Since we believe in God, it is natural for us to keep the laws of God, the commands God gave us. As a member in a family, we listen to what the parents say and try to keep them. And also as member of a nation, we try to abide by the law of the nation.
It is because we trust in the parents and the nation that we show our trust by obeying the laws and commands ordained by the parents and nation. We know that we can be benefited when we obey them. Then how much more should we keep the laws and commands God gave us for our benefit and salvation?
James 2:17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
The bible says that the Zion is the city of our festivals. Since we believe in God, we must keep the festivals of God in Zion. The faith must accompany with the action and without the action the faith is dead. Let us obey the commands and laws of God by keeping them according to the regulations God gave us.
Zion is the dwelling of God, which means God is in Zion. Therefore, to meet God we must come to Zion.
Pslam 132:13 For the Lord has chosen Zion, he has desired it for his dwelling, saying, 14 “This is my resting place for ever and ever; here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it.
Since God is in Zion, we can find God in Zion, who can forgive our sins. We can be set free from sins and death in Zion. And we can receive salvation of God in Zion.
Isaiah 33:20 Look on Zion, the city of our festivals…..21 There the Lord will be our Mighty One…….22 For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us….. 24 No one living in Zion will say, “I am ill”; and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven.
As true and righteous judge, God in Zion gives us forgiveness and salvation. Just like a judge in the world makes a judgment on the basis of a law, God as judge in Zion makes a judgment based on the law of God. Then what is the law in Zion that gives us forgiveness and salvation. What is the law that justifies us that we are not a sinner any more. We must be under that law to receive salvation.
According to the bible, there are two different laws of God. The first law or the old covenant was the law God gave to the Israelites when he led them out of Egypt, the land of slavery. With the old covenant (the Law of Moses) God gave them freedom for the slavery and led them to the Promised Land of Canaan. The Law of Moses or the old covenant was declared to the Israelites on Mountain Sinai among thunders and lightnings. The Jews kept the old covenant for the blessings of forgiveness.
However, in the time of the new covenant, the law of the new covenant or the Law of Christ is coming from Mt. Zion to the holy people of God to give them forgiveness and salvation. Christ established the new covenant for us, all the people of God. (Luke 22:19) Through the new covenant, we can be set free from the slavery of sins and death. And the Christ is leading us to the spiritual Canaan, that is, heaven.
Jeremiah 31:31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah……..“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people……“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
God declared that he would establish the new covenant. Unlike the old covenant which was written in the tablets of stone and could be broken when Moses threw them down the mountain, the new covenant would be written in the tablets of our heart and can never be broken or taken away. Through this new covenant, we can be the people of God and God gives us forgiveness of sins.
Therefore, as people of God, we must keep the new covenant. 2000 years ago, Jesus established the law of the new covenant through his sacrifice on the cross. He established the Sabbath of the new covenant and the Passover of the new covenant. When we keep the laws of the new covenant in Zion, we can be under the love and grace of God and receive abundant blessings from God.
Sometimes, we might ask of our faith in God. How far am I from God? And how far am I from the devil? How can we know our distance from God and the Devil?
We can imagine a situation of a man standing between two objects which exist at either end of the man opposite from each other. One is on the right side of the man and the other on the left. Then we can know the distance of the man from those objects easily. If the man is moving away from one object, automatically he is moving closer to the other object and vice versa.
Our distance from God and the Devil is the same. God and Devil are standing at the opposite sides from each other. God is in heaven and the Devil is in hell which is exactly opposite of heaven. Therefore, if we are moving toward God, our distance to the Devil becomes greater. And when we move toward the devil, our distance toward God gets bigger and bigger.
Therefore, to know our distance from God and Devil, we have to ask ourselves where we are moving to. We must move toward God by obeying the words of God and doing the will of God. In that way, we can move away from the Devil. Let us watch ourselves and we must make sure that we are moving toward God.
God is waiting for us and calling us to come toward heaven: ‘Come out of her, my people,’ so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues.
