[3-7] Transformed Sacrifice (Hebrews 7:1-28)

 

What does the statement “Transformed Sacrifice” mean?

It means that Jesus, who belongs to a different tribe than Aaron in the Old Testament, will take on the eternal priestly office.

 

Melchizedek, a priest, appears in the Old Testament. According to the Bible, Abraham took the trained men from his household to war and defeated King Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, completely destroying them, and rescued his nephew Lot. On his way back from the battle, Melchizedek, a priest, came out with bread and wine to greet Abraham and blessed him. In response, Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils from the battle (Genesis 14:17-20). 

The Bible speaks of the greatness of the priest who follows the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek is described as the King of Peace and the King of Righteousness, without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, and as a priest forever. The Bible states that he was fundamentally the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace. In Hebrews, the Bible carefully contrasts the Old and New Testaments, comparing the heavenly high priesthood of Jesus Christ according to the order of Melchizedek with the high priesthood of Aaron in the Old Testament. It encourages us to deeply consider how exalted Jesus is.

Abraham’s descendants later gave a tenth of their possessions to the Levite priests, who were their kin and family. In the Old Testament, the Law came from Moses, and Aaron was established to fulfill the duties of the high priesthood for the Israelite nation; Aaron was the highest as a high priest. However, Abraham also gave a tenth of his spoils to Melchizedek, the priest.

Are the high priests of the Old Testament greater than Jesus? The Bible compares the priestly offices, asking who is truly greater when comparing the earthly high priests and Jesus. Who should receive blessings, and who should bestow blessings? The writer of Hebrews addresses this from the beginning: “The lesser is blessed by the better.” Abraham, too, was blessed through the priest Melchizedek.

In our faith lives, what kind of faith should we live by? Do we rely on the Law and trust in the sacrificial system of the Old Testament through the tabernacle for salvation, or do we trust in Jesus, who has become the high priest in heaven and has saved us through the sacrifice of water and the Spirit? The choice between these two determines whether we receive blessings or curses. Therefore, the message of this passage is extremely important.

Do I come before God by faithfully keeping His word and offering the works-based sacrifices of the Law daily, or do I come before God by believing in the salvation through Jesus Christ, who offered His body with water and blood once for all to make us sinless? Which of these two choices is the right way to live a life of faith?

You see, in the Old Testament, the Israelites highly esteemed the descendants of Aaron and Levi. But for us living in the New Testament era, is Jesus greater, or is the household of Aaron in the Old Testament greater? This is not even a question, as we know and believe that Jesus is greater.

However, many people know this truth but do not practice it in their actual faith lives. The Bible speaks about this by saying, “For the priesthood being changed.” It states that Jesus, who belongs to a different tribe that did not receive the priesthood in the Old Testament, will take on the priestly office. “For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law.” God gave the Israelites 613 laws and commandments through Moses. Moses instructed the people to live according to the Law, and the Israelites responded by promising to live before God according to the Law.

You see, in the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, which are the Pentateuch, the Israelites make a covenant with God and His word of law. God speaks to them, and the Israelites respond with an unconditional “yes.” However, as we move past Deuteronomy and into the book of Joshua, we realize that they never lived according to God’s spoken law.

As we enter the period of the Judges, and then the books of 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, we see that they no longer acknowledged their leaders, and in the subsequent eras, they even began to offer sacrifices within the tabernacle according to their own desires. In the book of Malachi, God instructed them to bring flawless offerings, but they brought blemished animals that were not even fit for sale to the priests. They would say to the priests, “Just close your eyes and accept this.” They were supposed to offer sacrifices according to God’s established Law, but they did so according to their own will.

You see, the Israelites in the Old Testament never fully kept God’s Law. Therefore, God had to change their sacrificial system. In the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, God says, “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.”

Let’s look at 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.”

You see, our Lord said He would establish a different law. The reason is that He made a covenant with the Israelites through the Law, but they failed to live according to God’s Word. Therefore, God decided to establish a different law of salvation, apart from the Law.

They vowed before God, “We will serve only You and live according to Your word and commandments.” God said, “You shall not have other gods before Me.” The Israelites responded, “Yes, we will not have any other gods. You are our only God. The Lord is the one and only God, and there will be no other gods for us.” However, they were unable to keep their promise to serve only God.

The Law says, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, do not bow down to idols, keep the Sabbath holy, honor your parents, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not covet.” These are the Ten Commandments, and they are the standards of life that we must follow. For some, it says do this and don’t do that—what not to do to your daughter, what not to do to your son, what not to do to your stepmother, and so on. It tells us to do all that is good and not to do anything bad. This is the Law and commandments given by God. 

However, among all humanity, there was not a single person who could keep God’s Law. Therefore, God had to establish a different law for salvation from sin, not through the Law.

When did the sacrificial system change specifically? The priesthood was changed after Jesus came to this earth. The Lord took over all the duties of the high priesthood of Aaron and stopped the sacrifices that were performed by the Levites in the tabernacle. 

The Lord alone fulfilled the duties of the heavenly high priest. He did not come to this earth as a descendant of Aaron but as a descendant of Judah, the royal tribe. To bring salvation from the sins of all humanity, He offered Himself as a sacrifice to God through baptism and the shedding of His blood on the cross so that all sins could be removed.

Therefore, He made it possible for all humanity to resolve the issue of sin through faith. The sacrifice that saves humanity, the baptism and the sacrifice of blood that Jesus received, resolved all the sins of humanity. He offered the sacrifice of eternal salvation.

 

 

 

Why did God abolish the law of salvation based on legalistic works?

Because God knew that His people were unable to keep the Law.

 

Now, the sacrificial system that was practiced in the Old Testament and the priestly office in the New Testament have changed. In the past, it was necessary to offer the Day of Atonement sacrifice only once a year through the descendants of Levi, specifically Aaron. At that time, the sins of the people could only be resolved through the sacrifices offered by the high priest Aaron and his descendants.

When entering the Holy of Holies, they had to burn incense every year and bring the blood of the sacrificial animal before God. Only the high priest was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place inside the sanctuary.

However, after Jesus came to this earth, the duties of Aaron were transferred to Jesus. Jesus took on the eternal priestly office. As the eternal high priest of heaven, Jesus offered His own body to completely fulfill the role of erasing all sins of humanity and saving them from sin.

In the Old Testament, the priests were also sinful, so they first laid hands on a lamb to transfer their own sins to it. They confessed, “God, I have sinned,” and transferred their sins to the sacrificial animal through laying on of hands. Then, they slaughtered the animal, poured its blood on the horns of the altar, and burned the remaining fat on the altar.

High Priest Aaron himself was insufficient, so how much more insufficient were the people? Aaron, the earthly high priest from the tribe of Levi, was weak, and therefore he had to offer sacrifices daily and on the Day of Atonement once a year to atone for his own sins and those of his people.

