You are my God. I believe that You are My Savior. Help me, Lord!”
My
fellow believers, I cannot emphasize just how important it is for all
of us to realize that our salvation from the sins of the world is not
the end of the story, but we ought to pray to the Lord ceaselessly. If
your prayer is not answered by the Lord or if you don’t even know how to
pray, you should then examine your faith step by step and think about
who the Lord really is to you. A clear understanding of your
relationship with the Lord is absolutely indispensable. In other words,
you must make sure that your faith is on a sound footing, realizing and
believing wholeheartedly that the Lord is the Creator of the heavens and
the earth; that He came to this earth incarnated in the flesh of man to
save you; that He bore all your sins by being baptized by John the
Baptist; that He was condemned on the Cross in your place; that He rose
from the dead again in three days; and that He is still alive as your
living Savior. Now that you have been saved, the Lord has become your
Shepherd and you are His sheep. You should therefore have no doubt
whatsoever that the Lord will answer you every time you ask Him for His
help.
We Ought to Pray Day and Night
Those
of us who have accepted the Lord as their Savior by faith and
faithfully pray to God day and night will receive His abundant grace and
blessings throughout their entire lifetime in this world. In contrast,
those of us who don’t pray diligently for whatever reason, whether it’s
because they think pompously that the Lord would provide for all their
needs even if they don’t pray, or they lack faith in the Word of God,
cannot receive God’s blessings, for the altar of incense is missing from
their faith. If you think that God would give you everything you want
even if you don’t pray just because you believe that He is your God,
then your faith is misplaced. If this were true, then there should have
been no altar of incense in the Holy Place. Do you think that God made
the altar of incense just out of boredom? No, of course not! Aaron the
High Priest lit the altar of incense with four kinds of incense every
morning and every evening. Sweet aroma then filled the Holy Place as the
smell of the burning incense spread all around it. This is a truly
wonderful aroma that enables us to come out to God boldly. This incense
also has the effect of covering our shortcomings before God. For
example, the High Priest had to make the Most Holy Place full of incense
before he entered it once a year, ensuring that the cloud of incense
would cover the mercy seat that was on the Ark of Testimony, or
otherwise he would have been put to death (Leviticus 16:12-13).
My
fellow believers, whenever we approach God, we must have the full
conviction of the fact that we have already received the remission of
sins, that God is now our God, and that He will bestow His grace on us
whenever we pray to Him. When we thus come into the presence of God by
this unwavering faith and stand boldly before His throne of grace, we
will not only face no condemnation, but we will put on God’s grace. God
is the God of mercy whose abundant grace is granted to all of us.
The Rings Attached to the Altar of Incense Were Also Made of Gold
The
altar of incense in God’s Sanctuary was a rectangular parallelepiped (a
polyhedron with six faces) measuring around 50 cm in its length and
width and 100 cm in its height, and two pairs of golden rings were also
attached on both sides of the altar. Two poles were then inserted
through these golden rings. These poles were also made of acacia wood
and overlaid with gold. Although the altar of incense was relatively
small, it had to be lifted by two men. Since its length and width were
only about 50 cm and its height 100 cm at most, it could have been
easily lifted and carried by just one man, but like all the other
utensils of the Tabernacle, that was never allowed. This implies that we
the righteous ought to pray to God in unity as the Lord Jesus said,
“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning
anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven”
(Matthew 18:19).
These
poles of the altar of incense also show us that we the born-again ought
to serve God with our prayers. Our prayers of faith are also a way for
us to serve the Lord. Now that we have been born again from all our
sins, we can serve God and His Church in various ways, whether it is by
praying or volunteering our services. When we pray to God, we don’t pray
just for ourselves, but we pray for God’s work, His Church, its
members, and especially for the spreading of the gospel. In other words,
our prayers not only allow us to stand before God’s throne of grace and
find His mercy, but they also enable us to serve the ministry of God’s
righteousness. It’s by praying in unity that we can serve the Kingdom of
God. When we pray for our fellow brothers and sisters, for the Church,
for the lost souls, for the expansion of the Kingdom of God, and for the
ministry of God’s righteousness, we do so to serve God. That is why it
is so important for us to grasp the implications of the priests serving
God at the altar of incense in the Holy Place. We must pray to God
earnestly by this faith. Just as we preach the Word of God in order to
serve God and His people, so do we also pray to God to serve Him and His
people. All of us have this duty to serve God in every way possible.
