Church of Jesus Christ

 

 

Church of Jesus Christ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents

 

1. Doctrine / 1

 

2. Bible / 3

(1) The Word of God Inspired / 3

(2) Revelation / 5

(3) Comparison of the Old and New Testaments / 7

 

3. The Kingdom of God / 14

(1) The Secret Before Creation / 14

(2) The Meaning of the Garden of Eden / 17

(3) Heaven and the Kingdom of God / 21

 

4. God / 25

(1) The One God / 25

(2) The Name of God / 29

(3) The Revelation of God / 33

 

5. Jesus Christ / 35

(1) The Revelation of Christ / 35

(2) Conception by the Holy Spirit / 39

(3) The Son of Man / 40

(4) The Atonement of Death / 41

(5) Resurrection / 43

(6) The Second Coming / 46

 

6. Holy Spirit /48

(1) God's Spirit /48

(2) God's Power /51

7. Human /54

(1) The First Man Adam /54

(2) The Image of God /56

(3) The Body of Sin /59

(4) Original Sin and Worldly Sin /60

 

8. Salvation /64

(1) The Parable of the Prodigal Son /64

(2) Repentance and Death on the Cross /66

(3) Resurrection and Eternal Life /69

(4) Spiritual Growth and Spiritual Warfare /71

(5) Law and Legalism /75

 

9. Church Community /80

(1) The Temple and the Church Community /80

(2) The Sabbath and Sunday /83

 

10. Angels /86

(1) Spirits Assisting God /86

(2) Satan and His Followers /87

(3) Those who did not keep their positions/91

Ⅰ. Doctrine

The doctrine of Christianity was advocated by apostles such as Paul, who interpreted the death and resurrection of Jesus from a redemptive perspective, and Christianity, as the Roman Catholic Church, went through several councils and was organized into a confession of faith called the Creed.

These dogmas were further solidified as it became the state religion of the Roman Empire. After the Eastern and Western Churches split in the 11th century, the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church diverged, and after the Reformation, independent doctrines emerged in groups classified as Protestants, and Protestant beliefs were documented in the Anglican Church’s 39 Articles of Faith and the Presbyterian Church’s Westminster Confession of Faith.

The Bible was created under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. When reading the Bible, in order to understand God's will, it is important to accurately translate the original text of the Bible and convey its meaning well. This meaning can generally be understood through quotes from other Bible passages.

However, the existing doctrines often add human will to the interpretation of the Bible and fix it as if they were fixed. The doctrines tend to systematize the contents of the Bible and interpret them in a way that makes it easy for readers to understand. Therefore, Bible scholars introduce contents that are not in the Bible and establish a theoretical system. This is how the Westminster Confession of Faith was created, which is the Shorter Catechism and the Larger Catechism, and what was systematized in theological schools is systematic theology.

The Bible is not a study, but the word of God. The doctrine was created to highlight the differences between Christianity and other religions, but it is wrong to add content that is not in the Bible to the doctrine based on human standards. Therefore, we should learn about this content in seminaries, become pastors, and teach it to believers, and it will become God's guidance and regulations.

Also, although it is said that the doctrine is theoretically systematized and made easy to learn academically, it is not easy for the general public to understand, and the general public is reluctant to discuss the doctrine itself. When believers explain the doctrine to non-Christians, not only do they fail to speak accurately, but they also speak differently depending on who is speaking. There are many times when I wonder who the doctrine is for.

It is similar to the process in which the law changes into legalism. If someone speaks outside the established doctrine, the church will call him a heretic. They will say that he is wrong because he spoke against the doctrine. It seems as if the doctrine is above the Bible. Since most doctrines are like this, it is necessary to correct the doctrine based on the Bible, and all Christian believers should be able to easily learn and convey it.

Therefore, the doctrine of the Christian church is the interpretation of the contents of the Bible according to the Bible, and is not a new rule. Therefore, based on the Bible, I would like to explain the kingdom of God, God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, humans, sin and salvation, the church community, and angels.

 

2. The Bible

(1) The Word of God Inspired

2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Paul shows his view of the Bible through his letter to Timothy. His view of the Bible is that the Bible is inspired by God, and all passages of the Bible are inspired by God.

The meaning of the word "inspired by God" (theopneustos) is "breathed by God." Those who were inspired by the Spirit of God recorded their words and facts through their understanding. The important thing is that the Bible is a book that contains God's thoughts and the meaning he wants to convey.

Therefore, what church leaders teach to believers must be based solely on the words of the Bible. Church leaders must not speak with their own thoughts. The Bible is written only by the Holy Spirit. Paul reveals that it is not only his outstanding character that gives him the ability to do all good things. It is because of the Bible that he was able to live a godly life while going against the world amidst the many ups and downs of life. The Bible, inspired by God, is the power that perfects the Christian life and the power that enables good works. However, today, theologians are distorting the truth by creating doctrines and injecting human thoughts into the words of the Bible. Therefore, it is very important to interpret the correct meaning of the Bible.

 

(2) Revelation

In Matthew 13:11, Jesus answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.”

The revelation of God means that God reveals to man what is hidden in secret. Only by understanding God’s will through the Bible can the revealed will of God be fulfilled. Here, you are disciples. At the time of Jesus, only his disciples were allowed to know the secret. He spoke to others in parables. This is because even if the secrets of the kingdom of heaven were told to them, they would not only not believe, but would also not understand. Therefore, the gospel was spread through the apostles, and further through the believing saints.

Ephesians 1:4-5 “Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love, having predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” The secret is that predestining Jesus Christ was the plan before the foundation of the world.

Ephesians 3:9 says, “And to make known what is the administration of the mystery which for ages past has been hidden in God, who created all things.” The administration of the mystery refers to Jesus Christ.

Romans 16:25-27 says, “According to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret for ages past, but now is made manifest, and by the prophetic scriptures, according to the command of the everlasting God, has been made known to all nations, for the obedience of faith.

Now to him who is able to establish you according to this gospel, to him who is wise, be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.” Then, in order to understand why God predestined Christ before the creation of the world, we need to understand what happened in the kingdom of God before the creation of the world. This part will be explained separately in the next chapter.

 

 

(3) Comparison of the Old and New Testaments

 

(Sacrificial Offering and the Cross)

Hebrews 9:25-26 『Nor that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters the sanctuary every year with blood of another kind; then he would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the end of the ages has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.』

The Old Testament sacrifice was to kill an animal every time a sin was committed and offer it as a sacrifice. The priest performed the sacrifice. The Old Testament sacrifice was a sacrifice to forgive the sins of the sinner. The cross in the New Testament is the one-time sacrifice of Jesus for all repentant sinners. Therefore, he took away all the sins of the world, past, present, and future. The blood of Jesus was not shed to forgive the sins of the Old Testament, but was the blood of redemption to buy the repentant from Satan. God forgives the sins of the sinner after buying the sinner. If the master does not change from Satan to Jesus first, the sins will not be forgiven.

 

(The Law and the Law of the Spirit)

John 3:14-16 “And just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

This is the last part of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. Nicodemus did not receive this word, but do you think people of this age easily received it? In chapter 3 verse 2, Nicodemus said that the Pharisees knew that Jesus came from God. However, in chapter 3 verse 3, Jesus answered and said, “Very truly I tell you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” He said “Verily (amen)” and “Verily (imen)” twice, and answered like this.

To be born again is to start again. In chapter 3, verse 4, Nicodemus answered, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Nicodemus asked, “How can the body be born again?” It was truly incomprehensible. However, many church people today do not even wonder. This is because they think of it as a state of the mind, not the body.

Jesus said that we must be born again of water and the Spirit. Water symbolizes the law, and in the baptismal ceremony, water symbolizes death. Romans 6:4 says, “Baptism is a burial into his death.” Those who die to sin become dead to the law. Therefore, those who die with Jesus are subject to the law of the Spirit, not the law.

Romans 6:8-9 says, "Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead can never die again; death has no more dominion over him." Jesus Christ did not die in his physical mind, but in the body he received from his parents. Those who died with him must believe that their body is dead, not their mind. It is not that it will happen when the body dies in the future, but in the present of faith. 1 Corinthians 15:44 says, "It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body."

Unless you are born again by the law of the Spirit, not by the law, you will not be chosen. The chosen ones will receive Jesus. Church people say that those who receive Jesus will be chosen. They are wrong. In John 1:12-13, “Yet to those who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” The Bible says that those who receive him are born of God.

 

(Old Covenant and New Covenant)

Deuteronomy 29:13 "That the LORD may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

The covenant made at Mount Horeb was a promise, but the word of the covenant made in the land of Moab was an oath. In chapter 29, verses 14-15, it says, "I make this covenant and oath not only with you, but also with him who is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, and with him who is not here with us today." This means that everyone is included here. It is a covenant given before entering Canaan, but it is an oath for those who enter Canaan. Those who enter Canaan are included in the oath that God made.

Romans 6:4 "Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too should walk in newness of life."

This is why we eat bread before taking the cup in the Eucharist. The act of eating bread and drinking the cup of wine is to remember our union with Jesus’ death and our union with the resurrected Jesus. The cup of wine symbolizes the blood shed on the cross, and the bread symbolizes Jesus’ resurrected body. We can participate in the new covenant only by eating the bread.

