SS-07 Who Is Jesus?

Who Is Jesus?

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'" For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

This passage teaches first what Jesus had done before He came.

Second, this passage teaches who He is.

Third, this passage then teaches what He came to do.

Fourth, this passage then teaches what we should do. The passage which we have read today teaches us these four things.

First: What Jesus Had Done

I am testifying first what He had done before He came.

1. He created the spiritual and the material worlds.

"All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."

One of what Jesus had done was to create all things in the spiritual and material worlds. The Lord created them. It is grossly wrong to think that Jesus is also one of the greatest men just like Confucius and Buddha in the Orient.

He created all things in the spiritual and material worlds. There is nothing that He did not create. The Lord created man, all the host of heaven, the universe and the spiritual world and everything in them, even insects, winds, rain, climate, and so on. We must believe this.

Whenever we see all beings existent, great or small, we must believe that the Lord created them. Buddha is one of the human beings whom the Lord created. The Lord created all. It is said, "Apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."

In verse 15, "John testified about Him and cried out, saying, 'This was He of whom I said, "He who comes after me has higher rank than I, for He existed before me."'" In human form He came into the world later than John the Baptist. But "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'" Then though He came later than John the Baptist, He existed earlier than he in the world. This should not confuse us.

There is nothing that Jesus did not make which exists in the spiritual and the material worlds. He made them all. He made downright atheists, all the founders of religions, the sun, the moon, stars, the spiritual world, the host and angels of heaven, spiritual beings, and Satan.

Whenever we encounter anything that exists, we must know that it is what the Lord has made who loves us and who has nothing that He does not know. It is because we cannot understand that we say that a thing is unnecessary for us, and that it would be better if we did not encounter it. Since it is what He has made who has nothing that He does not know, it has been made without error. Also it is said that it has been made for our salvation. Why? That all things were created for the Lord means that they were created for the salvation of the Lord.

Therefore we must not grumble or complain about anything that we encounter; rather, knowing that it is what the Lord has made, we must study in what aspect it is needed for us, how to cook and use it, and how to deal with it, so that we may understand how to work our salvation. We must believe that it is what the Lord has made for us that we cannot dispense with.

2. He created the historical world.

What had he done? In verse 10, "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him." The world here means the historical world. It is called the world what all nature, man, and every created thing have lived, interacted together, and established since the days of Adam and Eve.

Ignorant scholars say that a single cell has evolved to become a human being. That person who is saying the wrong thing is also in the world. Those who say right, those who do not say right, those who are blessed doing well, those who are ruined doing bad, and also what has been done right and what has been done wrong, all these are countless, and they are the world. What the creation has been in motion is also the world. That the sun rises and stars fall are the world. Nature, man, and all history are collectively called as the world.

It is written in the Scripture that the world is in sin. It is because man is, such as he is, greater than the universe. Man is the master of the universe. Also even though the spiritual world seems to be greater than the physical universe, man is the second master next to God.

Man was made in the likeness of God whereas none among the host and angels in the heavens or none among the creation was created as man was. Man was created noblest. However, much of the world has been created after man had fallen, so that it was written, "World is in sin."

Who created the world? He had already been in the universe before He made the world. He had made the universe and had been in the universe. It is written in Genesis 1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," and "The Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters." That Spirit of God is the God who came as man, Jesus our Savior and Lord.

The name of Jesus was so named after God had assumed man with human nature, and thus the name Jesus in itself is not to be called God. Why? Jesus is both true man and true God. We should attribute two natures to Him; when God had assumed man and was now manifested in two attributes, we call Him Jesus.

What Jesus had done before He came was to create this world. "The world was made through Him." What happens in the world, for instance, this wickedness, that righteousness, this argument, that war, this drought, that good harvest, this rain and wind, and that cataclysm, all these which God has created are associated with and related to each other; that is the world. These are what Jesus had done.

Here a flower has blossomed, and it withers. We should not simply see it as a natural phenomenon only;. it is also included in the world. Those that are in the world, the nature and all the creation which God created, move in action to interact with each other to become this or that and further to change into this or that, and the whole process is called the historical construction, or put in differently the cultural construction.

What does it mean, "The world was made through Him"? For example, a man was born, became sick, recovered, and finally died. Further a wealthy person becomes poor and a poor person becomes rich, a weak country becomes strong and a strong country becomes weak, and a nation is born from nought and another nation perishes to disappear; are these all inside the world, or outside the world? Answer the question. This is not a trivial question. You cannot overcome atheism even though you may pursue higher educations. Are these included in the world, or not? They are included.

