Predici asupra unor subiecte importante, de către PaulC. Jong

< Exodus 26:31-37 >
“You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim. You shall hang it upon the four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold. Their hooks shall be gold, upon four sockets of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps. Then you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy. You shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy. You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand across from the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south; and you shall put the table on the north side. You shall make a screen for the door of the tabernacle, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, made by a weaver. And you shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold; their hooks shall be gold, and you shall cast five sockets of bronze for them.”

I would like to meditate on the spiritual meanings contained in the pillars of the Holy Place and the colors of its screen. The Tabernacle that we are considering here measured 13.5 m (45 feet) in length and 4.5 m (15 feet) in width, and it was divided into two rooms called the Holy Place and the Most Holy. Inside the Holy Place, there were a lampstand, the table of showbread, and the altar of incense, while inside the Most Holy, the Ark of the Testimony and the mercy seat were placed.

Consisted of the Holy Place and the Most Holy, the Tabernacle was surrounded on all sides by boards of acacia wood measuring about 70 cm (2.3 feet) in width and 4.5 m (15 feet) in height. And at the door of the Tabernacle, five pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold were placed. The door itself, through which one entered into the Tabernacle from the outer court, was made of a screen woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen.

In the outer court of the Tabernacle, there were sixty pillars standing, each measuring 2.25 m (7.5 feet) in height. The gate of the court, which was placed at its east, was also woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen, and only by passing through this gate of the outer court could anyone enter into the Tabernacle’s court. In this court of the Tabernacle were the altar of burnt offering and the laver.

Passing by these two, one would then come upon the door of the Tabernacle, measuring as tall as 4.5 m (15 feet) in height. This door of the Tabernacle had five pillars, whose sockets were made of bronze. Like the gate of the court of the Tabernacle, the door of the Tabernacle was also made of a screen woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen and hung on the golden hooks placed on the top of the five pillars. This screen was the divider that separated the inside and outside of the Tabernacle.

The five pillars of the door of the Tabernacle measured 4.5 m (15 feet) in height. On these pillars, a screen woven of the four threads of blue, purple, and scarlet colors and of fine woven linen was placed.

First of all, let us focus on the fact that the five pillars of the door of the Tabernacle measured 4.5 m (15 feet) in height. What is the meaning of this? It means that God Himself paid a great price of sacrifice in order to blot out our sins and make us His children. Because you and I are such insufficient and weak beings in our fundamentals, we live in this world committing so many transgressions. Because you and I are the worst sinners who cannot but commit sin every moment in this world, we have many blemishes and transgressions. These pillars of the door of the Tabernacle show us that in order to deliver us from such blemishes and sins of the world, God sacrificed His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as the wages of our own sins, and that He has indeed thereby delivered us from the sins of the world.

For our blemishes and sins committed in this world, in other words, Jesus Christ gave up His own body as a sacrificial offering before God and paid off the wages of the sins of the world more than sufficiently, thereby saving us. If a person committed a trespass, and sinned unintentionally in regard to the holy things of the Lord, then he had to bring a ram as a trespass offering, and he had to add one-fifth to it and give it to the priests (Leviticus 5:15-16). This means that Jesus Christ gave Himself up to save you and me from our sins and has thereby paid off the wages of our sins more than sufficiently. Our Lord came to this earth to blot out our sins and gave Himself up as our own trespass offering for these sins of ours.

The offerings of the Bible, such as burn offerings, sin offerings, and peace offerings, were given so that the people who sinned could make their sins disappear by laying their hands on their sacrificial offerings and thereby passing their sins onto them. Of such offerings, the trespass offering was one in which a sacrificial offering was given to blot out one’s blemishes. This trespass offering was given, when one harmed another through negligence, in order to compensate the victim and restore the relationship. And the trespass offering involved adding 20 percent of restitution to the total restitution including fines and reparations. This was the basic requirement of the trespass offering. It was an offering that was given for the particular purpose of atoning one’s blemishes when he harmed someone else (Leviticus 5:14-6:7).

Are you and I so far apart from sin? Do we not live our entire lifetimes while sinning? We cannot avoid but do so, for you and I are the descendants of Adam. We ourselves know just how many shortcomings we have, and how we live our lives while committing so many sins. How many evils have we done against each other and against God? It is only because we are too slow and insufficient to recognize these evils as sins that we often forget about them as we live our lives. But you and I cannot avoid but recognize before God that we have done so many trespasses against each other and against God, that we are simply sinners before Him.

To deliver such sinners from all their sins, God wanted to send Jesus Christ as their own trespass offering. By having Jesus Christ bear the condemnation of our sins through the price of His sacrifice, God has given us the gift of salvation. When God the Father sent His Son to this earth and had Him be baptized and crucified, all to save us from all our sins and make us His own people, how could we ever compare ourselves to the preciousness of this sacrifice? To save us sinners from all our sins, our Lord was sacrificed to pay all the wages of sins, and has thereby saved us from the sins of the world. How could this be anything else but the amazing grace of God? How deep, wide, and high is the love of God? The very fact that the pillars of the door of the Tabernacle were as high as 4.5 m (15 feet) tells us about God’s love for us given through Jesus Christ.

