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Subject 11 : The Tabernacle
[11-31] The Breastplate of Judgment (Exodus 28:15-30)
(Exodus 28:15-30)
“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.”
Let us now turn our attention to the breastplate with which the High Priest judged for the people of Israel. The above passage tells us that the breastplate of judgment was made of a fabric doubled into a square measuring a span in both its length and width. This fabric was artistically woven together of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. On this fabric, twelve precious stones were set, three on each row for a total of four rows. God also told Moses to put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastplate of judgment. The Urim and the Thummim here respectively mean ‘light and perfection.’
The Standard of the Judgment of the High Priest
As we know, every judgment can be sentenced after deliberating the case with the related standards and with the rules and regulations. Then, based on what standard did the High Priest judge for his people? He had to judge his people by the Urim and the Thummim in his breastplate, that is, ‘light and perfection.’ The basic faith that enabled him to judge properly was the faith in the truth manifested in the five threads that the breastplate of judgment was made from. In other words, it was based on the faith that believed in the truth made of the gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen that the High Priest made judgment for all the people of Israel.
Put differently, the judging standard of the High Priest is the truth, which is ‘light and perfection,’ manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen used for the breastplate. By believing in the truth which is manifested in the five threads, the High Priest could reach his authoritative decisions for all the people of Israel; whether they were spiritually right or wrong.
The breastplate was placed over the heart of each High Priest, and the Urim and the Thummim were put inside of it. This implies that in the heart of a High Priest, the truth of light and perfection was so firmly established that he could always lead the people of Israel and judge whether or not their faith was right, whether or not they gave offerings according to the sacrificial system of God, and whether or not they followed His commandments.
Today, we, the royal priests of God, also have to bear the same standard and judge the people of this age. We must reach the same conclusion that if people believe in the truth manifested in the five threads used for the breastplate, then they can become the light of the world before God, and if they do not believe, then they are to be condemned.
Some may disagree with this Word arguing that there can be many routes to reach a mountaintop. Climbers may say, “You took the easiest course last time, but I will take the eastside course, the most difficult cliff to conquer this mountain.” Sure, when it comes to the case of mountaineering, such an alternative way is very possible. However, when it comes to our spiritual realm, it admits of no dispute or compromise. The only standard is what God has established. For us to become the light of the world before God, we do not have several methods, but there is only one way: This way is to know and believe in the shining truth of salvation manifested in the gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen, which are the materials of the breastplate and the ephod, and thereby receive the remission of our sins and become God’s own children.
There is no other way to become the light of the world but by believing that God has blotted out all our sins and made us righteous with the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. Only by believing in the truth of the materials used for the garments worn by the High Priests can sinners become righteous and the imperfect can become perfect. Likewise, when we are judged whether or not we have been saved before God, we are judged based on the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that has become the shining light of truth.
If we truly want to be properly judged before God whether we are to go to Heaven or hell, we must have this faith that knows and believes in the materials used to make the breastplate of judgment. For us to see others and be able to discern whether they wholeheartedly believe in the truth of the water and the Spirit, we must first have believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit ourselves. What we must realize is that the truth manifested in the gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and the fine woven linen is precisely what enables us to reach the right judgment about the remission of sins, and it is this truth that bears witness to the right judgment. Can you now understand this?
Who then is the first one who can render the right judgment on the remission of sins today? It is Jesus Christ, the eternal High Priest of Heaven. Jesus Christ took upon all our sins by taking the sins of mankind onto His body with His baptism, and by dying on the Cross and rising from the dead again, He has forever delivered us from the sins of the world. So, whoever believes in Jesus Christ according to this truth can become a royal priest and have the right to judge people correctly. Now, we the born again have the duty to judge the unsaved according to God’s given standard, the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And we must perform this duty faithfully before Jesus Christ, the Supreme Judge.
