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Subject 13 : The Gospel According to MATTHEW
[Chapter 27] The Veil of the Temple Was Torn in Two From Top to Bottom (Matthew 27:45-54)
(Matthew 27:45-54)
“Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’ Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, ‘This Man is calling for Elijah!’ Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink. The rest said, ‘Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.’ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’”
“Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’ Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, ‘This Man is calling for Elijah!’ Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink. The rest said, ‘Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.’ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’”
In today’s Scriptural passage, it is recorded that “the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” when Jesus Christ died. God’s sanctuary is a small room where the Ark of the Covenant was placed. That was the place that God came to and bestowed grace. In Old Testament times, once a year, the High Priest took the blood of the sacrifice, entered the sanctuary, and Israel received the remission of the sins they had committed over the past year by the High Priest sprinkling the blood seven times above the Ark of the Covenant and on the east side of it.
• The sanctuary was the place that God came to and bestowed grace.
• No one could enter the House of God without blood and the laying on of the hands.
• So, when was the veil of the Temple torn? The veil of the Temple was torn when Jesus shed His blood and died on the Cross having already come to this earth as a man and He had already at a prior time received His baptism in the Jordan River.
Jesus came to this earth, took all of the sins of sinners upon Himself by receiving baptism from John the Baptist in the Jordan River, carried all of those sins upon Himself and went to the Cross, and ended the judgment of our sins by shedding His blood. So, the veil of the Temple was torn at that time upon Jesus’ death. In God’s Temple, the veil that was hung between the sanctuary and Most Holy Place being torn meant that the wall of sin that had separated God and the people was eliminated. Since Jesus came to this earth and received the transference of the sins of the world through His baptism, since He died instead of us having to die according to the Bible when it says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), the sin that cut mankind off from God was eliminated, and, therefore, God tore the veil. Since Jesus gave the remission of sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the way to enter Heaven is open to anyone through faith.
When Jesus died on the Cross, darkness came for three hours to the place where He was. Jesus bore all of the sins of the world upon Himself by being baptized in the Jordan River. And, while dying after being nailed to the Cross to atone for those sins, He said, “‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” Afterwards, He cried out with a loud voice, prayed, and His spirit departed.
Was Jesus Forsaken by the Father?
No. When Jesus said, “My God, why have You forsaken Me,” it was because it was so agonizing when He received the judgment of sin on the Cross after carrying all of the sins of mankind through John’s baptism that He felt like God had forsaken Him; it wasn’t that He actually had been forsaken by God. Of course, Jesus suffered the Father averting His eyes for a short time. Why? That is because Jesus took all of the sins of mankind upon Himself by receiving His baptism at the hands of John the Baptist. That is because Jesus who had taken upon Himself the world’s sins could save mankind from all of their sins only by suffering His death on the Cross in order to pay off the wages of all those sins. So, He was in pain for a short time.
• Jesus was not forsaken.
• The hardship that Jesus suffered was atoning pain for us who believe.
• And the Lord’s last cry was an exclamation of the judgment of sin.
• But Jesus took all of our sins upon Himself and received the punishment of sin instead of us on the Cross.
• Because He suffered pain, we who would have had to be forsaken by God received salvation from sin.
When our Lord left this earth, when He cried on the Cross, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,” and died, the veil of the Temple was torn from the top to the bottom at the same time. The Lord opened the door of Heaven to us so that we could enter through His water and blood. I am thankful for this part before our Lord. That is because the door to Heaven was firmly closed up until right before the Lord died, but He came to this earth, received His baptism in the Jordan River to take all the sins of people who had become sinners, died on the Cross, and rescued us from sin. The door of Heaven was firmly closed up until Jesus completed the salvation of mankind and eliminated all of our sins. People of the Old Testament age also received the remission of sins by believing in the Messiah to come. But the time that God actually opened the door of Heaven was when the Lord received His baptism in the Jordan River, shed His blood on the Cross, and died.