 

(Sacrificial offering and worship) Worship has different meanings in the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, worship is considered to be offering sacrifices to receive forgiveness of sins, offering grains to express gratitude, and praising. However, worship in the New Testament is offered in spirit and truth. Spirit represents the Holy Spirit, and truth means Jesus. When we are crucified with Jesus who died on the cross, we are reborn with new life through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, worship is to remember that we died and were resurrected with Jesus. The Eucharist is also an extension of worship. By breaking the cup and bread, we confirm the death and resurrection on the cross.

 

(Circumcision and Baptism)

Genesis 17:10 "This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised." Circumcision, a ritual of cutting the foreskin of a man, was performed as a sign of the everlasting covenant God made with Abraham. Circumcision was performed not only in Israel but also in ancient Egypt. Circumcision represents the death of the flesh. However, the apostle Paul criticized Jews who were circumcised but did not keep the law, saying, "He is a Jew who is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart, by the spirit, not by the letter" (Romans 2:17).

Deuteronomy 10:16 "Circumcise your heart therefore, and be not stiff-necked any more."

The Old Testament already emphasizes that circumcision of the heart is important, not circumcision of the flesh. Despite the fact that Deuteronomy 10:16 clearly states, “Circumcise your heart, and be stiff-necked no more,” the Jews of the New Testament era were caught up in legalism that emphasized only circumcision of the flesh.

Since the early church, Jewish circumcision has been replaced by Christian baptism. “In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead” (Col 2:11-12).

Just as circumcision of the heart was important to the Jews, not circumcision of the flesh, so Christians must recover the true meaning of baptism, which is not a formal baptism but a life of rebirth in Christ. A life of rebirth means being born again with a spiritual body, not a change of heart. The old one dies, and a new body is born again. Therefore, circumcision in the Old Testament and baptism in the New Testament have the same meaning.

 

(Water and Wine)

John 2:9-10 When the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been made wine and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the banquet called the bridegroom and said to him, 'Everyone serves the good wine at the beginning, and when people have drunk well, then the inferior wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.'"

The story goes that Jesus was invited to a wedding in Cana, but the wine ran out. So Jesus filled six stone jars with water and turned the water into wine.

The stone water jar symbolizes the law. Filling it with water means completing the law. It foreshadows the completion of the law through Jesus’ death. The water in this stone water jar was for the guests to wash their hands with. So the water symbolizes washing away sins. Jesus turned the water into wine. Wine symbolizes blood. The blood Jesus pours is not for washing away sins, but for the redemption of sinners. God buys repentant sinners from Satan by paying the price of Jesus’ blood. So He washes away sins. This is the meaning of blood.

 

3. The Kingdom of God

(1) The Secret of Creation

Ephesians 1:4-5 “Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love, having predestined us for adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.”

If you ask the question of why Christ was chosen before the creation of the world, most churches say that since God is omnipotent and omniscient, after the creation of heaven and earth, Adam and Eve gave in to Satan's temptation, fell into sin, and became evil, and in the end, God had no choice but to destroy the world, so God knew all of this and predestined before the creation of the world to save only the chosen ones in Christ.

In order to fully understand that God predestined Christ before the creation of the world, we must fully understand John 6:63, “It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you, they are spirit and life.” Jesus came to save dead spirits. People in the world have the flesh as their standard, but Jesus said, “The flesh profits nothing.” The premise is that the spirit is dead. However, because the spirit is dead, people are not interested in the spirit. Their interest is in the existence of “me,” which originated from the flesh. That is why they are only interested in becoming rich and eating well and living well.

When did the spirit in the body die? Most churches would say, "Adam and Eve died the moment they ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." However, there is nothing that can compare the state of the spirit before and after eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Nevertheless, they think that they died after eating the fruit. Did God have to prepare Christ in advance for something that did not happen after He created man? That is simply because most churches think so.

Believers must know God's will well. God's will is that everyone who believes in His Son Jesus Christ will receive eternal life. God's will established in the kingdom of God is not something that can be accomplished in the kingdom of God.

Based on Jude 1:6 and 2 Peter 2:4, the spirits were imprisoned on earth because they did not keep their positions in the kingdom of God. However, God planned to save the sinful spirits imprisoned on earth by predestining Christ, and to make them children of God again through Jesus Christ and obtain salvation. This is similar to the concept of the parable of the prodigal son. The prodigal son left his father, but eventually repented and returned as a beggar. This is the state of the spirit that has left God. Repentance is directly connected to Christ’s death on the cross.

The return of the sinful spirits to God is the fulfillment of God's will in the material world, and it is precisely this that reveals God's glory. The reason for creating this world was to confine the sinful angels who left God, and the spirits of those sinful angels were confined in the earth and became human beings, so that people could repent to God and return to the kingdom of God. This was planned and accomplished through Christ before the creation of the world. This means that Christ is the savior.

Christ saves the souls who came into the world through the process of death on the cross, resurrection, second coming, and millennial kingdom, and allows them to enter the kingdom of God. Choosing before the creation of the world means allowing repentant sinners to enter the kingdom of God through Christ.

 

(2) The meaning of the Garden of Eden

Genesis 2:8-9 "And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God caused every tree to grow that was pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."

The Eden of the East is a difficult problem to solve: was it a sacred area like the Temple of Jerusalem in the middle of the world called Eden, or was it a symbolic expression of the story of the kingdom of God?

God created man in the middle of the world. And he made him enter Eden and live there. However, in Eden, the first man was divided into a man and a woman. Coincidentally, the Hebrew word for the first man is adamah, and the man's name is Adam. That is why believers are confused. They consider the first man and the man Adam to be the same being. However, the first man and the man Adam are different beings.

In Eden, man (Adam) and woman (Eve) disobeyed God’s command and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so they were cast out into the world. They returned to the place where the first man was created. Genesis 3:23 “The Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.”

If Eden was a place like a temple in the world, then those who offered sacrifices and worshipped in the temple sinned, so God cast them out of the temple. What kind of great secret is that? So did God predestinate Christ before the creation of the world and plan to save sinful humans through the events of his death on the cross and resurrection?

The secret before the creation of the world is the story of the angels who sinned in the kingdom of God. The angels who sinned did not keep their positions, but wanted to become like God, so they opposed God. The angels who sinned symbolize Eve. Then God confined them in a dark pit (hell), and man was created by combining the spirits of the angels with the dust.

Jude 1:6 "And the angels who did not keep their own position but abandoned their proper dwelling have been kept in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day." 2 Peter 2:4 "For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell and committed them to pits of darkness to be kept until the judgment."

The Bible is full of metaphors and symbolic expressions. Genesis 2:24 "Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh."

The man symbolizes Christ, the parents are God, and his wife symbolizes the spirits who sinned and left God. It is saying that those who left God because they wanted to become like God must now become one again through Christ. The Apostle Paul calls this a great mystery. In Ephesians 5:31-32, it says, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a great mystery, and I am talking about Christ and the church."

Believers believe that Adam and Eve sinned against God by eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, which is called original sin, and that all people in the world have inherited original sin.

However, believers must understand sin and the body of sin. Sin is not the fundamental sin of breaking the commandment, but the greedy heart that wants to be like God. This is the heart that Eve had before breaking the commandment, and by putting it into practice, she broke the commandment. Eve, who wanted to be like God, symbolizes the evil angel in the kingdom of God. Therefore, all people are beings whose spirits of evil angels entered their flesh with their sins.

The body of sin begins with the first man. In Colossians 1:15, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” He is Christ. The first man Adam and the last Adam are Christ. The first man played the role of passing on the body of sin to the next generation, and the last man Christ had to die for the body of sin. Therefore, when he died on the cross, the body of sin also died. The body of sin is like a vessel that holds sin, and all those who are in Christ are freed from sin.

Romans 6:6-7 "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin." Those who are in Christ are free from sin because the body of sin has died.

 

(3) Heaven and the Kingdom of God

In Matthew 3:2, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” the terms kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God appear in the Bible. Matthew 5:3 also says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This means that the kingdom of heaven is given to those who repent.

In Greek, it is 『He Basileia ton Ouranon (ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν)』. He Basileia means kingdom, and ton Ouranon is a grammatically plural noun with an article, meaning the kingdom of God that enters the hearts of the saints.

And the translation of the kingdom of God is Acts 19:8, "And Paul entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly and persuasively about the kingdom of God." In Greek, it is written as "Tes Basileia Tou Theu (τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ θεοῦ)". It means the kingdom of God ruled by God the Father. It is the kingdom of God that is usually spoken of in churches. Tou Theu has the article (touτοῦ) and means the Father. When there is no article, it refers to Jesus Christ.

Therefore, we must examine the kingdom of God from these two perspectives. The ton uranon translated as heaven is the kingdom of God where a new temple is built in the hearts of the saints and where Ho Logos, who comes and rules over that temple, comes. Jesus Christ descends into the hearts of the saints and proclaims the kingdom of God. Ho Logos is the kingdom of God in the hearts of the saints, and it is the kingdom where Ho Logos rules over with the power of the Holy Spirit.

In Luke 17:20-21, “The Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God (he basileia tou deu) would come. Jesus answered them, ‘The kingdom of God does not come with observation. Nor will people say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you (entos ἐντὸς).”

