The bible teaches us that we should have understanding for our salvation. Then why is it important to have understanding?
Knowing the Savior Through Understanding
The bible teaches that we can know our Savior when we have understanding, which means we cannot know who our Savior is without understanding.
1 John 5:20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
According to this verse, we can know the reason why God gives us understanding. Through the understanding God gives us, we can know the Christ or the Savior and receive eternal life through him. This means that without the understanding we cannot know or recognize the Savior and receive salvation.
How to Have Understanding
Keep the Laws of God
Therefore, it is of uttermost importance to have understanding for our salvation. Then how can we have the understanding and recognize the second coming Christ?
Psalm 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.
Wisdom Through the Laws of God
To have good understanding the bible teaches us to follow the commands of God. When we keep the laws of God, we can have understanding and open our spiritual eyes and know the Christ who can save us.
Psalm 19:7 The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. 8 The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. 9 The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.
The writer of Psalm clearly states that the laws of God gives wisdom and opens our spiritual eyes that we can have understanding to know the Savior. Let us take the law of Sabbath for example.
Law of Sabbath and Understanding
Why did God give his people the law of Sabbath? All the laws of God has God’s promise in it which God gave for our blessings. Then what is the blessings that we can receive by keeping the Sabbath day.
Exodus 31:12 Then the Lord said to Moses, 13 “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.
Blessings Promised on Sabbath
God says that we can receive a lot of blessings through the Sabbath Day. On this day, we can take a rest and we can be made holy on this day. One of the blessings of keeping the Sabbath Day is that we can know God the Savior through the Sabbath Day.
Those Who Keep the Laws of God and Those Who Don’t
That is why Jesus Christ kept reminding us of the importance of keeping the laws of God by saying, “If you love me, keep my commands”. Apostle John also confirms this again.
1 John 2:3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.
Only those who keep the command of God can come to know God. All those who do not keep the laws of God cannot know. If they say they could, they are lying. This is the conclusion God gives through the bible.
Laws of God and Traditions of Man
Then let us think about the situations of the Christians today. They do not keep the laws of God such as Sabbath and the Passover. Instead, they are keeping pagan traditions such as Sunday worship, Christmas, and Easter. And they say that they know the Christ and the Christ in them and they are in Christ. Can this be true? Definitely, not. Because God teaches that we should keep the laws of God to have wisdom to know the Christ.
Wisdom to Know the Second Coming Christ
The Bible teaches us that the Christ will come again for the second time for our salvation. (Hebrews 9:28) At that time, only those who keep the commands of God will have wisdom and spiritual eyes to know and recognize the second coming Christ. And they will be ones who can receive salvation.
The First Coming Christ and Those Who Rejected Him
2000 years ago, even though there were many who claimed to have faith in God and know God. However, when their Savior came to them in the name of Jesus, they did not recognize him and rejected him. They could not receive salvation. It was because they did not keep the laws of God, but the traditions of man. Because of the lawlessness, they did not have wisdom or understanding to correctly know the Savior.
Mark 7:6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”
The Result of Following Man’s Tradition
And Prophet Isaiah said that those who keeps the command of man cannot have wisdom and understanding to know God.
Isiah 29:11 For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.” 12 Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.” 13 The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. 14 Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
Conclusion
Again and again, God teaches us that we can have wisdom and understanding to know God only through the laws of God. The laws of God opens our spiritual eyes and gives us wisdom to know God. Therefore, it is not too much to say that our salvation depends on the laws of God.
If we want to know the Spirit and the Bride in the last day who give the water of life and receive the living water from them, first we have to keep the laws of God such as baptism, Sabbath, Passover, etc. Then God will open our eyes and we will know and receive the Savior in the last days.