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The Four Mysteries
Hidden in the Coverings of
The Tabernacle
< Exodus 26:1-14 >
“Moreover you shall make the tabernacle
with ten curtains of fine woven linen and blue, purple, and scarlet
thread; with artistic designs of cherubim you shall weave them.
The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the
width of each curtain four cubits. And every one of the curtains
shall have the same measurements. Five curtains shall be coupled
to one another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled to
one another. And you shall make loops of blue yarn on the edge of
the curtain on the selvedge of one set, and likewise you shall do
on the outer edge of the other curtain of the second set. Fifty
loops you shall make in the one curtain, and fifty loops you shall
make on the edge of the curtain that is on the end of the second
set, that the loops may be clasped to one another. And you shall
make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains together with
the clasps, so that it may be one tabernacle. You shall also make
curtains of goats’ hair, to be a tent over the tabernacle. You shall
make eleven curtains. The length of each curtain shall be thirty
cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; and the eleven
curtains shall all have the same measurements. And you shall couple
five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves, and
you shall double over the sixth curtain at the forefront of the
tent. You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that
is outermost in one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain
of the second set. And you shall make fifty bronze clasps, put the
clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may
be one. The remnant that remains of the curtains of the tent, the
half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle.
And a cubit on one side and a cubit on the other side, of what remains
of the length of the curtains of the tent, shall hang over the sides
of the tabernacle, on this side and on that side, to cover it. You
shall also make a covering of ram skins dyed red for the tent, and
a covering of badger skins above that.”
The Coverings of the Tabernacle
We now turn our attention to the coverings of
the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle’s coverings were made in four layers.
When God told Moses to build the Tabernacle, He gave him detailed
instructions. Uniquely, the first covering could be seen only from
inside the Tabernacle, covering over the boards of the Tabernacle
and all its utensils inside. This covering draped over the boards
of the Tabernacle, the Holy Place and the Most Holy, all the way
down to the ground. And it was made of blue, purple, and scarlet
thread and fine woven linen, and beautiful images of cherubim were
also woven into it.
The first covering was made of two
main sets of curtains attached to one another, each of which was
made by coupling five smaller curtains to one another. To couple
these two main sets of curtains to each other, fifty loops of blue
yearn were made at each contacting edge of the curtains. Gold clasps
were coupled to these loops of blue yearn, attaching the two sets
of curtains to make a large, single covering.
The first covering of the Tabernacle
was made with ten curtains, which were coupled into two sets of
wider curtains. Its length was 28 cubits. A cubit is about 45 cm,
and so the length was about 12.6 m in today’s measurement, while
the width of each curtain was four cubits, 1.8 m. Five curtains
were first coupled together to make two sets of curtains, and then
these sets were attached to one another with fifty loops of blue
yearn and fifty clasps of gold. This is how the first covering of
the Tabernacle was completed. But there were three more coverings.
The first covering of the Tabernacle was made by weaving curtains
with artistic designs of cherubim with blue, purple, and scarlet
thread and fine woven linen.
This was to show us the way to the
Kingdom of Heaven. For example, the blue thread used for the first
covering of the Tabernacle refers to the baptism that Jesus received
from John to take upon the sins of the world. By being baptized,
Jesus took upon all the sins of the world (Matthew 3:15). Because
Jesus took upon the sins of the world on His own body through His
baptism, this baptism has now become the antitype of salvation (1
Peter 3:21).
The second covering of the Tabernacle
was made of goats’ hair (Exodus 26:7). Its length was longer than
that of the first covering by 90 cm. At 30 cubits, the length was
13.5 m, and at 4 cubits, the width was 1.8 m. The covering was made
of eleven curtains, coupled to one another into two sets of curtains,
one with five and the other with six curtains. These two sets were
then coupled to each other with bronze clasps.
This second covering of the Tabernacle,
made of goats’ hair, tells us that Jesus has made us holy with the
righteousness of God. Coming to this earth, when our Lord turned
30, He was baptized by John out of His own volition, and He accepted
the sins of the world onto Himself. As a result of this, the Lord
carried the sins of the world to the Cross, was crucified, blotted
out our sins once for all, and has thereby become our Savior. Therefore
the second covering, the white covering of goats’ hair, tells us
that Jesus Christ who became the scapegoat made us sinless with
His baptism and blood.
The third covering of the Tabernacle
was made of ram skins dyed red, which tells us that Jesus shouldered
our sins by being baptized, carried them to the Cross, shed His
blood and was condemned, and has thereby delivered us from all our
sins.
The fourth covering of the Tabernacle
was made of badger skins. The meaning of the badger skins is that
Jesus Christ, when looked at His outside appearance, had nothing
desirable in Him. But He was actually God Himself. The badger skins
shows us a portrait of Jesus Christ who lowered Himself all the
way down to the level of human beings in order to save us from the
sins of the world.
Let us now examine these four coverings
of the Tabernacle in more detail.
The Spiritual Meaning of the First Covering
of the Tabernacle

The materials used for the first of the four
coverings of the Tabernacle were blue, purple, and scarlet thread
and fine woven linen. It was made in such a way that the four colors
would be clearly visible from inside the Tabernacle. Also, artistic
designs of angels were woven into it, so that they would look down
the Tabernacle from above. The spiritual meaning held in each of
these four threads are as the following.
The mystery of the blue thread manifested
in the materials of the first covering of the Tabernacle is that
the Messiah, once for all, accepted all the sins of the whole world
through His baptism. He came to this earth and was baptized by John
the Baptist, the representative of mankind, to bear all the sins
of the world, just as the sacrificial offerings of the Old Testament
had accepted the iniquities of sinners passed onto them through
the laying on of hands. And it also tells us of the truth that Jesus
washed away all the sins of the world by bearing the condemnation
of these sins all at once.
The purple thread, on the other hand,
tells us that Jesus Christ who came to this earth is the King of
kings and the absolute God Himself for us. It tells us that Jesus
is God Himself in His essence. The scarlet thread manifested in
the Tabernacle tell us that Jesus, having at once accepted all our
sins through the baptism that He received from John, shed His blood
on the Cross and thereby vicariously bore the sacrifice and condemnation
of our sins in our stead.
The baptism of Jesus and His death
on the Cross were the same as the sacrificial system of the Old
Testament’s time where unblemished offerings accepted the iniquities
of sinners through the laying on of hands and bled to death to bear
the condemnation of these sins. Like this, in the New Testament,
Jesus was baptized, went to the Cross, and shed His blood and died
on it.
The Bible refers to Jesus Christ as
the sacrificial offering. The name “Jesus” means “He who will
save His people form their sins” (Matthew 1:21). And the name
“Christ” means “the anointed One.” In the Old Testament, three kinds
of persons were to be anointed; kings, prophets, and priests. Therefore,
the name “Jesus Christ” signifies that He is the Savior, God Himself,
the High Priest of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Lord of the everlasting
truth. By coming to this earth, being baptized by John, and shedding
His blood, He has become our true Savior.
