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We hear the news of numerous disasters on a daily basis. Among many kinds of disasters, what is the greatest disaster? To save us from a very specific disaster, God prescribed the Passover as medicine for mankind. Then, what is this disaster?
Disasters occurring in the world have no effect on us after we die. However, according to the Bible, there is a disaster that lasts for eternity; even though people want to end their extreme torment and die, it is impossible. For this reason, God, who earnestly desires to save us from such a horrible disaster, has given us the New Covenant Passover.
The Everlasting Disaster
Many people throughout the world are suffering from unforeseen accidents and natural disasters. They also suffer from diseases and economic hardship. No one in the world is immune from the effects of these disasters.
God established the Passover with the ultimate purpose of saving His people from the eternal torment of the greatest disaster. Let us study about the greatest disaster through the Bible.
But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh. Rev 19:20–21
And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Rev 20:10
The fiery lake of burning sulfur mentioned in Revelation is hell. The Bible testifies that there exists hell where those who do not receive salvation will be tormented forever, whereas those who are saved will be comforted and delight in happiness forever in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Disasters in this world are only temporary, yet they are still painful. God protects us from these disasters, too, but it is of the utmost importance that we are protected from the disaster that inflicts everlasting torment. We must avoid this disaster by all means. God came to the earth in the flesh with the earnest desire to save His children from the eternal disaster of hell.
Jesus’ Teaching About Hell
Two thousand years ago, when Jesus preached the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven, He explained about the principles of the spiritual world. Throughout His ministry, Christ emphasized that we must never go to hell. This is one of the most important teachings of Christ.
“If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Mt 5:29–30
“. . . If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.” Mt 18:7–9
Hell is a place of extreme torment, a place where every single moment is literally a horrific disaster. God repeatedly and earnestly requests that we avoid the disaster of hell by every means possible.
Unless we follow the path that God leads us on, we cannot escape the fire of hell. This is why Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who pretended to have faith by calling out to God, “Lord, Lord!” while their hearts were far from Him.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.” Mt 23:15
“Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ . . . Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” Mt 23:10–13
The religious leaders of that time practiced lawlessness rather than following the will of God. By doing so, they shut the Kingdom of Heaven in men’s faces; they themselves did not enter, nor would they let those enter who were trying to. When they won a single convert, they made him twice as much a son of hell as they were. Jesus sternly rebuked them, calling them false prophets. Jesus warned His disciples that if they followed false prophets, they too would be destroyed and condemned to hell (Mt 7:15–23; 23:33).
This is why from among all existing churches, we must find the church that follows the truth by studying the Bible. God has sacrificed His holy body to save us from the chains of sin and death and from the disaster of hell. We must not become slaves to sin again by committing lawlessness. The final destination for those who do not follow the truth is hell, where they will suffer indescribable torment. Who can endure such a great disaster?
The New Covenant Passover, the Way to Escape the Disaster of Hell
Jesus taught that we must not go to hell even if we have to cut off a part of our body. To save us from the disaster of hell, He established the truth of the New Covenant Passover.
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” . . . They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” Lk 22:7–15
Why, then, did Jesus eagerly desire to eat the Passover? It was because He wanted to seek and to save the lost (Lk 19:10). The Bible describes hell as a place of destruction for the soul; salvation is rescuing the soul from hell. To save us from the horrible disaster—the torment of hell, Jesus came to earth and eagerly desired to celebrate the Passover.
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.” 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.” Lk 22:19–20
On the Passover, Jesus gave His disciples bread and wine symbolizing His holy body and blood and called it the “New Covenant.” Here, we need to think about why Jesus established the New Covenant on the Passover. What meaning is contained within the Feast of the Passover? The word “Passover” implies that something passes over. What is it that passes over? The Bible teaches that a disaster passes over us.