There are some people who dislike the verdict rendered by us the spiritual priests. They stand against us, saying, “You are not God! You are just a human being as lacking as I am, how can you determine whether I have received the remission of my sins or not? The right judgment of sinners is rendered only by God! Who do you think you are? How dare you judge whether I have been saved or not? God only knows this. Are you God? Do you think you are better than everyone else?”
But the reason why the decisions of the spiritual priests are flawless is because they have been entrusted with such a right from the Lord. When the priests of God determine what is right and wrong, then we must believe in this judgment, for it is the right judgment. As it is doctors who can diagnose the illnesses of their patients, it is up to the spiritual priests to examine souls and determine whether they are still sinners or they have become righteous.
It is by the faith that believes in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen that we can become such spiritual priests. These spiritual priests are the ones who have been remitted of all their sins and who have received the Holy Spirit from God by believing in the gospel of the Truth. Those who thus have become the priests can discern sinners from the righteous. Because we have received the remission of sins by hearing and believing in the gospel manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, we are now able to heal sinners and lead them to Christ.
You Have to Brave It Out When People Challenge Your Priesthood
Sinners, in their own thoughts, also try to reduce the power of the just judgment rendered by the righteous. What is worse, however, is that we might not be convinced of our own priesthood even though we have already been born again. When we the born-again judge others, it is possible for us to think, “Am I not being arrogant by any chance? Am I not making a mistake here?” But there is nothing wrong here, for only those who have become God’s priests spiritually can make this spiritual judgment correctly. So, we the born-again have to brave it out when sinners challenge our authority to judge them. Jesus has given such a right to His disciples, saying, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:23). Those who have become spiritual priests can lead others with the gospel that has enabled them to receive the remission of sins.
Throughout the world, there are the many saints who have received the remission of sins through our Christian literature ministry. Along with this remission of sins, God has given them the power of the Holy Spirit so that they also can discern spiritually whether others have received the remission of sins or not. Those who know and believe in what the gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen are telling them are the ones who have the power to judge others by faith. Through these priests, God has saved people from their sins and condemnation. It is by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we have become God’s children spiritually.
After becoming God’s children, we have become the spiritual priests, and therefore we have the right to judge both who has received the remission of sins and who has not. We should tell the sinners unhesitatingly that they are heading for hell because of their sins and that they have to receive the remission of their sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We also should judge our fellow believers, who have been already born again of the water and the Spirit, in order to lead them to the right path.
You must not think that it is wrong for us, who have become the spiritual priests, to judge sinners who have as yet not received the remission of their sins. You should not think, in other words, that it is arrogant for you to discern such people as sinners. On the contrary, because we are always carrying the breastplate of judgment on our chests as the spiritual priests, we must fulfill our duties even more vigorously. Setting all other things aside, we must, on behalf of God, sentence these sinners to be doomed in hell. These sinners will then recognize the judgment of the spiritual priests as the judgment of God, accept this judgment, believe in God’s grace of the washing away of sin which is manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen, and thereby be saved from all their sins. This is why if a judgment is rendered by faith, it is then the right judgment.
Then, with what criterion can we determine whether others have received the remission of sins or not? We can determine this based on the very faith that believes in the five threads of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. Put differently, we the royal priests can judge others on the basis of the gospel of the water and the Spirit: Jesus Christ the Son of God took upon all our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist, died on the Cross, was buried and then rose from the dead again, and has thereby washed away all our sins and bore the condemnation of all those sins. Those who believe in this Truth are the ones who have received the remission of sins, and those who are do not believe like this deserve to be sentenced as sinners.
The standard of judgment for the righteous—that is, whether they have lived spiritually worthwhile lives or not—is also based on how well they have served the gospel of the water and the Spirit. By the way, for all judgments, the question of whether or not one believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit constitutes the core standard that is the most important. Anyone who does not believe in this genuine gospel before God will remain a sinner. Anyone who leaves out even a single one of the four threads of the Old Testament—that is, the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen—from his or her faith will forever remain unsaved from sin, for God’s salvation requires the faith of all these four threads.