So, our Lord said in Jeremiah 31 that God declared, “I will abolish it.” God said, “I made a covenant of Law with you, but I have never seen you fully keep the Law I established. Therefore, I, God, will abolish this law that does not benefit you and establish a new law of salvation.” This new law was God’s promise to His people: “I, the Lord, will save you—not through the works of the Law, but through the law of salvation by water and the Spirit.”

So when the time of salvation came, the Lord came to this earth in the flesh, received baptism to take on the sins of the world, and offered Himself as a sacrifice to God by shedding His blood on the cross, removing all the sins of the people. Through this, He saved us who believe. He granted salvation to all humanity once and for all through the salvation of water and the Spirit.

You see, God’s law was abolished and changed. According to the Old Testament, salvation could be obtained by keeping the Law, but God knew that His people could not keep the Law. 

“For by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). God revealed to His people that salvation cannot be obtained through the Law, and He made them aware of their sins. He then gave salvation to those who believe and obey the law of salvation through the Lord’s water and the Spirit, rather than the Law of works.

God, out of love for all humanity and the Israelites, saved us from all the sins of the world through the sacrificial system of Jesus’ baptism and the shedding of blood, which removes sin. This is the method of salvation that rescues humanity from all worldly sins.

If you believe in Jesus without understanding the meaning of the baptism and blood He received, then you are believing in Jesus in vain. Believing in Jesus incorrectly causes more distress in the heart.

That is why, in the book of Hebrews, God declared that He had to establish a new promise for the salvation of humanity. He proclaimed that salvation would no longer come through the Law of works but through the just law of salvation—through the water and the blood. He promised that all who believe in Jesus would be saved from all their sins, and He fulfilled that promise.

While doing so, it emphasizes the superiority of Jesus, stating that He is incomparably and far more superior and exceptional than the lineage of Aaron’s priests in the Old Testament.

Our faith must necessarily begin with believing in Jesus as God and His salvation through water and blood.

No matter how holy the voices of pastors are, no matter how much they have learned, no matter how excellent they are, or how eloquently they speak, can they be more excellent than Jesus? No. Our salvation is not through keeping the Law, but through the gospel of water and blood of Jesus.

Since the priestly office that saves from sin has been changed, the law of salvation that God uses to save us from all sins has also been changed.

 

 

 

What is the faith that believes in the supremacy of God’s love?

It is believing in the gospel of Jesus’ water (baptism) and blood, which saves sinners from sin once and for all eternally.

 

To receive salvation, we must know and believe how Jesus saved us, understanding the supremacy of God’s love. Then, what is the difference between a legalistic faith and this faith in the supremacy of God’s love?

For those with a legalistic faith today, their faith emphasizes their own denomination, beliefs, and experiences. In contrast, those who believe in Jesus’ spiritual salvation have faith in the superior salvation that came through His water and blood. Such believers silently trust in the salvation of Jesus through water and the Holy Spirit and devote their entire lives to the gospel.

Even today, many who claim to believe in Jesus believe that original sin has been removed, but they live a life of faith believing that they must receive removal of their daily sins and future sins each time they commit them.

Those who live such Old Testament-style faith lives still try to be saved by keeping God’s Law. They do not yet know the superiority of the salvation that has come through water and the Holy Spirit and are unaware of the truth of being born again in their faith life.

In the Old Testament, it was said that salvation could be received by keeping God’s Word and acting according to it through the Law of works. However, this has been abolished with the coming of Jesus in the New Testament.

Our God, knowing the weakness of people and understanding that they are imperfect, completely abolished the Law of works for salvation. Salvation cannot be achieved by keeping the Law.

Jesus said through the gospel of water and the Spirit, “I will directly save you from all sins with water and blood.” This is already shown in Genesis, where God spoke to us.

In Genesis 3:15, it is written, “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” Here, God is speaking of humanity’s salvation through the skins of sacrifice after creation.

In the Old Testament, Genesis speaks of two types of garments for salvation: fig leaves and animal skins. Which is better, fig leaves or animal skins? The leather garments are better because the life of an animal was sacrificed to revive a human life from death.

Fig leaves are not desirable because they need to be made and worn repeatedly. Fig leaves are broad and have five finger-like parts, and they tear easily if you sit down somewhere. When I was young, I used to make clothes from vines like this and play soldier games, but no matter how well I made them, they would tear by the end of the day, leaving only the front intact and revealing my undergarments.

It is not human righteousness but the superior love of God that saved sinners through His baptism and the cross. This is the love that abundantly saved all humanity from all the sins of the world. This is the supremacy of God’s love.

 

 

 

What is a legalistic faith life?

It is a faith that, like making clothes from fig leaves, frequently changes into garments of repentance through works.

 

In the Old Testament, making clothes from fig leaves and wearing them is a false faith. Those with false faith frequently change into garments of repentance through works. They make and wear them a little while, then make and wear them again two days later, and keep making and wearing them repeatedly.

Even now, those who live a legalistic faith life make a new set of clothes every time they go to church on Sundays. “Lord, I, a wretched sinner, have committed many sins over the past week. Oh Lord, I believe you were crucified to save me. Oh Lord, wash me with the blood of atonement!” They sew their own garments of salvation, saying, “Thank you, Lord! Hallelujah!” After returning home, they have to make another set of clothes two or three days later because their previous ones are torn.

Why? Because their clothes are all torn, they say, “Lord, I have sinned over the past three days. Please forgive me.” They then make another set of garments of repentance, sewing them together with God’s Words, and wear them again.

At first, they make and wear a new set of clothes every few days, but over time, they need to make and wear a new set every day. Because they fail to live according to God’s Word, they say, ‘Oh dear, oh dear, I am ashamed. Lord, Lord, I have sinned again!’ and they must make and wear another garment of repentance. ‘Oh dear, Lord! Today, I just can’t seem to make the garment of repentance right!’ They struggle to make it.

When they say “Lord, Lord,” they are confessing their sins to God at that moment. They murmur to themselves, “God, this is my fault,” and make a new garment once a day.

But what if they can’t make and wear new clothes frequently? Instead of weekly, they make very sturdy clothes only once or twice a year. They go to the mountains for fasting prayers, saying, “Lord, wash me clean. Lord, renew me. Lord, I believe.” They pray at night because it’s embarrassing to pray during the day, so they go out at night, grab a pine tree root, enter a cave, and shout, “Lord, I believe!” They pray with a heart full of repentance and self-reflection, saying, “Lord, fill my heart with a spirit of repentance and self-reflection.” They make a special garment of faith by praying loudly with their mouths.

They think this special garment will last a long time, but it doesn’t. They go to a prayer house, pray, and when they come down, they feel refreshed. The mountain breeze rustles their clothes, and the trees and flowers seem to be refreshed by the dew, just like their soul praises God. Their footsteps feel light as they come down the mountain. When they come down, they feel superior to the mountain spirits, but the special garment of faith they made through repentance doesn’t last long.

