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Subject 11 : The Tabernacle
[11-29] The Spiritual Meanings Hidden in the Garments of The High Priest (Exodus 28:1-43)
(Exodus 28:1-43)
“Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to Me as priest, Aaron and Aaron’s sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. So you shall speak to all who are gifted artisans, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments, to consecrate him, that he may minister to Me as priest. And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a skillfully woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. So they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to Me as priest. They shall take the gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and the fine linen, and they shall make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, artistically worked. It shall have two shoulder straps joined at its two edges, and so it shall be joined together. And the intricately woven band of the ephod, which is on it, shall be of the same workmanship, made of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. Then you shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel: six of their names on one stone and six names on the other stone, in order of their birth. With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall set them in settings of gold. And you shall put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. So Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders as a memorial. You shall also make settings of gold, and you shall make two chains of pure gold like braided cords, and fasten the braided chains to the settings. You shall make the breastplate of judgment. Artistically woven according to the workmanship of the ephod you shall make it: of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, you shall make it. It shall be doubled into a square: a span shall be its length, and a span shall be its width. And you shall put settings of stones in it, four rows of stones: The first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald; this shall be the first row; the second row shall be a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond; the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold settings. And the stones shall have the names of the sons of Israel, twelve according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, each one with its own name; they shall be according to the twelve tribes. You shall make chains for the breastplate at the end, like braided cords of pure gold. And you shall make two rings of gold for the breastplate, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. Then you shall put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate; and the other two ends of the two braided chains you shall fasten to the two settings, and put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod in the front. You shall make two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on the edge of it, which is on the inner side of the ephod. And two other rings of gold you shall make, and put them on the two shoulder straps, underneath the ephod toward its front, right at the seam above the intricately woven band of the ephod. They shall bind the breastplate by means of its rings to the rings of the ephod, using a blue cord, so that it is above the intricately woven band of the ephod, and so that the breastplate does not come loose from the ephod. So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart, when he goes into the holy place, as a memorial before the LORD continually. And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the LORD. So Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before the LORD continually. You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. There shall be an opening for his head in the middle of it; it shall have a woven binding all around its opening, like the opening in a coat of mail, so that it does not tear. And upon its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet, all around its hem, and bells of gold between them all around: a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe all around. And it shall be upon Aaron when he ministers, and its sound will be heard when he goes into the holy place before the LORD and when he comes out, that he may not die. You shall also make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet: HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And you shall put it on a blue cord, that it may be on the turban; it shall be on the front of the turban. So it shall be on Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall always be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD. You shall skillfully weave the tunic of fine linen thread, you shall make the turban of fine linen, and you shall make the sash of woven work. For Aaron’s sons you shall make tunics, and you shall make sashes for them. And you shall make hats for them, for glory and beauty. So you shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him. You shall anoint them, consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to Me as priests. And you shall make for them linen trousers to cover their nakedness; they shall reach from the waist to the thighs. They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they come into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place, that they do not incur iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and his descendants after him.”
The Garments of the High Priest
Today we will look at the spiritual meanings hidden in the garments of the High Priest. These garments were to be clothed on Aaron and his sons. Through the garments of the High Priest we will recognize by faith the plan of God that has saved us from sin.
God commanded Moses to consecrate his brother Aaron and Aaron’s sons that they might minister to God as priests. And God also commanded Moses to make their garments according to the pattern that He showed him.
In verse 4, God said, “And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a skillfully woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. So they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to Me as priest.”
First of all, the High Priest had to wear the tunic and the trousers to cover his nakedness. These garments were made of fine linen thread so that air would circulate well and therefore prevent him from sweating too much. The spiritual meaning of this is that the High Priest should cast aside his own fleshly endeavors, and just serve God according to the faith and grace He had given him already. The will of God, in other words, would be fulfilled only when the High Priest cast aside his own thoughts and devotion of the flesh and just gave the offering of atonement according to the sacrificial system established by God with faith. It was with this intention that God made the tunic and the trousers of the High Priest as such and clothed him with them.