I am thankful to the Lord because of the fact that the veil of the Temple was torn from the top to the bottom when He died. The event signifies our Lord taking all of the sins of the world through His baptism He received in the Jordan River, receiving the judgment of God the Father by shedding His blood on the Cross, and cleansing mankind of sin. The Temple veil having been torn from the top to the bottom is proof that the Lord completed our salvation so that everyone who believes in the water and the blood can now enter Heaven. The Lord enabled anyone to enter Heaven who believed in the salvation that was already accomplished through the righteous act of Jesus: He took upon Himself all of the sins of sinners when He came to this earth, and He paid off all the wages of those sins by shedding His blood on the Cross. Therefore, the veil of the Temple was torn from the top to the bottom when Jesus died on the Cross and completed the salvation of mankind for the last time. Heaven is the place where only those who believe in the gospel of the water, the blood, and the Spirit accomplished by Jesus can enter into an eternal relationship with God.
I cannot thank God enough for this. No one can enter Heaven through his own strength, merits, or power. But the Lord opened the door to Heaven so that whoever believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit may enter. That’s why I cannot give thanks enough to God. Since the Lord who received His baptism in the Jordan River opened the door of Heaven by hanging on the Cross, we are able to enter the Kingdom of God by believing in the perfect salvation that Jesus completed and by being cleansed of our sins all at once. I am very thankful for the salvation of the Lord who enabled me to enter Heaven. I am very thankful for the gospel of the water and the Spirit that enables everyone to receive the remission of sins. I am very thankful for the Lord opening the door of Heaven and allowing anyone who just believes to enter Heaven.
What Is the Method to Enter Heaven?
• People go to Heaven through faith in the blood and baptism of Jesus.
• Only by faith in one’s heart in the work that Jesus did do entitles people to go to Heaven.
• God has allowed only people to come to Heaven who believe in Jesus through the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
• We cannot enter Heaven through our donations, devotion, or hypocritical merits. Only people who believe in the baptism Jesus received, the blood He shed, that He is God, the Son of God, and God the Savior who saved them from sin can enter Heaven.
• The only method to be able to enter Heaven is faith in Jesus and the salvation that He completed.
Entering Heaven is only possible by faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Nothing else is required for one to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. There is no need for anything else besides the perfect faith that believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and enables us to receive the remission of sins. There is no need for sacrifice, virtuous deeds, lots of donations, or anything else to enter Heaven. On the contrary, human merits and goodness are stumbling blocks. We must abandon those things that hinder us from entering Heaven. The only thing that we need is to have faith in the baptism that Jesus received at the Jordan River and His blood that cleansed our sins, or in other words, the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
The grace and love of the salvation of the Lord is truly magnificent. Since the Lord loves mankind, He opened the door to Heaven by receiving His baptism in the Jordan River and shedding His blood and dying on the Cross so that anyone who just believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit could enter Heaven. That’s why we cannot help but praise God: “The Lord has opened the door to Heaven instead of me! He has remitted all my sins by receiving baptism in this way and shedding His blood on the Cross out of His love for me!” Now, whoever believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the gospel of Jesus’ baptism and His blood that He accomplished, can enter Heaven by faith.
It is really not a difficult thing for a sinner to believe in Jesus as his Savior. Anyone receives salvation when he believes in the fact that Jesus who is God came to this earth by being conceived of the Spirit and completely eliminated our sins through the baptism He received from John the Baptist in the Jordan River and the blood He shed on the Cross. There is only one thing necessary to have true faith. The premise of true faith is to know and believe in the Truth of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the Word of God. The Truth that is absolutely essential is the Truth of the water and the blood, and only by knowing and believing in this Truth do people receive salvation from sin. “And you shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.”
The reason that God was able to open the door of Heaven wide from the top to the bottom was because our Lord came to this earth, received His baptism, shed His blood and died on the Cross and on the third day after His death, was brought back to life. God opened the door to Heaven through His atoning sacrifice for the remission of our sins. The Lord knows everything about us: He knows when we were all born and also what all of the sins are that we will commit. Since He is the Lord that knows us so well, He took all of our sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the baptism He received and His blood.
What Is the Meaning of Jesus’ Name?
The name “Jesus” means “Savior.” Jesus Christ the Savior was born on this earth through the body of a virgin in order to save mankind from sin. The Lord came to this earth in order to become the Savior who saved all mankind from the sin inherited through Adam and Eve and from all of the sins committed in this world. Our Lord came to this world and when He turned 30, He received the transference of all of the sins of the world by receiving His baptism in the Jordan River, received the judgment instead of us on the Cross and completely saved all mankind. The Lord saved all mankind from sin through the water, the blood, and the Spirit (1 John 5:5-8). And those who believe in it would not receive the judgment of sin.