Like this, the first covering of the
Tabernacle reveals that the Messiah would come through the blue,
purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen and thereby
save all those who believe in Him from their sins and condemnation.
These ministries are none other than the baptism of Jesus and His
blood on the Cross. The mystery of salvation manifested in this
four-colored first covering is that the Messiah came to this earth,
took upon the sins of mankind by being baptized, was crucified to
death, rose from the dead again.
With these ministries, Jesus Christ
has saved those who believe in Him from their sins, and has made
them God’s people. Jesus Christ is the King of kings and the sacrificial
offering that has blotted out the iniquities of sinners, and He
has delivered those who believe from all their sins and condemnation.
The Spiritual Meaning of the Second Covering
of the Tabernacle

The materials used for the second covering of
the Tabernacle were goats’ hair. This tells us that the Messiah
to come would justify mankind by delivering them from their sins
and the condemnation of these sins. It shows us, in other words,
that for human beings to receive the righteousness of God, it is
absolutely necessary for them to believe in the gospel of the water,
the blood and the Spirit. The righteousness of God has washed away
our hearts as white as snow, and it has thereby enabled us to received
the remission of our sins.
The Spiritual Meaning of the Third Covering
of the Tabernacle

The materials used for the third covering of
the Tabernacle were ram skins dyed red. This manifests that the
Messiah would come to this earth, take upon the sins of the world
by being baptized, be crucified, and thereby become the sacrificial
offering for the sins of His people. The blood that Jesus Christ
shed on the Cross paid off the wages of death for the sins of the
world. In other words, it tells us that Jesus Christ Himself became
the sacrificial offering and has thereby saved His people from their
sins (Leviticus 16).
On the Day of Atonement, two sacrificial
goats were prepared to take upon the entire sins of the people of
Israel. One of them was a sacrificial offering of atonement that
was given to God for their sins. At that time, the High Priest laid
his hands on the head of this first sacrificial goat, passing all
the sins of His people onto it at once. He then took its blood,
sprinkling it on the eastside of the mercy seat, and sprinkling
it seven times before the mercy seat. This is how the offering of
the atonement of the people of Israel was given to God.
Then, before the witnessing of the
Israelites gathered around the Tabernacle, the High Priest put his
hands on the other scapegoat and passed a year’s worth of the sins
of the people of Israel. This was to give all the people of Israel
the conviction that all their sins of the past year were thus taken
away from them through the laying on of the High Priest’s hands.
This scapegoat was then sent out to the wilderness to its death,
carrying with it all their sins (Leviticus 16:21-22). This was the
promise of God that the Messiah would come to this earth, take upon
the sins of the world by being baptized by John the Baptist, the
representative of mankind (Matthew 11:11-13, 3:13-17), bear the
condemnation of these sins by being willingly crucified, and thereby
save His people from all their sins.
The Spiritual Meaning of the Fourth Covering
of the Tabernacle

Badger skins show our own image, as well as
the image of the Lord when He came to this earth. Our Lord came
to this earth in the flesh of a man to call on sinners and make
them righteous. Badger skins also tell us that Jesus Christ did
not raise Himself high when He came to this earth, but rather He
lowered Himself as a man of humble birth.
In the Old Testament time, God said
through His prophets that the Messiah would come and deliver the
sinners of this earth from their iniquities. We can see that God
fulfilled the Word of prophecy spoken through His servants with
the baptism of Jesus Christ and His blood of the Cross. This promise
of prophecy is the Word of the covenant that the Messiah would bear
not only the sins of the people of Israel but also all the sins
and condemnation of everyone in this world, and that He would save
all His believers and make them His own people.
Exodus 25 speaks of the materials
used to build the Tabernacle. These materials of the Tabernacle
included blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine woven linen, goats’
hair, ram skins dyed red, badger skins, gold, silver, bronze, spices,
oil, and precious stones. All these materials manifest that the
Messiah would come to this earth and save His people from their
sins through His baptism and bloodshed. As such, hidden in the coverings
of the Tabernacle is the profound plan of salvation that God made
to save His people from their sins.
Why did God command that blue, purple,
and scarlet thread be used as the materials of the coverings of
the Tabernacle? And why did He command to use goats’ hair, ram skins,
and badger skins? We must pay careful attention to the plan that
God made to deliver us from the sins of the world. We must believe
in the ministries manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread,
through which Jesus has saved His people from their sins, as they
are, and we must thereby be saved from our sins and become God’s
people. We must, in other words, know and believe in the plan of
God manifested in the coverings of the Tabernacle.
By Four Methods
The four coverings of the Tabernacle tell us
of the way in which God has delivered us from our sins in detail:
The Messiah would come to this earth in the flesh, take upon all
the sins of the world with His baptism received from John, be crucified
for the punishment of these sins, and remit the sins of His people
and save them from their sins with His own blood. However, this
salvation is fulfilled only to those who believe in the Messiah
as their Savior. We must all believe that Jesus Christ, as manifested
in the materials of the coverings of the Tabernacle, indeed came
by His baptism and the Cross, and has thereby saved us once for
all from all our sins.
In accordance to the prophecies of
the blue, purple, and scarlet thread manifested in the coverings
of the Tabernacle, the Son of God came to us as the sacrificial
offering of the New Testament’s time, was baptized, and shed His
blood crucified to the Cross. Moreover, by believing in the Messiah
revealed in the coverings of the Tabernacle, we can give to God
the offering of faith that saves us.
As such, we must believe in the truth
manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. If anyone does
not come out before God and fails to give the offering of faith
by believing in the ministries of Jesus manifested in the blue,
purple, and scarlet thread, he/she will surely be destroyed for
his/her own sins. But if one believes in this truth, then by his/her
faith of salvation he/she can go before God at all times as His
child. The Tabernacle shows us that no one who does not believe
in Jesus Christ who became the sacrificial offering and was manifested
in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread can ever enter the Kingdom
of God.
The Tabernacle’s coverings thus show
us the way to Heaven. We must find the way to enter the Kingdom
of Heaven by believing in the truth revealed in the blue, purple,
and scarlet thread. Anyone who wants to enter the Kingdom of God
must first have his/her problem of sin resolved by believing in
the truth of the remission of sin manifested in the blue, purple,
and scarlet thread. As such, whether people enter into God’s Church
by believing in this truth, or whether they are rejected by God
for not believing, is a choice that they must make.
Of course, our consciences are at
liberty to believe or not to believe in the truth of salvation revealed
in the coverings of the Tabernacle. But you should also recognize
that the result of not believing in this truth will be too catastrophic
for anyone to endure. However, for us to enter the shining House
of God according to His will, we must be forever saved from our
sins by believing in the baptism that the Messiah received from
John and the blood of the Cross. All must accept and believe in
their hearts that this baptism of the Messiah and His blood on the
Cross have remitted all their sins. Only when they believe so can
they receive the everlasting remission of sin and enter into the
glory of God.