To deliver such worthless beings as us from the condemnation of sin, our Lord has saved us through His own sacrifice—I thank Him for this truth. When we could not avoid but be bound to hell for the punishment of our sins, and when the Lord gave up His own body for us to save us from these sins of ours, how could we possibly not thank Him? We give thanks to Him! By being baptized by John, Jesus took upon our sins on His precious body, paid the wages of our sins with the blood of the Cross, and has thereby saved us from all our sins and condemnation. We can therefore only thank Him with our faith in this gospel. This is the profound meaning of salvation contained in the pillars of the door of the Tabernacle.

Each of the five pillars of the door of the Tabernacle was 4.5 m in height. The number “5” implies “God’s grace” in the Bible. Therefore, that there were five pillars implies the gift of salvation that God has given us. By loving us and clothing us in His love of salvation, God made us not to lack anything at all to become His own people. In the Bible, gold refers to the faith that believes in God who has saved us through His blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. By gold, in other words, the Bible speaks of the “faith” that believes wholeheartedly in the truth that God Himself came to this earth, took upon our sins by being baptized, died on the Cross, rose from the dead, and has thereby made us perfectly righteous. This is why the pillars of the Holy Place were all overlaid with gold.

That the sockets of the pillars of the Tabernacle’s door were made of bronze manifests that the Lord, being condemned vicariously, has saved us, who truly could not avoid but be bound to hell because of our sin, through His baptism and the blood of the Cross. Because we were so full of blemishes, we had been worthless beings who really could not avoid but be put to death, and yet to make us His own people, the absolute and holy God sacrificed Himself, who is far worthier than us, and has thereby made us the children of God the Father. This is why gold refers to the faith that believes in this truth. This is how we must understand the colors of the door of the Tabernacle, and we must also meditate on it, thank for it, and believe it in the center of our hearts.

In the Tabernacle, only the sockets of the pillars of its door were made of bronze. This means that on this earth you and I have committed many sins against each other and against God, and that we therefore could not avoid but be condemned for these sins. The truth hidden in these bronze sockets makes us think about the altar of burnt offering. The first thing that sinners encountered when entering into the court of the Tabernacle through its gate was this altar of burnt offering where burnt offerings were given.

The word “altar” here has the meaning of “ascending.” The altar of burnt offering refers to none other than the truth that Jesus Christ was baptized and then sacrificed on the Cross vicariously instead of us all sinners. The altar of burnt offering was the place where the offerings that had accepted sins through the laying on of hands were put to death as the punishment of these sins. Priests put the blood of these sacrificial offerings on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, poured the rest of the blood on the sand ground below it, and burnt their flesh on the altar by fire. It was the place of death where the offerings that took upon sins were killed.

The altar of burnt offering was placed between the gate of the court of the Tabernacle and the Tabernacle itself. As such, whoever sought to enter the Tabernacle had to first pass through this altar of burnt offering. Without going through the altar of burnt offering, therefore, there was absolutely no way to enter the Tabernacle. It goes without saying that the altar of burnt offering is precisely the shadow of the baptism of Jesus Christ and the Cross. And the baptism of our Lord and the Cross are what remits the iniquities of all the sinners who come before God.

As such, without first bringing their sins and stopping at the altar of burnt offering, and without remembering that the sacrificial offering has saved them from their sins by taking upon these sins through the laying on of hands and shedding its blood of sacrifice at this place, no sinner can ever go before God. This faith is the way to go before God, and at the same time it is what leads us to the blessing of the remission of our sin and of bearing the punishment of sin (that is, dying to sin).

When the people of Israel brought an offering to remit their sins, they first passed their sins to the offering by laying their hands on its head, killed it and drew its blood of sacrifice, and then put this blood on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and poured all the remaining blood at the base of the altar. The ground under the altar of burnt offering was earth. Earth here refers to the hearts of human beings. As such, it tells us that sinners receive the remission of sin by believing in their hearts that the offering of sacrifice accepted their sins and died in their place, all in accordance to the law of salvation. The horns of the altar of burnt offering tell us of the sins that are written in the Book of Judgment spiritually.

Sinners of the Old Testament’s time could receive the remission of their sins by believing in the fact that they had laid their hands on the head of the sacrificial offering and thereby passed their sins onto it, and that this offering then shed its blood and was given on the altar of burnt offering. If there had not been the laying on of hands and the death and burning of the sacrificial offering, which made it possible for sinners to atone their sins, the way for them to go before God would have been completely blocked, and they would no longer have been able to go before the holy God. In short, there was no other truth except this sacrificial system that enabled them to go before God.

Like this, without our faith in the baptism of Jesus Christ, His death, and His sacrifice of atonement, there is no way for us to receive the remission of our sins and go before God. No matter how the people of Israel might have brought the most beautiful, perfect, cute and unblemished lamb to their priests, if their hands had not been laid on its head, if it had not thereby accepted their sins, and if it had not bled and died, then this would have had no effect whatsoever.

When it comes to our faith, if we do not believe that the baptism that Jesus Christ received from John and the precious blood that He shed on the Cross have remitted all our sins, then we cannot say that we have received the perfect remission of sins. The baptism that Jesus received and His death on the Cross clearly stand between sinners and God the Father, and they have therefore become the interceding factors that save sinners from their iniquities.

The altar of burnt offering is a model that contains the plan of salvation that the Almighty God Himself in Heaven had arranged and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Moses built the Tabernacle according to the method of salvation and the pattern that God had shown to him on the Mountain Sinai. When we look in the Bible, we can see that this instruction was repeatedly given. As Exodus 25:40 states, “And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.”