On top of these garments God then clothed the High Priest with a blue robe. And on the blue robe, he wore his ephod, and then placed the breastplate. The breastplate placed on the bosom of the High Priest was made out of a thick fabric folded double and artistically woven of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen, and its size was a span in both its length and width. Twelve precious stones were placed on this breastplate, and engraved in these precious stones were the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
He then wore the turban made of fine woven linen. And the plate of pure gold, on which was engraved with the words of “Holiness to the Lord,” was put on a blue cord attached to the front of the turban. These are brief descriptions of the garments, turban, and gold plate that the High Priests wore.
Most of the garments of the High Priest were made of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. And so was the breastplate of the High Priest. On this breastplate, twelve precious stone were mounted, and into these stones the names of the twelve tribes of the people of Israel were engraved.
The duty of the High Priest entailed the following: He had to take from the congregation of the children of Israel their sacrificial offerings, pass their sins onto these offerings by laying his hands on its head as their representative, kill it, and give the blood of this sacrificial offerings to God. In other words, the High Priest ministered to remit the sins of his people by giving the offering according to the law of God. On behalf of the people of Israel, the High Priest laid his hands on the head of the sacrificial offering before God, cut its throat and drew its blood, and put this blood on the horns of the altar of burnt offering. He then took its blood into the Most Holy and sprinkled it on and before the mercy seat. Then the dead flesh of the offerings shall be carried outside the camp to be totally burned up (Leviticus 16:3-28). This is how the High Priest gave the offering. In this way, by giving the offering that pleased God, the High Priest fulfilled his role to placate the wrath of God. The High Priest, in other words, fulfilled the role of an interceder between his people and God.
Like this, Jesus the Messiah has become the High Priest of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Interceder between God and mankind. By receiving His baptism from John the Baptist through which He took the sins of mankind upon His body, and by giving up His body on the Cross and being sacrificed, the Messiah has delivered the entire mankind from sin and death. In the age of the Old Testament, it was the High Priest who gave the offering that remitted the sins of his people, but in the age of the New Testament, it was the Messiah who came by the name of Jesus and fulfilled the ministry of the everlasting High Priest to blot out all the sins of the entire mankind (Hebrews, chapters 7-9).
And in this age of the New Testament, God has assigned the ministry of the High Priest to the righteous who have been washed of all their sins with the Truth hidden in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. This is why the gold plate on the turban of the High Priest was engraved with the sign, “Holiness to the Lord.” Like this, the garments of the High Priest clearly demonstrate in detail the gospel that washes away all the sins of mankind.
The robe of the High Priest was woven of blue thread. Above all, this blue robe is related to the baptism that Jesus received. As the High Priest wore garments that were woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, as well as gold thread, His garments were magnificent and the four colors were made clearly visible. At the hem of the blue robe, pomegranates were woven, with golden bells attached at their sides. Verse 33 in the main passage says, “And upon its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet, all around its hem, and bells of gold between them all around.” So when the High Priest entered into the Tabernacle and gave the offering for his people, the people of Israel standing outside would know that he was giving the offering by hearing the sound of the bells.
All these are related to the New Testament’s truth of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and they match with each other. What the High Priest did was cleansing away the sins of the people, and it was to let us realize the will of God to have him clothed in such garments and to make him fulfill this duty. In the age of the New Testament, what do the people of God who are today’s priests do to cleanse others of their sins? For them to carry out this task, they must first themselves receive the remission of their sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit manifested in the revelation of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. Like this, the garments of the High Priest clearly show us the gospel that cleanses away all our sins.
And secondly in this present age, we the righteous have to perform our duties of priesthood to cleanse people’s consciences of their sins and give them holiness. This is why a gold plate was made for the tunic of the High Priest and the sign “Holiness to the Lord” was engrave into the plate.