Whatever ignorance sinners were in, whatever weakness they were in, whatever sins they had committed, the water and the blood of Jesus show the power of salvation. Jesus paid the price of sin and death for all mankind through His baptism in the Jordan River and the blood He shed on the Cross so that any sinner could enter the Lord’s Kingdom of Heaven by faith. He has delivered you and me from sin and judgment. Therefore, all mankind may enter Heaven by faith in the salvation of Jesus, indebted for the merits of the Lord for opening the door to Heaven. This is the basic Truth of Christianity and it is unchangeable.
The Lord is God who became the Savior of the all of the sinners in the world. I am thankful to Jesus for allowing us to receive salvation from sin by faith. Since Jesus gave us salvation for free, no matter what sins we committed, no matter what kind of sinners we are, we can enter Heaven only through faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Since the Lord loved us who had been sinners so much, because He regarded sinners as really pitiful, He saved us through the gospel of the water, the blood, and the Spirit so that we could live forever in His Kingdom. Jesus saved us sinners through God’s just love. That’s why we have thankful hearts before the Lord. We cannot thank God enough because our ability to express ourselves logically is lacking, but since faith in the Truth of the salvation of the gospel of the water, the blood, and the Spirit is clearly in our hearts, we are very thankful. Since the Lord made those who believe in Him totally sufficient to enter Heaven, we have truly thankful hearts to Him. We have thankful hearts to the Lord who tore the veil of the Temple in two from top to bottom.
Did Jesus Pay the Price for All Our Sins?
• Yes. Jesus came to this earth incarnated in the flesh of man.
• And when He was 30, in order to eliminate all the sins of mankind, Jesus received His baptism that fulfills the love of God from John the Baptist in the Jordan River and took upon Himself all of the sins of mankind. Therefore, He cleansed the sins of those who believe through water or, in other words, His baptism.
• And He shed His blood on the Cross and saved from all sin everyone who believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit or, in other words, the gospel of the water and the blood.
• Jesus is the true God (1 John 5:20). “And we know the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” Therefore, He can give us an eternal life with God.
How Could He Pay the Price of Our Sins?
The event of the veil in the Temple being torn, in other words, the opening of the door to the Temple of Heaven, happened about 2000 years ago. 2000 years ago, we hadn’t even been born yet. About 2000 years ago, our ancestors fifty generations back hadn’t even been born, but the Lord knew us. He knew that you would be born in the future; He also knew that you all would commit various sins with your personalities. And He saved you beforehand. The Lord loved me and not me only, but everyone the same. Jesus completely saved us all from sin in order for every sinner who believes in Jesus’ gospel of the water, the blood, and the Spirit to be able to enter Heaven. This is the power of the gospel that was accomplished through the baptism of Jesus and His blood of the Cross. Isn’t it surprising that the veil of the Temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom? How would be it possible for the veil of the Temple to tear if Jesus had not received His baptism from John the Baptist before He died on the Cross?
Let’s think about the pattern of the Tabernacle for a moment. The first thing that is visible is the gate of the court of the Tabernacle. It is a screen woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. If you enter through that screen gate, you come to the altar of the burnt offering, and then you see the laver. The Tabernacle is past the laver. The Tabernacle is the place where God abides that is divided into two rooms; the sanctuary and the Most Holy Place. You have to pass the sanctuary to enter the Most Holy Place.
The screen door of the Temple was also woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. If you pass the screen door of the Temple, you can face another veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen (Exodus 26:31) and it is woven with an artistic design of cherubim, angels. The veil was woven just like weave carpets in Palestine. To get an idea of how firmly it was assembled, Bible scholars say that the veil of the Temple would not tear even if its four corners were attached to four rings pulled by four strong horses. But it’s understandable that a veil that strong could be torn with a knife, but think of that tearing into two pieces automatically from the very top to the very bottom.
Why Was the Veil of the Temple Torn?
• Here is the answer: That is because Jesus received the transference of the world’s sins through His baptism and cleansed all of the sins of mankind with His blood.
• Also, that is because Jesus died on the Cross. That is because He opened the path for those who believed to enter Heaven by cleansing the sins of the world through His baptism and receiving judgment on the Cross. That was the justice of God. Therefore, the veil of the Temple was torn when Jesus shed His blood and died on the Cross having previously received His baptism. The Lord tore the veil of the Temple by saying, “Now just believe, and if you do, you can enter Heaven.”
