A new and living way

“by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,” (Hebrews 10:20)

 

The most important thing in living is hope. Whatever the goal of hope is, and whether it is worth much or a little, hope is necessary for everyone. The hope of those who believe in Jesus is to enter the eternal kingdom of God. Just as we need an admission ticket for entering a theater, we have to be indebted to the blood of Jesus’ sacrifice as the qualification to enter the kingdom of God. Salvation through Jesus is a complete path to make man’s spirit live. In order to reach the destination safely without wandering in the process of walking on that path of life, it needs to have a definite faith and also the cooperative life with the accompanying people.

 

This Bible text states what is ‘firm hope’ and ‘core of faith’, and what colleagues at faith should cooperate with. Everybody has one’s hometown somewhere. Even if one’s own hometown hasn’t been developed compared to other places and that is in a bad environment, one’s own hometown is a place where miss and want to go at any time. The eternal hometown of the human soul is the heavenly kingdom where God is. The kingdom of God is also called the holy place meaning the sanctuary as in the text. Just as a person misses own hometown, he or she can enjoy emotional stability of soul only when lives in the wishes for the sanctuary. And the ticket of eligibility to enter the sanctuary of God is the blood of Jesus. Though many people are searching here and there because they would like to go to the heavenly home, many are wandering not to find the main gate. Such the people wouldn’t be able to show any looks of stability and confidence in life.

A curtain was hung down in the sanctuary of the kingdom of Heaven, the curtain was called the body of Jesus in the text Bible. As like one can enter the sanctuary through the curtain, one can reach God’s salvation through the blood shed by Jesus. This is the core meaning of the faith in Jesus. Every padlock has its own specified key. Anyone who tries to open another’s door without the key must be a thief or a destroyer. In the Bible John 10:1, Jesus referred to Himself as the ‘door of the sheep’, and He said that those who do not enter through the door of the sheep are thieves and robbers. It also says in the Acts 4:12 that for the salvation of man, no other name under heaven except Jesus’ name was given to mankind. Man’s salvation is a matter being done within God’s hands only.

Jesus is the High Priest of the sacrificial service to God as Messiah, Christ. The rite of sacrifice of Old Testament is like the worship ceremony of New Testament in its meaning, and the High Priest’s position is performed by Christ, the Head of Church. Therefore, it becomes meaning anyone who relies on Christ by faith lives as the people of God. Then, those who have become God’s people through the baptism of repentance must maintain life toward God with the true heart and the complete faith. The way for practicing that is to strengthen one’s own wishes of faith, to think for each other and encourage love and good deeds, and to try to gather together for holy worship. There are some cases, even if ones had been belonged inside the boundary of church, they failed to produce fruits of own faith because of neglecting things to be practiced rightly for faith. It might be rather difficult than the past for a person who is eliminated by the reason like that to reenter the right path of salvation.

Evil spirits continue to hunt in order to seduce the human souls. The basic way that evil spirits use is to shake men’s souls so that they lose their wishes. But, if a man doesn’t let go of the string of hope at any situation, the person would survive to the last. To speak paradoxically, a man who has hope can live even though died. It’s not just the matter of body that people die or live. In Matthew 10:28 Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” And, according to Luke 12:5, the object that man should really fear is the Almighty who throws into the eternal fire of hell. The hope true Christians have is not a vague expectation, but the actual hope looking at and relying on the Lord Almighty of Creation and Redemption.

 

Hope is the internal expectation of individuals. And additionally, encouragement and cooperation among the saints and church activities are needed essentially for the vital life of faith. Looking at the appearances the world works, it looks almost clear that now is the end of the end of the world. For Christians, it seems to have no hope, also they are neglecting to love and encourage each other under the pretext of COVID-19. Are those the only problems that are wrong? Except other gatherings or events, and even only worship does not reach at all to the past situations. Keep in mind, if the visible church collapses, the intangible church the spiritual church might be also weaken and disappeared.

 

(Written by Koonoh, Pastor of JDO Presbyterian Church in Korea, on Oct 2nd 2022)