The bible is the book of prophecies leading us to heaven. And we should have firm faith in the words of God. Then as the parable says, we can build our house on the rock, which is the Christ. The Christ is the mystery of God. And we can know the answer for the mystery through the prophecies of the bible.
The bible prophesies that the Christ would come again for the second time for our salvation. Then how can we know the Second Coming Christ, the mystery of God in the bible? Through the prophecy of the throne of the David we can know who the Second Coming Christ is. Let us study the bible diligently to know and receive the Second Coming Christ who was to come as Prophetical King David.
First, it is hatched in the shallow freshwater and later it goes out into the ocean. For two years or more, it stays in the ocean migrating all around the vast seas. Finally, when it is the time for them to lay eggs, they make a long journey back to their home to the shallow freshwater where they were hatched many years ago. This is the story of salmons.
What is amazing in their life story is the way they find their way back home. Once a man found a salmon among a group of salmons which were heading back upward the river to their home. What was strange about it was that it had unusually protruded eyes and he sent it to scientists for study. And they have found out nothing wrong with it except that it had very poor eyesight. How could a salmon with eyes almost blind travel around the oceans and find its way back home?
It is said that salmons have a technology in it through which it can find the exact direction to the place it was born, what is called “homing instinct”. It is assumed that salmons can find their way home through two mechanisms. First, people say that they imprint the smell of the environment where they were born and later the ocean near their birth place. And also they said to use the earth’s magnetic field to find the way.
Pigeons and Magnetite
This kind of homing instinct can be found in birds too. Many migratory birds has a certain substance in its neurons in the brain and through this they can find their way home. This phenomenon is called “magnetoreception” since those birds use the magnetic field of the earth to find direction. One of the birds with this amazing technology in it is a pigeon. Scientists says that a pigeon has a sensor which uses “magnetite”-“a magnetic iron mineral that could act as tiny compass needles”. This mineral contained in the neurons of the brain of the bird makes it possible for the bird to find its way home in whatever circumstances it is.
What Is Imprinted In Us
God has imprinted an ability to find the way back home to these creatures. It is the same with us. God has imprinted in us something that we can find our way back home.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
On this earth everything has its time and it looks glorious at that time. However, sooner or later its glory vanishes and it dies. As human beings, we cannot be satisfied with this temporary glory. We all have yearning for the better. And the bible teaches the reason for those yearnings. It is because God has imprinted in us “eternity”. Since we have eternity in our hearts, we can never be satisfied with the temporary things of the earth. And we yearn for a better country, our eternal home. We are created to long for the eternal home, the kingdom of heaven.
When we are wanderers on this earth without knowing where to go, Christ Ahnsahnghong and Heaven Mother came to us. They taught us about our home heaven and opened the way to the eternal home. Now I know how happy I am to know what I have been seeking for. Thanks to Father and Mother.
Today we can find many Christian congregations all around the world. What they have in common is that they believe in Christ as the Savior. Except for this, almost all the churches have different doctrines and follow different regulations. They all believe that their worship of God is acceptable to God since it is done out of their love toward God. However, is this true to believe that all the worship services are acceptable to God if it is done in the name of God and Christ? We can find one example in the story of Cain and Abel.
Genesis 4:2 Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
According to this story, Cain was a farmer and naturally he offered grains he produced with his sweat; and Abel, fat portions from the firstborn of his flock. Each of them offered the best they could in their perspective. Then did God accept both offerings with a willing and pleasing mind? That was not the case. God accepted Abel’s offerings with pleasure, but not Cain’s.
What was the reason for this favoritism shown toward Abel? Was it God’s preference? No. The answer can be found in the next verse in the words of God to Cain: “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
Through this we can know that there was something that is not right in the offerings of Cain. According to the bible, the cleansingness or the forgiveness of sins are obtained by shedding the blood.
Hebrews 9:18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”[e] 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Even from the beginning, God set up the law that the forgiveness of sins can be achieved only through shedding blood. And there is no forgiveness without shedding blood. God already made know this fact to Cain and Abel; Abel obeyed the words of God, but Cain did not. For this reason the offerings of Cain was not acceptable in the eyes of God. This means the offerings must be done according to the words of God. And the offerings which are perform arbitrarily without the words of God are not pleasing in the eyes of God.