3. He rules.

Suppose that some two least, trivial things are added and divided, and are moving this way or that way; He has created and is ruling this whole affair of the two least things. He manages what has been made, and He is Jesus who came in man. He is working our salvation in one Person with the two natures, and is directly ruling in the divine nature. What Jesus is doing is complex; it is the deity of Jesus that rules the world.

"The world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him." It is the Lord that made our family, but the family are not aware of it. It is the Lord who has established Kim, Il-Sung as the ruler of North Korea, but we are not aware of it. It is the Lord that has made North Korea a strong communist country, but they are not aware of it.

Why has He made the things that exist? Because we need them for our salvation. Why do we need them for our salvation? Because the men of the Holy Spirit may use them for their salvation whenever necessary to assimilate them as good nutrients.

"The world did not know Him. He came to His own." This expression is used to facilitate our comprehension. 'He came to His own.' Then who owns America, North Korea, Russia, or South Korea? Kim, Il-Sung? Communists? Americans? There is one who owns them. Who is the one? He is the One who came incarnate. He is the owner of the lands. He is the owner of the lands of the earth.

Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and so on―astronomers say that the number of planets exceeds a billion or something, but I doubt it. Who owns them? He is the Owner. Not only does the land of planets belong to Him, but also all beings are His. The Great Ruler means the Owner of all.

Ruler means that He alone decides, for instance, whether an ant is born and die, and its antenna movements are subject to His will. The Ruler alone operates the whole. We must believe Him. "He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him." We do not welcome Him.

Summary

I have been talking about what the Lord had done before He came. He created all things in the spiritual and material worlds, and the historical world. Now He alone is directly ruling all, and He is the Master of all. We must believe this. Even a stroke of the word which God pronounced shall not be altered even though heaven and earth pass away. Children of God must believe this.

We must believe this. What had He done before He came? First, He created all; second, He created the world; third, He owns all as the Ruler. We must believe this. The Lord is also the owner of my enemy, and so for that reason I should not treat my enemy at my discretion.

Suppose that one notices a crooked staff in the porch and says, "What has this thing been brought here for?" In fact, the President of the country has visited the house and the staff is the president's, and so the staff should not be handled carelessly. The person must not throw it away even if it looks despicable; if he did, it would be an insult to the visiting President.

However lower, wicked, and malicious a man may be, we should not mistreat him but deal with him carefully, honoring Him who owns the person. The Lord is the Master of things of mine, things of others, and all things. He created them to make each of them serve a purpose.

The knowledge that the Lord created all beings is superior to all the knowledge coming out of men under heaven. This knowledge alone excels all that knowledge. Also whenever we deal with the world we must believe that He created the historical world and now He rules and manages the world as He needs it. We must believe that He is the master of all beings and He owns all.

Only when we believe these three can we trample the dead knowledge in man and receive the living knowledge. Only when we believe these three can we lift our heads to ascend beyond the scope of the fallen man. The one who does not know these three cannot be counted as man, however great he may be that he has taken hold of the world. What has fallen is only used to fill the hell, adding filth.

Then authorities will deal with us using sword; but the more they pierce us, the more blessed we will be forever, nor will they have the right to harm us. Have they not harmed us now that they just pierced us to death? No, they cannot harm us should they pierce us to death. That is what makes Christianity authoritative. They will belong to us forever. They are to serve us forever. Here is the secret of struggle and victory of Christianity. This is not an idle boast. I have talked three things that Jesus had done before He came.

Second: Who He Is

The expression 'beginning' here is thus used in human terms, since otherwise it would be incomprehensible to man. Beginning means that He, who had been self-existent from before eternity, began to work this salvation before eternity. It is before the eternity; and the beginning does not mean the beginning of the world of His will. What was the first action that the attribute of the self-existent God and He Himself took? To purpose. When He first began to move ever, He did this; He purposed. That the Word was with God means that the Word did it.

"In the beginning was the Word." This Word does not mean a word which God uttered. The name of God was here denoted as the Word. The action that the eternal, self-existent God first did to reveal the self-existent God Himself was the Word. In human relationships, a word is what announces what is hidden inside and invisible. God chose the term Word to expose God Himself most easily and appropriately. The Word signifies the God who works to show the self-existent God.