People could make a cross and hang Jesus Christ on it, but beyond this, they could not do anything else. They could bind Him by the hands and drag Him to Calvary. They crucified Him while they didn’t know what they were doing before God. Sinners could go this far because these things had to be fulfilled all according to the providence that God had already planned. However, it is Jesus Christ who has saved all sinners through His baptism and the blood of the Cross once for all, by being baptized by John the Baptist and thereby taking upon sins of the world, washing them all away at once, and shedding His blood on the Cross.

As such, before the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross, His baptism received from John was the most critical event absolutely indispensable to our salvation. His bearing of sins and their condemnation was determined by God even before the creation. In John 3, Jesus told Nicodemus that this is the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Therefore, the baptism of Jesus and the Cross are the providence of God planned and determined beforehand in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Himself said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). And on the baptism of Jesus, Peter also said, “There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism” (1 Peter 3:21). It is also written in the Book of Acts, “Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death” (Acts 2:23).

The baptism that Jesus received and the blood of the Cross were all fulfilled by the purpose and plan of the Almighty God. As such, because no one can enter the Kingdom of God without accepting this truth into their hearts and believing in this truth, we must realize that God demands from us faith, and we must have it. Without the faith that believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, no one can be saved. And had Jesus not decided, of His own volition, to be baptized by John, to deliver Himself to the hands of sinners, and to shed His blood on the Cross, then sinners would never have been able to crucify Him. Jesus was not coerced to be dragged to Calvary by others, but it was entirely out of His own will that He took upon the sins of the world by being baptized, shed His blood on the Cross, and thereby has saved sinners from all their sins.

Isaiah 53:7 states, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.” Therefore, the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ and His death on the Cross were entirely out of His own will, and through them He has saved, once for all, those who believe in His baptism and the blood of the Cross from all their sins. On these works of the Lord, the writer of the Book of Hebrews also writes, “Now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews 9:26).

In the altar of burnt offering that shows us the shadow of the baptism of Christ and His death on the Cross, we can really witness the spiritual gift of salvation of Heaven. The death of the sacrificial offering at the altar of burnt offering implied none other than the very baptism and death of Jesus that was required because of the sins of everyone. In the Old Testament, sinners were atoned of their iniquities through their sacrificial offering that took upon their sins with the laying on of their hands and died in their place. In the same manner, in the New Testament, before the Son of God was killed at the hands of the cruel at Calvary, He first took upon the sins of the world by being baptized by John, and it is because of this that Jesus had to be crucified, pour out His blood, and die.

As such, God planned and predestined Jesus to be laid on of hands and to be crucified to death, all in order to bring peace between these murderers who killed His Son and Himself. God planned the law of salvation constituted by the laying on of hands and death, and according to this law, He allowed the people of Israel to receive the remission of their sins by giving Him sacrificial offerings.

In other words, God Himself became the peace offering solely to save sinners. How immeasurably profound, wise, and righteous this salvation of God is! His wisdom and truth are amazingly marvelous, simply unfathomable by us. Who can even dare to imagine His providence of salvation constituted by the laying on of hands and the bloodshed and manifested in the altar of burnt offering? Like Paul, all that we can do is just marvel, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unCautăable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!”(Romans 11:33) The gospel of the water, the blood, and the Spirit is the only righteous gospel with which God has saved sinners perfectly.

On the four corners of the altar of burnt offering placed in the court of the Tabernacle, bronze horns were attached. In the Bible, these horns show the judgment of sin (Jeremiah 17:1; Revelation 20:11-15). This shows us that the gospel of the Cross is based on the baptism that Jesus received. The Apostle Paul therefore said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). Also, in 1 Corinthians 1:18, it is written, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Those horns of the altar of burnt offering clearly declare that God’s righteous judgment and salvation have been wholly fulfilled through His baptism, His death on the Cross, and His resurrection.

All the utensils of the Tabernacle built in the wilderness were movable. This was a method suitable to the nomadic nature of the life of the people of Israel. They had to roam in the wilderness until they settled down in the land of Canaan. Because their life of pilgrimage continued while they were passing through the wilderness, God made them prepare two poles to hook through the altar of bunt offering, so that their priests could carry the altar when the people of Israel were commanded by God to move forward.

As Exodus 27:6-7 states, “And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze.The poles shall be put in the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar to bear it.” As two poles were put through the four bronze rings of the altar of burnt offering on its two sides, the Levites could bear it on their shoulders and transport it when the people of Israel were on the move. The altar of burnt offering manifests the baptism of Christ and the Cross. As such, just as the Levites lifted up the altar of burnt offering with its two poles and carried it in the wilderness, the gospel of His baptism and the Cross is also delivered throughout the whole wilderness of this world by His servants.

Another issue that we must examine before we move on is the fact that there were two poles that enabled the Israelites to move the altar of burnt offering. Likewise, the gospel of the water and the Spirit is also composed of two parts. One is the baptism that Christ received from John, and the other is the punishment that the Lord Jesus Christ bore on the Cross. When these two are united, the salvation of the remission of sin is completed. The altar of burnt offering had two poles. Put differently, it had handles. One pole was not enough, for with only one pole, the altar could not be balanced when moving.