After returning from the mountain and taking a taxi, they arrive home and at church, where they meet old friends and colleagues. As they resume their faith life, they once again become tainted. Their colleagues ask, ‘Where have you been?’ ‘I just went away for a little while.’ ‘You’ve lost weight.’ ‘Yes, something came up.’ They discreetly conceal their fasting prayers and attend church to pray.

And now, they claim they will never have lustful thoughts when they see a woman, never lie, never kill, and love everyone. But when a woman walks by and they notice her long legs, their holy heart quickly turns into a lustful one. “Why is her skirt so short? Did the fashion change while I was on the mountain? It’s gotten even shorter! Oh no, I need to wash my eyes again. No, Lord! Lord, I have sinned again!”

You must understand that a legalistic faith, which appears holy, is actually a faith that cannot last even three days without needing to make and wear new clothes. The faith that uses fig leaves is a legalistic faith, a misguided one.

Those who strive to live holy lives according to the Law often go to the mountains, shout loudly to sound holy, and when they lead prayers in church, they say, “Holy Father God, we have sinned over the past week. Forgive us, these sinners.” The congregation cries along, thinking, “This person must have gone on a fasting prayer; they are so spiritual and have strong faith.” However, because it is a legalistic faith, pride and self-centered thoughts quickly rise up in their hearts even before the prayer ends, defiling them.

When you make garments of repentance or special clothes from fig leaves, they last at most two months. After two months, they become tattered, and you have to make and wear a new set every day, living a life of legalistic hypocrisy. This is the kind of faith life that uses fig leaves, which is prevalent on this earth.

A legalistic faith is essentially a fig leaf faith. Legalistic teachers say, “Have you sinned over the past week? Repent!” They raise their voices and just go from one church to another, saying, “Repent! Pray!” They have mastered mimicking a spiritual voice... “Lord, I am insufficient. I could not live according to Your word. I could not live according to God’s law.”

Everyone, those who know they cannot live well according to the Law each day but still try to keep it, are challenging God’s law, opposing God, and are the proud before God.

 

 

 

Can we be saved by believing in Jesus through a legalistic faith life?

No, we are weak and cannot live according to the Law even if we want to.

 

In the past, there was a young bachelor. During the 1950 war, when the enemy invaded our country, he was ordered to sweep the yard on a Sunday. However, he refused, saying he wanted to keep the day holy. The enemy, trying to break his faith, repeatedly told him to sweep. But the young man refused until the end. The enemy took him away, tied him to a tree, and pointed a gun at him, saying, “Will you sweep or die?” The young man chose to die rather than sweep on that holy day. “Are you really willing to die? Very well, don’t regret it.” He was shot.

Later, religious leaders honored his faith by making him a deacon. However, this young man’s faith was misguided. If told to sweep on Sunday, he should have done so and shared the gospel with the enemy instead. Why did he insist on not sweeping and die? Does God punish us for working on Sundays? No. Faith should be practiced spiritually, not physically.

False leaders promote such individuals to uphold their denomination’s ideology and claim orthodoxy, similar to the Pharisees in the Bible who opposed Jesus and practiced hypocritical faith to maintain their traditions.

We should not learn this external, physical faith; we must learn spiritual faith. We need to understand why Jesus had to be baptized and shed His blood for us, sinners. What is the gospel of water and the Spirit? What is the true gospel? 

We should be interested in these spiritual matters and spread the gospel of water and the Spirit to those around the world who have not been reborn, so that they may be reborn. We must devote ourselves to these spiritual matters, to the work of spiritually rebirthing souls, in our faith life. Do you understand? We must believe correctly.

Leaders who say, “Young bachelors, let’s keep the Sabbath well like this young deacon,” are using this young man to encourage church members not to miss church on Sundays. It’s just a way to keep people coming to church.

In the past, there was a daughter-in-law who was living a life of faith. She faced many difficulties in keeping the Sabbath because her father-in-law, mother-in-law, and husband did not believe. So, she went to the field on Saturday night under the moonlight and picked all the pepper plants. She did this because her father-in-law would tell her not to go to church the next day, saying, “We need to pick the peppers.” The daughter-in-law went to church the next morning after finishing her work. Of course, it’s good that we don’t miss church gatherings. However, is keeping the Sabbath well enough to be recognized by the Lord as true faith? Shouldn’t true faith before the Lord be the reborn faith that receives the removal of all sins through the water and the Spirit, which Jesus has accomplished? Faith begins with rebirth.

Can we be saved by believing in Jesus through a faith based on the Law? No, we cannot. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive to live righteously according to the Law; rather, it highlights our weakness and inability to live up to it, even if we want to. However, this doesn’t mean we should endorse a law-based faith.

In the Book of James, it’s written that if you keep the entire law but fail at just one point, you’re guilty of breaking all of it. So, when it comes to believing in Jesus, we must first consider whether we can be born again by perfectly keeping the Law. We need to acknowledge that we’re incapable of doing so and thus are headed for hell.

We should move towards the gospel of Jesus’ water and the Holy Spirit, listen to the word of water and the Holy Spirit, and be born again through faith. After being born again, we must live a life of faith until the Lord calls us.

Don’t waste your time just attending church and giving money, only to end up in hell because your spirit remains sinful and unregenerate. Instead, listen to Jesus’ gospel of water and the Holy Spirit, be born again, and live a life of faith.

Consider why Jesus came to this earth. If the people of legalistic faith could go to heaven, Jesus would not have needed to come. Do you understand? After Jesus came, the old sacrificial duties for salvation from sins were transformed. Legalistic faith was also changed. In the past, salvation was through adhering to the Law; non-adherence meant no salvation. But true faith is not like this.

Jesus told us that He saved us all from the sins of the world through the water and blood of His baptism, and the Spirit, which are the water and blood of salvation and the law of love. Jesus accomplished the salvation of humanity from sin through His baptism in the Jordan River, His blood on the cross, His death, and His resurrection.

God declared the old commandments useless because “For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope.” Jesus became a priest not by oath, but He saved us from all sins through the baptism and blood He received. Dying as a martyr based on a law-based faith is nothing but a futile death, and the true faith is knowing and believing in the true gospel of water and the Holy Spirit.

We must have a faith that is beneficial. Which faith will be beneficial to your soul? Is it right to attend a church that teaches you must be born again through law-based faith? Or is it right to attend a church that teaches and helps you believe in the word of being born again through water and the Holy Spirit, thus regenerating your soul? Which church and which pastor will be more beneficial to your soul? Please attend a place that delivers the word that is more beneficial to your soul.

God will save your soul through pastors who have been born again by believing in the gospel of water and the Holy Spirit. Make a wise choice for the sake of your soul. A truly wise soul is one that entrusts itself to God’s Word.

 

 

 

What better guarantee did our Lord provide when He came to this earth?