The first covering of the Tabernacle
was woven of four different threads, and it was laid under the second
covering made of goats’ hair. This shows us that the fact that we
were able to receive the remission of sin is based on Jesus’ ministries:
His baptism and His own blood. As such, the remission of sin that
we have received by believing in the righteousness of God is based
on our faith in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine
woven linen manifested in the first covering. To see just how certain
this fact is, let us turn to the Word of the Bible below.
Isaiah 53:6 states, “The LORD has
laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Hebrews 9:28 declares,
“So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.” And
2 Corinthians 5:21 states, “For He made Him who knew no sin to
be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in
Him.” All these passages therefore tell us that our salvation
has been fulfilled based on Jesus’ ministries of salvation manifested
in the fine linen and the blue, purple, and scarlet thread used
for the first covering of the Tabernacle. That Christ Himself was
hung on the tree and vicariously bore the condemnation of our sins
onto His own body was made possible by the fact that He had first
taken upon our sins by being baptized by John, and it is not only
on the Cross that He bore the sins of the world.
When Jesus took all the sins of the
world by being baptized and thereby bore deadly sufferings on the
Cross to atone them, He had no fear. On the contrary, He was rejoiced!
Why? Because that was the very moment for Him “to fulfill all
righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). To deliver us from our sins,
Jesus was baptized and shed His blood on the Cross. He did so because
He loved us. This is why He came to this earth, was baptized by
John, and willingly drank from the cup of sacrifice. It is because
the Lord took upon our sins and blemishes through His baptism that
He could shed His blood on Calvary and vicariously bear the condemnation
of our own sins.
The Clasps That Coupled the First Covering
of the Tabernacle together Were Made of Gold
The Tabernacle’s first covering was made of
two sets of five curtains, which were coupled to each other with
gold clasps. This actually shows us that we can enter the Kingdom
of Heaven only when we believe in the truth of the remission of
sin manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. That the
two sets of five curtains were coupled to one another with fifty
gold clasps shows us that we can be saved from all our sins only
when we have thorough faith in His salvation. In the Bible, gold
denotes the true faith that believes in the Word of God.
As such, each and every one of us
must surely believe in all the Word of God. It is particularly important
for us to have faith in the truth manifested in the blue thread.
Jesus’ crucifixion alone has, in and of itself, no effect whatsoever
on our salvation. Why? Because prior to His crucifixion, there first
had to be a process of Jesus’ baptism by which sinners could pass
their sins onto Jesus Christ through. The Cross is effective for
our salvation only when we believe that God the Father made Jesus
Christ accept the sins of the world by being baptized.
What Does the Fine Woven Linen Tell Us
in the Tabernacle?
It tells us that God has worked among us all
according to His elaborate Word of truth. The Messiah actually came
to this earth and bore our sins and condemnation through the baptism
that He received from John and the blood of the Cross. And it tells
us that His salvation has already been fulfilled just as He promised
in His Word.
In the New Testament’s time, our Lord
did in fact come to this earth, took upon our sins by being baptized
by John, bled to death, bore all the condemnation of our sins, and
has thereby kept all the promises of salvation. By being baptized
by John and crucified, our Lord completed and fulfilled the will
of God the Father. The covenant that God had made with His people
of Israel was all fulfilled through His Son Jesus.
Who, then, should actually pay close
attention to this truth? Is it the people of Israel only? Or is
it you and I?
The fact that the first covering of
the Tabernacle was coupled together with fifty gold clasps demands
the real faith from us. It shows us that we can enter the Kingdom
of God only when we know and believe that Jesus has washed away
all our sins through His ministries manifested in the blue, purple,
and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen used for the first covering
of the Tabernacle.
In other words, it shows us that the
remission of sin is received only by believing in the Word of the
truth. Through the Word of the Old and New Testaments, God is actually
showing us in detail that we can attain our true salvation only
by believing that the baptism and the blood of the Cross manifested
in the coverings of the Tabernacle have saved us from all our sins.
God has indeed enabled us to be washed
of all our sins and become as white as snow by believing in the
truth revealed in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine
woven linen used for the Tabernacle’s first covering. And God has
allowed only those who have this faith to enter into His Kingdom.
We must know about the coverings of the Tabernacle and believe in
them. By believing in Jesus Christ who has come to us through the
ministries of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, we can actually
attain the qualification to become God’s children and receive the
glory of entering into His Kingdom.
When the Messiah has saved us from
all our sins through His works manifested in the blue, purple, and
scarlet thread, how could we not believe in God’s profound and vast
love of salvation and reject it? How could we reject the remission
of our sins and the Kingdom of Heaven, which can be attained only
by faith? We must all believe in Jesus Christ as our own Savior
who has saved us from the sins of world by being baptized and shedding
His blood on the Cross. Only then can we become the people of God.
Those who do not believe in the truth
of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread manifested in the first
covering of the Tabernacle cannot actually wash away their sins
by faith. Those who do not believe in this truth cannot become God’s
children. This is why we must believe in the truth of salvation
revealed in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread used for the Tabernacle’s
coverings, and we must thereby receive eternal life.
The Covering of Goats’ Hair Was Made
Bigger Than the First Covering of the Tabernacle
The second covering made of goats’ hair was
bigger than the first covering of the Tabernacle. This means that
those who stand against God cannot see even a part the truth revealed
in the Tabernacle’s first covering. There was actually a need to
hide the mystery of the remission of sin manifested in the blue,
purple, and scarlet thread of the first covering of the Tabernacle.
This was because God has set that only those who revere and fear
Him can enter His Kingdom by believing in the ministries of Jesus
manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread.
This also is why God placed cherubim
at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned
every way, to guard the way to the tree of life, after He drove
out the man who had fallen into sin (Genesis 3:24). The truth that
enables one to enter the Kingdom of Heaven is not allowed to be
seen by just anyone without first believing in God. This is why
God made the second covering made with goats’ hair slightly bigger
than the first covering of the Tabernacle.
The second covering of the Tabernacle
shows us that we can become righteous only when we receive the remission
of sin manifested in the first covering. Put differently, God has
allowed only those who believe in His Word with fear and reverence,
and who thereby hold the gospel of truth, to become His people.
Because this is how God has determined it to be, He does not allow
just anyone to become His child without first believing in the blue,
purple, and scarlet truth of the remission of sin set by Him. The
will of God is that those whose hearts are evil can never realize
even a bit of the mystery of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread.
The Second Covering of the Tabernacle
Was Made of Goats’ Hair, and Its Clasps Were Made of Bronze
The spiritual meaning of the bronze clasps denotes
the judgment of people’s sins. The bronze clasps tell us that all
sins require the payment of their just wages. As such, the bronze
claps contain the truth that the Messiah had to shed His blood on
the Cross because He had come to this earth and taken upon the sins
of the world all at once by being baptized. Because the Messiah
had first taken upon our sins of the world through the baptism that
He received from John, He could then bear the condemnation of these
sins of the world with the blood that He shed on the Cross.