Among today’s Christians, there are many who say that they have been born again by believing in the blood of the Cross alone. Judging the faith of these Christians who believe only in the blood of the Cross, we can conclude that their faith is an insufficient one, for their faith was fabricated while leaving out the blue thread (the baptism of Jesus). Could Jesus have taken up the sins of mankind when He died on the Cross? The reason why it was possible for Jesus to be crucified, shed His blood, and die on the Cross was because He had first taken upon all our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River beforehand. Had Jesus not been baptized by John, how could the sins of the world have been passed onto Him? It was because our sins were passed onto the body of Jesus Christ through His baptism that Christ could shoulder all the sins of this world, be crucified, and shed His blood to die to complete our salvation.
Jesus was crucified because He had accepted the sins of mankind when He was baptized by John the Baptist. But for His baptism, how else could He have taken upon our sins? Who could He hang on the Cross to fulfill the will of God the Father? If Jesus Christ had not already taken upon our sins by being baptized, in other words, how could He then die on the Cross? Is this not the case? If Jesus Christ had not been baptized by John the Baptist, all your sins would still remain intact within your heart. If the body of Jesus Christ did not take the sins of the world, then what was the reason for Him to die on the Cross in our place?
Questions That Are Raised from the Ignorance of the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit
There are some people who ask, “If it is true that Jesus took upon all our sins by being baptized, then this means that Jesus had sins on His body, and if this is the case, how could this sinful Jesus have become the Savior of sinners?”
This is a frustrating question arising out of complete ignorance of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It was upon His flesh that Jesus took the sins of mankind when He was baptized. He did not, in other words, take the sins of the world upon His Spirit. The divine nature of the baptized Jesus remained perfectly holy. He was baptized only in His flesh, and therefore He took the sins of the world only upon His body. It was because Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist that He could be crucified and condemned for all sins, shedding His blood and dying on the Cross. Jesus Himself committed no sin at all in this world (2 Corinthians 5:21). But because Jesus Christ took upon the sins of the world by being baptized by John the Baptist, these sins of the world were placed on His own body. Had this not been the case, Jesus Christ could never have become our Savior.
What I actually want to tell such ignorant people is that Jesus did not take upon the sins of the world on the Cross. Let me say this to you again: “That Jesus died on the Cross is because He had taken upon the sins of the world when He was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.” If this is not true, then there would have been no other opportunity for Jesus to take upon the sins of the world. Although Jesus became the sacrificial Lamb of all sinners, fundamentally speaking, He had no sin at all in His heart. It is not the case that Jesus had sin from His birth, but rather, by being baptized by John the Baptist, He accepted the sins of the world which was passed onto His body. This is how Jesus became the lawful offering for all the sins of the world. In other words, because Jesus took upon the sins of mankind by being baptized, He then had to shed His blood, die on the Cross. After all, He rose from the dead again, and thereby become our true Savior. By doing so, He bore all the condemnation of sin. Therefore, by faith that believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, you must be saved from all your sins if you still have sin in your heart.
The History of Corrupted Christianity
In the Early Church period, it was by believing in the baptism of Jesus and the blood of the Cross that the Apostles such as Paul and Peter and the early saints could also become and work as spiritual priests. Historically speaking, after the passing of the Early Church period and the era of the Church Fathers, the Truth of the gospel of the water and the Spirit began to be corrupted, and the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D. accelerated such decaying process. I believe that it is from this corruption that Christian sinners have sprung up today. Since then, a large crowd of nominal Christians have arisen, and they claim to have received the remission of sins even as they believe in only the blood of the Cross. From then on until now, the gospel manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread had not been testified but remained hidden. It is a disturbing fact, that there have arisen many Christian sinners who consider Christianity only as a mere religion of this world.
