Англійська 21
Rev. Paul C. Jong
Хоча пандемія Covid-19 вже закінчилася, все ще існують труднощі з надсиланням або отриманням наших друкованих книг поштою, зумовлені різними складними міжнародними ситуаціями. Ми будемо знову надсилати друковані книги, коли міжнародна ситуація покращиться і поштова доставка нормалізується.
Firstly, I want to thank God for the gospel of the water and the Spirit that has made me sinless through Rev. Paul C Jong`s books. After reading the book. `The relationship between the ministry of Jesus and that of John the Baptist recorded in the four Gospels,` I came to realize the true gospel according to the Scriptures. The book illustrates in detail that John as a priest, who was born in the lineage of priesthood from the tribe of the Levites (Luke 1:5), was sent by God to represent us human beings and then transfer all our sins onto Jesus, the lamb of God (John 1:29), thereby fulfilling all righteousness (Mathews 3:15-17) by making us, who believe, become righteous before God. And because of those sins which Jesus took from John the Baptist, He died on the Cross for the propitiation of our sins once and for all (Romans 6:23), and because of this boundless love of God we have been saved. Believing and trusting that Jesus took all our sins when He was baptized and paid for them when He was crucified is embracing the love, grace, and mercy of God.
I thank God for this salvation revealed to me through the gospel of the water and the Spirit explained in this book. For I now worship God with a pure conscience (1 peter 3:22).
Chigadu Chunga, Zambia
If we wish to believe in Jesus Christ properly, we must first know the ministry of John the Baptist. The role of John the Baptist is so important in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The ministry of John the Baptist bridged the gap between the Old Testament and New Testament. So it is wrong if we leave out the ministry of John the Baptist while believing in Jesus Christ.
Through this book, everyone in the world will be able to know and believe in the ministry of John the Baptist, so that their faith in Jesus Christ will become fruitful. The simple reason why many Christians still have sins in their hearts even though they believe in Jesus Christ is because they did not know about the role of John the Baptist in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. These Christians belittle or completely ignore the duty John the Baptist fulfilled in the New Testament.
It’s time for them to meet the Truth by reading this book John the Baptist and Jesus Christ together fulfilled the gospel of the water and the Spirit. God promised that He would send Elijah prior to the coming of His dreadful day (Malachi 3:5). And this Elijah is none other than John the Baptist. John the Baptist was sent from God the Father, he was born six months before the birth of Jesus Christ. And God filled him with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb. This is to enable him to fulfill his duty as the representative of the world and the Last High Priest that passed the sins of the world unto Jesus Christ, and to bear witness and turn the hearts of the people back God.
Concerning John the Baptist, it’s written in Luke 1:77 “To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins,” John the Baptist was the one who witnessed the way of salvation to us. After baptizing Jesus Christ, he saw Him the next day and witnessed “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John could boldly tell people that Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God who received the sins of the world through the laying of his hands during baptism because he passed the sins of the world to the head of Jesus Christ through the baptism he gave to Him. Just like the priests in Old Testament passed the yearly sins of the people of Israel by laying their hands on the head of the sacrificial animals.
John the Baptist could witnessed Jesus Christ boldly because he actually passed everyone’s sins to Jesus, even his own sins were passed unto Jesus. So John the Baptist had a first hand experience of his sins being passed onto Jesus Christ, he also experienced “the times of refreshing” (Acts 3:19) that all the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit experience from the moment we first encountered the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It means that John the Baptist himself also experienced how his own sins were transferred to Jesus Christ when he baptized Him.
So in the very next day after he baptized Jesus, he said boldly “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” like John the Baptist, we the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are also bearing witness that the sins of the world were passed onto Jesus Christ because we have also seen how our own sins actually disappeared from our hearts after putting our faith in the baptism that John the Baptist gave Jesus. Therefore, it is written in the Bible that John the Baptist came to us in the way of righteousness, “For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him” (Matthew 21:32). This means that John the Baptist came in a way to make everyone righteous by baptizing Jesus Christ. All the sins of world went over to Jesus Christ when John baptized Him. So there is no longer any sins left in this world, Jesus has accepted them all through His baptism.
During the time Jesus was in the world, only the tax collectors, harlots and sinners believed that their sins were passed to Jesus when John baptized Him. But Pharisees and Sadducees did not believe, because they could not let go their own human righteousness. Like this, the gospel of the water and the Spirit is accepted and believed by those who recognize their sinful selves. But those who do not know their sins, cannot but reject this gospel even if they come across it several times. God the Father sent both Jesus Christ and John the Baptist. Together these two servants fulfilled the gospel of the water and the Spirit in the New Testament.
While John the Baptist is human being like everyone of us, Jesus Christ on the other hand is God Himself. He is not a creature but the Creator Himself, who was conceived in the flesh of man in AD 1 and was baptized at the age of 30 to have the sins of the world passed onto Him, and paid the price of the sins through His death on the Cross. Through the ministry of baptism that John the Baptist administered, the sins of world were transferred to Jesus Christ. The baptism John gave to Jesus Christ is different from the one he gave to the Israelites. Because Jesus Christ is God who has no sins, He could not receive the same baptism that the people of Israel received from the hand of John the Baptist at the Jordan River while confessing their sins.
Jesus had no sins to confess because He has not committed any sins. When He was teaching the people He asked “Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?”(John 8:46), no one could convict Jesus of any sins not even Pilate! When Jesus Christ was brought up to the court of Pilate, after examining the case, Pilate said to them, “You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him;”(Luke 23:24).