This gold plate with the engraved sign of “Holiness to the Lord” was attached with a blue cord to the turban that the High Priest wore on his head. People could discern the High Priest at first sight; looking at his head, they could see the gold plate and the blue cord clearly along with the gorgeous outer garments made of the blue, purple, scarlet, gold tread and fine woven linen. This shows us that the High Priest always did the work of cleansing away sin with the blue, purple, and scarlet thread.
We Must Obey the Righteous Judgment of God’s Servants
The High Priest had to bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart when he entered the Holy Place. Likewise we must also carry in our hearts the souls of the sinners of the world who seek to receive God, and we must pray for them. God also told Moses to place two precious stones, called the Urim and the Thummim, in the breastplate worn by the High Priest. Verse 30 of the Today’s Scripture reading says, “And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the LORD. So Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before the LORD continually.”
These precious stones of the Urim and the Thummim meant literally “light and perfection.” In other words, God had given a bright heart to the High Priest in order to judge the people of Israel righteously and correctly. God had given authority and wisdom to the High Priest so that he might judge what is right and wrong in the lives of His people. And the High Priest had the duty to decide what is right and wrong in the spiritual lives of the Israelites.
Also in this age, God gives the same ability to each servant of God in order to judge what is right and what is wrong as well as to discern whether or not one has received the remission of sins. Within the God-given ability, His servants make sound judgment on what is the true gospel, what is the real remission of sin, what is the righteous way that God’s children should live, and whether anyone is born again or not. Therefore, all the people of God had to obey his judgments and leadership. They had to realize that refusing to accept the sound judgment of the servants of God was the same as refusing to accept the will of God. So the people of Israel had to yield to the judgment of God’s servants, like today’s High Priests.
Likewise, in this present age, God has entrusted the duty of judging “right and wrong” to His servants. As such, we must respect what the leaders of His Church are doing and unite our hearts with their works. We must realize that it is only proper for us to follow their correct judgments and leadership by faith from the bottom of our hearts. We should not just think, “He is doing that just because he has been assigned as a High Priest, but he is the same as us in the end.” Some people might think, “I don’t like the character of my pastor! His personality is so overbearing; his decision will also be tyrannical. So although I believe in the gospel that he is preaching, I cannot agree with the decisions that he makes in his ways of thinking. I can also have a different purpose from his.” People may reach wrong conclusions by looking at the High Priests from their carnal point of view. But such mistaken judgment must be avoided.
We must obey the servants of God who believe in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread as salvation as we obey God. Why? Because their judgment is not made from their own thoughts, but it is made according to their faith that pleases God. Put differently, because the judgment of today’s High Priests is made in the light and truth of God, it is God’s judgment and His decision. If their decisions are made without any undue influence from their own small thoughts, but are made based solely on the Word of God and according to their faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then the judgment that they reach is correct. If such decisions do not deviate from the Word of God and His will, then we must believe that their decisions are God’s decisions.
Like this, the office of the High Priest is critically important for the people. In this present age as in the age of the Old Testament, the one who leads the people of God is none other than the High Priest. In Israel, there was no other king who could lead the nation apart from the High Priest. Because the political system of Israel was actually theocratic, its entire population followed the decisions made by the High Priests. Now in spiritual affairs, the people of God must also believe in the guidance of the servants whom God has appointed in His Church as the Word of God and follow it. And the High Priests must decide everything according to the will of God, all based on His Word and in His providence.
The garments of the High Priest give us many lessons indeed. We must first know the spiritual meanings of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the gold thread that were used to make them. We have already learnt the truth of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. Through the garments of the High Priest also, God has told us just how necessary and important the truth hidden in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the faith that believes in it really are. These threads are the essential raw materials that show the remission of the sins of the people. That the Lord came to this earth, was baptized, and shed His blood manifests that only the gospel of the water and the Spirit remits all the sins of everyone throughout the whole world. As the blue, purple, and scarlet thread has taught us that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the Truth that gives us our perfect atonement, we must all reach the correct knowledge of its meaning. If we truly know this correctly and believe in it, then we will be forever cleansed of our sins and receive eternal life. We must, therefore, have the faith that believes in this clearest Truth fulfilled by the gospel of the water, the blood, and the Spirit.