As the High Priest of Heaven, He once and for all accomplished the eternal salvation of rebirth through water (baptism) and the Holy Spirit.

 

In Hebrews 7:20-21, it says, ‘And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: “The Lord has sworn And will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek’”).’ In Psalms 110:4, it states, ‘The Lord has sworn And will not relent, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”’ The Lord made an oath to Himself. ‘I become an eternal priest after the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek, the priest, is the king of righteousness, the king of peace, the eternal priest, the king. I promise through the written word to become your eternal priest after the order of Melchizedek for your salvation.’

God Jesus came to this earth as a better promise of salvation from our sins (Hebrews 9:21-30). Jesus, instead of using the blood of any goat or sheep, took on all our sins by being baptized and shedding His blood on the cross, thus completely cleansing us of our sins.

In the Old Testament, the High Priest’s office was passed down when the priest died and his son reached thirty years of age. Thus, when a High Priest was nearing death, his child would be about thirty years old, at which time the office of the High Priest would be passed on to him. Even after his death, the priesthood continued through his descendants.

Over time, by the era of David, the descendants of the High Priest became so numerous that they had to follow a specific order and sequence to perform sacrifices. Initially, High Priest Aaron had only a few children, but later his descendants increased significantly. Thus, all of Aaron’s descendants had the responsibility and right to perform the duties of the High Priest.

As recorded in the Gospel of Luke, ‘According to the order of Abijah, Zechariah went into the temple to perform the priestly duties.’ Our Lord came to this earth and provided an eternal guarantee for the duties of the High Priest. Now, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better and eternal salvation for sinners. He has fully accomplished the salvation of rebirth through water and the Spirit, as guaranteed by the Lord.

The sacrifices made by the descendants of Aaron in the Old Testament were always insufficient and never perfect. What happens when one person performing the priestly duties dies? They set up their children to take over, but such sacrifices could never fully regenerate souls. Faith dependent on humans can never be perfected.

But in the New Testament era, our Lord came to this earth. There was no need for Him to continually remove our sins because He lives forever. He took on our eternal sins through water (baptism) in a single act and laid down His body on the cross, shedding His blood, thus providing eternal perfection for those who believe in the salvation of water and blood He accomplished. By believing in the gospel of water and the Spirit just once, we are saved from all sins forever, in a single act.

And the Lord is still alive, sitting at the right hand of God’s throne, serving as our guarantor before God the Father, and interceding for us personally. ‘Father God, even though they are so inadequate, they believe in me. Did I not take on all their sins through baptism and blood in the past?’ Our Lord is the eternal High Priest of salvation.

The priests on this earth would die, and their children would become priests in their place, but this was always imperfect and endless. However, our Lord lives forever, and He came to the land of Israel to save us from the sins of the world. He received baptism from John and shed His blood on the cross, completing the salvation of eternal sin removal. “Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:18). The Lord is always the guarantee of the salvation of rebirth for us. Have you ever been born again by believing in the gospel of Jesus’ water and the Holy Spirit?

“For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26). “For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever” (Hebrews 7:28).

What I want to say to you is not about the Law or the Law of works, but about the fact that Jesus, who is not weak but perfect and extraordinary, removed our worldly sins once and for all through water (baptism) and blood. In other words, Jesus transferred all our sins to Himself through baptism and bore the judgment of sin once and for all on the cross to make believers sinless. I am telling you that we have such a Savior, our High Priest.

Do you believe in Jesus? Jesus did not save us from all our sins through the Law but gave us eternal salvation through eternal baptism and eternal blood, forever freeing us from the sins of the world. Those who believe are saved, and those who do not yet believe must learn more and come to believe.

True faith is obtained through learning, based on the words of the Bible, the words of water and the Spirit. Our eternal High Priest in heaven, Jesus, has become our eternal savior through the baptism He received and the blood of the cross.

 

 

 

How should we believe in Jesus to believe correctly?

We believe in the words that Jesus, through His baptism and the shedding of His blood on the cross, has removed all our sins.

 

Everyone, we need to establish and believe in how to correctly believe in Jesus. What does it mean to believe in Jesus spiritually in a proper way? It means believing in the gospel of Jesus’ baptism and blood, which saved us from the sins of the world. Those who believe 100% in the merits of Jesus’ baptism and blood, without adding any of their own merits, are the ones who truly believe in Jesus with the right faith.

How about you? What is your spiritual state when it comes to believing in Jesus? Are you trying to combine your faith in Jesus with your own efforts and strength, thinking that will create a righteous faith?

I have been there too. I once struggled immensely for about ten years with a legalistic faith; it was so hard and tedious. Even thinking about it now makes me cringe. On Sundays, ‘Honey,’ ‘Yes?’ ‘Please wash this.’ ‘Oh, we shouldn’t do laundry on Sunday.’ My pants ripped on a Sunday. ‘Can you mend this?’ But on this holy Sunday, how could we sew it, so we left it till Monday. Oh, the struggle. But in fact, I was even more meticulous than my wife in trying to keep Sunday sacred. It was tough keeping Sunday sacred. Sundays were not relaxing but exhausting, trying to keep the day sacred; I remember those times.

Believing in Jesus correctly means believing in the words that Jesus removed all our sins through His baptism and the shedding of His blood on the cross. Truly believing well in Jesus means believing in all the words, the divinity of Jesus, and all the deeds He performed for our redemption when He came to this earth, including His baptism and the shedding of His blood to remove all our sins.

What does it mean to believe in Jesus? “It means to believe in the baptism and the blood that Jesus performed.” How simple and easy is that? When the Lord says something, when preachers convey the word, we should check if it aligns with the Bible, and if it does, say, “Oh, is that so? Yes, I understand. I will accept it. I believe.” This is the right way to believe.

“Thank you. It’s different from what I have known and believed, but if the word says so, then that’s how it must be. ‘Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin’ (Romans 3:20). I used to think that the Law was good and needed to be followed because it is the Law, and I tried to keep it to gain salvation. But trying to gain salvation through keeping the Law is a mistaken belief; it’s impossible to keep it all! So, God gave us the Law to show that there is dirty and repulsive sin within me, that my wrong actions are sins before God! Ah! Thank you.

I misunderstood and kept trying to uphold it. I have arrogantly challenged God’s perfection, but please have mercy on me. Now I believe that Jesus saved me from going to hell for my sins by being baptized and shedding His blood to remove my sins once and for all.”

You must honestly acknowledge and purely believe. You must believe purely in all the words recorded in the scripture. Only then can you be fully reborn.

What does it mean to believe in Jesus? Is it something you create? Is believing in Jesus a religion? Religion is something you create. You create your own god and your own faith. You make it and then strive towards your goal; that’s what religion is.

What is faith? Faith means to believe, and reverence reflects looking up to the Lord’s work. The correct faith is to gratefully believe in your heart while looking up to the baptism Jesus received to take on the sins of sinners and the blood He shed on the cross in our place. This is true faith. There is such a difference between faith and religion. If you discern this, your faith scores a hundred.