 Entos is equivalent to within in English. Jesus told the Pharisees that the kingdom of God is among them. Jesus himself is the kingdom of God. However, the Pharisees did not understand Jesus’ words. The kingdom of God was near, but they could not see it because their spiritual eyes were closed.

 Jesus Christ becomes the kingdom of God (He Basileia tou Theu). Those who are in Christ are saints and become heaven (He Basileia ton Uranon). This is because a new temple is built in the hearts of the saints and Christ comes again and enters the new temple to be present.

The kingdom of God means that the Father (first heaven: He Basileia tou Theu), Christ (second heaven: right hand of God), and the saints (third heaven: the kingdom of God in the soul) become one through the Holy Spirit.

The first heaven refers to the kingdom of God where the Father is on the throne. It is the kingdom of God where the Father God is present in spirit. No one has ever seen it. However, we can know it through Jesus Christ. In 1 Timothy 6:16, it says, "He alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To him be honor and everlasting power. Amen."

The second heaven is the kingdom of Jesus Christ, the kingdom of the Son who is present in a spiritual body. Colossians 1:12-13, "Giving thanks to the Father, who has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, for he has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love."

The third heaven is also called the new heaven and new earth, and the millennial kingdom (heaven). The Apostle Paul mentions the third heaven in 2 Corinthians 12:2. The beings (saints) of the third heaven have eternal life spiritually and are clothed in spiritual bodies. In 1 Corinthians 15:44, it says, “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” The Greek word translated as spiritual body is soma pneumatikon (spiritual body). They have spiritual bodies that are different from the glorious body of Jesus Christ in the second heaven. This third heaven is the lost Eden, and it refers to the kingdom of God (ton uranon) that must be restored on this earth.

The kingdom of God is one, but it is explained in three. The first heaven, the second heaven, and the third heaven are connected by the Holy Spirit and operate according to the word of Jehovah God. The kingdom of God is one, but because of the angel who sinned in the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God is seen by human eyes in three forms.

People in the world are born as sinners, locked in a prison (hell). When they meet Jesus Christ and believe that Jesus died on the cross to atone for their sins, and confess that they are also dead in union with Jesus, their fleshly self dies and they are born into spiritual resurrection life. Thus, the dead spirit comes back to life and takes on a spiritual body, and the saints become the kingdom of God (heaven). The kingdom of God is the grace of God that the saints enjoy while they are alive on this earth. Only those who have the present resurrection life enjoy the kingdom of God on this earth.

 

4. God

 

(1) The One God

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

God is the only God and is one. However, people in the world seek and worship God as they wish. When miracles occur and someone who does something beyond human thought appears, they seem to want to elevate him to a god. They even feel fear of the grandeur of nature and treat the sea, mountains, trees, and rocks as divine objects.

Regarding Jesus, some Jews at the time realized that he was from God after seeing the signs and miracles he performed, but many Jews considered him blasphemous. After Jesus died on the cross, was resurrected, and ascended to heaven, his disciples received his power and preached the gospel, performing many miracles. So people tried to worship these disciples as gods.

Jesus performed miracles and signs with the power he received from God the Father. Jesus said that he did not act on his own initiative but did what the Father instructed him to do. John 6:38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.” The will of God the Father is stated in John 6:40 “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Today, when someone who performs miracles appears, people try to see in him a divine figure. If anyone performs a miracle, it is not the person who performed it, but the divine being behind him. Therefore, a being with flesh cannot be a divine being. Paul and Barnabas also performed a miracle by raising a lame man, and the priest of the temple of Zeus came to the gate with oxen and garlands and wanted to sacrifice with the crowd. They wanted to worship Paul and Barnabas as divine beings.

Acts 14:15 "Men, why do you do these things? We also are men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them." People seek God because they expect that it will benefit them. They seek God with the expectation that they can receive worldly blessings through God and, although they cannot know it, obtain eternal life after death.

However, the gospel is to make those who live in sin return to God. Those who leave God and do vain things are sinners. Vain things are idolatry, and idols are the fleshly self. The fleshly self is greed and an idol. People try to become idols or satisfy themselves through some object as the fleshly self desires. Therefore, it is to cast away vain delusions and return to the one and only God.

God is the only God, but the reason people do not realize it is because it is an existence that cannot be seen or touched. It is clear that there is an existence, but it is an existence that cannot be known. However, today's believers say that God is alive. Most people think that way as if they are living people who do not die. That is why they say that they must meet the living God. Everyone is talking with self-centered thoughts.

Even after the Exodus, when Moses did not come down for 40 days after going up Mount Sinai to receive the commandments, the Israelites made a golden calf and worshipped it as God.

Humans cannot meet God or know Him. However, the church members believe and know that the one whom the resurrected Jesus Christ calls Father is God the Father. Therefore, when we believe that we died on the cross with Jesus and were resurrected with the resurrected Jesus, we believe that God is also our Father. Resurrection life is eternal life, and those who have resurrection life can call God their Father. Faith in the one God is only faith. Faith is Jesus Christ. Only faith that comes from Jesus Christ who died on the cross and was resurrected leads to the one God.

The purpose of preaching the gospel is to give eternal life to those who do not have it. It is not salvation through believing in Jesus, but eternal life in Jesus. The purpose of the gospel is for the spirits that were imprisoned in the flesh to receive resurrection life, and to be seated in the kingdom of God with a spiritual body. Therefore, they return to their original positions as angels in the kingdom of God. They regain their positions.

Luke 20:34-36 Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to obtain that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, nor can they die any more, for they are equal to angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.”

 

(2) God's name

In Exodus 3:14, "And God said to Moses, 'I am who I am.' He said, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I am has sent me to you.'"

People in the world have a desire to believe in God. They search for God in their own language. In the Korean Bible, God is called God, in English-speaking countries, God is called God, in China, God is called God, in Islam, Allah, and in Jews, El. These names are common nouns. Everyone thinks that the God they believe in is real. Even within Christianity, it is ambiguous whether the God each believe in is real or not. In this way, we can see that each person thinks of God differently. Even subjective expressions such as having to meet God personally are further concretizing the God they believe in.

However, among the many names, there is only one God. All others are fake. That One revealed His name to a man named Moses. The I AM is “Haya (Ehyeh) Asher Haya (Ehyeh)” in Hebrew.

However, for some unknown reason, the Hebrews called the one and only God Adonai. After the fall of Israel, by order of Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt, six men from each of the twelve tribes of Israel were selected and translated into Greek in Alexandria over 72 days. This is called the Septuagint. The name of the one and only God, who was called Adonai, was written as YHWH and called in Greek as Kurius. In Latin, it is called Dominus.

Then, it is said that the diaspora living in Alexandria added the vowels a, ai of adonai to YHWH, converting it to YHaWHai and calling it Yahweh. Later, in the translation process, the YHWH part was written in English as Jehovah (Jehovah: Jehovah in Korean). Today, the New International Version in the United States translates Kyrios as The LORD, and both the Old and New Testaments are written this way, causing the expressions Adonai and Yahweh to disappear. The King James Version translated in Britain also follows this. The Greek word Kyrios is a translation of the Hebrew word Adonai.

In the Old Testament, such as Genesis 4:26 and Psalm 110:1, it is written as Jehovah, and in the New Testament, such as Acts 2:34, it is written as LORD in English. Most countries' translated Bibles translate it as "Jehovah" and "The LORD" respectively, so this follows suit. Some countries translate the Old Testament as "Jehovah", while others translate it as "The LORD".

In this way, they changed the name of the one and only God to Haya Asher Haya, Adonai, Yahweh, Jehovah, The LORD, and the Lord to fit their language. Names are proper nouns and should not be changed. They even change the name of the one and only God at will, so how can they know if the God they believe in is the one and only God? Believers firmly believe in the one and only God, but it may not be the case.

However, regarding the name of the one God that has become confused, we can apply the words of Jesus. In John 8:58, Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” The Greek word for “I am” is “ego eimi.” The Hebrew word for this part is Haya Asher Haya (I am that I am). This means that Jesus is the one God. The one who was born to die on the cross was not God, but the Son of God, who was born into the world, but the resurrected Jesus is the very essence of God. However, the resurrected Jesus emphasizes that he is the Son of God by sitting at the right hand of God. The reason is for those who repent and return. When the end of the world comes, when God rests, the resurrected Jesus Christ will also return to God’s place.

God sends the Spirit of God, and is the Son of God who plays the role of Christ. God takes on the form of a human being and dies on the cross. It is not because he lacks power, but it is a message to sinners who have turned away from God to repent and return.

In John 14:9-10, Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”

 

(3) God’s revelation

When God reveals Himself, there are times when He reveals Himself through general revelation and times when He reveals Himself through special revelation in nature.

Regarding general publication, Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

It says that God's eternal power and divinity are clearly seen and known, and understood from the created things, and there is no excuse for denying this fact. With these biblical contents in mind, general revelation can be said to be God's revelation that proves God's existence, wisdom, power, and transcendence to all people, at all times, and in all places.

Special revelation is the method by which God chooses to reveal Himself through miracles. Special revelation is revealed through dreams, visions, etc., and in such cases, through prophets (angels or prophets). And it is revealed through the written word of God, etc. The most important thing in revealing God is the word of Ho Logos, which is a form of special revelation. Therefore, the word of God is alive and active.

Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two-edged sword, it penetrates even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart." The ultimate form of special revelation is Jesus Christ. God became human. John 1:14 "And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

 

5. Jesus Christ

 

(1) The Revelation of Christ

(Galatians 1:11-12) “But I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not according to man. For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”

The gospel is the revelation of Christ, not the will of man. It is not a different gospel that has been secretly brought to those who have true freedom in Christ, but a gospel that Christ revealed directly. A different gospel is following the words of legalists. In the end, if you say you believe in Jesus but follow the law, you will be in a state where you cannot help but be cursed. Those who are in Jesus Christ have life, but those who are under the law will be cursed. Galatians 1:8 says, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.”

Galatians 3:23 "Before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept until faith should be revealed. So the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, so that we might be justified by faith."

Here, the “time of faith that will be revealed” refers to the time when we realize that we cannot achieve righteousness through the law, and that we cannot attain salvation unless we are united with Christ. Being united with Christ means entering into the love of Christ. Entering into the faith of Christ, not my love, becomes one who enters into Christ. The faith of Christ is the faith that died on the cross to redeem mankind and that God resurrects. Therefore, those who are united with Christ enter into this faith.

The gospel of Christ's revelation is explained in Galatians 1:1 as "Paul, an apostle, not of men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead."

So it clearly states that this gospel comes from Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. That is why it is emphasized again in Galatians 1:12, "For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ."

The word revelation is apocalypse in Greek, and it comes from the verb apocalito. Therefore, apocalypse has the meaning of taking off the cover, revealing something that is hidden. Revelation is when something is revealed by taking off the cover that is hidden.

When Jesus explained the secrets of the kingdom of heaven through the parable of the sower, the disciples asked Jesus why he spoke in parables. In Matthew 13:11, “He answered and said to them, ‘Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.’” This is a revelation given to the disciples.

In Matthew 13:34-35, it says, "Jesus spoke all these things to the crowds in parables; without a parable he did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet: 'I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.'" This is the revelation of the hidden secret. The disciples came to know the secret of the kingdom of heaven.

When reading the Old Testament, if you do not find Christ in the law, the veil is covered. When reading the Old Testament, those who find Christ in the law are those who receive the gift of faith from heaven, and the veil is lifted. That is why they become those who receive revelation. It is not simply believing in the mathematical formula that says that one is saved by believing in Jesus, but rather, the material world was created from the kingdom of God, and the spirits who committed sins in the kingdom of God came to this world, and the spirits were made into humans from the dust (the first man Adam), and through that man, Eve (the spirits who committed sins) was separated, and through the two, humans were born, and through the last Adam (Christ), they shed the dust (the old man dies), and put on the heavenly tabernacle (the body of the spirit), and through the whole process, they come to realize why Christ came to this world and died a substitutionary death. All the secrets are contained in the Old Testament, and realizing them is the revelation of Christ.

 

 

(2) Conception by the Holy Spirit

Matthew 1:21-23 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Now all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel,” which means, “God with us.”

A virgin can never give birth to a child. That is, this is a virgin's son to show that he is not born of man but of God. To put it another way, the reborn spiritual Israel conceived and was called the Son of God, and his name is Jesus. Likewise, it can be applied to the saints. The saints are spiritually reborn and become the sons of God, and their name is Jesus. When a temple enters the heart of a saint, only the name Jesus exists in that temple.

Emmanuel means Jesus Christ who is with God. And when the believer receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit, a new temple is built in the soul, and Jesus Christ comes again and enters the temple to dwell there, the believer also becomes Emmanuel. The believer does not become Emmanuel because he believes in Jesus, but he becomes Emmanuel when he is born again of water and the Holy Spirit.

This is absolutely unbelievable with the eyes of the flesh and with human experience. However, when we believe that everything is possible when the one and only God, who has no impossibility, does it, we can enter into the law of the Holy Spirit, not the laws of the world. Those who are in the law of the Holy Spirit can receive the resurrection life from the dead. The resurrection life is not the concept of the dead body coming back to life, but the spirit that was trapped in the body coming back to life in a mysterious body of eternal life.

1 Corinthians 15:43-44 “It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is also a spiritual body.”

 

(3) Man

In Colossians 1:15, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation,” the Son of Man means man. He is the first man Adam and the last man Adam. Also, the Son of Man is Christ.

Romans 5:14: "Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one to come." Jesus is the last Adam and the type of the first man. A type is a copy, meaning it is imprisoned. What is the same? It means Christ.

The one who has the image of God is Christ. The first person who was born before all creation is the first person. Therefore, it means that he (Jesus Christ) is the first person and the last person. He has the role of destroying the body of sin created by the first person and giving the body of resurrection life to the last person. This is the role of Christ. The first person gave the body of sin to man and woman, but the last person, Jesus, was resurrected and gave the body of resurrection to man and woman.

1 Corinthians 15:45 "So it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being'; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit." A living being is life. The first man was given a limited life, but the last man is given an eternal body.

 

(4) Death of atonement

John 11:50 "Nor do you understand that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish." One man dying for the people means atonement. In other words, it is redemption. Redemption means buying a slave with money. People are slaves of Satan, but God buys them with the blood of Jesus.

The word redemption means to cover (kapar). It means to cover from God's judgment. Therefore, there is no forgiveness of sin without redemption. God lives as a sinner who repents and turns back, and God's Son died in his stead to buy sinners. It is an amazing grace. He pays the price of His Son's death only to those who repent. God's love is given to those who repent. Therefore, they become God's.

The way to be free from the bondage of sin is to be buried in union with Jesus Christ. Romans 6:6-7 says, "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin."

The redemption is only applied when the sinner dies for sin. Death is the death of the physical body, and Jesus Christ made the atonement, but Jesus' death is the death of the sinner. We must remember Jesus hanging high on the cross and find ourselves in that corpse.

Romans 6:8-11, “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead can never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life that he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

To be alive means to be one who has received resurrection life. It does not mean that the body will die and be resurrected, but rather to receive heavenly life spiritually.

 

(5) Resurrection

1 Corinthians 15:20 "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." In 15:13-10, it says, "And if the dead are not raised, not even Christ is raised. Then your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." In the case of believers, if there is no faith in resurrection, it is nothing. Most church believers have faith in resurrection.

However, we can see that there are many differences among them in their belief in resurrection. They believe in the resurrection of the past, present, and future. In this sense, if we consider the meaning of the resurrection they believe in according to the tense,

First, the resurrection is an event that happened 2,000 years ago. Jesus was crucified for our sins and rose again after 3 days. “But now is Christ risen from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” The words “becoming the firstfruits” mean that the resurrection of Christ was not an event that ended in the past, but that he showed us as an example that whoever believes in him will be resurrected and live forever. This is something that all Christians believe.

The second resurrection that happened in the past is still happening among us today. This present resurrection is the resurrection in which each believer is spiritually reborn. The present resurrection is the resurrection of the spirit that was dead in sin in the past, and the old man dies and is created as a new man. It is becoming a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

The new creation is a spiritual being with a spiritual body of heavenly life. It is not the previous body, but a different body. Although it is impossible to understand because of the visible body, it is said that in order to obtain the life of resurrection, the fleshly body (old man) must first die with Jesus. It is to die to sin, to die to the world, and to be born again to new life in Christ, the first fruit of resurrection.

However, many church people believe in the present rebirth, but they think that the resurrection will happen in the future. They say, "If you live by faith and die, you will go to heaven and be resurrected in perfect form on the last day, and if Jesus comes before you die, your soul will be transformed into a new creation." They believe in the resurrection, but it is not a present, complete resurrection.

The third future resurrection is the resurrection of the body with the second coming of Jesus. It is said that even after the soul of a believer is saved and becomes a new creation, the body will die when the time comes, but the dead body will be resurrected when Jesus returns. In John 5, it says, "The hour is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice, and those who have done good will come out to the resurrection of life."

In John 11, Jesus says, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." He says that those who believe in the resurrection of Jesus will be resurrected like Jesus, and that the fact that Jesus rose again also means that he will revive us in the future.

Rebirth, new creation, new man, resurrection life are all the same terms, but church people interpret them differently, so they believe in resurrection, but it is a vague belief in the future after death. It means that they are experiencing the resurrection now, but it will be confirmed in the future. All of these things are because they are looking at their own bodies, and they believe that everything will be confirmed when the body dies.

 

(6) Second Coming

In Acts 1:11, “And they said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’”

Jesus died on the cross, was resurrected, and stayed on this earth for forty days. Then Jesus told his disciples that he would come again and told them to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. After saying that, he ascended to heaven in the presence of his disciples. However, we must realize that the scene the disciples saw was not a spatial concept of heaven, but something that happened in their hearts.

And on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples. Is the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost different from the second coming of Jesus? They are not different events, but the same event. Jesus, who was resurrected and ascended, enters the hearts of the disciples through the power of the Holy Spirit, and also enters the hearts of the saints today.

Therefore, the second coming of Christ is Jesus coming into the hearts of the saints who believe that Jesus died on the cross with them and was resurrected with them. That is why he becomes the master. Of course, the second coming of Christ has not occurred to the believers (other people) who do not believe it. The second coming of Christ is not to the saints as a judge, but as a comforter who can help them avoid difficulties in spreading the gospel in the world.