Like this, the gospel of the water and the Spirit is also constituted in two parts. These are the baptism that Jesus Christ received from John and His bloodshed on the Cross. In other words, the baptism of Jesus and His death on the Cross are mutually complementing elements that together constitute the righteous truth. The baptism and blood of Jesus have righteously accomplished sinners’ remission of sin. Of these two (the baptism of Jesus and His death on the Cross), if one is ignored, then it is the same as ignoring the other. There can be no salvation without the baptism of Christ and His bloodshed.

His resurrection, of course, is also important. Without the resurrection of Christ, His death would be in vain, having no result whatsoever. If we were to believe only in a dead Christ, then He would not be able to save anyone, not even Himself. But Christ, who was baptized, bled to death on the Cross, and overcame death to live again has become the true Savior to those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and come forth to God. And He has also become their eternal Lord of salvation and Protector.

Spreading only the death of Christ without His resurrection is only a contradiction and an imposture. And without the resurrection of Christ, His Cross would only have been a failure of God. It would also turn Jesus into merely an insignificant criminal. Not only this, but it would moreover make God a liar, resulting in a mockery of the Word of the Bible. As Christ was baptized by John, He died on the Cross, rose from the dead again, and has thereby become the true Savior to those who believe in Him.

The gospel that leaves out the baptism of Jesus from the whole gospel, which many of today’s Christians are following, betrays God, deceives people and leads their souls to hell. And believing in such a gospel is ignoring and rejecting the Word of the everlasting truth of God. The false prophets who are teaching only the Cross of Christ are turning Christianity into just one of the many religions of the world. This is the reason why the gospel that they are following is totally different from the true gospel of the water and the Spirit.

Christianity is the sole religion that believes in the only God and the living Christ. However, even as Christianity may appear to be above all other religions of the world and proclaim itself as the real truth, if it only expounds on its monotheistic belief while leaving out faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then it is not a faith of love and truth, but only a religion of arrogance.

Here, let us once again consider the location where the altar of burnt offering was placed in the court of the Tabernacle. Of all the furnishings of the Tabernacle, the altar of burnt offering was the largest. It was also the first of the instruments of the Tabernacle that priests came upon in sequence when they sought to enter the Holy Place for worship. The altar of burnt offering is the starting point of faith in God, and it requires people to follow His formula in order to approach Him. In other words, the altar of burnt offering manifests the truth that people must solve the problem of all their sins by becoming believers rather than disbelievers, for not believing in the baptism that Jesus received from John and the Cross cannot allow anyone to go before the living God.

It is by believing in the baptism and death of the Son of God that we have been saved from our sins, not by disbelieving. We have been saved from our sins and received new life only by believing in the baptism and bloodshed of the Son of God. Because this very gospel of the water and the Spirit is so important, fundamental, and the most perfect, we must continue to repeatedly meditate on it in our hearts. We must recognize this gospel and believe in it. We must believe in our hearts that we had been all bound to hell, and we must also believe, together with this faith, that the Lord took upon all our sins by being baptized and bore the condemnation of our sins by shedding His blood on the Cross.

Along with this altar of burnt offering, that the sockets of the pillars of the Tabernacle’s door were made of bronze tells us that we must admit the fact that we all deserve, because of our blemishes, to be cast into hell. And according to the judgment of God, which declares that “the wages of sin is death,” it is clear that we are all hell-bound because of our sins.

Yet to save such lowly beings as us, who truly must go to hell, from the judgment of all our sins, our Lord incarnated and came to this earth, took the sins of mankind upon His own body by being baptized, carried the sins of the world to the Cross, was condemned by shedding His blood, and has thereby saved you and me perfectly from our sins and condemnation. Only those who believe in this truth can join God’s Church and become His people. The screen and pillars of the door of the Tabernacle show us that only those who have this faith can become God’s people and enter His Kingdom.

Do you believe that the Lord has saved us by coming to this earth through His ministries of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the white, fine woven linen? The purple thread means that Jesus is God Himself; the blue thread means that Jesus, God Himself, became a man and took upon our sins by being baptized on this earth; and the scarlet thread means that Jesus Christ, who thus accepted al our sins, sacrificed His precious body by being crucified. It is critically important for us to believe that the baptized and crucified Jesus rose from the dead again and has thereby saved you and me perfectly.

Only those who truly believe in this truth can become the workers of God’s Church. The pillars of the door of the Tabernacle refer to workers. They show us that only those who believe in this way are God’s people, and that only such people can be used by God as His workers and pillars.

The white, fine woven linen tells us that those who have become God’s people, the righteous, are the ones who truly have no sin at all in their hearts. The righteous are those who have received the remission of their sins by believing in the truth of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. Our Lord came to this earth and has saved all sinners through the baptism that He received from John and the blood of the Cross. Since the Lord has saved us by giving up His own precious life, we cannot but believe in Him who came by water and blood (1 John 5:6).

The purple thread refers to the fact that Jesus is the King of kings. In other words, we must believe that the Lord has saved us, who are lowly and full of blemishes, by giving up His precious life, and that He has thereby made us God’s people. Now, if only we believe in this truth in our hearts, then by our faith in the perfect salvation, we can all become the righteous who are sinless. We must thank God for giving us this gift of faith, so that we may have such faith.