When we judge today’s Christians based on the faith that has enabled us to become spiritual priests, we can see that many of them have misunderstood and misconstrued the salvation that allows them to receive the remission of sins. We can see that every statement of faith of all the denominations of today’s Christianity is quite similar to one another. They only differ in their denominational names; when it comes to their faiths, they all think that they have been delivered from sin by believing only in the blood of the Cross. But their hearts have not been truly remitted of sin. Even as they remain ignorant of God’s gospel of the water and the Spirit, they think themselves to be good Christians. We can see that even though these people believe in Jesus as their Savior and in the blood of the Cross, they are still obsessed only with their prayers of repentance, for they still do not know the Truth that enables them to wash away all their sins. There are, in other words, people who try to wash away their sins even as they still remain oblivious to the power of the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
This is why we are now spreading this genuine gospel of the water and the Spirit once again to all the people in the entire world. Because throughout the world people are ignorant of the baptism that Jesus received from John the Baptist, we recognize that we must preach to them this gospel of the water and the Spirit manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread used as the materials for the Tabernacle. All of us are preaching to the people of this whole world that because Jesus bore the sins of the world by being baptized by John the Baptist, He bore all the condemnation of sin by being crucified and dying. We owe it to these people who do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit to spread this gospel to them. We therefore realize the need to give them an opportunity to hear this genuine gospel so that they may come to believe.
In some countries, the history of the Christian faith goes back over 1,000 or even 2,000 years. But it is clear that most Christians still do not have a lucid understanding on the gospel of the water and the Spirit. When we judge them based on the truth of the gospel manifested in the Tabernacle, there are many who must believe in Jesus as the Savior all over again. What I am trying to say here is that regardless of how long they might have believed in Jesus, if they still have not received the remission of sins, we must then lead them to believe in Jesus again correctly. We have to teach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to them urgently. The Apostle Paul also had the same mind as us, saying, “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16).
Jesus Christ Is God Who Came in a Human Body to Save All Sinners
Some people, though they believe that Jesus is the Son of God and their Savior, do not believe that Jesus is God. They do not believe in Christ’s ministry of the purple thread. These people will actually be destroyed, for in their hearts they do not have the faith that believes in the whole Truth revealed in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen and have therefore not received the remission of sins. Those who do not truly believe in their hearts that the Lord has blotted out all their sins do not have the Holy Spirit in their hearts because they don’t have the Word that bears witness to the washing away of their sins.
When we call Jesus as our “Lord,” the word “Lord” here means the Master, signifying that we believe that Jesus is God Himself. This Son of God is also the true God. To explain this, I often use the following metaphor. When human beings conceive, they give birth to another human being. When dogs give birth, they give birth to puppies. Birds give birth to birds. In other words, just as there are different kinds and species, God the Father has given birth to the only one Son, and He is also God. (Psalms 2:7). He is actually equal to God Himself in His essence (Philippians 2:6), but He emptied Himself and became like us humans. To save us from sin, He came to this earth, was baptized, died on the Cross, rose from the dead again, and, as our true Savior, has thereby given us the true faith of salvation.
However, there are so many people who deny that Jesus is God. In schools, they teach publicly that Jesus is one of the Four Sages which appeared in ancient times. Such a notion is originated even from the Church Fathers. Even though they heard the true gospel from their predecessors of faith, some of them had such a strong faith that they made the confession of their faith by embracing martyrdom, but others denied the divinity of Jesus. Some Church Fathers even wrote literary works propounding that Jesus is the Son of God but not God Himself.
Recently, many theologians have begun supporting religious pluralism. Their claims are that people can be saved from sin and enter Heaven even if they believe in different religions other than Christianity. Catholicism is the first that declared such a creed publicly. The reason why these nominal Christians support such a standpoint is because they themselves do not believe that Jesus is God Himself and the Creator. They want to believe in Him as the Word speaks, but they cannot construct this true faith upon such a false teaching. They are the foolish men who built their houses on the sand (Matthew 7:26). They love to learn everything from other religions. For example, some western churches are practicing Buddhist meditation programs once a week. From a humanistic point of view, such a program seems beautiful and more progressive. But anyone who does not believe that Jesus is God Himself cannot be saved from sin.