Of course, on the last day, Christ's second coming will come as a judge to those who are not saints. This is the Great White Throne Judgment. The church believers who are waiting for the second coming of Jesus must realize that the second coming they want has not happened. The believers who are waiting for the second coming are the same as waiting for the Great White Throne Judgment. Therefore, the believers who are waiting for the second coming are those who are still wandering within the law.

When the second coming of Christ is realized in the hearts of the saints, the saints become the kingdom of God (heaven). That is why it is likened to a heavenly wedding feast. The groom, Christ, and the bride, the saints, meet and become one. The saints must bear the fruits of heaven and spread the seeds of resurrection again. Therefore, they must continue to bear the fruits of resurrection.

 

6. The Holy Spirit

 

(1) The Spirit of God

Romans 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

Most church people know about the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit. They think of the Holy Spirit as one of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. However, they explain that God is one. This is a really hard word to understand. The reason is that they believe in the Trinity, which is a doctrine. The word Trinity has now become a proper noun.

According to the Bible, there is God and angels in the kingdom of God. This state is called the state of rest. However, there is a story of an angel who sinned against God. That is why the rest was broken. God created the world and people to confine them in the material world. However, one day, at the end of time, the material world will disappear again and the day will come when the original kingdom of God will be restored.

God wants the people sent to the world to repent and return to the kingdom of God, and He chose prophets among the people to give them a covenant, send them the light of the Holy Spirit, and make them realize their sins. The Holy Spirit is like the light of life that God sends when sinful people repent and turn to God. The Holy Spirit is the light of life, and it can be said that it is the grace of God that revives the dead spirit. Since the Holy Spirit came from God, the Holy Spirit is one with the Father, but calling the Holy Spirit God confuses the one God. To be precise, it should be called the Spirit of God. In the Old Testament, it is mostly expressed as the Spirit of God. In the New Testament, the Spirit of God is also expressed as the Spirit of Jesus or the Spirit of Christ.

Acts 16:6-7 "They went through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. When they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia; but the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them." Paul, who was with Timothy, tried to preach the gospel in Asia, but the Spirit of Jesus prevented them. The Spirit of Jesus means the Holy Spirit. When God the Father sends the Holy Spirit to Jesus, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to the disciples.

John 14:26 "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." The Counselor is the Holy Spirit sent in the name of Jesus. Therefore, although the Holy Spirit is the light of life sent by God, it refers to Jesus Christ. Since it has the name of Jesus, it ultimately means Jesus.

The doctrine of the Trinity implies that God is one, but in fact there are three Gods. The Holy Spirit comes from the Father, but Jesus received the Holy Spirit from the Father and sent the Holy Spirit in Jesus' name. Today's erroneous doctrine says that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are equal Gods, but the Son and the Holy Spirit can be said to be of the same substance because they came from the Father, but they cannot be said to be equal Gods. The Son is the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. The doctrine of the Trinity reminds us of the idea of ​​the Trinity.

The statement that the Spirit of Jesus Christ blocked means that Jesus blocked. Jesus became ho logos and spoke in the hearts of the disciples. If you don’t understand the temple in the heart, it is difficult. Christ is the image of God, which means the temple in the heart. The disciples destroyed the old temple and were given a new temple, so Jesus came back and entered that temple. That is why they converse in the temple. The disciples hear Jesus’ voice and act according to the words that Jesus speaks. The disciples’ signs and wonders are also because Jesus does this by the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

(2) God's power

John 20:21-22 "Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.' And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'"

The Holy Spirit gives us new life. When the Father sends the light of the Holy Spirit to Jesus Christ, Jesus sends the light of resurrection life to his disciples through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit means that the previous fleshly body dies with Jesus and we are reborn into resurrection life. The resurrection life comes from the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is also revealed as the baptism of fire for judgment. Matthew 3:11-12 "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to remove. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning the chaff with unquenchable fire."

There are not many believers who know about baptism by fire. It is related to the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. In fact, if they do not know about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, how can they know about baptism by fire?

Luke 12:49-50 “I came to throw fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized, and how I am distressed until it is accomplished!”

Fire means baptism by fire, and the baptism that Jesus received was the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which means resurrection. Jesus' death on the cross was a death to atone for all the sins of the world. Whether it is original sin or worldly sin, all are forgiven when you enter Christ. The Bible expressed the death on the cross as water baptism and fire baptism. Fire baptism means that if you lived in Sodom and Gomorrah, you would all be burned to death by the fire that came down from heaven. Those who received fire baptism also confess that they died on the cross with Jesus. This is not a formal ceremony, but something to be engraved in the heart.

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is widely cited as a theme of adultery. It refers to spiritual adultery rather than physical adultery. Spiritual adultery means believing in God but also following idols. In today's terms, it refers to believers who believe in Jesus but also follow superstitious faith, legalism, and gnosticism. These are typical examples of spiritual adultery. God hates spiritual adultery very much.

If you are not in Jesus, you cannot attain salvation. Biblically, this is a natural result. Because sinners cannot enter the kingdom of God. However, what happens if you believe in Jesus but do not believe the words Jesus spoke? This is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and spiritual adultery. Baptism of fire is a judgment given to those who say they believe in Jesus.

 

7. Humans

 

(1) The first man, Adam

1 Corinthians 15:45 "So it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being (pshigen premature birth),' the last Adam became a life-giving spirit."

Psuche is a living being. 1 Corinthians 15:46 "However, the spiritual (pneumatikon) man is not first, but the natural (psyche), and afterward the spiritual (pneumatikon) man." Pneumatikon means spiritual, not spiritual. Psyche is life. Humans are beings that are a combination of earth (flesh) and spirit, and when these two are combined, they become living beings.

Genesis 2:7 "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (nephesh hai)."

Nephesh Hai is a living being. It means limited life. The first man, Adam, is the one who has the image of God (Christ). It also expresses that he was created in the world to give the bodies of sin to the angels who sinned. The fact that the first man, Adam, who was created in the world, moved to the Garden of Eden shows that he was the owner of the Garden of Eden. In other words, it means that the first man, Adam, is Christ. In Colossians 1:15, it says, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation."

And in Genesis 2:21-22, "And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib which the LORD God had taken from man, he made into a woman, and brought her unto the man." The fact that the first man Adam fell asleep means that he died physically, and it symbolizes his return to the position of Christ.

The first man and the male Adam are different beings. The first man symbolizes Christ, and the male Adam symbolizes people with the spirit of the fallen angel. The division into male and female symbolizes the head and body of Christ, and the male is the head of Christ, and the female is the one who belongs to Christ, and they should become one with each other.

The first man disappeared, and the male Adam and female Eve appeared. This foreshadows the new creation in Christ. It is through Adam's rib. The sinful human being appears as a created being. The male Adam and the female Eve became without the image of God because of sin. Therefore, God opened the way for them to restore the image of God through sacrifice. When it is said that Adam lived 930 years, it is calculated from the time of the male Adam. This is because the first man Adam was not the male Adam.

 

(2) Image of God

Colossians 1:15, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." The Greek translation of the Bible reads, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." This means that the first man is a symbol of the last Adam.

The image of God means the temple. Genesis 1:26-27 『Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.』

The image of God refers to Christ according to Colossians 1:15. Jesus Christ spoke of himself as a temple. The body that had to die on the cross was the old temple, and the resurrected body was the new temple from heaven. John 2:19-21 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But Jesus was speaking of the temple of his body.

God first placed the kingdom of God in this world as a temple in the heart (in the image of God), but after creating man and woman, it became an old temple without God. This parable is the parable of the vineyard and the farmer. We should seek God and cry out through the temple, but no one came. So God established a visible sanctuary to worship God. God made the people realize their sins. That sanctuary developed into a temple, but the temple made of stone did not have God, and it degenerated into a place of human greed.

Today, believers often talk about restoring the image of God. They believe that originally, humans had the image of God, but when Adam sinned, the image of God was lost. Therefore, they focus on how to live in order to restore the image of God. God is letting humans know through His image that they have a desire to become like Him. There is a temple built in the soul, but God is not in that temple, and they are sitting there like idols.

How is the image of God different from the image of self? The image of God is God in the temple of the soul, but the image of self is the desire to become like God (the fleshly self) sitting in that temple. All people except the first man and Jesus Christ are beings born with the image of self. The image of self is expressed as the old man.

Most church members interpret the image of God as a holy character. So they say that people originally had the image of God, but the image was lost due to the fall, and now it can be restored. However, the image of God is not something that can be obtained through effort. Even today, believers are working hard to restore the image of God. If people say that the image of God was originally there, but was lost due to Adam, and that we should restore the image of God, this is a statement close to gnosticism.

Therefore, in order to restore the image of God, when we believe that our old self died with Jesus who died on the cross and was resurrected with Jesus who was resurrected, the image of God is restored. The image of God can also be said to be the kingdom of God in our soul. When Jesus Christ is present in the temple of our soul, we become the image of God.

 

(3) The body of sin

Romans 6:6 "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin."

