Due to COVID-19 and disruption to international mail service
we have temporally suspended our ‘Free Print Book service’.
we have temporally suspended our ‘Free Print Book service’.
In the light of this situation we are not able to mail you the books at this time.
Pray that this pandemic will end soon and the resumption of the postal service.
Pray that this pandemic will end soon and the resumption of the postal service.
Subject 28 : If You Have Confusion and Emptiness in Your Heart, Seek the Light of the Truth
[28-17] God’s Providence That Saves Us from Our Sins
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Today, I would to like to share with you God’s work that has saved us from our sins, whereby God annulled the first covenant and established a second covenant. The Prophet Jeremiah speaks to us of two covenants established by God. Today, if we are able to understand the new covenant that God has established for us, our souls that had been wandering in confusion will find clarity thanks to an even brighter light of salvation, and our faith in salvation will be made even more steadfast in our hearts.
What, then, is the new covenant by which God wanted to save us? It is written in Jeremiah 31:31-32, “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.” When God led the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt, He gave them the Word of His Law. The first covenant that God made with His people was this: “If you obey the Word of My Law, I will be your God and bless you. If, however, you disobey Me, I will condemn you for your sins like the sacrificial animals on the altar of burnt offering.”
Like this, the first covenant that God established with His people was a covenant of blood. However, God’s people unilaterally broke the first covenant that they had made with God. Even after obtaining the first covenant from God, they could not keep their promise to Him, for they had too many shortcomings to obey the Word of the Law that they had pledged to keep before God. As a result, they ended up breaking God’s first covenant all on their own.
For this reason, God sought to make a new covenant with His people. Jeremiah 31:33 says, “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” God said here that He would establish a new covenant with the people of Israel to replace the old covenant, and He will be their God through this new covenant. Way back, when God made the first covenant, He made it with the blood of sacrificial animals, but now with the second covenant, He said, “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
The first Law established for the people of Israel was made with the blood of sacrificial offerings (Exodus 24:3-8). In contrast, God said of the new covenant, “I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” He went on to say in Jeremiah 31:34, “No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
In this sermon, I am sharing with you the Word of God about His new covenant, and once you hear this Word, you will come to see the Bible in a wholly new way. In the covenant that God has made with us, we find salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. The Word is written in both Testaments as thick as the Bible you are holding. When we look into the contents of the two Testaments, we can see that the Old Testament belongs to the old covenant while the New Testament is about the new covenant that God has made with us, teaching us that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this earth and has saved us, the sinners.
Now then, let us first return to the foundational Word for the new covenant. Let us turn to Genesis here and examine Melchizedek the Priest who brought bread and wine to Abraham and blessed him. Melchizedek the Priest was king of Salem, but he blessed Abram when he was returning from the battlefield. It is written in Genesis 14:18-20: “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said:
‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’
And he gave him a tithe of all.”
So, if we understand in detail the priesthood of Melchizedek king of Salem, it will be very helpful for our spiritual growth as we will come to realize that he was an archetype of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As written in Genesis, in the days of Abraham, a man named Melchizedek was king of Salem, and he was called the priest of God Most High. The name Melchizedek means “my king is Zedek,” and “Zedek” here refers to a certain deity. Which deity does it refer to? It refers to the Lord God.
Let me borrow from biblical scholars to expand on Melchizedek king of Salem here. The name Melchizedek mentioned in Hebrews 7:2 is interpreted as “king of righteousness” or “king of peace.” The city named “Salem” is what later became Jerusalem. Melchizedek, king of righteousness and most high priest, provided bread and wine to Abram’s men of arms when they were returning from the Valley of Shaveh after winning a war (Genesis 14:17-18). He asked God Most High to bless Abraham. Abraham recognized Melchizedek’s priesthood, answered his blessings, and gave him a tithe of the spoils of war (Genesis 14:19-20). At this time, Abraham had already recognized that “God Most High” was the same God who had revealed Himself to him—Jehovah, in other word (Genesis 14:19).
In Psalm 110:4, the king of Judah to rule over Zion is seen as a successor to Melchizedek the Priest, and this king is to not only be Zion’s ruler but also its priest at the same time. This status can be understood to a certain extent from the fact that King David served as a priest as well (for reference, see 2 Samuel 6:12-19 and 1 Kings 8:14, 22-23, and 54-56). Psalm chapter 110 here is quoted and recalled numerous times in the New Testament, particularly in Hebrews.
Hebrews chapter 7 is based on Genesis 14:18-20. The fact that Abraham recognized Melchizedek’s priesthood demonstrates that this priesthood takes precedent over the priesthood of “the descendants of Levi” (Hebrews 7:4-10). Therefore, the Messianic ruler mentioned in Psalm chapter 110 is in the priestly order that precedes the Levitical priesthood—that is, it is speaking of Jesus Christ, the everlasting Priest according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:11-19).
The account of Melchizedek, king of Salem and a priest, is introduced suddenly in the Book of Genesis. And in Hebrews 7:3, Melchizedek is explained as someone without father and without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. He is therefore an eternal priest, as well as an antitype of Jesus Christ to come. For cross-referencing, Psalm 110:4 speaks of Jesus as a priest whose priesthood is everlasting:
“The Lord has sworn
And will not relent,
‘You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.’”
In contrast, the legitimacy of the Levitical priesthood depends on whether one is a descendant of Levi or not. The writer of Hebrews knew the priesthood of Jesus Christ, that He was an everlasting Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
In summary, the Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is not any descendant of Levi but our eternal Priest. We should therefore realize and believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, fulfilled His priesthood in this world as the everlasting Priest, and has thereby saved us from our sins once and forever.