The
most important thing you need to do to lead a godly Christian life and
serve the will of God is faith in God and His righteousness. It’s by
faith alone that you can preach the Word of God, pray to Him, spread the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, and serve God and His
righteousness. Everything we do to serve God is done by faith. You can
never lead a godly life of faith unless you accept the will of God. I
can’t emphasize enough just how important it is that we pray to serve
God. Whenever the saints are gathered together at their respective
churches, from our brothers to our sisters and even our kids at the
Sunday school, they must all serve God first of all. We ought to get
together to share the bread of the Word of God. And we ought to serve
the righteousness of God also. Our prayers ascend to God as a sweet
aroma when we the born-again pray to Him in unity, saying, “Lord, hold
fast and bless Your Church, Your servants, and Your saints in the Church
all over the world. Bless their souls and hearts, and give them blessed
faith. Save all the souls that still remain lost.” Enjoying this sweet
aroma of prayer, God then answers us and blesses us. He answers
everything we ask of Him in our prayers. This is what it means to serve
God with prayer, and I admonish you all to remember God’s work in your
prayers rather than just praying for your needs.
While
every saint in the Church ought to pray, if you can afford more time
than everyone else for whatever reason, whether it is because you are
retired or even sick, you ought to pray even more for God’s Church, His
servants, and His saints. This is particularly more important for the
housewives. It is not because of any lack of money that we can’t serve
the Lord. You are more than able to serve the Lord without any money.
You can serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit as much as you want
with your faith. Just as two poles were put into the rings of the altar
of incense to be carried by two men on their shoulders, those who are
poor can still serve the Lord with their prayers of faith if only they
are united with God’s Church. Those who are rich can also likewise serve
the Lord with their material possessions. Don’t just say, “I’m way too
busy with my job to set aside any time to serve the Lord. I just don’t
have any time.” Each and every righteous saint can serve the Lord and
His will by faith, whether it is with his offerings, prayers, or gospel
preaching. All of us are more than able to serve the will of the Lord if
only we have the desire to do so. And we the born-again can all receive
God’s blessings if only we yearn for them.
God Blesses All of Us Who Believe in the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit
The Lord is our Shepherd. Our relationship with the Lord is so close that nothing and no one can ever separate us from Him.
Let’s
turn to Matthew 26:26-28 here: “And as they were eating, Jesus took
bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said,
‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and
gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My
blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of
sins.’”
The
name “Jesus” means the Savior or the Messiah, and we call Him our Lord
to denote that He is our God and our Master. Our Lord Jesus came to this
earth as our own Savior to deliver us all. God Himself had come to this
earth incarnated in the flesh of man. And just before dying on the
Cross, our Lord prepared the Last Supper, gathered together His
disciples, and gave them bread and wine, saying to them, “Take the bread
and eat it; this is My body. Take this cup and drink from it. This is
My blood of covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
This means that God has saved us by coming to this earth as our own
Savior and personally fulfilling His Word of promise through the water
and the Spirit exactly as prophesied in the Old Testament. Having thus
come to this earth as our Savior, our Lord accepted all the sins of this
world by being baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. He
then gave up His body on the Cross, and thereby bore all the
condemnation of everyone in this world. And He has given us new life by
rising from the dead again.
That
the blood of the sacrificial animal was put on the altar of incense
refers to the physical death of Jesus Christ. In a similar vein, after
bearing all our sins through His baptism, Jesus Christ sacrificed
Himself and shed His own blood on the Cross for us. It is thanks to this
sacrifice that we have been saved. It’s on account of our faith in this
gospel of the water and the Spirit that we have reached our salvation.
It’s not by any blind or arbitrary faith that we have been saved from
all our sins, but it’s only because Jesus, God Himself, came to this
earth as our Savior, bore all our sins on His own body by being
baptized, and shed His precious blood for all of us.
That
is how God has accomplished our salvation, which is implied in the
blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen of the screen
door of the Tabernacle. The color purple here denotes that the King of
kings became a Man. It teaches us that Jesus accepted all our sins by
being baptized by John the Baptist and paid off all the wages of our
sins by shedding His blood in our place. This is how the Lord became our
own Savior. Faith in this gospel of the water and the Spirit is the
very faith that enables us to partake in Holy Communion. When Jesus
prepared for the Last Supper, He did not prepare just bread but also
wine; and He told His disciples to drink and eat them both. The bread
here refers to the body of Jesus, implying that God Himself became a Man
in order to save us sinners. The bread also implies that by being
baptized in the Jordan River, Jesus bore all our sins on His own body.