Today, unregenerate legalists say that we must believe in Jesus and live righteously. Is living righteously just about good deeds? Of course, we should live righteously.

Where can you find someone who lives as righteously as a born-again righteous person? But when a born-again righteous person says that people should become righteous, they are speaking to those who have not been reborn. The heart of an unregenerate person contains twelve kinds of sins; how can they live righteously? They understand in their minds that they should live righteously, but they commit sins because of the sin in their hearts. For sinners, living righteously is just a theory; in reality, they instinctively commit sins.

Therefore, we must decide in our hearts whether we will live a law-based faith or believe in the baptism and blood of Jesus Christ, who is our eternal High Priest and God, to receive salvation.

You, who truly believe, know that you have an eternal High Priest. Recognize Jesus’ true salvation through His baptism and blood, believe in it, and receive salvation from sin once and for all. Let us live a life of faith and enter the eternal kingdom of heaven.

 

 

Why do the reborn not fear the end of the world?

Because they have received eternal new life through faith in the Lord’s baptism, the blood of the cross, and the resurrection.

 

If someone truly believes in Jesus and their soul is born again, they do not fear the end of the world. It is those who are not born again who fear the end times and fear standing before the Lord.

Please understand that those who are genuinely reborn live a righteous life, spreading the gospel in these last days. In this world, as long as we keep the gospel of water and the Spirit in our hearts, regardless of when our Lord comes, that is all we need to believe. When the Bridegroom comes, we can joyfully say, ‘Ah, how glad I am! I am lacking, but the Bridegroom has loved me and saved me like this. The Lord alone is my Bridegroom and my Savior.’ Jesus is the Bridegroom of the saved righteous.

Ladies and gentlemen, did the bride marry the bridegroom because the bride loved the bridegroom, or because the bridegroom loved the bride? Of course, on earth, people marry because they love each other, but your marriage with Jesus, who is God, is not like that at all. It is a marriage with the bride through the Bridegroom’s love and salvation. This is the wedding ceremony of heaven.

When the Bride says, ‘I love you,’ the Bridegroom does not say, ‘Really? You love me? I’m so excited, I love you too.’ The Bridegroom knows all the weaknesses and shortcomings of the Bride. He loves the Bride because she is a sinner who is pitied, and He saved her from going to hell by taking all her sins upon Himself through baptism and shedding His blood to make her His Bride.

Our Lord did not come as a descendant under the Law like Aaron. He did not come to offer sacrifices with the blood of animals like the earthly high priests but, as the eternal High Priest of heaven, He removed all of humanity’s sins forever with a single eternal sacrifice.

In fact, the sacrifices in the Old Testament are a shadow of Jesus Christ. The main character was Jesus Himself. Jesus Himself came to this earth as the substance; will the substance follow the shadow? It is the shadow that moves as the substance moves. Should the substance follow the shadow? That’s not how it should be.

Our Lord did not come to this earth to perform sacrifices in the sanctuary like Aaron, but as God Jesus, He offered His own body to God to save sinners. Jesus completely saved all sinners from all their sins by being baptized and shedding His blood in our place.

The removal of our sins through faith in Jesus’ baptism and His blood is clear. The work of our Jesus who came to this earth to work for our salvation is undeniable.

When was salvation accomplished? When were past, present, and future sins removed? The salvation of Jesus is not confusing or uncertain. Our Lord has definitively saved us from all sins.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Our Lord, who became the truth, came to this earth and gave us eternal new life by saving us through baptism, blood, death, and resurrection, and we believe in this.

 

 

The Old Testament is the shadow of the New Testament. Our Lord did not come as a descendant of Aaron to take on the role of an earthly high priest, but instead took on a better role, that of the eternal High Priest before God the Father in heaven.

All people on this earth are unable to keep the Law, thus they all became sinners, and the Law given by God can never make anyone righteous. Therefore, God had to abolish the first covenant to establish the second.

God the Father sent His Son to this earth and required faith in the salvation accomplished through His Son’s baptism, blood, death, and resurrection from all who believe in Jesus around the world. This is the second promise.

The second promise requires faith in the gospel of water and the Spirit. God the Father now demands not that people perform certain deeds or live in a particular way, but that they believe in the salvation their sins have been washed away and saved through the baptism and blood shed by His Son. 

He asks if you believe in the salvation completed by His Son who was baptized, shed His blood on the cross, and accomplished all that was necessary for your salvation. We must answer that we believe.

In the Bible, the tribe of Judah represents royalty. David was from a royal lineage. Jesus Christ came from the tribe of Judah. The tribe of Levi is the priestly tribe. Each tribe had its own role before God.

Thus, God promised that Jesus would be born from the tribe of Judah. The promise to the tribe of Judah was a promise made to all humanity. Our Lord has accomplished salvation for all humanity from all the sins of the world through His baptism, death on the cross, and resurrection, rescuing us from all our sins.

 

 

 

In Jeremiah 17:1, it is mentioned where the sins of people are recorded. It says they are recorded in two places: “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; With the point of a diamond it is engraved On the tablet of their heart, And on the horns of your altars.” A person’s sin is recorded in their heart, so they come to know that they are a sinner. Before believing in Jesus, one does not know their sin. Why? It is because God’s law, which He has spoken, is not in their heart. However, once they believe in Jesus, whether they believe well or poorly, they come to know that they are a sinner before God and Jesus.

Some people, after believing in Jesus for about ten years, say, ‘Oh, I am a sinner. I thought I was forgiven, but now I see that I am a sinner.’ They come to realize their sinful state after ten years of believing. For ten years after believing in Jesus, they might have been jubilantly bouncing around, happily believing, but after ten years, seeing the sin accumulated in their heart, they say, ‘Lord, I am a sinner.’

Do you know why this happens? It is because that person now sees their sin and iniquity through God’s Law. They believe in Jesus, but they are not born again, so God has recorded all their sins on the tablets of their heart. Therefore, the sins they committed do not disappear and remain on the tablets of their heart, making them a sinner who believes in Jesus.

After believing in Jesus for 10 years or 5 years, they finally came to realize the truth that they are sinners who believe in Jesus. They were sinners before believing in Jesus, and they remain sinners after believing in Him. It takes people a long time to understand their sin and recognize that they are sinners. This shows how insensitive people are to sin.

Some people take 30 years, others 50 years, and some never realize it their whole lives and go to hell. “Oh God, I used to live well before I believed in God, when there was no law or God’s Law. But now, as the Apostle Paul said, ‘The very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death to me.’ Yes, I was confident that I could keep the Word when I first believed in God, but now I see that I am not even keeping it; instead, I am busy committing various sins every day. Lord, I am a sinner who believes in Jesus.”