God’s Plan and Providence for Mankind’s Salvation
Today we read Jeremiah for our Scripture reading. God said here in Jeremiah 31:32, “Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them.” With His Word, God made the first covenant with the people whom He had led out of Egypt. This covenant is the first covenant that God made with His people. The first covenant that God made with the people of Israel is the old covenant, which He spoke of in Exodus 24:1-8. For the Old Testament’s believers, the crux of their tradition is the contract made between God and His people. This contract was drafted and made by God, and it was a contract that the people of Israel, Abraham’s descendants, entered into with Moses after their exodus from Egypt. This is written in Exodus chapters 19-24. God established this covenant with the blood of the altar of burnt offering, to make His relationship with the people of Israel, which had been loose, stronger. This was like a contract entered into by pledge, whereby anyone breaking it would be put to death.
The first covenant between God and the people of Israel was determined by God’s sovereign rule. The Lord God commanded Moses, as written in Exodus 24:1-8: “Now He said to Moses, ‘Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him.’ So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words which the Lord has said we will do.’ And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.’ And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.’” The covenant that God made authoritatively with the people of Israel is the old covenant that was made with blood.
The covenant made with blood here was a promise that if either side did not keep it, a price would be paid just like the shedding of the blood of sacrificial animals. It is with this sacrificial blood that God made a covenant with the leaders of His people with the blood. This covenant is written in Exodus 19:3-8: “And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.’” So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. Then all the people answered together and said, ‘All that the Lord has spoken we will do.’ So Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.”
The covenant was similarly affirmed in Exodus 24:3-8 as well: “So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words which the Lord has said we will do.’ And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.’ And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.’”
Like this, the covenant made between God and the people of Israel after their exodus from Egypt entailed the establishment of the Law of Jehovah: if the people of Israel kept this Law of God, He would protect and bless them as their God, but if they disobeyed it, worshiped idols, and broke the covenant, then they would be put to death. This was the covenant that was made between God and the people of Israel. However, the people of Israel ended up breaking this covenant with God all on their own, for they abandoned the Lord God and worshiped pagan idols. That is why God said to the people of Israel, who had broken the promise they made with the old covenant in Exodus chapter 24, that He would make a new covenant with them and be their God.
God promised to save His people from their sins with this new covenant, and He said that He would put this promise in their hearts and write it in their minds. They would then become God’s people, thanks to the new covenant established with His Truth. Simply put, God said that His Son, Jesus Christ, would come to this earth, save them from the sins of the world by being baptized and shedding His blood on the Cross, and make them God’s people. God was prophesying that He would put His love and His law of salvation in the hearts of those who believe in the baptism that His Son, Jesus Christ, received from John the Baptist and His blood, write them in their minds, and make them His people.
This is why God said in Jeremiah 31:34, “No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” In short, God sought to make the sins of mankind known through the Law, and to make them reach salvation by believing in the baptism of His Son, Jesus Christ, and His blood on the Cross.
God said to all of us, “Since you were too weak to keep My first covenant and you broke it all on your own, I will give you a new, second covenant and save you from the sins of the world and judgment once and for all. This time, I will deliver you from all your sins and make you My people by My power of salvation. I will write in your hearts and minds the Truth of salvation, the baptism I received and the blood I shed for you, so that you may never again depart from Me.”
In other words, the new, second covenant that God made is not the same as the old covenant of the Old Testament. The new covenant, instead, promises that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would come to this earth and save us from our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist and shedding His blood, and that God would write this Truth of salvation in our hearts and make us His people.
I Have Come to Do the Will of God
To understand Jesus Christ’s priestly ministry according to the order of Melchizedek, let us turn to Hebrews 10:9-10: “Then He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.’ He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Here in this passage, the Bible is speaking of the new covenant written in Jeremiah chapter 31. The new covenant is this: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would come this earth, accept the sins of this world once and for all by being baptized by John the Baptist, die on the Cross, rise from the dead again, and thereby be the Savior of all those who believe in this.
The work that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, carried out by being baptized and shedding His blood when He came to this earth is the fulfillment of the Word of God written in Jeremiah 31:33-34 in the Old Testament. This means God has cleansed away, once and for all, the sins of everyone who believes in the work of His Son, Jesus Christ, who came to this earth by God’s new covenant. To be more specific about this priesthood of the Lord according to the order of Melchizedek, it is not by keeping the Law that we are made God’s people; instead, it is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who has saved us from our sins, for He took away the sins of mankind by being baptized by John the Baptist and was condemned for our sins once and for all by being crucified.
The Old Testament speaks of two things: it speaks of our sins through the Law of God, and it speaks of the work of the Messiah to come, the Savior of mankind. First, there are two undercurrents in the Law of the Old Testament. One undercurrent is about the fear of God, teaching us to fear, revere, and love Him. The other undercurrent is pointing out the sins of mankind with the Word of the Law. In God’s sight, there is no one born on this earth, not even one person, who has ever kept the Word of the Law. There was no one among the people of Israel who ever kept the Law of God perfectly, and although Christians these days also try to live according to the will of God, the reality is that there is not a single Christian who has ever kept the Word of the Law written in the Scripture either in spirit or deed.