This does not mean there are two or three Gods; there is only one God. When only one and self-existent God works to represent the self-existent God Himself, the God representing Himself is called the Word. Before all these come into being, He is called God.

Then the God who both is self-existent and works to represent Himself is called the Holy Father or the Father. The Son came out of the Father, and the Son is even the Father. When the Father is at work, the Father is called the Son, or the Word.

A man can be the head of a family, the husband, the father, or a brother, being one person. As a man may be called differently as he is in a different position, place, and responsibility, the one God―the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the Word, and Christ―may assume different offices and positions, resulting in the God of a particular office and position under a different name.

What does the Word here mean? The first thing that the self-existent God did to work was to purpose, and now He does all to accomplish the purpose. The Word here can be put differently as the Way. It means the work which the self-existent God does.

What does the work mean? The God who does the work is called the God of Word. What does the Word mean? To purpose was what God worked first. When the work of God and God Himself become one, the One is called the Word. When God is considered with the co-working Way or Word, that God is called God. Also when that God came as a creature, that God was called Jesus in the Scripture.

"The Word was with God." This means that the Word is the same eternal, self-existent God. "And the Word was God." The name of God who purposed to begin this Way is called the Word.

In verse 2, "He was in the beginning with God." When the Self-existent One worked, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit worked together. When the One assumed several positions, the time must be before the eternity. Why? It was before the world of time and space, before the historical world, and before the world of the will of God.

Let us see verse 14: "And the Word became flesh." The Word became man. This is the same as in verse 1, "In the beginning was the Word." It is the same. The words written in the Scripture are the truth which God said. They are reason which is of non-human character. They are not of human being, but reason. The Word here is not reason, but is of human character. He is a Being with a divine character. He is God.

"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us." The Word has become flesh and He is among us. "And we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." "We saw His glory." What did He come to do? He came to accomplish what He had purposed, and when it has been achieved, Jesus will come the second time. All creation will come to know who God is when they see the purpose realized.

Therefore the purpose that is realized is called 'the praise of the glory of God.' By looking at what the purpose has been accomplished to be, we can understand who God is: He is the Absolute One; He is immutable; Once He begins, He accomplishes, no incompletion or no change; He is the Alpha and the Omega; He is love; He is holy; He is true; He is peace; He is merciful; and He is holy.

Let us see what has been made according to the purpose of God. Here is an example, not a very illustrative though. Suppose that there is a farm here. The farm is so perfect that no engineers from the East and the West are able to build another farm like it.

Then in case that we cannot find the founder of the farm, by examining the farm we can see that the founder must be great and competent, in that his technology is far more excellent than that of the twentieth-century. Likewise, when the purpose of God is achieved and the achievement is manifest, it is itself the praise of the glory of God.

We come to know that God is therefore God of love; God is therefore God of mercies; God is therefore God of grace; all beings can live only through Him; and we need Him more than any other being. All beings come to realize that they need Him so that they give glory and thanks to Him, saying, "There is no one whom I need more than I need Him." This is to praise the glory.

"And we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out, saying, 'This was He of whom I said, "He who comes after me has higher rank than I, for He existed before me."'"

God sent John the Baptist to introduce to us and teach Jesus through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That is why God had enabled the old, barren Elizabeth to conceive John the Baptist, and after six months God was incarnated as Jesus in Mary through the Holy Spirit.

In verse 16, "For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses." God gave us the Law through Moses, that is, the Law of God: "You will live if you do this, you will die if you do that, you will be blessed if you do this, and you will perish if you do that."

The Law of God came through Moses to teach man who is not aware of his own sin, not to mention that he must die because of the sin, and explains to him that he must die and perish since he did not satisfy the Law of God. This Law, however, is only to let the dead know that they are dead and to let the dying know that they are dying, and it has no authority to raise a dead one from the dead.

Jesus came to make man know through the Law that he is dead, he is dying, and he is to die, and to make man believe through the Law that Jesus is his Lord and Savior. By grace Jesus came to work to raise man who has been condemned to death from the dead through the Law when he believes in Him as his Lord.

"For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ." This means that man died by the Law and through the Law, and man is raised through Jesus who has redeemed him.

"No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him." God is not to be visible forever. Why? We will die if we see Him since He is the Perfect One. I am not sure whether we will be sanctified through grace to get closer to Him and to see Him even at the end of eternity. We only depend upon the saying that there is everlasting hope to meet God later.