“. . . it is the LORD’s Passover. On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD—a lasting ordinance.” Ex 12:11–14
The Passover ceremony dates back to the Old Testament times, about 3,500 years ago. At the time of the Exodus, the Israelites slaughtered a Passover lamb for each family and put the blood of the lamb on the sides and tops of the doorframes of their houses. According to God’s promise, the destroying angel passed over them when he saw the blood of the Passover lamb.
Passover means that disasters pass over us. The greatest disaster is neither the ten plagues inflicted upon Egypt nor the seven last plagues of Revelation, but the disaster of hell. The Passover ceremony is not simply a matter of eating bread and drinking wine, but it is a ceremony that contains God’s promise to save us from the great disaster of hell.
That is why Jesus eagerly desired to celebrate the Passover with His disciples before His great suffering. Jesus knew that on the very next day He would be insulted and mocked by numerous people and suffer extreme pain on the cross. Thinking of His impending suffering, He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane with sweat like drops of blood falling to the ground (Lk 22:39–44). Who can imagine His distress and anguish in those painful moments? He endured such horrible pain to save us from hell and lead us to the way of life. Truly, the value of the Passover is beyond measure.
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’ ” So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. . . . While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Mt 26:17-19, 26–28
Jesus granted us the Passover through which we can receive the forgiveness of sins and escape disasters. To save us from the torment of hell, God came to the earth and established the New Covenant Passover; He willingly suffered and sacrificed Himself in our stead. Now that our sins have been forgiven, we are able to escape the disaster of hell and go back to the Kingdom of God. How can we describe with words the full extent of God’s love and grace?
The New Covenant, the Promise of an Eternal Inheritance
The Passover is the greatest truth established by God. The Passover we celebrate is not a ceremony that only saves our physical lives and rescues us from earthly disasters. Through His precious blood of the Passover, we are also redeemed from the greatest disaster—the disaster of hell.
The prophet Jeremiah prophesied that God would establish the New Covenant to forgive the sins of His people.
“The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. . . . This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “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. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Jer 31:31–34
According to this prophesy, Jesus established the New Covenant on the night of the Passover. He eagerly waited for its fulfillment, until He could fully proclaim the New Covenant. Without the New Covenant established through God’s flesh and blood, the children of God could never be freed from the disaster of hell.
In order to save us from such a great disaster, Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice. Through the New Covenant, He promised us an eternal inheritance in Heaven, where there is no death or mourning but only happiness, peace, and eternal life. We are now looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth because of God’s amazing grace (Rev 21:1–4; 2 Pe 3:13).
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. Heb 9:15–18
To give us the promised eternal inheritance, God Himself came to earth in the flesh to establish the New Covenant. Satan, the enemy of God, has been working tirelessly to destroy the truth of the New Covenant with the purpose of leading even one more soul to hell. The great spiritual battle between Satan, who desires to abolish the New Covenant Passover, and God, who desires to deliver it to His children, has continued for thousands of years. In this age, God came to earth a second time in order to carry out His work of salvation—the restoration of the truth of the New Covenant.
. . . so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. Heb 9:28
At the second coming, God is to appear as the Spirit and the Bride (Rev 22:17). The Spirit and the Bride are now calling all mankind, saying, “Come and receive the water of life; you must not go to the place of torment and disaster.”
We must come to the Spirit and the Bride who give us the water of life. If sin remains in us, we cannot receive eternal life. Unless we receive the forgiveness of sins, we will never escape the disaster of hell. Those who come to the Spirit and the Bride can receive the forgiveness of sins in the New Covenant and enjoy eternal life, happiness, and blessings.
There are still many people wandering aimlessly in the world and unknowingly running toward death, because they have not yet heard the voice of the Spirit and the Bride. Since God has made us competent as ministers of the New Covenant (2 Co 3:6), we ought to work even harder to save those people by leading them to the path of salvation. Let us preach to the whole world about our God—the Spirit and the Bride—who allow us to escape the eternal disaster of hell through the truth of the New Covenant. Let us give eternal thanks, honor, and glory to our Heavenly Father and Mother who have rescued us from the disaster of hell and are leading us to the eternal Kingdom of Heaven!