Why was the veil of the Temple torn when our Lord died on the Cross? Inside of the Most Holy Place is located the Ark of the Covenant, and that is the place where God dwells. The lid that covered the Ark of the Covenant was made with one talent of gold. On both ends of the lid, cherubims with open wings faced one another. This lid of the Ark of the Covenant is called the mercy seat, and that place was the place where God came and bestowed grace. In other words, God came and met the people of Israel, gave the remission of sins and eternal life, and bestowed grace at this place.
Jesus receiving His baptism from John the Baptist in the Jordan River was in order to receive the transference of all of the sins of all of us. If the High Priest were to enter God’s Most Holy Place, he absolutely had to bring the blood of the sacrifice that took the sins by receiving the laying on of hands. Why did he have to take the blood in? That is because blood is life. Every sinner had to die because of his respective sin, but Jesus took charge of all of the sins of mankind by receiving His baptism in the Jordan River and carried them all to the Cross where He saved sinners from their sins by giving His life (blood) in their stead. The Lord paid the price for our sins with His life and saved us. That’s why he could enter the Most Holy Place only by taking blood with him. In other words, sinners can only enter before God by having faith in the water and the blood. When people go before God by faith in the water of Jesus’ baptism and the blood that He shed, no one receives judgment.
But the question is why was the veil of the Temple torn when Jesus died? When Jesus died, the veil of the Temple was torn completely in two. Jesus rescued all sinners from sin by shedding all of His blood on this earth to the last drop. So the path to meet God was opened. It was necessary for God to show that by tearing the veil of the Temple. Now we enter Heaven by faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. That is because we have been rescued from sin by faith in our hearts in the Lord who saved all sinners from sin by shedding His water and blood when He was pierced by one of the soldiers (John 19:34).
Now, no sinner need personally come to Jesus to lay hands on His head, or personally hang on the Cross and shed his blood to atone for his sins. Whoever believes in the baptism of Jesus who took all the sins of the world and in His blood (Spirit) that He shed on the Cross can enter the kingdom of Heaven. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the way to the Kingdom of Heaven. So when salvation was completely fulfilled, God Himself tore the veil of the Temple. The road to the Kingdom of Heaven is the gospel of the water and the Spirit. All mankind can enter Heaven if they only believe in the water and the blood of salvation, confessing, “Oh! Jesus received His baptism in my stead. Oh! Jesus paid the price of sin in my stead by shedding His blood and dying. He died in my stead on the Cross and received His baptism in the Jordan River in order to take upon Himself all of my sins.” We can enter Heaven only through faith in this Truth.
Brothers and sisters, you must have the gospel of the water and the blood to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Even though we didn’t die ourselves, Jesus shed His blood on the Cross and died in our stead. Jesus came to this earth as a Man for me, received His baptism in the Jordan River to save me, shed His blood and died for me on the Cross, was resurrected for me, and will come again for me. All these things that He has done were for us. Everything God did was for you. I hope you believe that. Jesus completely saved us all from sin by receiving His baptism and shedding His blood for you and me.
Was the Blood of Jesus’ Life Worth Life?
• Jesus’ blood was the price of life to save sinners from death.
• It gave those who believe new life.
• It was the end of the judgment for sin.
• It is proof that He gave His life twice.
• It was the price of life that rescued all sinners from sin.
The Lord gave us the water of His baptism. He also gave His blood. Jesus gave us the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
If you watch the last scenes of the movie Ben-Hur, there were thunders in the sky and rain started pouring down when Jesus was nailed to the Cross and died. Jesus’ lifeblood fell to the ground, and it started to flow to the lower places. Ben-Hur’s mother had contracted leprosy, but at the moment Jesus died on the Cross, the leprosy on her body was all cleansed. All sinners received salvation from sin by faith because Jesus came to this earth, received His baptism from John the Baptist in the Jordan River, took upon Himself all of the sins of sinners, and shed His blood and died on the Cross. This is the Truth. It is salvation. Brothers and sisters, all your, my, and mankind’s sins were cleansed thus, and all sinners can receive salvation and become righteous. The writer that wrote Ben-Hur witnessed through a symbolic touch of the healing miracle that Jesus eliminated all of our sins by dying on the Cross.