How about you? How do you believe? Genesis 1:1-3 states, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” God created the heavens and the earth through His Word in the beginning. The Word has existed from the very beginning, and this Word is God Himself. Therefore, the world was made through Jesus Christ, the incarnation of the Word (1 John 1:1, John 1:10). This means that Jesus Christ is none other than God Himself, God of the Word. Jesus Christ is the Creator who made this universe and the Savior who came to this earth to save us. It is only right for us to believe that this Jesus Christ is God Himself who forsook the throne of the glory of Heaven and personally came to this earth in the flesh of a man.
Through His servants, God Himself had prophesied about the coming of the Messiah, and according to these prophecies the Savior was conceived in the body of the Virgin Mary and incarnated into the flesh of a man. That is, the One who was conceived and born through a human body is God Himself. And when He turned 30, as the High Priest of Heaven, He took all our sins and the sins of the entire mankind upon His own body by being baptized. He then died on the Cross, rose from the dead, and has thereby saved us perfectly from all our sins. Jesus, in other words, has become our true and everlasting Savior.
In His fundamental essence, Jesus is God Himself who is equal to God the Father. For us, this Jesus who is fundamentally equal to God the Father is the same God. The Father of Jesus Christ is also God for us, and so is Jesus Christ Himself. Why? Because the world was made through Him, and through Him we were also made as human beings. God said in Genesis 1:26, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” When God made man in His image, Jesus Christ was there. He is the One who made us. It is He who made us and it is He who has saved us from sin. Jesus Christ who came to save us is our true Savior. Because Jesus Christ has given us salvation, and because He is also God Himself, we believe Him to be the Lord of our salvation. As such, you and I should no longer wander around in our confusion, but in our hearts we must believe in the Lord God who came by the gospel of the water and the Spirit as the Savior.
There are people who keep insisting that they are God’s children even as their hearts still remain sinful. Can they really be God’s people even when their hearts have sin? Can they go to Heaven even when their hearts remain sinful? Of course not! It does not matter whether they are Christians or not; if they have not received the remission of sins because of their ignorance of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, none of them can enter Heaven. Yet in Christian communities throughout this whole world, there are so many people who have this kind of faith.
Who then must spread the correct and true gospel of the water and the Spirit to such people? We—that is, you and I—must make the right judgment for them and preach the gospel truth of the water and the Spirit to them. The gospel manifested in the Tabernacle is not the kind of truth that should be preached only once or twice and then given up entirely. It is the Truth of the real salvation that must continue to be spread until the day our Lord returns.
Do you know this gospel of the water and the Spirit that enables you to receive the remission of sins? If people have sin, then they are not the children of God. They must have the faith that believes in the gospel truth of salvation which is manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread used for the Tabernacle as its materials. We must spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit until the end of the world. Are we too embarrassed to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit? In the old days, when God told His servants, “Go out and continue to prophesy,” then they continued to do so, and when God told Isaiah, “Go prophesy naked,” he went out and prophesied naked (Isaiah 20:2-5). Only when we preach this gospel of the water and the Spirit as it is manifested in the Tabernacle to all people can they escape from the wrath of God. This is why we must continue to spread the gospel.
How about you? Do your hearts in fact have the Word of faith that brings you true salvation? When people throughout the world do not have the Word of the remission of sins and still belong to Satan, how could you just sit still and do nothing? You cannot just sit around. There are many partners of ours all around the world. They clearly believe in the gospel of the remission of sins, the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Some of them have confessed to us that they were persecuted when they spoke of the gospel of the water and the Spirit to their colleagues. They have braved it out against the opponents of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, saying, “You are not God’s people because you still have sin in your hearts. You are heading for hell because of your filthy sins owing to your unbelief in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Now I cannot call you ‘brother,’ even though you call me ‘my brother’, for I am not a sinner like you anymore.”