We Must Defend Our Faith in the Blue, Purple, and Scarlet Thread
If we do not truly have such exact knowledge of and unyielding faith in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, then we cannot defend the genuine gospel, and, what is worse, this gospel may even be corrupted. Religions of this world can change themselves as time passes by. But through the colors of the garments of the High Priest, God has shown us the absolute unchanging Truth of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. Through the garments of the High Priest, through all the utensils found inside the Tabernacle, and through the pattern of the offerings given in the Tabernacle as well, God is making the perfect manifestation of His love and plans for us. As such, we must staunchly defend our faith in this everlasting Truth that has come to us as the gospel of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. What must never change even as times change is our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This faith is the one that believes in the eternal salvation manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread.
How could we actually let this gospel of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread that we believe in ever change? If God tells us that He has saved us from sin with the gospel of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, then this is the truth. In the Old Testament, God blotted out the iniquities of sinners with both the laying on of hands and the bloodshed, and today, in this age also, He has fulfilled the perfect remission of sin for us with both the baptism that Jesus received from John the Baptist (Matthew 3:15) and His death on the Cross. With the gospel of the water and the Spirit, God has blotted out the iniquities of all the sinners of the entire world.
How reassuring this is! Gold denotes ‘faith’ in the Bible. Therefore, the gold thread used along with the blue, purple, and scarlet thread for the garments of the High Priest refers to the indispensability of our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Because God has established the method that blots out all our sins and has not permitted it to change, even as we face difficult circumstances at times, we are still at peace. This is also because of the Truth manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread that God has shown us.
The Waistband of the High Priest
Among the garments of the High Priest was a waistband. This band, worn by the High Priest on his ephod, also was made of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. The band of the ephod is a symbol of strength. As the Bible says, “Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,” (Ephesians 6:14) the waistband of the High Priest refers the power that comes from the faith in the gospel Truth. It tells us, in other words, that the faith that believes in the Truth of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen enables us to be saved from all our sins. Hence, it is all futile to believe in other pseudo-gospels apart from what is manifested here in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen.
Those who are lacking in the flesh can also be washed from all their sins perfectly by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit given by the Lord, for the sins of the world were all passed onto Jesus Christ by the Truth of the remission of sin fulfilled by God (Matthew 3:15; Leviticus 16:1-22). Therefore, those who believe that the works of Jesus manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread has saved them can be reassured even if their flesh and willpower is weak. When we dwell in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that Jesus Christ the High Priest of Heaven has given to us, who shall then separate us from the love of Christ? His perfect salvation can be ours only when we believe in the Truth revealed in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen.
For the priests to carry out their priestly duties, they must not follow any other man-made doctrines apart from the sacrificial system shown in the Tabernacle. Likewise, today’s servants of God should not allow the different gospels that deviate from the true gospel to take root into the lost souls (Galatians 1:6, 9). Those who preach such pseudo-gospels, no matter how well they give their sermons, cannot offer any help to the lost souls for they do not bear correct witness to God’s gospel of the water and the Spirit which is manifested in the Tabernacle. They are swindlers and false teachers. When it comes to believing in Jesus Christ the High Priest of Heaven as our Savior, we cannot fail to acknowledge the sacrificial system of the laying on of hands and the bloodshed manifested in the Tabernacle system. We must realize that there are many pseudo-gospels in this world. Also, no matter who is preaching the gospel, if anyone is preaching the Truth of the gospel of the water and the Spirit based on the Word of God, we must then hear and believe.
One of the reasons why today’s Christianity has so many problems is because there are so many spiritual swindlers claiming to be fulfilling their priestly duties well even as they do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The first step to become the true priests before God is to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Only those who have this faith can give proper offerings to God. Like this, those who know and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are able to truly love everyone. What do you think God’s Church exists for? I can say to you that God’s Church exists to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit to sinners.