So, in Romans 3:19-20, the Bible explains the Law’s function clearly: “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Put differently, the Old Testament enables us to realize and know our sins through the Law, teaching us that it is futile for us to try to keep this Word of the Law. God has given mankind 613 commandments, but there is no one who has ever kept them all except for Jesus, and therefore we need to grasp here that their function is to make us realize our sins. They teach us that since we cannot keep God’s Law, we are sinners before Him and must therefore be cast into hell according to His justice. We ought to grasp the gravity of the Law clearly.
God is teaching us that we are incapable of keeping the Word of the Law that He has commanded us. He is also teaching us that anyone whose heart is guilty of sin will be cast into hell. It is absolutely important for us to understand the function of the Law of God. Only then can we avoid the folly of trying to keep His Law. Regarding the costs of the sins of mankind, the Bible says that “the wages of sin is death.” In other words, it is telling us that anyone with any sin must be cast into hell.
This is why under the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, sinners had to pass their sins to a sacrificial animal by laying their hands on its head, draw its blood, put the blood on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour the rest of the blood on the ground. The carcass of the sacrificial animal was then cut into pieces and burnt on the altar of burnt offering as a sacrifice to God. With this, the Word of the Law is teaching us about our sins, and how their price is hell. Realizing that we are destined to hell as long as there is any sin in our hearts, we must grasp and believe that our Savior Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has saved us from the sins of the world by being baptized by John the Baptist and crucified. This is the role that the Law plays for us.
Another function of the Law of God is that it teaches us to fear Him. When we stand before God’s Law, we realize that He is a holy God. The severity of the Law of God teaches us that we must fear Him, revere Him, and love Him for the salvation He has given us. Who is God? He is the majestic, almighty God who created the universe and all things in it. He is the Lord and King of all things. He is the Absolute Being who reigns over everything. By making the majesty and power of this God known to us, the Law teaches us to bow before Him, humble our hearts, honor Him, obey Him, and love Him.
As mentioned already, the Law teaches us about our sins. Since no one is able to live according to the Law of God, it makes us realize that we are all sinners before God. If we fail to live according to God’s Law, this makes us sinners in His sight, and therefore the Law enables us to realize ourselves that we are destined to hell for our sins. The Law teaches us that we are guilty of sins, and it also teaches that we can receive the remission of sins by believing in the righteousness of God who has saved us through the baptism that Jesus Christ, His Son, received to take away our sins and the blood He shed on the Cross.
Therefore, thanks to the Law’s function, we come to realize that we need someone to blot out our sins—that is, Christ the everlasting Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. God was teaching us at once that it is impossible for us to reach salvation by keeping His Law. That is why He abolished the old, first covenant He made with us and established a new, second covenant, teaching us that we can receive the remission of sins by believing in the baptism of Jesus Christ, His Son, and the shedding of the Son’s blood. God is making it known to us that it is Jesus Christ, His Son, who would save us from the sins of this world according to the new covenant.
We can see God saying this in Hebrews 10:1-2: “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.”
Quoting Psalm 40:6, God is also saying,
“Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:
‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
But a body You have prepared for Me.
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
You had no pleasure.
Then I said, “Behold, I have come—
In the volume of the book it is written of Me—
To do Your will, O God”’” (Hebrews 10:5-7). The phrase here, “a body You have prepared for Me,” refers to the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has saved us once and for all through the baptism He received and the blood He shed on the Cross for us.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God the Father, shouldered the sins of the world by being baptized by John the Baptist, was condemned for our sins by being crucified, and has thereby fulfilled His ministry as the everlasting Priest. He has completed His work of salvation, delivering us from the sins of this world by taking them away once and for all through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, bearing the punishment of our sins once and for all by being crucified, and rising from the dead again. God the Father entrusted it to His Son Jesus Christ to save mankind from sins, and Jesus Christ completed this work of salvation by sacrificing His body as our propitiation.
So, from the fact that Abraham was blessed by Melchizedek king of Salem, we can see that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was already our everlasting Priest in those ancient times also. Abraham was someone who had lived long before Moses received the Law. Moses appears in Exodus, while Abraham is written about in Genesis. So, spiritually speaking, the account of Abraham being blessed by Melchizedek shows us that God the Father planned, even before the foundation of the world, to save us from our sins through His Son.
Ancient agricultural societies were organized by tribes. And warfare was rampant between different tribes. At the time, Abraham’s nephew Lot had left him and was living in the land of Sodom. A war broke out between Sodom and several allied tribes, and the king of Sodom ended up losing this war. Lot was taken captive at that time, and this news reached Abraham. So, Abraham armed his servants who were born and trained in his household, took them into the battlefield, won the battle, and brought back his nephew Lot.
When Abraham returned after his victory in the battlefield, the king of Sodom went out to welcome him warmly with enthusiasm. In the Sodomites’ eyes, Abraham was a war hero. Even though they had numerous tribes fighting alongside them as their allies, they had lost the war. In contrast, Abraham fought against several tribes with just his own servants and still won. So, the king of Sodom went out to welcome Abraham back, and he suggested to him how to divide up the spoils of war. Abraham then said to him, “Take the spoils of war, except for the share that should go to my men who went into the battlefield. I will take the people whom I rescued. You take the goods.”
Something else happened at this time: Melchizedek the Priest, king of Salem, brought bread and wine to Abraham and blessed him when he was returning from the battlefield. Melchizedek was a priest before God. He met Abram on his way back from the victory in the battlefield and blessed him, saying, “Possessor of heaven and earth, God Most High, thank You for blessing Abram. Blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Abram then gave to Melchizedek a tithe of his gains from the war. This account tells us that now in this age also, salvation is not reached by keeping the Law, and only those who believe that Jesus Christ, the everlasting Priest of mankind, is their Savior can possess the same faith as Abraham and be blessed by God.