You see, it is your own sin that prevents you from living according to God’s Word. A person’s sin is recorded in their heart and in the book of deeds. Because God has recorded all sins, when you try to pray, saying ‘Lord,’ the sins are revealed in your heart. ‘Hey, didn’t you commit that sin?’ ‘Didn’t you already repent and receive forgiveness for that two years ago? Why does the memory still haunt you?’ ‘What excuse do you need? God recorded the sin in your heart. That’s what God did. Don’t make excuses; you are a sinner.’

You are still saying, ‘Lord, forgive me,’ even now, two years after committing a sin. Yet, the sin still torments you because it remains on the tablets of your heart. Yes, you did commit that sin two years ago. However, even though you asked for forgiveness, the sin still remains in your thoughts on the tablets of your heart.

You see, does verbal repentance remove the sin? A person’s sin is recorded on the tablets of their heart, so it cannot be removed without the truth of the water and the Spirit’s gospel. Therefore, the removal of sin is completed by the truth of the water and the Spirit’s Word. Thus, we must all believe in the true gospel, which is Jesus’ baptism and blood, to be saved from all sins once and for all.

 

 

 

How did Jesus become our Savior?

Jesus came as the Savior to save all who believe in this truth by removing all sins through His baptism and blood.

 

Our God has made a new promise to all humanity. ‘I will become your Savior, I will make you complete with water and blood from the sins of your world; I will surely bestow grace on those who believe in me,’ He promised anew.

We are saved and born again through the faith in the truth of God’s promise, and in the saving work of salvation that Jesus Christ promised and performed on this earth with water and blood. 

If doctors perform poor examinations, you wouldn’t be able to trust them. Proper examination and correct use of medication are essential. How can you trust and take medication if the examination is inadequate? If only doctors could accurately diagnose, there are plenty of medicines available. If the doctor’s examination is a mess, even the best medicine will only cause side effects.

Similarly, when believing in Jesus, you must accurately diagnose your spiritual state using God’s Word. A spiritual doctor should examine where this person is spiritually ill, how they are living their faith, and diagnose them with the truth of God’s Word. Then, you can quickly understand everything.

Spiritually awakened doctors can lead every single member of their church to be born again, making them 100% righteous.

“I don’t know when I was completely cleansed of my sins.” How can you not know? You should be able to know, and others should know too. If someone claims to be a disciple of Jesus, they should at least solve their own problem of sin and lead others to be born again spiritually. After that, they can help with issues of faith and guidance by the Holy Spirit... Of course, if it’s a physical issue like a broken rib or inflammation, you should tell them to go to the hospital. However, for spiritual diagnosis, you must accurately determine whether that person is a sinner or a righteous person.

Jesus came to this earth, was baptized, and died on the cross to eliminate the sins of the world. Are your sins still remaining because His work was insufficient? No, it was completed once and for all through the working of the word of water and the Spirit.

The gospel is like dynamite. Dynamite has the power to explode and completely destroy a building. Even a large mountain can be reduced to dust with a single nuclear bomb, burning away even the air. The work Jesus did when He came to this earth is exactly the gospel of water and the Spirit—this gospel is like dynamite. Jesus eliminated all the sins of those who believe in Him through the gospel of the truth of water and the Spirit.

Hebrews 8:10-12 says, “The Lord said, ‘For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’” Amen. Our Lord has said that He will completely save everyone, from the greatest to the least, from sin. 

In the Old Testament, once a year, the High Priest would enter the sanctuary. The High Priest would lay hands on a goat or sheep, transferring the people’s sins to the animal, and then take its blood into the sanctuary of God and sprinkle it seven times on the mercy seat. This was how sins were atoned for in the Old Testament, but these sacrifices continued as the reality had not yet appeared. However, once the reality arrives, the Old Testament sacrificial system is abolished. The abolition of the Old Testament sacrificial system does not mean the entire Old Testament is abolished, but specifically its system of sacrifices.

It has been over 1990 years since Jesus came and received baptism in the Jordan River, taking on the sins of the world, and was judged on the cross, thereby fully saving us. It has been over 1990 years since our Lord came to this earth and resolved all sin issues. But did God only resolve the sin issues for the Israelites? He resolved the sin issues for all people in the entire world.

All the words in the Old Testament are parables until Jesus came. Do you understand? A parable is something that uses a hypothetical scenario to explain the real substance well. It is a way of presenting a hypothetical situation to make the real substance easy to understand. For example, it is a way of using a hypothetical scenario to clearly illustrate the truth.

In the Old Testament, the sacrificial system established by God could not make people’s consciences completely clean. In the Old Testament, to have the people’s sins removed, one had to bring a lamb, lay hands on it, and kill it, but this was not enough to make us perfect. What does ‘laying hands’ mean? It means ‘to pass over’ or ‘to transfer.’

In Leviticus 3, the word ‘Levite’ means ‘union’ or ‘fellowship.’ To be united with God, a person must be holy. How can we be united with God? We must bring an animal as a sacrifice, lay hands on its head to transfer our sins, and then take its blood and apply it to the horns of God’s altar. After that, we had to cut the animal into pieces and burn it on the altar as an offering to God. It is through this animal sacrifice that a person is cleansed of sin. However, this method of sacrificing sheep or goats daily could not cleanse the conscience completely.

In this age, we do not sacrifice lambs or cattle. However, even today, many believers still live a faith life as if they are slaughtering sheep or cattle, adhering to a legalistic faith. ‘Lord, I have sinned. Forgive me. Lord, my sins are not being erased. This sin is so stubborn that it won’t disappear from my heart. Lord, please erase the sin in my heart. Use an eraser or something to erase it.’ And if the sin in the heart is not erased, they fast for 20 days to try to erase it. If that doesn’t work, should they fast for 40 days?

Fasting for 40 days can be fatal. Can fasting prayers erase the sins in your heart? No, they cannot. Fasting may bring comfort to your heart, but such sacrifices cannot completely remove your sins. The sins in your heart cannot be erased by prayer or by asking to be burned away; they can only be removed through the gospel of water and the Spirit.

All sins can be completely removed by believing in God’s Word of water and blood, but never by human repentance or fasting prayers. Absolutely not. The sacrificial system in the Old Testament, which involved daily offerings, was shown to us by God until Jesus came and reinterpreted it in the New Testament. Therefore, God said, “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:11-12).

Our sins were not eradicated by the blood of sacrificial goats, calves, and lambs, but by His own body, which was without blemish. In other words, Jesus, representing humanity and as the high priest, received baptism from John the Baptist in the Jordan River, taking upon Himself the sins of the entire world, bearing them on His body, and then dying on the cross in our place using only His own water (baptism) and blood to save us.

If Jesus took on all the sins of the world through His baptism in the Jordan River and eliminated them, is there anything that should trouble our consciences when we approach God, believing in Jesus? No, there is not. If we truly believe, we can approach God with a clear conscience. Jesus’ baptism was the process by which He took on the sins of the world, and His blood was the result of sin.