When we believe wholeheartedly in the Truth of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread revealed in the Bible, we will be saved from our sin and become sinless. By believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, true peace is found in our hearts, and because we live in this peace, we can never depart from God. We believe in the perfect gospel, live by faith, and then we will enter the Kingdom of the Lord and live in it. Our Lord has led us to peace, and by leading all the people of the world to God, just as the golden plate on the front of the High Priest’s turban engraved, “Holiness to the Lord,” He illuminates them with the true light of the remission of sins. God has therefore entrusted us with the works that enable them to also receive the remission of their sins. God has entrusted those of us who believe in the gospel of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread with the same duties of the priests of the Old Testament.
We are so thankful to God for allowing us to do such precious works in His perfect light of truth. When I first heard this gospel Word from God I was overwhelmed with joy. And while I read the Bible, this gospel came across so clearly. After then my spiritual eyes were opened, and the Holy Spirit in me has taught the Word of God to me in detail. I came to know that all the passages of the Bible clearly witness that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the only true gospel that God gave to us. In the age of the Old Testament, this gospel was manifested as the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. In the age of the New Testament as well, all the Apostles and the Bible writers told us that Jesus had received the baptism and shed His blood to perfectly save us from sin. For us to wear the tunic of salvation, we must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit; it is not by giving our prayers of repentant that we can receive the remission of sin from the Lord. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the only true and perfect gospel.
The High Priest had to wear the garments that were made deliberately as God had ordered. If the High Priest, bothered by the cold wind, had thought that there was no need for him to wear the tunic that God had made for him and instead put on another thick tunic arbitrarily, he would have been put to death immediately. If the High Priest had entered into the Most Holy Place wearing only the tunic made of just fine woven linen, then he would also have been killed. He had to wear the blue robe and the ephod woven of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread.
When we follow exactly the way God has planned, the Lord walks before us, leads us, and works in everything of our lives. God planned to send the Messiah for us and He has also revealed this plan to us. If we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and follow God’s plan, He will work in our lives. This is why it is not by some acts on our part that we can receive the remission of sin, but it is by believing in God’s plan of salvation manifested in the gold, blue, purple and scarlet thread used for the garments of the High Priest that we must receive the remission of our sins.
What we the priests of God must do is to believe in what God has planned for us and follow it accordingly. This is the genuine faith. Serving God by making all kinds of petty plans of our own is not the proper faith in God. When it comes to our efforts to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit overseas, this too, is not achieved by doing something particular through our own man-made schemes and devices, but it is achieved by His help that is given to His people through their faith. This is the will of God. When we do something with faith, then the rest is taken care of by God. When we know the will of God and spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit, God touches the hearts of those who read our books, brings them to their awakening, makes them believe in this gospel of the water and the Spirit, and corrects their mistaken thoughts so that they may believe. And they, in turn, also come to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
To Spread the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit, We Had to First Believe in It Wholeheartedly
I said the spreading of the true gospel is not achieved by us doing something somehow, but it is achieved only when we serve it by faith in unison with the will of God. It is not by our own efforts and devotion that souls are converted, but it is when we seek God’s will by believing in His works and the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the providence of God is fulfilled. It is by faith that we must serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit. In this present age also, we need the same faith as that of the Old Testament’s time. Now in this age, as before, the children of God must spread the faith of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread.
We must believe in and spread the scarlet thread as well as the purple thread, but we must first know what is manifested in the blue thread first—that is, the baptism that Jesus the Messiah received. When we spread the truth of the blue thread to the lost, we find that they can understand the whole picture of the Truth more easily and have faith in it confidently. Why? It is because Jesus the Messiah took upon the sins of the entire mankind onto His body by being baptized. When people, by believing in the baptism of Jesus, come to know that Jesus has washed away all their sins, they then inevitably come to acknowledge that He also died on the Cross to pay off all their sins. In other words, people come to believe in the scarlet and purple thread only when they know and believe in the mystery of the baptism that Jesus the Messiah, the real substance of the blue thread, received from John the Baptist. They come to truly realize, “Ah, He took upon all our sins by being baptized. Jesus Christ is the true God and the Savior of all mankind. This is the very Truth!”