Abraham recognized the priesthood of Melchizedek. This means Melchizedek had been a priest long before the High Priests from the house of Aaron in the Old Testament. Here it is important for us to realize that Melchizedek the Priest was an antitype of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this earth as the everlasting Priest according to the order of Melchizedek; He has saved mankind from sins with the baptism He received from John the Baptist and the blood He shed on the Cross; and He is the Savior of all those who believe in this Truth.
It is not with the Old Testament’s sacrifices offered by the Levites that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has saved sinners from sins. On the contrary, Jesus’ lineage is from the house of Judah. Judah was a son of Jacob. When Jacob blessed his sons, he had prophesied that kings would continue to come from the house of Judah, and Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born in the royal house of Judah when He came to this world to wash away the sins of mankind by being baptized by John the Baptist. Joseph, who was engaged to the Virgin Mary, was from the house of Judah. What the Bible is telling us here is that Jesus came to this earth as the High Priest of the Kingdom of Heaven to save sinners from their sins. The name “Jesus” means “Savior.” And the name “Christ” refers to the fact that this Savior has three offices of King, Priest, and Prophet.
God’s people of the Old Testament tried to obtain the remission of sins by keeping the first covenant that God made with them. But they all failed. They failed in their effort to follow God because they did not know their own impotence and the nature of sin that they were born with. We can therefore see that salvation cannot be reached by keeping the Law of God that He gave as the first covenant. God wants to show us that Jesus Christ has saved us from our sins through the work of the baptism He received and the blood He shed when He came to this earth to be the everlasting Priest of mankind.
The first covenant God made with the people of Israel and the sacrificial system of the Tabernacle are antitypes of salvation, showing us that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would come to this earth, take away the sins of this world by being baptized by John the Baptist, sacrifice Himself by being crucified, and thereby save mankind from the sins of the world as their everlasting Priest. What makes mankind realize that they are sinners before God, and that they will be judged for their sins, is the Law of God. And the Law teaches that salvation is reached only by those who understand and believe in the righteousness of Jesus Christ—that He came to this earth, shouldered and washed away the sins of this world by being baptized by John the Baptist, and was punished for these sins by shedding His blood on the Cross.
Like this, the function of the Law is limited to teaching us about our sins and drawing us to Jesus Christ. Every aspect of the sacrificial system of the Old Testament shows us that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was baptized when He came to this earth to take away our sins, and that He was crucified while shouldering our sins to be condemned for them.
The Old Testament’s account of Melchizedek king of Salem also shows us that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would, as the everlasting Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, save us by taking away the sins of the entire human race through the baptism He received from John the Baptist and bearing the condemnation of our sins once and for all by being crucified.
The name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness.” It means the king of righteousness who did the righteous work. Christians call Jesus the King of righteousness and King of love. Why? It is because Jesus came to this earth as the everlasting Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, and He has forever saved from sins those who believe in the baptism He received from John the Baptist and the blood He shed on the Cross. Melchizedek was truly king of Salem, and he was truly the shadow of Jesus the everlasting Priest recognized by God the Father. God approved the work of Melchizedek the Priest in the Old Testament.
Abraham recognized the priesthood of Melchizedek who blessed him. He foresaw, by faith, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would come to this earth as the everlasting Priest to save His people from their sins. That is why Abraham was made the father of faith for us the believers, the people of God. In the age of the New Testament, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, bore our sins and their punishment in our place by being baptized by John the Baptist at the age of 30 and giving up His body on the Cross, thus becoming our Savior. He has saved those who believe in this Truth of God from their sins forever.
Jesus Christ came looking for us living on this earth to fulfill His everlasting priesthood. Raised to be our eternal Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, accepted the sins of this world on His body once and for all by being baptized by John the Baptist in obedience to the will of God the Father, suffered the punishment of our sins with His body in our place by being crucified, and has thereby saved us as our everlasting propitiation for sins.
Therefore, it is not by keeping the Law, which belongs to the first covenant God gave us, that we are saved from our sins. It is only through the truth of the new covenant that God the Father grants salvation to those who believe in the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our eternal Priest. We must realize that salvation is reached by believing that Jesus Christ has delivered us from the sins of the world as our everlasting Priest.
The function of the Law is only to raise the fear of God, enable us to realize and recognize our sins, and prompt us to turn to Jesus Christ to be saved by faith. God the Father is therefore saying to us that the remission of sins is now received by faith, thanks to the work of the baptism that His Son, Jesus Christ, received and the blood He shed for us. With the new covenant, God sent Jesus Christ to us, and Jesus Christ has saved us from our sins once and for all through the baptism He received from John the Baptist and His blood on the Cross. God promised us salvation, and He has also fulfilled it.
Today, Christians who believe in the Nicene Creed are trying hard to keep the Law of God in their lives. When they fail to do so, they offer prayers of repentance, and they try to sanctify themselves. But they need to realize that such efforts are ultimately in vain. They must grasp that human beings are incapable of living according to the Law, the first covenant established by God. The Law only teaches us what is right and what constitutes a sin, and it guides us into the new covenant that God has given us—that is, into the baptism and blood of Jesus Christ our Savior.
When we look at the Ten Commandments that God established with the first covenant, we can see our spiritual condition. One of the Ten Commandments says, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” This is only right. Another commandment says, “You shall not serve idols.” This is also entirely right, since we should not worship any idols before God. And the list goes on: “You shall not take the name of God in vain; you shall keep the Sabbath day holy; you shall honor your father and mother; you shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not covet anything that is your neighbor’s.” All these commandments are only proper.