Like this, Jesus Christ had no sins to receive the same baptism that the people of Israel received from the hand of John the Baptist. His baptism is completely different, His baptism was the one that allows the righteousness of God to be fulfilled. His baptism made it possible for everyone to be without sins. All of us must know the relationship between the ministry of both Jesus Christ and John the Baptist. Only when we properly grab their ministry can we be truly be saved from sins. The faith that believes only in the blood of Jesus Christ while leaving out the baptism that John the Baptist gave Him is a false faith that turns Christianity into religion one’s own making. True faith is the one that believes in both the baptism that John the Baptist gave to Jesus and the blood He shed on the Cross as well as His resurrection.
If Christians scattered around the world would read this book they would be able to believe in Jesus Christ by first understanding the ministry of John the Baptist. God sent His messenger who prepared the way of salvation before the Lord, that messenger is John the Baptist, he was the one that cried out in the wilderness for the people of Israel to abandon their idols and return to the true Jehovah God. He turned the hearts of the disobedient people of Israel back to God, just as the Elijah of Old Testament single-handedly defeated 850 heathen prophets of Baal and Asherah at Mt. Carmel and turned the hearts of the Israelites back to Jehovah God. Through John the Baptist, all sinners could properly meet their true Saviour and receive the remission of their sins.
I hope and pray that those who still do not know the ministry of John the Baptist while believing in Jesus Christ blood of the Cross, would come to know the ministry of John the Baptist that passed the sins of the world onto the body of Jesus Christ by reading this book. We all could also experience that times of refreshing that come from the presence of the Lord by passing all our hearts sins onto Jesus Christ through our faith in His baptism! Amen!
It is time to conclude this series. I believe these are the points of this series:-
1 I wonder if believers have considered the truth that if John the Baptist was not sent, whether the work of Jesus to cleanse believers from sins would ever have begun? As we know all the works of God are done in righteousness, hence by the agreement of the Godhead, according to 1Jn.5:7-9. Since the Father had set the blueprint for our salvation, this in essence is in line with His righteousness and the knowledge of the His messenger, John the Baptist cannot be excluded from the plan of God. This is the reason why the series began by stating " You Must Know and Believe in the Ministry of John the Baptist." The Ministry of the New life Mission is truly blessed, that through the working of the Holy Spirit we have received these scriptures which has shown us for a truth that it was expedient for the Father to send us His Messenger, John the Baptist. You must go through these bible verses to discover for yourselves this truth:- Mark 1:1-2; Matt. 11:10-11; 1Chronicles 24: 1-19; Lev. 16:29-34; Luke.1:5; Mal. 4:5-6; Matt.3:15; Lev. 16:21; Heb.10:1; Isa.40:3; Matt.21:32 and Jn.1:6-7. All these scriptures show us the righteousness of God in all His works. For me it is clear from the word of God that the messenger of God had to come in conjunction with His Son Jesus Christ to fulfil all the righteousness of God. For this reason we must know and believe the Ministry of John the Baptist also. The church of Jesus Christ must therefore teach this to believers so that believers can walk with God by the correct faith and not blind faith, because our God is a God of purpose. By this we conclude that John the Baptist is a servant of God sent by the Father, and we cannot ignore his importance because his act and testimony of Jesus helps us to believe the gospel the water and the Spirit, the righteousness of God.
2 The gospel of Matt.11:1-14 is not to be regarded as depicting John the Baptist as a failure; rather it was the subtle way by which the holy spirit by the will of the Father could introduce John`s disciples to Jesus. The reason being that the scripture has said " John must decrease and Christ to increase." We must realize that even Jesus testified " Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." This testimony of Jesus is not about someone who had doubts as to whether Jesus is the son of God. It was the working of the Father to enable John`s disciples to follow Jesus. Remember the word of God in Isa.55:8-9? His ways are higher than ours. Check the following scriptures:-Matt. 11:1-14; Matt. 3:17; Jn.3:30; Jn.1:40; Isa.7:14; Isa.53:5Matt.3:2-3; Lk.4:28-30; Gal.3:27. In this scripture in Matt.11:1-14, we saw Jesus transfigured pointing to the way saints of God would be on the that day, something which the three disciples did not understand. Jesus said some wonderful things about John the Baptist in the way of testimony. In reality John the Baptist came by the will of the Father so that both could fulfil all the righteousness of God, which was accomplished in the baptism which Jesus received from John, thus passing the sins of the world to Jesus. This messenger of God came so that he could prepare the way for Jesus to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and vice versa. Our Lord is described in the scriptures as the Refiner`s fire to purify the church of God, and there shall be no power in the whole this universe who could stand in the way of Him completing the task which the Fathers gave to Him. But we have realise that without the ministry of John the Baptist also, this task would not have been accomplished.
3 We who have come to believe the gospel of the water and the Spirit now know the reason why Jesus had to receive a baptism, to receive the sins of the world. We also know that he came through the lineage of Aaron the high priest, and that his father Zacharias prophesied that he was the prophet of the highest which confirms Jesus` testimony that he is greater than all men born of women. This therefore, confirms to believers that God had sent him as the last high priest of the old testament to work together with His son Jesus so that they could both fulfil their respective ministries.
We can therefore conclude that this was the wisdom of God to overcome the enemy of the gospel because God`s ways are higher than our ways. We can see from the teaching which God has opened to the whole world through the New life Mission and such denomination who understand this gospel; there can be no other way of enabling the full understanding of the way of leading true believers to God without the understanding of the relationship between the ministry of Jesus and that of John the Baptist. We must therefore enjoy our fellowship with the Lord through the truth given to us in this series especially. We must also walk in obedience of God`s word, in the faith of the righteousness of God. This is the only way to glorify God by coming to Him in righteousness. A-men.