It is said that that writer actually believed that Jesus wasn’t a man that actually existed, and he was a person who researched material related to the Bible in order to prove that. But while he was collecting material in order to prove his assertion, the more he investigated into Jesus the more the materials only confirmed that He was an actual Person came to light, and he knelt before the Lord and came to believe all of the facts that He saved him. So, that writer came to write the masterpiece Ben-Hur and confess his faith through that book. In the last part of this book, he expresses artistically that Jesus’ blood ended the judgment of all his sins.
However, it wasn’t the case that Jesus saved us through only His blood on the Cross; to complete our salvation, He took all our sins by receiving His baptism in the Jordan River three years before He died on the Cross. Jesus received His baptism before we were even born. His reception of baptism was a just method in order to take all your and my sins, and His blood was life. The baptism of Jesus is the water that washed our sins and His blood is the Spirit. Why does Jesus’ blood stand for the Spirit in “the gospel of the water and the Spirit?” That is because Jesus is God. So, the baptism He received and the blood He shed constituted the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Were All of Mankind’s Sins Washed through the Baptism That Jesus Received?
• Yes. That is because Jesus received baptism from John the Baptist in order to fulfill all righteousness.
• If you remove the baptism Jesus received from His public life, His life would have been a failure.
• Jesus received baptism in order to take upon Himself the sins of the world.
• Jesus received baptism from the representative of mankind, John the Baptist, and received the transference of sin.
• Jesus receiving baptism and saving sinners were parts of the will of God.
• Jesus received the transference of sins, cleansed sin, died in the place of sinners, and saved His believers from sin.
Jesus could receive the transference of all the sins of mankind by receiving baptism. “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). Jesus receiving baptism in the Jordan River was in order for Him to take upon Himself all of the sins of us sinners, and Jesus dying on the Cross was you and me dying as the paid wages of our sins.
Brothers and sisters, we didn’t see that scene with our eyes. We don’t know what happened 2000 years ago. But God shows all mankind not only what happened in the past, but also the future world that will be realized in the Bible that was recorded by His servants. Therefore, everyone must know and believe the fact through the Bible that “Jesus received His baptism in the Jordan River in order to eliminate all of our sins by taking them on His body.” All of us must become people who believe in our hearts in the salvation of the water and the blood of Jesus. The Lord said that He saves people who believe in the Word of God even though they couldn’t see it with their eyes. God tore the veil of the Temple as Jesus died on the Cross so that anyone who believes the fact that Jesus saved them in this manner may be able to enter Heaven.
The Lord pulled down the wall of sin that blocked God and man. He pulled down the wall of sin so anyone who believed in the Word in his heart could enter the Kingdom of God unhindered. I am thankful to our Lord who enabled us to enter Heaven if we only believe in the Word. Are you thankful, also? Yes. Our Lord has saved you and me through the water of His baptism He received and the Spirit of His blood.
Did Jesus Save Us Sinners Even If We Didn’t Know?
I, too, was a sinner who didn’t know Jesus well. I didn’t know Jesus well because I was born into a Buddhist family. My family believed in Buddhism and in Taegukdo, a mix of several religions, and they went on to believe in various strange religions. How could someone from such a family as that learn about Jesus? While in those conditions, one day I came across something called the Bible and read it. Actually, it was a Gospel Book of the New Testament. I read the Book and it talked about how Jesus loved and saved me. That was the start of my religious life. Back at that time, I didn’t know the reason for His being baptized by John the Baptist.
But, when I came to know the reason why Jesus was baptized first, it was a great impact on my soul. “Jesus received baptism, shed His blood, and died because of my sins? The truth is that I didn’t really care about Jesus, I never believed in Him, I never made any donations, and on the contrary, I had persecuted people who believed in Jesus. Why would Jesus care about me to come for me, receive baptism for me, die for me, and be resurrected for me? Did Jesus receive baptism and die in my stead?” Anyway, it was a fact that regardless of my will or insufficiencies, Jesus loved me and received baptism in the Jordan River in my stead, died on the Cross in my stead, and allowed me to be able to enter Heaven. I believed in that Truth. Now I can profess my faith in Him clearly. I have now become one of the righteous. Jesus solved the problem of the wall of sin blocking the way to Heaven through His baptism and blood in order to allow all mankind to be able to enter heaven.