In fact, that we have come to believe in this truth is, in itself, a gift from God. Our salvation from sin is also a gift of God. Has God not delivered us from our sins by giving us His precious life, far worthier than us? Because Jesus was baptized, died on the Cross, rose from the dead, and has thereby given us the gift of salvation, all those who now believe in this gospel can receive this gift of salvation and become God’s own people. When it comes to salvation, there is absolutely no work of our own. There is nothing for us to do but just believe in Jesus Christ who came by the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. This salvation is God’s gift for us.

Faith in Jesus begins by first thinking about "whether or not we are truly bound to hell." Why? Because when we first recognize and admit our sinful true selves, we cannot avoid but believe in the truth that Jesus became our own trespass offering for our sins. That we can be saved even when sinning is all that we can do is made possible by the gift of salvation give by the Lord who sacrificed Himself in our stead. Have we been saved by just believing in Him? Have we thereby become God's people by faith? Do we really have such faith? Can we confess that our salvation is God's gift, not of our works? Did we really admit that we had been all bound to hell before we believed in the gift of salvation given by God? We must reexamine these issues one more time.

The truth manifested in the Tabernacle seals off the mouths of false prophets. When we open the Word of the Tabernacle and speak about it before them, their deception is all revealed.

The pillars of the door of the Tabernacle were all overlaid with gold. This shows that nowhere in the Tabernacle has any human trace. Everything inside the Tabernacle was overlaid with gold. The pillars of its door were overlaid with gold, and the covering above the pillars were also overlaid with gold. However, the sockets of the pillars were made of bronze. This tells us that because of our sins and blemishes, you and I were all bound to hell. Is this not true? Is this not really the case? Do you really believe that you also were bound to hell because of your sins of blemishes committed everyday? That you were bound to hell for your sins is a righteous judgment rendered by God. Do you then admit this judgment? You must! This is not a mere knowledge, but you must accept it by believing in it.

The Bible says, “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10). When we recognize in our hearts that we were bound to hell, and when we believe in the truth that the Lord has saved us by giving us the gift of salvation fulfilled by His works manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, then we can all enter and live in the Holy Place. We believe that the Lord came to this earth, that He, who is far more precious than us, took upon our sins by being baptized, that He shed His blood and died on the Cross, and that by doing so He has washed away all our sins and saved us from our condemnation. By saving us through the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, the Lord has made us righteous.

We must truly believe in this in the center of our hearts. Only those who believe in this truth in the center of their hearts can become God’s people and His workers. Accepting this truth only as one of man-made thoughts is not the true faith. “Oh, so the Tabernacle had this meaning. I’ve often heard about the blue, purple, and scarlet thread in my church, and so their meaning may be interpreted like that!” Even though you had believed in the truth only in your thoughts like this until now, now is the time when you must sincerely believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit in your hearts.

The sockets of the pillars of the Tabernacle’s door were made of bronze. But bronze sockets were used only for the five pillars of the door of the Tabernacle; the pillars for the veil of the Most Holy, in contrast, had no bronze socket, but the four sockets of these pillars were all made of silver. In the Bible, silver denotes God’s gift and grace, while gold denotes the true faith that believes in the center of the heart. Bronze, on the other hand, denotes the judgment of sin. Were we not all bound to be judged by God for our sins? Each and every one of you had to be judged for your sins and blemishes before God and people. Is this not the case? I am not saying that only you were like this. Rather, I admit before God that I myself was like this. I ask this not only to you, in other words, but also to myself. And as for myself, I fully recognize before God that I had been bound to be judged by Him for my blemishes, and that in accordance to His Law, I had also been bound to hell because of my sins. I admit this clearly.

For such a being as me, the Lord came to this earth. He came in flesh as a man, took all my sins upon His own body by being baptized, bore all the condemnation of my sins by dying on the Cross, and has become my perfect Savior by rising from the dead again. This is what I believe. And when I believed so, my salvation that God had planned even before the creation was all fulfilled. It was fulfilled as I believed in this in the center of my heart.

Your hearts are like this also. By believing in this truth, your salvation that God had planned in Jesus Christ even before the foundation of this world is also fulfilled in your hearts. The plan of God to make you His people is fulfilled when you believe in this plan in the center of your hearts. It is by believing in your hearts that the true salvation comes about in the center of our hearts. Salvation is not achieved by our thoughts of the flesh. Salvation does not come about by any theological doctrines. Rather, it comes about only by faith in the truth.

Salvation is a gift that has been given to us in Jesus Christ through His baptism and the blood of the Cross. This salvation was actually fulfilled on this earth about 2,000 years ago. And no one is excluded from this gift of salvation, because Jesus had fulfilled God’s plan of salvation to blot out the sins of everyone. As such, those who believed in this salvation in the center of their hearts have all become God’s children. All their sins have been blotted out, as white as snow, and they have all received the remission of their sins for free.

Yet there are many people in this world who have not received the remission of sin. Who are these people? They are the ones who do not believe in the truth even as they know it. Those who have not confessed in the center of their hearts that they are bound to hell, and those who have not recognized the gospel of the water, the blood and the Spirit—such people have nothing to do with the Lord.

God’s salvation is given only to those who know their own sinful nature and recognize that they are bound to be condemned and cast out to hell because of their sins. Where were the five pillars of the screen door of the Tabernacle, which were woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen, all raised on? They were raised on bronze sockets. You and I had been bound to hell because of our sins. Only when we admit this fact can our salvation be raised on this recognition. “For God so loved the world,” for you and I, the Lord came to this earth, was baptized by John the Baptist, shed His blood on the Cross and was sacrificed, and has thereby given us salvation from our sins.