We have never led them to act such a way, but the Holy Spirit in them leads them what to do. There is no need for you to be intimidated, for you have in your hearts the gospel of the water and the Spirit that constitutes the standard based upon which you are able to judge all others. This ability to correctly discern others’ remission of sins has been accrued to you because you have believed in the gospel of the Truth manifested especially in the Tabernacle. We must stand before God with the faith in the Truth that with these three threads of the blue, purple, and scarlet colors, the Lord has saved us from all our sins and made us righteous.
Let Us Use the Correct Measuring Rod of Salvation
We call the Word of God the ‘canon.’ The word ‘canon’ derives from the Hebrew term qaneh and the Greek term kanon, both of which refer to a measuring rod. When we need to measure something, then we have to use a ruler or a measuring rod to measure it correctly. Like this, when we need to discern someone’s spiritual status, that is, whether a person has been born again or not, then we have to investigate that person with the measuring rod of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen. Like a tailor using his ruler to measure the size of his customers, we must investigate whether or not that person has indeed been saved from sin. The way to do this is with the truth manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen. Based on this Word of God, in other words, we must select every aspect of the person’s faith and clearly distinguish what falls below its standard and what exceeds it.
In particularly, we need to inspect our faith thoroughly with the measuring rod of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, that is, the gospel of the water and the Spirit. If someone believes in Jesus only of the purple and scarlet thread, then their salvation cannot be approved by God like the royal priests of His Church. Whoever wants to be remitted of his sins must believe in the whole truth of salvation manifested in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread. We must all believe that Jesus came to this earth to save all humankind from sin, took upon all our sins by being baptized, died on the Cross, rose from the dead again, and has thereby become our true Savior. All of us must have this standard of right judgment. It is based on the Word of God so that we can decide whether people are sinners or righteous. We cannot do this based on our own knowledge and emotions in an ad hoc fashion. This work is necessary for the spiritual priests to carry out their duty of giving the sin offering for their people.
Now in this age, you and I must judge all the people of the world with such a correct standard. The same standard applies equally to all, to our children, wives, husbands, fathers and mothers, in-laws and grandchildren. We must discern the faith of others with the Word of God. Those who have become priests must place the measuring rod of judgment to everyone’s heart. “Do you know and believe in Jesus’ truth of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen? If you believe like this, then you are saved, but if not, then you are not saved.” Render a clear judgment like this is the right thing for us to do.
If this is what the High Priest did before, then you and I who have become today’s spiritual priests must also do this without failure. If we do not do what we have to do as His priests, then we can never avoid being rebuked by God. Some people say, “That’s not the way to evangelize someone. This is how you evangelize! If we were all to evangelize people like you, who would ever believe in Jesus?”
In theology, there is a training course called ‘the Art of Evangelism.’ It provides a how-to guide for evangelization. Once, the term ‘Friendship evangelism’ was a phrase on every preacher’s lips in this field. Its adherents still teach that when we try to evangelize people, we must befriend them first and then gradually lead them to church. They are right. They also say that when the person decides to believe in Jesus by their evangelical efforts, then they make that person repeat the so-called prayer of receiving Jesus, so that Christ would come into that person’s heart and he or she would be saved.
But what is the final result of this approach? Do the sins disappear from the hearts of such new converts then? This is not the case. They go to church, but they still have sin—in other words, the new converts have only become another religious practitioner of Christianity. Having thus made such people believe in Jesus, they then make them give tithes or thanksgiving offerings. In the end, although they have become Christians, they cannot escape from the judgment of God, for they still have sin.