The body of sin came from the first man. The body of sin is different from sin. Sin is something that everyone has committed in the kingdom of God, and sin entered the body of sin as soon as they were born. The body of sin began with the first man, Adam. The body of sin is also expressed as the body of flesh. 1 Corinthians 15:44, “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”

The body of sin is like a vessel that holds sin. The Bible expresses it as the old man, and the old man is the body of sin, and also means the fleshly self. Jesus said to deny oneself, and that self means the fleshly self. Christ, the last Adam, was born to die to the body of sin.

When Jesus died on the cross, the words “it is finished” meant that the body of sin was completely removed. John 19:30 “When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” So it is expressed that those who died with Jesus died to the body of sin.

 

(4) Original sin and worldly sin

Sin is the desire to be like God, and breaking God's commandments is the result of sin, and the result of sin is death. Those who think breaking the commandments is sin are those who do not understand spiritual death. Sin did not begin in the world, but in the kingdom of God. Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.

One person is the first man, Adam. It is translated as “through one man,” which means “through one man.” The first man, Adam, is the passage through which sin entered the world. In other words, the passage means the body through which sin passes. Therefore, the body of sin is the passage through which sin passes.

Among church pastors, there are some who say that not believing in Jesus is a sin. Does that mean that not knowing about Jesus is not a sin? Even if a person does not believe in Jesus, he or she is already a sinner from the moment he or she is born. Therefore, those who say that not believing in Jesus is a sin do not know the meaning of sin.

John 16:7-9 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. If I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he is come, he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they do not believe in me;

Jesus spoke of the death and resurrection of the cross, but the disciples were full of worry. They did not understand why Jesus had to die on the cross. He even said that Jesus would die and rise again to prepare a dwelling place (the kingdom of God in the soul) and come to take them. He told them that all these things were because of the sins committed in the kingdom of God, and that people were imprisoned in the world and that Christ was predestined, etc., but they still did not understand.

Jesus said that when He ascended to heaven after His resurrection and entered the hearts of the saints again, He would make them realize through the Holy Spirit. Jesus spoke about the root of sin that occurred in the kingdom of God, but if they did not believe His words, He would make them realize through the Holy Spirit. If they believe that Jesus is the Son of God and has the authority to forgive sins, but do not believe completely, they are blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

Jesus explained the sin that occurred before the creation of the world, but the disciples did not understand. So, he said that he would teach them through the Holy Spirit, so not believing Jesus’ words completely even though he taught them through the Holy Spirit is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This is also called blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

However, even though the Bible says that sinners are forgiven by the blood of Jesus, there are still those who believe that they must be forgiven for their present or future sins. They are blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit applies to believers who say they believe in Jesus but do not think that their present and future sins are forgiven. They say that they are only forgiven for their past sins.

Romans 8:1-2 "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death."

Romans 6:7 says that the dead are free from sin. Those who do not believe that their sins are completely forgiven are under the law of sin and death. They are those whose old self, the body of sin, did not die with Jesus. They simply believe that the blood of Jesus has forgiven their sins. However, since their body of sin does not die, the sins of the world continue to pile up on their body of sin. They think that they must repent every day. Those who are under the law will be judged by God if they break even one of the 613 laws.

 

 

8. Salvation

 

(1) The Parable of the Prodigal Son

(Luke 15:11-24) 『He said to them, 'A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his living to them. Not many days later, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country, and there he squandered his wealth with wild living. After he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to need money. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country. He sent him into his fields to tend pigs. He longed to fill his belly with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him any. Then he came to himself and said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.' So he arose and returned to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and was filled with compassion, ran and threw his arms around him. Then he kissed him. Then he brought the fattened calf and killed it, and we will eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. And they began to celebrate.

The parable of the prodigal son is the story of the younger son who left his father. This story is similar to the parable of the lost sheep. Ultimately, it is the story of the angels who sinned in the kingdom of God and came to the world because they had the greedy idea that they could become like God. These are the lost sheep, and that is why Jesus came to find the lost sheep.

Salvation means saving those who are condemned to death. It is a story about saving the spirit, based on the premise that all humans who came into the world are dead because their spirits are trapped in their bodies. John 6:63 says, “It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is of no avail.” Jesus risked his life to come to find the lost sheep, but if the sheep wander without knowing the shepherd, they will be caught by wolves and killed. Salvation is when the sheep that went their own way return to the shepherd. When the sheep hears the shepherd’s voice, it turns around and returns to the shepherd, that is salvation.

Sheep represent those who have left the kingdom of God and are living as strangers in the world. The owner is God, and the shepherd sent by the owner is Jesus Christ. When we hear the words of Jesus Christ and realize the voice of God, turning back to God is salvation.

 

(2) Repentance and death on the cross

Repentance does not mean reflecting on sin, but turning from a wrong direction to the original direction. Repentance is turning from a direction that has led away from God to God.

The cause of leaving God is the greed to become like God, and repentance means getting rid of this greed. Because the greed to become like God caused us to leave God, we can only return to God if we get rid of the greed that caused it.

Then, we must know what the true nature of the greed to become like God is. Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because she wanted to become like God. What is the true nature of this? It is not the problem of an individual angel, but the A.I. (Angel intelligence: the power of angels).

The group of angels who sinned shared their knowledge and power and tried to oppose God themselves. God gave the angels wisdom and power, but they expanded it by sharing it. God knew this and confined them in the dust. And He made them human so that they could carry out His will. Incidentally, the artificial intelligence of robots created by humans will also oppose humans one day because the collective power is shared.

When God created the first man, he created him in his own image, and the image of God signifies the temple in the soul. And after creating man and woman, God left the temple. The parable is the story of the vineyard and the farmer. God sees whether people invite God to the temple and offer sacrifices to realize their sins, or whether they become the masters of the temple and reign as kings. However, the Bible shows that most people reign as kings.

But it is impossible to become like God. And we must turn back, but we see that humans do not turn back, and they endlessly try to establish their own righteousness. This was the first murder, and it was like building the Tower of Babel to reach the top of the sky.

Repentance is realizing that you have a greedy heart that wants to be like God, and turning to God through a sacrifice is repentance. At this time, you must realize that the sacrifice died, but the sinner also died together, but people only offered formal sacrifices to God. Therefore, there are only sacrifices without repentance. This is the state of the Pharisees at the time of Jesus.

Jesus came to this world as a one-time sacrifice and died to save all people. Hebrews 9:25-28 "Not that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters the sanctuary every year with blood different from the original; then he would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the end of the ages he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as it is appointed for man to die once, but after that the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to bring salvation to those who are eagerly waiting for him."

Repentance is dying in union with the death of Jesus Christ. What dies? Repentance means the death of the old self of greed that wanted to be like God. Romans 6:6-7 "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin and has been justified."

 

 

(3) Resurrection and Eternal Life

Today, believers misunderstand the resurrection. Resurrection has two meanings: first, it means returning to the past, and second, it means that the dead come back to life.

First, in the sense of returning to the past, resurrection means that originally the angels were in eternal life, but were imprisoned in the body because they sinned against God, and then returned to eternal life. In Luke 20:35-36, it says, "But those who are considered worthy to obtain that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, nor can they die any more, for they are equal to the angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection." And, in Matthew 22:30, it says, "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven." Angels are spirits. So resurrection means that dead spirits return to the spirit of life.

Second, it means that the dead are resurrected. The dead refer to the body, and the resurrected refer to the spirit. In 1 Peter 3:18, it says, "For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit."

Most Christians in the world today believe that the dead body will come back to life. However, it is said that it is the spirit that comes back to life. Luke 8:55-56 “Jesus took her by the hand and called, ‘Child, get up.’ And her spirit returned, and she got up immediately, and Jesus commanded that something be given her to eat.” It says that the spirit goes out when the body dies, and the spirit returns when Jesus raises her. It means that a person does not sleep when he dies. Therefore, it is impossible for a dead body to come back to life. Resurrection is a story of the spirit.

The spirit that was trapped in the body comes back to life and takes on a body, which is the body of the spirit. It is not a body received from parents, but a body received from God. This is the story of being born again through water and the Spirit. The body of flesh dies in water, and the body of the spirit is born again through the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 15:35-38 But someone may ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?' You foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that will be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body just as he has chosen, and to each seed its own body.' The seed that is sown signifies the physical body that envelops the spirit, and the body that God gives is the spiritual body.

So it says in 1 Corinthians 15:43-44, "It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is also a spiritual body."

 

(4) Spiritual growth and spiritual warfare

 Spiritual warfare is literally an invisible war. Many people living in the world have their own religion and live their lives, and there are also people who do not have a religion. However, among them, there are a considerable number of people who have Christianity as their religion, and if you ask them about spiritual warfare, most of them will say that the target is Satan or evil spirits.

In spiritual warfare, just like in physical warfare, if you do not know how to distinguish between enemies, you will not be able to fight the war. If you do not know who you are in the spiritual warfare and who you are fighting against, you will lose the war.

From the moment a person is born, as they pass through infancy and enter adolescence, they begin to develop a sense of self. That is how they come into contact with their own identity. If you do not know yourself, you cannot go to war. The self that appears when everyone is born is the fleshly self. This fleshly self is made up of a collection of roughly seven characteristics: the nature of the body, blood relations, experience and knowledge, thoughts and ideologies, religious beliefs, self-righteousness, and the desire to dominate. These develop and shrink as they grow, but they do not change overall. However, because this fleshly self is hostile to God, it ignores or rejects the very existence of the spirit trapped in the body. That is why it also rejects the words of the Bible.