The Law teaches us what is right and what constitutes a sin before God, and it guides us to understand what is the salvation that God wants us to receive through the new covenant. God is not telling us to reach salvation by keeping the Law now. Instead, He is guiding us to the gospel, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has saved us from our sins by being baptized and shedding His blood. The Law leads us into the new covenant’s promise of salvation that enables us to be delivered from the sins of the world, and it is telling us to be saved from our sins by faith.
God is saying to us that His Son, Jesus Christ, has become our everlasting Priest by being baptized by John the Baptist, dying on the Cross, and rising from the dead again, and God is telling us to believe in this Savior unto salvation. And God is telling us to thank Jesus Christ for making it possible for us be saved now by faith.
By washing away our sins with the baptism He received to shoulder them, and by being punished for our sins on the Cross also, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has enabled us the believers to receive the everlasting remission of sins now. We ought to therefore believe in the Lord’s work of salvation and thank Him with our faith.
We should not try to address the problem of our sins by misplacing our faith in theology or some absurd creeds. The remission of sins is received into our hearts only by believing in the baptism that Jesus Christ, our everlasting Priest, received from John the Baptist and the blood of sacrifice He shed on the Cross for our sins. None other than this is the righteousness of God that the Bible speaks of. We ought to receive the remission of sins into our hearts by placing our faith in the Word of the new covenant that God has given us. Since Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our everlasting Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, we are to be saved from the sins of this world once and for all by believing in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
However, Christians who do not understand this are living a legalistic life of religion, thinking mistakenly that their faith in Jesus is proper and they have been saved. In their minds, they think that it is only through the work of crucifixion that Jesus has saved them from all the sins they commit in this world. They are now living as sinners who belong to the Law, for their faith is placed in the first covenant.
Why have they been deceived to believe like this? It is because they believe in the Nicene Creed that an emperor of ancient Rome made for his own political purposes. People today are suffering over their sins because they are caught up in spiritual confusion caused by the Nicene Creed. What we must all realize clearly, however, is that through the first covenant that God made with the people of Israel—that is, through any legalistic faith that relies on our own acts—we can never be freed from our sins. We can escape from our sins only by reaching salvation through Jesus Christ, which is the new, second covenant God has established for us—that is, by believing that Jesus has saved us from the sins of the world with His baptism and the blood He shed on the Cross.
We must first realize that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took away all our sins once and for all by being baptized by John the Baptist, and then believe that He was condemned for our sins in our place by being crucified and has thus become our everlasting Priest. That is how we must reach our salvation.
Jesus Christ came to this earth as the everlasting High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, and we must now be saved from all our sins by believing in His work of salvation. We must receive salvation by believing that the baptism that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, received from John the Baptist to take away our sins once and forever and His precious blood that He shed on the Cross constitute the work of our salvation. We must, in short, reach salvation by placing our faith in the Word of the second covenant that God has established.
What is the gospel of the remission of sins that the Lord has given us? It is the gospel that enables us to be saved from all sins by believing that the baptism that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, received from John the Baptist was the means by which He took away the sins of this world, and the blood He shed on the Cross was the blood of life that paid off the wages of our sins. We ought to realize and believe that our eternal salvation is found in the baptism that Jesus received from John the Baptist and His blood on the Cross.
For you to be delivered from the sins of this world, you must know and believe why Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was baptized by John the Baptist, and why this Son of God had to be condemned for our sins in our place by being crucified and shedding His blood. The reason is because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was appointed to be our everlasting Priest to save you and me from the sins of the world once and for all.
What about you then? Have you been saved by realizing and believing in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who came to this earth according to the order of Melchizedek? Jesus Christ came to this earth as the High Priest of the Kingdom of Heaven, and He is now our everlasting Priest. The name “Christ” means “anointed,” and this tells us that Jesus was anointed to fulfill His offices as the King, the Prophet, and the Priest.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Master of the universe and all things in it, and the Savior of sinners. To shoulder our sins on His body once and for all, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, accepted them by being baptized by John the Baptist, died on the Cross to be condemned for them, and rose from the dead again. We must therefore believe that Jesus Christ the Son of God is our everlasting Priest. He is the eternal Savior of His believers, for He offered His body to God the Father as the propitiation for our sins. With the baptism He received from John the Baptist and His blood on the Cross, Jesus has saved us and washed us from our sins once and for all.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the everlasting Priest for all of us who believe, for He took away our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist and shedding His blood. By offering His body to God the Father as our everlasting propitiation for sins, Jesus Christ has given salvation to whoever believes in the baptism He received from John the Baptist and His blood. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in short, has made all those who believe in His baptism and blood into God’s children forever and perfectly.
Do you now understand what this means? Using the account of Melchizedek, I have been explaining to you how Jesus Christ has become our everlasting Priest. I understand that this is all quite unfamiliar to you as today is the first day that I am addressing it. However, when we take a closer look, we can see that Melchizedek the Priest, who brought bread and wine to Abraham our father of faith and blessed him, was a shadow of Jesus Christ. So, if you want to be saved from your sins once and for all, you can grasp the Truth of salvation by believing in the baptism of Jesus and His precious blood on the Cross as your salvation, realizing, “Jesus is the everlasting Priest according to the order of Melchizedek!”