From the bronze clasps, we can discover
God’s law that tells us that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).
Therefore, we must recognize that God fulfilled the judgment of
our sins through the Messiah. Since Jesus Christ was baptized by
John and bled to death on the Cross, the judgment of all the sins
of mankind was wholly completed.
When we go before God, you and I must
think in our consciences about what the truth is. We live this world
committing actual sins everyday with our hearts, thoughts, and acts.
Nevertheless, the Messiah accepted all these actual sins that we
commit everyday also, paid the wages of these sins with the price
of His own life, and has thereby completed our salvation for us.
Our consciences before God are bound to wither and die away, if
we have no faith in His truth. Therefore, all of us must now believe
in this truth, so that our dying souls can be saved and live again.
Do our hearts desire to believe in
the truth manifested in these bronze clasps? The truth that the
bronze clasps are telling is that while we could not avoid but be
condemned for our sins, the Messiah took upon our sins by being
baptized and was vicariously condemned for all these sins on our
behalf. Jesus actually bore all the condemnation of sin once for
all with His baptism and the blood of the Cross. By doing so, Jesus
Christ has given us faith and enabled us to enter the Kingdom of
God.
When someone has sin in his/her heart
before God, then he/she must be cast out to hell. Because of our
sins, all that we deserved to receive was only eternal death. But
the Messiah became the offering of vicarious sacrifice for our sins
and has thereby saved us from all their condemnation. We were supposed
to be punished to hell for our sins, yet by believing that the Messiah
was vicariously punished instead, we can now enter the Kingdom of
God.
By believing in this truth in our
hearts, we must be remitted of our sins of the world and escape
from the condemnation of our sins. It is to do these works of salvation
that the Messiah accepted the sins of the world by being baptized
by John, and was crucified for these sins of the world. By knowing
and believing in this truth, we must not only receive the remission
of sin, but we must also be saved from the condemnation of sin.
We have to believe that the Messiah
could accept our sins onto Himself and bear the condemnation of
these sins only by coming to this earth and first receiving His
baptism in a form of the laying on of hands. If the Messiah took
upon all our sins of the world through the baptism that He received
from John, and if He was crucified to pay the wages of these sins,
then we must also believe so. To those who thus believe, God gives
new life.
Because we were bound to hell for
our sins, the Messiah accepted our sins and died in our place, thereby
bearing the condemnation of our own sins. For us who were supposed
to die from the condemnation of our sins, our Lord instead bore
this condemnation for our sake. If the Lord was crucified to death
to save us from the judgment of our sins, we must believe so.
We must accept the Lord’s salvation
into our souls, into the depth of our hearts, not by our carnal
volition but by our spiritual faith in His Word. Each and every
one of you, who have now heard this message, must believe in this
truth in your hearts. Because the Messiah has saved us with His
baptism and bloodshed, those who believe can indeed be saved.
If people do not believe that they
are bound to hell, then they would see no need to be saved by believing
in the Messiah who came by the blue, purple, and scarlet thread.
But if people do believe that they are indeed bound to hell, then
they would clearly see their need to be saved by believing in this
Messiah who came by the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. This is
why Jesus says, “Those who are well have no need of a physician,
but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but
sinners, to repentance” (Mark 2:17). When they thus believe
in this truth in their hearts, they will then receive the remission
of sin into their hearts.
If we look at ourselves measured by
the Law before God, then we would not be able to deny that we are
utterly sinful, and that they we are to be cursed forever for our
sins. Not only must we admit to ourselves that we are bound to hell
because of our sins, but we must also have an earnest desire to
avoid such condemnation, so that we may be washed of all our sins
by believing in this message. This is the only way of life to bear
the just condemnation of all our sins by faith.
Without our faith in the ministries
of Jesus manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread used
for the first covering of the Tabernacle, we would most certainly
be facing hell now. The baptism that the Messiah received and the
blood that He shed on the Cross are intimately related to the salvation
of our souls.
Because we were born as the descendants
of Adam and therefore sinful, we were bound to hell. We must therefore
admit before God that we are all sinners heading straight to hell,
but do you admit this? When God looks at us, He see that we had
been bound to hell, and when we look at ourselves before God as
well, we, too, see that we had been bound to hell. It is because
you and I were destined to hell that our Savior came to this earth
to save us from our sins.
By coming to this, being baptized,
and shedding His blood and dying, our Lord fulfilled His works of
saving us. Had we not been fundamentally bound to hell, there would
have been no need for the Lord to do these works of salvation. But
clearly, even though we the born-again have no sin in our hearts
now, we, too, all were sinful before.
Whoever is sinful must surely go to
hell. The wages of sin is death. This means that sinners are most
certainly cast out to hell. But those who, by faith, receive the
gift of the remission of sin given by our Lord Jesus Christ attain
eternal life. When you and I believed in Jesus the Messiah as our
Savior, the Lord saved us from all our sins condemnation in His
love for us. Amen! Hallelujah!
We Must Examine Ourselves and See If
We Have in Our Hearts the True Faith Given by the Lord
Let us take a look at ourselves. Have you and
I believed accordingly to the law of God’s Word? If so, then what
would have happened to us before God? Were we not to be condemned
by God for our sins? Our God is not an unjust God who does not punish
the sinful. Because God is holy and righteous, He does not tolerate
the sinful. God has told us that He would surely cast into hell
all those who are sinful before Him by not believing.
He has told us that He would cast
them into the fiery hell burning with fire and brimstone where even
the worms would not die. God will throw to hell all those who try
to wash away their sins on their own and comfort their hearts by
themselves. This is why the Lord said to such people, “Depart
from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:23)
As such, we must believe in the Messiah,
and we must believe in the baptism that He received when He came
to this earth, in the blood of the Cross, and in His resurrection
from the dead. Why? Because fundamentally speaking, we were all
sinful before God and were therefore all bound to hell. This is
why the Messiah came of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, gave
the sacrificial offering of salvation with His own body, and has
thereby blotted out all our sins. We must therefore believe that
the Lord was baptized and sacrificed all for our sake. If we cannot
realize ourselves that we are all bound to hell, then we have nothing
to do with the Lord.
However, so many people do not think
themselves as to be doomed to hell for their sins. They think they
are too well to consult their doctors. Such people are the ones
who regard Jesus only as a gentle and well-behaving man, a man of
respect and a teacher, and they also are the ones who believe in
Jesus only to pretend themselves to be people of character. Our
Lord said to such people, “Those who are well have no need of
a physician, but those who are sick”(Matthew 9:12). They have
to examine their hearts thoroughly from the biblical standpoint
right now, lest they should end up in hell.
The reason why we believe in the Messiah
is to be remitted of our sins by believing in Him as our Savior.
It is not to build our own virtue that we believe in the Messiah.