It is the same to day with the spiritual offerings, that is, the worship services. The worship services done according to the words of God are like Abel’s offering and God will willingly accept that kind of offering. It is because that offering is done in the obedience to the words of God. Then what about the worship services done like the offerings of Cain? However much may one put his mind and soul for the service, it is not acceptable in the eyes of God and those who offer in this way out from their own opinions cannot receive blessings from God. Rather, as God said to Cain, things which are not done according to the words of God are not right and those who do what is not right are committing sins against God because sin is lawlessness, in other words, disobedience to the words or the laws of God.
Then let us think of the worship services done among the churches today. Some churches practice the Sunday worship and others the Sabbath worship. And they all believe that they are doing the will of God. Then which practice is done according to the words of God in the bible. In the Book of Exodus, God commanded clearly that we must keep the Sabbath day, not Sunday.
Exodus 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Then according to this verse what is the law of God? Keeping the Sabbath Day holy is the law of God. Then what is the Sunday worship? It is an act like the offering of Cain who practiced lawlessness when he did not obey the commands of God. Those who take part in the Sunday worship are doing the same as Cain and they are practicing lawlessness in the eyes of God. Consequently, their offerings will not be pleasing in the eyes of God and they cannot receive any blessings out of their worship services.
God teaches us that we must have knowledge in the worship of God. Today so many people emphasize only the faith and love toward God. They say what is important is faith in God, not the work we have done such as keeping the laws and regulations. But God says to those who have faith in him: “If you love me, keep my commands.” We as believers who have faith in God have to obey the commands of God to show our faith toward God. This is the will of God.
According to the bible, the most important characteristic of the saints of God in the last days is obeying the commands of God. For this reason, knowing the commands of God is critical for the salvation.
Today there are so many churches teaching different doctrines. How can we know which is true and not true? Let us find answer for the question.
Revelation 14:1 Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. 3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes.
Among many features of the 144000, the most important one is following the Lamb or the Christ wherever he is leading them to. This means that as sheep of God they listen to and obey the voice of God completely. In other words, they keep the commands of God with a complete obedience.
Revelation 14:12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.
Here we can see again that the people of God follow the commands of God with adding to or subtracting from the words of God.
Then how can we find out the true words or the commands of God among so many different teachings of the different people? The bible teaches us that we must go to Zion in the last days to learn the true words of God.
Micah 4:1 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. 2 Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
In this prophecy, God teaches us that we must go to Zion and Jerusalem for the law and the words of God in the last days, the time frame we are living in. Then why are the commands of God coming from Zion? What is Zion?
Isaiah 33:20 Look on Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken. 21 There the Lord will be our Mighty One. It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams. No galley with oars will ride them, no mighty ship will sail them. 22 For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us.
In the Book of Psalm 132, God teaches that Zion is the dwelling of God chosen by God to be his dwelling forevermore. Since God is in Zion, we can be taught by God when we go to Zion. And in Zion, we can see Jerusalem, the source of the words of God in the last days.
Then what is Zion? It is the place chosen by God to keep the festivals of God such as Sabbath, Passover, Feast of Weeks, and Tabernacles, etc.. When we go to Zion, we can meet God and receive the true teachings God grants to his people. Now, come to Zion and obey the commands of God by keeping the festivals of God. And then we can receive abundant blessings God allows through the festivals.
The definition of the word “covenant” is an agreement, usually formal, between two or more persons to do or not do something specified. A covenant is a kind of promise made between people. In this sense, the covenant is also a promise made between God and His people.
In the time of Moses, God made a covenant with the Israelites, which is called the old covenant. It was given specifically to the physical Jews.
Deuteronomy 5:1 Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3 It was not with our ancestors that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today. 4 The Lord spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. 5 (At that time I stood between the Lord and you to declare to you the word of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.)