Our salvation has come not by the Law of God that makes our sins known to us, but by the baptism and blood of Jesus Christ. It is only by believing in the work of Jesus Christ our Savior, the everlasting Priest of Heaven according to the order of Melchizedek, that we are saved now to receive the everlasting remission of sins. Through the work of the baptism He received from John the Baptist, Jesus forever took away our sins; through the work of the sacrifice He made on the Cross, He was condemned of our sins in our place; and through the gospel of the water and the Spirit that combines these two works, He has saved us. From the account of Melchizedek, we can now reach a deeper understanding of how Jesus Christ has become our Savior by offering Himself as a sacrifice in what way.
Jesus was appointed as the everlasting Priest in this world according to the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek the Priest, who was king of Salem in the days of Abraham in Genesis, was a God-approved priest. God is showing Melchizedek to us like this to demonstrate to us that His Son, Jesus Christ, is the everlasting Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. God is showing us that Jesus Christ, who is our everlasting Priest, has saved us from the sins of this world by being baptized by John the Baptist and shedding his blood on the Cross.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this earth according to the order of Melchizedek, and He sacrificed His own body as our propitiation to blot out our sins once and forever. He took away our sins through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, was condemned for our sins in our place by being crucified, rose from the dead again, and has thereby completed the work of salvation to deliver us from the sins of the world once and for all.
God the Father of Jesus Christ took His Son as our propitiation and made Him bear our sins and their punishment in our place. This means God the Father made His Son pay the price for the sins of mankind. God the Father made Jesus receive His baptism from John the Baptist, die on the Cross, and rise from the dead again. And He has forever made into His children those of us who believe in His Son.
God is saying that He has given the everlasting remission of sins to mankind, so that those who believe in the baptism of His Son Jesus Christ and His sacrificial blood would never again turn into sinners. When you read the Epistle to the Hebrews, you will see the true Word saying that God has saved us from our sins by raising another Priest who did not belong to the Levites. Melchizedek was raised by God to be a priest in the days of Abram, and according to the order of this priest, God took His Son to be the everlasting Priest of mankind and made Him blot out the sins of this world.
Ever since Jesus Christ came to this earth, God has accepted whoever believes in this perfect work of salvation as one of His people. Regarding this, the Lord is saying, “I have saved My people from the sins of the world once and for all by offering an everlasting sacrifice.”
I will explain more about the ministry of Melchizedek in greater detail step by step. One thing clear is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this world as the everlasting Priest in succession to the order of Melchizedek king of Salem, and He has saved you and me from the sins of the world. Jesus did not inherit His office as the High Priest through the lineage of Levi. He has saved us by coming to this earth according to the order of Melchizedek the Priest instead, king of Salem who blessed Abraham with bread and wine in the Old Testament.
Jesus Christ is divine, coequal to God the Father. However, to save His people from their sins, He came as the everlasting Priest according to the order of Melchizedek; He took away the sins of this world by being baptized by John the Baptist, the greatest of all those born of women (Matthew 11:11); He was crucified to death; He rose from the dead again; and He has thereby become the everlasting Priest for those of us who now believe. God is teaching us about the eternal priesthood of Jesus Christ.
The levitical priests raised by God in the age of the Old Testament could not end their people’s sins no matter how many sacrifices they offered. Since Aaron the Priest and his descendants could not live forever, new priests had to be raised continuously. Even though those who sinned in the age of the Old Testament brought sacrificial animals to the priests and offered them repeatedly day after day, there was no sacrifice that could end their sins completely.
During the age of the Old Testament, priests were raised from the Levites, but the sacrifices offered through these priests could not end the sins that were in the human heart. So, because the sacrificial system of the Old Testament could not address the problem of sins permanently, the Triune God made a new covenant for human beings, who were made in the likeness of His image, and He promised, even before the foundation of the world, to send the Savior to this world. Having completed this salvation, God is now waiting for us silently. God the Father has now sanctified and saved us from the sins of the world by making His Son, Jesus Christ, fulfill His everlasting priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek from the age of the Old Testament.
The Remission of Our Sins Was Planned in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Before Our Creation
Ephesians 1:4 says that God “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” Indeed, even before the Triune God created the universe and all things in it, He planned to save us by raising His Son, Jesus Christ, as our everlasting Priest. However, people do not understand when they are told about the work of the baptism that Jesus received from John the Baptist and of His blood, so through the priesthood of Melchizedek in the days of Abraham, God is saying that He prepared our salvation long ago. God is therefore telling us that His Son, Jesus Christ, came to this earth according to the order of Melchizedek, and thanks to the work of the baptism that Christ received from John the Baptist and the blood He shed on the Cross, all our sins have now been washed away.
Once we realize that God the Father prepared the remission of our sins in advance, even before the foundation of the world, to be fulfilled through Jesus Christ’s work of salvation, it is much easier for us to understand our salvation. We need to grasp here that the account of Melchizedek the Priest blessing Abraham is very much relevant to us now. That Melchizedek the Priest blessed Abraham in Genesis enables us to realize that God blesses those who follow in Abraham’s footsteps and believe in His Word. It teaches us that God will bless us, the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that Jesus Christ, His Son, completed as the everlasting Priest of mankind.
Therefore, we are now able to become God’s people forever by believing in the work of the baptism of Jesus Christ our everlasting Priest and the shedding of His blood. We ought to glorify God according to spiritual knowledge and spiritual faith.