Rather, it is because of our sins that it is absolutely necessary
for you and I to believe in the Messiah. This is why we believe:
That Jesus the Messiah was born unto this earth; that He was baptized
by John at the age of 30; that He carried the sins of the world
and shed His blood with His crucifixion; that He rose from the dead
again in three days; that He ascended to Heaven; and that He now
sits at the right hand of God the Father—all these things bear witness
to our remission of sin. Because all these things were the works
of the Savior who has delivered us from our sins, we need to surely
believe in all of them, leaving out nothing.
In our own thoughts, it may seem okay
to make the coverings of the Tabernacle just by weaving some thick
thread, but in the Bible God explicitly gave the detailed specifications
as to how they were to be made, how some clasps were to be made
of gold and others of bronze. Why do you think God commanded so?
He commanded so because all these things were meant to reveal their
spiritual significance to us. This is why we cannot overlook any
of them.
We Must Surely Believe in the Baptism
and Blood of Jesus Christ Who Has Become the Messiah
Because of our sins, we had to be cast out to
hell, but Jesus Christ the Messiah came to this earth and has saved
us from our sins. Jesus was actually baptized, crucified, and shed
His blood. As such, it is lawless for us to just say that we are
sinless without first believing in our hearts in the baptism of
Jesus and the blood that He shed on the Cross. Jesus, who has become
the Messiah, did indeed come to this earth to save us, did actually
accept the sins of mankind onto His own body through His baptism,
bore our punishment and died, rose from the dead again, and has
thereby become our true and eternal Savior. Jesus has saved us in
this way because only then can we be remitted of all our sins by
believing in this Jesus.
To compete the works of salvation,
the Messiah had to be baptized by John the Baptist and then die
on the Cross. This means that from the beginning, we were to be
condemned for our sins. But in fact, now we no longer need to bear
this condemnation. Why? Because the Messiah who was sinless and
therefore did not have to be condemned actually accepted our sins
passed onto Him, and He was vicariously condemned for all our sins.
Therefore, it is by wholeheartedly believing in Jesus’ baptism and
His blood of the Cross that we have been delivered from all the
condemnation of our sins.
We can see “Jesus loves you!” stickers
on the back windows of many cars. Is that all Jesus wants you to
know? Our Lord’s salvation was not something that was made only
by such words. He wants to let you know, “I love you so much. Therefore,
I have forgiven your sins. Just believe in Me, and I will make you
My children.” The Messiah was actually baptized and crucified, and
shed His blood and died, all in order to deliver us from our sins.
The Lord has indeed saved us and delivered us from the judgment
awaiting us.
The Lord became our physician to heal
the illness of our sins. Coming to this earth, He actually accepted
our sins onto His body by being baptized, was crucified and bled
to death, rose from the dead indeed, and has thereby saved us. When
we were surely bound to hell for our sins, the Lord has already
healed us from the illness of all our sins. We must be healed of
our sins through the right faith.
If people were not to be cast into
hell even as they are sinful, then there would have been no need
for the Messiah to come to this world and shed His blood. But the
reason why people absolutely must believe in Jesus is because they
actually have the fearful illness of sin that leads them to hell.
Indeed, people who have this fearful illness of sin cannot avoid
but be cast into hell, and this is why unquestionably they must
believe in the baptism and blood of Jesus who has become the Messiah.
All who have sin in their hearts are
to receive the punishment of hell for sure, for when it comes to
the law of God, the wages of sin is death for everyone. Simply put,
if one has even the slightest bit of sin in his/her heart, then
he/she will be cast into hell. This is why Jesus had to come to
us. So when we truly believe in the Messiah who has perfectly blotted
out all our sins, we can then be saved from all our sins. We must
believe in Jesus as our Savior, and we must believe exactly according
to what He has done for us.
Jesus is indeed God Himself. He is
the actual Creator. But He set aside His divine glory and actually
incarnated into the flesh of man for a while, all in order to deliver
you and me, whom He loved, from the fearful punishment of sin and
hell, destruction, and curses. And He was actually baptized, crucified,
resurrected, and then ascended to Heaven. This is the truth. We
cannot not regard this actual truth lightly, as if it were only
a joke. To believe this factual truth is not something optional
for you. We must surely believe in this actual truth in our hearts,
and we must know it for sure.
Did the lambs and goats used as sacrificial
offerings have any sin? No animal has even the remotest idea of
what sin is. But because these animals accepted the sins of the
Old Testament’s people of Israel through the laying on of hands,
they actually had to be put to death vicariously instead of them.
Why? Because the wages of sin is death, and this was what God had
determined. So the offering of sacrifice of the Day of Atonement
that had accepted all the sins of the people of Israel also had
to die for sure. So was it for the same reason that Jesus Christ
had to die, for He had already borne all the sins of the world through
His baptism.
For whom were theses works actually
done? They were actually for you and me. Is this, then, something
that we can either believe or not believe? People do not believe
because they are completely oblivious to the seriousness of their
illness of sin. But had they known the fact that they are to be
cast into hell even for the tiniest bit of sin, then they would
not be able to regard the salvation of Jesus Christ the Messiah
as something that is optional, something that they can either believe
or not believe without any consequences.
If people have sin, even as tiny as
a grain, then they will be cast into hell. They will be destroyed.
Everything they do on this earth will eventually all end with their
everlasting curse. Those who think that it’s okay to have sin are
deeply hallucinated. The consequence of sin is unquestionably death.
Of course, there are still many people who apparently live their
successful lives even though they have sin in their hearts. Youngsters
are apt to worship celebrities, dreaming of meeting them someday.
But will their seemingly splendid lives last forever? Many of them
turn into miserable ones when their fifteen minutes of fame fades
away.
There are some people for whom everything
that they do turns out badly. Before you met the Lord, you, too,
were probably like this also, when nothing really went quite as
well you had wanted. As if you were living a cursed life, what you
thought were a sure thing never quite turned out to be, and what
you thought were going well ultimately fell apart. You might have
dreamt big, but nothing actually materialized, and the dream kept
getting smaller and smaller, until it ultimately disappeared. When
you realized that even the smallest of all your dreams cannot be
actualized, then your dream was completely shattered in the end.
Why was this the case? It was because
of the sins that were in your hearts. People who have sin in their
hearts can never be happy. God never blesses them, no matter how
hard they try. If there are some people who seem to be successful
despite being sinful, you must realize that God has abandoned them.
You should know that although their present lives may be successful,
God has given up on them to cast them into hell. Had this world
been filled with only the sinless, there would have no need the
existence of hell. But God has actually made hell, and He has made
it for those who have sin in their hearts.
God commanded to make the first covering
of the Tabernacle with blue, purple, and scarlet thread to actually
give the remission of sin to our hearts. And it also reveals that
when the New Testament’s time comes, Jesus Christ would take upon
the sins of the world by being baptized by John, and that He would
then be crucified to death to bear the condemnation of these sins.