Brothers and sisters, this is the biggest thing that God did for all of us sinners; it is greater than making the universe. How can it possibly be a small thing that Jesus did the work of being born on this earth, receiving His baptism in the Jordan River, and dying on the Cross in order to save sinners? The work of tearing the veil of the Temple or, in other words, the work of saving sinners so that they could enter Heaven is a more magnificent work than the creation of the universe and every thing in it. Jesus’ birth, His baptism, death on the Cross, resurrection, ascension, Second Coming, and making those who believe in the true gospel to be children of God—all these are of the Lord’s love through mercy and of salvation. Our Lord has saved you and me from all sin. Jesus has delivered you and me from all of the sins of the world. He blessed you and me. Brothers and sisters, isn’t that true?
You and I had no choice but to go to hell, no choice but to be destroyed, no choice but to live in sorrow, and no choice but to live in grief, resentment, and cursing while sitting in the place of sin. Jesus became the Master of salvation to us by rescuing us from all sin so we could enter Heaven through our faith. Jesus gave the guarantee of the remission of sins through His water and blood. He personally became the Master of salvation by taking all of your and my sins and dying in our places. So, the Lord enabled us to enter Heaven through the faith in our hearts in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. He did the work of salvation for us to enter Heaven unhindered. Like a streak of brilliant light in a sad life of grieving and sorrowing or a spring that finds a person at the height of his thirst, we are very happy for the gospel of the water and the Spirit that has found us. Beloved brothers and sisters, do you believe?
Can a Person Receive the Remission of Sins Only through the Water, the Blood, and the Spirit That Jesus Gave?
• Yes. Receiving the remission of sins is only possible through faith in the baptism and the blood of Jesus who is God.
• If a sinner intends to believe in Jesus and receive salvation, he has to believe in the baptism of Jesus and His blood of the Cross occurring in that order without exception.
Even by Jesus being was nailed to the Cross He would have finally died because of the great loss of blood. But why would God permit one of the Roman soldiers to carry a long spear and pierce Jesus’ side? The question is, “Why did they wound Jesus when He was already dead?” As soon as he pierced Jesus with the spear in that way, water and blood came forth from His side.
This was in order to prove lastly that “Jesus’ salvation lies in His baptism and blood on the Cross.” Brothers and sisters, is there by chance any among you who believes and knows only that Jesus died on the Cross and ignores His baptism? If there is, that faith is flawed. Jesus’ baptism was to take upon Himself all of the sins of sinners, and His death on the Cross was for the judgment of sin. Therefore, when one wants to believe in Jesus properly, he must believe in His baptism together with His blood on the Cross.
If One Intends to Erase His Debt from His Credit Account, What Must He Do?
• One must erase his debt by giving a suitable amount of money to his creditor.
• Likewise, Jesus also received baptism for His own body and paid a suitable price by His life for our sins to erase all of them.
You must pay a suitable amount of money if you intend to repay your debt. Can you say, “Let’s regard my debt as fully repaid” without paying money? You have to actually give the amount of money equivalent to the debt to the lender in order to erase the record from your credit account. There is no validation by not paying off the debt and only saying, “I paid it in full. Erase what is recorded in my account.”
Likewise, there must be a time that my sin was transferred to Jesus if I intend to receive the remission of sins. Then, how can we transfer our sins to Jesus who had come to this world 2000 years ago? It is only possible by really transferring one’s sins by believing in the baptism of the Lord Jesus. We did not personally do the work of transferring our sins. The mediator known as John the Baptist transferred sin to Jesus in the place of all mankind. So, our sins could all be transferred through faith in the water and the Spirit (Jesus’ baptism and His blood), and we have received salvation from all sin through our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Jesus saved us by receiving His baptism, taking all of our sins upon Himself, dying on the Cross, and being resurrected on the third day. We have no sin by believing in this Truth. Therefore, we have grateful hearts toward our Lord. I give thanks to the Lord who gave us salvation and new life.
When Jesus died on the Cross, several graves were opened in Israel. The graves were opened of those who had died before Jesus came and believed that the Messiah would come and eliminate all of mankind’s sins or, in other words, those who believed in the Word of promised salvation. And they came back to life. And they strutted down and entered the city of Jerusalem. It was a surprising event. But, this was something that really happened. A group of people among those who lived before Jesus came and believed that He would come and save them from their sins actually came back to life. Of course, these people died again afterwards.