The wine, on the other hand, refers to the blood of life and of
salvation that Jesus shed on the Cross in our place.
Therefore,
whenever we participate in Holy Communion, it’s absolutely
indispensable for all of us to have this unwavering faith that God
Himself came to this earth incarnated in the flesh of man to save us,
that He bore all our sins on His own body by being baptized, that He was
condemned on the Cross in our place, and that He has thereby saved us
and become our personal Savior. Sadly, however, most Christians do not
know the exact reason why Jesus Christ has established this ritual of
Holy Communion and ordered us to keep it until His return. You should
never take your life of faith too lightly. If you still are not sure
that Jesus is your Savior, then you should think long and hard about
your faith before taking the bread and wine of Jesus in Holy Communion.
Rather than getting all emotional, think carefully and ask yourself
solemnly whether the Lord is indeed your Lord or not.
God
is your God and mine. He made your ancestors and mine. And He allowed
us to be born on this earth. This God is none other than Jesus. And
Jesus, God Himself, came to this earth as our own Savior. Having come to
this earth as our Savior in order to save us, He bore all our sins on
His body through His baptism. He then faithfully took each and every one
of these sins of ours to the Cross, never relieving Himself from any of
them, and bore the punishment of the Cross that only the accursed
should bear, so that we would not be condemned for our sins. This is how
the Lord has saved us from all our condemnation.
You
can easily understand this Truth of salvation if you just think about
the gospel of the water and the Spirit even for a moment. To be saved
from all the sins of the world is to accept the gospel of the water and
the Spirit into your heart. I believe that the Lord has saved me from
all my sins through His water and blood. There is nothing that I myself
have done for my salvation. When Jesus came to this earth, when He was
born in a tiny stable in Bethlehem, I was not there, nor did I intervene
in any shape or form, far less did I ask God to save me. But the Lord
had come to this earth incarnated in the flesh of man irrespective of my
intentions, all to save me. I am absolutely convinced that it was to
save me that Jesus had come to this earth, was baptized, and shed His
blood on the Cross.
God
the Father loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son.
God Himself came to this earth to save each and every human being. And
He has indeed saved you and me from all our sins, and He has become your
Savior and mine. All that we have to do to reach our salvation is to
trust in Jesus Christ, who is God Himself, and accept into our hearts
the work of salvation that He has done for us. Only those who are
completely exhausted of their own strength, who have given up their own
efforts realizing its futility, and who have entrusted their remission
of sins and their salvation entirely to God—such people alone can find
grace from God. Although this may seem incomprehensible to you in your
thoughts, God Himself has actually fulfilled our salvation perfectly to
deliver us all. There is therefore nothing else for us to do but believe
in God’s work of salvation.
Entrust Yourself to God Completely
It’s
absolutely imperative for you to entrust yourself to God. Think about
what God has done for you. God Himself had become a man. And God did
this just to save you and me. Moreover, Jesus, who is God Himself, was
baptized for us in order to bear all our sins and to blot them all out.
Jesus was also crucified to death, shedding His precious blood for us on
the Cross. He was thus condemned in our place, all to pay off each and
every one of our sins, to deliver us from our condemnation, and to make
it possible for us to escape from our judgment. He then rose from the
dead again in three days to bring us back to new and everlasting life.
And
now, He is sitting at the right hand of the throne of God the Father
and watching over all of us. He is watching out to see who is willing to
entrust his everything to Him, God Himself and the Savior, and who
believes in Him wholeheartedly. Those who have received Jesus are those
who have entrusted their everything to God. They believe that the Lord
has saved them perfectly. They know that they have done nothing on their
own for their salvation. They are certain that it’s only out of His
love that God has saved them through the Truth of salvation revealed in
the blue, purple, and scarlet thread of the Tabernacle door. And to all
such people who have entrusted themselves to God completely, and who
have accepted God and His Word into their hearts, God has given the
right to become His own children.
So
I ask you all to have a clear understanding of this Truth of salvation
before you partake in Holy Communion. The baptism that Jesus received
was to bear all our sins and make atonement for them. The physical death
that Jesus suffered was to save you and me from all our sins. Having
thus borne all our sins, Jesus was crucified to death, shedding all His
blood in our place, and was condemned like this in order to release us
from the judgment of sin and to make us righteous.
To
all of us abiding and praying in the Holy Place, God has given the
altar of incense in order to clothe us in His grace. This is where we
can find grace from God. So I admonish each and every one of you to
completely entrust yourself to the Lord.
Hallelujah!
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