As such, you and I must truly believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit in the center of our hearts. At least once, our hearts must recognize, “I am truly bound to hell, and yet the Lord has saved me through the water and the Spirit.” We must then believe in our hearts to be saved. As Romans 10:10 states, “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

We must truly believe in our salvation in the center of our hearts and confess it with our mouths: “The Lord has saved me through the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. I had to be cast out to hell and condemned, but the Lord has washed away my sins on my behalf, took upon my sins, bore all my condemnation in my stead, and has thereby saved me wholly. He has perfectly made me God’s child.” In this way, we must believe in the center of our hearts and confess with our mouths. Do you believe?

Do you, by any chance, still not admit the fact that you were bound to hell, even as you believe in the truth of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and even as you believe that the Lord has saved us in this way? The Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The true faith is believing that even as all have sinned and therefore all had to go to hell, the Lord came to this earth, was baptized, died on the Cross, rose from the dead again, and has thereby perfectly made us righteous.

How amazing is this salvation? Is it not simply marvelous? The Tabernacle was not made in whatever way, but it was built according to God’s Word in elaborated detail. Through the Tabernacle, God foretold us in detail that He would save us by giving us His precious life. He tells us, through the Tabernacle, that Jesus has given us precious salvation by being baptized and dying on the Cross, and what we must do is believe in this in the center of our hearts. Who can give you salvation for your sake? You can be saved by believing in Jesus Christ who came in the flesh of a man just like yourselves.

If somebody took upon your sins and was condemned vicariously in your place, you would have more than enough reason to be thankful, but the Lord Jesus who is a million times nobler and richer than us made His precious sacrifice for our sake—just how grateful is this? How precious a gift is the fact that the exalted Lord has given us salvation with His blue, purple, and scarlet thread? How priceless is this gift? How could we not possibly believe it in our hearts?

This is why all who admit their sinfulness must believe in this truth. The ones who are qualified to believe in this truth are those who admit that they cannot avoid but be cast out to hell. Only those who recognize that they truly are sinners, and that they are bound to hell for sure, are qualified to believe in God’s precious salvation, as well as to receive it by faith. And those who believe in the truth in their hearts can become the workers of God’s Church.

We are just lowly beings who have nothing to boast of, even when we compare ourselves to those who have become famous in this world even with their marginal abilities. When this is the case, how could we ever dare to boast of ourselves before the holy, perfect, and omnipotent God? All that we can do before Him is just admit that the Lord has saved us even as we could not avoid but die because of our blemishes.

The Bible tells us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Indeed, we had to pay the wages of death because of our sins. But because our Lord has saved us, who had been bound to hell, we can now enter Heaven by this faith. If we take out this faith, we are all bound to hell for the hundredth time. Is this not the case? Of course it is. We all deserve to be cast out to hell.

But because the exalted Lord with unfathomable love came to this earth, was baptized, and shed His blood and was condemned on the Cross, we have now escaped from our certain destination of hell. Because the Lord has given up His precious life for our sake, we have received the remission of sin. When this is the case, how could we not believe that the Lord has saved us from all our sins once for all, and that He has therefore given us the gift of salvation? How could we refuse to become righteous? How could you not believe in this? Just as the pillars for the screen door of the Tabernacle were overlaid with gold, so too must we completely wrap our hearts in faith. We must cover ourselves completely and wholly in faith. We must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit in the center of our hearts. Without believing in this true gospel in the center of our hearts, we cannot go before God.

It is by faith that we could become sinners truly bound to hell. It is by faith that we could also become righteous before God. It is by faith, in other words, that sinners can receive the remission of their sins—by believing that the Lord has saved us through His water and blood. This is how the Word of our Lord, “as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27), is fulfilled.

When we were born into this world once, we were already to be condemned for our sins. However, God has given us the gift of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. By believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit in the center of our hearts, therefore, we have been able to become God’s children. God has given His unconditional love of salvation to all who believe. But He will judge and condemn those who do not believe in this gospel for their sins of unbelieving (John 3:16-18).

We had been sinners who were bound to be condemned and put to death for our sins, but by believing in the salvation of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen that God has planned and given to us, we have received the remission of our sins. Truly, we must confess to God, “I am truly bound to hell,” and we must also confess, “But I believe that the Lord has saved me through the water and the blood.” We must believe in the gospel of the water, the blood and the Spirit; that is, in the truth of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen. It is by believing in this truth in the center of our hearts that we have been saved. It is by believing in the gospel that we are saved.

We have been saved by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. People can become God’s own people only when they believe that the Lord has saved all human beings who were bound to hell through the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen. Do you believe? Only faith in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen is the true faith.

This is the spiritual meaning manifested in the screen door of the Tabernacle. Do you believe? When people come to believe in the truth in their hearts, then they can speak correctly about the true faith. The real faith is not just confessing the truth only with lips while not believing in the heart, but it is to confess one’s faith with his/her mouth while believing in the truth in the center of the heart. All of you must believe in the salvation of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen that have saved you eternally.

We cannot thank God enough no matter how hard we serve Him. How could we then forget about our salvation? How could we forget that the Lord has saved you and me, who could not avoid but be bound to hell, from all our sins? How could we forget the gospel of the water and the Spirit when our blemishes are revealed everyday? How could we ignore this gospel when there is no other way to be saved but through this very gospel? We are always thankful. We are always rejoicing. We cannot but always praise Him.