This event tells us that not only Jesus has saved us from sin, but He also has given us new life. I have a grateful heart to the Lord who gave me a new life. He gave us new life and allowed us to be born again in order to never die so we could live with God forever. I am very thankful for that and that He has allowed me to be able to enter and live in that holy city in Heaven.
Receiving the remission of sins is the guarantee of Heaven. Brothers and sisters, those who have received the remission of sins go to Heaven. Heaven is for you who believe in Jesus’ water and blood. Heaven is somewhere in the universe. The Kingdom in Heaven is for those who believe in Jesus and thereby received the remission of sins. Receiving the remission of one’s sins and going to Heaven are not independent of one another. They are identical. Anyone who has received the remission of sins goes to Heaven. If you and I believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and received the remission of our sins, we have become the children of God, and we also receive Heaven as a gift. It is just like those who came back to life entered the holy city of Jerusalem when Jesus died. Physically, we have no merits or anything praiseworthy, but our Lord gives Heaven to those people who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that He, the Savior, gave. The work that the Lord did after coming to this earth is all fact. It is not something that Christian believers created.
Before He died on the Cross, Jesus had already received His baptism to take upon Himself the sins of the world. Jesus had no sin of Himself, but spiritually speaking, He died according to the law that said that the wages of sin is death because He carried all of the sins of the world on His body. In order to fulfill God’s law and to save mankind from sin Jesus Christ had to receive His baptism and die on the Cross taking upon Himself the sins of the world. And He saved sinners from sin, judgment, the curse, and death by being resurrected from the dead. Those who hanged Jesus on the Cross and killed Him weren’t Jews; they were soldiers from a gentile nation. Jesus was nailed to the Cross having submitted Himself to the soldiers of a gentile nation. After Jesus was nailed to the Cross and died, they shut Him up in a stone tomb and blocked the entrance of the tomb with a huge rock that one or two people could not roll. And two or three lines of soldiers stood and guarded the tomb.
But on the third day after Jesus died, an angel descended from Heaven and rolled back the stone, and Jesus was resurrected inside the tomb. He neatly folded the piece of sackcloth that He had been wrapped tightly in, came out of the tomb, and went to the region of Galilee. He went to a mountain in Galilee where He had decided to meet His disciples just as He promised before He died.
When Jesus’ corpse was in the tomb, angels were guarding Him. A Roman soldier and centurion saw this with their own eyes. This means that not those who believed in Jesus, but Roman soldiers who were gentiles and didn’t believe in Jesus saw all the events that happened when Jesus died on the Cross; the veil of the Temple was torn, Jesus’ tomb was opened, and He was resurrected after He died. The Roman soldiers were carefully guarding Jesus’ tomb until they saw all of these scenes. And they testified, “Truly this was the Son of God!” God made the gentile soldiers witness with their lips, “Jesus was the Son of the Living God.” Real Truth must be proven through other people, believable even to sinners, and spread by those who have received the remission of their sins.
Sinners get changed when hearing the testimony of those that have received the remission of their sins. If a person receives the remission of sins from Jesus, he changes even if he has no intention to do so or doesn’t try hard to become a nice person. If one believes in Jesus, is born again, and hears the Word, that person changes. His heart changes consistently. Faith grows little by little in his heart and he comes to praise God. When the righteous sing hymns, it’s not that they are just singing; the lyrics of the hymns become the thoughts in their hearts and they become inscribed onto their hearts. Everything becomes new in body and spirit one after another to a person who has been born again. Since the inner person of a born again person becomes new, he experiences a fundamental change in his life. Therefore, in the age of the Early Church unbelievers saw the changed life of the righteous, and said about the saints, “Wow! That person really received salvation. He is a Christian. He is one of God’s people” Actually, the designated word “Christian” was first used by unbelievers (Acts 11:26). It’s also saying that Jesus saving sinners from their sins was also witnessed by the gentiles. Our salvation is not proven only through our own witness. It is a salvation proven by God Himself.
What Is the Salvation of Sinners That Makes Even the Devil Acknowledge It?