To many people, the faith of the purple thread, that Jesus is God Himself, is realized afterwards. From the moment we began believing in Jesus as the Savior, we had professed, “Jesus is the absolute God,” but this was merely an abstract conception. It was only later when we came to have such concrete faith in our hearts. When we receive the remission of sin by believing in the baptism and blood of Jesus, then we came to have such faith that Jesus is God Himself, the living One who helps us and works in our lives, and our faith in Jesus gradually grows. As such, for people to receive the remission of sin, they must believe in the gospel of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread set by God.
What Must Today’s Priests Serve?
What did the High Priests do in the Tabernacle? What did they reveal through the sacrificial system? They manifested the truth that the Messiah would blot out all our sins with the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. The servants of God in this age also should succeed to such duty and ministry. They are blotting out the sins of people with the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Countless people try to put together their own version of gospel. Such a gospel can neither be biblically sound, nor save anyone at all. They are experts at borrowing man-made doctrines from here and there and fitting them together. But the gospel of the water and the Spirit is not something that has been made by fitting various Christian doctrines together.
It is by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that people receive the remission of sin without fail. The Word, in other words, is the only benchmark of salvation. Washing away people’s sins is only achieved according to the standard set by God. This standard is the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Outside the true gospel of salvation no one can be remitted of his or her sins and receive holiness. To be washed of all sins before God and receive holiness is possible only by believing in Jesus who came by the baptism in the Jordan River and the blood of the Cross as the Savior. For people to be remitted from all their sins, they have to believe in Jesus Christ who came by the blue, purple, and scarlet thread as the Savior exactly like this. There is no other way for them to receive the remission of sins.
And the servants of God who have become His priests must believe in the genuine gospel made of the gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread used for the garments of the High Priest. If they do not believe in this Truth, they cannot then be qualified as His servants. They are merely the religionists of the world. Of the countless religions of the world, they are only serving their own respective religions devised by borrowing only the name of Jesus. The real servants of God must have the faith that believes in Jesus Christ who came by the water, the blood, and the Spirit as the Savior. Therefore, they should testify His baptism to make their correct faith explicitly manifest and shine God’s light of Truth clearly. Only those who do so are the servants of God and the ones who have been saved before Him.
Those who leave out the baptism of Jesus, His Cross, or the fact that He is God Himself, as well as those who preach such knowledge only as a matter of theory without faith, are the servants of the Devil who have nothing to do with God.
Today, there are countless “so-called Evangelicals” in this world. They claim that whoever believes in Jesus can be cleansed of all their sins by faith, and thus become sinless. At first, I thought they were also preaching the Truth of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, but in time I came to realize that this was not the case. They are not preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit, thinking and believing that the doctrines made up from their own thoughts were of the true gospel. Although they call themselves “Evangelicals,” they only pursue their own selfish and earthly welfare, whose only objective is to satisfy their own desires.
There are many so-called Priests even now on this earth. But why do they refuse to accept the true gospel that can enable them to become really holy? Fundamentalists are proud of their confidence in the Word itself. But the fact is that even such people are not the conservatives actually. When the Word clearly manifests the gospel of the water and the Spirit, why do they leave out the baptism of Jesus from their faith? Remember that Nadab and Abihu died when they offered profane fire before the Lord God. When these priests did not give the offering according to the way that God set for them, fire came out of God and burnt them to death (Numbers 26:61).
