November 23^rd 2011 Wednesday Message Summary

Scriptures: Matthew 16:21-23

1. Let me tell you the first key point of today’s sermon.

When Jesus, the Son of God, came to Israel in the physical body, the people of that time period who believed in God did not recognize Jesus, the Son of God, whom God sent. Instead, they persecuted Him and killed Him. At that time, Jesus’ body died, and His spirit went to the spiritual prison in Hades. The spiritual prison was a place that the spirits of those who had died from being judged by God in the flood at Noah’s time had gone to. Jesus went to the domain of death in His spirit and preached the Word to them. Then, on the third day after death, He resurrected. His spirit didn’t remain confined in the prison in Hades but resurrected and came out.

No matter how healthy the body is, when it gets old, it ultimately dies. However, if the spirit lives, it lives forever. That’s why everyone must make their spirit come to life from death. The resurrection of the spirit, the salvation of the spirit, is the ultimate goal. You must know about ‘resurrection’ in order to completely resurrect and save your spirit through your body and mind.

John 6:63, the Lord said, “It is the spirit that gives life. The flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” Jesus’ body was given up completely for the sinners and He sacrificed Himself and died for them. His body was given as an offering, a sacrifice, and ended in that way. His spirit defeated death and resurrected; and in spirit, He has made history.

2. This is the second key point of today’s message.

Jesus could have evaded the elders, priests, and scribes who were trying to kill Him, and He could have walked the path of not dying as much as He liked. However, the Lord chose to go to where the cross awaited Him instead of going to places where people accepted Him.

The circumstances of that time had already leaned toward wickedness. The more the Lord preached the gospel, the more severely the ignorant people persecuted Him. It came to a point where, if the Messiah had not walked the path of the cross, the people who were to be saved could not be saved because they would continue to sin. Because the condition of the times had already turned away from God’s original Will, the only way to save everyone was for the Messiah to die for the sins of the sinners.

People think that everything will be over once the satans, demons, and the wicked go to Hell. Jesus’ thoughts, however, are different. The righteous were tormented terribly because of the evil deeds of the satans and the wicked people, and many lives could not be saved because of their slandering and persecution. Satans, demons, and wicked people going to Hell does not benefit the righteous at all. Just because the evil ones go to Hell, it does not mean that the losses the righteous suffered will be restored.

We must burn away the wicked deeds of satans and the evil ones with the Word. In order to do this, the Lord died for the sinners, paid for their sins, and thus opened the path of salvation. From the beginning, we must boldly take action with the Lord so that we won’t suffer and won’t be persecuted. We must not make the Lord’s sacrifice be something that was done in vain.

What Jesus did was stop the activities of the wicked by ‘sacrificing’ Himself, as the Messiah.

3. This is the third key point of today’s message.

People who believe in Jesus absolutely assert that Jesus’ death on the cross was predestined and it was inevitable. The people who had believed in God and had waited for the Messiah for four thousand years, those who were to be saved, rejected the Messiah, who was sent by God, and they slandered Him. Jesus’ death on the cross was not predestined. He died on their behalf to save the people of that time period because of their sins of rejecting Him and of failing to do their responsibilities. In the eyes of God, however, Jesus was a perfect being who had no sin.

I thought, ‘Jesus was righteous and should not have died on the cross. He suffered a death He didn’t want, because people failed to do their responsibilities by not believing in Jesus and not accepting His words.’ I realized the truth, which is, ‘Jesus’ death on the cross was not predestined. I realized that if I, myself, fail to do my responsibilities, I would put Jesus to the suffering of the cross again.’ Therefore, I repented for being a descendant of those who killed Jesus, and I came out of the collective sin of the former times, as well as the line of ancestors who put the Lord to death. So I became the Lord’s bride, and together with the Lord, who is the Bridegroom of the new times, I began the promised new history with the truth of this time period. So this history, where one can escape the domain of the former times, began.