They tell us that our method of gospel spreading is wrong, saying, “How can you ask people if they have sin or not when you have just met them? How can you raise the issue of salvation so quickly, rendering your judgment on whether they are saved or not, when you barely know them?” Of course, we need to give some consideration to what they say, because the soul we want to save has a personality that can be easily hurt by our lips. But sooner or later, we must preach the gospel of salvation to unbelievers we are in touch with. No matter how closely we befriend them, since we must preach the gospel to them sooner or later, we cannot fail to make a chance to preach the gospel by faith. Why? It is because if we do not tell them about this Truth to the end, then we would not be spreading the gospel properly.
Therefore, we must ask all people, whether in the beginning or the end of our conversation for evangelism, “Do you have sin in your heart?” If the answer is yes, then we must preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to them. Of course, we can be rebuked by them for our seemingly aggressiveness. But because we are the spiritual priests after all, we must remember that it is our solemn duty to sound the gospel trumpet of the water and the Spirit to all people clearly.
One Lord, One Baptism, and One God
We have been remitted of all our sins, and the purpose of our life lies in spreading the gospel throughout the world. As we have been given the same duties of the evangelists who preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we work together. Why are we doing this? Because we believe in the same God, we have received the same eternal life, and we will enjoy the same glory. We are all different from one another, each with our own personalities and characters, but the reason why we set ourselves aside and unite together with each other is to lead our lives only for God.
God has put the breastplate of judgment over the hearts of those who have become today’s priests. And the breastplate was to be fastened “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” (Exodus 28:28). This phrase emphasizes once again how indispensable the baptism of Jesus is in every judgment we make. So, the Apostle Paul also declare the importance of Jesus’ baptism, saying, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Ephesians 4:4-5).
We have the responsibility to judge whether people’s souls are saved or not based on whether they believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And to those who are yet to receive the remission of sins, we must preach the gospel, and for those who have received the remission of sins, we must give them recognition and help them grow in their faith. When we have been remitted from sin, is it right for us to put on the breastplate of judgment spiritually or not? Put differently, is it right for us to avoid the correct judgment of salvation on someone? This is not right. We must spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole wide world to everyone who have as yet not been saved.
Then, Are We Perfect in Our Flesh?
When we judge sinners, it is not their acts that we are judging. Rather, it is with the light of this true gospel and the righteousness of God that we discern them. What is the true light for them? Becoming God’s children by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is this light for them. The children of God are the light for this world. Does this then mean that those who have been wholly remitted of sin are perfect in their acts? In their hearts, of course, they are perfect. But in their flesh, they are utterly insufficient.
In our flesh, we are all selfish, evil, insufficient and weak, but before God we are His perfect people. Are those whose acts are insufficient but who believe in the gospel of the water and the Sprit God’s children or not? We who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are the children of God whose salvation is perfect spiritually. In other words, it is not the acts of those who have received the remission of sins by believing in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread that is perfect, but it is their salvation that is perfect. Because our faith that has saved us is whole, we can commune with one another in God’s grace. And because we reach our decision with the exact truth of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, our faith and our judgment are never flawed.
God has told us to place this standard of judgment over the hearts of priests always. We must embrace all the people of this world in our hearts. We must embrace their souls, pray for them, and actually spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit to them. This is why we must always have the breastplate of judgment in our hearts. And today and tomorrow, we must always judge all sinners as sinful in order to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to them.
It is my sincere desire that this truth of faith is found in your hearts. If this truth is in your hearts, it means that the right to judge all has been given to you. Believe in this Word of truth. Make your judgment always based on the Word of God in this way, and at all times believe in and spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit with all your heart.
Every day, I remember this breastplate of judgment in my heart, judge everything before God, and continue to spread the gospel. Repetition, in fact, is an extremely effective means of spreading the gospel. How forgettable we are! Pedagogists insist that the education by repetition is the most traditional and effective way of education. A linguist once asserted that a baby can sound a word correctly by repeating the word over one thousand times. Likewise, when we continuously and repeatedly spread the Word of the truth of the water and the Spirit, it gets engraved in our hearts. I have written this gospel Truth over and over again so that when people read our books they may come to reach a clear understanding of the truth of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen, and to believe in it. That’s why we continue to preach this gospel Truth.