Those who do not know this truth say that God made human beings only as toys and is making fun of them. Standing against God, they say, “God must be bored. He made us as His toys and is playing with us. He knows that we would sin, and yet He just watches us committing sins, and now He says that He has saved sinners. Isn’t He just toying with us? He makes us, and then He just plays with us in whatever way He feels like. Didn’t God make us as His toys then?” A countless number of people think like this. They bear a grudge against God, saying that if He truly loved them, He should have made them as perfect beings, instead of making them as insufficient sinners. There are so many people who remain ignorant of God’s heart and point their accusing fingers at Him.

Like plants and animals, human beings are also creatures made by God. But God did not make us human beings like plants and animals. Even before He made us, God had decided to make us His own people in Jesus Christ His Son and allow us to join His glory, and it is for this purpose that God created us. The purpose of creation for human beings was different from that of other creatures. What, then, was this purpose with which God made people? It was for them to live forever in His Kingdom in all glory and splendor, unlike the plants and animals that are made to simply praise the glory of God. The purpose of God’s creation of human beings was to enable them to know their own sinful selves, to recognize and believe in the Savior who has saved them as the Lord of creation, and thereby become whole and enter the Kingdom of God in the future.

God did not make us as robots or toys, but He made us so that we would become His children by recognizing the Creator, believing in the Savior, and being born again through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. As such, following this purpose of our creation, we will receive and enjoy glory. Although on this earth we sacrifice ourselves to serve other souls with the gospel, in the Kingdom of God, we will be served. What do you think God’s fundamental purpose for mankind was? It was to enable human beings to enjoy the splendor and glory of God forever. God’s purpose in creating human beings was to make them His people and allow them to partake in His own splendor and glory.

Why were we born? What is the purpose of life? Where did we come from, and where are we heading? Such philosophical questions have not been answered yet, and so people are still in anguish trying to solve the problem. Not knowing their own future, some people even turn to fortunetellers and sorcerers. All these are the results of the failure of mankind to recognize the very God who created us and to believe in the salvation that He has given them.

However, to make us His own children, God made us differently from all other creatures. And He has saved us through the water and the Spirit, having planned our salvation even before the creation with the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen. By saving us with the law of salvation manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, God has indeed fulfilled His purpose for us.

Therefore, we must now know and believe in this purpose of God to give us eternal life in Jesus Christ. If we do not know this, then the mystery of life will forever remain unsolved. Why were we born in this world? Why must we live? Why must we eat? Why must we live our lives fatefully? How can we solve the problem of life and death, of aging and illnesses? Why must we go to hell for our sins? Why is life so tragic? Why is life so painful? All such questions can find their answers from God through the gospel of the water and the blood that has saved us in Jesus Christ.

God allowed us to be born unto this earth and has made us hope for the Kingdom of Heaven in the midst of our tiring and hard lives, so that He would save you and me, who had been bound to hell, from all our sins, and so that we would receive eternal life. When we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the mystery of life is all solved.

Just as God planned, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to this earth, passed all our sins onto His precious body by having Him be baptized, condemned and put Him to death for our sake, and has thereby saved us, who were facing eternal destruction, from all our sins, condemnation, and curses. Now, we must believe in this truth, and we must give our thanks to God for moving us from the unavoidable fate of destruction to the Kingdom of the Son of God, and for enabling us to enjoy eternal life. The truth of salvation from God, in other words, is the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is manifested in the screen woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen, and hung on the doors of the Tabernacle.

The bronze sockets of the pillars of the Tabernacle’s door shows us our fundamental sinful selves, and thereby enables us to believe in the gospel of the water and blood of Jesus. The pillars of the door of the Tabernacle and the screen woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen manifest the mercy of God that has saved us, who had been all bound to hell, from our condemnation through the precious sacrifice of Jesus Christ. By thus believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, I have been saved from all my sins. Do you also believe so?

Do you believe in the truth manifested in the Tabernacle? You and I are all lucky. It is a truly great blessing, for even as there are many people who are heading straight to hell, we have found the truth and are now living in Jesus Christ. We had indeed been worthless and useless in this world, where, being born into it, we could not avoid but only sin and be bound to hell, to live cowardly lives and be cast out to hell. But even so, our Lord came to this earth, was baptized, died on the Cross, rose from the dead, and has thereby forever saved us from our sins. We cannot but be amazed at the fact that not only do we have nothing to do with hell any longer, but we have also become enabled to do valuable, useful, and just works.

Those who can enter into the Holy Place are the ones who have received the remission of their sins once for all. Our Lord did not just blot out our past sins, but by being baptized, He took upon all the sins of our entire lifetime, and by dying on the Cross, He has blotted out all our sins forever. Therefore, only those who believe in salvation thus fulfilled all at once are the ones who have the faith of priests, and only such people can enter into the Holy Place.

Strictly speaking, according to the Tabernacle system, ordinary priests could not enter the Most Holy, but only the High Priest could. And the everlasting High Priest is none other than Jesus Christ. Only those who believe that Jesus Christ has thus saved us can enter into the House of God, even into the Most Holy along with Jesus Christ.

“Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:18-22). Those who recognize themselves as evil ones destined to hell and receive the remission of all their sins by being cleansed with pure water (Jesus’ baptism) and the blood of Jesus can enter the Kingdom of God to dwell with Him forever.