Our Lord has indeed become the Savior of sinners.
This is why He has given the remission
of sin to sinners through His works of the blue, purple, and scarlet
thread. Do you realize this now? Jesus Christ was actually baptized
in the Jordan River to take upon our sins, and He was crucified
and shed His blood to pay the wages of these sins. That He was baptized
was to bear our sins. Do you believe that Jesus died on the Cross
because He had first taken upon our sins through the baptism that
He received from John?
In Our Flesh, You and I Had Been Like
Badger Skins
The fourth covering was made of badger skins.
Badger is the translated name of a mammal called “Tachash” in Hebrew
in the Old Testament. It has been translated into some different
mammals—for example, “sea cow” (NIV), “seal” (ASV), “fine goat”
(NLT), and “porpoise” (NASB). We cannot identify exactly what this
mammal is. Biblical philologists assert that the origin of this
word “Tachash” is probably of foreign derivation. At any case, the
mammal “Tachash” was the animal whose skins were used to make the
fourth covering of the Tabernacle. And it is probably safe to assume
that this covering was not beautiful and offered no attractive qualities.
This fourth covering of badger skins
implies that Jesus Christ came to this earth in the flesh of a man.
Moreover, He had nothing attractive in His countenance. The Bible
describes His appearance by saying, “He shall grow up before
Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no
form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that
we should desire Him” (Isaiah 53:2).
That the Son of God came down onto
this earth in the flesh of a man of humble birth was to save all
of us who cannot but live shameful lives until the day of our death.
When God sees us, the descendant of Adam, He sees that we also are
unattractive like this skin covering. Moreover, we only like to
commit sin. Just like filthy badgers, human beings are only interested
feeding their own bellies, from their very birth to their end. This
is the actual reason why Jesus came in the flesh of a man, and was
inflicted with suffering.
Only those who really know the seriousness
of their sinful nature can believe in the Messiah and be saved from
their sins and condemnation. As such, those who are ignorant of
their own sins, and those who do not know and believe in the condemnation
of their sins, are not qualified to receive the remission of sin.
God tells us that such people are no better than beasts (Psalm 49:20).
Although we have been made in the
likeness of God’s images, not everyone accepts God’s love. Those
who do not believe in God’s plan of salvation cannot receive the
remission of sin into their hearts, and therefore are to be destroyed
like the beasts that perish. It is because God had a plan for human
beings that He made them in the likeness of His images.
Take a closer look at what everyone
does or thinks. I am not referring to you in particular, but I am
referring to the whole mankind. Most people do not even know their
own Creator who made them. Furthermore, many of them claim that
they do not commit sin, and that they are better than everyone else.
How obtuse and foolish are human beings? Those who do not know God
are full of arrogance. When we compare ourselves to another other,
what actual difference can we really find? How much better or worse
are we really? And yet people still harm others just to pursue their
own selfish interests—how wrong is this?
We cannot even fathom just how many
sins everyone commits against God in a lifetime. I am not saying
this just to despise human character, but I am only pointing out
the fact that although God has created human beings to be precious,
most of them do not still realize that they are actually to be destroyed
for their sins. People do not know how to take care of their souls;
they cannot prepare their future for themselves; they do not recognize
the Word of God; and they do not want to believe in Him even though
they have no other option to avoid their eternal destruction. None
other than these people are the ones who are no better than the
beasts that perish.
But God Did Not Leave Us to Our Destruction
To save us from our sins, in fact, Jesus came
to this earth, and to blot out all our sins, He was baptized, shed
His blood on the Cross, and rose from the dead again. The Lord has
thereby become our true Savior. We must believe in this truth. Do
you believe? By any chance, are you not saying, out of your ignorance
and lack of biblical knowledge, “What’s the big deal? If we believe
in Jesus somehow, then we will all go to Heaven”? And there are
those who also say, “If we believe just in the blood of the Cross,
then Heaven is ours.” But is this kind of faith really right?
God is, in fact, the God of truth.
He is the One who spoke to us about His plan, who fulfilled the
works of salvation exactly according to His Word, who has given
us the remission of sin, and who meets us through this truth. God
is alive. God is here even now, with each and every one of us. People
who have sin in their hearts should not try to deceive God. If people
have sin in their hearts and their consciences are eating them away,
then they must get this problem solved by believing in the baptism
that He received and the blood that He shed. The sinful must believe
in the truth that because they were bound to hell, the Lord has
saved them from all their sins through His baptism and His blood
on the Cross.
There is absolutely no one who is
unable to solve the problem of their sins by believing in the water
and the blood. But even as our Lord has saved us through the water,
the blood, and the Spirit (1 John 5:6-8), if on our side we do not
recognize and believe in this fact and are therefore destroyed,
then we are entirely responsible for this outcome. All of us must
confess before God, “I am bound to hell for I am sinful. But I believe
in the gospel of the water, the blood, and the Spirit.” We must
have such faith. We must believe in our hearts that the Lord has
saved us from all our sins through the water, the blood, and the
Spirit. With our sincere hearts and faith, we must unite ourselves
with the truth manifested in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Only then can we be saved from all our sins.
As such, we must understand all these
things, and we must believe in their truth. Without even knowing
the truth that is manifested in the Tabernacle and the gospel of
the water and the Spirit, some people believe, “Because I believe,
I’m going to Heaven even as I still have sin.” But God said that
all who have sin will be cast into hell; He did not say that they
will not be cast into hell even as they have sin just because they
believe in Jesus. This is akin to becoming the greatest fool of
all. Saying that they would go to Heaven just because they believe
in Jesus, when, in fact, they believe in whatever way they like,
is the reflection of a foolish, ignorant, and completely blind faith.
Some others say, “I haven’t seen a
single person who was cast into hell, nor have I seen anyone who
entered Heaven. We won’t find out until the Day of Judgment.” But
there actually are Heaven and hell. Are there in this world only
the things we can see with our eyes? Can you see air with your eyes?
There surely is also the realm of the unseen. All sinners who do
not believe in God because they cannot see Him are like the beasts
that perish.
As such, people must realize that
if they have sin in their hearts, they will be destroyed, and they
must therefore believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit
and escape from the judgment of God. The wise are those who, even
if they have not done many wrongs toward people around them, nevertheless
recognize that they have done many wrongs against God, and therefore
admit that they will surely be judged when they soon stand before
Him.
We should not perish on account of
our ignorance and disregard of God and His just judgment. He will
surely condemn each and every sinner with the everlasting fire of
hell. If people are destroyed for not believing in the truth manifested
in the Tabernacle even as they have heard it, then they must be
Satan’s children. What the Messiah wants from us is for all of us
have the faith that enables us to receive the remission of sin and
enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
God Did Not Make Us As Toys
When God made us the human beings, His purpose
was to enable us to live without being tormented by sin, but forever
enjoying eternal life, splendor, and glory with God as His own children.