As a sign of the covenant, God gave them the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. The Israelites could receive blessings from God when they kept the covenant. In reality, however, they disobeyed and violated the covenant, and as a result they were cursed and received a lot of calamities.
In the time of Prophet Jeremiah, God foretold the Israelites about the coming disasters and taught them the reason for those disasters coming to them. It was because they violated the covenant they made with God.
Jeremiah 11:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Listen to the terms of this covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. 3 Tell them that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Cursed is the one who does not obey the terms of this covenant— 4 the terms I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.’ I said, ‘Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God. 5 Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey’—the land you possess today.” I answered, “Amen, Lord.” 6 The Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of this covenant and follow them. 7 From the time I brought your ancestors up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, “Obey me.” 8 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.’”
The bible teaches that whatever was written in the past were written to teach us a lesson. Through the blessings and curses of the Jews, God is teaching us about the importance of keep the covenant God established for us. 2000 years ago, Jesus came down and established the new covenant for all the people of God, not only the Jews. This covenant was given to the peoples of the world who would like to receive the blessings from God.
Through his flesh and blood, Jesus made a covenant and he gave the promise of eternal life and forgiveness of sins to those who keep the covenant. He named the covenant “a new covenant” in contrast to “the old covenant” given to the Jews.
Luke 22:19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Through his blood of the Passover, Jesus established the new covenant and commanded to his people to keep the Passover in remembrance of him. Obeying the command of Jesus disciples of the early churches kept the new covenant, telling us that we have to keep the new covenant until the Christ comes again.
1 Corinthians 11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
However, due to the work of Satan, during the Dark Age, the new covenant was broken and since then people did not keep the covenant. Because of this, people got cursed under the slavery of sin and death.
The bible teaches us again and again that we have to keep the covenant God established for our salvation. We should come back to God and keep the new covenant Passover. Then we can be under the blessings of God. If we follow our stubbornness like the Israel people in the past, however, we will be under curses and cannot receive salvation.
Moses receving the Ten Commandments, the Covenant of God for His People
Deuteronomy 30:11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. …..19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Let us choose life by keeping the covenant God gave for our salvation. The command of God is not burdensome.
Apostle John received the visions in Revelation on Lord’s Day. Then when is the Lord’s Day or the Day of the Lord? Is it Sunday or Saturday?
Today most Christians think that the day of worship is Sunday and they go to church on Sunday. However, is the Day of the Lord or the Day of God Sunday?
Let us think of the origin of the worship day. In Genesis Chapter 1, we can see the creation work of God from the first day to the sixth day. And on the seventh day God finished his work of creation and took a rest.
Genesis 2:1 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Later in the Law of Moses, this seventh day was designated as the day of rest to commemorate the creation work of God.
Exodus 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
This is the Sabbath Day or the day of rest recorded in the bible. God command that we have to keep the Sabbath day holy to commemorate the creation work of God. In this sense, the Sabbath day was given as the commemoration day for the creation work of God the Creator. By keeping the Sabbath Day holy, we can worship the true Creator God who created heavens and earth. For this reason, the true owner or the Lord of the Sabbath Day is God the Creator.
For this reason, in the Old Testament God the Father Jehovah says that He is the Lord of the Sabbath by calling the Sabbath Day as His because He was God the Creator.
Exodus 31:13 “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.
Ezekiel 20:11 I gave them my decrees and made known to them my laws, by which the person who obeys them will live. 12 Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy.
In the Old Testament, God the Father Jehovah says that the Sabbath is the Day of God or the Lord. And he calls the day as “My Sabbath”, and the Sabbath Day was Lord’s Day. Then how about in the time of the New Testament?
Jesus also states that the Sabbath Day is his day just like Jehovah did in the past because Jesus is God the Creator who appeared as man in the flesh. (John 1:14)
Matthew 12:8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.
Luke 6:5 Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.
Since Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, the Day of the Lord is the Sabbath Day, not Sunday. Nowhere in the bible can we find even a verse which testifies that Lord’s Day is the Sunday. Lord’s Day was, is, and will always be the Sabbath day, that is, Saturday. Therefore, the day of worship is the Saturday, which is the true Sabbath Day.