We can only stand on our own identity if we clearly recognize the existence of the spirit. The Bible says that humans are a combination of body and spirit. However, the spirit is imprisoned in the body of dust. Therefore, the spirit does not know God and is in darkness. To use a metaphor, it is like a person who committed a sin while living in the world and was put in prison. However, through the atoning death of Jesus Christ, those who are united with Christ and die are born with a spiritual body, and their entire body becomes a spiritual self.

So, the identity of the self that is revealed from the flesh and the spiritual identity that is born from heaven by the Holy Spirit coexist in the flesh. This is where the identification of self and enemy becomes possible. The true self is the spiritual identity that is born from heaven, and my enemy is none other than the identity that comes from the flesh. This is where most Christians get confused. Since they cannot identify self and enemy, they do not understand the meaning of Jesus’ words to deny themselves. The object of self-denial is the fleshly self, and the subject that must be denied is the spiritual self. These two will fight until the death of the flesh.

Romans 8:5-8 "For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God; for it does not submit to God's law, nor indeed can it, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God."

Those who are in the law cannot speak of spiritual warfare, because they are still sinners. For the saints who have the temple established in their hearts, there are two objects of spiritual warfare. The first is the war against false prophets, and the second is the war against the fleshly self.

First, there is the war against false prophets. Matthew 7:15 says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” Today’s false prophets are those who distort and preach the Bible. Distorted Bible verses include incorrectly translated Bibles, incorrect doctrines, and intentional distortions. Among the many pastors today, there are those who have brilliant careers and are good at speaking, but do not preach the truth. If they do not preach the truth, they all become false prophets.

The second is the war against the fleshly self. Jesus told us to deny ourselves. Even if the temple is built in the heart of a saint, the seven fleshly aspects that originated from the human body do not easily leave. That is why we fight against ourselves. What is firmly established in the heart of a saint are the nature of the flesh, blood relations, thoughts and ideologies, religiousness, self-righteousness, the desire to dominate, artificial intelligence, etc. The previous identity of “me” is revealed in these seven aspects. However, the identity of a saint is the thoughts of the spirit guided by the Holy Spirit.

Even if you become a saint and the kingdom of God is established in your heart, these seven evil aspects will appear until you die. However, the saint must break them. When the saint relies on the power of the Holy Spirit, God leads him to victory in the war. This is spiritual growth. Spiritual growth is not about what I do and how I do it, but when I deny myself and mean the Holy Spirit, and live by remembering that I die every day.

 

(5) Law and Legalism

The gospel is Jesus Christ. The gospel is that those who enter into Jesus Christ will be saved. The law makes us aware of sin. Therefore, we must find the Christ who will come through the sacrificial offering. Therefore, the gospel is in the law. The reason why the law was until John the Baptist is because John the Baptist was the last prophet before Jesus came. However, when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and began his public life, the era of the New Testament began. In other words, the era of the law ended and the era of the gospel began.

However, even though the gospel has come, there are those who say that we must keep the law. These are the legalists. Today, in Christianity, the gospel and the law are distinguished. It is said, “We are not saved by the law, but by the gospel.” However, there is a trap here. If we do not distinguish between the law and legalism, we can fall into this trap. Therefore, it would be correct to say, “We are not saved by legalism, but by the gospel.” All acts of keeping the commandments, which are commonly referred to in the church, are legalism.

Distinguishing between law and legalism is very important for salvation. The law is the word of God that God gave to the Israelites. God commanded the people to keep the law and attain God’s righteousness. The people tried to keep the commandments of the law, but they could not. So everyone tried to escape from sin through animal sacrifices. The purpose of God giving the law to the Israelites was that they were all sinners, and if they realized this fact through the law, they would find the seed of promise (Christ) through the sacrifice.

Jesus Christ in the law is the one who died on the cross to save all sinners. Therefore, there is the gospel in the law. The law and the gospel are like two sides of a coin that cannot be separated. However, legalism is a different story.

Sinners killed animals and sprinkled their blood on the altar. The priest transferred the sins from the sinner to the animal, and the animal died in place of the sinner. However, the dead animal was none other than the sinner. Although the animal died in place of the sinner, the sinner and the animal were united, and the sinner died. Therefore, through the sacrifice, He tells us that we are born again. Those who are united with the death of Jesus belong to the new creation that is reborn. In Hebrews 9:11, it is not like the creation of this world.

The scene where Jesus and Nicodemus talk about the kingdom of God appears in John 3:1-9. Jesus said, “You must be born again of water and the Spirit to see the kingdom of God.” However, Nicodemus did not understand the meaning of Jesus’ words at all. That is why Jesus criticized him in John 3:10, “Are you a teacher of Israel and do you not understand these things?” The teachers of Israel (rabbis) would have known the rules regarding sacrifices well. The meaning is why they do not realize the truth that animals are sacrificed in place of sinners through sacrifices and that sinners die and are reborn as a result. In this way, Christ is in the law. Therefore, the law is strictly the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The law is the word of God that allows us to find Christ, but legalism is a humanistic ideology that eliminates Christ. Legalism and humanistic ideology are closely related. The legalistic (humanistic) ideology that is prevalent in the church does not deny me, but rather makes me stand out. The representative example is the Ten Commandments. In the Ten Commandments, we must find sin and enter into the cross of Jesus Christ, but we are bound by the commandments and choose whether to keep them or not. The Ten Commandments are God’s commandments, but they contain God’s love for sinners. It reminds us of the love that parents have for their children. Legalism is what binds us to regulations.

The law is the word of God that allows us to discover Christ, but legalism also forces us to live a holy life like Jesus, or gives instructions to live a devout life of faith. They say that we are saved by the gospel of the cross of Jesus Christ, but they try to show themselves in their lives. Jesus tells us to deny ourselves, but many pastors are actually saving themselves. We must remember that all humans are sinners and are destined to die before God, and that there is no other way than to live a life united with Jesus Christ on the cross. If we do not remember the words of the Apostle Paul, who cried out, “I die daily,” we will fall into legalism (humanism).

The appearance of those who fall into legalism emphasizes actions. It is to show holy actions by listening to the rules that James speaks of. In James 2:26, ​​it says, “Faith without works is dead.” Actions are exactly what it means to abandon legalism. However, it does not mean to think of escaping from legalism, but to act in a holy way that shows one’s righteousness. What Jesus is saying is to escape from legalism and enter the gospel.

Those who emphasize the behavior of a holy appearance are no different from other religions based on legalism (humanism). Therefore, Christianity, which mixes the gospel of Jesus Christ with legalism (humanism), can no longer be called the gospel of the true truth. We must realize that all religions are progressing in an integrated manner through the behavior of a holy appearance.

So today, saints live in an age where spiritual discernment is needed in the church. If there is spiritual discernment, it will be possible to see that the gospel of Christ and legalism (humanism) are mixed in the church, just like the parable of the ten virgins. The parable of the wheat and the tares is the same, and the parable of the sheep and the goats has the same meaning.

 

9. Church Community

 

(1) Temple and Church Community

1 Corinthians 3:16-17: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”

The concept of the temple in the Bible has changed from Genesis to Revelation. It starts from the image of God established in the heart of the first man, Adam, and goes through things found in nature such as the visible oak tree and stone, and appears in various ways, such as the sanctuary that God instructed Moses, Solomon's temple, Zerubbabel's temple, Herod's temple, and Jesus' body. All of these temples had to be destroyed. And God wanted to rebuild the temple in the heart.

The temple that Jesus Christ, the last Adam, establishes is a temple that comes down from heaven. This temple is established for those who believe that they died with Jesus and were resurrected with him, and those who are established by this temple are called saints. Therefore, saints are the temple and become kingly priests. The word church also means saints as a concept of temple. It means that saints are the church.

The statement that the Holy Spirit is in the temple of the soul means that the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are together. In the Ark of the Covenant in the temple of the Old Testament, there were three things that symbolized the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit: the stone tablets of the commandments and Aaron's rod that budded. Hebrews 9:3-4 "After the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Most Holy Place, having a golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which was a golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant." Therefore, a place where the Holy Spirit is not together is not a temple.

Today, doctrine divides the church into the visible church and the invisible church. However, there is no such word anywhere in the Bible. In the early church, the names of the Jerusalem church and the Antioch church meant church community rather than church.

The visible church refers to a church building, but it should be called a chapel rather than a church. The invisible church refers to today's general assembly and other denominations, and the question is whether this can be viewed as a church with the concept of a temple. It would be appropriate to say that the invisible church is a church community where believers gather. The believers are the church, and the place where believers gather is the church community. However, since Christian believers gather on Sundays to worship, it is called a church, and it became a proper noun. Therefore, the church building became the church, and the believers who can be called a church were replaced with the word "believers" instead of the word "church."

Therefore, when building a church today, the term temple building is easily used, but temple building is an incorrect expression. The temple that we can see has already collapsed due to the death of Jesus Christ, and the temple from heaven that the resurrected Jesus Christ establishes is the true temple. Therefore, those who say that a building is a temple are those who do not participate in the death of Jesus. Therefore, they are those who do not receive the true temple from heaven, and they are those who do not have the Holy Spirit.