The High Priest was put to death if he did not wear even his tunic as set by God (verse 43). No matter how diligently sinners bring the blood of their sacrificial offerings into the Tabernacle, it means nothing unless they had first laid their hands on the animals’ heads. Without this faith that believes in this laying on of hands, through which they had confessed their iniquities and passed them onto their offerings, their faith is futile regardless of how much they might have believed in its blood. No matter how frequently the High Priests brought the blood, lifted up the veil, entered into the Most Holy, and sprinkled the blood on its mercy seat, if they did not come in by wearing the “blue” tunic set by God, they would then be put to death. Therefore, all the sectarians must throw away their old ways of faith and return to the true gospel that can lead them into “light and perfection,” that is, “the Urim and the Thummim” (Exodus 28:30).
God is pleased by those who, though insufficient, believe and follow His Word and His will. This is why God has called us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And God has entrusted us with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. When we unite together and spread the gospel by faith, God allows us to carry out marvelous works continually.
We believe that the providence of God will soon be wholly fulfilled. Truly, we are really happy before God. In our flesh, we have many shortcomings. I think I am the worst of all. If I confess myself frankly before you, my face would turn all red because of so many shortcomings in my human side. My insufficiencies are not temporal. As time goes by, the more I serve the gospel, the more I realize just how insufficient I am before God. And looking at our co-workers, I see that they are also insufficient like me, but thanks to the grace of God we all still serve the gospel. God has made us believe that He works in us, so that we may serve and follow Him by believing in the gospel of God and His plans.
It is through us, who are insufficient, that our Lord is glorified. The more we are insufficient, the more the gospel of the water and the Spirit shines in our hearts—it is because of this that God is glorified. When we recognize ourselves to be blameless and the more boastful we become, God then begins to feel uncomfortable. This is the will of God who wants to receive praise through us, the insufficient.
You and I are so insufficient. Just how insufficient are we? Beyond all description! However, everyone feels his or her own insufficiencies differently, as the depths of the ocean or the river are different from that of a washbasin. Those who truly know that they are immeasurably insufficient love the Lord more, for they know that they had been enormously indebted to the Lord. Those who are well aware of their insufficiencies and believe that their immense debts have been written off are bound to love the Lord much more. This is why they cherish the Lord’s gospel more, taking so much greater pride in it and following it even more. But those who do not know their own insufficiencies love the Lord less, for they think that the debts that have been remitted were only small and that the Lord expects too much from them just for writing off such small debts.
How then can these people who know very little of their shortcomings come to realize just how great their insufficiencies actually are? This cannot be forced upon them. But as they serve the gospel by believing that it is God’s will for them to serve it even though they are insufficient, their shortcomings will be revealed more in time, and the more they are revealed, the deeper their love of God will become.
It is of no use for us to know our insufficiencies only theoretically. We can only recognize our insufficiencies when we face hard times while trying to serve the gospel actually. This is why the more we serve the Lord, the more precious He becomes to us. It is because of the Lord that we can be bold, and it is because of Him that we are glorified. We can live by faith and devote ourselves to the blessed works because of the Lord. Were it not for the Lord, you and I would be nothing.
John the Baptist said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). God has given us the remission of sin and the blessed opportunities of serving this gospel. Our existence is only to be used as instruments to spread the gospel, and the Lord alone is the One who is to receive glory. The fact that the Lord uses us as such instruments is in itself something to be extremely grateful for.
We give our sincere thanks to God for giving us this blessing of carrying out the duties of the High Priest. Jesus is the heavenly High Priest for us and the Great Shepherd. His servants are small shepherds. You and I have become the small shepherds who follow after what the Great Shepherd has done for us. You and I must believe in the Word of God exactly as it is, act according to the Word as it is, and follow it as it is written. We must serve exactly as the Lord has done. We must imitate exactly as the Lord has done, believe and follow Him accordingly. What we must do is to believe and follow as He has commanded us and planned for us, and to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The right faith before God is to accept His Word in its purity and preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit by believing in it.
We give our wholehearted thanks to our Lord who has become our own High Priest.
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