God appeared in mysterious forms as angel or man as He would let us contact with His works and He was anxious to let us contact Himself, at the same time not allowing us to melt and perish through the contact with Him. It is the human nature of Jesus that appeared to enable us to contact God.

"No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him." Jesus is God who appeared to enable us to see the invisible God. Before He came as man, Jesus had been God invisible and unapproachable for man. Jesus is God covered in an external layer of human appearance so that man may see God.

In the garden of Eden God appeared as a mysterious angel in the name of God, but it was not that His person appeared. Also Abraham accompanied God and received God and prayed to God, but he did not witness God but only angels when he parted from them. God has let us contact Him using forms of creatures, between Him and us, in which the mystery of God appeared.

In this hour I have been talking about what Jesus had done before He came and who He had been before He came. We must believe that.

Is Jesus God only? No. Now it is not right to say that Jesus is God only. Jesus is both true God and true man. Two expressions should be at the same time. It is not right to say that Jesus is true man only. Both true God and true man; two names should be attached at the same time.

Jesus did three things before His coming. Who was He before coming? He was the self-existent God; He was God who began to work together when God began to work; and He was God who was working together when God was working. He became man, and came.

Third: What He Has Come to Do and What He Will Do

  In verse 4, "In Him was life." He came with life. He came with life. This is a hard word! This is a difficult word. This is a hard word to translate. I do not think that there is no one that knows about this word, though. There are more heresies and arguments regarding this life than any other issue in the world.

"In Him was life." He came with life. The life in 'in Him was life' means the power through which the self-existent God being by Himself purposed, predestinated, created, preserved, and is now operating all; this might and this power which the Self of God is possessed of, He Himself brought this eternal power.

What will happen if life comes into the corpse of a dead person? I buried many corpses before. I used to be strong enough to deal with two strong men. Once I carried on my back a corpse of young man to bury, which was so heavy that I had to stop to rest frequently on the way to the burial site. No one being responsible for the dead person who was a believer, I was responsible for the burial. The same person now dead could bear two sags of rice, or maybe three sags when stacked if he were restored his life. This strong body became nothing but a heavy burden without life. These all happen when life comes. As life is at work inside us, we can see, hear, talk, bear and walk, go, feel delight and anger and sorrow and joy, and judge. This life is biological.

"In Him was life." The self-existent God was with the Self of God and was possessed of every power, power of love, power of grace, power of creation, power of ruling, power of judgment, power of reign, and power of everything, and this power is referred to as life.

Then through what did God create when He created all? God created them through life. Life means the strength of God. The power of God was in Him. The life of God was in Him. Even though He was clothed with man, the infinite power of the self-existent God resided in Him.

"In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men." Why was this life brought in? When this life meets people, it becomes the light of men. The light here is used to distinguish two sides, light and darkness. The light has nothing to do with light of electromagnetic radiation, of course. Light is just a convenient expression. Death is darkness, living is light, sorrow is darkness, delight is light, failure is darkness, success is light, being right is light, being crooked is darkness, love is light, hate is darkness, destruction is darkness, and construction is light.

Light in morality, light in activities, light in bliss and woe of everybody, light in intelligence, and light in all history―the light in all these means all things that are fine, living, wise, potent, right, delightful, pleasant, peaceful, successful, glorious, honorable, good, generous, and straight.

"And the life was the Light of men." What did this life come to do? Why was life brought in? Men will become manifest as light when they are connected to life, as a corpse, when life is connected to it, becomes a living man who can do all works.

'The Light of men.' Life was brought in to the world to make man unregretful, right, and straight forever, so that man may be capable of carrying out the position second to God and may be wanted next to God by the creatures in heaven and earth; both God and the creation need the man who has become the light. Life came to make man capable of administering the task of a mediator between God and the creation.

What did He come with? He came with life. What did He come with life for? He came with life to make men the light and to make men live eternally; to make men perfect in wisdom, in power, in morality, in attributes, in activities, in making, in all values, and in glory. 'Was the Light of men.'

Fourth: What We Should Do Then

"He came to His own, to what He had made and to His own land, and those who were His own did not know Him, did not receive Him, and did not welcome Him." It was because they could have died if they had welcomed Him that they did not welcome Him. Why? They cannot come near Him because they die unless they have the vicarious redemption of remission and justification of the Mediator. They cannot come near except through the vicarious redemption, or the remission and the justification. They cannot come near without being mediated through the vicarious redemption.