When did Jesus take on all the sins of humanity? It was when Jesus received baptism for the first time in His public ministry. Jesus came to this earth and received baptism.

Let’s look at Matthew 3:13-17. ‘Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’

Jesus received baptism from John. He said, ‘You baptize me,’ and John replied, ‘I need to be baptized by you.’ Jesus said, ‘Let it be so now. Don’t waste time talking; quickly baptize me. It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.’ This is how Jesus received baptism from John.

When Jesus received baptism from John, He explained why He did so. He said, ‘We do this so that you baptize me and I receive baptism from you, thereby transferring all the sins of the world to Me and making them disappear.’ He said, ‘Doing this is proper to fulfill all righteousness.’ This means that it is just for Jesus Himself to take on the responsibility of all people’s sins by receiving baptism.

Everyone, our Lord came to this earth to eliminate all the sins humanity committed against the Law. Our Lord came to this earth to remove all those sins that transgressed the Law and to save humanity from all sins.

Jesus came to this earth, was baptized by John, and died on the cross for believers to promise them eternal salvation and blessings by removing their sins. He then rose from the dead after three days and sits at the right hand of God the Father.

All wills can only take effect when the testator has passed away. If your parents made a will while they were alive, it would not be effective for any of their children. However, once the parents have passed away, the will becomes effective for all the surviving heirs.

Similarly, Jesus came to this earth and promised, ‘I will save you with my body.’ He said, ‘I came to this earth to save you. I will take away your sins by receiving baptism, dying on the cross, and rising from the dead. I will completely save you from all the sins of the world. I will make you my people. I will save you from the cunning of the wicked devil, from death, from the curse of sin, and from destruction through water and the Spirit.’

How did He fulfill this promise? First, our Lord was conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb and was born in the flesh on this earth. Jesus’ birth on this earth, His incarnation, means that the holy God became human.

Secondly, Jesus lived a private life until He was twenty-nine years old. Then, at the age of thirty, when He began His public ministry, the first thing He did to save humanity from the sins of the world was to receive baptism from John at the Jordan River. Why did Jesus receive baptism from John the Baptist? He did so to take on all the sins of humanity.

Thirdly, Jesus died on the cross. Why did Jesus die on the cross? It was to receive judgment for our sins by shedding His blood on our behalf, after having taken on those sins through baptism.

After completing all these works of salvation, Jesus rose from the dead after three days and ascended to heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of God.

What does it mean that Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead after three days, and ascended to heaven? It means that our Lord fulfilled all the promises He made and ascended, thereby completing the new promise He made to us: to completely save us from all sins through water, blood, and resurrection.

This means that the effectiveness of the covenant of salvation, that our Lord has saved us from the sins of the world, has come upon us who believe. Salvation from all sins has come to me and all of you who believe.

Hebrews 9:22-28, “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”

Since the daily sacrifices made by humans with their own hands in the Old Testament could not make us perfect, Jesus Himself came to this earth and saved His creations from the sins of the world through the baptism and blood He received.

In the Old Testament, the Law of works required frequent sacrifices, and when a priest died, a new one had to appear. However, now the Lord has come with a new promise, namely that Jesus Himself will save us. Jesus removed all the sins of the world once and for all through water and blood, and saved us eternally.

Jesus received baptism through John the Baptist to make us sinless in one act, and He offered His body on the cross to save us from judgment for our sins, receiving the judgment for all sins on the cross. Therefore, when Jesus appears at the end of the world, Hebrews 9:28 says, “To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”

“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” When people are born, they are born as descendants of Adam with sin, so they must die and go to hell and face destruction.

However, our Lord came to this earth and took on all the sins of the world—sins of the heart, sins of action, and sins of thought—that people commit throughout their lives, through His baptism. He bore the judgment for all those sins on the cross, thereby completely removing all sins and instantly cleansing those of us who believe.

Therefore, He has ensured that we who believe in the truth will not face judgment, and through the word of truth, He has reborn us as righteous people without sin, so that we can live eternally in the kingdom of heaven.

Our Lord came to this earth, received baptism from John the Baptist at the Jordan River, shed His blood on the cross, and rose from the dead to fulfill all righteousness and to save each and every one of us.

 

 

 

What is the meaning of the baptism Jesus received in the Jordan River?

Like the laying on of hands in the Old Testament, it means ‘to pass over,’ ‘to bury,’ and ‘to transfer,’ signifying the original gospel that all sins were transferred to Jesus, the Lamb, thus removing them.

 

‘Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”’ (Matthew 3:13-17).

Jesus said it was fitting to fulfill all of God’s righteousness when He received baptism from John. What does this mean? God’s righteousness refers to God’s goodness, love, and righteous salvation. Jesus received baptism from John the Baptist, taking on all the sins of humanity, thereby erasing all the sins of the world and saying, ‘It is proper to fulfill all righteousness.’

What does baptism mean? The word ‘βαπτίζω (Baptizo)’ means to bury, immerse, pass over, or transfer. In the Old Testament, the people laid hands on animals. What does laying hands mean? In Leviticus 1:3, laying hands is explained to have the same meaning as baptism, which is to pass over or transfer.

What was required to remove the sins of the people within the tabernacle of the Old Testament? Regardless of the number of priests or people, if there was no sacrifice, in other words, no lamb or goat, the sacrifice was invalid.

Therefore, the person most important to sinners is Jesus, who came as the Lamb of God. The Creator God came to this earth in human form as our Savior, received the baptism of sin transfer, was sacrificed on the cross, and became as the heavenly High Priest and the Savior of all humanity.

In the Old Testament, “Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man” (Leviticus 16:21), thus providing salvation from sins.

On the Day of Atonement, High Priest Aaron took two flawless goats. He laid hands on one inside the tabernacle, transferring the sins, then killed it and took its blood into the Most Holy Place where God dwelled, and sprinkled the blood, offering a sacrifice before God. The other goat was brought before the people, and Aaron laid hands on it, enumerating the sins, saying, ‘God, the people of Israel have sinned...’ After this laying on of hands, this goat was left alive and entrusted to a suitable person and led to a desolate wilderness with no water or grass, where it was abandoned. 

Through this ritual, the Israelites of the Old Testament were saved from their sins for a year.

However, people in the New Testament receive salvation from all sins by believing in Jesus, who is the Lamb of God and our Savior, through His baptism and the blood of the cross.

 

 

 

That all sins are transferred to this sacrificial lamb. Since all the sins of the world were transferred to Jesus’ body through the baptism He received, those who believe in the truth of Jesus’ baptism and blood are without sin.

In the Old Testament, the death of the sacrificial lamb was the death of the Israelites, and the suffering of the lamb was the suffering of the Israelites. The sacrificial offering, having received the laying on of hands and being judged, shed blood and was offered to God, thus resolving the people’s sins before God.

