Express Spiritual Truths in Spiritual Words

God is holy and spiritual. Whether He is in spirit or in the flesh, there is no change to this fact. So the word holy is used as an adjective whenever God is being described. It is for the same reason that the Spirit of God is called the Holy Spirit.

Everything that has to do with God is spiritual. Yet because people do not express spiritual truths in spiritual words, they commit the foolishness of relying on their own thoughts and experiences to judge what God is accomplishing. So we should be able to discern what belongs to the spiritual world with a spiritual perspective through the teachings of the Bible.

Those Who Express Spiritual Truths in Sinful Words

The reason we learn the words of God is not to gain wisdom to live comfortably and peacefully on this earth, but to understand the spiritual world and proceed to it, following the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is why we always keep God’s commands such as the Sabbath day and the annual feasts. However, people of the world do not understand God’s people who devote themselves to their life of faith, because they cannot see the spiritual world.

This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Co 2:13–14

Spiritual things should be discerned spiritually. To those who judge from a physical perspective, the things that come from the Spirit of God are foolishness.

So was it to Judas Iscariot, who was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. At first, Judas believed Jesus as the Messiah and followed Him, and he gained trust among His disciples enough to take charge of the accounting. However, he eventually sold Jesus to the opponents for thirty silver coins because he failed to view Jesus’ holy and divine nature from a spiritual perspective.

Since Judas Iscariot thought that the Messiah would be powerful enough to defeat even an army at once, he hoped that Jesus would use His supernatural power to deliver Israel from Roman oppression. Contrary to his expectation, Jesus remained silent when people slandered Him; when He was persecuted in one town, He moved to another town to preach the gospel. In his eyes, Jesus looked to be a very weak man, not the omnipotent God. In actuality, it was all in accordance with the prophecies of the Bible.

He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men . . . But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isa 53:1–5

As the prophets foretold, Christ was fulfilling the prophecy of suffering for the sins of mankind, but Judas Iscariot thought, ‘Why does God let people ridicule Himself?’ ‘Is God that powerless?’ When he saw Jesus’ work of salvation from a physical perspective rather than looking at the prophecies, he was dissatisfied with everything.

When he lost his discernment to see spiritual things as spiritual, the spirit of Satan, not the Holy Spirit, began to work in him. Judas Iscariot, who was in doubt, eventually betrayed Jesus and sold Him to His enemies.

Those Who Received Christ With a Spiritual Point of View

When God came to this earth in the flesh, ate, and lived with the same appearance just like one of us, there were people who viewed all this from a spiritual perspective while others viewed everything that Jesus did from a physical perspective. Unlike Judas Iscariot, who only focused on Jesus’ outer appearance, the eleven disciples, including Peter, looked at the divine nature of Jesus with the spiritual eyes.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Mt 16:13–16

Some regarded Jesus as a teacher of the Bible and the law, and others regarded Him as a prophet. However, Peter was different. When Jesus asked him, “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter was convinced that Jesus was God who came to this earth as the Son in accordance with the prophecy of Isaiah (Isa 9:6). This is the distinct difference between the viewpoint of Judas Iscariot and that of Peter.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word [God] became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Jn 1:1–14

Apostle John, too, received Jesus as God, who made the heavens and the earth and all things. Although Jesus lived a life which was not different from that of humans and had no beauty or majesty to attract people to Him like a root out of dry ground, John correctly recognized His divine nature. Apostle Paul, too, firmly believed that Jesus was in very nature God and the Christ who came as a man. The apostles, who could express spiritual things in spiritual words, boldly preached that there was no other savior except Jesus, saying, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (1 Ti 2:4–5; Php 2:5–8; Ac 4:11–12; 16:24–32). Those who received Christ with a spiritual perspective were those who were born of God.

The Jews Judged Jesus From a Physical Point of View

Those who stick to physical things cannot recognize God correctly. Although God Himself came to this earth and preached the gospel, unfortunately only a few people received Him. Even when Jesus performed miracles that humans could not do, such as feeding 5,000 people with five barley loaves and two fish, they judged Him only from a physical point of view. The people in Jesus’ hometown did not believe in Him and even His relatives went to take charge of Him, for they thought that Jesus was out of His mind.

Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” Mk 3:20–21

At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” Jn 6:41–44

Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him. Mt 13:53–57

Nazareth in Galilee, where Jesus grew up, was a poor town where the lower classes lived. So people slandered Jesus about His background and learning.

Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. The Jews were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having studied?” Jn 7:14–15

They neither listened to Jesus’ words nor received Him as Christ, but rather mocked and depreciated Him, based on their knowledge. The people, the Pharisees, and the teachers of the law always looked at Jesus from a physical perspective. Although Jesus gave them spiritual teachings, they rejected them, saying, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” and they tested Jesus with subtle questions to trap him.

They Blame God for Heresy When He Says That He Is God

As the people saw God from a physical perspective instead of seeing Him from a spiritual perspective, they could not accept that Jesus was God the Creator who made all things in the universe. Those who turned away from Jesus despite His gracious words of salvation, could never enter the kingdom of heaven. Although God came, hiding His identity in the flesh, and was looking for those who had true faith, they failed to seize the opportunity to get salvation.

“I and the Father are one.” Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God” Jn 10:30–33

Suppose that you go out in sportswear and bumped into someone you know. Although you tell him who you are, he doesn’t believe but rather try to stone you, saying, “How dare you!” just because you are dressed differently than usual. How absurd and ridiculous! The Jews were doing that same. When God came, hiding His divine nature in the flesh and said, “I am God,” they picked up stones to stone Him. Because they judged the spiritual God from a physical perspective, they could not recognize Him.

Jesus called them “the blind,” saying, “When a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into destruction.” Those who claimed to believe in God did not recognize God even though He was right in front of them. Weren’t they spiritually blind?

Five days later the high priest Ananias went down to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they brought their charges against Paul before the governor. When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented his case before Felix: “. . . We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect.” Ac 24:1–5

Tertullus accused Apostle Paul before the governor, calling him “a ringleader of the Nazarene sect.” Even after Jesus’ ascension, the Jewish society still regarded Jesus as the Nazareth sect. Where do you think they are now, who rejected the salvation that was nearby?

Believers’ Perspective Required in the Age of the Holy Spirit

In the Age of the Holy Spirit, Christ Ahnsahnghong and New Jerusalem Heavenly Mother, who are the Spirit and the Bride, came to this earth as our Saviors. Satan, who has power in this world, has clouded people’s discernment with the same tactics that he used 2,000 years ago. Satan emphasizes only the physical things so that people cannot see spiritual things, preventing them from remembering why God came from heaven to this earth.

This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. . . . But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.’” Mt 13:13–16

While many people do not have the right faith in God, we are given the spiritual perspective and wisdom to realize Heavenly Father and Mother and now we are in Zion. This is a special grace and blessing from God (Ref. Mt 16:16–17).

Truly, we are blessed. We have received the spiritual grace of heaven. We may have pride in that. If we see spiritual things from a physical perspective, being caught up in hindrance and slander of the world, we have no choice but to repeat the same mistake that the Jews made by rejecting Jesus. Even if the world does not understand us, let us hold on to the truth to the end and look forward to the eternal rest and the heavenly blessings.

Jesus suffered and died on the cross 2,000 years ago, but it was not because He lacked strength. He walked that path silently because He came to this earth as a ransom for the sins of mankind. Today, Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, too, came to this earth according to the prophecies of the Bible because of our sins. God Themselves came in the flesh and lived a life of suffering for the salvation of Their children. We must have wisdom to discern spiritual things with a spiritual perspective through the prophecies of the Bible, not with a physical perspective.

The apostles saw Jesus from a spiritual perspective and received Him, and faithfully followed the path Jesus walked without giving in to any persecution. Let us, too, open our spiritual eyes wide and follow the path Father and Mother walked. Just as Peter did, let us confess, “Christ Ahnsahnghong and New Jerusalem Heavenly Mother are the true God.” As children of Zion, let us follow the Spirit and the Bride, the Saviors in this age, wherever They go and receive salvation with joy and gratitude.