Brothers and sisters, we the saints must confess our faith to each other. When we confess our faith and share God’s grace with each other, our hearts can truly commune with one another, and any mistaken knowledge or misunderstandings that we might have had can be corrected and rectified. And it is through this that we can grow spiritually. As our faith grows, our lives of faith also move forward. Just how many times have we thought wrong? Just how much of our previous knowledge had been flawed? And how much of it had been only theoretical in reality? All the beliefs that we had before we came to know the gospel of the water and the Spirit were merely theoretical.
The Apostle Paul said that anyone who preaches any other gospel than the gospel that he had would be accursed (Galatians 1:9). Paul also said that he counted all that he knew apart from the truth of God as rubbish. However, in today’s Christianity, those who only boast about their own rubbish religious knowledge become powerful.
Because we who have been saved through the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen commune with one another, we can unite together with our hearts. And we are not ashamed of this gospel of the water and the Spirit, for this Truth has delivered us from the eternal punishment of hell. Rather, we cannot help but preach the gospel Truth which is hidden in the blue, purple, and scarlet thread to the end of the world without hesitation. This mission is what we have to do urgently.
When I first came to realize that this gospel of the water and the Spirit is the only Truth, I was greatly shocked. “Ah, this is it! This is it and yet I had not known it until now. Do Christians throughout the world know this? Do theologians speak of it?” I wish that there had been someone among the theologians who knew and spoke of this Truth. So I investigated all the theological branches in Christianity as long as I could to find out if there was a slight trace of the gospel of water and the Spirit in them, but it was all in vain.
So the very first prayer that I gave after realizing this gospel Truth was this: “Lord, I believe in this gospel of the water and the Spirit. I believe that You took upon all my sins by being baptized, died on the Cross, rose from the dead again, and that You have now saved me. But Lord, all the people of this whole wide world do not know this Truth yet. Let me spread this Truth throughout the entire world. Allow me to preach Your original gospel just as it is.”
It is a wonderful blessing that I have met you, my fellow workers. It is much better to meet a few truth-seekers who are looking for God, to preach the truth of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen to them, and to believe in Him and serve with them together like this, than to meet and teach a thousand people who neither listen to nor believe in the Word of God. I am so thankful to God since you all believe in His Word!
Truly, few in the world are as happy as you and me. Who in this world has as many genuine brothers and sisters as we do? All these things have really come from the God of truth. When God has given us such precious blessings, when God has given us such precious salvation, and when God has entrusted us with such a precious priesthood, how could we not work for His gospel, how could we not judge sinners, and how could we not spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit? When we are spreading the gospel, how could we not separate those who have received the remission of sins from those who have not? As God separated light from darkness when He created the heavens and the earth, we also separate sinners from the righteous clearly. God is not pleased when we mingle the truth with falsehood. And so He says, “You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the yield of the seed which you have sown and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled. You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together” (Deuteronomy 22:9-11). That’s why we have to separate the sinners, and make judgment for them clearly.
Now is the time for those who have heard the Word of God to believe it as the truth even if it does not suit their preferences. Those who believe in the Word of God become the light of world in His grace, but those who do not believe cannot escape from darkness. It is because we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we have become the Urim and the Thummim, that is, ‘light and perfect.’ We have become the ones who have been wholly saved from sin in God.
Have you wholly become God’s children by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? We are now leading our lives doing the works of the royal priesthood, all thanks to Jesus Christ who has become the King of kings to this world. I thank God for giving us this gospel of salvation. I pray that God would enable us to successfully carry out our duties of the royal priesthood while we remain on this earth.
Hallelujah! I praise our God forever.
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