Even Catholic Church which started the Sunday worship first clearly states that the Sunday worship is not biblical at all.
“A rule of faith, or a competent guide to heaven, must be able to instruct in all the truths necessary for salvation. Now the Scriptures alone do not contain all the truths which a Christian is bound to believe, nor do they explicitly enjoin all the duties which he is obliged to practice. Not to mention other examples, is not every Christian obliged to sanctify Sunday, and to abstain on that day from unnecessary servile work? Is not the Observance of this law among the most prominent of our sacred duties? But you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify….. We must, therefore, conclude that the Scriptures alone cannot be a sufficient guide and rule of faith, because they cannot, at any time, be within the reach of every inquirer; because they are not of themselves clear and intelligible even in matters of the highest importance. And because they do not contain all the truths necessary for salvation.” —Cardinal Gibbons, Faith of Our Fathers, p. 111.
The Catholic Church is actually denying the authority of the words of God by saying, “the Scripture alone cannot be a sufficient guide and rule of our faith.” And this teaching definitely contradicts with the teachings of Jesus and apostles.
Revelation 22:18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.
And Paul says:
Galatians 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
Christ teaches us that we should not change the words of God in the bible. We will be under curse if we do. And Paul says that there is no other gospel except for the one recorded in the bible.
What the Catholic Church is doing is disobeying the teachings of Jesus who clearly stated that Lord’s Day is the Sabbath, that is, Saturday. It is adding a different gospel of Sunday worship, and at the same time taking away a true gospel of the Sabbath worship. Then what would be the results of this practice? And if we follow the teachings of the Catholic Church, how much will we be cursed for the action? We have not to be deceived by the cunning words of the Catholic teaching.
Indulgence produced by the Catholic Church. Can a Pope or any priest have the authority for the forgiveness of sins by paying off the sins on a piece of paper.
They are attempting to undermine the authority of God and the bible in order to raise their own authority for the matter of faith. However, nothing can replace the authority of God and the bible because God is the only one who can give the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. And God teaches us to keep the Passover for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life (Matthew 26:26, John 6:53), not a piece of paper called “indulgence” written by the Catholic Church.
What we have to obey to the end is the teachings of Christ and the examples shown by the apostles as it is written in the bible.
Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jesus taught us that we have to obey “everything he had commanded to us” and we should not add any more other teachings on this. When we do, we are committing the sins of adding and taking away.
2000 years ago, Jesus taught that we must worship God in spirit and in truth. Then how can we worship God in spirit and in truth?
John 4:19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
Today many so-called Christians say that the Sabbath was abolished and we don’t have to keep the Sabbath Day as the day of worship. However, Jesus gave us an example of keeping the Sabbath Day. It is true that we must not keep the Sabbath day according to the Law of Moses by sacrificing animals. But still we should keep the Sabbath according to the Law of Christ by worshiping God in the Spirit and in truth just as Jesus taught. Then how can we worship God in the Spirit and in truth? Apostle Paul and Peter teaches us about the spiritual act of worship that we have to practice.
Paul says:
Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Paul teaches that we must offer our bodies as a living sacrifice instead of an animal sacrifice. And he says that this is the spiritual act of worship, or the worship of God in the Spirit and in truth.
Also Peter says:
1 Peter 2:5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Apostle Peter also teaches that we must offer spiritual sacrifice, which is the true act of worship acceptable to God. We can worship God in spirit and in truth when we offer spiritual sacrifices to God by offering our bodies as a living sacrifice. Then how can we offer our bodies to God? What is the meaning behind it?
Romans 6:13 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
Romans 6:16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
Romans 6:19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.
In these teachings Paul teaches that we offer our body to God for the righteousness. This is worshiping God in spirit and in truth. Once we offered our body for the sinful things and as a result we were under the slavery of sin and death. Now since we are freed from the slavery of sins and death through the blood of the Christ, we must make efforts to walk in the righteous path by listening and obeying to the words of God. When we obey to the words of God, God is creating us to be holy like himself.