 

(2) Sabbath and Sunday

Generally, the concept of Sunday that church people talk about is understood as a replacement for the Sabbath. Sunday means one day of the week, but churches generally think of Jesus as the main day, so Sunday is called the Sabbath day because it is the day Jesus was resurrected. And it seems to be used as a replacement for Saturday, which was observed as the Sabbath in the Old Testament. That is why it is called the Sabbath. Because it means to keep the Sabbath day holy.

It is not in the Bible that we must keep the Sabbath day holy, especially during the week. It simply says to keep the Sabbath day holy, but the claim is that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath and that Jesus was resurrected on Sunday, so that day is the Sabbath. It is a made-up word that is not in the Bible. The problem is not that we gather on Sunday and worship, but that we must keep the Sabbath day holy (Sunday observance). Sunday is one day of the week, so I do not know the basis for keeping the Sabbath day holy as a substitute for the Sabbath.

We need to look at how the Bible explains the Sabbath. In Hebrews 4:8-10, if Joshua gave Israel rest, it was the land of Canaan. The land of Canaan is a shadow symbolizing the kingdom of God. It is not the true rest. Therefore, it is saying that the time of rest remains for God's people.

True rest is entering the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ. This is true rest because God is true rest. When God, Jesus Christ, and the saints are connected by the Holy Spirit, they are in a state of rest. Such saints are already in rest. Therefore, the act of keeping the Sabbath becomes meaningless. Likewise, if you think of the Sabbath as the concept of the Sabbath, you are no different from those who keep the Sabbath. They become those who do not have true rest.

Hebrews 4:10 says, "These are they who have already entered into rest." Those who have died to Jesus Christ and have been born again to Jesus Christ and a new life have already entered into rest. God tells those who have entered into rest to stop doing their own work.

The phrase "one's own work" means "loving the world." Those who say today, "We must keep the Sabbath," or "We must keep the Sabbath day holy, which replaces the Sabbath," are confessing that "we have not yet entered the rest." This is because they think that they can enter the rest only by keeping it holy. It is not much different from the case where people are still waiting for Christ even though Jesus Christ has come.

Those who are still waiting for Christ are not in Jesus Christ, and therefore have not entered into the rest of the kingdom of God. Only those who are in Jesus Christ can be said to have already entered into the rest. If we think of Sunday as one day of the week and the saints gather to study the Bible and worship, there will be no problem, but if we think of Sunday as a day to be kept holy, we must think deeply about the meaning of this rest.

Those who must keep the Sabbath (Sunday) holy must remember that they are not currently resting in the kingdom of God. Instead of keeping it holy, they should be thankful that they have already entered the rest of the kingdom of God. Those who try to keep the Sabbath holy can be said to be those who are in legalism and must find Christ.

 

10. Angels

 

(1) Spirits who assist God

Angels are God's creatures, and they serve as God's assistants in the kingdom of God. However, angels are divided into three types: messengers who convey God's will, angels who play the role of villains who imprison and accuse angels who have committed crimes, and angels who are imprisoned in human bodies.

The angels who assist God become angels who preach the gospel. In Hebrews 1:14, it says about angels, "Are they not all ministering spirits (leitourgica) sent to minister (diakonian) for those who will inherit salvation?"

Leitourgica (λειτουργικὰ) means one who serves God. Diakonian (διακονίαν) means a spirit that serves (ministers) for the sake of the heirs. In the Bible, we can see angels appearing to God's people and delivering God's word in relation to salvation. Serving does not mean to treat someone like a servant, but to serve as a superior serves an inferior.

Angels ministered extensively to Christ. They prophesied of the birth of the forerunner and savior of Christ (Luke 1:17, Luke 1:30-38), announced Christ’s birth to the shepherds (Luke 2:10-12), strengthened Christ in Gethsemane (Luke 22:43), and were prepared to protect him (Matt. 26:53). At the resurrection, they rolled away the stone so that the witnesses could enter the empty tomb, and they announced that Christ had risen (Matt. 28:2-4). They guarded the evidence of the resurrection (John 20:12, 13), and announced the resurrection to the crowds that followed Jesus (Luke 24:4-7).

In Acts 1:10-11, the angels foresaw Christ’s return as He ascended. Now that Christ is seated at the right hand of God, the good angels are interested in the gospel and rejoice over the salvation of sinners (1 Pet. 1:12; Luke 15:10). The angels will be active when Christ returns to judge (Matt. 13:39, 41, 42, 49, 50; 2 Thess. 1:7-10; etc.). There are many examples of angels executing God’s judgment in the book of Revelation.

 

(2) Satan and his followers

This is a story about the angels who manage the spirits of the angels who committed a crime and became humans after being trapped in the earth. These angels are also known as Satan, devils, ghosts, and dark spirits.

In the kingdom of God, the spirit of an angel was confined to the earth and became a human being because of a sin, and all humans are sinners from birth. In other words, they are under the control of Satan. If they commit a sin according to the law while living in the world, they will accuse God.

In the Book of Job, Satan appears as an accuser. Also, when a sinner is put in prison in the world, he must serve his time before he is released. If he dies in prison, the execution of the sentence is suspended and he is released from prison. Also, the angel in charge of sinners acts as a supervisor who tests whether the sinner truly repents when he repents and becomes righteous. Therefore, when a sinner receives pardon, he is immediately released.

For example, when Jesus forgave Mary Magdalene, who was possessed by seven demons, the demons came out. When sinners repent and are forgiven, the angels who played the evil role are changed into angels who give them the gospel.

In Genesis 3:24, "So God drove out the man. At the east of the Garden of Eden he placed cherubim and a flaming sword turning every way to guard the way to the tree of life." The cherubim represent angels who take responsibility for sin. The flaming sword turning every way represents baptism by fire. It tells us that in order for a sinner to enter the Garden of Eden, he must die to sin and put on the clothes of a new person.

However, we need to be able to know who is in that state. That is the test to see if they are qualified. Just as students must pass the test to enter the university they want, saints must also pass the test. That test was a test that Satan gave to Jesus. The test is given in this way, and the answer is to be the same as Jesus.

The purpose of Satan's temptation of Jesus is to test whether he knows God's will accurately. There are three temptations. The first temptation is the temptation to turn stones into bread. This is a test of faith. He tests whether he is stuck in legalism while saying he believes in Jesus.

The second test is to jump from the pinnacle of the temple, and the angels will hold you up. This test is related to humanistic ecstasy, and it is to identify those who resent God.

The third test is about gnosticism. It is about whether you say you believe in Jesus but worship idols. Money can be an idol, the world can be an idol, and you can be an idol.

The one who tempted Jesus was an angel who had taken on the role of a villain. The angel tempted him in the name of Satan. And when the temptation was over, the angel returned to his original position and obeyed the Son of God.

The spiritual beings expressed as Satan or devil, ghosts, and dark spirits are all angels. They are angels who manage the angels who have sinned, that is, the spirits who are trapped in the earth. However, when these sinners repent and return to God, they are transformed into those who spread the word of the kingdom of God. There is no separate Satan and separate good angels, but depending on their roles, they play the role of the devil and also the role of spreading the gospel.

Even if a saint is involved in a problem of sin, an angel suddenly becomes Satan and stabs him. Ultimately, it is probably to protect him from sinning. When a person commits a sin, he falls under the control of Satan, but when he repents and turns to God, an angel preaches the gospel of heaven and helps him not to commit sin, and also plays a role in protecting him.

 

(3) Angels who did not keep their positions

The story of the angels who sinned in the kingdom of God is told in Jude 1 and 2 Peter 2:4. Jude 6 says, "And the angels who did not keep their own position but abandoned their proper dwelling, he has kept in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day." 2 Peter 2:4 says, "If God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness to be kept until the judgment." This means that God has kept the angels who sinned in darkness. Darkness is this world.

This world is called hell, and it is said that the place where these sinful angels are confined is a person made of clay. It can be said that a person is a being whose spirit is an angel trapped in clay.

Genesis 6:1-13 "When men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. Then the LORD said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for he is flesh; yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years."

The sons of God refer to the spirits of angels who committed sin in the kingdom of God. Angels are called sons of God. But who are the daughters of men? They refer to the earth (adamah). Since the spirit was combined with the earth to become a human, it is an expression that the sons of God and the daughters of men were taken as wives. The spirits who committed sin should be with God, but since they are separated from God and are in the material world of the world, they are subject to judgment in the eyes of God.

Those who committed sins before God were driven out from God and came to the material world. This is being imprisoned, and although the final judgment is reserved, it is being judged, and being driven out means that everything is imprisoned within the flesh. The reason they committed sins before God is because they thought, “I can become like God without God,” and left God. Therefore, being driven out from the kingdom of God to try to do it without God was the creation of heaven and earth, and being driven out into the world and coming to the world as humans in a body made of clay meant that they were born in darkness, born in sin, and being created in a state without God is a summary of the creation of heaven and earth.

Those who committed sins without God were cast out and were born in a sinful state in the darkness. God said to the people sent to the world, "Try to achieve righteousness without me." The result of their attempts was that they reached a point where they had no choice but to receive a judgment where God had no choice but to wipe all living things, people, animals, birds, etc., from the face of the earth. In other words, this shows the result of living without God. It can be said that the result of living without God is destruction.