Before the foundation of the world, before God even created the universe and all things in it, He knew that man would sin. Even though human beings are God’s creatures, the Father wanted to make us His people, so He prepared long before we were even born in this world that His Son, Jesus Christ, would accept our sins passed onto His body through the baptism He would receive on this earth, shed His blood on the Cross, rise from the dead again, and thereby save the believers. God the Father let His Son, Jesus Christ, receive baptism from John the Baptist, made Him fulfill the work of the Cross to shed His blood, and raised Him to be our everlasting Savior. Like this, God made His Son sacrifice Himself as our propitiation to wash away the sins of mankind with His baptism and the shedding of His blood. And God planned to make into His people whoever believes in the work of salvation fulfilled with the baptism that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, received and the blood He shed. God is now telling us about the salvation He has given us through the work of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, our salvation from all sins has been completed with the work that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, carried out by being baptized by John the Baptist, shedding His blood on the Cross, and rising from the dead again. That Abraham was blessed by Melchizedek the Priest in the age of the Old Testament was to give us today the same faith that Abraham had. This is even more so since Abraham is our father of faith.
How, then, can we attain the same faith as Abraham’s and receive the same blessings as his? We receive the blessings of the remission of sins into our hearts when we believe in the work of the baptism that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, received and the blood He shed on the Cross. By believing in the work of salvation that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, carried out when He came to this earth—that is, by believing in the saving work of the baptism He received from John the Baptist and the shedding of His blood—we are now able to be saved from the sins of this world once and for all by faith. God the Father is telling us that He has been waiting for us, having prepared this work of salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ, long ago.
Melchizedek the Priest whom we are studying today was shown to us as a model, to teach us that God the Father would send His Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth as the everlasting Priest and bless all those who believe in His work. God the Father used John the Baptist as an instrument to pass our sins on to the body of His Son, Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:11-12). He has saved us, the believers, from our sins by making His Son receive baptism and shed His blood on the Cross. Therefore, it is now by believing in the baptism Jesus Christ received from John the Baptist and His blood on the Cross that we receive the remission of sins into our hearts.
It is written in Hebrews 10:11-16: “And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them.’”
What Is God’s Providence of Salvation That Has Saved Us From Sins?
The providence of salvation is none other than this: God the Father made His, Son Jesus Christ, pay off the wages of our sins once and for all by being baptized by John the Baptist and shedding His blood on the Cross. And God has bestowed us with His blessings and grace so that anyone can be saved and become His child through faith in the baptism and blood of Jesus Christ, His Son.
Instead of demanding that we pay the wages of our sins, God the Father planned before the foundation of the world to save us by letting His Son, Jesus Christ, take away the sins of this world by being baptized by John the Baptist and bear the punishment and condemnation of all our sins by being crucified and shedding His blood of life. This is the providence of salvation that God has prepared for us. And we are to be saved from all our sins by placing our faith in the baptism of Jesus Christ, His death on the Cross, and His resurrection. This is the providence of salvation from the new covenant that God has established for us.
It is written, “I will put My laws into their hearts” (Hebrews 10:16). Because we believe with our hearts that Jesus shouldered our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist and shed His blood on the Cross, and because we believe in this Lord as our Savior, He has engraved His salvation in our hearts. In contrast to the age of the Old Testament when the Word of the Law was engraved into two stone tablets, now in this present age, God the Father has engraved salvation and the remission of sins into the hearts of those who believe in His Son Jesus Christ’s law of love that has saved us from the sins of the world—that is, those who believe in the Word of the baptism that Jesus received from John the Baptist, the shedding of His blood, and His resurrection. God has enabled us to have the faith that Jesus Christ, His Son, took away the sins of this world once and for all by being baptized and was punished for all our sins in our place by shedding His blood on the Cross. And the love of the Lord that has saved us has been engraved in our hearts and minds as the salvation that has been fulfilled through His baptism and the shedding of His blood.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the Lord who has saved you and me now from the sins of the world once and for all through His baptism and blood. Jesus is your God of salvation and mine, and He is also our King. Through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took away all your sins and mine once and for all, leaving not even a trace of sin, and by being condemned for our sins on the Cross, He has made us God’s saved children.
Like this, we have become God’s children without any reservation whatsoever on account of our faith in God’s providence of salvation. I am so grateful to the Lord for making it possible for us to confess our salvation by trusting in the work that Jesus Christ carried out to take away our sins. God has engraved our hearts with faith in His work of baptism, the precious blood He shed to death, and His resurrection. That is why we say that Jesus is the King of love, singing, “The King of love my Shepherd is, whose goodness faileth never~♫” For us the believers, Jesus Christ is the eternal Savior and the King of love.
It is written in Hebrews 10:17-18, “Then He adds, ‘Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’ Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.” Here, in Hebrews chapter 10, God is writing in our hearts that Jesus Christ, coming to this earth according to the order of Melchizedek, has saved us from the sins of the world by being baptized by John the Baptist and shedding His blood. Do you not understand what this means? In this age and time, we can reach salvation quite easily if only we believe in Jesus’ work of salvation—that He has saved us from the sins of the world through His baptism and the shedding of His blood.
While I try my best when preaching the Word of God, I am not an eloquent speaker. Some people are such smooth talkers that they can make even lies sound true, but I am not such a great speaker. However, I have so much to say to you because the Word of God is true. I am testifying to you the providence of salvation that God has given to mankind, for I believe in the Word of both Testaments of the Bible. It is because the Word of Scripture is the Truth and salvation. We have been saved by faith now, all thanks to the work of the baptism that Jesus received from John the Baptist and His blood. This faith is what I want to testify. Some preachers may open the Bible and preach about all kinds of different things, but I am not good at this. I can, however, preach everything about the salvation that the Lord has fulfilled with the baptism He received and the blood He shed for us, and explain it to you exactly as it is.