To not to send us to hell, the Messiah was baptized, took upon the
sins of the world, shed His blood on the Cross, and has thereby
blotted out all our sins. When God has loved us this much, if we
do not acknowledge this love but only half-heartedly believe in
the salvation that He has given us, then we will surely not escape
from God’s wrath.
God has delivered us from our sins
by sacrificing His own Son. It is because the Messiah was baptized
to bear all our sins onto His own body and gave Himself up as the
sacrifice of our sin offering that He has actually saved us from
all the sins of the world. It is because we were bound to hell from
our sins that our Lord had mercy on us, and it is because of this
that He was baptized, bled to death, rose from the dead, and has
thereby saved us from all our sins and made us God’s children. God
did not make us as His toys.
A while ago, when a sister of my church
was in college, I had a chance to attend her graduation exhibition.
There, in this art gallery, I came across various paintings. One
of the works painted by the graduating class was a canvas portraying
Adam and Eve eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
titled, “Did God make human beings as toys?” Someone scribbled an
answer to this question below the canvass, saying, “God was bored,
and so He made us as His toys.”
Nothing could be more wrong than this
answer. Why, then, did God make the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil and then tell Adam and Eve not to eat from it? After all,
He knew already that they were going to eat the fruits, and yet
He still made the tree and told them not to eat from it. When they
did eat, then He drove them out of the Garden of Eden for falling
into sin. He then said that the sinful will be sent straight to
hell. Why did God do this? Did God really make us because He had
no toy and was bored? Did He make mankind because He was just too
bored and couldn’t stand it anymore? Of course not!
Brothers and sisters, what God actually
wanted to do was to turn us into His own people, to make us immortal,
and to live with us happily forever. God’s providence in permitting
all these things to mankind was to make us immortal beings who enjoy
everlasting splendor and glory and who live forever glorified. Thus,
when you and I, deceived by Satan, had fallen into sin and were
destined to hell, God sent His only begotten Son to this earth to
save us. And by having the Son be baptized and take upon the sins
of the world, shed His blood, and rise from the dead again, God
has saved us from Satan.
However, countless people have this
grotesque misperception that God somehow made us as toys to beat
His boredom. Among both those who ceased to believed in Jesus and
those who never believed in Him from the beginning, there are those
who, in their bitterness to God, say, “Why did God create me and
then make me suffer? Why does He insist that I have to believe?
Why does He say that He will give me salvation if I believe, but
not if I don’t?” They say such things because they do not know the
profound providence of salvation that God has given to mankind.
This profound providence of the Messiah
was to accept us as God’s people and thereby make us His own children,
allowing us to enjoy all the glory and splendor of Heaven as His
family. This is the purpose of God’s creation of mankind. I, myself,
also could not understand this truth until I was born again of water
and the Spirit. But after I received the remission of sin and was
born again, I came to know, “Ah! So this is why the Lord made me!”
What is it that the Messiah actually
did to take upon our sins when He came to this earth over 2,000
years ago? What is it that He did to bear our sins? He received
baptism and shed His blood! And these were all righteous acts and
righteous sacrifices meant to blot out our sins.
Herein lies the reason why we must
actually believe in God, and why we must believe in Jesus Christ
as our God the Savior. It is because you and I had been bound to
hell that God Himself had to actually come to this earth to save
us. In other words, Jesus had to be baptized by John, had to die
on the Cross, and had to rise from the dead again. The reason why
we actually believe in the remission of sin revealed in the blue,
purple, and scarlet thread is so that we can be remitted of all
our sins. It is to fulfill the providence of God toward us that
we must have faith. And when we do believe in the Lord’s salvation,
we do so not for the benefit of someone else, but for our own benefit.
Now Is the Earliest Time to Believe in
the Truth of God’s Salvation
If anyone wants to reach the following realization,
then this person must cast aside his/her mistaken faith right now
and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit in the heart:
“I didn’t know that I was bound to hell. I just believed because
I was told that Jesus blotted out my sins. But my faith was all
based on faulty understanding! I should now learn what is correct
and base my faith on sound knowledge. Up to now, I have believed
wrongly, but it’s not too late yet. All that I have to do is realize,
from now on, that I am destined to hell for my sins, believe in
my heart that the Messiah has saved me through His baptism and bloodshed,
and then receive the remission of my sins. So I was bound to hell!”
As a matter of fact, only a handful
of Christians had the proper and exact understanding of the gospel
of the water and the Spirit when they first began believing. For
myself, too, it actually took 10 years since I first became a Christian
to fully realize that Jesus took upon the sins of the world with
His baptism and was crucified to death on the Cross, and only then
was I really saved by believing again in Jesus as my own Savior.
And so 10 years after becoming a Christian, I threw out my mistaken
faith, and came to the proper understanding of the gospel of the
water and the Spirit and believe in it correctly. But for others,
perhaps, it might even take more than 20 years to know the truth
and believe again.
When such people come to realize,
even after 20 years, that God had planned to save them through the
water and the Spirit, they must then believe that Jesus was baptized
and crucified for their own sins. Nothing could be more evil before
God than knowing the truth and yet refusing to believe. But if they
were to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit now, even
after having lived 10, 20 years as Christians, is this somehow bad?
Of course not! There is absolutely nothing wrong or shameful about
this. When people actually know and believe in the remission of
sin manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, then they
will actually be saved. Faith in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit is what pleases God. I hope that you would all believe in
this salvation that has actually been achieved, whose fulfillment
came through the blue and scarlet thread.
The coverings of the Tabernacle were
made in elaborate detail. Just by looking at the fact that ram skins
dyed red were placed on the covering made of goats’ hair, and that
badger skins were then laid on top of this, we can see the clear
manifestation of the truth that we are all bound to hell, but our
Lord came to this earth, actually took upon our sins by being baptized,
and became the sacrificial offering for these sins of ours by shedding
His blood and dying on the Cross. We can all believe in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit. What the Lord has actually saved us
through is the works of Jesus manifested in the blue, purple, and
scarlet thread. The coverings of the Tabernacles hold none other
than this mystery of salvation.
What is important is not just learning
about the Bible. What pleases God is to not only to learn, but to
believe—that is, if the Bible tells us that God determined to save
us through the works of Jesus revealed in the blue, purple, and
scarlet thread, then you and I must actually accept this into our
hearts and believe so. This is how we can please God. If in our
hearts we actually hear the Word of God, recognize our own sins,
and believe in the baptism of the Lord and the blood of the Cross,
then we can also actually receive the remission of our sins. But
if we do not believe in this remission of sin given by the Lord,
and instead believe in Him only as a theoretical matter, then we
will continue to be tormented by a guilty conscience.
If we do not solve the problem of
our actual sins by believing in the water and the Spirit, then this
guilty conscience will continue to eat away at our hearts. However,
if we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then we
will be freed this guilty conscience, for when we become sinless
by receiving the perfect remission of sin, how could we ever be
tormented by sin again? This is how we must actually believe. We
must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and have
the problem of all our sins solved. Those who fail to do so have
no choice but to continue in the bondage of sin.