The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the salvation that even the Devil acknowledges. “Man, I don’t like this, but I can’t help but acknowledge it. Yes. It is true that there is no sin. It is true that all the sins of mankind down to the last person of human history are gone. It hurts, but it’s true. I can’t deny it. But I can make it so that people who are born again cannot lead lives of faith. That is because no matter how much one says that they’ve received salvation, if they don’t live by faith, they are the same as before.” The Devil interferes with the faithful lives of those who are born again. Why? That is because he is miserable when people receive salvation; if people who are born again receive spiritual blessings and physically live well, in other words, when they lead lives of faith faithfully, they don’t follow the Devil. So the Devil says to the born again, “You received salvation by faith because Jesus saved you, but don’t live by faith.” Why? If those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and have been born again live out their faith, other people also come to receive their salvation, and this is what he is afraid of because his servants incrementally disappear.
Jesus and the Devil were in a fight and the Devil got K.O.’d. The Devil whispered to the hearts of people to “Kill Jesus; kill Him.” Thus, he created that desire in people and made them to want to kill Him. However, while Jesus was nailed to the Cross and died, He said, “It is finished!” The Devil was surprised. Jesus took upon Himself all of our sins by receiving His baptism in the Jordan River and justly completed salvation from sin by dying on the Cross. The Devil thought it would all be over if Jesus was killed on the Cross, but Jesus took the sins of the world through His baptism and completed the remission of sins of sinners by submitting His body before death on the Cross.
Now that Jesus has already suffered physical death, the Devil cannot ask the price of sin from sinners anymore. Brothers and sisters, the wages of sin is death, but Jesus died instead of sinners dying. Jesus took all of the sins of sinners upon Himself in the Jordan River and died in their stead. “It is finished!” “It is all finished.” “Everything is finished.” Through the death of Jesus, the Devil cannot say to us, “You have sin, right?” The Devil suffered a crushing defeat before Jesus through His birth, baptism, blood or death on the Cross, and resurrection. The Devil always tries to alienate us from God and deceive us. But whether or not the Devil can deceive us, before Jesus, the Son of God and Creator, before His wisdom and salvation, his power is lower. The Devil suffered a crushing defeat.
Brothers and sisters, do you have sin? No. We cannot at all by our consciences say that we have no sin. But, through faith in Jesus’ baptism and blood, we can say that we have no sin. We can say it through our consciences of faith. Do you believe that Jesus received His baptism in your stead in the Jordan River? Do you also believe in His death on the Cross? We can say we have no sin through that kind of faith, and we really have no sin. Therefore, we get thankful hearts before God. I received the remission of my sins when I had faith the size of a mustard seed in my heart. So I give even more thanks to the Lord through my faith that has grown a little bigger than that. There are many other things, too, but I have that kind of thankful heart inside me.
“I am thankful to the Lord. I am thankful to the Lord who gave me this heart that believes in You. I am thankful that You made me a person that doesn’t have to worry about sin.” Brothers and sisters, our Lord gave us thankful hearts. He gave us blessings. So, I hope that not just you, but everyone in the world believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. You have no sin if you believe that Jesus took upon Himself the sins of the whole world and eliminated them by receiving His baptism from John the Baptist and dying on the Cross. We believe the Truth! That is because there is no way to receive salvation from all of our sins if we do not believe in Jesus’ birth, baptism, and blood.
“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). I hope all of you believe in Jesus as your Savior. People who believe get thankful hearts. I believe that I will always have a thankful heart, today and in the future. Because our Lord gave us salvation and let us believe, I will always have a thankful heart. I eternally give thanks to the Lord who gave us salvation, eternal life, and blessings. Beloved brothers and sisters, faith works even if it is the size of a mustard seed. We receive salvation through just believing in what Jesus did.
Just as a sister testified a little while ago, God freely gave us salvation knowing that we can never possibly save ourselves. I am incapable. If I can gain salvation through my own efforts, God wouldn’t have done these things, but since my sin doesn’t go away by my own efforts, God completed my salvation and gave it to me for free because He loves me. It suffices for us to just receive that gift through faith.
We have a Korean saying that says, “If you like free stuff, you’ll go bald.” If that is the case, everyone who goes to the Kingdom of God has baldness in the heart. And baldness of the heart is never a bad thing. Why? That is because people adore God’s grace and like the gifts He gives free of charge. Those kinds of people satisfy God’s heart and are truly beautiful ones.
The Lord came to this earth, received His baptism, shed His blood on the Cross, and opened the door to Heaven wide. I earnestly desire that you all will become the children of the Lord who go to Heaven by believing this Truth in your hearts and being born again.
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