However, the Bible says that sins are recorded in two places. One is in God’s book of judgment, and the other is in the human heart. The sins recorded in God’s book of judgment were resolved because the blood of the sacrifice, which had received the laying on of hands, was sprinkled on the altar horns.

However, one thing is that the sins in the human heart must be erased. How is this resolved? The scapegoat, which means ‘to put out,’ was laid hands on by the people and sent into the wilderness, thereby resolving the sins in the human heart as well.

In this way, God the Father sent His Son Jesus into the world to erase our sins.

In the Old Testament, on the Day of Atonement, one of the sacrificial goats was laid hands on by the people and led far into the wilderness, where it met its death. The Israelites watched as the goat was led away, carrying all their sins, and they would say, ‘Look, our sins are being carried away, farther and farther into the desert... now it’s gone, now it’s gone.’

This sacrificial goat received the sins through the laying on of hands and was led far away to die. It was abandoned in the wilderness, crying out until it died alone. This fulfilled God’s law that the wages of sin is death.

In the New Testament, our Lord resolved the problem of our sins in the same way. He erased all our sins, making them as far away as the east is from the west, by receiving baptism and dying on our behalf.

The Old Testament was a promise from God, and the New Testament is the fulfillment of a new promise. Our Lord fulfilled this promise by coming to this earth and receiving baptism. Through His baptism, all the sins of humanity were transferred to Jesus’ body. “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). Jesus received baptism from John the Baptist to fulfill all of God’s righteousness. By receiving baptism and taking on all the sins of humanity, Jesus saved those who believe in the truth from all sins. This was the atonement sacrifice performed by Jesus.

However, Jesus became the sacrificial lamb and offered His body to God, taking on all the sins of the world to resolve the problem of sin. To do this, Jesus received baptism from John at the Jordan River. Jesus said, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” John the Baptist gave Jesus the baptism that transferred all the sins of the world to Him. Jesus received the baptism that transferred all the sins of the world and lived for three years. Later, He went to the cross.

What does Jesus’ baptism mean? The word ‘baptism’ means to wash, but Jesus received baptism to take on the sins of the world, so our sins were washed away.

When Jesus received baptism from John, all the sins of us sinners were transferred to Him. Therefore, our original sin, the sins we commit in life, and all the sins we conceive in our thoughts are washed away from our hearts and disappear.

Jesus’ baptism is also called immersion, which means to be buried or to die. Why did Jesus die? It was because He took on our sins through baptism. Jesus died because He received our sins through ‘laying on of hands’ and ‘baptism,’ which means ‘to pass over’ and ‘to be buried.’

Why did Jesus go to the cross on our behalf? It was because He took on the sins of the world by receiving baptism at the Jordan River and wanted to eliminate all sins by going to the cross.

People today need to understand the original text of the Bible, but the problem is that they believe without knowing it. The purpose of Jesus, who is God, being born in the flesh and receiving baptism at the age of thirty was to take on the sins of the world through baptism and to fulfill everything on the cross, thereby saving believers by erasing all sins.

After being baptized by John and crucified, Jesus rose from the dead three days later, testified for 40 days, and ascended to sit at the right hand of God, where He continues to sit, thus saving those who believe in the truth of salvation. The Lord is still alive today, sitting at the right hand of the throne, and has become our Savior.

Those who believe in Jesus correctly believe in Him as the One who solved our sin problem through His baptism and blood. 

John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus, was appointed by God as a representative among all people, and as the representative of humanity, he transferred the sins of the world to Jesus through baptism.

In Joshua 3:14-17, it is written that when the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant stepped into the Jordan River during the flood season, the water flowing from above stopped at the upper border, and the water below also stopped. The Jordan River became dry land. This signifies that the problem of human sin was resolved at the Jordan River.

God ended all the sins that Satan had put into humanity, causing suffering, death, and curses, through the baptism Jesus received at the Jordan River. The judgment for the sins of the world has already ended. Jesus fulfilled all righteousness through His baptism.

Jesus took on all sins through baptism. When Jesus received baptism from John at the Jordan River and came up out of the water, God the Father said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus was baptized in water up to His waist.

What is this water and baptism? It is the ‘laying on of hands’ from the Old Testament. The Old Testament is a shadow of the New Testament, and Jesus is the reality. Jesus entered the water to receive baptism at this time to take on all the sins of humanity. Baptism signifies the transfer of sin, and being immersed in water symbolizes death, which is the judgment for sin.

Jesus receiving baptism from John means taking on all our sins. Baptism means ‘to transfer,’ ‘to pass over,’ ‘to bury,’ and ‘to immerse.’ This act of Jesus receiving baptism was to fulfill all of God’s righteousness.

Do you know what ‘all righteousness’ means? In Greek, it is ‘Δικαιοσύνη (Dikaiosynē),’ which means ‘just’ or ‘righteous.’ Jesus took on all the sins of the world through baptism and saved those who believe in Him justly.

The phrase ‘for thus’ is from the Greek word ‘Οὗτος (Houtos),’ which means ‘in this manner, or else not at all, the most fitting way.’ This means that Jesus received baptism to justly eliminate the sins of humanity in the most appropriate way. He did not just say that our sins are forgiven with words; He took on all sins through baptism and said, ‘I have made you sinless by believing in Me.’

Do you understand? The Jordan River is a river of death, representing the wages of sin. Jesus received baptism in this river of death, taking on all the sins of humanity, and was able to go to the cross for all the sins of the world.

The Jordan River is a river of death, and Jesus received baptism there and went to the cross. He then rose from the dead and saved those who believe. Jesus received baptism to save us justly and legally.

You must know and believe this. Among Christians from around the world, many people believe incorrectly. Many do not know about Jesus’ baptism and yet claim to believe, and many say that their denomination is the best. Not only that, but many also say that their pastor is the best.

Everyone, Jesus is God, and the gospel of salvation He accomplished is the greatest. Without Jesus’ word of truth, we cannot be saved. Pastors are simply pastors; they are nothing more. Pastors also receive the washing of their sins by believing in Jesus’ baptism and blood. There is nothing spiritually special about being a pastor. Humans are all insufficient before God.

When Jesus received baptism and took on all our sins, He came up out of the water, and heaven opened. “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus entering the water signifies death on the cross. Receiving baptism means taking on our sins, and in this way, He eliminated all the sins of the world.

Therefore, Jesus said, “To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation” (Hebrews 9:28). The second coming of the Lord is the judgment of His return. It is called the second coming because He comes again. The first coming of the Lord was to save sinners, and the second coming is to call the righteous. He will come again to those who eagerly await Him, regardless of sin.

Jesus received baptism from John to save all humanity from all sins. Jesus received baptism from John at the Jordan River, which represents death, so that sinners might believe in Him as the God of salvation and become righteous.

This is the translated sacrifice, which is the sacrifice of salvation in the New Testament, represented by Jesus’ baptism at the Jordan River and the blood of the cross. Hallelujah! We thank the Lord for saving us through this translated sacrifice.