It is not because we have daily repented our sins that our sins have been cleansed, but it is because the Lord came to this earth, took upon our sins of the world once for all by being baptized, was condemned on the Cross that He has forever blotted out all our sins. “For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Jesus was baptized and took upon the sins of mankind once for all, carried the sins of the world to the Cross and died on it, and rose from the dead again and has thereby saved us forever once for all. Only those who believe in this truth in the center of their hearts can enter into the Holy Place. We receive the remission of our sins once for all by believing that our Lord has saved us all at once, and that He took care of all the sins of our entire lifetime and of the entire universe.

Do you believe that the Lord took upon our sins once for all by being baptized? And do you believe that He shouldered the sins of the world, died on the Cross, rose from the dead again, and has thereby become our perfect Savior all at once? Through His 33 years of life, our Lord has blotted out all the sins of this world forever. He has made them all disappear, leaving not even a single spot. I believe this in the center of my hearts. I believe that when He was baptized, He took upon the sins of the world once for all, that He bore the condemnation of all my sins once for all by shedding His blood on the Cross, and that He has become my perfect Savior by rising from the dead and living again once for all. It is by this faith that I have been saved from all my sins.

By believing in this, we all can enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and while we are living on this earth, we must meditate on this faith everyday. Why? Because the Lord took away even the sins that we are yet to commit. But every time we sin, we must confess. And we must believe in the center of our hearts that the Lord took upon even those sins with His baptism. We must recognize that the Lord took care of the sins of the world by believing once again. Why? Because if we do not ruminate on the gospel of the water and the Spirit over and over again, our hearts will be defiled. Because the Lord took away even the sins that we have not yet committed, whenever our weaknesses are revealed, we must thank Him with our faith in His ministries of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread.

We must all believe that the Lord came to this earth and took upon our sins all at once. Once for all, all our sins were passed onto Jesus Christ, for He accepted all the sins of the world through His baptism. As Jesus Christ has given us eternal salvation by being baptized and dying on the Cross, we must believe in this truth firmly and bravely. Our Lord Jesus says that we can take the Kingdom of God with our firm belief in His baptism received from John. Jesus said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). It is by this faith that we have been remitted of all the sins of the blemishes of our bodies, thoughts, minds, and flesh. By believing that our Lord took upon all these sins with His baptism and bore all the condemnation of sins, we must be saved from all our sins to take the Kingdom of God.

No matter how insufficient you might be, if you just have this faith, you are the people of faith. Though you are insufficient, the Lord has saved you perfectly, and therefore you must believe in this. As our Lord lives forever, so is our salvation perfect forever. All that we do is just believe in our salvation that the Jesus Christ has given to us. That is right! We have been saved by believing in Him in our hearts.

Because the Lord is our perfect Savior, He has solved away all the problems of our sins. Do you believe that our Lord was baptized, shed His blood on the Cross, died once, rose again from the dead, and has thereby given us eternal salvation? How marvelous is this salvation? Although we are insufficient in our deeds, we can still enter the Kingdom of God by believing in this truth. It is by faith that we will be able to enter the Kingdom of God and enjoy all the glorious majesty and splendor of God. Those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are qualified to enjoy them. But without this faith, no one can even set a foot into the Kingdom of God.

The truth that has saved us through the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen had been planned by God in Jesus Christ even before the creation. As God determined to save us, He came to this world, was baptized and took upon our sins once for all, carried the sins of the world to the Cross and was condemned all at once, died once, rose from the dead once, and has thereby given us eternal salvation. This is our salvation made of His ministries of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen, and we must believe in this salvation. Only then do we become God’s people perfectly by faith. Only then do we become God’s workers by faith. We will enter into the perfect Kingdom of God and live forever.

The perfect God has saved us perfectly, but we are still insufficient everyday, for our flesh is insufficient. But how is it? When the Lord was wholly baptized, did He actually take upon our sins or not? Of course He did! Because our Lord took away our sins with His baptism, we recognize that all our sins were indeed passed onto Him with His baptism. Do you recognize that your sins were really passed onto Jesus? By thus doing so, Jesus carried our sins and the sins of the world to the Cross, was crucified, and thereby completely fulfilled God’s plan of salvation. Though we are insufficient, we can enter the Kingdom of God by believing. By believing in what? We can enter the Kingdom of God by believing in His ministries of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen.

After we have received the remission of sin, it is the insufficient who have good faith and are doing well in the Church. God’s Church is not a place where the strong reign, but it is where the insufficient reign by faith. Why? Because in God’s Church, we can still follow the Lord by faith only when we know we are insufficient. It is a place of the caring and healing of wounds. As Heaven is a place where a toddler can “put his hand in the viper’s den” (Isaiah 11:8) and shall not be bitten, the paradise on this earth is none other than God’s Church. This is the amazing mystery of God’s Church.

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It is by faith that we enter the Kingdom of God. It is the violent of firm faith who take the Kingdom of Heaven. Do you believe in this truth in your hearts? I, too, believe, and this is why I give my thanks to God.

And it is because I am thankful to God that I am serving this gospel. I live for this truth and serve the gospel, for there are still many people who do not now the truth of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. But right now, setting aside the question of whether others serve this gospel or not, what is needed is for you to first believe in it yourselves.

I hope and pray that you would all believe in the truth that Jesus has saved you from your sins once for all, and thereby be saved from all your sins.

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