All men will be burned up should they come in contact with God since they do not have the vicarious redemptive works of Jesus. They will perish; they are burned up unless they have the works of the remission, the justification, and the reconciliation. We have the vicarious redemptive works of Jesus. Adam and Eve also were clothed with what was of the seed of the woman―clothed with garments of skin, the benefit of beast, to receive the benefit of the future Savior whom they hoped for; Adam and Eve thus were saved.

"Did not receive Him. But as many as received ..." Who is the one who receives Him? "Those who believe in His name." His name is Jesus. To believe in His name means more than just to believe in the name Jesus only. The name in 'to believe His name' is Jesus, and to believe in the name means to believe in the works, which Jesus instituted.

What did Jesus work to institute? He purposed before eternity, predestinated to implement the purpose, created to implement the purpose according to the predestination, preserved and provided to implement the purpose, redeemed in the course of providence, resurrected, and ascended to implement the purpose; now He works to sanctify and spiritualize us. The one is called the believer in His name who believes that the self-existent God thus purposed, predestinated, and has been managing and providing from before eternity.

What does it mean to believe in this fact? Who is working on us to admit this fact? We will have believed only half the word, when we admit the word of this fact. Who is talking about this fact? It is the Holy Spirit that is talking about this fact. Now the Holy Spirit is talking to us, and not only in saying but further the Holy Spirit is directly talking in and through the natural revelation to us.

Before the fall God revealed to let man understand through the creation in nature, and so it was sufficient for Adam to name creatures, which pleased God. It was not enough, however, after the fall, and therefore God gave us the special means of the Biblical revelation in addition.

The Inspiration had made man acquire the knowledge of the natural revelation, but the Inspirational knowledge was not sufficient after the fall, and so God gave us the knowledge of the Biblical revelation. It is when we admit this knowledge of written revelation as true that the inspiration and influence of the Holy Spirit will come to us, and then we will receive and believe in Him.

Now it is only half the belief to do according to this knowledge, and therefore we are not fully able to acknowledge this knowledge of God as our knowledge nor to live according to this knowledge. Then what we can do is to bring the power of God to us, that is, to hope for the power of God to come to us so that we may overcome, and at the same time what we can do is to do with all of our might, since we know that God will give us the crown of life when we have been faithful until death. What is it to let the knowledge of God and the power of God come to us? It is to believe.

To have the power of God brought to us is to receive Him and to believe in Him. What happens then? We will be given the right to become children of God. He will give us the right to become children of God.

What is the right to become children of God? To be given the right to become children of God means to inherit all things that belong to God. To be given all things except the Self of God is the right to become children of God.

We have been called to become children of God to inherit the power of God, the works of God, the possessions of God, and all the glory of God, except the Self of God; also we have been called to become just like God, a second God but not God Himself though, as a son resembles parents, so that we may be clothed in the likeness of God.

"Jesus is the likeness of invisible God." "No one has seen God; the only begotten God has made known the invisible God." We have come to receive what God has to give us except the Self of God, and we grow in sanctification to be worthy of children of God, when we receive when God gives all things. This is the right of children of God, and for this we have been called and we are striving.

In verse 13, however, "not of blood." We are not of the children of blood. We are not biologically inherited children. We are connected to the truth and the Inspiration to be sanctified so that our human elements connected to the infinite elements become divine elements. Divine elements.

"Not of the blood nor of the will of the flesh." This thing of blood is connected to the infinitude to become a thing of infinitude, and this infinitude itself is the right of children of God, and the infinitude has become the children of God.

"Nor of the will of the flesh." We were not born of the will of the flesh, that is, all human favoritism, energy, emotions, or sincerity. Not of human elements. Were we born of human emotional elements, or of flesh and blood? Not of these either.

"Nor of the will of man." Then were we born of the human will? Not of that either. It is not of the flesh to become children of God and it is not of sentiment. Then is it of idea or imagination which man has conceived? Not that either. Man can be connected to God, resulting in the connection between the Creator and the creatures, so that he is connected to the infinitude of God, and this is the right of children of God.

This is the right of children of God, and 'the right' means power: the power to satisfy, revive, feed, and fill all the creation as much as needed, and rule all the creation. The right of children of God means the authority to become a being that can work the works of God to the full extent, being as man who himself is a creature.