Hebrews 10:18 says, “Now where there is remission of these.” Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came to this earth as the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, has brought true salvation to us now. He accepted our sins on His body by being baptized by John the Baptist, was punished for our sins and died in our place, and rose from the dead again. And He is saying to us, “Your sins and your lawless deeds I will remember no more, for I have remitted them away.”
It is written, “Now where there remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:18). Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took away the sins of this world by being baptized by John the Baptist on this earth and was condemned for our sins on the Cross in our place, so that there may be no more offering for our sins. This is why Jesus has saved us from all our sins. He was baptized by John the Baptist and shed His blood on the Cross so that we may never again worry about being condemned and cast into hell for our sins.
However, we do need to confess our sins even after reaching salvation. Even after receiving the remission of sins into our hearts, and even after becoming God’s people, we still sin and commit many wrongdoings habitually, for our old sinful nature remains with us. So, we need to confess our sins to God, and in our hearts ruminate on the Truth of salvation that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took away and washed away these sins also with His baptism and the shedding of His blood.
The Bible says in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Jesus has blotted out all our sins once and for all, and so if we find ourselves sinning in our lives in this world, we should confess to God and pray, “Lord, I have sinned like this. Even though I should be condemned for my sins, You were punished for them in my place by being baptized by John the Baptist and crucified. I believe in this, Lord. Thank You. I will try harder not to commit such sins.” When we confess our sins to the Lord and look upon the salvation that He has brought to us by the water and the Spirit, He will free us from our guilty feelings and dark emotions weighing us down. Thanks to the baptism that the Lord received from John the Baptist and the blood He shed in our place, we can keep our hearts always clean. This is possible because Jesus has already blotted out our sins long ago.
The Word of God written in the Bible cannot be understood by anyone who has not been born again. So, only those who believe in the baptism that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, received from John the Baptist and His blood can understand this Word of salvation and bear its witness also. If, after being saved from our sins, we do something wrong to one another, we should admit our wrongdoings and apologize, saying, “I’ve made a mistake. I am sorry.” This is how our harmony is ensured.
Imagine one of us causing a great deal of harm to another saint and then saying, “Since I have received the remission of sins, I don’t need to apologize to you!” Someone like this still has not met Jesus Christ, who has fulfilled His priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek to take away our sins and wash them away. We ought to admit to one another our wrongdoings and ask for forgiveness. We are only human. We are not God. While God said that He will remember our sins no more, harmony cannot be achieved among us if we do not apologize to each other for our wrongdoings on this earth. God has admonished us against this. I will address this issue on another occasion separately when I speak about everyday life issues later.
Today, the focus of my sermon is on our salvation: Jesus Christ, who came to this earth according to the order of Melchizedek, has saved us, the believers, from all our sins through the baptism He received and the blood He shed. It is not by keeping the Law that we reach salvation. We are saved by believing instead in the righteous work that Jesus Christ carried out for us, the work of salvation that has solved away our sins.
Such faith is the very faith that saves us from all our sins, one that is placed in the baptism and blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came to this earth according to the order of Melchizedek. Now then, we can summarize our faith of salvation as the following. Our Savior is Jesus Christ. The name “Jesus” means “He who will save His people from their sins,” while the name “Christ” means that Jesus came with three offices and has saved us from the sins of the world. Because many people still have not been saved from their sins, they do not know that Melchizedek was an antitype of Jesus Christ.
The name “Christ” means “anointed” in the original text. Many Christians can’t answer when asked, “How was Jesus anointed?” Jesus was anointed because He is the King of kings. In the age of the Old Testament, kings were anointed when they ascended to the throne. High Priests were also anointed. Their appointment began with anointing, which conferred them with priesthood. Prophets were anointed as well. For instance, when the time came for God to take away Elijah, He said to him, “And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place” (1 Kings 19:16). So Elijah anointed Elisha and appointed him to priesthood.
That Jesus Christ was “anointed” means He has saved us by coming to this earth with three offices as the King, the High Priest, and the Prophet. As our Prophet, Jesus Christ makes the Truth of salvation known to us. Put differently, He is teaching us that the baptism He received from John the Baptist and the crucifixion He suffered were the work of salvation that He carried out for us.
Having also come with the office of the High Priest of the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has saved us from our sins by offering not the blood of an animal, but His own body. To offer His body to God the Father as the propitiation for the sins of His people, Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Baptist, sacrificed His body on the Cross, rose from the dead again, and has thereby saved us once and for all. In this way, He is our everlasting Priest and the King of kings. As the Bible says, “He will save His people from their sins,” the King of kings sacrificed Himself by receiving baptism on His body and shedding His blood to deliver His people from their sins.
This why we say Jesus Christ is our King of love. He is not only our King, but the King of true love and the Savior. He is our true King who has saved us from our sins. That He is our King does not mean that He rules over His people tyrannically with an iron fist. If Jesus has saved us by being baptized and shedding His blood, it can only mean that He is the King of true love. He is our King, the true Savior who has solved away the problem of the sins of His people and their punishment, so that they may no longer suffer. The King of kings is Jesus, and He is your King and mine. To save you and me from the sins of this world, Jesus Christ shouldered our sins by being baptized and was condemned on the Cross, and He has thereby given us true salvation. He is indeed the King of true love for us, and He will take care of us forever. Hallelujah!
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