Life is very short, and full of suffering.
God allows suffering to every human being. What is the reason God
allows suffering to us? It is because through our suffering of sin,
He wants us to realize the preciousness of the gospel of the water
and the Spirit, to believe in this gospel, and to thereby be actually
absolved of our sins. He brought the suffering of sin to you so
that you would come to believe in your hearts that the Messiah has
washed away all your sins through His baptism and the blood of the
Cross. Not believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit as
the truth is the most foolish thing to do. The sins of mankind can
be wiped out clean only by the faith that actually believes in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit.
God is telling us to solve the problem
of our sins by believing in the true gospel. We must therefore believe
in Jesus, the real Savior. You, too, must actually believe in Jesus
Christ as your own Savior in your hearts. You must admit your sins
before God, believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and
thereby be saved. When in your hearts you believe in the baptism
of Jesus the Savior and His blood of the Cross, then you will actually
be remitted of all your sins. Only when we believe in the baptism
of Jesus and the blood of the Cross as the truth can we be saved
from all our sins.
The Order of the Coverings Coincides
Exactly with the Order of Our Salvation
When it comes to the order of our salvation,
the priority is to first recognize truthfully that from the very
moment we were born into this world, we have all been sinful like
badgers, the beasts that perish. And we must believe that we surely
are to be put to death and cast into hell for our sins. Furthermore,
we must also believe that to be delivered from our sins, we actually
need a sacrificial offering, and as such, the Messiah has to actually
come and bear our sins by being baptized. We must believe that our
Savior must be not a human being, but God Himself. And we must believe
that Jesus the Savior has indeed saved us from all our sins through
His baptism and the Cross.
If this were not the case, then God
would have made only two coverings over the Tabernacle. If salvation
could be reached by leaving out Jesus’ baptism, then there would
have been no need to make four separate coverings of the Tabernacle,
and God would have covered it with only badger skins and ram skins.
But were only these two coverings actually used? No! The Tabernacle
had to be covered by four different coverings; the curtains woven
of blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen; another
curtains made of goats’ hair; yet another covering made of ram skins;
and the last one made of badger skins.
We must believe in the truth as it
is—that is, Jesus accepted all our sins by being baptized, died
on the Cross, and has thereby saved our filthy and pitiful souls
bound to hell for our sins, making us God’s own people. This is
the mystery hidden in the four coverings of the Tabernacle, and
the order in which these four coverings were laid on the Tabernacle
is none other than the very order of our salvation.
To couple the first and second coverings
of the Tabernacle together, gold and bronze clasps were needed.
And at the edge of the two sets of curtains that together made up
each covering, loops of blue yearn were made. But for those who
believe only in the blood of the Cross, it is impossible to know
what these gold and bronze clasps attached to the loops of blue
yearn actually mean. Only those who believe in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit can understand and believe in the truth hidden
in the four coverings.
The loops of blue yearn refer to the
baptism that Jesus received in the Jordan River. Why, then, do people
not believe in the baptism through which Jesus accepted the sins
of the world, but believe only in the blood of the Cross? It is
because they do not believe in God’s Word as it is. When we profess
to believe in Jesus, we cannot believe in Him correctly by adding
to or subtracting from the Word of God. We must believe in God’s
Word exactly as it is, with a “yes.”
Among the many people who claim to
believe in Jesus, most of them believe only in the blood that He
shed on the Cross, leaving out the baptism that He received. This
is why so many Christians cannot understand the mystery of the truth
manifested in the coverings of the Tabernacle. And this is why today’s
Christians do not believe in the real remission of sin that the
Messiah has perfectly fulfilled. They believe in Jesus, all in vain,
just as one of the founders of the religions of the world. As such,
many Christians are in fact walking on the wrong path. They sin
everyday, and yet claim that they can go to Heaven just by repenting
everyday. This explains why the secular people of the world so often
denounce Christians.
When we ask Christians, “How, and
with what kind of faith, can we really solve the problem of your
sins?,” then most of them say, “We can solve it by offering prayers
of repentance while believing in Jesus’ bloodshed on the Cross.”
When we then ask them, “Have your sins then actually been solved
away in your heart?,” they reply, “Actually, I still have sin left
in my heart.” People who have sin in their hearts are still not
the people of God. Such people are outside Jesus Christ. They must
come into Jesus Christ by believing in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit soon.
We must know in detail with what exact
method our Lord has blotted out all our sins, as it really is. It
is by carrying the sins of the world to the Cross through the baptism
that He actually received from John and shedding His blood that
the Lord has indeed blotted out all our sins. If we want to enter
into God’s presence, then we must enter by believing in our salvation
woven of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. No matter how devotedly
one might actually have believed in God, it is still possible for
him/her to have misunderstood and misbelieved the whole time. For
us to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, we must accept salvation
made of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, through which the
Messiah has actually blotted out our sins, as the truth, and believe
in it.
If our faith before God is wrong,
then we must fix it and believe again correctly, no matter how often.
We must believe in salvation, that the Lord actually took upon our
sins and washed them all away through His baptism, as the truth.
We must actually believe that the Lord took upon all our sins once
for all with His baptism, and that He bore all the condemnation
of our sins through the blood of the Cross.
With the real faith in the ministries
of Jesus manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread of Tabernacle,
we can meet the Messiah. Through the Tabernacle, we have now been
able to grasp the gospel of the water and the Spirit more definitely,
and to realize that its faith is founded on the truth manifested
in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen.
The faith of critical importance that we must all now have is the
one that actually believes in the heart in salvation made of the
blue, purple, and scarlet thread.
We are now hearing and learning about
the truth that is held in the Tabernacle made of blue, purple, and
scarlet thread and fine woven linen. The Messiah is waiting for
us now, having actually remitted all our sins already through His
works manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread.
God is admonishing you to believe
in this truth with all your hearts. Do you still have sin in your
hearts? Then, you must all clearly recognize before God just how
dark and filthy the sins in your hearts are, confess your sins,
believe in the truth revealed in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread,
and thereby receive the remission of all your sins. When you truly
believe that Jesus has already remitted all your sins, you can then
pass all the sins found in your hearts onto Him and receive His
perfect remission of sin.
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We must all believe, in our hearts,
in the remission of sin made of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread
and the fine woven linen that God actually planned for us. God has
given us the gospel made of these marvelous ministries of Jesus,
of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and has thereby enabled
us to receive the remission of sin and enjoy all power and authority
as His own children. The Lord has enabled us to be saved from all
our sins and condemnation, and to receive eternal life, by believing
in the works of salvation given to us and manifested in the blue,
purple, and scarlet thread.
I thank the Lord for making it possible
for us to be saved by believing in the truth manifested in the blue,
purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen. By believing
in this truth, we can be remitted of all our sins and enter the
Kingdom of Heaven by faith. Halleluiah!
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