Conclusion

We now conclude the following for today's passage. First, what had Jesus done, whom we believe in as our Savior and Lord, before He came? He had done three things before He came, and what is He doing? He is working our salvation as one Person in divine and human natures, and He has been managing all beings behind the scenes on behalf of our salvation, and He has created and owns all; He had initiated these three things before He came, and is still doing.

Second, who had He been before He came? He had been the Self of God. He was God. Being one God, the same God does this as the Father, does that as the Son, does this as the Holy Spirit, does that as the Word, and does this as Christ. The same one God has an office in a position, and the office and the position both pertain to one God. Different names of God are associated each with a particular office and position, but they represent the same one God. God is one God.

Third, what has He come to do? He came with life. What has He come to do with life? He has come with life to make man the light. To make man the light. He came to make man needed for the creation in the spiritual world and the material world above and beneath heaven as God is needed to them; He came to make man satisfactory to the creation, and He came to make man perform the same duty, responsibility, role, love, and power of life as God does for us.

In verse 9, "There was the true Light." "There came the true Light. John the Baptist was not the Light." There was the true Light. Who was the Light? It is said Jesus here. What has the life come for? The life has come to make us the light. What does it mean to have come to make us the light? "There was true Light which enlightens every man." Life has come to be connected to us to make us exactly like Jesus, a second Jesus. He is the first fruit and we are the second fruit like Him. We are the fruit through Him.

Fourth, what has He given us life for? He came to give us life to make us the light of world. How can we be given the life? We must receive Him to receive the life.

How can we be the light that the creation needs most in the world, the world to come, and the eternal world? The term light is used only after the life has come out to work. Then how can we become the light? We can become the light if we receive the name. To receive His name. What is it to receive His name? To receive His name is to believe in the name.

To receive His name is to believe in His name. What is it to believe in His name? To believe in His name means that we take hold of His knowledge through our knowledge and His power through our power. Our knowledge and power are to be used only to take hold of His knowledge and power. To use our knowledge to make us happy, to exempt ourselves from our unhappiness, and to reduce our unhappiness, is only a misuse. It is not useful, and only degrading. A rodenticide is good only for killing rats, not for human consumption. Whatever is used wrong will result in destruction.

What are our knowledge and strength used good for? Our knowledge and power should be used only as a means to have the knowledge and power of God brought to us. How do we use our knowledge to bring in the knowledge of God? If we claim our knowledge, we will perish. Our knowledge should be used only to admit that the knowledge of God is right and true so that we may acknowledge the knowledge of God to be our knowledge, instead of the whole knowledge of ours. Our knowledge should be used only to welcome His knowledge, to become a consequence of His knowledge, and to connect to His knowledge to receive His knowledge.

Our strength is not to be used for anything else but to be used to do something that He commands us to do, and we should understand that He commands to do it to receive His power, and that is the right and straight thing to do. We will be unrighteous and we have sinned if we do anything, however least it may be, claiming that we are using our own strength to do it.

Whatever we do should not be what we do with our strength. Now suppose that we have something which we are suppose to do but we cannot do it because it is beyond our ability. Then when we use what strength we have to perform that task, which is impossible to do, having the power of God come to help us make it eternal and immutable, then our strength has been used only to bring the power of God. We can accomplish with our strength what is visible, but they are not of perfection, infinity, and immutability.

Therefore we must take hold of the four points: what Jesus had done before he came; who He had been before He came; what He has brought to do and what He is now doing; and what we must do. We must take hold of these to overcome the world. The true salvation will be realized only after that.

These points not taken hold of, it is no use saying, "Do not steal, be honest, love mankind, and feed the hungry"; these are ubiquitous, in Buddhism, and everywhere. It cannot do however much we may preach so, because they will prove to be trivial. Of course they are good, but why are they trivial? However fervently we may say so, they are like a uprooted flower doomed to wither when the sun rises.

Any deeds of morality or charity without these four points will wither, being subject to ages; they will obey orders to be atheistic in an atheistic age, they will obey orders to attack democracy in a communist age, and also they will obey orders to kill communists in a democratic age. It will be useless.

These must take root. Any Christian morality, Christian society, or Christian ethics that has not taken root is useless. Let us take hold of these four points.

Salvation comes from hearing. Knowledge is power. This knowledge cannot be found in any other books under the heaven. It is only in sixty-six Books of Old and New Testaments, and the sixty-six Books are frameworks of outlines only. When we wash our heart with this Word, the Holy Spirit will ring in our conscience through heart, and then we can hear and understand.